Swimming in the Pensieve

2005.09.22 - 18:00
We just got back from a CAliVA school outing at the LA County Fair (more…)

It’s time to set the story straight for those who depend too heavily on what the school district has to say to you.

Back on the 9th of this month, I noticed the following bit of Rah! Rah! text on the LBUSD website. (more…)

2005.09.20 - 17:35
Only today did it occur to me that, at our last parent-teacher, face-to-face meeting, Lisa Watson–our assigned teacher for the girls–asked what size CAliVA polo shirts to order for the girls. She presented lucid safety reasons for the school-affiliated shirts to be worn at school outings and functions, but never asked us to pay for the shirts. (more…)

The lesson I was teaching my two youngest daughters, about René Decartes, was interrupted by a phone call from Guillermo Jimenez, of Millikan High, at 12:03 this afternoon. Permit me to tell you what another one of LBUSD’s “good, little, policy-drones” has to say about the provisos and quid-pro-quos of a FAPE in LBUSD; while he waits for a pat on his head from the table scrap gods. (more…)

Ever wonder why LBUSD works the way it does (like a bunch of drunk idiots, out for a joyride in a stolen car)? Stop wondering and take a good look at this analogy to the LBUSD culture. Any system wherein idiots are rewarded functions in this very way, and LBUSD is certainly the best example of an idiot-rewarding system that I can think of. (more…)

We just now saw an article written by Kevin Butler, of the Press Telegram, wherein he discussed a drop in LBUSD enrollment of 1122 students; that this translates into approximately 5.5 million dollars lost to the district (my figures are somewhat higher, BTW); the consequential cutbacks in manpower and service delivery by LBUSD; and how parents are now footing the bill to pay the salaries of certain LBUSD employees. (more…)

I had a chance to chat with some parents from Robinson Academy today, at which time some very interesting things were said. Apparently, we have been billed by the admin-types as having run away from LBUSD to “homeschool” our children. I suppose, given a very narrow definition of the facts, that could be held-forth as being a true statement.

However, a larger and more balanced perspective would articulate the facts as (more…)

The CAliVA party today, was actually a root beer float social; and, I have to confess that this oncoming cold (or whatever it is) certainly had me way off my social graces game–one that I’ve never really been all that good at anyway. I tended to keep my germ-carrying-self away from close circulation with folks; out of both a sense of a sense of bio-hazard responsibility, and a general feeling of “yuckiness.” (more…)

Anya has been anticipating the arrival of the newest Guardians of Ga’Hoole book (Lasky, Kathryn. Guardians of Ga’Hoole: Book Eight - The Outcast. New York: Schoolastic, Inc., September 1, 2005.) in the same way she anticipates any forestalled opportunity for reading; almost a daily routine of jumping up and down in front of the mailbox. It finally arrived this afternoon. (more…)

Ever since I opened that box, I had a subliminal uneasiness that followed me about while I was clearing a spot in the dining room for the machine. Something was very wrong, but I just couldn’t put my finger on it. I checked on dinner in the midst of juggling a few other things, and felt an weight of non-specific dread. (more…)