Sister schools in Louis Rose’s hometown and adopted city approved by San Diego School Board

By Donald H. Harrison

SAN DIEGO – The San Diego Board of Education on Tuesday, March 29, formally approved a sister-school agreement between Cabrillo Elementary School here and the Grundschule of Neuhaus-an-der-Oste, Germany, thereby making partners of schools in the hometown of  Louis Rose and  his adopted home in San Diego.

Rose, an entrepreneur who became San Diego’s first Jewish settler in 1850, was born in Neuhaus-an-der-Oste on March 24, 1807.   The City of San Diego formally dedicated Louis Rose Point in his honor on March 24, 2011, on Rose’s 204^th birthday.

In approving the arrangement, board members Scott Barnett, Richard Barrera, Kevin Beiser and John Lee Evans, with board member Shelia Jackson absent, endorsed a mission statement for the partnership, which stated:  “Through a sister-school relationship and the integration of cultures, including the arts, music and literature, students will develop the ability to successfully use their knowledge of diverse cultures to think and act globally and become thoughtful, responsible and successful global citizens.”

Norman Greene, president of the Louis Rose Society for the Preservation of Jewish History, commented that the society “sees this collaboration as a living legacy to the first Jewish settler in San Diego.  We’re extremely pleased by the Board’s action.”

According to material approved by the board, partnership activities will include:

1)  Sharing cultural, historical and educational experiences’ information through mutually agreed upon activities and exchanges.

2) Developing a “penpal” program that will enable students in both schools to share their thoughts and experiences with each other.

Doris Hennington, principal of the Grundschule in Neuhaus an der Oste, commented in a letter to Nestor Suarez, principal of Cabrillo Elementary School, that  “the idea of connecting the students of both schools through new communication channels during the time of globalization is very important. … The students will have the opportunity to learn about the daily life and the attitude towards life of people in another country.”

The German educator continued in her letter:

“Our students will learn that children all over the world grow up and go to school under different conditions. That they learn wherever they are and that each one of us is responsible for our planet and those who live on it.

“Currently, 130 children attend our school every day. Those children are divided in 7 classes.  Our teaching staff consists of 12 teachers, teacher assistants for morning and afternoon, one facility manager and our secretary. Very close to our school, just behind the dike, flows our river, the “Oste”, which offers a lot of opportunities for our students to make their own experiences and adventures. Not far away from our school the Oste River joins the Elbe River.

“Our school offers the students everything they need.  We have a gym, a very good workshop, enough rooms for our noon and afternoon supervision, a music room with a lot of instruments, a grand inside patio, group rooms, a reading and playing corner, a mobile computer room, and many nice, sunny classrooms with a view to nature and to the river.

“For our next school year, which starts in August 2011, we want to implement a computer workshop.  As a result, we want our students to start a pen-pal relationship with each other.

“Our students start learning English in third grade and could write your students some short e-mails. We would also love to send you some pictures of our beautiful landscape and the village in which Louis Rose was born. Of course, we are very curious to see what your city, school and landscape looks like.”

Cabrillo Elementary School includes classes from Kindergarten through Grade 4.  Located at 3120 Talbot Street in the Point Loma area, it is just a couple blocks from the original boundary of Roseville, the townsite that Louis Rose laid out in 1869, and which now is incorporated in the Point Loma community.  Cabrillo Elementary School is the successor school to Roseville Elementary School, at which Louis Rose’s daughter, Henrietta, was the first teacher.

Students from Cabrillo Elementary School on Thursday, March 24, participated in a ceremony dedicating Louis Rose Point, planting behind a historic marker two rose bushes anticipating the formal partnership between the two schools. .