Why is Soka Gakkai Being Allowed to Influence Our Public Schools?
Wednesday, June 13, 2001
Beyer Elementary School in San Ysidro, California, Appoints SGI President and Mrs. Ikeda as Honorary Principals
(Original Article from SGI Website Here)
On June 6, SGI President Daisaku Ikeda and his wife, Mrs. Kaneko Ikeda, were appointed honorary principals of Beyer Elementary School in San Ysidro, California, USA, in recognition of their longstanding contributions to the advancement of education, anti-violence, and peace on an international scale, based on the value-creating pedagogy of Soka education. Mr. and Mrs. Ikeda are being lauded as ideal role models, reflecting the school's educational philosophy.
On the same day, the school also dedicated a garden, grown and cared for by the students, to educator and first Soka Gakkai president Tsunesaburo Makiguchi (1871-1944)--The Makiguchi California Native Plant Garden--in commemoration of his 130th birthday. Trees were planted in honor of Mr. Makiguchi, Mr. Ikeda, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., and Cesar Chavez (1927-1993), founder of the United Farm Workers' Union. San Ysidro is located in the southern-most part of California, next to the U.S.-Mexico border.
Attending the ceremony were: Beyer Elementary School Principal Fred Cruz, San Ysidro School Administrator Grace Kojima, Beyer School teacher Josephine Hamada, who proposed the honorary principal appointments, other faculty and students, and SGI-USA General Director Daniel Nagashima, who represented Mr. and Mrs. Ikeda.
Monday, November 26, 2001
Beyer Elementary School, California, to Establish Toda Garden
(Original Article from SGI Website Here)
Beyer Elementary School in San Ysidro, California, plans to establish a "Toda Peace Tree Grove" on the school grounds in memory of Josei Toda, second Soka Gakkai president and mentor to SGI President Daisaku Ikeda. On November 13, a cherry tree planting ceremony was held to commemorate the start of the garden's construction. The dedication is a gesture of appreciation for the goodwill and friendship between Beyer Elementary School and Mr. and Mrs. Ikeda, who were named honorary principals of Beyer in June this year. In August, Mr. Ikeda presented a poem to students in Beyer and donated books to the school library. The SGI contributed cherry trees to San Ysidro and plants to Beyer's Makiguchi California Native Plant Garden, which was established as a tribute to the humanistic pedagogy of educator and first Soka Gakkai president Tsunesaburo Makiguchi.
Friday, February 22, 2002
(Original Article from SGI Website Here)
Beyer Elementary School students, San Ysidro, California
In August 2001, Mr. Ikeda presented a poem to students in Beyer Elementary School in San Ysidro, California, USA, and donated books to the school library, following his and his wife Kaneko Ikeda's appointments as honorary school principals in June 2001. The SGI also contributed cherry trees to San Ysidro and plants to Beyer's native plant garden, which was established as a tribute to the humanistic pedagogy of educator and first Soka Gakkai president Tsunesaburo Makiguchi. The school plans to honor Josei Toda, second Soka Gakkai president and Mr. Ikeda's mentor, by naming a tree grove on the school grounds in his memory.
Saturday, August 24, 2002
Beyer School in Southern California, USA, Unveils Monument Inscribed with SGI President's Poem
(Original Article from SGI Website Here)
Beyer School teachers and students with SGI representatives
On August 19, Beyer School in San Ysidro, California, USA, unveiled a monument inscribed with a poem SGI President Daisaku Ikeda dedicated to Beyer School students in August 2001. SGI Vice President Hiromasa Ikeda attended the ceremony on behalf of his father, together with Soka Gakkai Vice President Kenji Yoshigo and SGI-USA General Director Daniel Nagashima. Mr. and Mrs. Ikeda were named honorary principals of the school in 2001.
Tuesday, June 17, 2003
Beyer Elementary School in San Ysidro, California, USA, Commemorates First Soka Gakkai President's Birth Anniversary
(Original Article from SGI Website Here)
Beyer students pose in Makiguchi Garden with Principal Cruz and teacher Josephine Hamada
Beyer Elementary School in San Ysidro, California, USA, commemorated the 132nd birth anniversary of educator and first Soka Gakkai president Tsunesaburo Makiguchi. The ceremony also commemorated the second anniversary of the Makiguchi California Native Plant Garden, which was established in June 2001 as a tribute to Mr. Makiguchi's humanistic pedagogy. Principal Fred Cruz, teachers and students of Beyer Elementary School and SGI-USA representatives attended.
On the occasion, SGI President Daisaku Ikeda and Mrs. Kaneko Ikeda received a commendation from California State Senator Denise Moreno Ducheny, for their "efforts to promote the time-honored principles of nonviolence and community empowerment, while encouraging children and adults to enjoy our region's natural beauty." SGI-USA Senior Vice General Director Richard Sasaki received a certificate, on behalf of the Ikedas, from Ms. Ducheny. SGI-USA Vice General Director Ian McIlraith read the Ikedas' message of appreciation.
[In June 2001, SGI President Daisaku Ikeda and Mrs. Kaneko Ikeda were named honorary principals of the school for their longstanding contributions to the advancement of education. Mr. Ikeda presented a poem to Beyer students and donated books to the school library. The SGI contributed cherry trees to San Ysidro and plants to Beyer's Makiguchi California Native Plant Garden. As a gesture of appreciation for the goodwill and friendship between Beyer and Mr. and Mrs. Ikeda, the school opened "Toda Peace Cherry Tree Grove" on the school grounds in memory of second Soka Gakkai president Josei Toda.]
There's more shenanigans from Beyer Elementary School:
ReplyDeleteSAN YSIDRO – The Japanese and the children of Beyer Elementary School reaffirmed their unusual bond yesterday with a memorial ceremony for the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks.
In a cherry orchard in the southeast corner of the gravel-surfaced playground, the school honored a Japanese victim of the attacks, David Aoyama of Culver City. Aoyama was on the hijacked flight that crashed into the north tower of the World Trade Center.
The orchard has a plaque in Aoyama's memory, and his widow, daughter and son laid a wreath by it to mark the fourth anniversary of his death.
Emily Aoyama, the daughter, told Beyer's 600 kindergarten-through-sixth-graders that their proximity to the border gives them the opportunity to make friends from other countries.
"I promise to everyone and to my father that I will dedicate my life to bringing the people closer and ultimately bringing world peace closer to our hearts," Aoyama said.
The connection dates to the spring of 2001, when Beyer second-grade teacher Josie Hamada gained permission to make Dr. Daisaku Ikeda and his wife, Kaneko, honorary principals of the school. Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20160708190552/http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/uniontrib/20050910/news_1m10beyer.html
Grotesque.
Also, Josephine Hamada has a Japanese last name - she's the one who proposed that Ikeda and his wife be made honorary principals - and the school administrator who approved it, Grace Kojima - her actual name is Grace AKIKO Kojima. She's a Japanese national. She retired from her administrative position at Beyer Elementary in 2001, so before the David Aoyama crap. Sounds like Josephine Hamada's the real problem there.
ReplyDeleteBeyer Elementary School was torn down in 2012, apparently: http://www.10news.com/news/frustrated-south-bay-parents-sound-off-about-a-school-they-were-promised-years-ago-041916
So much for all the SGI hoohah...
And now some comments about Beyer Elementary school, from the above article:
“What happened in the past here was that there was so much of that dictatorship-like leadership where no one had a chance to voice their opinions.”
How very SGI...
There was also a lawsuit over the pesticides sprayed on the cherry trees making children at the school sick: http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/education/sdut-san-ysidro-school-district-settles-ruiz-lawsuit-2015mar10-story.html
And from "Grand jury finds much to criticize at San Ysidro schools":
"Down the street from the San Ysidro School District offices sits empty land that was once home to Beyer Elementary. The school was torn down to make room for brand new facilities, and almost four years later, the land is still vacant."
"That’s only one criticism in a scathing new report from the San Diego County Grand Jury that hammers San Ysidro for mismanagement. It cites missteps that include buying unusable land, scheduling “questionable” bond payments and burning documents. All that occurred, the report said, as the district “amassed hundreds of millions of dollars in long-term debt with little to show for it.”"
Beyer Elementary was torn down in the 2012-2013 school year to make way for a new school slated for construction with those bond funds. The site remains an empty lot. https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/San-Ysidro-School-District-Wants-to-Use-Bond-Funds-to-Settle-Lawsuit-320360441.html
Given that this Beyer Elementary School ALSO had "Toda Peace Cherry Tree Grove", it's just as well it was all razed to the ground.
Back to Josephine Hamada - found this (http://eltecolote.org/content/arts_culture/buddhist-troupe-prepares-first-foray-into-carnaval/):
1 COMMENT FOR THIS POST
Josie Torres Hamada · May 26, 2010 7:12 pm
I used to live in the mission so I know it very well. I was
very much involved with the community then. I team taught with Tom Arminano the congressman. I sure hope you have invited him because he loves the Mission District. I’ll chant for a great success. I teach in San Ysidro the school district by the border. Que les vaya bien. Josie
Yuh huh. Nice. Called it.
Thanks for sharing. Does my heart good that a school for SGI brainwashing of our children no longer exists.
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