I'm On It

Never in our history has it been more important to look forward. Children that started school this year will graduate from high school in 2025. While no one can accurately predict all of the changes that will take place between then and now, there seems to be a trend that one can easily extrapolate from a growing problem to a full-blown crises of culture. We need a fundamental shift in thinking about how we teach our children. For many politicians, educators and pundits embroiled in the education debate, the whole of the issue begins and ends with testing. School districts want to lower costs? Cut teacher salaries. But how do we define where and upon whom those cuts are levied? We are told that standardized tests will evaluate a teacher's abilities to instill the curriculum into the students' heads. So, the logic goes, failing test scores mean failing teachers. Cut them. Simple, right? Not even close. Any teacher will tell you that educating a child is to "teaching...

Carmel Community Recognizes a Serious Issue in a Fun New Way. “A Caterpillar’s Tale”, a film that highlights the issue of bullying, played to a packed house at the Carmel Cinema on Route 6 in Carmel. With a cast of young actors from the Carmel area, the film takes a look at the causes and effects of bullying as seen through the eyes of its lead character, a giant mutant caterpillar faced with the choice of becoming a bully or doing what he knows to be right. The film was created to introduce the concept of making good choices to students in the kindergarten through fourth grade age group. Funded in part by a grant secured through the Carmel Central School District, (CCSD), “A Caterpillar’s Tale” made its debut as a fundraiser for the district’s three elementary schools. Each school’s Parent Teacher Organization had the opportunity to sell tickets to the event, with a portion of the proceeds going toward the many programs and services each group provides. With a cast comprised ...

BMI article In the district where my children go to school, a new rule was instituted a few years ago. They were to be weighed and their BMI, (Body Mass Index) was to be recorded. I was told by the school nurse, (a really nice woman with a long history of doing her job and doing it well), that the rule was required by the state, and it was little more than a formality. Which got me thinking. Could it be that, at the state level, someone was really, genuinely concerned about childhood obesity, and instituted this rule so as to gather data, and then do something about it? As much as I would like to believe that… uh, no. Sorry. Can’t. I know first-hand that the folks in charge of food service in our school district do care, and have instituted policies to help make the transition to healthier choices available to my kids. I know they are working hard to exceed the guidelines set forth for them by the state and federal government. There is still a long way to go, but they are wo...

As someone who has stood in boardrooms and conferences and spoken on topics where my expertise ranged from extensive to non-existent, I can sympathize with those who fear public speaking. I've often thought that it takes a certain level of distain for the audience in order to calm those fears. How wrong I was in that notion. While that attitude may work for some, I've discovered what really makes for a good public presentation. Bravery... where you acknowledge your fear and do your job anyway... is what it takes. Preparation, confidence, being able to read an audience, all of these things are important and necessary, but bravery will get you through like nothing else. I had the opportunity to videotape an elementary school talent show recently, and as with all events of this caliber, one can see them in a variety of ways. You can view it as a "celebration of mediocrity", or you can find the beauty in the simplicity of it. I’ve run a few of these shows when my...

This is just a small part of the debate about teachers, administrations and school districts budgets. More to come as the season rolls on. - JD Quite a bit of debate in these days of belt-tightening and budget slashing is focused on teachers' salaries.  The conservative view would be that teachers are highly paid, without tangible, measurable results. After all, how can one measure how much a teacher cares about their students' achievement? The Bush administration tried to combat that view with No Child Left Behind, which, while there are many intricacies and trade-offs, roughly amounted to using student test scores to judge teacher effectiveness.  This method of evaluation lacks common sense in so many ways that it just makes me shake my head, but, at the very least... somebody tried something! You can find many arguments, both pro and con, on NCLB... so go do some homework. The question remains... do teachers make too much money? As I have stated before, this question...

This is just a small part of the debate about teachers, administrations and school districts budgets. More to come as the season rolls on. - JD I live in what is termed a "bedroom" community, which means a community where people leave each day to go to work elsewhere. There are plenty of dry cleaners, pizza places and nail salons, but no real industry or retail base to speak of. No factories or industries. It's beautiful here, surrounded by woodlands and waterways, old stone walls and neighbors who wave as you go by. The problem is... dun, dun, duhhhhhn... taxes. Our taxes are high. Higher than this mix of blue collar and white collar working families can stomach. People often feel powerless when state-level politicians give lip service to addressing their concerns by attacking the whipping post du jure. The only real effect people have is at the ballot, which, no matter how much vitriol is expressed, still remains woefully under used. So, when school budget t...

http://huff.to/hixQdT I read this. And so I then I read this. http://ti.me/nP2LZ And then, because I couldn't believe that I was getting the full story, I went here: http://bit.ly/3f9KbM Growing up and living in the Northeast, U.S., I have never been hit by a teacher in school. I'm quite sure that my mother, even as I pushed her toward the brink of her sanity time and time again during my educational years, would never have allowed it.  Raising my children now in the Northeast means that, while I have certainly heard of the practice of corporal punishment, I was under the assumption that it was a thing of the past, buried away with those times of air raid drills, segregated schools and doctors doing cigarette commercials on TV. So, you can imagine my shame-faced surprise when I discovered that 19 states in our nation still allow, condone and in some places encourage corporal punishment in schools. And, as if that isn't enough to get the blood boiling, perhaps the fac...

This article originally published a few years ago on a parent organization website As a father of two children, ages six and five, it often seems like my life began little more than six years ago. My wife and I, like many parents, have decided to put our children first in our lives. Devoting ourselves, as our parents did, to ensuring that our kids are ready for life outside the nest, when that time comes. This involves many areas, some easy to manage, some more difficult, but tantamount through it all is our focus on the education our kids receive. Homework comes before TV or computer games. Strengths are celebrated vigorously and weaknesses are treated as challenges to be overcome.  Our home is full of learning tools, educational games and books, books, books. We have, hopefully, created an environment that promotes a love of learning. And then, we put them on the bus. Not content to simply hope for the best, we have sought out the opportunities available to us to be involved ...