April 8 is a special day for me. Some years ago our friends and family gathered to celebrate Debbie and I getting married. In 2014 we received an interesting anniversary gift.
As the school privatization movement seeks to gain steam in Missouri the money that flows with it has led to a Legislature that is increasingly critical of Missouri's public schools. Representatives and Senators seem to no longer care about the views of teachers and administrators. Some have become downright hostile toward educators.
While the Missouri House of Representatives was passing legislation to study education standards (anti Common Core) and the House Education Committee was debating transfer legislation not supported by public schools, we learned once again that all politics is local.
On April 8 we found out here here and here that Missouri communities support their local public schools. The list of successful bond issues and tax levies goes beyond the linked articles to cover all parts of Missouri. And we're not talking about issues barely passing. Many passed by huge margins.
It is clear that communities support their local schools, but sad that many of those serving in the Missouri Legislature no longer do.
The education community rallied together in support of sustaining the veto of HB253 last summer. It's time we stand again to show members of the Missouri Legislature that Missouri's public schools have the support of their communities.
On Friday lets unleash the power of #Lovemyschoolday
Wednesday, April 9, 2014
Sunday, April 6, 2014
March on the water
The 3rd weekend in March is the annual Missouri Whitewater Championships held at Millstream Gardens on the St. Francis River. Zack and I went down Friday after school and camped at Johnson Shut-Ins State Park. It was the first time I had stayed in the new campground and I believe we'll be going back.
We got up early on Saturday to do some walking through the shut-ins, but had to wait at the gate for a ranger to open up.
We got up early on Saturday to do some walking through the shut-ins, but had to wait at the gate for a ranger to open up.
After a walk around the shut-ins it was off to Ironton for some chocolate milk and onto Millstream Gardens to watch the races.
Watching the races is fun, but watching other people paddle just makes me want to paddle. So two weeks later Bob and I spent a late after noon with a relaxing paddle on Creve Coeur Lake while Debbie and Zack rode on the bike trail.
Wednesday, February 26, 2014
February Paddle
The plan was to hit the water Sunday morning, but with sickness in the house on Saturday evening I cancelled. But on Sunday morning there was no more sickness.
Zack and I loaded up 2 kayaks somewhat quickly and headed to Creve Coeur Lake for a relaxing paddle...at least I thought it would be.
We were surprised at the volume of ice still on the lake after 5 days above freezing - several above 50 degrees. Regardless, there was open water along the shore and we saw a path through the ice to an area that would be out of the wind. The windchill was around 24.
We took off through the open water path with Zack in the lead. Nearing the far end of the path and open water he hit ice. It was about 2 inches thick. We backed up and I took the lead to bust through.
I rode up on the ice and rocked to bust up about 3 feet. That was just enough to let the wind shift the other end of the path and start closing it off. The next bust caused the path to narrow. At that point I slid up onto the ice as much as possible, put my paddle on the deck, and used my hands to scoot the kayak across the ice to open water - busting ice as I went.
Zack saw what I was doing and did the same, but he was on the other end of the path. I circled around near the shore and bused through a little bit to get him with me. We didn't go far though and ice was right to the bank.
We turned around and stayed along the open shore after that.
This is not the first time we've paddled in ice, but there was more of it this time.
Zack and I loaded up 2 kayaks somewhat quickly and headed to Creve Coeur Lake for a relaxing paddle...at least I thought it would be.
We were surprised at the volume of ice still on the lake after 5 days above freezing - several above 50 degrees. Regardless, there was open water along the shore and we saw a path through the ice to an area that would be out of the wind. The windchill was around 24.
We took off through the open water path with Zack in the lead. Nearing the far end of the path and open water he hit ice. It was about 2 inches thick. We backed up and I took the lead to bust through.
I rode up on the ice and rocked to bust up about 3 feet. That was just enough to let the wind shift the other end of the path and start closing it off. The next bust caused the path to narrow. At that point I slid up onto the ice as much as possible, put my paddle on the deck, and used my hands to scoot the kayak across the ice to open water - busting ice as I went.
Zack saw what I was doing and did the same, but he was on the other end of the path. I circled around near the shore and bused through a little bit to get him with me. We didn't go far though and ice was right to the bank.
We turned around and stayed along the open shore after that.
This is not the first time we've paddled in ice, but there was more of it this time.
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
Take Back the Narrative
While at the 2014 National Conference on Education I heard a recurring theme of the need to push back against efforts to privatize education. The message was not a surprising one. For some time public education has been the whipping boy of everything wrong in society and seems to have intensified recently.
Can we fight back and what will it take? I believe we can, but it will take a concerted effort by all of us who support public education.
If we examine the reform movement we now see what appears to be a coordinated social media effort to recycle the same stories over and over. Take a look at their Twitter accounts. These folks follow each other and retweet "think tank" releases and news stories. If something is happening in one state it will make its way across the nation via Twitter.
That isn't normally the case with great news in public education.
Surveys on the support of public education routinely show strong support for local schools. That support drops when asked about the nation's schools. That is a perception we can, and must, change. It's time we started showing support for other schools across the country. The media isn't going to do it. Only we can.
Let's commit to passing along the great things going on in schools across the country and take back the narrative about public education.
Can we fight back and what will it take? I believe we can, but it will take a concerted effort by all of us who support public education.
If we examine the reform movement we now see what appears to be a coordinated social media effort to recycle the same stories over and over. Take a look at their Twitter accounts. These folks follow each other and retweet "think tank" releases and news stories. If something is happening in one state it will make its way across the nation via Twitter.
That isn't normally the case with great news in public education.
Surveys on the support of public education routinely show strong support for local schools. That support drops when asked about the nation's schools. That is a perception we can, and must, change. It's time we started showing support for other schools across the country. The media isn't going to do it. Only we can.
Let's commit to passing along the great things going on in schools across the country and take back the narrative about public education.
Saturday, February 1, 2014
Where is the love?
If you were watching those in the education reform world, politicians, and some media last week you know that it was school choice week. It got a fair bit of press and several school choice legislative proposals were introduced.
What received much less press was the fact than it was also school board recognition week in Missouri. There are some 3,500 elected school board members in Missouri who volunteer their time to represent their community.
Where was the legislative love for these public servants? If there was any, I missed it.
What received much less press was the fact than it was also school board recognition week in Missouri. There are some 3,500 elected school board members in Missouri who volunteer their time to represent their community.
Where was the legislative love for these public servants? If there was any, I missed it.
Monday, January 20, 2014
Anything you say can and will be used against you in the court of public opinion
I was able to catch the last half of both NFL conference championship games yesterday. Good games...yes, but also a lesson in representing your organization.
The widely seen live interview of Richard Sherman at the conclusion of the Seahawks win may become a training video in how to represent your organization.
Most folks know the Miranda rights statement -- "Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law." In today's Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube world everyone has the ability to brand themselves more than ever. This idea has me broadening the Miranda state to what you say will be used against you in the court of public opinion.
Mr. Sherman's comments have been all over sports, and other, news. What he said, and the manner in which he said it, is being judged by sports pundits, website comments, and bloggers everywhere. The trouble is Mr. Sherman's comments reflect on the Seahawk organization as well.
If what your employees say can and will be used against you in the court of public opinion, how do the daily conversations of your employees reflect upon your organization?
The widely seen live interview of Richard Sherman at the conclusion of the Seahawks win may become a training video in how to represent your organization.
Most folks know the Miranda rights statement -- "Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law." In today's Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube world everyone has the ability to brand themselves more than ever. This idea has me broadening the Miranda state to what you say will be used against you in the court of public opinion.
Mr. Sherman's comments have been all over sports, and other, news. What he said, and the manner in which he said it, is being judged by sports pundits, website comments, and bloggers everywhere. The trouble is Mr. Sherman's comments reflect on the Seahawk organization as well.
If what your employees say can and will be used against you in the court of public opinion, how do the daily conversations of your employees reflect upon your organization?
January 2014 paddle
The January paddling trip was a bit of a make up for the cancelled trip in December. We had cancelled our big trip in December due to excessive snow at our paddling destination. This make up trip was to be in the original location.
About 8 or 9 were slated to attend the trip, but sickness and other issues kept it to 6 of us. We met in Van Buren for lunch at the Float Stream restaurant. The Float Stream is an iconic restaurant that my grandfather first took me to when deer hunting as a kid.
The day prior we had decided to forego camping and actually stay in a hotel the entire weekend. We were afraid we might lose more people if we didn't. It turned about to be a good decision because it rained all day Friday. We drove by our planned campsite late on Friday afternoon and it was indeed a sloppy mess. I'm confident we would have rutted up the place had we tried to park vehicles there.
Saturday morning we returned to the Float Stream for breakfast before heading to our put in at Paint Rock. Getting there was a challenge as the creeks had risen from all the rain. We crossed the same creek several times. It continued to get larger, faster, and deeper as we neared the river.
Once on the river it was a nice, quick float. The river was up so we were making great time.
We stopped just above Chilton Creek for a quick break and were in Van Buren shortly after one. I was trailing the pack and arrived in Van Buren to learn that one of the guys had flipped his kayak just before the bridge.
After he changed into dry clothes, we had lunch, and shuttled vehicles, it was back on the river. We ended our trip at Big Springs.
For Sunday we intended to paddle from Van Buren to Big Tree, but the water was too high for a safe take out at Big Tree so we did a quick morning paddle to Big Springs instead. Paddling into the morning sun made it a challenge to see, but it made for nice photos.
Overall it was a great trip. I'm ready to go again.
About 8 or 9 were slated to attend the trip, but sickness and other issues kept it to 6 of us. We met in Van Buren for lunch at the Float Stream restaurant. The Float Stream is an iconic restaurant that my grandfather first took me to when deer hunting as a kid.
The day prior we had decided to forego camping and actually stay in a hotel the entire weekend. We were afraid we might lose more people if we didn't. It turned about to be a good decision because it rained all day Friday. We drove by our planned campsite late on Friday afternoon and it was indeed a sloppy mess. I'm confident we would have rutted up the place had we tried to park vehicles there.
Saturday morning we returned to the Float Stream for breakfast before heading to our put in at Paint Rock. Getting there was a challenge as the creeks had risen from all the rain. We crossed the same creek several times. It continued to get larger, faster, and deeper as we neared the river.
Once on the river it was a nice, quick float. The river was up so we were making great time.
We stopped just above Chilton Creek for a quick break and were in Van Buren shortly after one. I was trailing the pack and arrived in Van Buren to learn that one of the guys had flipped his kayak just before the bridge.
After he changed into dry clothes, we had lunch, and shuttled vehicles, it was back on the river. We ended our trip at Big Springs.
For Sunday we intended to paddle from Van Buren to Big Tree, but the water was too high for a safe take out at Big Tree so we did a quick morning paddle to Big Springs instead. Paddling into the morning sun made it a challenge to see, but it made for nice photos.
Overall it was a great trip. I'm ready to go again.
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