4
Wednesday, June 28, 1978
University Daily Kansan
Staff Photo by SUZANNE BURDICK
Small talk
Once a day the children from the Lawrence Open School gather in a circle to share their thoughts and feelings with their friends.
School offers state-approved option
By KERRY BARSOTT and JOY CLARK Staff Writers
After four years of planning and struggle, the Lawrence Open School, a private school that offers an educational alternative for children, has officially
"We tried for a long time to get this accepted in the public schools and it was really controversial," Michael Bryant, coordinator of the school, said yester-
"When that didn't work, we tried to get state approval to run it as a private school."
Bryant said that to be approved by the state, the school was inspected by the state architect, the fire department, the county commission and the Board of Education.
"I feel like exclaiming that we are finally state-approved," he said.
finally state-approved.
State law requires that the school be in operation for a year to be fully accredited.
"WE HAVE A BEAUTIFUL house. and we're going to put about $6,000 worth of improvements to get it ready for the fall," he said.
The building, at 14th Street and Monterey Way, is jointly owned by five members of the school, including two KU students. It is the program since its conception in 1974.
Bryant said the school was created by Lawrence residents interested in alternatives to the public school system.
Open only a month; the school has an enrollment this summer of 20 students from ages 5 through 8. The expected enrollment during the fall is 30 to 35 students.
"The school is set up with a series of choices for the kids," he said.
"WE HAVE PARENTS who want these choices for their children and believe in them."
The purpose of the school, according to Bryant, is to allow students enough freedom to pursue their interests within a structure of basic skills.
"The key to open education is for the kids to develop a sense of self-respect and decision making abilities," he said.
center, they can play language arts games that teach them grammar and spelling or they may choose to read."
He said the school would offer workshops, called minicourses, by parents, KU students and Lawrence residents.
"FOR INSTANCE. in language arts, the kids have a choice of going to the listening center or the creative writing
"THERE'S NO limit to the type of minicourses we'll have," he said. "We've had offers by KU students and others who want to work with children in all
As part of the "Parent Agreement," each parent is required to attend monthly meetings to discuss goals of and improvements for the school.
Bryant said the response from parents had been good.
"We don't have many disagreements between parents and teachers since everybody involved is because they want to be," he said. "Parents send their children to us because they believe in what we are doing."
He said school policy was determined by the monthly meeting of parents and teachers and a steering committee of educators and four professional educators.
Cement mixup delays bridge construction
"The Cheap Detective" probably will do well at the box office, and that's a shame. The aura surrounding author Neil Simons' name, the glitter of 15 big-time stars on the marquee and the enticing memory of Muriel Murchy's comedy-mystery, will pull the entertainment-hungry viewers to the theaters as cliff attracts lemmings.
Reviewer
Afraid to challenge the hosannas song to Simon's skill, audiences may keep telling themselves that they must be missing something, as this reviewer did for half the
Bv SARAH ILES
The audiences may delude themselves into laughing as a recent crowd did, which began to nervously chuckle as soon as the movie had begun on the screen. They may enter the theaters expecting the same quality as they found in Simon's recent hit, "The Goodbye Girl," and to try to ignore the hodgepodge dribble of audience members acting and the flat, desperate comedy.
But the viewers want their wits. "The Cheap Detective" seems to have been Simon's attempt at "formula writing." He wrote, "We are in the middle of a new discovery that previously found to be successful and didn't
YOU CAN ALMOST hear Simon telling himself that one sure-fire way to easy success would be to make the main character emulate someone all America loves, someone every viewer can recognize and enter the theater already unrestrained by the laws of Bogart. That way Simon would not have to worry about developing a character.
So, Peter Falk slurs his way through a sloppy imitation of Bogart's Sam Spade. Falk is Lou Peckipain, a San Francisco man who has been being framed with his partner's murder.
The actors and actresses could perhaps
SIMON ADDIS A bevy of coy, stupidly cure girls' stocking-Clarked man, Eileen Brennan, Ann-Margret, Madeline Kahn, Louise Fletcher and, of course, xorical teenagers. She has been ennounced with Falk, turns up in his office, his kitchen and his bathroom. But the girls don't have enough depth to even be interesting as sex objects. They are silicone dolls dropped long enough to squeak and squel their predictable lines while Falk leers unconvincingly. He might as well be a girl for all the masculine charisma he emits.
Mexican town rebounds from riot
MATAMOSR, MEXICO (AP) — Machinne-gun welding federal troops patrolled streets in Matamoras yesterday after quelling a siege by two armed men, left at least one person dead and 35 injured.
There were conflicting reports of the number of dead and injured. The U.S. consul said it had an unconfirmed report of one, and possibly two, deaths. The Mexican hospital authorities said that they knew of no deaths but that 35 were injured.
The Mexican government did not immediately comment on the incident.
worry about connecting the elements or figuring out whether they fit the situations
There had been reports of a policeman killed, but Mexican authorities denied it.
'Cheap Detective'tawdry
The demonstrators forced their way into public buildings, scattering police records
For four hours, angry students threw rocks and burned most of the businesses around the town square. Marcheted to the City Hall complex, burning the police headquarters and the jail, as well as the courthouse. The jail and police station were gutted.
have done better if they had a coherent plot to work with. The movie is a string of gnin jobs, boarding houses and wharfs, and there's an afternoon by movie-land lackets.
Confusion is essential in a good *my way*, movie, but only when it serves to mask the camera's point of view. The film explained away at the end. "The Cheap Deal" does no convincing resolution and the story's elements never connect. The end seems to be the point at which the camera ran out of film.
THE LACK OF A logical plot and convincing characters can often be overlooked when a movie is a comedy. Sometimes, such characters are the story's anchor, the story is only a backdrop for the lokes.
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Simon's jokes aren't strong enough to support the movie. He relies on silly bathroom talk and sexual innuendos as he navigates the dialogue. There were some elementary school-aged children in the first row who laughed when Madeline Kahn referred to "not making it to the bathroom" and "going doo-do on the carpet." for the sixth time in three years, but that sort of Freudian disdain in bodily functions. Nor is it especially amusing to hear Marsha Mason describe her romps in a gorilla suit or to watch Ann-Margret's gold-cleavage cleavage with thinly disguised hairs. Those things aren't cute; they are cheap.
"They claim they weren't notified, but we did notify them. They have been notified ever since we began the project," Ron Hennessy, Anderson Construction Co., said yesterday.
Hopeably, Simon is only temporarily lethargic and will soon roll off his laurels to resume writing worthy of his reputation. "The Cheap Detective" is a two-laugh movie that doesn't belong on the same shelf with the rest of his work.
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The riot was touched off by the death week of a teen-ager who was in police custody.
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The builder of the new Kansas River bridge has denied any wrongdoing in an alleged violation last week of the construction, which has temporarily halted construction.
The violation allegedly occurred when the contracting firm of Anderson Construction Co., Holton, poured cement on a support pier without notifying the engineering consulting firm of Finney and Turnipseed, Topeka.
The construction of one of the piers of the new bridge has been postponed until a compression test can be conducted on the cement used in the construction.
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'WE HAVE BEEN notified by the consulting firm that the test will take 28 days,'
meets the design strength, work may continue. John Frazier, consulting engineer, will be in contact.
"This seems a little unusual," he said.
"we can't recall them running a 28 day test in the past."
The compression test consists of taking three cylinder samples of cement from the same batch.
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The samples are then broken at 7, 14 and
34. An interoscope is used for strength
"At any time the tests show the cement
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