Babysitter

When I was a young girl, I did a lot of babysitting for neighbors (paid) and my parents (unpaid other than the whole meals and roof over my head deal they had going). My mom returned to work full-time when we lived in Butte, Montana. Butte was a small town and most of us kids were often unsupervised from sun up to sun down.

One of the ways I took to entertaining my two younger siblings was to take the city bus to the local mall. I was probably around 12 years old, my younger brother 9 (& special needs) and my baby sister was around 4. We would leave the house, get on the city bus, which made its rounds to uptown Butte and then eventually end up at the mall. There we might see a movie, or eat a hot pretzel, and wander around the mall for a couple of hours. This was before cell phones so my parents really had no way to contact me to check in. They just trusted that we were okay.

That's why this story makes me sad. I understand "why" the authorities did what they did, but I also think back to my own childhood when something like this would not have raised eyebrows or risked threat of arrest for my parents!

Friday Fill-Ins - The Patriotic Edition!

1. When I heard Sarah Palin was resigning I admit I chuckled gleefully.

2. The happiness of my kids is the best medicine.

3. It's late, but I still have cake to frost.

4. My husband loves me always.

5. My eyes have seen many beautiful & wondrous things.

6. I love my family fiercely & strongly.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to playing with my new IPhone, tomorrow my plans include finally meeting up with a long friend and Sunday, I want to Relax!

The Perfect Child

When a child is born, one counts toes and fingers to make sure that the child they hold is perfect. The visual inspection eases doubts that lingered through the nine months of carrying the child. Tests are run throughout the pregnancy. Results come back, once again, reassuring the parents-to-be that everything is normal.

The child is born. One holds the newborn, marveling at its perfection. One is relieved that their child is "perfectly normal."

However, there are no tests that will tell you what might happen in years to come. There are no tests for mental illnesses, which many times do not manifest themselves until the child reaches adolescence. Unlike a physical abnormality or even a mental handicap, there is nothing that prepares one for mental illness. It just all of a sudden appears and even before a bona fide diagnosis, when that "perfectly normal" child starts behaving in ways that are foreign to both the child and the parent, both are left wondering with feelings of uncertainty. The parent wondering where they went wrong and the child questioning what is wrong with me?

The parent slowly starts to realize that the struggle will be life-long. All one can do is reassure the child that they will be there for them.

That is all I can do. My heart aches for Artist Girl who I am slowly beginning to realize will battle her demons for a lifetime. The frustrations that I feel when she makes decisions that I will never understand are probably but a small piece of what she feels as she struggles to feel normal.

Ways to Create Strife in School Districts

As a newly elected President, I've been privy to a few things in recent weeks that have really opened my eyes to the workings of my district. I'll preface all of this by saying that I'm sure that this is not how things are done in all districts, but I do believe that they happen in more than anyone should feel comfortable with. I will also say that in order to bring about a quality education by committed education professionals, please treat them as such.

1. Even though ed. code clearly states that laid-off teachers have 39 months to be rehired, my district is already pulling shenanigans. We have a dependent charter school. None of the teachers in this charter school received RIF notices, which as expected, created a rift because had teachers known that their jobs would have been protected had they worked at the charter, many (more than likely) would have worked there. That's not the end of it though. I discovered that my district is advertising two teaching positions at the charter school, in clear violation of ed. code. We still have 120 teachers who received final lay-off notices, yet, the district does not feel like they should have to offer any of these laid-off teachers these two positions.
   
   edited to add:The two positions were pulled and the District has agreed to contact the next two people on the rehire list. If those two decline, they will continue down the list. I need to monitor this to make sure it happens!
   
   
2. Fire a long-term teacher from his summer teaching position after receiving a complaint from a parent about the teaching being racist. This is a teacher who has been in the District for a decade and up until this incident, has never had any problems. Put this accusation in writing and tell the teacher that it's going in their personnel file and do not ask for the teacher's side of the story.
   
   edited to add: The teacher is being reinstated, however, the District wants to put a letter of reprimand in his file.
   
   
3. Tell a teacher who went through a harrowing battle with cancer that you are unwilling to let them work on a modified schedule because they "missed the deadline."
4. Close a popular program with a successful teacher at one high school because the principal has decided that sports is more important.
5. Increase class size by 8 students (20 students to 28 students in k-3) due to budget constraints, but be unwilling to reduce administration even though there are less teachers and less student enrollment.
   

These are just a few of the incidences that I have had to deal with since school let out. The capper to all of this is that the person I need to speak to regarding these issues is not returning my calls. I have talked to him briefly on the phone, but when he answers it, he tells me he is in a meeting and will call me back. Tomorrow, I think I may just camp outside his door.

It never ceases to amaze

I will confess that I was shocked by the death of Michael Jackson, however, I was not saddened by this news, not like I was to the news of Farrah Fawcett dying. To best express how I feel about Michael Jackson, the man, you need to read this, this, this, and this.

I do not mourn for Michael Jackson, the man, rather I mourn for the boy that he was and the potential of what could have been. That being said, even though he obviously had many demons from a tumultuous childhood, does not excuse his behavior as an adult.

In other news, I am appalled by this. Seriously? They cannot let this family grieve over the death of their mother, sister, aunt, simply because she "might be" an illegal immigrant? As a white woman, I wish white people wouldn't act so foolishly!

Happy Father's Day

To my dad who always believed that I could achieve anything that I set out to do and showed me by being such a good dad the qualities that I should look for in a man.

To my husband who is everything I could ever want - an all around good guy, who makes me laugh daily, who has instilled in me confidence by also believing in me when I have doubted myself.

I am truly blessed to have two terrific men in my life.

A victory of sorts

In our contract, we have two processes for evaluations, Process A for non-tenured/probationary teachers & Process B for tenured teachers. Process A is done for the first two years whereas Process B is done every other year. Most teachers when they have earned tenure fall under Process B, however, if a tenured teachers receives an unsatisfactory evaluation, they can be moved to Process A.

Under Process A, teachers have more objectives in which to be evaluated under and their admins are required to do more observations. They can also be assigned to work with a mentor teacher. This mentor teacher is required to also observe their colleague, in the hopes that these observations will move the veteran teacher back onto the Process B track. However, if they fail to make progress, they can also be on the track to losing their jobs. Evaluations are purely subjective and for that reason alone can be used for nefarious purposes.

Let me say right now that I do believe that some tenured teachers should be moved back onto Process A, if it will help with them become better teachers. I also believe that some people do not belong anywhere in a classroom. All that being said, some admins have been known to abuse this process in the hopes of getting rid of teachers they just do not like.

Such was the case of one of the teachers I'm helping right now. His administrator has a clear case of just not liking him and so he has done everything in his power for the past year to make this man's life miserable. He wanted to move this teacher from Process B to Process A and have him work with a mentor teacher in the upcoming year.

Unfortunately for the administrator he did not follow the timelines and the sole evaluation that counted was satisfactory. For this teacher it means that he will not fall under Process A for the upcoming school year and all evaluations and observations will be thrown out.

There is another huge piece to this that I can't divulge at this time. However, suffice to say, I think if we get this second piece, then it will be a huge first victory. For now I'll take the partial victory and know that one of the first things I need to work on for the upcoming school year is to thoroughly educate our administrators on following Process A & B and following the guidelines as set forth in our contract.

There are times . . .

when I strongly feel that parenting a twenty year old is way harder than parenting a toddler.

She wears me out.

I'm glad she's home, but seriously, when is she going to stop repeating the same patterns as before?

My biggest fear is that she will never have the ability to leave.

Friday Fill-Ins

1. All children alarm their parents, if only because you are forever expecting them to make the same stupid mistakes you did.

2. Show me a good loser and I will show you someone who can roll with the punches.

3. I have no idea what it is like eating an entire box of chocolate liqueurs at one time and I have no intention of finding out!

4. Too bad that all the people who know how to run the country are busy making behind the door deals and not listening to their constituents.

5. I have yet to hear a man ask for advice on how to combine being firm andwithout being considered a bitch.

6. It is impossible to think of any good meal, no matter how plain or elegant, without good conversation or a nice alcoholic beverage with it.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to relaxing, tomorrow my plans include a visit with my parents and Sunday, I want to stay home I will be forced to visit my in-laws!