Archive for the “Health & Education” Category

This election, at all levels, will be one of the most significant elections of a generation. The race for School Board is no different. Over the past four years as standardized test scores have remained stagnate and our property taxes have been in a state of economic flux Fort Wayne Community Schools has tried to redefine itself.

” Two and a half years ago FWCS paid a consultant $150,000 to come into the district and measure the educational suitability of our buildings (information we should have already known.) I voted against it.

” Two years ago the school board, at the direction of the administration, paid another consultant almost $400,000 to provide “political cover for the board and superintendent” during their attempt do create a massive building project. I voted against it.

” A Short eighteen months ago, the School Board passed a bond that would have lead to $500,000,000.00 dollars of new spending. This bond would have caused the largest tax increase in district history. I stood up for the taxpayer and voted against it.

Over the past twelve years you have seen me stand up for the tax payer and oppose out of control spending. But now let me tell you what I support.

First and foremost being on the School Board is about creating a learning environment in which kids can be successful. It’s about academic achievement, not brick and mortar. It’s about working to enrich our students, not our architects. It’s about creating scholars, not new logos. Academic achievement must be the main focus of our school district.

Second, we must continue to create a safe, disciplined environment for our staff and students. Discipline is a key component to academic achievement.

Third, the district must be accountable to the public. We have made great efforts toward public accountability since the petition drive. The balance scorecard initiative will provide the public with a yard stick to measure our success and I will work to institute more transparency within the district.

Finally, yes, we must maintain our facilities. We need to work toward a responsible facilities plan that repairs the infrastructure of our buildings without asking the tax payer to pay for a wish list of things that are not necessary to improve student achievement.

Over the past twelve years I have stood up for you. Now I ask you to stand up for me. Please Vote for Jon Olinger on November 4th.

Jon J Olinger
FWCS Board of Trustees, District 3

Next time you think about stopping at Starbucks, think again.

Kim Richards, co-owner of Higher Grounds which is based here in Fort Wayne was diagnosed with an invasive and aggressive form of breast cancer. She’s had two surgeries and is currently getting chemotherapy.

Many people have asked how how they are doing. Since Kim and John have been the heartbeat of Higher Grounds for so many years and consider their loyal customers to be extended family, they invite you to join them on Kim’s journey to back to wellness.

Kim has been journaling on a website since she first heard the word “cancer”. It will take you through her thoughts and emotions as a wife, a mother of two beautiful daughters, Macy and Morgan, and as a human being with real concerns and real fears. To visit her site, please click on : www.caringbridge.org/visit/kimrichards

There is a guestbook where you can leave encouraging messages to Kim or you can send cards to the corporate office and they will be delivered to her. The address here is 158 E Collins Rd, Fort Wayne IN 46825.

The American Cancer Society Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Event on Saturday, October 4 was a huge success. Team Higher Grounds raised over $2400! Thank you for your support!

On behalf of the Richards’ family, we’d like to thank you for all of your thoughts, prayers, kind words and deeds. We are holding on to the hope that Kim will beat this!

You can support Kim by purchasing and wearing a “Brewing for a Cure” T-shirt. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to cancer research. Prices will be $12 for S, M, L, XL and $14 for XXL. They will be available for purchase at many Higher Grounds locations. Help us help Kim beat cancer!

Click here for a map of locations.

AWB

UPDATED: 11:40 a.m.

Principal Smith just called me back He stated the drawings were the result of a government social studies class. It involved discussions concerning political satire, how political satire is used, and why it is used.

As a result of that lesson students were asked to make a satirical drawing (not poster) that would be provocative. The teacher (a student teacher) posted the drawings on the wall They were drawn on 8.5 X 11 sheets of paper.

Smith also stated that actions have been taken against the student teacher, but it was not being turned over to the Fort Wayne Community School Board, it was being handled internally (whatever that means).

Smith would not release the name of the student teacher.

This weekend SAT’s were held at South Side High School. I received the following in an email regarding a couple of drawings in one of the rooms where SAT’s were being held.

One of my children went to South Side High School for his SAT and was in room A214. There were 2 drawings hung up, one was Klansmen walking around with McCain signs and the other one was McCain = Death. This is real interesting for a Fort Wayne Community school. There were others hung up but not as outrageous as this.

I’ve been trying to figure out a way to get into the school to get pictures, but as I was planning my sneak attack, a concerned citizen who was also notified called the school yesterday and spoke to principal Mr. Thomas Smith about the posters.

Smith told the concerned citizen he went to the room and retrieved the KKK/McCain poster, but could not find the McCain=Death drawing. He told the concerned citizen it was part of a student/teacher class project of drawings in ink. Smith told the concerned citizen he took them down.

The student also noted that the person working the door had on a Fort Wayne Community Schools ID tag with an Obama sticker placed on it. The concerned citizen has contacted school board members regarding the incident, and I will update on that once I hear more.

I called for principal Smith today and had to leave a message. That was at 11:03 a.m. I told his secretary I was running the story and would like his comment on it. Once I get the call back (assuming I do), I will update this post.

AWB

This is interesting, and I don’t recall if I posted it when I found it several weeks ago. The Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy has AWB listed in a homework assignment in a class called, The 21st Century Digital Information Fluency Project.

Blog Evaluation Assessment

Starting with Joyce Valenza’s ideas for evaluating blogs, here’s a way to measure students’ skills at online evaluation. Besides the question categories, all that’s needed is a blog to evaluate and rubrics by which to measure proficiency.

1. Joyce’s original questions:

Who is the blogger? With so many blogs offering spotty or nonexistent “about” pages, this may be a clue in itself.

What sorts of materials is the blogger reading or citing?

Does this blogger have influence? Is the blog well-established? Who and how many people link to the blog? Who is commenting? Does this blog appear to be part of a community? (The best blogs are likely to be hubs for folks who share interests with the blogger.) Tools like Technorati http://technorati.com and Blogpulse http://blogpulse.com can help learners assess the influence of a blog.

Is this content covered in any depth, with any authority?

How sophisticated is the language, the spelling?

Is this blog alive? It there a substantial archive? How current are the posts?

At what point in a story’s lifetime did a post appear? Examining a story’s date may offer clues as to the reliability of a blog entry.

Is the site upfront about its bias? Does it recognize/discuss other points of view? (For certain information tasks–an essay or debate–bias may be especially useful. Students need to recognize it.)

If the blogger is not a traditional “expert,” is this a first-hand view that would also be valuable for research? Is it a unique perspective?

2. Select a blog and evaluate it yourself.

Below are some suggestions that can serve as evaluation test cases. Blogs often change daily, so these may not be as interesting or appropriate to evaluate as they were on Dec. 7, 2006–the day we first examined them. Feel free to substitute others that are related to your subject matter. Search for content or related key concepts in Technorati, Google Blog Search, Blogpulse, etc. If the content isn’t important, search for “conspiracy theory” and you’re sure to find some interesting posts (which you must approve before turning students loose on them!). Keep in mind the rubrics below as you search for answers to evaluate the blog you select.

The Grapefruit Blog

Bad Astronomy

Angry White Boy

Yo! Check out My Blogs

Too funny. You can read the rest here.

AWB

What a dick. Obama was attacking McCain’s views on healthcare and had this to say.

Speaking before a crowd in Newport News, Va., Obama invoked the death of his mother at the age of 53 from ovarian cancer, saying, “This isn’t about politics for me. This is personal.”

So how does McCain’s plan make it personal? Did McCain have something to do with Obama’s Momma’s healthcare coverage? No. The fact is, back then insurance companies could deny or delay coverage due to pre-existing conditions, a practice that is now no longer allowed.

Obama wants nothing more than an end to the employer-based healthcare system we have now, and he wants to replace it with a government provided, socialist healthcare system.

His plan would sharply increase the number of people who have health insurance by spending significant amounts of “your dollars” upfront. It’s estimated that in the first year alone, Obama’s program will cost Americans close to $100 billion. Considering that Obama uses the Robin Hood principal, Obama will simply take from those that have, and give to those that do not. How Marxist.

McCain’s plan emphasizes market reforms directed at making the existing healthcare system more affordable. How so? Obama wants to toss in the trash what is now the best healthcare system in the world. He wants to provide catastrophic reinsurance coverage paid for by guess who? YOU.

By providing catastrophic reinsurance coverage it will shift the burden for this type of coverage to the federal government; that’s you people. What this means is that YOU will be paying for highest cost claims within the insurance industry for “EVERYONE”. All this does is water-down the incentive for insurers and employers to manage these types of claims. The majority of the cost would be transferred to who? Guess again. YOU.

I need to point this out again. Obama’s plan would add tens of billions to the cost of healthcare insurance, and in the end, YOU are going to pay for it. By shifting catastrophic costs to the government, the now effective method of managing these costs goes to the federal government, and we all know how effective they are at managing cost.

Obama also favors the legalization of drug reimportation, (from Canada for example), even though drug imports from Canada and other countries have fallen to less than half of what they once were, because the savings are not there.

I guess at the end of the day, this is where I am.

Our constitution doesn’t say diddly-squat about the government providing healthcare coverage . My company switched to a Healthcare Savings Account, (HSA) a couple of years ago, and it’s a great program. And you know what? It requires YOU, the insured, to effectively manage your healthcare expenses to realize the savings and benefits.

We don’t need the fed’s hand in another program, especially one this large.

AWB

Tourney is preceded by week of Open Houses for area youth

The Fort Wayne Parks & Recreation Department’s youth centers at Jennings, Cooper and Weisser are participating in a citywide Safe Haven Prevention week October 10 - 18, pledging to stay in shape, in school, off drugs, and out of gangs. The week’s activities begin and end with great basketball games. The kick off game October 10th is at Allen County War Memorial Coliseum with the Indiana Pacers vs. the Chicago Bulls. Tip off is at 7pm.

Special recognition for five youth advocates will be held at halftime on the 10th. The people being recognized for youth basketball are Ron Holmes, Michael Ayers, Gregory Mitchell and Ron Stevenson. Denita Washington, of Lakeside Middle School, will also be recognized for her service to the Afternoons R.O.C.K. program.

The week ends with the annual Safe Haven Tourney between area youth leagues at Lakeside Middle School, beginning at 6pm October 17 and all day Saturday, October 18. The championship game begins at 8pm.

During Drug Awareness month, eight area youth-serving organizations have created special events to draw awareness to the Safe Haven network. This network includes the three Parks & Recreation Department youth centers, which have come together to form an association of multi-service centers. They provide prevention programs designed to reduce crime and restore neighborhoods, while also coordinating youth and adult services in highly visible, secure and accessible facilities. Established more than five years ago with a grant from the US Department of Justice, this network continues to serve the youth in the southeast quadrant of Fort Wayne.

Safe Havens are:

Jennings, Cooper, Weisser, East Wayne Street, Eagles Nest, Euell Wilson, Fort Wayne Urban League, and Old Fort YMCA.

In addition to basketball activities, the following sites are holding open houses as part of the Safe Haven Prevention Week (times to be announced):

Saturday, 10/11
Cooper Community Center
11am – 3pm
2300 Clinton & Creighton Ave. (427-6728)

Sunday, 10/12
Union Baptist Church
11:30 Services
2200 Smith Street (456-3421)

Monday, 10/13
Weisser Park Youth Center
5pm – 7pm
802 Eckart Street (427-66780)

Tuesday, 10/14
Euell Wilson Center
4pm – 6pm
1512 Oxford Street (456-2917)

Wednesday, 10/15
Old Fort YMCA
4pm – 6pm
2221 Reed Street (745-0541)

Thursday, 10/16
Jennings Recreation Center
4pm – 6pm
1330 McCulloch Street (427-6700

For more information on safe havens and how to get involved, contact Bennie Lewis, Manager of Neighborhood Programs for Fort Wayne Parks & Recreation.

I don’t think so.

From Indiana News Center

ALLEN COUNTY, Ind. (Indiana’s NewsCenter) - Something new for parents to look for when picking up their children at school. Officials with Fort Wayne Community Schools unveiled a new sign this morning, asking parents to turn off their car engines while waiting for their children to leave the building.

The effort is being made to improve air quality and reduce harmful emissions in and around schools. The signs have also been placed at schools in the Southwest Allen and Northwest Allen County school districts.

Sorry, if it’s 90 degrees or 30 degrees, there’s no way I would do it. How do they expect to enforce this? Give you detention?

AWB

Good Sunday morning reading

From The Heritage Foundation.

This takes the cake.

Island fourth grader suspended for using broken pencil sharpener

A 10-year-old Hilton Head Island boy has been suspended from school for having something most students carry in their supply boxes: a pencil sharpener.

The problem was his sharpener had broken, but he decided to use it anyway.

A teacher at Hilton Head Island International Baccalaureate Elementary School noticed the boy had what appeared to be a small razor blade during class on Tuesday, according to a Beaufort County sheriff’s report.

It was obvious that the blade was the metal insert commonly found in a child’s small, plastic pencil sharpener, the deputy noted.

This is about the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard of regarding just how stoopid our educational system has gotten.

Read the police report here.
Editor’s Note: The handwriting on page 2 of the police report is reporter Daniel Brownstein’s note pertaining to a separate story. It does not relate to this story

[…]

District spokesman Randy Wall said school administrators are stuck in the precarious position between the district’s zero tolerance policy against having weapons at school and common sense.

For illustration purposes.

I wonder if an earring falls out, if the post could be considered a weapon?

Amazing. – AWB