I'm supporting the children.

I'm not supporting Democrats.

I'm not supporting Republicans.

I'm supporting Children.

Whose side are you on?

School board meetings are fun.

Oh yes they are. If you're interested in learning things like I am.

Last night I went to the "Regular Meeting of the Board of School Trustees" of School City of Mishawaka. It was very enlightening and I intend to go to many more. And maybe some of the surrounding school system's meetings as well.

Many times I think that we as parents complain to each other rather than asking questions of the people who actually are charged with making the tough decisions.

And before I let us parents off the hook, I would just like to ask, why in the world did almost every single parent leave after the "program" and "recognition" portions of the evening had ended. I wanted to stop people at the door and shake them. They had an opportunity to show their kids how things get done in Mishawaka. It was an opportunity for them to understand more about how the Board works and makes the decisions that effect our children's education. I was very disappointed. Seriously, after the recognition portion ended, there was only myself and a handful of others left.

On the agenda last night was this. See if you can interpret for me. And I quote:

32.1f   PUBLIC HEARING ON APPROPRIATING PROCEEDS OF ONE OR MORE INSTALLMENT PAYMENT CONTRACTS - Mr. Squadroni

Superintendent's Recommendation: Notice was previously given by legal publications on February 10, 2011 to the taxpayers of the School City of Mishwaka, St. Joseph County, Indiana, that the proper legal officers of said school corporation at their regular meeting on February 22, 2011 will conduct a public hearing on the matter of appropriating the proceeds of one or more installment payment contracts entered into by the school corporation in connection with the improvements made by the school corporation as described in the Qualified Providers Agreement. It is further recommended that the public be invited to address questions or comments.

Whuh? First of all, I'm pretty sure that's a run on sentence.

With context I was able to figure out that item has to do with the school system paying a group up to $4,365,000 to tell us how to save energy. Yes, you read that right. Over FOUR MILLION DOLLARS (over the next 16 years of course) to tell us how to save energy costs.

Now, in their defense, they will be paid from the money saved. So if we only save $2 million I guess that's all they get. I think. I hope so.

So to me, it sounds like the bottom line is the same. We save money but spend it somewhere else. I'm not getting how this helps anyone. Maybe I should have asked some more questions last night.

Also, the other issue this raised for me is the line that says "notice was previously given by legal publications." As far as I could figure out that meant that it was posted in the South Bend Tribune. Well, here's the thing. I only get the Tribune on the weekends. So if it wasn't in on the weekend I probably didn't see it. And chances are good that I wouldn't even see it on the weekend.

Wouldn't it be fantastic if in addition to "legal publications" that same notice could be sent home directly to parents? My suggestion to our school principal was that these notices be also printed in the regular Roadrunner Review publications that come home with the students. I'm a firm believer that if you want someone to know something, you need to communicate it in a way that they understand and to which they have access. I'm hoping these notices will somehow more easily find their way to more homes.

I'm hooked. I'm going again. Who's coming with me next time?

You just got pwned!

Ok, so, my boys love to play online games. Their current most favorite is World of Warcraft.

Jon and I created a single account to share so that we could play with them and better understand what in the world they were talking about when we called them to dinner and they said "But Mom! I'm in a dungeon!"

Honestly, our account is currently inactive because since I started my business I don't have time to play. The nice thing is that our characters live on and when we want to re-activate our account (resume paying the monthly subscription fee) we can pick up right where we left off.

I've been listening and learning quite a bit this week about author Jane McGonigal. Her new book is called Reality is Broken and I currently have it on hold at Barnes and Noble to pick up tonight so you'll have to hang tight for a review.

She has some crazy ideas (and we all know how much I love those, right?) about how gaming is good for us and that through gaming we can actually work together to solve some really huge problems. Her TED talk is here. I watched it last night and it really made me think differently about the time my kids spend online.

All that having been said, what if we could create a real life game for every day living? An iPhone app created by a group McGonigal works with is called EpicWin.


"EpicWin is an iPhone app that puts the adventure back into your life. It’s a streamlined to-do list, to quickly note down all your everyday tasks, but with a role-playing spin. (from the developers website here)"


I downloaded this app today to start "playing" so I'll let you know how that goes. But more importantly, I want to start thinking about a way to create a game in real life. One where the boys will earn points for things like brushing their teeth, one where they'll earn experience points for doing their homework, and for completing chores. 


I guess there should be ways to lose experience points, too; such as arguing with a parent, hitting each other, or failing to complete an agreed upon task. Of course, some activities are neutral as well. 


Ok, I'm kind of geek so this is starting to sound like fun to me. Now I just have to figure out how to make it work. What do you think? What would your kids call their game? How should I dole out experience points or remove them?


Now to sell it to the boys. Wish me luck!

What's a PIRC?

I've seen this statement in my Twitter stream today so I took a look and this is what I found.  


Take 1/2 a min: Tell Obama admin NOT to Elim Sole Program that Involves Parents in Child's #Education http://bit.ly/dhRyKG


I have never in my life heard of a PIRC until this week.  The acronym stands for Parental Information and Resource Centers.  According to the PTA action alert linked above, there is one in every state and territory.  Like I said, I've never heard of it before.


What if, what we are doing in public education isn't working?
What if, the PIRCs need to be eliminated?  
What if, changing some things would be a good idea?
What if, informing and sourcing parents is a local issue?
What if, the PTA changed their slogan from "Every child. One Voice." to something else; because every child is unique and has his/her own special needs, even those not labeled as "special needs."


If anything, I have found the PTA action alerts to be overly reactionary.  The PIRCs are not, in my opinion, the only way to get parents involved.  I would argue that they are not a way to get parents involved at all.  Involving parents happens locally.