Friday, October 22, 2010
And...WHERE were YOU?
Wednesday night the Superintendent, Assistant Superintendent and various Administrators gave the State of the District address, and guess what, there MIGHT have been 2 community members present that were NOT employees.
How sad is that!
If an outsider were to read our blogs they would undoubtedly think that there is a lot of concern about this city’s schools and it students by the 'residents' of Plainfield. Well Wednesday night, our collective “no show” proved that we are more concerned about pumping garbage into the veins of this community than truly coming to the table to participate as partners. You know -- Doing something about it!
There was information on test scores, curriculum, professional development, truancy, ESL program direction, early education strategies, at-risk and graduation rate improvement plans. Search the blogs for these categories (or simply Plainfield schools, BOE) and see how often they appear on ‘our town’ blogs. And then provide some relevant solutions any of them have offered -- EVER!
When do we “the community” own our ROI.
It really is shameful!
Monday, October 18, 2010
Sunday, October 17, 2010
The Power of The Tongue (or Blog): Life or Death!
With all the latest headlines about bullying this country has seen over the past several weeks, I asked my daughter to write about it on her blog. We watched the 20/20 special together and I really hope it hits home. It’s important for our children to understand that WORDS hurt. To intentionally make fun of someone who is not a willing participant, to gossip, to intimidate, or otherwise make a person feel less than simply because you want to or can is inexcusable. I read her write-up and of course I wish she had gone more in depth about how it affects students; I’m glad she made the final and most important connection – CHILDREN are dying because of it!
I was neither bullied or a bully, in fact I always took up for the underdog. I’ve always been a PLUS SIZE Model so you bet I was the brunt of many jokes, but I have a fantastic wit. Naturally! And I honed it on the ones who dared to try me. It didn’t mean what they said didn’t hurt; but rather my goal was to make them "feel me". It rarely came to fist-a-cuffs though, and that was simply a matter of God’s grace because Lord knows I said some directly hurtful stuff!
I am very much the same today. If someone says something that offends me or hurts my feelings I strike right back and my goal is to make them feel what I felt. I’m learning that this is not necessarily a good thing, or even the right thing.
As I continue in my service to this community I am learning to be gentler and kinder even if it means not responding at all. For now that is how I am learning. If you’ve noticed [and I KNOW YOU have] I haven’t bothered with the comments about the BOE of late, or the slights here and there; because at the end of the day it doesn’t change my Christmas list one bit. I’m still going to serve, I’m still going to be involved and I’m still going to tell the truth.
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