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Health & Fitness

"Neighbors' Chess Song Won't Be Included in Student Concert

Effort to include 'Neighbors' Chess Song' in student concert is rejected.

 

I made contact with the Greenwich Board of Education (BOE), Public Relations Department, so without putting people on blast, yet. I’ll just write that my draft of a proposed request to included the Chess Song in one of the middle school choir’s 2013 Spring Concert was denied. The response from the BOE saddens me because the benefits to the choir singing the song and those listening, is that they will learned the basics beginnings of chess, which is how the chess pieces move. (Most children who learn the Chess Song aren’t intimidated by the process of chess, as a matter of fact they dive into the undertaking.)

Another benefit to the choir singers that was included in the proposed request is that NEIGHBORS would film/video the concert and put it on Public, Educational and Government, public/community Access channels. Naturally, upon request NEIGHBORS will give a DVD to the participants. I didn’t get a chance to share that idea or others like NEIGHBORS giving chessboards out at the concert, or maybe the choir members wearing chess pieces hats.

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The BOE representative told me that they do not allow their students to be filmed/video for non-commercial or not. So I made a few calls to NEIGHBORS supporters and I learned another way to approach the BOE. I remember Greenwich having a creed that goes something like making the town a better place while you live here or better than when you came, which is exactly what NEIGHBORS is trying to do through promoting chess.   

I feel most parents don’t see the importance of chess until they stand in front of a judge answering for their child’s thoughtless actions, mentally asking their child,
“How you didn’t see this coming, I told you to come straight home” or “I warned
you to stay away from those stupid kids, now look what you got me into”. Break
the law you get punished those are the laws. That judge doesn’t care that you’re loosing a day’s pay or missing a doctor’s appointment your child broke the law. When you interact with your kids using chess pieces and board you’ll be introducing them to the advantages of and reasons for rules/laws before you have to stand in front of a judge, counselor or principal.

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NEIGHBORS III will premiere in Danbury, Community Access Ch 23 Mondays, starting October 22, 2012 at 8:30 pm. We’re still on Greenwich's Government
Access channel 24, Verizon FiOS; Government Access channel 79 and on Wednesdays at 6pm and Sundays 8:30am Ch 88 Cablevision. Like us at https://www.facebook.com/neighborstv
our Matthew at https://www.facebook.com/YourCruiseTA. Thank you for supporting NEIGHBORS.

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