Bing and Bernie will discuss child-centered education and how a more resilient culture has been forming over the years within the Lagunitas School District, with Amy and Tom Valens of Forest Knolls,  and Mark Phillips of Woodacre.  Mark Phillips is a professor emeritus of secondary education at San Francisco State University, and is the author of a monthly column on education for the Marin Independent Journal.

Tom and Amy have created and directed "August to June, Bringing Life to School,” which documents an entire school year of an 8-10 year old classroom, presided over by a veteran teacher, whose husband is the filmmaker. This film has been described as “a brilliant poem of childhoods in motion” as it gives us joyous glimpses into the hearts of these children.  It features the Open Classroom as an example of how to support the growth of children as emotional, social, and intellectual beings, we’ll explore why throwing off the shackles of standardized curriculum  and testing is the right thing to do.

"August to June” - This 88-minute film asks us to reconsider how we achieve what we really value for our children and our society, celebrating values we are on the brink of losing in the single-minded pursuit of higher test scores!