Our public place observation took place at a small shopping center located about a mile southeast of O'Farrell. The center contained a taco shop, a McDonalds, a Filipino grocery store, a Filipino video rental, and a Blockbuster. There was also a Thrifty drug store, a laundry mat , a beauty shop, and a police store front. The center was clean, orderly, and active. There were families at at Mc Donalds and in the laundry mat. There were also some young people hanging out. It seemed to be some what of a gathering place for the community. There were five older Filipino gentleman standing on the corner talking. The people were multicultural and we heard Filipino, Spanish and English being spoken. The sounds we heard came from cars in the parking lot with Rap music and in the background music in the stores in the mall.
Kent attempted to interview five Filipino gentlemen standing on a corner, however they appeared to have little knowledge of, or interest in the school or the community beyond saying it was nice. Kendra interviewed a young woman at McDonalds who is a manager there and had a lot of controversial comments about the students in the community. Mc Donalds is a local hangout for the students in the community. The manager spoke about the students as being disrespectful and rowdy. She continued on by telling me that the students smoke in the restaurant (which is non-smoking), the girls graffiti with their lipstick in the bathroom, and the students stand in the middle of the drive-thru and discourage other customers. As she spoke she was very passionate about fixing this problem. I asked her what I could do as a student teacher in this community and her initial reaction was “well, I know that when the kids are off school grounds they are no longer your responsibility” and I tried to comfort her by expressing my concern and hopes for a plan of action. Subsequently, the manager at the Taco Shop said he had “few problems beyond kids just being kids”! Roy had a positive interview in the center. He spoke with three graduates of Morse high school and San Diego high school. They did not have any negative comments about the students or the school and were very proud of the students and the neighborhood.