The Chit Chat Chit Chat Thread

[Songbird76]

Yep, I struggle to think of any other institution that has more mandates and responsibilities attached to the primary goal of educating children.

The Catholic School that I attended had a solution. (remember long ago) If the student enrolled had issues they could not or WOULD NOT deal with they'd just expel them and tell the parents to enroll them in PUBLIC schools. One of my friends in 1st grade had some minor reading issues. He didn't last the first year, they booted him. Problem solved.

Ah, good ol' fashioned discrimination!
There's a big push here at the moment for what they call "bijpassend leren"....the best translation I can think of off the top of my head is "adjusted learning". It basically means that the education is tailored to the child...that ALL children, no matter what their needs are, should be able to go to the same public school. They have traditionally had special schools for children with disabilities like autism, dyslexia, etc. Now, they want to integrate all the kids into one school. I can understand the idea behind it....not stigmatizing the kids as "different" as well as making it easier for parents to find a school in their neighborhood rather than traveling farther out for a school that suits their needs. The problem is that with the special school, you have specially trained educators for each need...for the hearing impaired, for the dyslexic kids, for the kids with autism, etc. So you have one teacher for each of those things and they are all in the one school. But if you mainstream the kids into every public school, you either have to forego the specialists, OR you have to provide specialists for each school...it will either dramatically increase the costs of each school, or decrease the availability of resources for those students who need more help. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. I love the idea of inclusion, but sometimes it's better for the individual student to be in a school that's more tailored to fit their needs rather than trying to fit the child into the existing curriculum. But what do I know?

 

[Songbird76]

As someone who has allergies, I agree wholeheartedly. It's one thing to ban a food because there's an actual health concern. For instance, my schools never carried peanut products and always had a peanut free table in the cafeterias. But that was for a legitimate health concern. Not simply because it made those with peanut allergies uncomfortable, but for their safety. This is just an example of, "Oh, we can't have any hurt feelings."

I kind of feel bad because when I fly, I report having a peanut allergy, and they suspend service of peanut products. I do it because it allows me to preboard and wipe down my seating area and it reduces the likelihood of having a problem, which then could potentially ground the flight and inconvenience everyone. But I do feel bad about it, at least until my dad stops complaining about the fact he has to eat pretzels instead of peanuts.

A peanut-free table in the cafeteria seems like a reasonable solution. It makes it safe for the kids with allergies without putting the responsibility on the kids without them. Even suspending peanut service for one flight isn't too bad. I'm curious though...what happens if you go to a ballgame where people are eating peanuts, or candybars with peanuts in them. If the ice cream truck comes and you are next to someone who gets something that has nuts in it, what is the protocol? Do you just go sit somewhere else, or is it not that dangerous for you? Or are they not allowed to serve anything with nuts in it? I moved to the Netherlands before all the controversy in schools about banning any and all nut products from the premesis, so I missed out on the arguments about the best thing. But it just seems to me that you can not ban nuts from every public venue, so education would be a better alternative...teach kids how to handle it rather than try to pretend that it doesn't exist. But I would be interested to hear the perspective of someone with the allergy.

 

[Gabe1]

(Memo to students and parents in your school district): There will be no picnics, no Six Flags, and no fun will be tolerated moving forward.

Ha! That was the goal.

 

[Gabe1]

Ah, good ol' fashioned discrimination!
There's a big push here at the moment for what they call "bijpassend leren"....the best translation I can think of off the top of my head is "adjusted learning". It basically means that the education is tailored to the child...that ALL children, no matter what their needs are, should be able to go to the same public school. They have traditionally had special schools for children with disabilities like autism, dyslexia, etc. Now, they want to integrate all the kids into one school. I can understand the idea behind it....not stigmatizing the kids as "different" as well as making it easier for parents to find a school in their neighborhood rather than traveling farther out for a school that suits their needs. The problem is that with the special school, you have specially trained educators for each need...for the hearing impaired, for the dyslexic kids, for the kids with autism, etc. So you have one teacher for each of those things and they are all in the one school. But if you mainstream the kids into every public school, you either have to forego the specialists, OR you have to provide specialists for each school...it will either dramatically increase the costs of each school, or decrease the availability of resources for those students who need more help. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. I love the idea of inclusion, but sometimes it's better for the individual student to be in a school that's more tailored to fit their needs rather than trying to fit the child into the existing curriculum. But what do I know?

That is our inclusion program-vs the old way of 20 years ago as a contained environment classroom. We have a contained for extreme behavioral issues and one for catastrophic physical and learning differences within our middle school building. Some of these students arrive by ambulance type vehicles each day and some have their own aides and one on one Registered Nurse. The costs are dramatic.
Our inclusion students have either a one on one aide or 2 to 1 depending on needs. We have a facilitator that reworks the lessons to adapt to the students specific needs vs a classroom teacher. We belong to a co-op of 8 districts that we all pay into and then the special educators travel between all the buildings or a few depending on demand. We actually had two speech therapists assigned to our district. Remember english as a second language or now called english language learners go to speech therapy to learn how to properly pronounce sounds and then the other students that have developmental speech needs. Where the line in the sand is-deaf students. We ship them to a special building for the deaf at the request of their parents. We would place those students in an inclusion environment but every single parent asked for the school for the deaf.

 

[Goofyernmost]

A peanut-free table in the cafeteria seems like a reasonable solution. It makes it safe for the kids with allergies without putting the responsibility on the kids without them. Even suspending peanut service for one flight isn't too bad. I'm curious though...what happens if you go to a ballgame where people are eating peanuts, or candybars with peanuts in them. If the ice cream truck comes and you are next to someone who gets something that has nuts in it, what is the protocol? Do you just go sit somewhere else, or is it not that dangerous for you? Or are they not allowed to serve anything with nuts in it? I moved to the Netherlands before all the controversy in schools about banning any and all nut products from the premesis, so I missed out on the arguments about the best thing. But it just seems to me that you can not ban nuts from every public venue, so education would be a better alternative...teach kids how to handle it rather than try to pretend that it doesn't exist. But I would be interested to hear the perspective of someone with the allergy.

Years ago I worked for a school district in Vermont. A woman brought a lawsuit demanding that her child be allowed in the school. According to her, her child had a severe peanut allergy to the point that, not only would it be required that no peanuts or peanut products could be on the property, but, no child in the school could have even eaten peanut butter at home because he was so sensitive that with it just on their breath, they could cause the child into a seizure or possible death resulting reaction. Her demand was that the school would be responsible for things even out of their control. All the parents of all the kids in that building would have to not use any peanut product, because, her child should be able to attend a regular school.

The two points made by the school seemed like an obvious thing. They could not police or control the child when they weren't on the property and it would be next to impossible even when they were on property. And also, what they demanded was an unreasonable hardship for everyone to be expected to not slip up, no matter what their intention was. We all felt bad for the child, but, in order to accommodate that one person they entire community had to deal with it in massive detail. The school won, but, really there were no winners. The one thing that I thought about, but, we couldn't bring up in the conversation, was... If I had a child that could have that severe a life and death reaction then I wouldn't expose them to the possibility. Many a child has been successfully home schooled without any severe social problems and if it meant the difference between dying and not feeling part of something I would have acted on the side of the let him live and not take the risk. And what a huge risk it would be.

 

[MOXOMUMD]

Wow...that doesn't seem like many! Or does that not include when they are sick? When my kids are sick, they are usually out for at least 4 days. This is DS's 2nd time being sick this school year, and last time he was out for 4 days and then I sent him back on the Friday because they were doing testing for report cards and I didn't want him to miss even more than he had missed and his fever was gone. I should have kept him home for that 5th day. Now he came down with the crud yesterday, he's still got a high fever today (39.3C or just under 103F) and feeling miserable, and I can't imagine him magically being completely better tomorrow then. And of course, they are doing report card testing again right now (he's really good at getting sick right at testing time!), but last time, I sent him back and he did his math test that day and even though math is his best subject, that was his worst score. (It was still above average, but the kid is kind of a math whiz, so being sick definitely affected his score) So this time, even if his fever is gone, he's staying home Friday. I'll send him back Monday. So that means 4 days this time. So if he only had 10 days, we'd already be pushing it!

That includes days they are sick. You have to provide doctor's excuses if they miss more than two days in a row. Our school system is a real stickler on attendance.

 

[Cesar R M]

(Memo to students and parents in your school district): There will be no picnics, no Six Flags, and no fun will be tolerated moving forward.

 

[Cesar R M]

Southwest refrains from peanut product service and asks the entire plane to refrain from eating peanut products. Same thing on Delta. It probably varies by airline.

Considering a plane is enclosed. I think they fear particles might fly around the plane and trigger a reaction.

 

[MOXOMUMD]

I want Butter Pecan Ice Cream.

Me too.

 

[Goofyernmost]

I want Butter Pecan Ice Cream.

Me too.

Sorry, but, you cannot have any. It seem that there is a person in Arizona that is allergic to Pecan's. The entire country is now expected to not expose that to the air in the event of a strong westerly wind and the occasional eastern one. It takes a country to raise a child.

Spoiler

I suppose if you consume it in an airtight facility it is OK as long as you promise not to burp when you go outside.

 

[MOXOMUMD]

Ouchie! Sorry. So far behind.
Hope nothing serious. How is it now...?

I got my results and I have some tendonitis. I'm in an aircast brace for the next few weeks.

 

[Gabe1]

Nice to have a friend when you are down and out.

 

[Gabe1]

Sorry, but, you cannot have any. It seem that there is a person in Arizona that is allergic to Pecan's. The entire country is not expected to not expose that to the air in the event of a strong westerly wind and the occasional eastern one. It takes a country to raise a child.

Spoiler

I suppose if you consume it in an airtight facility it is OK as long as you promise not to burp when you go outside.

Ha!

Kudos.

 

[Gabe1]

Good morning! Our first farmer's market was yesterday. Not a lot yet, but the strawberries,,,That is some serious YUM! And I bought some asparagus. I am not a big fan, but DH loves it. I put it on the grill last night, and it was delish. Best ever!

So how do you find the prices at your farmers market by you? Our prices are generally higher than at a grocery store. Usually much fresher at the Farmers Market but we get that sticker price shock.

 

[Gabe1]

Public Service

For Cat and Dog owners that put those Elizabethan Cones on their cat/dogs heads.....

remember you don't have to purchase these from the vet. If your pet is going to have a procedure that would require a cone you can preorder a neck neck pad that accomplishes the same thing yet doesn't mess with their sight line, allows them to eat, drink and play all the while not knocking things over with the freak'n cone head. The are usually cheaper that the E-collars at Vet Prices. Many different styles and manufactures range generally $10-$20.

 

[donaldtoo]

We are also going to the Smokey Mountains in Gatlinburg Tennessee in August before I go back to school to start the 11th grade.

We visited there once when I was a child (4 or 5 years old), when we're living in Huntsville, Alabama for about 18 months. I remember it being very pretty, and my folks still have pics.
Sounds like it's going to be a fun trip!

 

[Gabe1]

Lots and lots of storms and rain. Joy Joy

Yep, having gutters cleaned out yesterday a good call.

 

[donaldtoo]

I think he would be proud that a Texan liked the look of his ribs. They were his best yet.

If they were as good as they looked, he should be darn proud...!

 

[Gabe1]

@Figments Friend would love this

That version of the Imagination attraction was my favorite. It is from the opening and that entire pavilion was in its glory. When my kids were little we were hard pressed to get them to leave the pavilion, so much for the small to do.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Public Service

For Cat and Dog owners that put those Elizabethan Cones on their cat/dogs heads.....

remember you don't have to purchase these from the vet. If your pet is going to have a procedure that would require a cone you can preorder a neck neck pad that accomplishes the same thing yet doesn't mess with their sight line, allows them to eat, drink and play all the while not knocking things over with the freak'n cone head. The are usually cheaper that the E-collars at Vet Prices. Many different styles and manufactures range generally $10-$20.

Our vet has loaned out collars to us, as long as we returned it in a timely fashion and it was clean and in good shape there was no charge. the one around the cat looks more comfortable for the animal though. I had a friend who bough a small basket at the dollar store and cut a hole in it and used that as a collar.