Where I Stand — Brian Greenspun: Talking us out of tragedy

Tuesday, April 27, 1999 | 12:13 p.m.

They aren't quite "babes," but from their mouths came the solution to most of what ails us in society ... communication.

When life gets you down a bit or the news of the day gets more depressing than you'd like to think about -- take the tragedy in Littleton, Colo., for example -- some of the best therapy is visiting a Clark County junior high school. I chose the school in the middle because it is between the time when young minds are just starting to form ideas for the future, and the high school years when too many of the students are well on their way and don't have time for "adult" input.

In this case, I have also chosen to write about a school about which I am a good deal biased, the Barbara and Hank Greenspun Junior High School, which is located in the Green Valley part of the the state's fastest growing city, Henderson. Now that I have announced the bases for any potential conflicts of interest, real or imagined, let me talk about what's real and what's important.

The growth of the Clark County School District over the past few decades has been so phenomenal that our ability as a community to focus on the comings and goings of a particular teacher or administrator has been somewhat limited. Usually it is only those parents among us whose children are affected by the personnel changes and the teachers who work alongside their colleagues who ever get to fully understand the impact of those who teach. Perhaps if we could find a way to spend more time "in the educational loop" we would all understand the great value that those in the teaching profession bring to the table.

Two things brought that thought to mind Monday. The first, of course, was the very sad funeral in Colorado for a beloved teacher and coach, Dave Sanders. The outpouring of love and affection for him by his students and colleagues was not only overwhelming but was proof positive of the impact good teachers make upon the young people in our society.

The other, much happier occasion was the presentation of the 1999 Greenspun Junior High School Communications Award to Ira G. Kimball. Kimball is a seventh-grade English teacher at Greenspun who will retire this June after a 30-year career with the Clark County School District. While it is fair to say that during his teaching career he impacted thousands of young minds and an equal number of older minds during his stints with various locally- and nationally-oriented communications efforts, it is most accurate to say that his greatest impact has been during the past seven years at Greenspun Junior High. At least that is the way I and all of his students see it!

This year's Communications Award, which was conceived as a tribute to my parents, Barbara and Hank Greenspun, was actually created Mr. Kimball as a way of allowing his communications students to honor members of the community who have given back in significant and meaningful ways. Past recipients of the award have been KLAS Channel 8 co-anchor Paula Francis, former CCSD superintendent and present Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn, and CCSD Superintendent of Schools Brian Cram. That is a list of notables that anyone should be proud to join. With the addition of Ira Kimball, I suspect that the earlier recipients will be just as proud to have joined him on the list.

As part of the very warm and moving presentation of the Communications Award, the students had arranged a panel discussion for members of the Las Vegas Sun. With the Sun's associate editor, Sandra Thompson, acting as moderator, I joined our publisher, Barbara Greenspun, my brother, Danny, and former Nevada governor and current Sun editorial board chairman, Mike O'Callaghan, to discuss whatever issues concerned the students. Naturally, Columbine High School topped the agenda because the students wanted to know what we thought went wrong and how we were going to make things right.

At the end of the discussion, though, it became more than apparent that the best and brightest of tomorrow's leaders were assembled in that room. And while we may have disagreed slightly on how to address the problem, there was no mistaking the one word "fix" that came from the students almost in unison. In a tribute to what Kimball and each of the teachers at the junior high school have been trying to teach all these years, the word "communication" jumped out of that young audience like it was the only word worth uttering. And you know something, it was.

For it is our ability to talk with one another, to communicate with people, that makes us human and keeps us civil. To a person, the consensus was clear that had those two students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, been able to communicate their troubles or their problems or their thinking to someone who could act, the likelihood of Columbine happening would have been dramatically reduced.

Now remember, we were talking with a group of well-dressed, well-spoken and well-taught young people who probably represented the best of what that or any other school has to offer in this community. But their answer to the significant issues that face each of them and their colleagues is not one based on social or economic standing, academic talent or even the ability to converse at a high level. It was one, I suggest, that is based on a simple but irrefutable fact. When people are talking to one another, they are not fighting with each other. And when people take the time to communicate their feelings and concerns with each other, they find more common ground to stand upon than divided ground upon which to fight.

This is the message we took from Greenspun Junior High School on Monday. It was from the mouths of the young people rather than the other way around. And it gave me great moment to pause and reflect how fortunate the world will be when these young people grow up to be older, wiser leaders.

That's how many good things in life get their start -- in the classroom. And thanks to 30-year efforts by outstanding communicators like Ira Kimball, the products of those classrooms -- students who can think, act and achieve -- should help make the world a better, saner place. One with far fewer Columbines and many more awards for significant achievement.