How student choices replaced homeroom at Geneva High

A lady recently reminiscing about her school days mentioned a former classmate, and another person in our group responded, "I had him in my homeroom in high school."

I hadn't heard the word "homeroom" in forever. And it had me wondering, what was that really all about? More importantly, does that concept still exist?

In the late 1960s and early '70s, when schools had to put up with me, my best guess is that homeroom helped us get to know other kids whose last names were close to ours in the alphabet.

Otherwise, I remember absolutely nothing about it. And this is coming from a guy who remembers his Catholic grade school escapades as if they happened yesterday.

Most people my age seem to remember it as a place for teachers to take attendance and for students to listen to announcements over the classroom speaker. And maybe some students scrambled to get a homework assignment done during that time.

It appears the concept no longer exists. St. Charles high schools haven't had them in many years, and Geneva replaced the dated homeroom model five years ago with something called PLC. And the acronym has double meaning.

For teachers, it is a time once a week for them to collaborate in Professional Learning Communities to discuss any number of different student or curriculum topics, said Doug Drexler, associate principal at Geneva High School.

"During that same time, we wanted it to be meaningful for students, so we created Personal Learning Choices during that first-period time period," Drexler said.

In the students' PLC, they can seek help for math, writing, foreign language and other classes, or make up a test or a PE class, Drexler added.

"We do a lot of core selection meetings during that time as well, when students can talk about what classes to take the next year, or learn some college-search tips," he said.

"We are not unique in having professional learning communities for teachers, as that is a pretty common occurrence now," Drexler said. "But I feel like our offerings for students during those times are pretty worthwhile and robust.

"It saves us from having to pull kids out of class for these things, which is disruptive to their learning."

And it eliminates something that a student would never remember or care anything about in the future - homeroom class.

Feeling welcome:

Ron Onesti mentioned how the Anderson family of St. Charles made him feel welcome to the area when he first came to take over the Arcada Theatre in 2005.

Onesti made that comment last weekend as master of ceremonies at TriCity Family Services' annual gala when introducing Tom and Cris Anderson, of Colonial restaurant fame, as recipients of the agency's Golden Heart Award.

It reminded me that the Andersons were the same to me when first coming to this area in the late 1970s as a reporter, sports editor and, eventually, a newspaper editor. And they have remained that way ever since.

Sure, they wanted to make their occasional pitch about what was going on at Colonial, but more often than not it had to do with interesting things happening in town, or about people doing good things and explaining where everyone fit in the community's historical picture.

In that regard, Tom Anderson spent much of his brief thank-you speech telling those in attendance that Dr. Vernon Guynn, who is in his mid 90s and was at the event, was among those behind creating the agency in the mid 1970s. It was a great shout-out to a fine citizen.

And what about a plug for Colonial? It came from Tom's brother, John Arthur Anderson. When talking to my service-club friend earlier in the evening about various things happening in town, John Arthur remembered I recently mentioned Friday fish fry events during Lent in my column.

He reminded me that Colonial has an excellent one on Friday nights during the season. If it's like anything else at Colonial, I am sure he is right.

Those financial reports:

The Geneva Park District knows a thing or two about governmental accounting and financial reporting.

For the seventh consecutive year, the district has earned a certificate of excellence from the Government Finance Officers Association of the U.S. and Canada.

If this sounds like a tight-knit group of bean counters and Excel spreadsheet all-stars, then so be it. Either way, the park district has to be proud of this sort of recognition from peers who know how this work should be done.

The park district notes that the award comes for its comprehensive annual financial report. And the panel judging the merits of the park district's approach to this important document include the fact that it should demonstrate a "constructive spirit of full disclosure" to motivate potential users and groups to read the document.

Giving Deane's a nod:

Former Daily Herald reporter Heather Swanson Wankowski sent along a note singing the praises of Deane's Deli on Third Street in Geneva.

In pitching the deli as a potential story topic, she said Deane's is one of her favorite spots - and I would have to agree. When initiating my great deli sandwich search last year, I started the interaction with readers by saying the roast beef sandwich at Deane's was one of my favorites.

When readers began chiming in, Deane's was mentioned along with many others. In the end, it was Smitty's on the Corner in St. Charles that had the most customers willing to chime in about their favorite spot.

But Deane's has been a nice addition to Third Street, one that Wankowski confirms is still doing well. She mentioned how crowded the place was the last time she was there.

She also mentioned Daddio's Diner in Batavia as a favorite place, another location that had a shout-out in my column for its 10th anniversary last year and some of its most popular breakfast creations.

It was good to see that some of the places we talk about here continue to attract customers' attentions out there.

dheun@sbcglobal.net