Coffee this Friday. 7:30 at Simply Sweet. Also, did a little research on the T-shirt “uniform” option and that looks to be about $4.00 each.
Coffee this Friday. 7:30 at Simply Sweet. Also, did a little research on the T-shirt “uniform” option and that looks to be about $4.00 each.
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February 8, 2012 at 3:51 pm
I don’t like T-Shirts and would prefer collared shirts. (Remember you get what you pay for.)
February 8, 2012 at 10:29 pm
Very interesting reading material:
http://manassas.k12.va.us/sb/meetings/2011-12/020712%20Budget/Budget%20Information.pdf
Sorry to rain on your T-shirt parade:-)
February 9, 2012 at 8:00 am
T-shirts are always an interesting situation for schools: what color, what thickness. If T-shirts are a year-round choice, how to handle mandated wear during colder months. And not to be forgotten, do they hide the young lady’s unmentionables.
February 9, 2012 at 11:21 pm
Do what the young lady’s wear now hide their unmentionables?? There is really no hiding the unmentionables Ray and T-shirts, unless they are a size or 2 larger will, allow the unmentionables to not be hidden. Creative young women might do a Daisy Duke knot and become designers of a new twist to a belly shirt. On a serious note, isn’t it possible to actually enforce dress codes?? Is the objective to make all individuals look alike, therefore, curbing certain attitudes and undesireable behavior or to teach respect for oneself and others? In my opinion, teachers could use a course in professional dressing. Why not have a dress code and enforcement for all?
February 10, 2012 at 9:37 am
http://hamptonroads.com/2012/02/same-old-story-road-money
One thing most state lawmakers agree on – “shifting road
funding to local governments”. Ouch.
Perhaps we should consider naming rights for our schools
that, of course, would include corporate provided student uniforms.
Pepsi Challenge Elem. School? 🙂
February 10, 2012 at 9:45 am
Steve….WHAT A GREAT IDEA…too bad we (COM) hadn’t thought about that before. Instead of naming a school for an individual who has had some connection to Manassas, put it up to the highest bidder. It would certainly help the tax payer and who cares what a school is called (within reason). If the extra money helps the students, I say GO FOR IT! Way to think outside of the box!
February 10, 2012 at 11:03 am
SMB
Steve, I’m all for it. Ask our high schoolers who their school was named after, and few would connect it to the name of the pioneering educator from Manassas. One way or the other, the city must reverse the disturbing trends in the schools that we’re most concerned about. I don’t think more money is the only answer, but when it’s the ‘Pepsi Senior High School’ or ‘Micron HS’ we certainly introduce resources that we didn’t have before. And I’d wager that their preconditions for entering into a sponsorship agreement wouldn’t be too hard to swallow. But we won’t know if we don’t ask.
On another note, was everyone but me aware that MCPS subcontracts out all food service and they’re not our employees? And they actually have a catering arm? Are we getting a piece of that action? Is it really better/simpler to sub it out rather than have part time folks do it?
Today also marks the rollout of ‘chefs in the schools’ where the lunch at Metz is designed (and maybe cooked, I don’t know) by Okra’s. I’m guessing its not pizza and french fries. Just like few kids know who Ms. Osbourn was, there may be fewer who have heard ‘you are what you eat’. Thanks Okras, Rice and beans for all my friends!
February 10, 2012 at 12:48 pm
Great coffee and community forum about the city schools this morning at Simply Sweet on Main. Thanks Andy — amazed at what I learn at these informal get togethers — and thanks shop owner Matthew Brower for great coffee and finding a chair in the back for my husband, who arrived late.
Everything I’ve heard about Okra’s owner Charles Gilliam and this schools partnership has been awesome — healthy food, prepared fresh, high source of protein, low cost, great flavor. What impressed me the most, though, is Chef Gilliam worked the line several days with the school kitchen staff and talked with them and tested food with the students BEFORE making his decisions. He didn’t just come in and say, this is what you need to do.
February 11, 2012 at 9:22 am
@Ed, I know that the food services are contracted…bigger question would be, if we allow for profit organization to run food services in the school, why then do we still pay for kitchen equipment…shouldn’t they provide it?
February 11, 2012 at 9:22 am
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38524016/ns/us_news/t/branded-public-schools-court-corporate-sponsors/
An interesting concept to consider.
February 11, 2012 at 2:03 pm
Haven’t you all seen any old Simpsons episodes where the school is underfund and they show the um… “interesting” things they do to save or get more money?
Like the one where they can’t afford Periodic Tables and science books and use ones from a corporate sponsor, Oscar Mayer. The Periodic Table includes elements such as Bolognium which an atomic weight of “delicious” or “snacktacular.”
Or the one where they have budget crisis, which led to a teacher strike, and have to use volunteer teachers from the community but later solve the crisis by renting out the back of the classrooms to the local jail to keep inmates in cells in the back of the classrooms while still having class in the front.
The Simpsons clearly have all the answers on how to increase school funding we need! lol
OK, kidding aside, I came cross an interesting New York Times article from way back in 2006 about real schools that turned to corporate sponsors: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/26/education/26schools.html?hp&ex=1138338000&en=47641af7c93a7416&ei=5094&partner=homepage. I have mixed feelings about the idea. While I like the idea of the schools’ having more money that could be used to build and/or repair the schools, buy the best equipment and stuff for the students, and so forth, I dislike the idea of schools become billboards for corporations and having corporate logos all over the place. Have to think about this more…
February 12, 2012 at 12:33 am
I need to mention that having the money is just as, if not more important, than WHO is deciding what to do with that money. Does anyone really think that we can’t do more with less in the city? That we are not a “top heavy” district? The money is not going to the right people/places now. What makes anyone think this would change with more money?
Unless, of course, said corporate sponsor volunteers to make all those decisions with their funds and plants a team right here on MCPS soil for constant oversight.
February 12, 2012 at 1:22 am
tenacity,
One thing that keeps bugging me is why we spend so much more per student and get worse results then our neighbors in the Park and many other school districts for that matter. I wonder what gives the cost up and if some of those things can be cut.
I would also welcome an independent comprehensive analysis/audit of the MCPS to find waste, areas where costs could be cut, how our expenses on things compare to other jurisdictions, and so forth. I wonder if there is a university or other organization that could be hired (or maybe volunteer in the case of a university… don’t grad students do analysis of things for free if they can use in their class or something?) to perform such a task and produce a document with their findings.
Maybe if knew how much money the schools’ could be saving by changing their ways could we know if the money the corporations could bring would be needed…
February 13, 2012 at 10:26 am
http://www.edweek.org/dd/articles/2011/10/19/01conversion/ho5.html
Interesting story on IT use in the Mooresville, NC school system.
Article on the same subject in today’s NYT.
February 13, 2012 at 10:36 am
http://www.edweek.org/dd/articles/2011/10/19/01conversion.ho5.html