School Daze 27 | ***Dave Does the Blog

Getting that darned sickness out of the way

Just as well we got all the illness out of the way (hah!) this past week/weekend, since the next two weeks are looking pretty crazy: This week coming up ……

Just as well we got all the illness out of the way (hah!) this past week/weekend, since the next two weeks are looking pretty crazy:

This week coming up …

Monday: Margie’s “cooking” for a church adult ed class (one of a series). Fortunately, (a) she’s feeling better, and (b) she’s managed to come up with a very yummy meal all out of pre-made food from Safeway and Costco (Costco lasagna, frozen green beans, pre-made garlic bread, some sort of yummy ice cream bon-bon things, pre-cut salad).
Tuesday: I have Vestry meeting most of the evening. First of the year (and of the last year of my term, praise Allah).
Wednesday: Search Committee meeting, for about half the evening. Critical and important stuff to be discussed, as we move into our last month of activity — indeed, I expect there to be only one more official meeting of this sort.
Thursday: Orientation meeting for Kindergarten at Franklin. Not long, but still a time chunk. Not sure if we’ll all three go, or just one of us.

And that’s not counting some major business meeting stuff I have this week, or fitting in some CoH time, or getting the house ready for an overdue house cleaning on Wednesday, or festivities next weekend, or getting Christmas decorations down, or even when the heck we’ll be able to celebrate Valentine’s Day.

(“Hey, honey! For Valentine’s Day I got you a free 14-day trial of City of Heroes — if you use it, and sign on permanently after that, I’m eligible for a slot in the City of Villains beta! Honey? Honey, what are you doing with that — OW!”)

Next week is equally insane, as we have our Search candidates out visiting (one following the other) and Monday-Thursday nights are taken up with dinners of various sorts, not to mention probably some daytime hours, too, followed by a Saturday Hungry Flock, followed by possible jury duty the following Monday, followed by …

Glad I’m not sick any more. Yupsirree! So glad …

A sense of humor? In the Ed Biz?

I went to a parents meeting for pre-school special needs kids transitioning to kindergarten. It was serious overkill for Kitten, as much of the meeting had to do with how…

I went to a parents meeting for pre-school special needs kids transitioning to kindergarten. It was serious overkill for Kitten, as much of the meeting had to do with how to assuage fears and concerns about kids going into K (and what the consequences were if they didn’t).

Bottom line for Katherine is that she should sign up for her “neighborhood” school, and in the spring, at the school, we’ll have a transitional meeting with her current speech therapy team, the speech therapist from the school, and we’ll talk about how her IEP (Individualized Education Plan) is being transferred there.

(“Neighborhood” school is a slight misnomer for us, btw. See the map? Katherine’s “neighborhood” school is Franklin — which we know because we’re in that little rump area of “Franklin” in the lower right corner, which, as you can see, is not quite in the same neighborhood as Franklin itself. Katherine’s looking forward to taking the school bus.

At least this map shows that. In the K-transition packages we’ve been getting, that little corner of LPS isn’t even shown. Hrm.)

All in all, pretty much of a waste of time, except for one brief moment of (presumably) unintended hilarity.

While all of the elementary schools have ~~special ed teams~~ “resource centers,” there are a series of specific, more intensive programs that are housed at different schools. So the program for kids who need special care because of hearing disabilities is at one school, a few schools have a program specializing in academic/cognitive problems that can be handled in small groups, other schools have a program specializing in academic/cognitive problems that have to be handled one-on-one, etc.

One of the programs is called “TAB,” which stands for “Teaching Appropriate Behavior.” It’s for kids, as you might imagine, who have emotional or behavioral control problems.

The elementary school it’s headquartered at is named Moody.

Well, I thought it was funny.

Kitten in the News!

A CBS News 4 camera crew was in Kitten’s preschool class yesterday afternoon, filming a story about Littleton School District’s plans to start a privately-funded pre-school for infants-to-3-years-old (just ask…

I got the story TiVoed, hee-hee (so Margie can see it), but can’t find it posted on the web site, so you’ll have to come over to see Kitten take her first star turn on the little screen (“Four years old!”).

You got to fight … for your right …

Lots of jolly news here for First Amendment fans: high school kids are, according to a new study, both uneducated about their First Amendment rights, and not all that enthusiastic…

Lots of jolly news here for First Amendment fans: high school kids are, according to a new study, both uneducated about their First Amendment rights, and not all that enthusiastic about them.

Sort of.

The AP story waxes eloquent about the down side:

[W]hen told of the exact text of the First Amendment, more than one in three high school students said it goes “too far” in the rights it guarantees. Only half of the students said newspapers should be allowed to publish freely without government approval of stories. […]

When asked whether people should be allowed to express unpopular views, 97 percent of teachers and 99 percent of school principals said yes. Only 83 percent of students did.

The results reflected indifference, with almost three in four students saying they took the First Amendment for granted or didn’t know how they felt about it. It was also clear that many students do not understand what is protected by the bedrock of the Bill of Rights. Three in four students said flag burning is illegal. It’s not. About half the students said the government can restrict any indecent material on the Internet. It can’t.

To be fair, I wonder how many adults would answer the same way regarding those last two questions.

A review of the survey results paints a slightly different picture (though still troubling):

51% of students says that they agreed with the statement “Newspapers should be allowed to publish freely without government approval of stories.” 80% of both teachers and principals agreed with the statement, too, though only 70% of adults did (which is also mildly alarming).
However, 58% of the students said they agreed that “Students should be allowed to report controversial issues in their student newspapers without the approval of school authorities” (vs. 39% of teachers, 25% of principals, 43% of adults).
And 70% agreed that “Musicians should be allowed to sing songs with lyrics that others may find offensive,” versus 58% of teachers, 43% of principals, 59% of adults).

So they’re not all little budding authoritarians, they’re just most interested protection of their own forms of expression, not others. Which is both human and (especially) teen-aged.

Looking at the key findings of the study, I note this passage:

In recent years, in fact, annual surveys of adult Americans conducted by The Freedom Forum show that public support for the First Amendment is neither universal nor stable: it rises and falls during times of national crisis. In the wake of the 2001 terrorist attacks, the nation was almost evenly split on the question of whether or not the First Amendment “goes too far in the rights it guarantees.” Not until 2004 did America ‘s support for the First Amendment return to pre 9-11 levels, when it received support from only about two-thirds of the population. Even in the best of times, 30 percent of Americans feel that the First Amendment, the centuries-old cornerstone of our Bill of Rights, “goes too far.”

Which is irksome, but which indicates that the “over one third” of HS students (35%) who feel that way aren’t particularly out of the mainstream.

The survey was sponsored by a group that pushes “student media” studies (student newspapers, web pages, etc.), and the survey results seem to indicate that kids who participate in such activities tend to be more First Amendment-knowledgable and -supportive than those who don’t (or, conversely, that kids with such positions tend to pursue such activities). Programs like this, though, are increasingly pressed by costs and by school academic programs that push the Fundamentals in order to score well on tests.

Frankly, I’m in favor of school media programs, and a strong grounding in the Constitution (including the base document and all the Amendments, thank you, though the First holds a special place in my heart). But reading this survey doesn’t alarm me as much as it does some. Peering through the numbers at the actual results, it doesn’t sound like we’re raising a band of thought-crushing conformists, no matter how I’ve seen some folks express worries about how Authoritarian Police State Homeland Security Unquestioning Conservative Values or Authoritarian Politically Correct Thought Police Multi-Culti Liberal Values are doing just that.

(via Boing-Boing, QandO and a few others)

Don’t ask, don’t show

First impressions are lasting ones. One of Bill Clinton’s first big public acts was tackling discrimination against gays in the military. It was a worthy subject, but probably not the…

First impressions are lasting ones.

One of Bill Clinton’s first big public acts was tackling discrimination against gays in the military. It was a worthy subject, but probably not the best subject to tackle first. Not only did the backlash lead to a screwy compromise (“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”), but it came across as an odd thing to squander the initial momentum of his presidency on — and set the stage for the failure of his health care initiatives.

Going from the opposite direction, the new Secretary of Education, Margaret Spellings, who started in her job on Monday, seems set to make an odd first impression, too.

The nation’s new education secretary denounced PBS on Tuesday for spending public money on a cartoon with lesbian characters, saying many parents would not want children exposed to such lifestyles.

The not-yet-aired episode of “Postcards From Buster” shows the title character, an animated bunny named Buster, on a trip to Vermont — a state known for recognizing same-sex civil unions. The episode features two lesbian couples, although the focus is on farm life and maple sugaring.

Education Secretary Margaret Spellings said the “Sugartime!” episode does not fulfill the intent Congress had in mind for programming. By law, she said, any funded shows must give top attention to “research-based educational objectives, content and materials.”

“Many parents would not want their young children exposed to the lifestyles portrayed in the episode,” Spellings wrote in a letter sent Tuesday to Pat Mitchell, president and chief executive officer of PBS. “Congress’ and the Department’s purpose in funding this programming certainly was not to introduce this kind of subject matter to children, particularly through the powerful and intimate medium of television.” She asked PBS to consider refunding the money it spent on the episode.

“Postcards from Buster” is a spin-off from the popular “Arthur” cartoon, and focuses on Buster traveling around the country with his video camera, exploring the places, peoples, and ways of life there.

That in so doing, a lesbian couple is encountered, though, is evidently unacceptable to Sec’y Spellings.

Spellings issued three requests to PBS. She asked that her department’s seal or any statement linking the department to the show be removed. She asked PBS to notify its member stations of the nature of the show so they could review it before airing it. And she asked for the refund “in the interest of avoiding embroiling the Ready-To-Learn program in a controversy that will only hurt” it.

In closing, she warned: “You can be assured that in the future the department will be more clear as to its expectations for any future programming that it funds.”

The department has awarded nearly $100 million to PBS through the program over the last five years in a contract that expires in September, said department spokesman Susan Aspey. That money went to the production of “Postcards From Buster” and another animated children’s show, and to promotion of those shows in local communities, she said.

The problem with soliciting and accepting government money, of course, is that it subjects you to the ideological whims of whomever is running the government (and subject to every taxpayer’s bitching about what is and/or isn’t shown). Sec’y Spellings is doubtless correct that “many parents would not want their young children exposed to the lifestyles portrayed in the episode,” but there are likely parents who would object to any number of other things shown, too. For example, the episode set in Utah mentions that (gasp) Mormons live there, and actually explores aspects of their lifestyle! Who knows where such indoctrination might lead?!

Alas, PBS has backed down on the matter, going further than Sec’y Spellings requested:

A PBS spokesman said late Tuesday that the nonprofit network has decided not to distribute the episode, called “Sugartime!,” to its 349 stations. She said the Education Department’s objections were not a factor in that decision. “Ultimately, our decision was based on the fact that we recognize this is a sensitive issue, and we wanted to make sure that parents had an opportunity to introduce this subject to their children in their own time,” said Lea Sloan, vice president of media relations at PBS.

[…] On the episode in question, “The fact that there is a family structure that is objectionable to the Department of Education is not at all the focus of the show, nor is it addressed in the show,” said Sloan of PBS. But she also said: “The department’s concerns align very closely with PBS’ concerns, and for that reason, it was decided that PBS will not be providing the episode.” Stations will receive a new episode, she said.

WGBH, which co-produced the episode, will be showing it, and will also make it available to other stations.

(via Julia)

Kindergarten Prep

Margie went to Franklin Elementary last evening for “Intro to Kindergarten for Prospective Parents” night. Came back with glowing reviews — it sounds like they have a really neat program,…

Margie went to Franklin Elementary last evening for “Intro to Kindergarten for Prospective Parents” night. Came back with glowing reviews — it sounds like they have a really neat program, and they have a fine record. A third of the kids there are actually “outside enrollments,” from elsewhere in the district or from outside of it, which sounds pretty impressive.

The biggest question we face is deciding which K program to put her through. There’s a 2½-day course (Mon a.m., W, F or Mon p.m., T, Th), but there’s also an extended/enrichment 5-day-a-week program. The latter costs money, but that’s not the main worry. We’ve a little concern that it may be a “day care dump” for some of the kids, and we’d rather not get Katherine too involved in that — but, at the same time, I think both the expanded education and socialization opportunities of f/t school would be good for her, and I think she’s ready to be able to do it.

Sign-up is in a couple of weeks, so we have time to ponder over it.

Margie’s already wondering what she’ll do with her days without Katherine in the house (I suspect she’ll figure something out).

Unstuck

A judge has ruled that the Cobb County school district must remove their goofy “evolution is just a theory” stickers from their biology textbooks. US District Judge Clarence Cooper noted:…

A judge has ruled that the Cobb County school district must remove their goofy “evolution is just a theory” stickers from their biology textbooks. US District Judge Clarence Cooper noted:

By denigrating evolution, the school board appears to be endorsing the well-known prevailing alternative theory, creationism or variations thereof, even though the sticker does not specifically reference any alternative theories. […] While evolution is subject to criticism, particularly with respect to the mechanism by which it occurred, the sticker misleads students regarding the significance and value of evolution in the scientific community.

As the ACLU pointed out, any number of other “scientific theories” in the texts were not subject to similar disclaimers, which made it even more clear that evolution was being singled out for “consideration” versus other “scientific” theories.

Excellent.

The district is busy blaming their lawyer for the loss.

Normalcy

Kitten’s pre-school starts back up again today, which, we hope, will bring her back to a more normal footing at home. She’s gotten past, mostly, the adrenaliine-soaked-constant-attention-gathering vacation, but she’s been awful about going to bed — not protesting (more than usual), just not going to sleep, and being awake when we go to bed (which she seems to feel is just and fitting). She’s still doing her eleven hours, it’s just that the go from 10 to 9. Not good.

So, we hope, getting back into the school swing will burn some excess energy and get her back on an even keel. We hope.

Too clever by half

We had our annual review with the speech therapy team at Katherine’s school last Wednesday. She’s making triffic progress, still has some problems, but should be no problem for transition…

We had our annual review with the speech therapy team at Katherine’s school last Wednesday. She’s making triffic progress, still has some problems, but should be no problem for transition to Kindergarten in the Fall (not in speech, and certainly not in cognitive skills, ed level, social skills, physical skills, etc.). The teachers all love her, etc., etc., etc., and I’d say more but you’d accuse me of being prejudiced in the matter.

Her biggest problems right now stem from talking too quickly. Can’t imagine where she gets that from.

Anyhow, the speech teacher, Ms. Caroline, said she had to tell us the following story.

I wanted to go ahead and give her a formal speech inventory test before the meeting, so I had some objective scoring. So I sat down with her today and started going through the form with her.

At one point, when the word was “chair,” she pronounced it, “kair.” So I wrote a “K” down here in the form to indicate the nature of the mispronunciation.

She saw me do it, looked over, and said, “That’s a ‘K’.” I agreed, and she asked, “Why did you write that down?”

I told her that was the sound she had used to start the word, and she said, “No! I said kair!”

Ms. Caroline was amused because while some preschoolers have a vague interest in what it is she’s writing, few of them take it any further and try to (or recognize they need to) correct her. (She also took it as proof that Katherine knows the right sound to hear it, and knows that the the word/sound doesn’t start with “K,” but still can’t pronounce it quite.)

Upshot is that she’s going to start keeping her test materials, even for preschoolers, on a clip board so that they aren’t, uh, distracted by her note taking. She’s had to do this for kids at higher levels, but not for pre-K before.

Our little girl: pushing the envelope.

(Posted by CronDave)

It’s a wonder we survived

Yet more evidence that we are in the Crazy Years: more legal attacks on dodge ball in schools. This week, a New York state Appellate Division panel refused to dismiss…

Yet more evidence that we are in the Crazy Years: more legal attacks on dodge ball in schools.

This week, a New York state Appellate Division panel refused to dismiss a lawsuit that claims a school wronged a 7-year-old girl who broke her elbow while playing dodgeball. State and national education officials say what makes the case unique is that the lawsuit doesn’t fault the school for poor supervision ? but for allowing children that young to play at all.

Remarkably enough, I don’t recall in my youth, despite numerous dodge ball games, both during recess and as organized activities, anyone actually getting hurt or breaking a limb, even though we were playing on (gasp) asphalt. That’s anecdotal, perhaps, but it really doesn’t sound like dodge ball is an intrinsically dangerous or evil sport.

But the game is also being targeted as unfair, exclusionary, and warlike for school-age youngsters; some schools in Maine, Maryland, New York, Virginia, Texas, Massachusetts and Utah have banned dodgeball, or its variations, including war ball, monster ball and kill ball.

Warlike? Gads! Wait’ll they get a load of the chess club!

“Dodgeball is not an appropriate activity for K-12 school physical education programs,” according to The National Association for Sport and Physical Education, a nonprofit professional organization of 20,000 physical education teachers, professors, coaches, athletic directors and trainers. Dodgeball provides “limited opportunities for everyone in the class, especially the slower, less agile students who need the activity the most.”

I was not, you might be shocked to discover, one of the most physically adept kids in elementary school. I was slow, clumsy, and couldn’t throw a ball straight to save my immortal soul. But I loved dodge ball — and often did well at it by using my head, trying to guess where the guy with the ball was going to throw, and being so bad that I was underestimated (and, thus, not a target).

One question that could be asked is whether any competitive physical activity provides equal (or superior) opportunities for everyone in class — and, in fact, whether that’s actually the purpose behind PE activities. Maybe we should just have kids run laps. Everybody’s a winner running laps, right?

The judges found some merit in the family’s expert witness, Steve Bernheim, a recreational and educational safety authority.

Define “recreational and educational safety authority.” Please.

The judges wrote: “While there are no established standards of age appropriateness for dodgeball, it is recognized as a potentially dangerous activity and has been banned by several school districts in New York and elsewhere.”

See? Ban it one place and it sets for the idea in other places. Ban it in several places, and suddenly it’s a legal precedent.

The appellate panel said while schools can’t be “insurers of the safety of their students, they are under a duty to exercise the same degree of care as would a reasonably prudent parent.”

If that were the standard, I wouldn’t have a problem with it. I fear, though, the actual standard is “same degree of care as would a paranoid, overly-sensitive, and litigious parent.”

And, “best” of all, now that this case is actually going to court, it’s almost a guarantee that still more districts will ban the Evil Scourge of Dodge Ball, not so much because they actually think it’s dangerous, or inappropriate, or a threat to the bodily integrity and self-esteem of their students, but because of fear that some yahoo parent will file suit against them.

Alas, dodge ball is not something that lends itself to home schooling, unless you have several kids …

(via J-Walk)

Generation gap

“I brought my Fiona to school today,” Kitten said from the back seat. “That’s nice. What?” “My Fiona. Princess Fiona.” Fiona? Princess of Amber? One of Clarissa’s Brood, sister to…

“I brought my Fiona to school today,” Kitten said from the back seat.

“That’s nice. What?“

“My Fiona. Princess Fiona.”

Fiona? Princess of Amber? One of Clarissa’s Brood, sister to Bleys and Brand, chief sorceress of Amber, innocent of all but malice?

Fiona — five-two, perhaps, in height — green eyes fixed on Flora’s own blue as they spoke, there beside the fireplace, hair more than compensating for the vacant hearth, smoldering, reminded me, as always, of something from which the artists had just drawn back, setting aside his tools, questions slowly forming behind his smile. The place at the base of her throat where his thumb had notched the collarbone always drew my eyes as the mark of a master craftsman, especially when she raised her head, quizzical or imperious, to regard us taller others. She smiled faintly, just then, doubtless aware of my gaze, an almost clairvoyant faculty the acceptance of which has never deprived of its ability to disconcert.

“Fiona?”

“Yeah! She’s green!”

Well, yeah, green dress, offsetting her kin’s red hair. But how did she know about … and how did she have a … what, a figurine of her? But …?

I mean, I plan on introducing her to Zelazny eventually, but how would she know about …

Continue reading “Generation gap”

State of the Kitten

Parent-Teacher Conferences with Ms. Dana this evening. The quick summary: Kitten is a joy to have in the class. I didn’t get the impression that this was mere rhetoric. She…

Parent-Teacher Conferences with Ms. Dana this evening. The quick summary:

Kitten is a joy to have in the class. I didn’t get the impression that this was mere rhetoric. She and the TA were really enthused about their enjoyment of Katherine.
She’s ready for Kindergarten. Heck, they joked about skipping her up to Second Grade. On the little checklist report card, she’d filled out “M” in all the spots I saw, indicating Mastery of the necessary skills. She’s great with puzzles. She’s great with sequencing. She tells great stories, does great dramatic play, etc. She enjoys volunteering for various functions in the class (she especially enjoys being line leader, a role that rotates among the kids on a list, and she keeps asking the teacher, “Are you sure my name’s on there?”). She enjoys being in charge (e.g., playing teacher when the kids are playing school). She does things like, when asked to name a color, asks, “Do you want to know it in English or Spanish.”
She’s a tad on the sensitive side at times, being easily driven to tears if she thinks she’s being treated unfairly by an adult. Yeah, we know that all too well.
Her speech teacher indicated that her disfluency (stuttering) is practically gone — which, upon reflection, is true. Her articulation problems remain, especially when she talks at her normal speed (which is fast — wonder where she got that from); when she slows down, she can pronounce most of what she’s supposed to properlly. Need to work on “L,” “SH,” and “CH” sounds. She gets upset sometimes when she’s not understood (again, no news there, nor surprise). She’s bright, and has lots to say, and wants to talk faster than her mouth can do the words right now. Again, no surprise.

She goes in for her annual progress review on the speech stuff next month.

All in all, a very nice conference to have had to go to.

The Fat Police are coming …

No, not the police who happen to be overweight — the police to keep you from becoming overweight … MILFORD, Conn. – Cupcakes became contraband at Meadowside elementary school, after…

No, not the police who happen to be overweight — the police to keep you from becoming overweight …

MILFORD, Conn. – Cupcakes became contraband at Meadowside elementary school, after Principal Robert Davis banned all celebratory sweets — a move that has made some parents sour.

Health officials said Davis adopted a new policy of using games and crafts instead of baked goods to fete birthdays, holidays and special occasions, and praised it as a way to combat childhood obesity.

Right. Because kids were eating so many birthday cupcakes that they were becoming fat. I can just imagine it.

Yeesh.

Katherine’s pre-school also asks that we don’t bring in cupcakes for treats, but because they’re messy as all hell with pre-schoolers. That’s a reason I can live with.

An unintelligent design for a science curriculum

(Scratches Dover, Pennsylvania, off the places he might consider moving to …) When the Dover Area School Board voted to require the teaching of intelligent design Monday night, it likely…

(Scratches Dover, Pennsylvania, off the places he might consider moving to …)

When the Dover Area School Board voted to require the teaching of intelligent design Monday night, it likely became the first district in the United States to do so.

Until now, the battleground over intelligent design ? the theory that all life was created by a divine being ? has been largely fought in states such as Kansas and Ohio. But with Dover’s 6-to-3 vote in favor of teaching alternative theories to evolution, “including, but not limited to, intelligent design,” the battle lines might have shifted to include York County.

School board member Bill Buckingham is the chief architect of Dover’s newly revised biology curriculum that states “Students will be made aware of gaps/problems in Darwin’s Theory and of other theories of evolution including, but not limited to, intelligent design. Note: Origins of life will not be taught.”

As a theist, I believe that there is a design behind the universe. But I think trying to teach that ineffable design in school is useless, especially if it is couched as an “alternative” to natural selection.

The concept of “intelligent design,” is the idea that many aspects of life are too complex to have occurred randomly and therefore must have been created by a divine being. Its supporters say teaching it in the classroom is about fairness, giving equal time to competing theories.

I believe that the life was created out of whole cloth 47,000 years ago by a giant flying turtle with flames coming out of its shell holes, and the proof of this can be found in the inadvertent unconscious channeling of this event by the crafters of the various Gamera films. Will the ID supporters give me equal time to have my competing theory espoused in a classroom?

Beyond question, this is meant to give a scientific gloss to the insertion of religious concepts into classrooms. Even if “origins of life” aren’t to be taught, presumably the “intelligence” behind the creation of life will indeed be attributed to a divine creature (as opposed to, say, space aliens).

The devout Christian admitted that before presenting the revised curriculum to the board, he had been talking to a conservative Michigan law firm that is interested in defending an intelligent design legal challenge. […] Buckingham said Tuesday night that he has been promised legal support by the Ann Arbor-based Thomas More Law Center, a law firm that champions such issues as school prayer and “promoting public morality.”

Frankly, I don’t have any problems balancing the idea of natural selection with the idea of a Creator, nor do I need someone to “prove” it to me (as someone once said to someone else — wish I could remember who — “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.”). Regardless of my beliefs, though, I don’t even want my personal religious opinions taught in my own daughter’s classroom (I have plenty of time to indoctrinate her at home, bwah-ha-ha), let alone someone else’s. One can certainly discuss the various challenges regarding various theories of evolution — including how it has in fact evolved since Darwin’s original theories (like most science does). Opening the discussion to theological alternatives, though, is bad science.

Here’s hoping the Thomas More Law Center gets a chance to “defend” the policy change in court real soon.

(via Les)

Lockdown

When Margie went to pick up Katherine at preschool yesterday, she found out that the school had been on a “lockdown” between 3 and 4 — and, as of a…

When Margie went to pick up Katherine at preschool yesterday, she found out that the school had been on a “lockdown” between 3 and 4 — and, as of a half-hour earlier, there were still a gaggle of police cars at a house down the street.

No details on what was going on, and nothing in this morning’s paper that I can find.

Annoyingly, the school did try to contact us. They called the house (and nobody was there). Then, rather than dialing my cell phone number (the one marked as the primary alternate with a great big star next to it), they tried calling Margie’s office. They did not leave a message, and then went on to try to contact other parents.

Granted, they were a bit harried, but that’s what procedures are for, right?

Margie reemphasized to them that the big star was next to my cell phone for a reason.

(Kitten, of course, took the whole thing in stride. For her it was just a chance to be in a different room with a bunch of other kids.)

This is so me

I don’t know which is funnier, my incredibly nostalgic reaction to seeing a Pee-Chee folder in this Defective Yeti story, or that I had the same sort of thing happen…

I don’t know which is funnier, my incredibly nostalgic reaction to seeing a Pee-Chee folder in this Defective Yeti story, or that I had the same sort of thing happen to me regarding the band in question, except it only happened about five years ago (and not in the context of a Pee-Chee folder). *Sigh*

I suspect we’ll see this scene played out again

“The Irony Gods are rolling on the floor right now,” was my comment to Margie as Katherine wailed like the damned for being ejected from her bed to go to…

“The Irony Gods are rolling on the floor right now,” was my comment to Margie as Katherine wailed like the damned for being ejected from her bed to go to school. Margie’s at all-day off-sites, so we arranged for Katherine to attend the on-site child care at her pre-school in the mornings, followed by her class in the afternoon. That meant getting her there by 8 in order to have breakfast.

Now Margie seemed to interpret the comment as meaning that the Irony Gods were laughing at us for our past getting-up sins and tormented howls to our own parents. Pish-tosh. I thought they were laughing at Katherine for all the times she’s dragged one of us out of bed, when all we wanted to do was sleep in, snug under the covers, undisturbed.

Of course, the Irony Gods are equal-opportunity laughers. They have no hesitation about laughing at everyone.

Picture imperfect

When I reached college, I was amazed to find out that seniors got to decide what their yearbook photo would look like. That’s a heavy responsibility, and I stepped up…

When I reached college, I was amazed to find out that seniors got to decide what their yearbook photo would look like.

That’s a heavy responsibility, and I stepped up to it by coming up with something really goofy that I only sort of wince at now, even were I to show it to friends. (And, no, it’s not online anywhere, though I should probably scan it some time.)

But, at least, as a graduating college senior I could be considered an adult and capable of being held responsible for my silly actions.

As opposed to, say, these high school seniors.

There is definitely something to be said for the mug shot approach to yearbook pics.

(via Mama Write)

First Day of School

Continuing the tradition, here’s Katherine’s First Day of School, Fall 2004, official photos. And, yes, she is looking a tad ruddy from the sun she took over the weekend. Rumor…

Continuing the tradition, here’s Katherine’s First Day of School, Fall 2004, official photos.

And, yes, she is looking a tad ruddy from the sun she took over the weekend.

Rumor has it she had a great time in the Brown Room, learning about sentences and other esoteric trivia. Nifty.

In honor of Kitten’s pre-school starting tomorrow …

From Top5’s Little Fiver Food list for 26 August … The Top 9 Things Every Kindergartner Knows About Food 9. If it tastes really yucky, the teacher knows a song…

From Top5‘s Little Fiver Food list for 26 August …

The Top 9 Things Every Kindergartner Knows About Food
9. If it tastes really yucky, the teacher knows a song about how great it is!
8. In a pinch, glue is an acceptable condiment.
7. Absolutely everything tastes better with chocolate syrup or ketchup on it.
6. Most blue food you find in the fridge will make the puppy sick.
5. Mom’s M&M cookies are worth two sandwiches and a dead frog.
4. Dr. Pepper supplies the best on-demand burps.
3. Homogenize is what happens when it comes out your nose.
2. Your dog, your cat and your one-year-old brother all look the same eating peanut butter.
… and the Number 1 Thing Every Kindergartner Knows About Food …
1. Happy Meal french fries last longer than the Happy Meal toys. But the toys taste better.

via Bill Livingston, Decatur, AL (1), Ken Stone, San Jose, CA (2), Jeff Morris, South Salem, NY (3), Kevin van Houten, The Colony, TX (4, 5), Christa Grunewald, Manhattan, KS (6, 8), Judith Cottrill, Bronx, NY (7), Bill Ervin, Tigard, OR (7), Sue Raskin, Palm Harbor, FL (9), Kim Walker-Daniels, Sun Prairie, WI (Wearer of the Big White Hat)

And, of course, there are the runners up and honorable mentions:

Somehow eating all the food on your plate helps those starving kids overseas. (Sue Raskin, Palm Harbor, FL)
Plain peas suck. Peas mixed with gravy and pudding ROCK! (Mark Sweatt, Marietta, GA)
Gravity is stronger when the juice you’re drinking will stain the rug. (James Knowles, Bellingham, WA)
If you EVER eat anything a girl has touched you’ll DIE! A lot! (Jim Bannon, Simian Hill, MD)
Most foods can be used as fingerpaints when necessary. (Rabbi Crut, Bowling Green, OH)
How much you want to eat an item of food is inversely proportional to how much your parents want you to eat it. (Johan Dartarus, Chapel Hill, NC; Joe Terranova, Lake Orion, MI)
Nothing contaminates your meal more than putting broccoli on the plate, because broccoli is the tool of the devil. (Judith Cottrill, Bronx, NY; Rabbi Crut, Bowling Green, OH)
Mashed potatoes are the best food fight food. (Judith Cottrill, Bronx, NY)
Peanut butter and hair don’t mix well. Unless you’re using the peanut butter to get bubble gum out of your sister’s hair. In that case, science rules! (Mary Ann McDonald, Sacramento, CA)
Paste at home is gross, yet paste at school is tasty. I guess Mom’s right — it is more fun to eat out. (Bill Ervin, Tigard, OR)
If it comes from home or the cafeteria don’t eat it. If it comes from art class, the ground or your friend’s lunch bag, it’s okay! (Steve Lunetta, Tucson, AZ)