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October
Sub-archives
Traveling...with Children
This article originally appeared in Bethesda magazine
Our mission: To survive two cross-country flights with three young children, plus a seven-night cruise with assorted in-laws. Clearly, the numbers were against us.
Carry-on items for airplane: Baby wipes, check. Boarding passes, check. Nintendo DS with charged batteries (we’ll not make that mistake again, by God), check. Snacks, gum, sweatshirts for the chilly plane, change of clothes for the baby, People magazine to peruse during leisurely moments (hey, a woman can always dream… but when did my fantasies about Brad Pitt become fantasies of finding time to read about Brad Pitt?) – check, check, check. Tylenol for packing-induced migrane, check.
Happiest moment of trip: A young businessman looks up from his Wall Street Journal at our unruly mob -- haggard parents, wired children, and drooling baby -- and flees from our row with an expression most often seen in horror movies when young campers get a glimpse of Jason’s flashing knife. Fine, maybe I gave one of my kid’s ears the slightest motherly tug to spark a timely squabble (“Hey! He pulled my ear!” “No, I didn’t -- owww! He hit me!”) They’ll work out their differences in therapy twenty years from now – in the meantime, we got a coveted empty seat!
The day in the Life of a RIFFED DCPS Special Educator
On Friday, October 2, the DC Public School system terminated 388 employees, including 229 teachers. The miserable Washington Post Editorial page -- little more than a mouth piece for DC Mayor Adrian Fenty and Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee -- applauded the layoffs. The paper claimed that the dismissed teachers were incompetent and obstacles to improving education in DC. One of those let go has chosen to tell her own story. What she describes has nothing in common with the Post's cheerleading account of the layoffs.
This article was originally posted in the DCUM Forum thread "229 Teachers RIFed, see DC Wire for full story". It is being republished here with the permission of the author, who has chosen to remain anonymous.
Most of yesterday was a normal day for me, a third year special education teacher. I wake up at 5 am. After getting up, getting ready, and feeding my four month old baby, I check my DCPS email, respond to a question about a student, and enter grades from the day before. Everything I need to do online I do at home in the early morning, because I don't have internet access at school.
I take the metro to Anacostia and then walk the mile to the high school, arriving to work at 7:30. On the way in I see the assistant principal who tells me that there will be 10 students added to my caseload of 20 and I should consult with their general education teachers about their progress. I go to my classroom and prep. I set up learning stations for my group of diverse first period learners. Some will be doing a math activity, others a reading activity for the first 20 minutes of class. All teachers are then called to a meeting. We are told that DCPS has lost their contract with Hawk One Security, and therefore today there will be no security guards. All teachers will need to give up their planning periods to man the halls.
