20 questions

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/20-questions-for-parents-about-k-12-school-reform/2012/03/21/gIQAMytwaS_blog.html

Read them, made me think, which is the purpose of reading.

Daily 5

At last nights School Board we were entertained and informed of a program called "Daily 5". It was nice to watch a video of young students excited to read to themselves, write, and read to others. Perhaps there are new ways to teach and some of us are willing to try them. Thanks for trying something new.

A Riddle

What does the Iowa Legislature and public education have in common? Nothing! The school system is expected to show results, we can't extend our year if we haven't made our goals, we can't "close" the session early if we did. I think I have a new designation for the State government, GINA, Government In Need of Assistance. I suppose we could rate the government on how it improved over last years government, or if we get our "waver"  we could rate them by using a growth model. So let's reform something already!

Facebook at School

I'm sure people will find it unusual for the school to use a Facebook account. This is an experiment to get more information out using the social media of today. I'm not sure of the future for blocking access to Facebook while on the schools' network. While in school, announcements and postings will suffice for now. Facebook could serve the public outside the walls quite well, I'm sure we'll consider all options in the future for students during the school day. I can't speak for others, but I expect sarcastic remarks about the school using Facebook, and if there are suggestions for changes to school policy I hope they are supportive or I can consider changes very slowly.

Swords to Plowshares

I'm not a big fan of the push in the State Legislature to put gun rights in the State constitution. I actually think the new "conceal carry" permits goes far enough. My biggest concern before was transporting a weapon in a vehicle, the conceal carry permit makes it legal. Now with the push in Des Moines it could become a constitutional right to carry the weapon everywhere, this goes too far. You may have the right to carry a weapon, but a property owner should have the right to say "not here". I've been on jury trial many times (much to the dismay of the defendant) and I would not be happy thinking anyone in the courtroom could be "packing". Any business, local government agency, etc, those closest to the individual voter should be able to set some restraint. Whatever happened  to local control? It's understandable to have 99 counties with the same rules now, but Hy-Vee should be able to ban guns from all their stores if they wish. The Democrats in the Senate won't let this happen anyway, so our State government just wasted a day, and I can't see where this proved anything symbolically.

The Games We Play

I went to the "Eggs and Issues" forum Saturday morning and listened to our legislators talk about different issues. The one thing that I picked up on is how the Senate won't allow certain bills forwarded by the House to come to the floor for a vote, or how the House won't let certain bills come out of committee. So I think we can see why things don't change. I don't know why the label of being in one party or the other removed the ability to work together. Do we really lose something if we were to cross party lines? Why does there even have to be a line? It would be an interesting experiment for two different party members to quietly switch bills and see if the vote would completely reverse. Politics, Bah Humbug

Iowa Department of Education

I find it amusing that Brad Zaun's bill introduced into committee to do away with the IDOE has met with so much opposition. I thought we were looking at a total overhaul of education in Iowa? Why wouldn't the top dogs be under the microscope? If you have a school in need of improvement, and this goes on for a number of years, the State would step in and replace the administration (the "State" has never had the guts to do this). So if education in Iowa has been on "the list" for a number of years, I'd start at the top too. The question that should be asked of everyone involved from top to bottom is, "just what have you done to make things better?" If the top people at the IDOE are offended by this, tough. Its a simple question, if this offends you professionally then I guess you can't answer it. I better add that even though things could be "better", things aren't terrible, we just are not performing at a level that we would like to be, and one of the ways to get money and attention is to turn it into some kind of "crisis".

There is one simple thing that could be done to make things better, and sometimes I feel I'm the only one who knows. I think you know what it is too, and just don't realize it. I won't reveal what it is until someone at the top asks me. (this is just a pathetic attempt to gain readers)