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Sumac's Cindy Simmons

This Journeys teacher instructs her kids on the importance of peace

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From the peace flags that fly in her classroom to the directed draw portraits of Mahatma Gandhi, it is apparent that the one message 's Cindy Simmons would like to instill in her students is the idea of peace.

Simmons received her credentials from Cal State Northridge and has been teaching grades K-2 for over 30 years.

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The long-time Agoura resident has been happily married for 29 years to Scot Simmons, a fiction author who just finished his second book.  Their daughter, Caitlin, attends UCSB and is pursuing her master’s degree in literature with plans to attain a doctorate.

“[Caitlin] would like to teach college literature, focusing on Shakespeare,” said Simmons.

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Simmons has been teaching at Sumac for about 17 years.  She taught first grade when she began and has been teaching kindergarten for “many, many” years. Last year, Simmons started instructing the district’s Journeys, a program for children that are born by the September 1st cutoff date but whose parents feel still aren’t quite ready for kindergarten.

The same standards that are taught in kindergarten are taught in the Journey’s pre-K program–upper and lowercase letter recognition, phonetic sounds, reading sight words and sentence writing–but at a slower pace. Most children go to a regular kindergarten class after finishing the program.

Laura Starks, a former room mom for Simmons told Patch that she cannot say enough good things about her.  “I wish I could come up with a word as big and as wonderful as supercalifragilisticexpialidocious to describe Mrs. Simmons, because she is all that and more," said Starks. "She is simply magical. I just loved watching the magic she brought to the classroom when my children were in her class.”

Agoura Hills Patch: Why did you go into teaching?

Cindy Simmons: My parents owned a day camp in Northridge called Camp Fun, and I’ve been working with kids since I was about 11-years-old.  Instead of going to camp I worked at a camp, so becoming a teacher just seemed natural to me.

Patch: What do you enjoy most about teaching young children?

Simmons: The simple answer is, of course, the children.

Patch: And a more complex answer?

Simmons: Our children are children for such a short amount of time.  I mean no offense to anyone, but I really hate how children these days seem to be given too much work too fast. Teachers in upper grades are forced to teach to the test, and children are straddled with hours of homework every night. I really hate that.

Even though I do teach standards, I also try my best to make sure that these kids have a wonderfully rich and diverse childhood. I feel blessed that we have the time in this class to teach the standards, yes, but also to teach art. We have a cooking class once a week, and we do yoga.  I try as best as I can to make their childhood better and instill the importance of peace in our world

Patch:  How do you teach that in here?

Simmons: Every morning we do peace talks and affirmations and talk about passive resistance. You would think that children this young wouldn’t understand such concepts, but they do. I teach them about Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr.; people who made a difference in our world without any violence or fighting, and show them that we can do that too.

I teach them that there are choices we make when we are angry and that we can talk or walk away instead of hitting.  I hope there is a ripple effect and that when they leave here, they might treat their brothers and their sisters and their parents and grandparents the same way, respectfully, and that I’m making a tiny difference in the world.  That’s why I’m here.

Patch: What do you like to do when you’re not teaching?

Simmons: I love to read.  I spend as much time as I can reading.  I also really enjoy spending time with my family and friends.

Patch: Your husband has written two books. We hear that you’ve written books as well.

Simmons: Yes, I’ve written a series of children’s books. My friend, Mariposa teacher Nancy Powers, is the illustrator.  They are called the Bad Bill books and are based on my brother Bill, who was a very bad boy when we were growing up.  My students have always loved my Bad Bill stories.  They are stories about a boy who gets into trouble doing various things and has to suffer the consequences because that is life–we all make choices good or bad and must live with the consequences of those choices.

We are currently searching for a literary agent and also looking into the possibility of self-publishing.  I think the books are really good and teach an incredibly valuable lesson.

Patch: What is the best part of your job?

Simmons: Just seeing the bright and beautiful faces of my kids every day and hoping that in some way, no matter how small, I’m helping to make a difference in their life. Really, what is better than that?

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