From the Seattle Times - Broad-trained Superintendent Goodloe-Johnson Could Be Out

School superintendent could be ousted within a week over spending scandal


Confronted with new findings of top-level mismanagement, Seattle School Board members moved quickly Friday to quell the damage over misuse of public money and strongly suggested Superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson may be fired.

By Steve Miletich and Linda Shaw
Seattle Times staff reporters
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2014330280_eakes26m.html

Confronted with new findings of top-level mismanagement, Seattle School Board members moved quickly Friday to quell the damage over misuse of public money and strongly suggested Superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson may be fired.

The findings, by Seattle attorney Patricia Eakes, stated Goodloe-Johnson should have known about losses of up to $1.8 million, mostly for contracts that had questionable, if any, public benefit.

Goodloe-Johnson told Eakes during her inquiry the district's troubled small-business program was "too far down" in her organization for her to keep track of how it operated.

Eakes' findings, released Friday, "certainly undermine my confidence in the effectiveness of the management," School Board President Steve Sundquist said.

"All options are on the table," he said in a meeting with The Seattle Times editorial board, capping a tumultuous week for the district.

Citing the need to restore public trust, Sundquist and School Board member Michael DeBell expressed outrage over what DeBell called "cronyist" dealings in the small-business program, which was run by Silas Potter Jr., 59, who investigators have been unable to locate since he resigned in June.

MORE HERE:  http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2014330280_eakes26m.html

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U.S. House aims to avoid Gov't shutdown, but Education takes the biggest hit latest proposal to be introduced...

House Floats Plan to Keep Government Running, Scrap K-12 Programs


From Politics K-12
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2011/02/again_good_and_bad_news.html

By Alyson Klein on February 27, 2011 3:00 PM

Again, good and bad news for fans of education spending.

The good news: The House Appropriations Committee has introduced a bill to keep the government afloat for the next two weeks. If the measure is approved by the U.S. Senate and signed by President Barack Obama, it would temporarily avert a shutdown, and give lawmakers a chance to continue negotiations on a bill to finance the government for the rest of fiscal year 2011, which ends on Sept. 30.

If you recall, the GOP-controlled House has already approved another bill that would fund the government until Sept. 30, but slice more than $61 billion in discretionary spending for fiscal 2011, including more than $5 billion from the U.S. Department of Education. Leaders in the Senate, which is controlled by Democrats, haven't been too thrilled with the cuts.

Under the latest House proposal, just about every program would be funded at fiscal year 2010 levels until March 18, with some notable exceptions, totaling about $4 billion.

The bad news: Some of those notable exceptions include education programs. The plan would scrap at least four of them and make other K-12 cuts.

Programs targeted for elimination include those that President Barack Obama sought to scrap under his budget proposal, and some that the administration had wanted to consolidate into broader funding streams.

Here's the confusing part: A press release put out late Friday by the House Appropriations Committee said that all the programs slated for elimination in the proposal were also put on the chopping block by Obama in his most recent budget request, which is actually for fiscal year 2012, beginning on Oct. 1. (I know, not easy keeping all the years straight.)

Anyway, depending on how you look at it, the GOP press release doesn't quite tell the whole story. It's true that Obama had wanted to essentially get rid of these smaller programs that the administration doesn't view as effective. But he wanted most of the money they're now receiving to stay in the Education Department and just become part of a bigger program, with a similar purpose.

The department was calling this "consolidation," and it wasn't clear whether Congress was going to go along with it or not. But if these programs really are eliminated, it means less money overall for the administration's plans.

For instance, the administration had proposed a $383 million new, broad funding stream, aimed at improving reading and writing, called "Effective Teaching and Learning: Literacy." The program would be made up of six smaller programs financed at a total of $413 million right now.

But the GOP measure proposes totally getting rid of two of those programs: Striving Readers, funded at $250 million, a comprehensive literacy program, and Even Start, a family literacy program funded at $66 million.


If the money for those programs goes away, that could mean less for the administration's bigger literacy program (if it is created) and less for the department overall.

Similarly, the GOP proposal would scrap the $88 million Smaller Learning Communities program, which both the GOP and the Obama administration say hasn't been found to be very helpful in boosting student achievement.

The Obama administration had wanted the smaller learning community money to become part of a new pot of funds called "Expanding Educational Outcomes." It wanted $372 million for that program, which would have been comprised of four smaller programs financed at a total of $409 million right now.

The money would basically have been used to support charter schools, magnet schools, and public school choice. Again, losing the $88 million the Smaller Learning Community program was getting means there would be less money for those activities overall, should Congress decide to take the administration up on its consolidation proposal.

Also on the target list is the Leveraging Educational Assistance Parternships or LEAP, program, financed at $64 million. This was basically to encourage states to establish need-based scholarships, and the administration found it had already accomplished that goal. So, as far as the Obama administration goes, it would seem like this is a pretty non-controversial target.

The measure would also make other reductions, including a $229 million cut to the department's fund for Innovation and Improvement. It seems to me that at least a big chunk of that would likely be from the Fund for the Improvement of Education, which is basically a slush fund for earmarks and was financed at $125 million in fiscal year 2010.

The temporary measure would also cut special education by $22 million, Rehabilitation Services by $5 million, and Safe Schools and Citizenship Education by $32 million.

The bill could be on the floor of the House as early as Tuesday. And apparently, Senate Democrats are also trying to find ways to compromise on a measure that would keep the government running while lawmakers hash out their very different visions for spending, including on education.

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Leashing Your Kids

Let me preface this post with a controversial statement:  I can't stand animals.  I have no desire to be a pet owner whatsoever, much to the dismay of all three of my girls.  Especially Darcy.  I've never seen a child love animals more than she does.  Now, don't get me wrong, I like going to the zoo just as much as the next mom.  I just don't want to own animals.  I have four children.  That's enough responsibility for me.  I can't even keep a plant alive.

A few weeks back, I posed the question on my Banned From Baby Showers Facebook page, what topics would you like to see on the blog? Several of you asked what I thought of leashing your kids.

So, what is the politically correct response to this question, especially from an advocate of Attachment Parenting?  I'd have to say, surely it is to not leash your child, like you would your dog, right? 

I've written a bit about my life here and I think you've gotten the picture that I was a pretty rowdy teenager.  Definitely a rule breaker.  Apparently I was the same as a toddler.  When I was 18 months old, my dad kept me on a leash every time we went anywhere.  He gave it to me as a gift when I had my own children, only partially joking.

The only time any of my children were leashed was when Vena (#2) was about 18 months old.  We were at "Breakfast on the Plaza" for a 4th of July celebration in my hometown of Santa Fe, NM.  My dad insisted that I put her on my old leash because there were so many people.  I absolutely refused and told him that if he wanted her on a leash, he was going to have to do it.  He got her harnessed up and it lasted, maybe, 5 minutes.  She screamed her head off!  (I thoroughly enjoyed it.)  With everyone staring, he agreed that maybe it wasn't the best idea.  He said that if only I'd started her off that way as soon as she started walking, it would have worked.  Yes, this was the parenting I was raised on.

I have no doubt that my dad was just concerned for Vena's safety, and mine when I was a toddler.   It is a scary thing for any parent to have a small child in a large crowd.  It only takes a split second to lose them. 

As you can imagine, I carried all my babies in a sling and rarely even used a stroller.  When they got older and we were on all-day outings, I would definitely take a stroller too.  But sometimes, let's face it, the kid wants out -- and needs out -- to run around, to stretch their legs.  Obviously, the parents have to watch them every single second and it can be a stressful event.

All kids are so different too.  When my son was about 2, we lost him in a Super Target in Orem, UT.  OK, wait -- David lost him -- I was in a dressing room.  He let him out of the cart "for just a second," and he was gone.  One thing about Daymon, when his feet hit the ground, he was running!  For 10 minutes we had no idea where our son was.  He had made it to the very back of the store when a very nice lady picked him up.  Yadda, yadda, yadda, David learned his lesson!

I read a funny story one time about a mom who was in the front yard with all the neighborhood moms and kids.  Her 2 year old boy took off down the road.  She had a baby on her hip and another one on the way.  She was wearing "the cutest clogs" and had no idea how she was going to chase her son down the road.  She got a great idea and yelled as loud as she could "ETHAN!  ICE!  CREAM!"  Sometimes we have to be resourceful.  Each child is so different and cannot be treated the same as the next.

I think it's really easy to judge a parent that has their child on a leash -- I know I've done it -- but in the end, we don't know the parent's frame of mind at that point.  (Maybe they've lost a child before, maybe she's pregnant and not feeling well, maybe the kid hates the stroller and screams in it, etc.)  There could be a million reasons why they made the decision to use a leash.  Ultimately, if the child is happy (not screaming like Vena was), mom or dad is probably happy, everyone is safe.  I don't really care.  I'd rather see a happy toddler walking around on a leash than a parent trying to keep a child in a stroller, cramming a bottle in his mouth trying to keep him quiet. We've all witnessed that, I'm sure.

One of my former students was at the zoo recently and she sent me a picture of a father holding up a stroller with the child in it to see the animals.  Heaven forbid he should take the child out and actually hold him up to see.  They obviously wanted the child to stay in the stroller.  A leash would have been so much better and have forced the parents to have more interaction with their child.  

So, I don't think this is so cut and dry.  It must offend us because we see it the same way as leashing a dog.  But why do people leash their dogs?  So they don't run away.  It's all the same.  People love their dogs.  People love their children.  They want them to have the freedom to walk, but they also want them to be kept safe.  Besides, the leashes I've seen lately are so cute, like animal backpacks!  Mine was just a rope, like a hanging.

What I'd really like at this point in my life is a leash for my 14-year-old son.  That's another story for another day.

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A Sad Day for Wisconsin, Union Members around the U.S.

http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20110225/NATIONAL/110225016/Wis-Assembly-passes-bill-taking-away-union-rights?odyssey=tab


 
Wisconsin Assembly Passes Bill to Take Away Union Rights.  Can this bill be stopped in the Wisonsin Senate?

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"I Stand With the Teachers of Wisconsin" from the Bridging Differences Blog

I Stand With the Teachers of Wisconsin
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/Bridging-Differences/2011/02/i_stand_with_the_teachers_of_w.html


By Diane Ravitch on February 22, 2011 9:39 AM
Dear Deborah,

As I write, thousands of teachers are staging a protest in the state capitol in Wisconsin. Others stand with them, including the Green Bay Packers, other public-sector workers, and even public-sector workers who are not affected by the proposed legislation, namely, firefighters and police. The teachers and other public-sector employees are speaking out against Gov. Scott Walker's effort to destroy their collective-bargaining rights. Gov. Walker demanded that the teachers pay more for their health benefits and their pension benefits, and they have agreed to do so. But that's not all he wants. He wants to destroy the union.

I wrote an article about this contretemps for CNN.com, not realizing that the teachers had already conceded the governor's demands on money issues. The confrontation now is solely about whether public employees have the right to bargain collectively and to have a collective voice. Monday's New York Times made clear, both in a column by Paul Krugman and in its news coverage, that the union is fighting for its survival, not benefits.

It's time to ask: Why should teachers have unions? I am not a member of a union, and I have never belonged to a union, but here is what I see. From the individual teacher's point of view, it is valuable to have an organization to turn to when you feel you have been treated unfairly, one that will supply you with assistance, even a lawyer, one that advocates for improvement in your standard of living. From society's point of view, it is valuable to have unions to fight for funding for public education and for smaller class sizes and for adequate compensation for teachers. I recently visited Arizona, a right-to-work state, and parents there complained to me about classes of 30 for children in 1st and 2nd grades, and even larger numbers for older students; they complained that the starting salary for teachers was only $26,000 and that it is hard to find strong college graduates to enter teaching when wages are so low.

I have often heard union critics complain that contracts are too long, too detailed, too prescriptive. I have noticed that unions don't write their own contracts. There are always two sides that negotiate a contract and sign it. If an administration is so weak that it signs a contract that is bad for kids, bad for the district's finances, or bad for education, then shame on them.

The fight in Wisconsin now is whether public-sector unions should have any power to bargain at all. The fight is not restricted to Wisconsin; it is taking place in many other states, including New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Florida, and Illinois. The battle has already been lost in other states.

I have been wondering if advocates of corporate school reform, such as Bill Gates, Eli Broad, and Michelle Rhee will come to the aid of the teachers in Wisconsin. I have been wondering if President Obama and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, who were quick to applaud the firing of teachers in Central Falls, R.I., will now step forward to support the teachers in Wisconsin. I have been wondering if Secretary Duncan, who only a few days earlier had led a much-publicized national conversation in Denver about the importance of collaboration between unions and management, will weigh in to support the teachers. I am ever hopeful, but will take care not to hold my breath.

If there is no organized force to advocate for public education in the state capitols of this nation, our children and our schools will suffer. That's the bottom line. And that's why I stand with the teachers of Wisconsin. I know you do, too.

Diane

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Hot for Teachers!

Hot for Teachers w/ Megan Fox and Brian Austin Green from Megan Fox

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Vaginal Tearing -- What You Should Know For Your Next Birth

When couples show up for the first night of childbirth classes, they want to know 3 things:  1) When do we go to the hospital?  2) What if my water breaks?, and 3) My mom says an episiotomy is better than tearing.  I don't want either.  Of course, I make them sit through 4 weeks of classes before we get to "the good stuff."  By the time we get there, they have a really good foundation.  For this post, we'll concentrate on item number 3.  (Yes, I've been inspired by my good friend, Sarah Clark, aka Mama Birth, with the humorous photos.)

Obviously, the tearing of the vagina as the baby is crowing does not sound enjoyable.  There is a lot of fear surrounding the possibility of this occurring.  The good news and bad news is all rolled into one sentence concerning this fear:  You'll think you tore, even if you didn't.  Some women feel better after learning this and some don't.  The skin typically burns (thus, the "ring of fire") as it stretches over the baby's head.  Once it is stretched, the skin is pretty numb, but before this, you will likely think that you tore.   I thought that with every baby and I've never torn. 

So what can you do to prevent tearing?

I live in the Fort Worth area now, but I lived in Albuquerque before moving here.  NM has almost the lowest  c-section rate in the country.  No coincidence that one in every three births is attended by a midwife.  When I taught Bradley® classes in Albuquerque, I had a number of students participate in a study that the midwives were conducting at UNMH (University of New Mexico Hospital).  The study was trying to find out what method at the time of birth was the most effective at protecting the perineum.  If you chose to participate, you were given one of three envelopes at the time of birth with one of the following options written on it:  1.) Do nothing as the baby emerges; 2.) Use perineal massage; or 3.) Use warm compresses on the perineum as the woman is pushing.

I always like to share a funny story in class from my third -- and hardest -- birth.  As I was pushing, my midwife was applying pressure to the perineum. She asked me if I wanted her to keep doing that -- actually, her exact words were, "Do you feel like your butt is going to blow out?"  Yes, that's exactly how I feel, and yes, please keep doing that!  Emotionally and physically I felt like I had something to push against.  I think women are always surprised at how hard they are pushing.  I have always been a big fan of warm compresses or support of the perineum, much more so than perineal massage.  I must admit, I thought warm compresses would be the big winner of the UNMH study.

I have someone in my current class that recently looked up the study.  Yes, I'm embarrassed to admit that I never looked it up to see the results.  Let me give you a few more details about the study before the exciting results.

Data was collected from 1211 births over a 3 year period.  There were several bits of data collected including maternal age, parity, race, years completed of education, body mass index, weight gain in pregnancy, and use of antepartum perineal massage (during the pregnancy).  Variables included use of pitocin and epidural, length of 2nd stage, style of pushing (coached or self-paced without prolonged breath-holding), position of the baby (compound presentation or posterior), and complications or unexpected birth events.

The most interesting thing about this entire study is the probably the c-section rate:  Of 1211 births, 98%, or 1187 had a spontaneous vaginal birth.  Only 25 of these women -- 2% -- had an operative delivery!  Nine cesareans occurred in late labor, and 16 women had vaginal operative births (3 by forceps and 13 by vacuum).  ONLY 9 CESAREANS IN 1211 BIRTHS WITH THE MIDWIVES! 

Take a minute to recover from that and let's move on.  There are a number of other items I found interesting within the study.  The first one is that 13% of the women that were receiving perineal massage requested that the midwife "stop."  With the other two methods, it was 2.2% (warm compresses) and 1.7% (hands off).  Again, I'm not a fan of perineal massage (I think I've said that a time or two!) and neither were 54 of the 400 women who drew this envelope.

*Less than 40% of the women in each group had an epidural and the use of pitocin was between 32-36%. 

*At least 77% from each group gave birth sitting upright.  About 10% were flat on their backs with stirrups.  Less than 1% in each group gave birth in a squatting, hands and knees, or standing position.

*The vast majority (each group over 77%) did not participate in Valsalva pushing (holding breath excessively long causing capillaries to burst, etc.) and between 30-34% of the mothers delivered the head between contractions.

*Approximately 94% of the babies was born in an occiput anterior position, while about 10% were born with a compound presentation (hand by the baby's head).

Other things that should be noted:  40% of the participants were first-time mothers.  There was a wide range of ethnic diversity as well.

Some interestingly low numbers include:

*92 births with nuchal cord
*42 births had meconium
*34 with extreme fetal heart rate abnormalities
*10 with postpartum hemorrhage
*9 with shoulder dystocia (.7%)  -- Side note -- I hear this all the time for a reason for c-section or induction.  True shoulder dystocia is rare!
*2 with manual removal of placenta

The Results:

*Only 10 episiotomies were performed, due to severe fetal heart rate abnormalities.

*23% off all women experienced no trauma at all to the genital tract, regardless of which envelope they drew.

*20% had major trauma, defined as 2nd, 3rd, or 4th degree tearing.

*57% had minor trauma, defined as 1st degree tearing, affecting the external genitalia, or the outer vagina.

Other studies have defined an intact genital tract as "no trauma, or minor and unsutured trauma."  If this definition was applied to this study, the midwives' rate of "intact" would be a whopping 73%!  In all fairness, too, these 12 midwives who were involved in this study already had a high degree of expertise at minimizing trauma in vaginal birth.  I met with a couple of them when I was teaching in Albuquerque and was extremely impressed.  In fact, the obstetric culture at UNM teaching hospital is patient, calm and controlled, and emphasizes slow expulsion of the baby. 

Ultimately, there were 2 care measures that were associated with a lower risk of genital tract trauma.  1.) "A sitting position allows the mother greater comfort and autonomy at delivery.  It allows face-to-face proximity and direct visual contact between the mother and midwife."  2.) "Delivery of the head between contractions requires communication, synchrony, and shared responsibility for a slow and gentle expulsion of the infant."  


So ladies, be patient at the time of birth.  Ban the cheerleaders!  Don't let anyone count to 10 for you like they do in the movies.  Just let the baby come.

As for the 3 methods?  It's really up to the woman and her midwife.  The results were all similar in findings.  If you'd like to read more about the study, you can find it here.

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Teacher's make too much money???

Teachers make too much money!

By Sarasota Values Education

Are you sick of high paid teachers? Teachers’ hefty salaries are driving up taxes, and they only work 9 or 10 months a year! It’s time we put things in perspective and pay them for what they do - baby sit! We can get that for less than minimum wage.

That’s right. Let’s give them $3.00 an hour and only the hours they worked; not any of that silly planning time, or any time they spend before or after school. That would be $19.50 a day (7:45 to 3:00 PM with 45 min. off for lunch and plan — that equals 6 1/2 hours).

Each parent should pay $19.50 a day for these teachers to baby-sit their children.

Now how many do they teach in day…maybe 30? So that’s $19.50 x 30 = $585.00 a day. However, remember they only work 180 days a year!!! I am not going to pay them for any vacations.

LET’S SEE…. That’s $585 X 180= $105,300 peryear. (Hold on! My calculator needs new batteries).

What about those special education teachers and the ones with Master’s degrees? Well, we could pay them minimum wage ($7.75), and just to be fair, round it off to $8.00 an hour. That would be $8 X 6 1/2 hours X 30 children X 180 days = $280,800 per year.

Wait a minute — there’s something wrong here! There sure is!

The average teacher’s salary (nation wide) is $50,000. $50,000/180 days = $277.77/per day/30 students=$9.25/6.5 hours = $1.42 per hour per student–a very inexpensive baby-sitter and they even EDUCATE your kids!)

WHAT A DEAL!!!!

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An Oldie But Goodie: Sarah's Amazing VBAC

I have contemplated how I want to present this for weeks. Sarah herself joked about how much she had to say to about her very fast labor! In the end, I've decided, who am I to edit this amazing woman's birth story? I thoroughly enjoyed reading it, and I think you will too.

Why is this VBAC so special? I have chills as I write that question. About a year ago, I posted a picture of Sarah right after her c-section that took place 2 years ago. Without going through all the details, it was a nightmare. They had taken my class by DVD, and while I had met with Sarah a number of times, I had never met her husband, Kip, until that day on the phone. We spoke for about 30 minutes and it broke my heart. I could feel the love that he has for Sarah, and he had felt so helpless as their birth spiraled out of control, ending in a c-section. If you would like to read what she wrote about her previous experience, you can find it at the previous post titled "Ah, the Glorious C-Section."



Sarah and Kip, like so many couples, struggled with depression over the event and went through an intense healing process. Breastfeeding was such a struggle with the first baby, and when Sarah started the baby on formula, she went through tremendous guilt and more depression. Kip wasn't sure he ever wanted to go through this again, but Sarah knew her body could do this. When she found herself pregnant again, she hired a midwife at Gentle Beginnings Birth Center and planned for an out-of-hospital birth.

I love the look on Sarah's face and I have no doubt that she was saying a silent prayer of thank- fulness, healing, and amazing power. What a strong woman. Enjoy her story in her own words:


Jackson’s birth story
Born 8/29, 9 days past EDD by VBAC waterbirth

“I love you Lord,
And I lift my voice,
To worship you,
Oh my soul, rejoice.

Take joy my king,
In what you hear,
May it be a sweet, sweet sound
In your ears.”

This was my song during labor… it helped me to survive the hardest 4 ½ hours of my life! Compared to my first labor and eventual c-section w/ Kate, this was short and 100 miles an hour – less to tell (so why is it so long!) 9 days past EDD, my mantra of “Be still and know that I am God,” from Psalm 46 was starting to waver and I was starting to be anxious. After speaking w/ my midwife and starting Master Gland on 8/28, I went to bed grouchy w/ no contractions. My husband & his parents went to a high school football game & I stayed home w/ Kate.

I woke up at 4:30am and felt terrible, but assumed it was food related again since I had developed a sensitive tummy around 38 weeks to many different foods. By 5am I was starting to believe I was in labor, but not worried. I wasn’t experiencing contractions as I had expected them to feel, but still believed that things were starting to warm-up. (I never went into natural labor w/ Kate, but was induced due to high BP at 41 weeks.) I couldn’t go back to sleep, so I made myself a big bowl of rice krispies & strawberries since it was easy & sat down to relax & catch up on facebook and emails. I also found an online contraction timer, but the contractions I was experiencing were irregular and all over the place & impossible to chart well. I felt frustrated, and unsure if I was really in labor of wondering if something might just be wrong.

By 5:30am, I really needed to focus much more on my contractions instead of my computer work and started to feel much more uncomfortable. I so badly wanted to wake up Kip and call my doula, Camron, but decided that I should wait until 6am to wake them. It was a Saturday morning, and I figured that 6am was a ‘reasonable’ time to be awakened compared to 5:30. I also figured that since my last birth was more that 30 hours, they would probably need all the sleep they could get since I was sure I was going to have another marathon labor. By 6am I woke up Kip, and my contractions were getting painful at this time, to the point that it was difficult to talk. I remember specifically saying, “You need to get up, and you need to eat some breakfast. Like, right now.” I called Camron, and told her that I thought I was in labor, but that things were inconsistent. She told me she’d get ready and come over, and ordered me into the shower.

In the shower, though the pain was relieved due to the hot water, I could still feel the intensity building. “For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.” – Luke 6:45. Suddenly in the shower my heart was just swelling with a praise song (lyrics above) and I remember leaning on the wall of our shower and sort of muttering this praise song. Hadn’t heard it in a long time, and not one of my favorites or anything but it appeared on my tongue and I lifted it up to the Lord! I felt calmer instantly. Kip called Camron to tell her that I was getting serious, and that she should probably hurry.

I told Kip that he needed to call his mother to come get Kate. His response was “Aren’t we going to drop her off on the way to the birth center?” I quickly said ‘No way!!” to having enough time to do that because of the intensity of my contractions and his mother headed our way. At this point, Kate woke up which was really hard for me. She’s very sensitive to my physical feelings and I didn’t want to show her I was in pain. (She was 21 months old at the time.) I labored on my yoga ball on my hands and knees until Kate was picked up.

At this point, Kip and I began to argue and bicker. I still wasn’t positive that I was in labor, which in retrospect is just silly. I was experiencing strong contractions that I couldn’t speak through, and my train of thought was all over the place and I wasn’t making sense of finishing thoughts & sentences. Kip kept asking me questions, and my answers were mostly “I don’t know.” In hindsight, this should have clued him into the fact that I was really in labor and focused inwardly, unable to carry on a good conversation. Instead, it just really frustrated him because he thought I wasn’t communicating my needs well to him. Oh well – now we know better for next time!

Camron arrived at 7:35 to see me laboring on the side of the bed, w/ my contractions 2-4 minutes apart. She wasn’t sure what was going on w/ my irregular contractions; they were all over the place, and only lasting about 30-45 seconds, and a few minutes apart but super intense and I wasn’t able to speak during them. Camron started to think I was farther along than we had originally thought, and asked me to go to the bathroom and asked Kip to help me to try & relax. Relaxing and peeing was totally out of the question – I felt like I had to pee so badly but just couldn’t relax and this was really starting to bother me. At 8am I had a 1 minute 45 second contraction and Camron asked if I was pushing and I told her ‘no’, but in retrospect I think I might have been ‘trying’ and didn’t know it yet. At 8:02 Camron called our midwife Ann and they decided it was time to head to the birth center so we started collecting our things.

At 8:09 it was DEFINITELY time to go to the birth center, the waves of contractions were short and hard, almost angry feeling. I remember crying from the pain, thinking that I couldn’t be that far along and that if I was feeling so much pain how could I make it another 30 hours like my last labor? Camron and Kip just kept reassuring me, and she gave me a pad to wear in case my water broke in the car. The walk to our car was absolutely the longest and hardest walk of my life, and looking back at it I now absolutely see the benefit of homebirth and never having to leave your sanctuary when you are at that point in labor! By 8:15am we were standing outside, leaning on the car until the contraction was over to leave and I yelled at the 2 of them “JUST GO!” in the middle of the contraction. I knew it didn’t matter how bad it felt, we had to get moving before this baby came.

At 8:30am Kip picked up the speed and we hit 90mph down 820 towards the birth center. Praise God that the cops weren’t around! I remember telling Kip that either my water had just broken or that I had finally gone pee. (It was my water breaking, thanks for the help Camron – you saved our car!) I kind of went to another place mentally in the car – I had no concept of time or distance other than it was taking too long for my liking. I had one hand down on the middle console pushing my bottom up and the other hand pulling my whole body up from the handle bar attached in the ceiling. Kip asked me if I was pushing and I kept telling him that I didn’t think so, that I was trying not to, but I really had to go to the bathroom. Piece of advice – transition in the car stinks, so try to avoid it!!

At 8:48am we pulled up to the birth center, and Ann and Marsha (my midwife & her assistant) met me at my car door and unbuckled my seatbelt for me. They lovingly and swiftly escorted me into the back bedroom to check me. I remember walking past the sign they had put up front, “Ssshhh! Mother in labor.” I thought, “wow! That’s for me!” When we got there I was calm and seriously working hard, feeling like I was going to lose control soon. I told Ann I needed to push or go to the bathroom. She checked me and said, “Honey, you feel like you need to push because you are complete and +1, and this baby is ready to come! If you want to do this in the tub you need to go there NOW, or we can just do this right here on the bed!” I remember Kip asking if I had heard her, and hearing how encouraged he was at her words. Everyone suggested I get in the tub if I felt like it, and I really wanted some pain relief if possible. As I walked to the birth tub, I remember seeing the copy of my scriptures for labor laying on the table. I remember feeling so relieved that someone else had seen them, that the midwives and looked at them and prayed for me even before my arrival! I had a suitcase full of gear for labor and scriptures with lots of good intentions but my labor was going too fast to use any of it!

I walked to the bathtub and stopped to push really hard for the first time on the side of the tub. Then I got in, and pushed while sitting on my hands and knees. I remembered Donna (my birth instructor) suggesting this position in labor, and once I got into it I felt like I couldn’t get out! It just felt right, and even though I felt like I had a little less control since I couldn’t see what was going on I fully trusted my birth team who were literally right behind me! I remember Ann praying for me, Marsha coaching me, Camron keeping my hair out of my face, and Kip right above my head whispering encouraging words as I pushed. As I was pushing, Lynsey (the best birth photographer!) showed up just in time to capture Jackson’s arrival. He was born at 9:15am, less than 30 minutes after our arrival! Praise God! My midwives had to use suction to get some of the meconium-stained fluid out of his mouth but then I turned around in the water and took my baby boy! They gave him to me, and he was quiet for just a moment and then cried out to let us hear his voice. It was so wonderful to relax in the birth tub with him and hold him in my arms while the midwives helped me to deliver the placenta. Kip got to cut the cord. I remember being in total shock and disbelief about what I had just done. Only 4 hours before I wasn’t even sure I was in labor!

We got out of the tub for the midwives to check us over (no tearing!) & clean up the tub, and then we got back in for our herbal bath, which was just amazing and so relaxing. Jackson was quiet, opened his eyes so wide for us, and sucked his thumb sweetly in our candlelit bath. Ann told me that thumbsuckers are sweet babies and she was sooo right! Kip helped me to clean the little bit of vernix that he had in his hair, and we went back to the bedroom where we had breakfast in bed and I nursed him. Kip’s parents brought Kate down to meet her little brother, and Lynsey captured their first meeting in a sweet photograph. My birth team kept asking us if Kip and I wanted privacy w/ our new baby but I didn’t! I was so happy and proud that we had accomplished our vbac, and I felt SO GOOD that I was glad to be in the presence of everyone that had helped us to get there! I remember laughing quite a few times after he was born, knowing that I had been surrounded by successful VBAC’ers (Lynsey & Camron) and that I had just pushed my baby out! They took Jackson’s measurements, 10 lbs, 11 oz’s and 21 ½ inches long! I remember laughing at the look in Kip’s eyes when he held up the scale to weigh him – you could tell he was thinking “Am I reading this thing right?!”

It was so strange, just 3 ½ hours after his birth, being gently escorted by my midwives back to my vehicle. Hadn’t they just taken my seatbelt off?? Was I really done and going home with my baby? It just didn’t seem real! I can’t begin to describe how great I felt after his birth – physically, emotionally, spiritually. I’ve never felt so ALIVE as I did that afternoon (and hungry, too!)

The differences between my 2 birth experiences are night and day, especially in the care that we received as a family. Within 48 hours of Jackson being born, we had house calls from our midwife, our chiropractor, and our lactation consultant. I really had a team of people surrounding me with Christ’s love and support, helping me to figure out the ‘new mom thing’ with Jackson. The care that we received from these women was a true testimony to the rest of our family as to the reason we made our birth choices to a family that hadn’t been too confident in our choices to use a midwife & birth center.

Physically, recovery is so different w/ a VBAC than with a c-section. Ann warned me and was correct, you feel SO GOOD compared to your c-section that you have to be really careful not to overdo it & exhaust yourself. Breastfeeding has been so successful with Jackson, and I haven’t struggled with feeling blue like I did after my c-section. Jackson is a sweet-natured baby who slept so much during the first day or 2 that I worried about him! His gentle beginning has surely affected his temperament in a very agreeable way. Kate just turned 2 this week, and she is a firecracker that lights up our life with her vivacious spirit. She came into this world with a bang and is a spitfire for sure, and I look forward to see how Jackson’s personality develops and to see if his labor and birth experience shape his character. I can’t even begin to describe the healing that has taken place since my vbac, and I now feel so alive and encouraged about our family and look forward eagerly to see if God blesses our quiver with more arrows!

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NY: Small School reforms sent disproportionate number of very needy kids to large and often-crowded schools.

Balanced reporting - Minutes 1-5 tout the successes, minutes 6-10 takes a looks at the failures of this type of ed-deformation!

http://www.edweek.org/ew/collections/learning-matters/index.html

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From Politics K-12: Stim. Reforms May Hit a Wall in 2012

Stimulus Reforms May 'Hit a Wall', CEP Report Says

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/
By Michele McNeil on February 17, 2011 7:44 AM
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Two years ago today, Congress passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and life as we know it changed forever.

Okay, so maybe the result hasn't been that dramatic...

But some $100 billion later, the effect of stimulus-era education reforms—from an emphasis on teacher merit pay to turning around low-performing schools—hangs in the balance.

In fact, a new report by the Center on Education Policy sounds a loud warning bell: "The ambitious agenda of education reform attached to ARRA may hit a wall in 2012."

The reason? Overall state funding for K-12 education in a large majority of states is expected to decline or remain flat, the report concludes.

What's more, nearly half of the states report that their departments of education will see their operating budgets cut by at least 5 percent. And these are the people that are supposed to implement the reforms.

CEP reached these conclusions through a 50-state (plus District of Columbia) survey of state departments of education, done in October and November 2010. (All but eight states responded.) Responses are confidential to "encourage frank answers," the report says.

States report making the most progress in improving their data systems and in adopting common academic standards. But states were marching down this path before the stimulus' arrival, though the additional money no doubt sped things up a bit.

States are struggling most with revamping teacher evaluations and turning around persistently low-performing schools—both are issues that involve very messy, political, and slow-moving work.

For a bit of good news, the report found the ARRA has helped focus states' efforts around a common education reform agenda, which includes linking student achievement to teacher evaluations, and aligning data systems for K-12 and higher education.

Interestingly, the Race to the Top competition seems to be having a lingering effect even on those states that did not win. The report says that 16 of the 32 surveyed states that lost out still plan to use their Race to the Top applicantions as their education reform blueprint. Twelve of the 32 say they're thinking about it, according to the report.

The remaining four either didn't respond to the question or didn't apply for Race to the Top.

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Mixed Results on Wake County's Busing Policy -

By Christina Samuels on February 13, 2011 11:35 PM

Early last year, the Wake County school board, with the support of a newly elected bloc of Republican-backed members, did away with a school assignment policy that tried to promote socioeconomic diversity among all the schools in the 143,000-student system.


Since that time, the struggle has been how to create a new policy that will maintain stability but also avoid creating schools with that are predominantly poor. Both sides have been able to wield statistics as weapons as they argue their points, but a group of articles that ran recently in the Raleigh News & Observer show that results of the diversity policy have been mixed. ...

More Here:
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/District_Dossier/2011/02/mixed_results_on_wake_countys_b.html
And Here:
http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/02/13/986365/5-big-questions-on-wake-schools.html

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Communists infiltrating California schools? At least 12 signers think so...

Published Online: February 14, 2011


Calif. Chinese Program Prompts School Board Recall

Four members of a suburban school board are being targeted in a recall effort over their support for a middle-school language program funded by the Chinese government, one of the members said Friday.

Hacienda La Puente Unified School Board President Jay Chen said he and the three other members of the five-member panel were being served with notices of intent to circulate recall petitions, each signed by 12 residents of Hacienda Heights in east Los Angeles County.

Whole Story Here:
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/02/11/404875cchineseclassroomclash_ap.html?tkn=QRQFrztne0r13c7eRw9Cd0vUIJ6wmf%2FRTa9B&cmp=clp-edweek

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Part III: Mellanie's Story -- Breastfeeding Bekah

I have the privilege of working with Mellanie Shepperd, an amazing lactation consultant, as Chapter Leaders for the Tarrant County Birth Network.  I had at least known of Mellanie and spoken with her on the phone for about 4 years before actually meeting face to face.  She has been a regular visitor in my Class 12 for quite some time now.  She has helped so many women in and around Tarrant County over the last several years.  She also runs a free weekly breastfeeding support group, For Babies Sake, with another LC every Tuesday night in Arlington. This is her touching story of breastfeeding her baby born with Kabuki Syndrome.  She had never written the story before and she told me it was much harder than she expected.   Mellanie, I am honored that you would share it here.  Thank you.

When I was pregnant with Bekah, I had a sense that something was different about her.  It wasn’t something I put into words often, but I knew.  We were planning our first homebirth and had all of the supplies ready.  The day I turned 35 weeks, my water broke.  That put me out of the running for a homebirth, much to our disappointment.  After consulting with our midwife, we needed to make the decision to either go to Dallas and deliver with her back-up OB or go to Ft. Worth and deliver with a hospital-based midwife group.  After some debating, we decided to go with our midwife’s backup.  We assumed that if he was her backup, he must be natural-birth friendly and supportive of our wishes.  How wrong we were!  He was far from supportive and was NOT happy with me expressing my own desires & opinions.  Needless to say, we were not friends by the time Bekah was born!  I am so thankful that God gave me the courage to stand up for myself and my baby.  She would not have fared well with the interventions that the OB kept pushing.  Anyway, I guess that is a story for another day.  Now, on to the breastfeeding part of this story.

Despite the fact that Bekah was coming 5 weeks early, it never occurred to me that she would have difficulty breastfeeding.  After all, I was a lactation consultant.  Of course she would breastfeed!  (In hind sight, I wish that I had at least made sure I had access to donor milk, just in case.)  She was born weighing 5lbs 12oz and initially appeared to be very healthy.  She latched on shortly after birth, but didn’t feed well.  When it was time for her newborn exam, her blood sugar was very low.  After much debating and trying to express colostrum without any luck, we ended up allowing her to be supplemented with formula.  Over the next 5 days, we battled low blood sugar, difficulty maintaining body temp (which, much to the amazement of the nursing staff, was remedied by almost constant skin-to-skin contact) and jaundice.  We dealt with so much misinformation about breastfeeding that it was astounding.  One nurse even told us that Bekah was having trouble having bowel movements because colostrum is constipating!  My amazing hubby took her out into the hall and lectured her for 15 minutes.  To make a long story short (the hospital stay could be a blog post all its own!) we left AMA on day 5, still struggling to breastfeed.  It was a real eye-opener for me on how even the strongest parents can make poor decisions when they are constantly battered by medical professionals.

For the first five weeks of her life, we nursed, pumped and finger-fed her pumped milk.  It was exhausting.  She was barely gaining weight, spit up A LOT and could not be put down without instant screaming.  In desperation, I did an elimination diet and determined that she could not tolerate dairy or soy in my diet.  I eliminated these foods and the spit-up decreased dramatically.  Chiropractic care took care of the rest.  She began gaining weight a bit better, but was still on the very low end of normal.  By that time, she was past her due-date and “should have” been doing much better with breastfeeding.  We finally got her to the point that she could breastfeed well enough that I didn’t have to pump and supplement her with expressed milk, but she couldn’t maintain the latch for more than a minute or two.  She popped on and off and would nurse for 30 minutes or so before she fell asleep, exhausted.  She was nursing every hour or two.  By her two-month appointment, we were really questioning the pediatrician on what was “wrong” with Bekah – why was she still so floppy, why was she gaining weight so slowly when my other two kids had gained very rapidly, why did she still have almost no head control, why wasn’t she smiling or making any eye contact with us?  They had no answers, other than “she was a preemie, she will catch up.”  I remember thinking that 5 weeks was not that much of a preemie.  At about that time, the OB who had delivered her called to say “Oh, by the way, you had a two-vessel umbilical cord, which can be associated with mid-line birth defects.”  He recommended that we have her kidneys & heart checked.  We had an ultrasound done of her kidneys and a full check-up on her heart.  Thankfully, these tests came back normal, but we still had no answers.

I frequently got comments about how tiny she was.  A stranger at a restaurant said “You need to feed that baby!”  At every well-child visit, we would ask the same questions but no one ever addressed the hypotonia, or any of the other issues we were seeing.  Finally, at her 4 month visit, the pediatrician acknowledged that there might be some kind of issue but said we just needed to wait and see.  Shortly after that, I went to a La Leche League Conference and had the privilege of hearing Catherine Watson-Genna speak on two issues that ended up having a big impact for us – sensory processing disorder and tongue-tie/suck dysfunction.  I had brought Bekah along with me to the conference, and after the session on tongue tie, I went up to talk to her about Bekah.  She held Bekah and immediately noted her low tone, the way she held her hands, the lack of eye contact, the “funky” way she moved her tongue (my term, not hers) and I felt so validated!  Finally!  She wasn’t sure if Bekah indeed had a tongue tie or not, but recommended having her evaluated by an Ear, Nose & Throat doctor.  As soon as we got home, I made an appointment to see Dr. Biavati in Dallas.  He walked in the room, briefly looked at her tongue, then started looking at her hands, her eyes, and asking about my other kids.  I thought it was very strange that he was examining these other areas when I was there to see if she was tongue-tied.  He finally said, very gently “Well, she is not tongue-tied, but I believe she has something called Niikawa-Kuroki Syndrome” (more commonly known as Kabuki Syndrome.)  I was so relieved!  Finally, we had a name for what we were dealing with.  I think Dr. Biavati was a little confused by my reaction.  I think he expected me to break down and cry, but I was just so relieved to know what was going on that it didn’t occur to me at the time to be upset.  He recommended a geneticist in Plano who was familiar with the syndrome, which is pretty rare.  We saw the geneticist, who agreed with the diagnosis.  

Once we got a diagnosis for Bekah, it seemed that the pressure to give her formula increased exponentially.  Something about being labeled “special needs” seems to insure, in the minds of many people, that breastfeeding is not adequate.  Somehow, people seemed to think that formula would be the “magic cure” that would make her grow.  Thankfully, I had connected with a group of other parents of kids with Kabuki Syndrome.  Two things became very obvious to me, very quickly.  One is that kids with Kabuki Syndrome just don’t grow very fast when they are little.  This holds true whether they are formula fed, breastfed or even tube-fed.  Virtually every parent expressed their frustrations with the gain-lose-gain roller-coaster that our kids were on.  The second thing that was obvious to me was that some of the issues that kids with Kabuki Syndrome struggle with could be helped by breastfeeding – immune system dysfunctions, poor oral motor skills that made eating and talking difficult, digestive issues,  IQ, etc.  It made me more determined than ever to make sure that Bekah got as much time breastfeeding as she could, even if it meant that she had to nurse all day and all night to get in enough calories.  (Lest people think that we could have made things easier on her by giving her a bottle, she struggled even more with bottles.  If we had not worked so hard to make breastfeeding work for her, she would have been on a feeding tube.)  We spent quite a bit of time educating therapists, doctors and nurses.  It was frustrating to feel that we were always telling them what they should already know.  The older Bekah got, the greater the pressure got to stop breastfeeding – we were frequently told that if we would just stop breastfeeding her, she would eat more solid foods and grow more.  What I knew in my heart was that if we stopped breastfeeding her, we would be taking away her best source of nutrition and protection for her immune system with no guarantee that she would do any better with solid foods.  Our persistence paid off though and I am so very glad that we stuck with it.  Bekah is sick far less than most other kids with Kabuki Syndrome and has never been hospitalized, she eats well now and has a very healthy diet, and she talks up a storm!  Breast milk is not magic and she still struggles daily with many of the effects of her syndrome, but I know without a doubt that she would struggle so much harder without the good foundation that 25 months of breastfeeding gave her.

There were several people who supported us throughout the first two years that still hold a very, very special place in my heart.  Some gave regular support and validation, like my dear friend Mary Ann and our amazing chiropractor , who we saw very frequently those first 2 years- Dr. Betsy Taylor. Some were there for a few months, but made a huge impact, like her first OT, Merrit Kazda and others, who answered our questions without judgment and supported our desire to make alternative healthcare decisions for Bekah.  We could not have done it without them!

Some people feel sorry for us because we have a child with special needs.  We don’t feel sorry for ourselves though.  We are so incredibly grateful that Bekah was chosen for us.  We have learned so much from her and have been very blessed to have her in our lives. 

As a lactation consultant, I have also learned a tremendous amount from my experience breastfeeding Bekah.  I have learned in a much more personal way how breastfeeding is about so much more than just the food, or even the bonding.  Breastfeeding is a normal developmental milestone.  Just like any other developmental milestone, if it is skipped, it has an effect on many other developmental processes.  I have learned that, even when breastfeeding doesn’t look like we thought it would, it is definitely worth the effort.  I have a special passion for helping other parents with special-needs infants to breastfeed and I am thankful for the experience with Bekah that has enabled me to help even more mothers and babies.

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GOP-led U.S. House Introduces Bill to Drastically Slash Edu-Spending!

House GOP Looks to Slash Education Spending
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2011/02/house_gop_slashes_education_sp.html?qs=Budget+Cuts

By Alyson Klein on February 12, 2011 2:05 PM
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House Republican leaders put out a bill last night that would slice and dice education funding far below current levels and far below what President Barack Obama wanted in his never-enacted fiscal year 2011 budget request. (List of cuts is here.)

The measure, which would continue federal funding for rest of the fiscal year, takes aim at some programs that were previously considered untouchable, including special education spending and Pell Grants to help low-and-moderate income students pay for college. Overall it would cut $4.9 billion from the U.S. Department of Education's fiscal year 2010 budget of $63.7 billion.

"This absolutely would be the largest cuts ever in history for education programs," said Joel Packer, a principal with the Raben Group in Washington, who works with the Committee for Education Funding, a coalition that advocates for increasing education spending.

The bill would cover fiscal year 2011, which technically started back on Oct. 1. Most of the federal government, including the Education Department, has been funded at fiscal year 2010 levels through a series of stop-gap measures, the latest of which expires on March 4.

It's tough to imagine the administration swallowing these cuts. And it's unlikely they'll get through the Senate, which is still controlled by Democrats.

Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee said in a statement:

The GOP approach "would knock the legs out from under our nascent economic recovery, kill jobs, and do virtually nothing to address the long-term fiscal crisis facing our country. Try as they might to convince the American people otherwise, it is simply not possible to balance the budget by targeting 15 percent of federal spending—no matter how deep the cuts are."

But Republicans say the cuts are needed to get the nation's fiscal house in order. Rep. Hal Rogers, R-Ky., the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said in a statement:

Lawmakers "have weeded out excessive, unnecessary, and wasteful spending, making tough choices to prioritize programs based on their effectiveness and benefit to the American people. My committee has taken a thoughtful look at each and every one of the programs we intend to cut, and have made determinations based on this careful analysis."

Packer said he expects that the two chambers will have a tough time even agreeing on another stop-gap measure. That could spell a government shutdown, he said.

Under the GOP proposal, Title I would be cut by $693.5 million. It's not clear if that means just Title I grants to districts, which got $14.5 million in fiscal year 2010, or if the cut would also effect Title I School Improvement Program, which got $545 million in fiscal 2010.

Special education, which is typically a Republican priority, would be cut by $557 million, below its $11.5 billion funding in fiscal 2010.

Head Start was targeted for the one of the biggest reductions: a $1 billion cut below fiscal 2010.

And Pell grants would be cut as well, resulting in an $845 cut to the maximum per-student grant of $5,550.

GOP lawmakers also didn't find any new money for the administration's top priority, the Race to the Top 2.0. The administration had asked for $1.35 billion to continue the competitive grant program begun under the economic-stimulus package, and last calendar year, Congress had been poised to provide some of that money. Plus, there would be no money for another round of the Investing in Innovation grant program. The administration had originally asked for $500 million to continue i3, another stimulus-funded initiative.

The Obama administration in its fiscal 2011 budget had proposed consolidating smaller programs into broader funding streams. For instance, smaller literacy programs would have been combined into a big competitive fund aimed at improving reading and writing.
But, under the House bill, those programs would be scrapped entirely, including:
• Even Start Family Literacy program: $66.5 million
• Mathematics and Science partnerships: $180 million
• Striving Readers program: $250 million
• The Obama administration's $50 million high school graduation initiative, which is a fairly new program
• Literacy Through School Libraries: $19 million
• Education Technology State Grants: $100 million
• Foriegn Language Assistance: $26.9 million
• The National Writing Project: $25.6 million
• Ready-to-Learn Television: $27.3 million
• Civic Education: $35 million
• Elementary and Secondary School Counseling: $55 million
• Smaller Learning Communities: $88 million
• Tech Prep State Grants: $102 million
• Teacher Quality Partnerships: $43 million

Even some prized education reform programs with deep political connections would be slashed:
• New Leaders for New Schools would be cut by $5 million.
• Teach for America would lose its $18 million appropriation.
• The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards would lose its its $10.6 appropriation.

Also on the chopping block:
• 21st Century Community Learning Centers would get cut by $100 million. And two college access would be cut: TRIO by almost $25 million, GEARUP by $19.8 million.

So who would come through unscathed? The Teacher Incentive Fund, which helps districts create pay-for-performance programs, and got $400 million in fiscal year 2010. Charter schools, which got $256 million in fiscal 2010. And Teacher Quality State Grants, which got $2.95 million in fiscal 2010.

The bill is expected to go to the floor of the House next week. Packer said some GOP lawmakers could introduce amendments making even further cuts.

Confused? This Republican budget proposal is for fiscal year 2011, which actually started way back on Oct. 1, 2010. President Barack Obama will release a budget proposal Monday that will cover fiscal year 2012, which starts on Oct. 1, 2011.

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Update: Christina Goes Digital

Dear Christina,

I'd like to share some personal thoughts with you:

After several months of equipment setbacks, the Christina Board of Education digitally recorded its first Monthly Business Meeting last night.  The recording, an unofficial record and specifically not the official minutes of meeting, is scheduled to become available to the Christna community via the Christina website on Friday (barring any issues that may rise during the upload.)  Going forward, the board will continue to approve the official written minutes of the meetings as required by state law.  Officially approved minutes are available via the district website.  UPDATE: Digital Recording is online HERE, http://www.christina.k12.de.us/BOE/AgendasMinutes.htm

In keeping with its updated policy, the board will digitally record all future regularly scheduled monthly business meetings.  Workshops, which are run in a more interactive format, will not be recorded unless the board designates its desire to record specific meetings. 

The recordings are a courtesy that the Christina Board has chosen to extend to our constituents in our effort to increase transparency in public policy.   Should there be an equipment failure during a recorded meeting, the meeting will progress as planned as the importance of board business supercedes the reliability of equipment. 

I think most in Christina are excited to be leading the way in the digital age - opening doors of communication and accessibility.   I wish to express personal gratitude to Delaware's House of Representatives and those elected officials who have introduced a bill to compel the State Board of Education to follow the path paved by Christina and Red Clay by recording their meetings and making those files accessible to all Delawareans.  I urge all of Delaware's legislators to affirm this bill and move it quickly through the Legislature.  It's the right thing and the right time.  If we are to move education forward in Delaware, we must do so in the light of day.  

Thank You to Christina's administration for supporting this policy change and making this project reality!

Elizabeth

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School Board Members: A Tough Crowd for Duncan

Local School Board Members Play Hardball With Duncan
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2011/02/for_education_secretary_arne_d.html


By Michele McNeil on February 7, 2011 4:04 PM
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For U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, local school board members can be a really tough crowd.

Last year, the National School Boards Association members gave Duncan grief after he he tangled with them over his support of mayoral control.

Not dissuaded, Duncan came back today to address the same crowd, whose members have come to grips with the new federal education reality. And many of them don't really like it. (They didn't really like their reality under former EdSec Margaret Spellings either.)

In his speech, Duncan had nothing really new to say, choosing instead to reiterate past accomplishments (think Race to the Top and school turnarounds) and talk about what's next on his agenda (think reauthorization, reauthorization, reauthorization). He did use his bully pulpit to take another swipe at the Atlanta school district's troubled board, using it as an example of where "leadership is actually hurting children," and declaring that the board is in a "real sense of denial."

The most interesting part of today's event came during the Q-and-A, when we got a real sense of just how fed up many school board members are with federal policies, and with the existing accountability system under the No Child Left Behind Act.

Among the questions: Why do you continue to focus on incentive pay for teachers when research shows it doesn't work? How is it fair to judge a school district full of students who don't speak English well on an English-only test, for purposes of determining which schools qualify for School Improvement Grants? And—in reference to the Obama administration's focus on competitive grants—Why should children compete for their education?

Another key question on the minds of board members: If ESEA is not reauthorized this year, as Duncan wants, will he grant waivers for school districts from some of NCLB's sanctions?

"My whole mentality is to get the thing passed," the secretary said, declaring he'd only worry about the waivers issue if he's forced to.

In a follow-up question, another school board member called him out for failing to answer the original question as to whether he'd support more waivers for districts. And as any good politician would do, he dodged again. Instead, he reiterated his urgency to get ESEA reauthorized this fall. "If we don't do it now," he said. "I don't think it will get passed next year."

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Part II: Alisa's Story - Sweet Baby Luke - Born with a Cleft Lip and Palate

As promised, here is Alisa's story of pumping for Luke, her third baby, born with a cleft palate and lip.  Yes, this is the Alisa -- the one that started my road to natural birth, my dear friend for almost 16 years now.  This was a crazy time in her life.  It's one thing to read it and another to experience it.  I hope you enjoy her story and gain strength from her words.  I'm certain some of you have endured, and are enduring, similar trials of providing breast milk for your babies.  You are not alone.  Alisa, thank you so much for sharing your story here.

"I sat on the ultrasound table willing my eyes to not see what was there. Or not there. Before the tech could say, "Did you say your husband had a cleft lip?" I knew. I saw the dark space between my baby's top lip. A quick reply to the tech, "Yes" and he confirmed what I already knew; my third child would be born with a cleft lip and palate.

I gathered my thoughts and two children and went to the car to call my husband. As I made the call to Jay, who was working out of state at the time, I made a decision; This baby would not be treated any differently. I would not find out if this baby was going to be a boy or a girl. I would still have an unmedicated birth. This baby would still receive breast milk.

I had nursed my other babies for as long as they would. 11 months and 15 1/2 months. I would give this baby the same. For as long as I could.

I started reading about breastfeeding a baby with a cleft lip/palate. I knew it would be a difficult thing to do alone. After a good amount of research I realized I would probably need to pump to help things along. I taught myself about pumps and what I would need to do to build up a supply of breast milk. I will be forever thankful to the woman who gave me a high quality pump. I assembled my kit and waited for my baby to be born.

We welcomed our big healthy baby boy of 9 lbs 10 ounces! … oohing and ahhing over him and announcing his name immediately, “Luke.” When our pediatrician came to check on us he stuck his finger in Luke’s mouth to inspect his suck. "Great!" he said, "Luke will be able to nurse."

But latching on was difficult. Luke had only one side of his palate intact. Like drinking through a straw with a hole in it, he just could not make a complete seal to latch on. I started pumping round the clock. Every 2-3 hours. Before we left the hospital I had started finger feeding Luke. I had a syringe with the milk that I had pumped with a tiny tube attached and taped to my pinkie finger. I would let Luke “suck” on my pinkie while I would slowly press the syringe to "let down" the breast milk. It became a cycle. Pump --> Wash pump parts --> Finger feed --> Start all over again.


The hope was that by finger feeding, Luke would not get attached to a plastic bottle nipple, and that eventually we would succeed in getting a proper latch. But how long could I keep doing this? After a week of pumping and finger feeding and trying to get Luke to latch on I made a very important decision. Was it more important for Luke to receive breast milk, or to breastfeed? I wanted both. But I chose breast milk.


I pumped and pumped and pumped some more. Luke drank it up with a bottle created for babies with clefts, using a pigeon nipple. I was ecstatic when I was able to pump enough to put some in the freezer. I cried when I would spill the "liquid-gold." I was thrilled when I would fill up a bottle enough to feed Luke and have some leftover. I was satisfied when we saw him grow steadily and maintain his healthy weight.


I pumped in the car, I pumped at church. I pumped at the mall. I pumped in hospitals during Luke’s surgeries. I pumped in the movie theater. I pumped while I fed Luke. I pumped on a road trip across 6 states and back again. I pumped when I didn't want to. I pumped while eating dinner. I pumped  A L L   T H E   T I M E.


Luke grew and grew. I had times when I didn't think I could do it anymore. I thought I could not keep up with what Luke needed. I received a few bottles of donated breast milk and constant encouragement from family and friends. I drank a lot of water. Ate oatmeal. I smelled like maple syrup from taking fenugreek supplements. I did all that I could. All the while keeping the goal in mind. I wanted Luke to have breast milk just like my other kids. I had to fight the urge to blurt out when others saw me feeding him a bottle "this is breast milk, not formula!"


After almost a year I knew when it was time to be done. When I had done all I could do and it was time to be finished pumping. We celebrated. Friends threw a "Pump No More 2004" party for me compete with breast balloons.


I said goodbye to that pump and all of its parts. I said goodbye to the rhythmic song I’d listened to every few hours all year long ... “a-boom-dee-yea-a-boom-dee-yea.” I said goodbye to washing pump parts. I said goodbye to the round the clock 2-3 hour cycle. I said goodbye to that year of pumping and I was thankful to be done. Thankful to have given Luke exactly what I had given my other two children. The best start."

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Special Education Parents: Have you had this conversation?

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Ya think? Developing Social and Emotional Learning Increases Academic Success!

Published Online: February 4, 2011


Study Finds Social-Skills Teaching Boosts Academics

By Sarah D. Sparks

From role-playing games for students to parent seminars, teaching social and emotional learning requires a lot of moving parts, but when all the pieces come together such instruction can rival the effectiveness of purely academic interventions to boost student achievement, according to the largest analysis of such programs to date.

In the report published today in the peer-reviewed journal Child Development, researchers led by Joseph A. Durlak, a professor emeritus of psychology at the University of Chicago, found that students who took part in social and emotional learning, or SEL, programs improved in grades and standardized-test scores by 11 percentile points compared with nonparticipating students. That difference, the authors say, was significant—equivalent to moving a student in the middle of the class academically to the top 40 percent of students during the course of the intervention. Such improvement fell within the range of effectiveness for recent analyses of interventions focused on academics.


Here's the rest of the story:  http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/02/04/20sel.h30.html?tkn=WQNFELArcqZMg0R5kEANZ%2By%2BUZUtqEboYqjH&cmp=clp-edweek

Here's the study:  http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2010.01564.x/abstract

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Reminder: CBOE's Regular Monthly Board Meeting scheduled for Feb. 8

POSTING


The Christina Board of Education will meet in Executive Session on Tuesday, February 8,

2011, at 6:00 at Sterck Delaware School for the Deaf, 620 East Chestnut Hill Drive, Newark, DE,

to discuss Personnel Matters. The Board will meet in Regular Session at 7:30 PM. Area

residents are encouraged to attend. The agenda will include the following:

CALL TO ORDER

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

APPROVAL OF OR CHANGES/ADDITIONS TO THIS EVENING’S AGENDA

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

A. January 4, 2011 – Executive Session

B. January 4, 2011 – Board Workshop

BOARD OF EDUCATION HONOR ROLL

A. Kirk Middle School Student Leaders – “If You Only Knew Kirk” Program

B. Ashleigh Hale, Newark High School – Finalist, Wendy’s High School Heisman Award

C. Taylor Reynolds, Newark High School – 2010 All-State Football, First Team Quarterback

D. Angel Gardener, Christiana High School – 2011 Disney’s Dreamers Academy Participant

E. McVey, Leasure, and Wilson Elementary Schools – 2010-2011 State Title I Distinguished Schools

F. Monthly Salute to Excellence – Delaware School for the Deaf and Statewide Programs

PUBLIC COMMENTS

CITIZENS BUDGET OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE REPORT

UPDATE ON RACE TO THE TOP & PARTNERSHIP ZONE BY SECRETARY OF EDUCATION

SUPERINTENDENT’S REPORT

A. Strategic Plan Update – Administrative Services

ACTION ITEMS

A. Student Re-Admission Recommendation(s)

B. Student Expulsion Recommendation(s)

C. Recommendation to Negotiate for Consulting Services for Implementation of School Transformation (CSD #2011-01)

D. Financial Position Report

E. CONSENT AGENDA

1. Personnel Recommendations

2. Monthly Financial Reports – January 2011

3. Choice Recommendation 2010-2011

4. Choice Recommendation 2011-2012

5. Choice Authority 2011-2012

6. Change Orders

(a) Change Order #4 District-Wide Pothole Blacktop Repairs & Concrete Work – (FY2011)

DSD SCHOOL

(b) Change Order #3 Electrical

(c) Change Order #1 Studs & Drywall

(d) Change Order #2 Studs & Drywall

(e) Change Order #1 Metal Panels & Siding

(f) Change Order #1 Caulking & Sealant

(g) Change Order #1 Resinous Flooring

(h) Change Order #5 Carpentry & General Trades

(i) Change Order #1 Ceramic Tile

(j) Change Order #3 Concrete

(k) Change Order #1 Steel

DSD RESIDENCE HALL

(l) Change Order #1 General Construction

(m) Change Order #2 Fire Protection

7. Resolutions on Upcoming Meetings:

(a) Resolution On Executive Session Meeting, March 8, 2011, 6:00 PM, Pulaski Elementary School

(b) Resolution On Regular Session Meeting, March 8, 2011, 7:30 PM, Pulaski Elementary School

(c) Resolution On Executive Session Meeting, March 22, 2011, 6:00 PM, Gauger-Cobbs Middle School

(d) Resolution On Board Workshop, March 22, 2011, 6:30 PM, Gauger-Cobbs Middle School

F. Items Pulled From Consent Agenda

ITEMS SUBMITTED BY THE BOARD

A. Information Requests

BOARD MEMBERS’ COMMITTEE REPORTS

A. Other District/Community Meetings, Site Visits, Training Seminars, Conferences Attended

ADJOURNMENT

Date of Posting: February 1, 2011

Time of Posting: 4:07 PM

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