"More Kids Than The Middle Schools..."

Had a pretty rough day today at work. My high-needs kiddo brought a razor blade to school. It's especially nerve-wracking because he just got done kicking Janae and throwing a book at me when I tried to intervene. Makes me wonder what he was planning to do with it...

So when I was trying to get it from him, I got a kick and a hit for my troubles. I finally got some help from the school psychologist but they didn't even send him home. Just a quick time-out in the office...and he was right back in my classroom.

I'm not so concerned for myself but what about the rest of my kiddos? I think to when I'll have Maelin in school: if there was a kiddo in her class that was consistently hurting other kids and was violent, what would I do? If the school refused to take any action towards him (ie: get him full-time para support, remove him from the classroom, etc.), I would be furious. I would be camped out in the superintendent's office demanding something be done...or there'd be legal action. Just like he has a right to a "free and appropriate public education", Maelin has a right to be safe in school.

I was just talking to one of the other teachers about this and she was apologizing for my awful year...too many kids, not enough materials, no support for the troubled kids, etc. She made a comment that our building currently has over 622 kids: that's more than both middle schools in our district. She thought our building was designed for no more than 450. Because they are cutting services and support every day, what is a classroom teacher left with?

Not much...except a child in my room who just threw his book across the room at another kid and tripped one and is now coming after me. With no one to call for help.

I ask you to think about that the next time you're tempted to criticize public school teachers.

Wow

My cousin Allie took this picture on Easter while I was playing with Maelin...I LOVE it. :-)

Lack of Interest

Tried to write this 5 different times and stopped because I just can't find my voice. So...instead of a written post letting you all know what's been going on with Maelin's new big-girl-bed, the new cat we inherited from my mom, and a thousand other things, you're going to get a few recent pictures of Maelin.

Much easier for me to do. So I hope you enjoy.

Maelin Takes a Bath

She moves pretty fast so it's hard to grab a picture of her that isn't blurry, but this one is pretty cute. She's busy enjoying her bath...

MIchelle Sings to my Mom

We played this at my mom's memorial yesterday.

?

I'm not sure what to write here. My mom has been gone for 7 days now and I'm still struggling to understand exactly how that happened. Why didn't the doctors know sooner how sick she was? Why her? Why us? So many questions...

For those of you who have sent messages, thank you so much. Every single text, email, message has been read and appreciated and most of them have brought a tear to my eyes. (or more than one). It seems to come and hit me in waves...some moments I'm fine, and others...well.

Today has been a hard day. I'm busy arranging the funeral and memorial services and still trying to take good care of my very busy 2 year old. I realized yesterday that her birthday is quickly approaching so I better get on the plans for that. Life does go on, it seems...

Funeral is Saturday. I hope that will bring my family and I some closure and we can start the process of moving on. I'm not sure what that would look like except that we breathe in and out each day and go to sleep and get up and do it again.

I hope to be back writing for this as soon as I can. In the meantime...I'm breathing.

Michelle Sings Good-Bye to my Mom

One of my mom's really good friends wrote and sang this song for her. It touched my heart and soul and I hope it does you too...

Saying Good-Bye to my Mom

I'm cutting and pasting the post my sister just wrote about what's been going on in the last week because I just don't have the strength to write about it myself. I hope you all send some thoughts our way as this is the hardest, but most peaceful, thing I've ever had to do. Please click here to get the full story.

50th in the Nation

I'm starting out this post with this sobering news for teachers that was released recently:

...And just this week, Education Week released the Quality Counts report that provides snapshots of nationwide school finance data. Again reported in Great Education Colorado, the news is bad for our state:

We're continuing "the Colorado trajectory" -- falling farther behind the nation and other states that are competing with us for jobs, economic development opportunities and educators.

Here's a comparison of the 2008, 2009, and 2010 Quality Counts data (note that because of the lag in available data, the new statistics are based on 2007 expenditures -- that is, before the current recession):

Per pupil funding, adjusted for regional cost differences:

2008: 38th nationally

2009: 40th

2010: 42nd

Per pupil spending (adjusted for regional cost differences) compared to U.S. Average:

2008: $1,034 below the national average

2009: $1,449 below the national average

2010: $1,919 below the national average

Rank in teacher pay parity (i.e., how teacher salaries compare to salaries in comparable professions):

2008: 43rd

2010: 50th

That's the context for the current legislative session -- where cuts of at least an average $440 per pupil are virtually certain for the coming school year.

~ Great Education Colorado, January 26

So...pretty depressing news for those of us who have dedicated our professional lives to trying to improve public education in a way that we believe would best serve our kiddos. Colorado is projected to be 50th in the nation in terms of paying teachers a comparable salary to other people with the same amount of education. That is just awesome.

It's always interesting to me when schools try to get taxpayers to give them more money by putting a two or three cent tax increase on every $10 spent. These tax increases usually fail and a lot of the reasons that are cited for this is; "Schools suck anyway...more money isn't going to help" or "I don't have kids so I don't need to help pay for my neighborhood schools" or my favorite, "Schools have all the money they need...they're just mismanaged."

I'll tell you something about my school. We had to cut two full-time teachers this year making our 5th grade class sizes insane. There are about 35 kids in each of the 5th grade classes making for a classroom management nightmare. I have 28 kids in my 2nd grade class right now and I'd like you to imagine the amount of individual attention each one of them gets. It's not a whole lot. We've cut technology services so it takes about 2 months for any computer issue to be resolved. Imagine how often the kids get computer time with that issue. There are no after-school programs anymore, no new equipment, no field trips this year due to budget cuts. The high school alone has lost 15 professional teachers (that means teachers who have been teaching for 5 years or more) to other professions due to being overworked and underpaid. The high school had to scramble to fill those positions and they are staffed with whoever they could get. There are many other examples, but this post would be way too long.

So for those of you here in Colorado that constantly are complaining about the quality of public education, who talk about how you're going to send your kids to private schools or charters, who make jokes about how teachers just hang out in schools and don't do anything due to tenure...

I have a phrase for you: "You get what you pay for."

Thank You for the Christmas Gifts!

This post is shockingly late, but not for lack of appreciation. The only thing I can claim is life got in the way of my sending you a proper and prompt "Thank You" from the bottom of my heart for all you did to help my kiddos for Christmas. Here is a bit from the letters:

"...thank you for the scool suppliz! now mi mom and me can do mi homework!"

"...thank you for the shoes and glovs becuz my hands wont get cold playing in the sno."

"...I really needed a coat and gloves and now I have them and I want to thank you so much because I really needed them and socks too so thank you! It was the nicest day in all of the days."

"...I was so excited to get the toys and gloves and hats and shirts and books and crayons and all the other things because I needed those things like really really bad. my friends needed them too and now we have them and it was my best and favorite day."

"...I neded the soesz bekuz my toz stuk out of my old soesz."

"..it was my best day when we got the prezents and my mom cryed when she saw the prezents."

So to all of you who forwarded my email, sent a check or a gift card, or sent supplies, books, or just a card, we now have 110 very happy 2nd graders due to your spirit, generosity, and love. Words can't express how grateful we are to all of you so hopefully some of the attached pictures might. Please forward this post on to anyone who I may have missed.

Happy New Year to all of you!

Maelin Sings to Baby Omari

We got to help babysit our friend's 3 month old little boy last night and Maelin is totally in love with him. Here is a quick video of her singing to him...

Still Here

So this has probably been the longest I have ever gone between posting something so I just wanted to let you all know that I'm still here. We've been having quite a few weeks between having lots of family come to visit for the holidays to me coming down with strep throat to crazy times getting back to work to some issues that have taken all of us out of commission for a while.

Suffice it to say, we are all fine and still kicking. I will be back at it soon and I promise to post about the gifts that my kids received, about Christmas, our wonderful visitors, the latest happenings at school, and a few other stories. Until then, thanks for checking back and happy 2010!

Here's a recent picture of our little one with my cousin Peter who was visiting for New Years. I promise more of Christmas, my classroom and all sorts of stuff coming soon!