Swimming in the Pensieve

We were treated to a telephone call from a “counselor” at Robert A. Millikan High School–at exactly 14:19 this afternoon.

In a clear-cut case of unintentional mercy to the calling individual, my lovely wife picked-up the phone before I could get to it first.
:::sigh::: It isn’t always a good thing to be slow, folks!

As the conversation went, one of our son’s teachers (English teacher, Kevin Fielder, as a matter of fact) informed the counselor that our son had forthrightly and dutifully turned-in all the materials that did not belong to himself or our family–informing his instructors that he would not be returning to [that Hell-Hole called] Millikan High–and the counselor was concerned that we did not fulfill some sort of illusory obligation on our part of filling out withdrawal paperwork for our son. [Accuracy-Enhancing Note added by Me]

How rich!

Millikan High, as a matter of policy, refused to meet their legal mandate of providing a Free, Adequate, Public Education to our son; illegally retaliated against him for his failure to obey an unreasonable and illegal uniform policy; provided us the equivalent of intellectual monkeys to attempt to reason with; and they feel that–somehow, even in their ridiculous paradigm–we have any scrap of obligation to notify them that we are moving our son to CAliVA@Kern?

I think that takes the Blue Ribbon for insolence, if you ask me (as if you even need to ask).

After being jerked-around by both Guillermo Jimenez and Jeff Cornejo about this uniform intolerance; as well as being forced to endure their inability to think their way out of a shredded paper bag; these two sheep have relegated themselves to being my messenger boys who need to jump–without wasting the time to ask, “How high?”–when CAliVA@Kern calls for our son’s Cumulative Academic Record folder.

Frank Gutierrez gave us a good reason to deprive LBUSD of $13,688.00 by enrolling our two youngest daughters in CAliVA@Kern–without moving out of LBUSD boundaries. Jimenez & Cornejo upped-the-ante by giving us a very good reason to deprive LBUSD of an aggregate $20,532.00 by enrolling our son in CAliVA@Kern, and we still live where we were living last week. Go ahead and give each other a pat on the back, now. Frankie, and you two yutzes, just added to the district fiscal woes to the tune of $20.5K and, you gave me the greatest reason in the world to advocate for CAliVA@Kern to your own potential enrollees.

Every time I score a convert (and more are on the way), CAliVA@Kern scores a win, and you take another hit–at more than $6K a year. That is what I call a win-win scenario.

By the way: Our son’s computer, scanner/printer/fax machine and curriculum materials should be here in two shakes of an LBUSD >ahem< lamb's tail (no offense intended); although the hang-time won't stop him from learning more in the next week than he has been taught at Millikan since the 7^th of September. At least he will be receiving instruction at grade-level, instead of at something as low as sixth-to-seventh grade-level–at no cost to him or his family. It all comes out of that $6K-plus per year that LBUSD has so thoughtfully donated to the cause of a child actually receiving a quality education.

I prefer to call it ‘restitution.’ (We will be donating his black and blue uniforms to somebody who actually believes that their child must wear such a thing, in order to obtain a good education–with, of course, our condolences.)

Parents: We used to support LBUSD in many ways–including hundreds of hours of my own volunteer time per year–but have learned that there are alternatives to LBUSD that are superior in most respects, and will allow you to live right here in Long Beach. CAliVA@Kern is a California Public Charter School which your child may attend nearly anywhere in the state (please see their website for delivery counties) without the interference of your local school district. In our case, this would be LBUSD.

If you are having problems with LBUSD, drop us an email and ask us for teacher contact information, advice, anything you care to ask for (except money, booze or cigarettes). We will do our best to assist you in making your decision in the most informed manner possible. We do understand that this may not be the ideal solution for everyone; but, it has worked wonders for us.

[added]
Press Telegram assists LBUSD in distributing false statistics
As you’ll see below, on the 18^th of this month I had a Letter to the Editor published by the Long Beach Press Telegram; which, unfortunately, was ineptly edited by somebody who doesn’t bother checking the State-reported data.
This, of course instigated my retort (immediately following) which I’m quite certain will not make it into the paper–even as a correction:

RE: My own Letter to the Editor [Tuesday, 18 October, 2005]…

I quote my own submission: “…CAMS is sporting a 100% pass rate on both portions of the CAHSEE, with Lakewood coming in at a distant Math: 75%, ELA: 76% pass rate; with LBUSD, as a whole, lagging behind the statewide CAHSEE pass-rates…” as compared to the creative editing applied to it to produce the following unqualified and misleading text: “…CAMS (California Academy of Mathematics and Science at Cal State, Dominguez Hills), under Principal Kathleen Clark, is sporting a 100 percent pass rate on both portions of the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE). Lakewood is coming in at 89 percent math and 88 percent English…”

Given the fact that the numbers I used came directly from the California Department of Education CAHSEE reporting web site; why, then, did P-T feel it necessary to replace my credibly-quoted statistics with numbers which are artificially-high, and cannot be supported by a competent and ethical manipulation of the state-reported data for Lakewood High? (There is no state-provided combination of figures, by which weighted-averaging which will produce an 89% math/88% English score pairing for Lakewood High.)

Are LBUSD and P-T so terrified of the unvarnished truth that false data must be unapologetically reported; while (mis)using my name to do so??

Odds, anyone?