And this is a follow up to my letter to my governor. I am also just editing that letter by taking out his name and inserting other key policy makers on this whole virtual school crisis. Several of us parents have galvanized and are communicating through a yahoo chat group. If you have ever thought that virtual school doesn't meet a need or doesn't have a place in the public school system, here are what others are saying:
"We began Orca 3 years ago when our son was waiting a kidney
transplant. In the last year we have spent most of our time in
Portland due to complications of the transplant. Orca has been a huge
blessing to us as our son would not have received much of an education
without ORCA. It has allowed him to do school work anywhere and
anytime! You can't get that at public school.He has maintained a
87-91% grade throughout his transplant, and complications. Now that
says alot about ORCA and it's ability to work for families. We will
not return to public school period. Here's to hoping that ORCA will
still exist."
From another mom:
"My daughter complained she could not hear her teachers for the other rude children in school. Her grades suffered because of it. I volunteered in school to see if this was correct. It was the truth. The teacher complained that they could not do anything about it for fear of being sued. The other reasons was the grade scores of the test in our school was low. Gangs are all over this our schools in our area.
My daughter can not handle stress at all. She just shuts down and won't do anything. She loves to read and to see her suffer with regular school was sad.
Then we found out about ORCA from a friend who had her daughter enrolled in ORCA because of ADHD. So we came to ORCA. She is doing better and she loves going to class now before I had to push her out the door for regular school.
We also sent my Nephew to go to school through with ORCA because of his sleep disorder. He just started and is loving it that he can get a full nights sleep and then go to school when he is fully awake. He said it is easier to concentrate on his work.
I just see this way of schooling a benefit for all. The kids that can not function in regular school can come to ORCA, that way they can learn at their own pace and not some standard someone set up for the normal kid that can handle stress and doesn't have health problems that may interfere with the teacher and the other kids.
Please keep ORCA around."
And yet another one:
"Without ORCA my daughter would not be getting an education, PERIOD!
We tried several different "schools" and various avenues —two years and
about a thousand or so dollars later, my daughter was no better off
than she was before leaving our local high school; as a matter in fact,
she became so withdrawn from everyone and everything that her future
looked rather bleak indeed.
Until we found ORCA, that is! My daughter has learned so much more
through ORCA. She is thinking of, and looking forward to, the future
now. She plans to attend college and is currently making arrangements
to visit a college campus or two.
Before ORCA, I could not even get her out of bed, much less off to
school or to her home-studies. She has a bright future now, please
don't take it away from her! Keep ORCA open!!"
So granted, I use ORCA because of the icky schools near me. Others have found it meets a health crisis in their homes. Especially those crisis that require so much from parents that traditional homeschooling would be too much.
At this point, it's a fifty fifty chance I can go to the capital on the 9th. If anyone out there wants to watch my preschooler that day until about 4-5 p.m. please let me know. He would be in preschool from 9 to 1 p.m. Wish us luck and please pray. This is actually quite scary to many of us.
Feb 27, 2009
Feb 26, 2009
Too Bad the Department of Education Can't See This
After our lessons today, BH got wind that JM and I were playing an online skills game of smashing tomatoes while doing math. Yes, Connections Academy has some fun things for learning. And so I let him go at it. Keep in mind, he doesn't have mouse skills, or left click skills. Well, he picked it up pretty fast. Results were a completely giggly three year old.
Feb 25, 2009
And Here is My First Letter to the Governor of My State
They say the pen is mightier than the sword. Good thing I love writing. I am flaming mad today after getting an email from our school's representative.
Short summary here, the virtual school JM "attends" now that I call homeschool, is on the verge of being squelched by none other than the Department of Education (DE) in my state. Basically, Connections Academy in my state was approved to be a school in 2005, the DE stepped back and thought twice about what was just approved. They decided that to start a virtual charter school in our state that 50% of enrollment must be from the district the school is in. Well, that would summarily disband our school.
CA fought hard to be "grandfathered" out of that ruling. It was understood in 2005 by CA, legislators present, and everyone in attendance, that ruling was with perpetuity. Nope. CA was required this last fall, out of the blue, to reapply for that grandfather clause, and it seems that the DE really wants to disband CA. And one can only wonder why? How dare this virtual school show that schooling can be done cheaply, effectively, without the traditional classroom that requires tons of wasted money.
Anyway, several of us CA parents have banded together in the last few days on a yahoo group and shared the letters we are sending to our legislators. Here is what I am sending tomorrow to the governor of our fine state:
Dear Governor:
I am the mother of two young kids, living in XXXX. We are in the middle of our first school year as a Connections Academy (ORCA) family. Let me give you a bulleted break down of why we chose Connections Academy for our family, and why the impending Legislative session to decide whether the “grandfathered” clause ORCA has applied for is imperative to families like ours.
We took a full year to come to the decision to utilize ORCA for our oldest son who is now a second grader. These reasons are as follows:
From a parental standpoint, I cannot see why the DE has been so contentious? Here are my thoughts on that:
So, my big-picture question to you? What side do you support? Keep in mind, there doesn’t need to be sides here. ORCA has time and time again asked for dialogue, meetings, input and help from the DE with little or no response. The DE has drawn the battle lines. Mr. Governor, you must choose.
Will you support a side that has established a cutting edge, technology based, future pointed education model? Will you support Oregon’s kids having an alternative to education that will bring excellence to their future? Oregon’s future? Will you support a program that has shown itself to be open to the legislative process, understood fair play in the politics of this endeavor, and open to scrutiny? Will you side with the “underdog” on this issue?
Or will you show support for the education system in this state that is positively falling apart? If you can’t see it, I can. Mark my words, it needs triage and a Band-Aid won’t fix it. Will you support a stodgy ODE that is rooted in tradition, lacks future thinking for education, and seems more interested in funding and being a political entity. It seems more interested in staying in cahoots with teacher’s unions and lobbyists. The DE is the bully in this situation and their behavior towards ORCA substantiates that. No one need dispute it.
Personally, the title of the DE seems to me they should be more interested in educating my kid right now and they aren’t. They seem more interested in silencing success. I don’t have a good, public education available to my family by the DE. I do with ORCA.
I promise you this, as long as XYZ Schools continues in it’s downward spiral, my children will never step foot in their classrooms. As long as the DE continues to be a heavy-handed prizefighter, with lack of vision, my children will never step foot in a XYZ classroom.
Cordially,
AMG
Short summary here, the virtual school JM "attends" now that I call homeschool, is on the verge of being squelched by none other than the Department of Education (DE) in my state. Basically, Connections Academy in my state was approved to be a school in 2005, the DE stepped back and thought twice about what was just approved. They decided that to start a virtual charter school in our state that 50% of enrollment must be from the district the school is in. Well, that would summarily disband our school.
CA fought hard to be "grandfathered" out of that ruling. It was understood in 2005 by CA, legislators present, and everyone in attendance, that ruling was with perpetuity. Nope. CA was required this last fall, out of the blue, to reapply for that grandfather clause, and it seems that the DE really wants to disband CA. And one can only wonder why? How dare this virtual school show that schooling can be done cheaply, effectively, without the traditional classroom that requires tons of wasted money.
Anyway, several of us CA parents have banded together in the last few days on a yahoo group and shared the letters we are sending to our legislators. Here is what I am sending tomorrow to the governor of our fine state:
Dear Governor:
I am the mother of two young kids, living in XXXX. We are in the middle of our first school year as a Connections Academy (ORCA) family. Let me give you a bulleted break down of why we chose Connections Academy for our family, and why the impending Legislative session to decide whether the “grandfathered” clause ORCA has applied for is imperative to families like ours.
We took a full year to come to the decision to utilize ORCA for our oldest son who is now a second grader. These reasons are as follows:
- The local public school our children would be required to attend is substandard. The elementary school and the high school are on the state’s “red list”. The junior high was recently closed, so we are unsure where he would have to attend.
- I graduated from college. My husband is finishing his Ph.D. Education is excruciatingly important to us. Education affords a person a future that has opportunities. We didn’t like what our local schools were offering our family, with no solution in sight.
- My husband and I recognize we have one chance to educate our children. We do not have time for our local schools to figure out how to raise standardized test scores, fund their schools, lower class sizes, etc. Our kids need a quality education now.
- We considered traditional homeschooling and found the task incredibly daunting and expensive.
- After discovering and researching Connections Academy, we were ecstatic, and even under the impression that since this was a “public school” the state stood behind this creative endeavor. Our naivete was quickly lost.
From a parental standpoint, I cannot see why the DE has been so contentious? Here are my thoughts on that:
- The DE has a unique opportunity to recognize that virtual schools are the education of the future. With the onset of the Internet, online college degree programs, global economy, etc., I can only surmise that virtual schooling will almost become a standard for education. Why in the world would DE want to stop that? Why wouldn’t the DE want to partner with ORCA? ORCA has shown in the past five years nothing but success. Success both nationally and statewide. Yes, I know the DE has started it’s own virtual school. I haven’t seen the successful scores, numbers, or lack of contentiousness from that program that I have from ORCA. So no, I won’t be enrolling my kids in a program that was created as a knee-jerk reaction to ORCA.
- The ODE has the opportunity to be on the cutting edge of the future of education. But instead, from where I am sitting, they are stuck in their mindset that ORCA is some kind of threat to them and must be disbanded. Does that seem extreme? Well, no one seems to question ORCA’s grandfathered charter other than DE. No one has fought that charter harder than DE.
- Why would the DE want to be so critical? Honestly, from my parental point of view, it looks like the DE is threatened by ORCA’s success. If ORCA continues to succeed and actually educate Oregon’s children with little or no tax payer money, what happens to traditional schools, enrollment and, yes, precious taxpayer funding. Yes, I believe this all boils down to money, and yes, I think the DE is threatened by ORCA’s success. ORCA’s success would show that kids can be educated well and that all the funding that we have thrown at the ODE is a waste.
So, my big-picture question to you? What side do you support? Keep in mind, there doesn’t need to be sides here. ORCA has time and time again asked for dialogue, meetings, input and help from the DE with little or no response. The DE has drawn the battle lines. Mr. Governor, you must choose.
Will you support a side that has established a cutting edge, technology based, future pointed education model? Will you support Oregon’s kids having an alternative to education that will bring excellence to their future? Oregon’s future? Will you support a program that has shown itself to be open to the legislative process, understood fair play in the politics of this endeavor, and open to scrutiny? Will you side with the “underdog” on this issue?
Or will you show support for the education system in this state that is positively falling apart? If you can’t see it, I can. Mark my words, it needs triage and a Band-Aid won’t fix it. Will you support a stodgy ODE that is rooted in tradition, lacks future thinking for education, and seems more interested in funding and being a political entity. It seems more interested in staying in cahoots with teacher’s unions and lobbyists. The DE is the bully in this situation and their behavior towards ORCA substantiates that. No one need dispute it.
Personally, the title of the DE seems to me they should be more interested in educating my kid right now and they aren’t. They seem more interested in silencing success. I don’t have a good, public education available to my family by the DE. I do with ORCA.
I promise you this, as long as XYZ Schools continues in it’s downward spiral, my children will never step foot in their classrooms. As long as the DE continues to be a heavy-handed prizefighter, with lack of vision, my children will never step foot in a XYZ classroom.
Cordially,
AMG
Feb 24, 2009
More School Stuff
I have a very specific opinion about public schools. What is put in front of me in the news does not help either. I am very aware that I am only hearing the bad news. I know there are great schools out there. I know there are heroic teachers out there. I think those are becoming the exceptions rather than the rule these days.
Two new tidbits of information that I have discovered that tells me what we're doing is probably the right thing.
1) Did a candle party last month for a group of women in the city directly north of me. All of them were teachers from the same school district in that area. They also were from all over the country. And they were all in their mid 20's. Young, vibrant, excited young educators. What caught my eye is one gal literally lives right around the corner from me. I asked her why she decided to not work in our school district.
She tried! What made her want to move here was her husband got a career making job here. Once that was established, she contacted the local school district and was told, "You really don't want to work here. If you do get hired, you'll be pink slipped after a year anyway." (Pink slip means laid off.) Wowsa! So my school district would rather not hire new blood or even let this gal put in an application.
This gal then took the next step and did a search of school districts within 20 miles of here. She found the district she works for now and called them. Much different response! "Oh we would love to talk to you. We have a booth at your upcoming job fair next week. Please talk to the recruiter there and give them your application!"
Big difference. My school district does not recruit, does not want new educators, and turns away new teachers. The school district north of me is actively looking for and paying for recruiting to other parts of the country. They want new, young, educators. They do not turn away people.
2) Okay, enough about the state of my school district. How about in San Diego? It has just been discovered that fluently speaking Spanish students are taking AP Spanish classes, and many are questioning such redundancy. Think about that for a second. Why? Well, click here to see what some are thinking.
I agree with all the points brought up by critics to this kind of education mentioned in this article. To pad GPA's because AP classes quickly raise GPA's. To pad GPA's so students have a good looking transcript for colleges, who perk up when they see A's in AP level coursework. Redundancy as well as complete misuse of such resources.
One person definitely brought up a point in this article that I think is worthy of note. This kind of hideous use of skimpy school resources teaches kids how to "work the system". How to abuse a system for their benefit instead of what it was intended for. Considering that California has lost about 8 1/2 million in their education budget, this is wasteful.
And to quote my good friend on this issue, "Even on my worst homeschooling day, my kids are getting a better education than they would in a public school."
We had a hideous week last week in school, and I doubted myself for a bit. "Am I doing the right thing? Is JM learning? Maybe he would do better in a classroom?" Well, a chat with the hubbie helped. We listed all the pluses that were happening. JM has good grades right now. His teacher was a huge support to me last week when I just dropped my head on the desk and cried. She gave me a shoulder to cry on and some new tools. JM would definitely use the classroom setting to dilly dally and get out of doing things. He would also be completely distracted by his peers. For sure, he would not have the grades he has now, and certainly would be at academic risk.
On our worst day, he still learns.
Two new tidbits of information that I have discovered that tells me what we're doing is probably the right thing.
1) Did a candle party last month for a group of women in the city directly north of me. All of them were teachers from the same school district in that area. They also were from all over the country. And they were all in their mid 20's. Young, vibrant, excited young educators. What caught my eye is one gal literally lives right around the corner from me. I asked her why she decided to not work in our school district.
She tried! What made her want to move here was her husband got a career making job here. Once that was established, she contacted the local school district and was told, "You really don't want to work here. If you do get hired, you'll be pink slipped after a year anyway." (Pink slip means laid off.) Wowsa! So my school district would rather not hire new blood or even let this gal put in an application.
This gal then took the next step and did a search of school districts within 20 miles of here. She found the district she works for now and called them. Much different response! "Oh we would love to talk to you. We have a booth at your upcoming job fair next week. Please talk to the recruiter there and give them your application!"
Big difference. My school district does not recruit, does not want new educators, and turns away new teachers. The school district north of me is actively looking for and paying for recruiting to other parts of the country. They want new, young, educators. They do not turn away people.
2) Okay, enough about the state of my school district. How about in San Diego? It has just been discovered that fluently speaking Spanish students are taking AP Spanish classes, and many are questioning such redundancy. Think about that for a second. Why? Well, click here to see what some are thinking.
I agree with all the points brought up by critics to this kind of education mentioned in this article. To pad GPA's because AP classes quickly raise GPA's. To pad GPA's so students have a good looking transcript for colleges, who perk up when they see A's in AP level coursework. Redundancy as well as complete misuse of such resources.
One person definitely brought up a point in this article that I think is worthy of note. This kind of hideous use of skimpy school resources teaches kids how to "work the system". How to abuse a system for their benefit instead of what it was intended for. Considering that California has lost about 8 1/2 million in their education budget, this is wasteful.
And to quote my good friend on this issue, "Even on my worst homeschooling day, my kids are getting a better education than they would in a public school."
We had a hideous week last week in school, and I doubted myself for a bit. "Am I doing the right thing? Is JM learning? Maybe he would do better in a classroom?" Well, a chat with the hubbie helped. We listed all the pluses that were happening. JM has good grades right now. His teacher was a huge support to me last week when I just dropped my head on the desk and cried. She gave me a shoulder to cry on and some new tools. JM would definitely use the classroom setting to dilly dally and get out of doing things. He would also be completely distracted by his peers. For sure, he would not have the grades he has now, and certainly would be at academic risk.
On our worst day, he still learns.
Feb 23, 2009
Tabitha, Our Sweet Cat: 1992-2009
We made the decision today. It was time. Tabitha's bladder issues have worsened over the last month. Badly. Our basement basically had become her cat box because of her renal failure. Her pleading meowing told us she was in pain, no matter what we did to help her.So farewell sweet kitty. As a human, God has given us a huge responsibility to "watch over the animals" and make sure they are cared for. I hope we did that for you. I hope the decision we made today honored God's decree. We are glad you are no longer in pain.
Thank you for being a great companion, leg warmer, cuddle bug, and source of entertainment. You are so missed.
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