The less you respond to rude, critical, and argumentative people, the more peaceful your life will become.
Settle Questions Freely
Students are apt to settle a question rightly when it is discussed freely. Unfortunately in today’s political climate, this rarely happens.
Halloween Cancelled
HALLOWEEN CANCELLED
Halloween has been officially cancelled at the Mitchell Elementary School in Needham, MA. Every year children at the school enjoy Halloween themed classroom parties and a school parade. However this is all about to change. Due to an occasional student that chooses to not participate or finds Halloween offensive, acknowledging the fun-filled children’s holiday is now banned.
Principal Greg Bayse said the school is cancelling its traditional Halloween celebrations for the purpose of “reducing exclusion among students”. According to the Principal, the staff claims, “ending the practice would promote inclusivity”. He goes on to say that banning Halloween “…is a positive change that will benefit our students and our community.”
We have also heard reports of other schools that have decided to follow suit. Do you remember enjoying Halloween when you were in school? Do your children enjoy Halloween? Should Halloween be banned in school for everyone to accommodate an occasional child that opts to not participate or has the world gone insane?
School Food Allergy Policy Gone Crazy (part 2)
Do you remember when you were a child and your mother would bring in cupcakes to celebrate your birthday? Do you remember bringing in food for a holiday party for the last day before winter break? Remember trading some of your lunch items you didn’t want with a friend? Do you remember trading Halloween candy with your classmates the day after Halloween? Well no more! This is according to the food allergy policy at the Newton Public Schools in Newton, MA and other schools throughout the country. They are using political correctness to ruin celebrations for the entire student population due to a few that may have an allergy.
Here is an excerpt from the Newton Public Schools policy:
“It is a citywide School Committee policy that the sharing of food during snack and/or lunch is not allowed . . . It is also the policy that no food is to be brought into the classroom which means no cupcakes for birthdays or candy at Halloween or Valentine’s Day.”
What happened to allowing kids to be kids? What happened to personal responsibility where if one is allergic to something, they simply say “No thank you” and don’t eat it?
School Food Allergy Policy Gone Crazy (part 1)
We just received a food allergy policy from one of the elementary schools at the Newton Public Schools in Newton, MA. What we found was shocking. Gone are the days of having the kids with allergies sit at a nut-free table. Now they are forcing all kids that eat nuts to sit at a nut table and kids with hummus and chick peas to sit at a separate table. Has the world gone crazy?
Below is an excerpt from the food allergy policy:
“There will be a nut table in the cafeteria. All students who bring lunch containing peanuts, other tree nuts (including some spreads such as Nutella) or sesame seeds must sit at this table. There will also be a hummus table in the cafeteria. All students who bring a lunch that has hummus or chickpeas must sit at this table. All children will wash their hands before snack/lunch. Children sitting at the nut table or hummus table must wash their hands after snack/lunch. The staff will also wash all tables following snack and lunch, with special attention being paid to the washing of the nut table and hummus table. Classrooms that have a student with an allergy will have a separate table for nuts/ hummus for snack time.”
How To Make Kids Want To Read #2: Comics, Magazines and Newspapers Count
HOW TO MAKE KIDS WANT TO READ #2: Comics, Magazines and Newspapers Count
Reading must be fun or a child won’t read it. Not all reading comes in the form of a book. Allow your student to choose comic books, magazines, and newspapers. Superhero comics, graphic novels, sports magazines, MAD Magazine, and the sports section of the newspaper are some of the most exciting reading out there. Encourage them to read these if they hate reading books. Don’t worry that these are not considered “fine classic literature” by all the snobby know-it-alls. Reading is reading and these items are fun. Kids aren’t going to want to read long books with lots of words on the page, they need smaller books with more engaging writing to keep them interested. This is why magazines and comic books are perfect.
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Extended Learning Time Parent Backlash
There has been a push by some to extend the school day. They call it ELT (Extended Learning Time). There is a growing backlash from parents that in fact find this to be a bad idea. They maintain that longer school days cut into family time, sports, theater activities and tire out kids. Those promoting this idea tend to be wealthy philanthropy organizations with big ideas about education and trying to push their ideas on middle class families who are on the receiving end. Kids need a chance to unwind and have free play. A 6-7 hour school day is more than enough time to get everything done that they should be doing. What do you think?
How To Measure People
Have your kids learn to measure people by the size of their hearts and not the size of their bank accounts.
What Children Want The Most From Parents
Do you think you know what children want the most from their parents? Toys? Vacations? Money? Time together? Surveys show that children want for their parents to be less tired and stressed. This response beat out spending more time with their parents and wanting a bigger allowance. If you can reduce your stress and exhaustion, you may improve your relationship with your children.
School Systems Wasting Your Children’s Tax Money: In-House Consultants
Another public relations consultant model that some school systems are using are similar to the Concord-Carlisle Regional School District method. As opposed to hiring an independent consultant at inflated hourly charges, they pay an in-house consultant an inflated yearly salary. This is instead of the time-honored tradition of the Superintendent of Schools telling the truth directly to parents. In Concord-Carlisle Regional School District’s case, they pay a PART-TIME communications manager $40,000 per year. Other local hires include Newton Public Schools that hire a Communications and Community Engagement Coordinator for $60,000, Marlborough Public Schools that employs a Communications Liaison for $65,000 and Brockton Public Schools with their Communications Officer making $70,000.