Earth Hour - Live Feed

Homework: Bringing families together.

I'm no fan of homework and have posted about my disdain for homework before. I don't give it out as a teacher, and don't expect it to come home with my kids. My feeling is, if I'm not getting it done with students in the classroom, then I need to look at my use of time when I'm teaching. When I was teaching sixth grade a few years ago, I had many conversations with my colleagues about my reasons for not giving homework. They felt I was not preparing my students for the rigors of middle school. My response was that I'm preparing students for the curriculum of middle school, not building up their endurance for homework. As a result of those conversations, I ended up spending a day observing at a local middle school to see just what the expectations for homework were. Talking to some of my students who had moved on to seventh grade, many informed me that their homework was in fact less than it was in sixth grade. In speaking to the principal, he said the San Dieguito Union High School District was beginning (this would have been three years ago) to have teachers look at the necessity of the homework they were assigning. To quote this principal "We just aren't sure than students need to color in a map for social studies every night." For those of you who haven't, read The Homework Myth by Alfie Kohn. This post was sparked by this article in the LA Times today on homework. Advocate for your kids. Despite what many of my colleagues might say, there is a difference between study skills and homework.

Superintendent Forum Tonight!

There will be an open forum at the EUSD DIstrict Office tonight. Rene Townsend and Mike Caston of the consultant firm Leadership Associates are heading the search. You can email Rene Townsend at renetown@cox.net and Mike Caston at mwcaston@cox.net with your hopes of what you want in a superintendent if you can't make the forum.

A parent spoke at last Tuesday's board meeting about her concern about the lack of transparency in the superintendent selection process, and specifically her concerns about contributions made by Rene Townsend to sitting board members campaigns possibly leading to Leadership Associates hiring. Whether those allegations are true, I don't know but I do know Del Mar Union School District went through the same process last year, and the process is the same. One of the board members at the February board meeting said something to the effect of "This is the main job the board is elected to do." The process needs to be timely and effective. My district went almost a year without a superintendent, which is possibly the reason why the budget is hitting us so hard. Make the forum if you can, definitely email your hopes and expectations, and expect our elected officials to keep our kids best interests as their top priority.

Pink Friday, March 13 - Wear pink to show support for your school!

I heard district wide Encinitas is giving 'pink slips', basically layoff notices, to 18 teachers. Three of them are at Paul Ecke Central. That is actually a very low number compared to the rest of the county and state. In Del Mar alone, 75 teachers district wide are receiving pink slips. These are dark days for education as the economy continues to slide. Wear pink to support your school and teachers. Do what you can to help keep programs in our school and remember this mess on election day!
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