Just check

A few days ago I went to my regular beauty shop to get my hair cut. The lady who does this is a down to earth hard working lady. She has her beauty shop, although we don’t call them that anymore, she drives a school bus, and she had one child that she backs up every step of the way. And, most interesting of all to me, she’s a Democrat. The blue dog kind. And she is furious. Why?

Because she found out at safety meeting for the bus drivers last week that somehow, the schools in our parish (that is what Louisiana calls its counties) were going to be open on the November 2nd election day.

Around here, just like most of the rest of the country, a lot of our schools are voting precincts. Neither one of us have ever heard of one being left open on election day.

First of all, contemplate the logistics of such a thing. Busses, kids, cars, voters, all trying to get to the right place in a timely manner. That alone is enough to discourage voters. All of this while classes are in session.

Second of all, what about the safety of the children in those classes? There isn’t a school around now that allows ANYone to just traipse onto their school grounds in this day and age. Do you know of any? I sure don’t. We are all so very aware of what can go wrong if the wrong person is allowed on a school campus. The adults at the school are hyper-vigilant about strangers. They have to be, they are held responsible for the safety of those kids.

But somehow this got overlooked? By an entire school board? ! I don’t know that I’m buying that, and I KNOW that this particular bus driver didn’t.

I am so proud of her! She stood up and demanded an explanation. Which got blown off by the presenters . So she called her school board, and her local representative, and finally, the president of the school board. She was offered a few excuses, and of course, the blame was spread around, but finally, after having it pointed out who might be personally responsible if something went wrong, the school board president decided that maybe they should close the schools that day after all.

We both wondered at the time, if this is happening here, in a small rural community, where else is it happening? Other parishes? The whole state? Other states? THE WHOLE COUNTRY???

Okay, I’ll admit it. I started to freak at that point. Was I being a wee bit paranoid? A little over the top? Maybe. Mistakes do happen, and this is such a little thing, but a little thing that could have HUGE repercussions throughout my state, and throughout my country. I could not just sit back and expect that someone would catch that little mistake everywhere.

 So I emailed the local Republican party site. My letter bounced back. So I tried the local tea party sites. One had no contact information, the other seemed a little flaky, but hey! At least I could contact that one. So I left him a message on his Face Book page. He friended me, but I didn’t get a reply. Ooookay. I sent an email to a local conservative (or as conservative as the can be) television station. No reply.

So now this is going to get posted here. I hope someone picks up on it.

Check with your school boards, your school districts. I don’t care who they are, or what they are. Just check.

All of middle America, no matter what the party affiliation should be concerned about this and about the direction our country is going.

Just check.

Not read for prime time, er, uh, College

This is true in many states, not just Texas. This is from the Houston Chronicle:

Many in college lack basic skills

For Texas, it's a $200 million-a-year problem

By JEANNIE KEVER

It has been the dirty little secret of higher education for decades: Tens of thousands of college students can't do the work.

Developmental education — reteaching basic skills in reading, writing and math — is a $200 million-a-year problem in Texas, funded by taxpayers, colleges and the students themselves. Private groups also spend millions of dollars on the issue.

But relatively few students who need the classes go on to earn a degree, raising questions about whether money spent on developmental education is a wise investment.

“It's all about efficiency,” said Jim Pinkard, a program director at the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. “What are we sending all these kids to college for?  Read it all.

This has been one of my soapbox issues for decades.  As the wife of a retired professor I know the statistics show that probably 30% of the students in Louisiana were not ready for college, and they never would be. Remedial courses in reading and math were necessary.  And by that time they were dropping out anyway when they encountered the real college courses. 

I think a good bit of it was that everyone was told they should, and could, go to college whether they really were able to or not. A good bit of it also was the more students they had  enrolled the more money the colleges and universities get from the state. And the tuition money paid in isn't peanuts.  I do not believe Texas and Louisiana are the only states where this is happening. Let's say all 50?  I would like to think it was otherwise, but I don't. This is a huge waste of kid's time, parents money, and our tax dollars.