Pay raises

I never knew what union officials were paid.  Thanks to Albany’s Times Union, now  I do.

Losing our beech trees

Last month we had to cut down a beloved beech tree at Dows Lane and do serious repairs on another.  Sorry to say the same thing is happening in Newport, Rhode Island.

Luckily for us, two people have offered to make tables from slabs saved when the tree was cut down, something that will help us remember their beauty.

Off-topic

Yesterday’s New York Times had an article that brought me back to the year I moved to New York, 1969.  After spending the day looking for a job, I popped into Chock Full o’Nuts, the very one that is now Zucotti Park.  The woman next to me explained that I needed to find a job “on the Street.”  I no idea what she was talking about.  She told me what to do, and before you could say “occupy Wall Street,” I had my first job in the city working as a secretary on Wall Street.

After-school activities

Are sports and other extracurricular activities worth it?  Well, YES.  And here’s why, according to an article in Education Next.

Based on ten-year-old data complied by the US Department of Education, “kids with the highest test scores are the most active in after-school activities.”  Other data shows that those kids are 97% more likely to attend college and then 179% more likely to graduate.  Some possible reasons are that thet end up spending time with an adult that they like and want to please.  Also, the activities “make school more palatable.”  Mastering time management is another reason.

Of course these are studies of people, not lab tests, so results can be fuzzy, but it all makes sense to me.

Best-selling author James Patterson on reading

Last week’s New York Times had a full-page ad on getting our kids to read.  I thought it was terrific.  Here’s the CNN version of that ad.

Three things especially caught my eye

• A suggestions that one period a day be devoted to reading, mostly books picked by the kids themselves.
• A KIPP school in Washington D.C. that requires that kids read 20 books or more a year and “carry a book with them at all times.”
• A nod to boys, especially books that appeal to them.  (I remember my little nephew reading the box scores in the NY Times when he visited us!)

“The tutoring-industrial complex”

Someone just sent this Smartmoney Magazine article to me, and it confirms so much of what I have heard.

The math app

What $1 can do for a child’s math skills, from the New York Times.  And is sounds fun, too.

Demographics

In recent years, the district has hired a retired superintendent to do a projection of our enrollment.  This year our assistant superintendent for business is doing it herself.  Her presentation on the current enrollment figures and her projections for next year will be made at the Oct. 25th school board meeting.

This New York Times article says we are likely to see declining enrollments in the coming years, thanks to the Great Recession.

Doing homework in class

One idea new to me is sending students home with videos of what they are supposed to learn in school, then having them do homework in school. This piece from Education Week explains how it works.

In this YouTube video students tell us how much they like flipping.  At the end, they talk about the tests, which is pretty cute.

Hiring a superintendent

This piece from The Washington Post’s Jay Mathews talks about two outstanding and very large school districts. One has just hired a new superintendent.  The other will when the current one retires in 2013.  Lots of things for us to consider.