November: elections, remembering our troops and being thankful chat !! (Full Version)

All Forums >> [Life] >> Public and Private School Support



Message

stampinlady -> November: elections, remembering our troops and being thankful chat !! (11/1/2009 9:27:40 PM)

Sorry I couldn't come up with a more clever title, but just some things I've been pondering lately. Any good election in your town this week? How's school going? Alot of kids sick still or has it calmed down?



garsyt -> RE: November: elections, remembering our troops and being thankful chat !! (11/1/2009 10:40:19 PM)

Ethan's back on his feet and will be back in school tomorrow. I just don't understand how this flu is affecting some folks so harshly, as this co-worker of a neighbor that's been out with it for 2 weeks, and for others like Ethan it's no more than a 4 or 5 day thing.

As for any elections - none that I'm aware of anyway.

I'm going to be making some connections tomorrow so we can get going on this letter writing campaign in support for our Art teacher.

Ty, Aryn, and Brian are all participating in the National Novel Writers Month challenge. Could be an interesting month.

This week has 3 or 4 evening practices for the play. Apparently about 1/2 the kids in the play are also in show choir and there are some conflicts that the theatre director is trying to accommodate for those kids - but in the process making MY life absolutely NUTS!!! Oh well it's only a week.

Blessings,

Garsy



McGuinessMagee -> RE: November: elections, remembering our troops and being thankful chat !! (11/2/2009 2:36:57 AM)

I picked J up this afternoon, another headache. I think this one was a combination of stress, lack of food and heat. His teacher kept him in over morning tea to rewrite some work which it sounds like they weren't really given enough time to complete and stay neat doing so and then he didn't get to eat and the temperature soared today.

X lost her tenpin money for tomorrow and one of the kids on the bus stole her keys (his big brother apparently beat some sense into him so she got them back before she got home).

Kylie[sm=silly.gif]



stampinlady -> RE: November: elections, remembering our troops and being thankful chat !! (11/2/2009 12:25:20 PM)

Kylie, It it spring there and how warm does it get this time of the year?

This really distrubed me; on Friday dd told me there was a fight at school between 2 girls and one of them grabbed a lock and smashed the other girls head with it. What happend to pulling hair and slapping? I know fights happen, but to actully pick up something and use it as a weapon is just over the top.

The kids have tech again because of the winter play. I guess this one isn't as much work as the musical. They're both keeping their grades up so that a plus.



Kath -> RE: November: elections, remembering our troops and being thankful chat !! (11/2/2009 6:18:52 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: McGuinessMagee

I picked J up this afternoon, another headache. I think this one was a combination of stress, lack of food and heat. His teacher kept him in over morning tea to rewrite some work which it sounds like they weren't really given enough time to complete and stay neat doing so and then he didn't get to eat and the temperature soared today.

X lost her tenpin money for tomorrow and one of the kids on the bus stole her keys (his big brother apparently beat some sense into him so she got them back before she got home).

Kylie[sm=silly.gif]



I'm glad she got her keys back. That kid sounds like a bully.

Sorry to hear J had another headache. :(

Deb, it seems like kids (people in general) are just getting more and more violent. It makes me ill.

quote:

Kath, did you get more snow last week? I'm trying to remember what I heard on the weather channel.
quote:

Kath, I was thinking about you the other day and was wondering how you were doing. Hope you feel better soon. Did you get alot of snow? I heard it was comign that way.


we've only gotten snow one day, and that was weeks ago. It's been pretty nice here lately.


I missed conferences because of the flu. I hate missing conferences. Got Linz's report card in the mail though, and she got all A's except for Spanish, which was a B. That was because her teacher didn't let her make up a quiz from when she was sick and gave her a 0. I guess Linz missed one morning when she could have made it up, so she was just out.

quote:

Dd was suppose to go to a party tonight, but the girl got sick and has a 102 * fever. I hope she doesn't have H1N1.



Deb, did she end up getting the flu?



PrincessDonna -> RE: November: elections, remembering our troops and being thankful chat !! (11/2/2009 6:43:43 PM)

Our Congressional district is a pretty heated race. The Republican (who was really a Democrat policy-wise) was losing because she didn't fit the party, IMO. She has backed down and now it's between the Conservative and Democrat. The county sheriff race is also important to our area. No other important ones I can think of...

Not much going on here school-wise. Nick is skimming by, barely. He is in 3rd grade, but he can barely read. He mostly guesses when he reads. I noticed last week, they shortened his spelling list to 9 words instead of 18, and also dumbed the words down. I still hate his math curriculum, and we are still using drill sheets at home to try to help him memorize addition and subtraction facts.



Kath -> RE: November: elections, remembering our troops and being thankful chat !! (11/2/2009 7:32:02 PM)

quote:

I noticed last week, they shortened his spelling list to 9 words instead of 18, and also dumbed the words down.


How aggravating. [>:] That isn't going to help.



PrincessDonna -> RE: November: elections, remembering our troops and being thankful chat !! (11/2/2009 10:43:50 PM)

Just found out on facebook that one of the boys in Nick's class has H1N1. Praying Nick doesn't get it...or bring it home.



Auben -> RE: November: elections, remembering our troops and being thankful chat !! (11/4/2009 10:11:01 AM)

Very few kids sick here, but last week a boy had a bad cough (from a cold), burst a blood vessel in this throat, and was coughing up blood. According to my 5th grader that was exciting. He was out for a few days healing and is back in school.

Testing this week. Conferences next week. Luke had a birthday yesterday and Dean has one Saturday. I'm glad its a slow school week.



McGuinessMagee -> RE: November: elections, remembering our troops and being thankful chat !! (11/4/2009 3:42:45 PM)

Dh got an SMS from the school yesterday to say J was absent. After several frantic phone calls between dh and the school J was found right where he should be in class and it became obvious someone had made an admin error. I am so glad that I was out of the loop until it was all resolved.

I want sleep! There are workmen onsite at some shops nearby our house and they've been starting at 5am. We've been pretty forebearing about it as dh does noisy-type work and we know that sometimes work can only be done when a building is not in use, but it's been over two weeks since I've woken up to my alarm clock.

X is making breakfast for us today and taking the leftover bacon and eggs on sandwiches for lunch. I love that our kids are now old enough to take initiative like that.

Kylie[sm=silly.gif]



debilyn -> RE: November: elections, remembering our troops and being thankful chat !! (11/4/2009 4:21:16 PM)

quote:

X is making breakfast for us today and taking the leftover bacon and eggs on sandwiches for lunch. I love that our kids are now old enough to take initiative like that.


That's so cool! It can be both fun and amazing to see our kids' maturity sometimes.

Funny, but touching: B got a black suit to use in college ensembles with the music dept. He looked so nice, sister S said "Wow! Maybe you should take me to the prom." This from the sister he argues with the most. [8D]



Kath -> RE: November: elections, remembering our troops and being thankful chat !! (11/4/2009 6:07:32 PM)

quote:

Dh got an SMS from the school yesterday to say J was absent. After several frantic phone calls between dh and the school J was found right where he should be in class and it became obvious someone had made an admin error. I am so glad that I was out of the loop until it was all resolved.


Scary!

quote:

I want sleep! There are workmen onsite at some shops nearby our house and they've been starting at 5am.

That seems so early! Construction can't start here till 7am.

quote:

He looked so nice, sister S said "Wow! Maybe you should take me to the prom."


ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh :)

quote:

According to my 5th grader that was exciting.


Oh yeah! Blood and guts and a 5th grader all go hand in hand. [8D]



PrincessDonna -> RE: November: elections, remembering our troops and being thankful chat !! (11/5/2009 7:53:18 AM)

Nick's school had a storytelling night last night. Since it was our night with him, we actually found out about it. There was a general assembly where professional story tellers talked about what they had been doing with the kids, and they also told a couple stories. Then we went to Nick's classroom and he and his classmates told the stories they had been practicing. They all did great, but Nick's was my favorite, of course.[;)]

Out of 21 kids in his class, 6 are out with H1N1.[&:]



Kath -> RE: November: elections, remembering our troops and being thankful chat !! (11/5/2009 1:28:29 PM)

quote:

Nick's school had a storytelling night last night. Since it was our night with him, we actually found out about it.


The school still won't mail out monthly schedules?



garsyt -> RE: November: elections, remembering our troops and being thankful chat !! (11/5/2009 1:40:19 PM)

I know for a fact now that I will NEVER be offered a job at our elementary school.
I'm to much of a squeaky wheel and I am not afraid to say something if I disagree.
Today I spoke with the principal and asked about the reasons for our Art teachers leave. I was told that she wouldn't discuss that with me. I essentially told the principal that I thought she and other administration were wrong for being so hush hush about this whole thing with the art teacher and that NOT informing parents was wrong.

But they can't fire a volunteer. They can't fire me as a parent. So I'm just sacrificing any future possibilities of me ever working there. Oh well. to me it's worth it. I was so frustrated there today.

One week til opening night of the play. No school tomorrow. Teacher inservice.

Donna - does Nicks school maintain a website?

Blessings,

Garsy



Kath -> RE: November: elections, remembering our troops and being thankful chat !! (11/5/2009 2:00:40 PM)

quote:

I was told that she wouldn't discuss that with me. I essentially told the principal that I thought she and other administration were wrong for being so hush hush about this whole thing with the art teacher and that NOT informing parents was wrong.


no kidding. unless it has to do with privacy issues, like the art teacher did something wrong.



JuliaHop -> RE: November: elections, remembering our troops and being thankful chat !! (11/5/2009 2:05:17 PM)

quote:

I was told that she wouldn't discuss that with me.


Garsy...under personnel privacy laws, I don't believe that she can discuss it with you. I would think that the only person who could say anything would be the art teacher and she may be in a position to not say anything. For such a sudden move it almost sounds like the teacher is being questioned concerning some sort of inappropriate behavior.

Donna...glad you could go to story telling night. I hope that Nick and your family all stay well!!



stampinlady -> RE: November: elections, remembering our troops and being thankful chat !! (11/5/2009 4:22:32 PM)

Garsy, why not ask the art teacher herself? Did Ty have the play yet or is it this week?

It's been a pretty boring week, except for dd's birthday. She got some things from her friends at school. I'm still job hunting and it's pretty bleek out there. I may look into volunteering somewhere.



garsyt -> RE: November: elections, remembering our troops and being thankful chat !! (11/5/2009 4:26:25 PM)

The deal is tho is that I KNOW the details already. I just wanted to know why they haven't informed the parents, or the teachers for that matter. Of course I was asked HOW I got that information to which I said from the art teacher herself. Apparently it's chronic tardiness (of which has improved GREATLY this year) an excess of absences in the last two years (um her daughter was in end stage breast cancer and DIED a year ago this past September) and that she has missed meetings. But she's been missing meetings or late to meetings for 18 years. She's NEVER been late to teach a class and there was a SOLID reason for her absences in the last two years. Everything they are accusing her of has been happening ever since she started teaching in this district - Why now is it suddenly a problem? Oh and the superintendent made his decision regarding this without even ONCE observing her in the classroom or talking to any of the other staff and is basing it solely on the word of one member of the administration. The only thing the Art teacher is guilty of is being very vocal of her opinions and missing or being late to meetings Neither of which affect her ability and excellence in teaching our children Art.

The teachers weren't told ANYTHING until kids started asking questions and rumors started. All they are saying is that she is on leave. They are being told to tell the kids that she is on a leave of absence. What I'm thinking they are hoping will happen is that she'll just go away quietly so the kids think that she just left them in a lyrch without saying goodbye which is so not like her.

Anyway - I'm waiting for a call from her right now so she can tell me how far she wants me to take this.

I'm just so tired of our school quietly displacing folks simply because someone doesn't agree with what is happening.

Blessings,

Garsy



momma_bee -> RE: November: elections, remembering our troops and being thankful chat !! (11/6/2009 6:15:08 AM)

I hate using these words, but

PAST PRACTICE...

And, if your teachers are unionized, they can tell you what that means...



PrincessDonna -> RE: November: elections, remembering our troops and being thankful chat !! (11/6/2009 12:33:42 PM)

quote:

The school still won't mail out monthly schedules?


We do get a monthly newsletter, usually the second week of the month.[8|]

quote:

Donna - does Nicks school maintain a website?


Yes, but for security reasons, they don't list special events. They need to have it so parents can log in and see everything they want to.

We pick up Nick tonight for our weekend. We're having a movie night tonight...watching Back to the Future. Woohoo!



debilyn -> RE: November: elections, remembering our troops and being thankful chat !! (11/6/2009 1:05:40 PM)

Back to the Future is such a fun movie. My kids haven't seen it all they way through, yet. We need we to have a movie night and watch them all. We haven't had a movie night in weeks!

The elementary school is giving H1N1 flu shots the week of Nov 16th (unless something changes). Okay, finally we have the shots, and the flu is almost gone around here. [8D] After my hubby and I discussed it, our youngest will not be having the shots (she needs two since she is not yet ten, the second is 21 days after the first one). The middle and high schools do not yet have a date, and may not, depending on the availability in the area.

Our football team made the playoffs, so we still have a traveling band this week. We'll see what happens at tonight's game. It's a 50-50 chance, just depends on who plays best. For the boys' sakes, I hope we win. Personally, I could use a Friday night at home. [:)]



garsyt -> RE: November: elections, remembering our troops and being thankful chat !! (11/6/2009 2:25:50 PM)

Talked to my friend the art teacher this AM. The union basically came to her rescue. She is essentially being forced to take early retirement - But this is better than what was originally offered to her. The sad thing is that she will not be allowed to come back and say goodbye to the kids. She is now telling parents to hold off til after her retirement is approved December 1st, and then to write as many letters as they want to the school board and superintendent, expressing their displeasure. She was also all but told that the primary reason this principal was brought in was to be a pruner for the school board. It's all about money. I guess he's all over one of our other elementary school principals for wearing a suit jacket with and open collar shirt. Apparently he wants suits and ties ALL the time. Apparently he's also mentioned that PE teachers need to be more professional in their dress. Good grief! These are elementary schools and all of a sudden it's all about controlling the little things that simply don't matter when it comes right down to the education of our children.

So now the focus is switching to encouraging the powers that be to hire someone decent. I have some ideas that I hope our principal will take to heart. Folks that would do great in the job and would greatly benefit from working full time AND would be good in the position that have taught art before at our school, but just part-time. The one I don't know if she'd come back or not, but she would be the best fit for the kids.

I'm heartbroken over all this and that will show BIG time in my letter come December. I'm hoping to be able to read it come that first board meeting.

Anyway - - -

I went to the dentist for a consultation this morning. OUCH!!!!! The price tag on fixing my mouth is so way beyond what we can afford right now.

But we were notified today that we have made our last payment on the van!! That's an extra $90 a week!

Blessings,

Garsy



thisistheday -> RE: November: elections, remembering our troops and being thankful chat !! (11/6/2009 3:15:56 PM)

Wow Garsy, I'm sorry to hear about the pruner. I hope the school board gets the message loud and clear. I don't remember every seeing any of our principals in a suit and tie. Well, at 8th grade recognition the middle school principal probably did.[8D] Maybe they do sometimes, but I don't remember it. The middle school principal usually wears a polo shirt.

OK, I had to go look, we have 4 male principals in our district--one polo shirt, one button down shirt, one shirt and tie, and the principal and vice principal at the HS both have a shirt and tie (pics taken on picture day). So, I'm amazed that someone is being that hard-nosed about dress, I do realize we are apparently a lot more casual out here in small-town rural Kansas.

Donna, sounds like a fun evening at school with Nick! I'm hoping everyone stays well and you have a good weekend with him!

I went to listen to Happy Bear with the kindergarteners. Happy Bear goes with someone who talks to the kids about good touch/bad touch. Anybody else have anything like that in their schools? That is such a hard subject to teach the kids. She starts out talking about bad touch, like somebody pushing you in line, or something like that. Then she moves on to talking about if someone touches your private parts. She talks about who to tell, and that you can call 911 if you want to. I hope no little kids decide they should call 911 if their brother is being mean to them. (I mean in a brotherly way that they should just tell mom or dad about). She did say that you shouldn't call 911 for just anything. That is such a complicated issue for little kids to process. I went because one of the mom's in Bible study said last year her first grader had a misunderstanding about what happy bear was trying to teach them.

Dee



PrincessDonna -> RE: November: elections, remembering our troops and being thankful chat !! (11/6/2009 6:13:21 PM)

Well, no Nick this weekend. The school called his mom to come get him today. He had a fever and was falling asleep at his desk. We all decided it was best if he stayed with his mom, even though we will miss him. Brian got all ticked off when I suggested it, but really...kids want their mom when they are sick and it isn't like he would have a good time here this weekend anyway. We'll probably just lose the weekend, which stinks, but if it is H1N1, we don't want to expose the other kids any more than they already have been either.



Page: [1] 2 3 4 5   next >   >>



Forum Software © ASPPlayground.NET Advanced Edition 2.5 ANSI