Mark Your Calendar

The Brandywine Heights "Midnight Riders" present the 4th annual Phil Forlano Midnight Jazz Fest.

Friday March 2nd 6:00 PM at the B.H.H.S. Auditorium

Featuring 5 High School bands and the our very own Midnight Riders!

Tickets are $5.00 and will be sold at the door.

If you could pay $10.00 on the street from a scalper don't come here to complain.

Home School Horrors

Recently in Germany a teen-ager was put into a psychiatric ward for being school phobic, the real reason is she broke the ban on home schooling in Germany that dates back to Hitler in 1938.

The U.N. Convention Article 28 states that it is the goal of the state to direct the education of children. This article is being used to limit home-school in other European countries and around the world.

The U.S. is not safe from this convention even though it hasn't been ratified by the Senate. Radical lawyers and politicians that the U.N. conventions are "customary international law" and should be part of American jurisprudence. So much for the Constitution being the highest law in the land.

Regardless of your thoughts on home schooling, this should be of concern to everyone. Better Mom & Dad have final approval on the education of their child then Big Brother.

Remember Global Waming and Support The Pool

From The Discussion Board
If you want to be involved in something that can mean so much for our community and our youth through the long summer months, then plan on attending our next meeting TOMORROW NIGHT, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 28th @ 7:30 PM in the Topton Borough Building. We welcome one and all. (As an aside, we are trying to get involvement from all the townships in our district to make a committment to the pool. They, in turn, get a seat on borough council, and then ALL residents of the school district would pay the SAME amount for pool memberships.Longswamp seems interested.District and Rockland Twps have not responded, as of two weeks ago. Talk to your township representatives, and see what their feelings are in supporting our COMMUNITY pool.) Hope to see you there tomorrow night!!

Want to reach higher status in life

Then wipe that smile off your face.

Musical At Brandywine

Had an email question about the status of the Musical. It is still in the budget for next year with the board waiting on firmer numbers both for the musical and other budget items.

The music and art department requested seed money last year to start a yearly musical production at Brandywine. Musicals at other similar size schools like Kutztown either break even or produce a profit, so the cost should be a one time expenditure. A course sponsored by the art department to teach set design and construction was approved.

Stay Home If You Can

From out local PennDot Guy.
Road conditions are worsening and are slick. The salt/brine solution we put down is now snow covered and roads are slick. We are covering the majors and the tributaries are secondary. There are several accidents. Don't drive unless you absolutely have to! National weather expects 3 - 5 inches by mid-morning with a mixture of snow sleet and freezing rain. Road conditions will be hazardous

Multiple Intelligences

An introductory look at why some very bright people don't do well on standardized test.

Dr. Gardner says that our schools and culture focus most of their attention on linguistic and logical-mathematical intelligence. We esteem the highly articulate or logical people of our culture. However, Dr. Gardner says that we should also place equal attention on individuals who show gifts in the other intelligences: the artists, architects, musicians, naturalists, designers, dancers, therapists, entrepreneurs, and others who enrich the world in which we live. Unfortunately, many children who have these gifts don’t receive much reinforcement for them in school. Many of these kids, in fact, end up being labeled "learning disabled," "ADD (attention deficit disorder," or simply underachievers, when their unique ways of thinking and learning aren’t addressed by a heavily linguistic or logical-mathematical classroom.

Dr. Gardner proposes eight different intelligences to account for a broader range of human potential in children and adults. These intelligences are:

• Linguistic intelligence ("word smart"):
• Logical-mathematical intelligence ("number/reasoning smart")
• Spatial intelligence ("picture smart")
• Bodily-Kinesthetic intelligence ("body smart")
• Musical intelligence ("music smart")
• Interpersonal intelligence ("people smart")
• Intrapersonal intelligence ("self smart")
• Naturalist intelligence ("nature smart")

Now conversely can some of us be Multiply Dumb.

Historical Tax rates.

The following chart shows the increase in millage rate since the 1987-88 school year.


These rates have had the following effects on property taxes. It has been a painful increase but looking at the rates in constant dollars, except for the construction of the high school they have remained flat. Now that is a big "except"

Father Of The Year Entry

Good: Drunk man gives keys to designated driver.
Bad: The designated driver is 14 years old.
Award Nominee: The 14 year old was also drunk

Weekend Entertaiment

Nursing mom ‘humiliated' at mall Berkshire Mall security officers asked Leigh Bellini of Shillington, who was breast-feeding her 7-month-old son, to cover herself or let the baby go hungry, she says. As a result of the incident last weekend, Bellini contacted several parents groups throughout the state, who plan to stage a “nurse-in” protest Saturday at 1 p.m. in the center court of the mall in Wyomissing. “This has exploded so big that we can't even conceive of the number of people who will be there,” Bellini said. “We expect at least 100 or more mothers breast-feeding.”

At least the paper put quotes around humiliated. This is so obvious a set up wouldn't be surprised that the anonymous complainer wasn't in on the act. Straight out of the hippie play book.

Out sourcing Education

When you think of workers from Mexico you think unskilled labor. In Texas they have recruiting trips for Mexican teachers

Need help with your homework or a tutor just go online for help with a tutor in India

Tax Review In The News

Article in Reading Eagle
The Brandywine Heights School Board has reviewed the proposed ballot question offering property tax relief of about $2.6 million for up to 5,300 households in the district.

Six residents were in attendance at Wednesday's hearing.

Background: Steven E. Fischer, district business manager, said the ballot question for the May 15 primary election will ask voters if they favor bearing an additional 1 percent earned income tax to reduce property taxes for eligible households.

Fischer said he estimates that the increase will allow property taxes to be reduced about $402 in 2007 as the tax is phased in beginning July 1, and about $574 in subsequent years as the full annual benefit is realized.

Further, he estimated that households with annual earned income above $57,400 would pay more in net taxes as the property tax decrease would be more than offset by the increase in earned income tax.

Kids Be Careful With Your Camera and Email

The following story in the Mercury News is very disturbing. A 16 & 17 year old face a life time of being on the pervert list for letting hormones overrule good judgment. Also another example of a good law that can have very undesirable and unintended consequences.

A Florida appeals court recently upheld the conviction of two teens (16 and 17 at the time) who took sexually explicit pictures of each other and then one of them sent the digital images to the other.

The naughty photos weren't posted publicly or distributed but somehow police found out, and the youths were arrested and convicted for producing and possessing child porn. This is far from a case of pedophilia, but it was a technical violation of the very strict child porn laws.

I'm hoping these teens get off with a slap on the wrist -- it would be tragic if they're forced to register as sex offenders -- but it does send a message: ``Children behave.'' Besides, teenage relationships have a habit of going south and there's always the risk that images like these could end up on the Internet.

More Guilt For Guys

This is beyond the pale. Men can't get it and men feel pain like a shot much more then females. Time women faced up to their personal responsibility and leave guys out of it. Just take your shots and get back in the kitchen as soon as you get home from work.

While politicians argue over whether to make preteen girls get vaccinated against HPV, medical experts already have moved on to the next topic: giving the vaccine to boys as well.

HPV, or human papillomavirus, causes virtually all cases of cervical cancer. So a new vaccine that prevents infection with four common strains of the virus has been hailed as a big step toward eliminating a potentially lethal cancer that affects nearly 10,000 Americans a year.

Of course, men can't get cervical cancer, but millions of them get HPV, which they can pass to their partners.

& U R 2

Flame First, Think Later: New Clues to E-Mail Misbehavior

Even The Illest of Winds Blows Some Good

One of the first public school system in the deep south was in New Orleans in 1841. After years of mismanagement of funds and destroying the future of the children the school board and the entrenched teacher union was swept away by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, when 7,500 of its teachers and support staff were let go. On their last achievement test BK (before Katrina) 74 percent of eighth-graders had failed to demonstrate “basic” skills in English/Language Arts, and 70 percent scored below “basic” in math.On the wish list of children after the storm were textbooks, toilet paper, and teachers who liked them.

The Atlantic Magazine looks at how one of the most inept school districts in the country was transformed over night into the country's most market driven one. Orleans Parish now has 30 publicly financed but independently run schools that answer to their own boards with parents free to choose. Tax payer money is no longer feeding the beast but is being used to educate the next generation.

Imporant Meetings Tonight

The fun starts at 6:00PM at the Middle School Auditorium to discuss ACT 1 the proposed ballot item that will add a 1% income tax for very limited relief in property tax. All you really need to know is vote NO on this very flawed act of Harrisburg.

Following this meeting at the American Legion Hall in Topton 133 Centre Ave. Candidates running for Berks County Commissioner and other positions will be in attendance. They are expecting Current Commissioners Mark Scott and Judy Schwank. Commissioner Tom Gajewski has a previous engagement but hopes to be arriving sometimes in the evening.
Randy Gartner and Christian Leinbach new candidates for Commissioner will be in attendance. Everyone is welcome and they have free grub what not to like.

Laissez les bons temps rouler!

No complaining today about anything it's Mardi Gras Let the Good Times Roll. Purple, Green and Gold are a terrible color combination but that the colors that be on Fat Tuesday.

Another Book Banning Uproar

This year's winner of the Newberry Medal, the biggie in children literature has set off a fire storm over one word.

The book’s heroine, a scrappy 10-year-old orphan named Lucky Trimble, hears the word through a hole in a wall when another character says he saw a rattlesnake bite his dog, Roy, on the scrotum.

“Scrotum sounded to Lucky like something green that comes up when you have the flu and cough too much,” the book continues. “It sounded medical and secret, but also important.”

This is totally idiotic. You should be able to converse about anything with anybody if you use the proper terminology. As for scrotum the mention of the planet Uranus gets more snickers then that from the 3rd grade and under crowd. A more complete list of children books that should be banned for using the S word.

Did Obama Barack People Plant This Story?

Women, especially high achieving women, choke under pressure.

Flat Daddies

In order to keep the memory alive for small children military families at home are making life size photos of their missing family member. These photos fold up and have attended weddings and funerals. They have gone to baseball games and birthday parties, dance recitals and swimming lessons. They’ve sat through Thanksgiving dinners and Christmas mornings by the tree. An Ohio company, SFC Graphics , began offering free flat daddies to immediate family members of a deployed soldiers through a Web site, www.flatdaddies.com .

Speaking Of Apple

Think Different
(Apple Computer Ad Campaign)

Here’s to the crazy ones.

The misfits.
The rebels.
The troublemakers.
The round pegs in the square holes.
The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules.
And they have no respect for the status quo. You can praise them, disagree with them, quote them, disbelieve them, glorify or vilify them.
About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them.
Because they change things.

They invent. They imagine. They heal.
They explore. They create. They inspire.
They push the human race forward.

Maybe they have to be crazy.
How else can you stare at an empty canvas and see a work of art?
Or sit in silence and hear a song that’s never been written?
Or gaze at a red planet and see a laboratory on wheels?
We make tools for these kinds of people.

While some see them as the crazy ones,we see genius.
Because the people who are crazy enough to think
they can change the world, are the ones who do.

Apple CEO Attacks Teachers Union

At a conference in Austin, TX featuring Apple's Steve Jobs and Michael "weenie out" Dell of Dell computers.

"I believe that what is wrong with our schools in this nation is that they have become unionized in the worst possible way," Jobs said.

"This unionization and lifetime employment of K-12 teachers is off-the-charts crazy."

"What kind of person could you get to run a small business if you told them that when they came in they couldn't get rid of people that they thought weren't any good?" he asked to loud applause during an education reform conference. "Not really great ones because if you're really smart you go, 'I can't win.'"

Conspiratorial Super Highway

Some of you need to quit posting take a break and read.

Do You Have DSACDAD

Dysphoric Social Attention Consumption Deficit Anxiety Disorder looks like a new IEP for students and an excuse for the rest of us.

Cleo was no Liz Taylor

Jules and Mark may have been in the army a long way from home and they did drink a lot of fortified wine but falling for Cleopatra if she did look like this is still a stretch. Roman writers only say that Cleopatra was intelligent and charismatic, and that she had a seductive voice but do not mention her looks. Seems the boys both fell for the "she has a great personality and makes her own clothes" line. Either that or Mrs. Anthony paid off the designer of the coin.

New Course Proposal

You can teach economics the same old way and the only things students learn is why it is called the dismal science or you could teach economics based on the TV show Lost . This is part of the broader wiki style Lostpedia

NCLB 2.0

and it is full of new features:

The future the commission depicts gives Washington yet more power over the nation’s schools; its summary recommendations use the word “require” (often followed by the word “states”) at least 35 times. By contrast, we found just half a dozen “allows” or “permits.” Seems the panel is six times more interested in issuing new federal mandates than providing flexibility to states, districts or schools.

The worst — ominously listed first — would “require all teachers to produce student learning gains and receive positive principal or teacher peer review evaluations to meet the new definition of a Highly Qualified and Effective Teacher (HQET).” That Orwellian recommendation illustrates the basic flaw in this approach: Start with a sound instinct (gauging teachers’ effectiveness by their impact on pupil achievement). Then pretend that the U.S. Department of Education is a National Education Ministry, able to micromanage complicated processes (like vetting teachers) from Washington.

Current law promises kids stuck in low-performing schools that they can exit for better ones in their districts. Yet this isn’t happening because most such districts have few decent schools with empty seats. The answer is to expand supply and create more choices, via more charter schools, letting kids cross district lines, even including private schools. None of these expanded options appears in the report. (The phrase “private school” never appears and charters get only glancing attention.)

Praising Kids

Big surprise but praising kids for potential instead of results is actually harmful to their academic performance

... For a few decades, it’s been noted that a large percentage of all gifted students (those who score in the top 10 percent on aptitude tests) severely underestimate their own abilities. Those afflicted with this lack of perceived competence adopt lower standards for success and expect less of themselves. They underrate the importance of effort, and they overrate how much help they need from a parent.

When parents praise their children’s intelligence, they believe they are providing the solution to this problem. According to a survey conducted by Columbia University, 85 percent of American parents think it’s important to tell their kids that they’re smart. In and around the New York area, according to my own (admittedly nonscientific) poll, the number is more like 100 percent. Everyone does it, habitually. The constant praise is meant to be an angel on the shoulder, ensuring that children do not sell their talents short.

But a growing body of research—and a new study from the trenches of the New York public-school system—strongly suggests it might be the other way around. Giving kids the label of “smart” does not prevent them from underperforming. It might actually be causing

School is not all that is closed

In response to a former post Air Products offices are closed till at least 10.

And if you love irony in the morning:
The Subcommittee on Energy and Air Quality hearing scheduled for Wednesday, February 14, 2007, at 10:00 a.m. in room 2123 Rayburn House Office Building has been postponed due to inclement weather. The hearing is entitled “Climate Change: Are Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Human Activities Contributing to a Warming of the Planet?”

The hearing will be rescheduled to a date and time to be announced later.

Ms Emily Goes To The Movies

Review by Emily Trosprel
9th Grade BHHS Senior Entertainment Editor

Dreamgirls

Was it a crime for the splashy musical Dreamgirls to be knocked out of the running for a best picture Oscar? No, but that’s not to say you can’t enjoy yourself watching Bill Condon’s dazzling film quite literally light up the screen. In the 1960’s, a down on their luck singing trio of Effie White (Jennifer Hudson), Deena Jones (Beyoncé Knowles) and Lorrell Robinson (Anika Noni Rose) are struggling as talent show material before being swept up by Curtis Taylor Jr. (Jamie Foxx), a car salesman turned manager. Taylor gets them their big break in the form of being backup singers for fiery sensation James "Thunder" Early (Eddie Murphy), and when the newly named Dreams are big enough, he let’s them star on their own, catapulting the group to stardom. However it’s not a dream-come true for Effie who had always sung lead and rightfully so with a voice like hers. Before the trio gets their act, Taylor decides to mix up the arrangement, pushing comely yet meeker sounding Deena to the front rather then full-figured Effie. The strong-willed Effie’s pride can’t take being pushed back, and she’s unceremoniously dumped from the Dreams, the final step in making Taylor’s unscrupulous control of the group complete.

For all the hype, it isn’t the actual music in Dreamgirls that blows you away. All is acceptably glamorous, but there aren’t many tunes that are so catchy as to be in your head for days after. The story isn’t enthralling either; we’ve seen all of these musical cliches before. Visuals are where Dreamgirls really stands out of the crowd. The sheer glitz of everything is overwhelming from the first act—the costumes, the lights, the sets—and here overwhelming is a good thing. The style is reminiscent of Chicago which makes sense as Bill Condon played a part in that production as well in the form of screenwriter. By now, nearly everyone has heard the acting standouts, and it’s true—Jennifer Hudson has got her first acting role down, and Eddie Murphy proves that he can still put some gravity into a role while being as spirited as ever. Dreamgirls covers two hours and over a decade in terms of the plot, and it can’t be said that it’s one of those movies that completely “flies by”. What can be said is that even if the scenes don’t go by quickly, they still dazzle, move, and entertain, and perhaps it’s a good thing they take their time doing so.

Three Out Of Four Stars for Dream Girls.

Early Dismissal

11:30 HS , 12:30 MS, 1:30 elementary, including teachers views expressed by some readers are their own and not supported by management. Drive save and we will see you back here after the spring thaw.

TELEPHONE FRAUD INVOLVING JURY DUTY

The FBI notice is Sep. 2005 but it appears that it has now reached our area. Good to see the government is still using words like telephonically hate to think they would resort to using English. Love "telphonically contacting" being a simple country boy I would have used telephoning or even calling.

The FBI today is providing a warning to the public against an ongoing scheme involving jury service. The public needs to be aware that individuals identifying themselves as U.S. court employees have been telephonically contacting citizens and advising them that they have been selected for jury duty. These individuals ask to verify names and Social Security numbers, then ask for credit card numbers. If the request is refused, citizens are then threatened with fines.

The judicial system does not contact people telephonically and ask for personal information such as your Social Security number, date of birth or credit card numbers. If you receive one of these phone calls, do not provide any personal or confidential information to these individuals. This is an attempt to steal or to use your identity by obtaining your name, Social Security number and potentially to apply for credit or credit cards or other loans in your name. It is an attempt to defraud you.

Don't Forget

This is Return Shopping Carts to the Supermarket Month also included are milk crates and bread trays. Don't confuse it with windy march which is let your shopping cart get blown into the newest car lot month, just to help your neighborhood auto body shop.

Maybe Teachers Are Paid Too Much In NY

If they can afford to sniff cocaine while teaching 4th graders.

Wasteful Americans

It is often brandied about in international gab sessions that Americans are only 5% of the population but use 24% of the world's energy. Well the rest of the world is composed of a bunch of slackers because we also contribute to 33% of the world GNP. If only the rest of the world wasn't so inefficient everyone would be in better shape.

Don't Try This From Home

They should have used one of the anonymous proxies or did it from a public location.

"TRENTON, Ohio (AP) - Two teenage Ohio girls posted a fake announcement on their school district's website that said school was closed for the day due to winter weather, police said.

The notice, posted Monday, confused many parents - snow was not in the forecast - and persuaded some students to stay home.

Edgewood City Schools Supt. Tom York said he discovered the posting when he logged on to write his own announcement that school would be delayed for an hour because of an extreme cold snap.

"I didn't make that call and I'm the guy who does, so I knew something was up," York said.

The two Edgewood high school students, whose names were not released, were charged in juvenile court Friday and face expulsion. One of the girls, 16, was charged with delinquency by unauthorized use of a computer and by reason of records tampering. The other, 17, was charged with delinquency by reason of complicity, Sheriff's Sgt. Monte Mayer said.More

Sounds like Kutztown sending kids to court to make up for their own lack of basic security.

Pre-Valentine Day Special Report

If there are any singles in the audience in search of the perfect valentine carry a calculator and beware of the nucleus accumbens. The nucleus accumbens is the area of the brain that decides the attractiveness of another human being's face. The more appealing the more neurons fir. There is one big problem it can also be stimulated by alcohol yielding the widely observed phenomenon whose scientific name is Beer Goggles.

The beer goggle effect thanks to British mathematicians can now be calculated. The formula works out a "beer goggle" score ranging from 1 to 100+. When ? = 1, the observer is perceiving the same degree of beauty he or she would perceive in a sober state. At 100+, everybody in the room is a perfect 10.

The formula goes like this:
Other Variables Besides Alcohol
* How brightly lit the area is
* The observer's eye-sight quality
* The amount of smoke in the air
* The distance of the observer from the observed

? =	(An)2 x d(S + 1) ?L x (Vo)2

where:

• An is the number of servings of alcohol
  
• S is the smokiness of the area on a scale of 0 - 10
  
• L is the lighting level of the area, measured in candelas per square meter, in which 150 is normal room lightning
  
• Vo is Snellen visual acuity, in which 6/6 is normal and 6/12 is the lower limit at which someone is able to drive
  
• d is the distance between the observer and the observed, measured in meters

More

If the Brits listened to country music they would have included an even more crucial variable The time remaining to closing.

Easy to See Why He Was Having Learning Problems

A New York City public school teacher faces termination after being paid nearly $6,000 in city money for tutoring a 15-year-old homebound student who had already died, officials said yesterday.

Cheryl Edwards, 37, a fifth-grade teacher at PS 288 in Brooklyn, was paid for tutoring the boy a total of 154 hours between Jan. 23 and June 12, 2006, said Richard Condon, the special commissioner of investigation for the city school district. More

TV 2007

There was some discussion about changing values and other back in my day talk. Well here is one from the cause of a lot of it as quoted by Rick Kushman of the Sacramento Bee.

Marc Cherry, the creator of ABC’s “Desperate Housewives,” and a man who put in plenty of time in the mills of show business before hitting it big, told TV critics how the network censors can get, shall we say, lost in the small things.

He talked about an episode in which Eva Longoria was in bed after a tryst with her 17-year-old gardener. He got a request from the network.

“The censor looked,” Cherry told critics, “and said, ‘Does she have to smoke?’

“And I went, ‘So you’re good with the statutory rape thing?’”

Forming A Citizen Group?

NIMBY (Not In My BackYard) is getting worn out here are some other ones to inspire you to find the perfect name.

NIMFYE Not In My Front Yard, Either
CAVE. Citizens Against Virtually Everything.
BANANA Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anything.

FUND THE STUDENT NOT THE SCHOOLS.

In an action that could usher in one of the most sweeping state education policy changes in recent history, the Utah House on Friday approved a private-school tuition voucher program — by a single vote. The Milton and Rose D. Friedman Foundation in a national press release Friday said HB148, sponsored by Rep. Steve Urquhart, R-St. George, "could become the nation's first-ever universal school voucher program" and become the first program to achieve the late Nobel laureate economist's vision for universal school choice.

This is where all the good intentions of the Commonwealth Caucus goes wrong. Instead of trying to change which pocket of the taxpayer they will pick and putting all the power in Harrisburg, give the money to the student. As Friedman said, " if government wants to subsidize something, it can subsidize either the producer or the consumer. Subsidizing the producer is the wrong way to do it because it creates a top-down organization, which is very inefficient. The better way is to subsidize the consumer, which is what vouchers do."

Top down governing by experts didn't work in the USSR and it hasn't and won't work in US Public Education time to let the invisible hand once again do its magic. The local public schools would continue but funding would be drastically changed. Every student would be assigned $7,000, five thousand as an education credit and $2,000 to their local district. If the child stays within the district they would receive the entire $7,000. If the student goes elsewhere the district would have one less student but $2,000 to apply to their remaining students. There are a few kinks but that is just detail.

The Incrediable Shrinking Country

Germany already saddled with one of the most rapidly aging and shrinking populations of any Western nation, now the best and the brightest are leaving. The country most popular TV show is "Goodbye Deutschland! The Emigrants," a 12- part series that chronicles several families who forsake Germany for South Africa or southern Spain. Those who leave cite chronic unemployment, a rigid labor market, stifling bureaucracy, high taxes and the plodding economy — which, though better recently, still lags behind that of the United States.

This even sounds like a Brandywine School Board Meeting.

"Germans are so complacent," Thoma added. "They don't want to change anything. Everything is discussed endlessly without ever reaching a solution." Germans seek greener pastures abroad

Bouncing Down The Street

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - A Philadelphia official wants the city council to look at whether the city's sidewalks should be made of rubber.

Councilman claims the sidewalk made from shredded tires would reduce number of injuries caused by Eagles fans leaping from buildings after the next season playoff loss.

You Lazy Younguns Can Sleep In Again

Channel 69 is reporting that there will be another 2 hour delay on Tuesday.

Wilson Pilots Full Day K.

Wilson School District will launch a full-day kindergarten program with two classes for the 2007-08 school year.

Students at Shiloh Hills and Spring Ridge elementary schools will have the opportunity to join the pilot program. Both schools will have one full-day kindergarten class.

In 2005-06, 12 of Berks County's 18 public school districts had some form of a full-day kindergarten program, according to the state Department of Education.

“The research that we're reading shows it really gives children an advantage,” said Dr. Lawrence J. Mussoline, Wilson superintendent. “It gives them a head start in learning.”
More

Did You Ever

Look at something very common and ordinary and have an I Pencil moment. The one story that should be read in every school in the country but seldom is.

At the very least the people that go to Washington and Harrisburg should understand it because it is very obvious that very few do.

Grab a Couple of Dogs and Get Back Under The Cover

Brandywine Heights Area School District 2 Hour Delay Monday

Now when I was in school we didn't have no delay just because the weather was a little brisk. Hell Bells we liked a nice nippy morning because the creek was frozen solid and didn't have to wade in the cold water or worry about breaking through the ice. Even better some chill in the air meant the bears were hibernating and didn't have to fight them off on the way.

A Secret for Teachers and Parents

Not real big on unwarranted self-esteem but tell a child they are stupid, ugly, fat, generally worthless often enough it will become true.

Not child friendly and often disturbing as it can be uplifting and sometimes humorous Postsecrets every Sunday features post cards sent in by readers of their most intimate secrets in their lives. Reading some of these you discover you really don't have any real problems or you are not alone with some of your darkest thoughts.

Golden Oldies

The leading all time hits.

Sep,2005 The pledge to the flag and a high school teacher 178
May,2006 Topton Pool 175
Jun,2006 JR. High Principle duct tape student's foot 155
Jul,2002 Re: merit raises for administration 145
Jan,2003 Re: December Speical Board Meeting 142
Feb,2005 thanks to longswamp twp supervisors for disregarding taxpayers 140
Oct,2005 Rally in Harrisburg 137
Jun,2005 bonus pay for administrators 134
Jan,2005 Re: all day kindergarten 133
Sep,2005 Eagle Editorial 131
Feb,2005 Re: How To Keep Rockland Open 129
Dec,2005 Losing One's House 120
Nov,2006 One LARGE Rotten Apple 118
Mar,2004 Bonus pay above regular salary increases 117
Jan,2006 Absence Excuse Blanks and Decreasing Grades 111
Sep,2006 FOOTBALL AT BRANDYWINE 108
Apr,2005 Re: Pa. caucus act 104
Feb,2004 Re: Banners 93
Nov,2004 CONTRACT PASSED!!!!! 91

Discussion Board Growth

Back in the summer of 2001 post posting questions, concerns, and yes a lot of idiotic comments started out slowly but now averaging over 20 new comments every day and still growing exponentially.

An Ode To The Movie

Here's a line you'll either recognize or you won't: "This is one time where television really fails to capture the true excitement of a large squirrel predicting the weather." If you don't recognize this little gem, you've either never seen Groundhog Day or you're not a fan of what is, in my opinion, one of the best films of the last 40 years. As the day of the groundhog again approaches, it seems only fitting to celebrate what will almost undoubtedly join It's a Wonderful Life in the pantheon of America's most uplifting, morally serious, enjoyable, and timeless movies.
...
I discovered that I wasn't alone in my interest. In the years since its release the film has been taken up by Jews, Catholics, Evangelicals, Hindus, Buddhists, Wiccans, and followers of the oppressed Chinese Falun Gong movement. Meanwhile, the Internet brims with weighty philosophical treatises on the deep Platonist, Aristotelian, and existentialist themes providing the skin and bones beneath the film's clown makeup. On National Review Online's group blog, The Corner, I asked readers to send in their views on the film. Over 200 e-mails later I had learned that countless professors use it to teach ethics and a host of philosophical approaches. Several pastors sent me excerpts from sermons in which Groundhog Day was the central metaphor. Essay

Its Official

You can't argue with science.

Phil Says Spring is Right Around the Corner!

Phil's official forecast as read 2/2/07 at 7:28 a.m. at Gobbler's Knob:

El Nino has caused high winds, heavy snow, ice and freezing temperatures in the west.
Here in the East with much mild winter weather we have been blessed.

Global warming has caused a great debate.
This mild winter makes it seem just great.

On this Groundhog Day we think of one thing.
Will we have winter or will we have spring?

On Gobbler's Knob I see no shadow today.
I predict that early spring is on the way.

Your Rep. Reichley Wants To Increase Your School Taxes

Schools currently have state immunity from being held liable and paying your money for criminal acts by students on students. The immunity is there to protect the big pockets of the taxpayers from huge rewards by sympathetic juries that could cripple a school district. In addition to the money teachers and administrators would spend even more time in the court.

State Rep. Reichley introduced a bill this week to end the immunity and open up the school vault to anyone that feels they have been injured. Once again representatives in Harrisburg want to be the guys with the white hats receiving credit for righting every wrong. However when the bill comes due for their kind and generous acts they can just point to the local school boards.

This is one reason property tax reform such as proposed by Rep. Rohr will have a hard time passing. Now the legislature is immured for the cost of their actions. If we actually went to a state wide sales/income tax to pay for schools, they would no longer have this protection.

School Choice v. Board of Education of Topeka.

Once again the Topeka Kansas Board of Education has chosen to be on the wrong side of history. A must read column by George Will on the rising tide of school choice. One of the biggest groups for choice is the inner city blacks, the biggest opponents are rich white liberals. If the results weren't so tragic it would be a comedy.

When the school board rejected the application of the two educators[To form a back-to-basics academy from kindergarten through fifth grade] -- African American women -- but praised their dedication to children, one of the women was not mollified: "A bleeding heart does nothing but ruin the carpet."