Another great email

Such a creative and intelligent community. I'm going to keep posting these until I get into big trouble.


From: Hope
Subject: [Bms-pta] Letter from BMS Staff
To: bms-pta@listserv.bburg.bev.net
Date: Thursday, June 17, 2010, 9:24 PM


Dear BMS families,
As a follow-up to the information about the online input form, we would
like to share with you what the BMS staff has done in response to the
proposals presented at Tuesday's school board meeting. We met as a
faculty yesterday and discussed the impacts of these proposals on our
BMS community. Collectively we composed a document outlining our
thoughts and concerns. We have created this document for you to
consider. We encourage you to contact the superintendent and each of
the school board members and invite you to use any of the points from
our document in your discussions. Please also consider attending the
community meetings on Monday, June 21st at 3pm and 7pm in the BMS
auditorium. We appreciate your continued support of our school
community.
Thank you,
Carol Fox and Andrea Langston



An Opportunity for Excellence

Our community has proven numerous times that we are resilient and committed to our children and each other. This is just another opportunity to not only persevere but to look to improve on our educational ideas and environments.

§ We feel the tragedy for our BHS community should not be turned into a double tragedy by displacing our BMS community. The focus is to support the needs of the faculty and students of BHS as they cope with this crisis. To do this, we need to create an educational environment for all students impacted that best meets their developmental and academic needs in the short term and can benefit our district's educational progress in the future.

§ As professionals we should see this as an opportunity for educational improvement. If we use a proactive thought process with a focus on long-term implications and enduring solutions, opportunities will become apparent. It is imperative to address this problem with paramount consideration for the educational needs of all students involved. Long-term educational objectives and implications should drive the decision, not capacity numbers or athletics, both of which can be solved through alternative physical arrangements.

§ A decade ago members of the BMS and CMS communities collaborated to select the building design utilized in the two new middle schools. At BMS we use this specialized physical environment to foster important tenets of the middle school concept addressing the unique developmental and instructional needs of young adolescents. These buildings feature separate hallways for each grade level subdivided into smaller areas for academic teams, a design that helps middle school educators meet the needs of middle school students and builds smaller learning communities within a large school. The environment is actually used as a teacher. Our space supports teaming, inclusion, flexible grouping, collaboration, and integrated curriculum which are all essential components of a strong middle school program. Additionally, family involvement in the education of their children is an essential characteristic of a successful middle school. This becomes problematic if our school is not located in our community.

§ Current enrollment at BHS is 1,117 and BMS is 883. The difference in enrollment is 234 students. OCMS, with a capacity of 775, is not adequate for either school population. Therefore, relocating either school would require extensive modifications and mobile units so all costs must be considered.

§ Although BMS has a capacity of 1200 students, it was not designed to house four grade levels. It is a middle school designed to house three grade levels. The BMS campus cannot support the entire BHS program.

§ Remaining efficient is crucial in the final decision of the placement. We want this plan to have positive long term effects on all impacted in our division. Customizing a building to meet the high school needs is necessary. It would be beneficial to utilize a building that can benefit from this expense after the high school has left the facility. OCMS fits this description because of the alternative high school programs that would re-inhabit the facility. Customizing BMS to support BHS involves spending scarce funds on modifications that will require subsequent funding to restore BMS to its original state once BHS has its own facility.

§ If BMS were moved to OCMS there would also be costs for customizing this facility to meet our needs as a middle school. OCMS would need to be greatly modified to meet our teaming, technology, and instructional program needs. The cost of relocating two schools and seven grade levels to provide for their academic needs compared to the cost of housing one school with four grade levels, which is already displaced, must be considered. Furthermore, any money invested in any facility should continue to benefit the students of MCPS long after the temporary housing needs of BHS are resolved.

§ During the shared occupancy, the facilities at BMS did not meet the needs of students enrolled in Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs. In addition, they were concerned that their students’ ability to compete well in VICA and other such competitions would be affected. These competitions lead to opportunities for post-high school education and employment. This group of students is often overlooked in the rush to provide academic and athletic needs.

§ The challenge this crisis presents provides an opportunity to look to research-based education reform for innovative ideas to enhance the educational offerings of MCPS. For example, research shows that 9^th grade is a pivotal year for students as they transition from middle school to the changing demands of high school. The idea of a Ninth Grade Academy, which separates the 9^th grade from the traditional high school, addresses this critical transition by creating a smaller learning community which provides more structure and direction for students. An option like this would open up new ways to think about a space for BHS students. We have facilities in our district such as the OBMS annex building that could house a 9th grade class. This would leave only grades 10-12 relocating to OCMS.

Follow up letter to the MCPS School Board

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,

I would like to submit some excellent ideas from Kelly Linkenhoker that have already been sent to you. They are listed below after some more comments to follow my email from yesterday and further research on my part.

Something very important you need to understand is that your current poor ideas are throwing up two huge, terrifying warning signs to BMS parents- 1) you are proposing moving our children into intrinsically more dangerous environments (either an over crowded new school or into a substandard facility) and at the same time 2) you are moving them much farther away from us so that when situations from simple colds to say a kid bringing guns to school or the Westboro Baptist Church setting up a protest occur, it is that much more of a hardship for us to get to our children and remove them from those situations.

I will also say, it is most clear to me now that the BHS building will be condemned. I spoke to Phyllis Albritton today and understand that the construction company that ripped Blacksburg off with this horrible building is no longer in business and the county cannot sue them. I also discovered from the reporting in the Roanoke Times and other sources, that the structural flaws below the floors and in the extremely dangerous strut work (reason for gym collapse) are most definitely going to lead to a report of condemnation and if not there is no way any sane, safety minded person would allow students back into that facility. Therefore I have contacted Senator Edwards, Del Nutter and Del Shumer to pursue state or federal emergency funds and would encourage the community to support Kelly's last point that without delay the MCPS begin bid and selection for construction of a new high school. And for you to NOT fritter away another 6 months coming to that absolutely necessary understanding.

I apologize to Kelly for lifting her work as supplied to me by a friend, but her ideas were so much better than mine and certainly yours, that I could not help but forward them on and will read them on Monday in your public session.

I will be hosting a BMS parent planning session at my house tomorrow night to further collect ideas. I would also add that I would very much be in favor of a special assessment tax for funding the high school and other creative funding ideas. I would be willing personally to donate money to a fund for construction of a proper high school and/or investment in the ideas below. My company would be as well. I would personally organize and lead fund raisers to do the same. I will contact government representatives and lobby for any funds available to make this happen. But I will do absolutely none of this to pay one dollar to poor ideas that put my children and others in danger, as I believe your ideas will.


-----------------------

1) Keeping 6th grades in their respective elementary schools and putting mobile units on the BMS site to house 7th and 8th grade students, with BHS occupying the BMS building with 9th through 12th grades. This would keep all Blacksburg students in the communities that they are comfortable with and depend on. This way high school students have the
technology and equipment necessary to keep from compromising their education and the middle school students (7th and 8th) are not displaced from the security of their community school. 6th grade students would remain in nurturing environments during the transition to more demanding curriculum. I would be very disappointed to see any Blacksburg students removed from the community they call home. This interferes with supports for students before and after school hours.

2) Make a campus at the BMS ??? Take the money you would spend to get the OLD CMS ready and put the money into building a campus that could service our students for the next 1-2 years while a new high school is built on the land we have ready for a new school.

3) Start building a new High School ASAP. Blacksburg needs a high school and to wait makes no sense to our children or our community.

I understand that all solutions will be complicated but I hope to see our community work through this without the added stress of an alternate location.

Thanks and take care,
Kelly Linkenhoker

An open letter to the Montgomery County (VA) School Board

The issue: http://www.roanoke.com/news/nrv/wb/250511

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,

Like so many parents in Blacksburg, I have been following the debate of what to do with Blacksburg High School students in the upcoming year. I am the parent of an upcoming 7th grader and 4th grader, but do not have a child enrolled in BHS. First of all, I would like to express my displeasure with the progress of the safety report to date and the lack of planning that, in my view, should have been done in March and April of this year. I have little doubt in my mind that the safety report could have been done well before now and, more importantly, that the board and superintendent could have been planning with public involvement in the Spring regardless of the report completion.

That aside, I am appalled that you consider the movement and disruption of two groups of children a correct decision as opposed to disrupting a single group- the high school is affected in this situation, not the middle school, so the high school student body should be the only group disrupted. I worked on Pentagon relocation after 9/11 and know that the primary rule to follow in relocation due to disaster is to effect as few groups or individuals as possible. I see no reason you could put forward as a group as to why this rule should not be applied here. The principal of BHS is even on record stating that the lab facilities at BMS are not adequate for the high school students.

I agree with Joe Ivers' quote in today's Roanoke Times:

"Nowhere in here do I see anything but them being put in situations where they're going to be vulnerable," board member Joe Ivers said. "It just seems to beat the middle school students."

Middle school is an incredibly hard transition time and they are the wrong group to disrupt in this manner, much less bus them into either 1) a dilapidated old structure that is barely able to hold up to Upward basketball games or 2) a complete over crowding in the new Christiansburg MS.

I will also say that there is little likelihood that the report will come back to you with a suggestion that BHS can be used. I know few professionals that would sign off on that. The only real option you have is to move immediately to constructing the new high school in the new site as planned, just simply moved up in priority. As for the high schoolers for this year, I see little palatable option than moving them to trailers or splitting them up to various high schools in the county.

If the school board does move forward with the idea of busing middle schoolers, I will remove my daughter from the school system and I will explore my legal options for having the county compensate me for said move. As superintendent Blackburn was quoted "Time is our enemy at this point". To this I would add, time has been our enemy since day 1 following the collapse of the gym and you should have acted then for planning for the coming school year. For anyone to use time as a pressure point on parents at this moment for your own lack of action is unconscionable.

What is the White House doing about the Gulf Oil disaster?

Much, much more than the news is reporting:

This is what an administration is supposed to do for a national disaster.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/05/05/ongoing-administration-wide-response-deepwater-bp-oil-spill

Total response vessels: more than 1150
Containment boom deployed: more than 1.73 million feet
Containment boom available: more than 275,000 feet
Sorbent boom deployed: more than 730,000 feet
Sorbent boom available: more than 1.25 million feet
Total boom deployed: more than 2.46 million feet (regular plus sorbent boom)
Total boom available: more than 1.52 million feet (regular plus sorbent boom)
Oily water recovered: more than 10.24 million gallons
Surface dispersant used: approximately 685,000 gallons
Subsea dispersant used: approximately 100,000
Total dispersant used: approximately 785,000
Dispersant available: more than 340,000 gallons
Overall personnel responding: more than 22,000

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2010/5/25/869846/-What-the-Obama-Administration-is-Doing-About-The-Oil-%28More-Than-You-Think%29

This is for Aran

Here you go honey, I have lyric for your first song, if you like them. Dunton's Right Faeries.

This word is banjo
This word is guitar
This word is bass
This word is drum
God, if I could play
I would beat drum
Until the rhythm
Was so powerful
You would dance
On the end of a board
Six thousand feet
Above my breathing

This word is mandolin
This word is violin
This word is spoon
This word is thigh
God, if I could play
I would twirl and sing
Until you swayed
And stayed here
For the night
And held me dear

I don’t think I can be stronger, love
Than the snow on our roof
Than the weight of the wood
As strength in winter

This word is soprano
And my mother’s singing
This word is baton
And my father’s music
This word is steady
And your foot
And this word is
Never going to end
God, if I could play
I would pound
The stage until you
Jumped to me
And we swirled relentlessly
I don’t think I can be stronger, love
Than the snow on our roof
Than the weight of the wood
As strength in winter

This word is instrument
This word is nothing
This word is you
This word is never complete
God, if I could stay
And drink this one night
As I could drink you
I might be happy
I might move on

I don’t think I can be stronger, love
Than the snow on our roof
Than the weight of the wood
I’m gone this winter

Listening to Music

This word is banjo
This word is guitar
This word is bass
This word is drum
God, if I could play
I would beat you
Until the rhythm
Was so powerful
You would dance
On the end of a board
Six thousand feet
Above my breathing

Well, maybe not

Dear Doug, dear Doug, why do you make plans?

To break them, my dear, to break them I make plans.

Dear Doug, dear Doug, how do you mend your plans?

With the internet, my dear, the internet I mend my plans.

And so Edinburgh it shall be!

A slight change of itinerary and we'll scoot up to Scotland for two days in July. Aye, I plan to get the Prince Charlie, a couple of pints of fine whisky and poke around my favorite map store for half a day.

She Stares at Me

Though she’s looking away
I know she does
Because she told me.

Don’t let her fool you
She is a statue
More real than you

I’ve hidden in the back yard
To avoid her
Because she whispers to me

She follows me to the café
And sits there
With her macchiato untouched

I don’t know what I’ve done
She won’t say
Her sadness has followed me all day

I resolve not to go and see her again
To steady myself
To stay home, regard nothing

But I return to the museum
Tugging at my lip
And she stares at me, already disappointed

Recommended Hot Sauce

I've never been a big hot sauce guy, but Blair's line of "Death" sauces have made me a big enthusiast. And the fever is quickly spreading through my family. Blair's has a whole range of sauces. The kids and I both enjoy Pure Death Sauce. I love just the tinniest dab of Mega Death Sauce and look forward to trying many others.

Social media to help aid recovery

Old dog, new tricks. My client uses twitter to push contracts out the door:

A Righteous Open Letter

I wish I had written this:

http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/blogs/a/m/americandad/2010/03/an-open-letter-to-conservative.php?ref=mp

And I refuse to say there is anything like this from the center left. There just is not.

Dear Conservative Americans,

The years have not been kind to you. I grew up in a profoundly
Republican home, so I can remember when you wore a very different face than the
one we see now. You've lost me and you've lost most of America.
Because I believe having responsible choices is important to democracy,
I'd like to give you some advice and an invitation.

First, the invitation: Come back to us.

Mitt Romney and Individual Mandates

An excellent snippit: http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2010/03/bye_mitt.php?ref=fpblg

Of course, this is a reasonable man who will never be President, unless he runs as a Spector Democrat. He'd actually do quite well in that mold in 2016.

Mitt Romney, April 11th, 2006: "Some of my libertarian friends balk at what looks like an individual mandate. But remember, someone has to pay for the health care that must, by law, be provided: Either the individual pays or the taxpayers pay. A free ride on government is not libertarian."

Let us all remember that mandates were a very Conservative and Republican idea and a well thought out one. To my dear friends who think this is a way to challenge the bill in court need simply to look at their paychecks- FICA, Medicare. Federally mandated programs you have no choice participating in. If you are ideologically opposed to those, then, fine, you have an argument. If not, sorry, you have almost nothing to stand on.

Anyway, this is just a post about mandates, where they came from and why Mitt will never be President. He should still be entertaining to watch in the primaries.

There is a Flag by the Mailbox

Flapping out to the left
Nearly horizontal and maroon
And the trees bend like dancers
Bestowing a small blessing
On its thin head

It means nothing
It is the news of the day
It is pushed by March wind
It is simply cold, like us
And it will be gone
By the morning

My Child is Baking

Cookies for us all later
and I've lit the fire
and we listen to music
lightly
while gray March has returned
to hold us fast
inside
and we are happy
like Thanksgiving has come
again

Where would you explore?

I'm going to start my list here and expand it as I come up with ideas:

1) 2011 summer is get the kids out west, the slow way like I used to go. Southern MO, the Rockies, ranching
2) 2012 Turkey, the Black sea... hard to say from there- Israel? Armenia? Something in that area, but I don't want to travel around like mad and miss the small things.
3) 2013 Promised backpacking with Aran in Scotland. Will do something similar with Nelson when he is 14, but Aran and I may want to do this when she is 15 and flip the other trip.
4) 2014 China (no clue)
5) 2015 The Nile, Luxor
6) 2016 We can tour the moon then, right?

Ayn Rand did not write the Bible

Stephen Colbert,interviewing Mary Matalin:

Colbert: First question, why are you wearing a cross? You know Jesus preached social justice. Makes you look like a commie.

Matalin: Yes he did. He also preached teach em how to fish. Not give em a fish, right? You don't work you don't eat.

Colbert: He said "I will make you fishers of men." I don't think Jesus said "if you don't work you don't eat." I think that was Cool Hand Luke.

UPDATE: Colbert is a comedian. Please understand that. And if Jesus is a capitalist in any form, then I am the man in the freaking moon. And you are too. And you know it. Dude gave people bread, wine, fish, said give away half of all you own, turn the other cheek, everyone is blessed with grace and it is up to no man to take that away from you.

He was not out there preaching for all of us to work hard for money, but to work hard for forgiveness, to share, to love, etc.

Back from Chicago

I need to write about Amtrak- since we’ve spent almost 32 hours on board. But I’m so tired I’m afraid my thoughts might be very negative. The sleeping car arrangements were ok- tiny, but comfy. About what I expected. But talking to other passengers at breakfast, it turns out the Cardinal is one of the few trains that they put the sleeping car on the back of the train. What results is much more bumping and sways through the night. Like being on the back end of a very long roller coaster with no straps, I woke about 2 am white knuckling my bed like an inner city American finding himself suddenly on a Siberian Tiger.

So, I’ll write more later. We had fun. We did something very different. We’re both very, very tired.

A trip through the near west

The train from Prince, WV was only about 40 minutes late: much better than I’ve encountered in the past. A different experience riding in our own cabin- steward met us to get on board, set us up and escorted us to the dining car. I won’t say much about “dinner” save to comment that it is Amtrak food. Just bring your own.

Our room is a tiny thing about 4 feet deep. Just barely enough for us to sit in. But it is delightful. It’s quiet and we have our own space and window. At night, Aran had her own bunk up top and me below. While some say the rocking of the train (me, and I heard about it) will send you off to wonderful sleep, it really isn’t restful. I’m giving up sleep for the weekend I see. The rocking is fine, but the starts, stops, bumps, slow downs, speed ups, they don’t do anything for sleep.

Aran seems to truly be having a blast. It’s all very different and new to her (me too). Her delight in all of the little things is the best part of this trip.

Chicago today.

We're off to Chicago, finally!

Our long delayed train trip begins this afternoon. 6:30 we catch the Cardinal in Prince West Virginia and ride through the New River Gorge. Then it's over night through Cincy, Indianapolis with little green apples and on to Chicago. We get there at 10am and depart to come back at 5:25pm. Just enough time to catch the bus out for White Castles and a trip up the Sears Tower.

Aran and I are this ( ) excited.