Field Trips
The kids school is blessed by a very active parent group raising about $660 per kid per year. Considering that we have to pay for our own art, music, PE, computer and language teachers, that $ goes fast. We do manage to set aside $75 per kid for field trips. This is usually supplemented by $25 - 35 per kid in the lower classes and more for the upper classes (who go on over night - more expensive - field trips). This translates into roughly a field trip per month over the year. Or in both kids' cases this year - a bunch of them these last few weeks before winter break. Aidan had been grumbling that he had only been on one trip (and the other 2nd grade class had been on 3 or so). And that trip was across the street to the park to look at dirt - hardly terribly exciting. Quincy on the other hand had been to the the arboretum and the park across the street and also a cool organic farm, Hidden Villa, about 45 min away.
Wednesday I accompanied Quincy's class on their field trip to a nearby local library (whose children's librarian is a mom of a first grader at our school). It is conveniently located across from a nice park and playground. Teachers (like parents) always have to multi-task so the field trip managed to incorporate "science" as well by studying and drawing a large pine tree that was in the park. The librarian did a very nice job with the kids and I got to check out some good books meanwhile (it is a better kids library than our more local library). The kids got some great run around time afterwards at the playground.
Thursday I accompanied Aidan's class to Crissy Field. A place our family goes often. The park service did a GREAT job. Apparently our teacher only paid them $75 for 3 hours. We had 2 science guys and then also a park ranger who went with us across the street and lastly an art guy. The science part was really well done. They had the kid pair up. Each pair had a bucket to play with - it had clay "land", removable sponge "marsh", and bucket for the "bay". They got to sprinkle dirt on the land then squirt bottle it with sponge both in and out to see what happened. Obviously the "marsh" kept the dirt from entering the "bay". Then they did the same with kool-aid "pesticide". Get it? Marsh protects the bay. They made a point of telling the kids that it was their responsibility to protect the marsh. It was very spot on for the kids - they were able to really understand what was going on and had fun with the exploration. They made a "hypothesis" beforehand then discussed their findings afterwards. Next up was a walk across the street to the marsh with "marsh bingo" sheets and a digital camera per pair. They had to photograph everything on their sheet. Some items to find "plant that can be eaten or used for medicine; a small animal; a bird; a shell or shell fish; a person enjoying themselves; something people enjoy looking at; the marsh". Afterwards while they dug into their lunches, the science folk were busy printing up their photos. Then back upstairs to the lab. Josh had waded into the marsh (in full rubber waders) and collected a big bucket of goo and distributed it into smaller containers for each pair to explore. They had a spoon and pipettes to use to scoop up any critters they could find and put them in a divided pitre dish and look at them through the 5x microscope (oh yeah - Aidan REALLY wants his own microscope). There were amphipods (look like mini-shrimp) galore and some worm things and itty bitty clams etc. Very cool. I think they could have done this for quite a bit longer but had to finish up and go do an "art project". They had a two sided "mask" to use. Idea was to do a collage from their printed marsh photos on one side and then a marsh animal on the other side. They didn't quite get done with the collage and took them back to their classroom to finish up. Aidan reported back that he did a "fox" face on his other side. I am interested to see it! Aidan said it might have been his favorite ever field trip. I agree - it really was very good! Of course Aidan's latest stated profession when he grows up is to be a "scientist" (he really wants to be a Mythbuster but figures that isn't really possible).
Saturday, December 01, 2007
Friday, November 23, 2007
Mother's Little Helpers...
Aidan shows off his dishwashing attire. The floor ended up a bit wet, the jacket was suitably soaked - but he told me he did end up with one dry hand! Meanwhile Quincy was unloading the washing machine and loading up the dryer. I was taking the time to wrap a few xmas presents out of sight.
Putt Putt! AKA Miniature Golf
After a rather lame hike by a beautiful reservoir (the big chain link fence got in the way of the view just a bit!), we took the kids out for their first ever game of miniature golf. We could have done without the wining about whose turn it was to go first, Aidan may have quite a little hip bruise from a Quincy shot gone wildly wrong, Pete may have just eked past me in total number of 2 putts, but in general it was still pretty fun. My camera just died shortly after this shot. Hopefully it is just the battery and I've ordered another - I can't survive long without a camera especially with a birthday coming up followed by the holiday season!
Sunday, November 18, 2007
birthdays everywhere. Yesterday Quincy had a party in a park to go to. Today at party at Randall Museum (sort of a tiny zoo we can walk to) for 2 classmates followed by one for a brother and sister at another park. Last weekend Aidan had one at the Party Place - a place with sort of a giant climb thru structure thing followed by pizza followed by an hour in the "arcade". The previous week he had one at a place that was filled with bouncy things called Pump It Up. The week before that was a mock sleep over and theoretically watching Karate Kid movie (apparently most kids just watched a few minutes then bounced off the walls). The week before that Aidan had his nerf gun party. 3 cousins always celebrate their birthdays when we see them for Thanksgiving. Quincy agreed to do a joint party with Ellie on Dec. 9th. He had told me he wanted a sushi themed party - but that was a few weeks back and he was no longer married to the idea. Julia and I sat down and went over the guest list that I had gotten out of the kids one morning before school when Ellie came over. There are about 5 classmates they said no to and only a few people from past classes to be included. Ellie had more of these people from the past which was part of Quincy's original reason for saying no to a joint party. Understandably he only wants his friends at his party. We're going to have it again at the old preschool - a great young party venue 1) it isn't your house 2) it has both inside and outside play space so weather isn't too much of an issue 3) it is pretty cheap 4) there are lots of toys and also a kitchen. We will do sushi making as an activity and perhaps also snowmen making with marshmallows and pretzels etc. I'm in charge of getting goodie bags so on Friday I headed off to Japantown to see what I could find. We decided to go with paper, pencil, Japanese eraser (they make ones that look like sushi etc). Turns out there is a very nice dollar store there. I selected a few things I liked and brought them home. I showed the bag to Quincy last night and asked him what he thought. This was his response "I think this would be a great party gift to give out. Number 1 it is easy to carry, number 2 it can come in handy and number 3 it is not a lot of stuff we have to get".
At yesterday's birthday I met some parents. One couple I was chatting with have their kindergartener at the other Japanese school in town. The public school my kids go to have only 13% free lunch kids, the district average is around 60% or a bit higher. They said their school is at 90%! Unreal. The program they are in used to be located far out toward the ocean but a couple of years ago it got moved nearer to Japantown in the "projects". Only half the school does Japanese (like at our school). The school they moved to was being threatened with closure. Half the Japanese population departed for other schools - it decimated their program. I was fascinated to talk to them about it. They are vehement in their support for the program although it was not originally one of their 7 schools in the lottery nor high up on their second list. As one of them said, they have to live up to their lefty politics. The dad said it is nice to be able to say high to people he would ordinarily have nothing to do with. They value the "diversity" and the education said diversity brings their kids. I asked if their son had come to them with any stories about dad's in jail, getting shot etc. He said he had heard anecdotal stories but not from his kid. He did say clearly some kids have some behavioral issues and some come to school without breakfast (no food at home). I read somewhere that a lot of these kind of kids suffer from post traumatic stress disorder - obviously making it hard to concentrated on learning (as does an empty belly). I just can't imagine putting my kids in that situation, especially Aidan ("there are no REAL bad guys in San Francisco are there?"). Another dad from our school was sort of arguing with the other dad that he wanted a place where his kid could focus on learning and not be distracted by that other stuff and diversity training was really something modeled by parents and not something you just get at school. I am glad there are middle class folks that are willing to take that leap of faith and enroll their children into schools that don't look like themselves and try to make it better for everyone, but I am also glad not to have to be that family. It is one thing to walk the walk yourself, it is another to make your kids do it. As most any parent, I just want to shelter my kids as long as possible.
At yesterday's birthday I met some parents. One couple I was chatting with have their kindergartener at the other Japanese school in town. The public school my kids go to have only 13% free lunch kids, the district average is around 60% or a bit higher. They said their school is at 90%! Unreal. The program they are in used to be located far out toward the ocean but a couple of years ago it got moved nearer to Japantown in the "projects". Only half the school does Japanese (like at our school). The school they moved to was being threatened with closure. Half the Japanese population departed for other schools - it decimated their program. I was fascinated to talk to them about it. They are vehement in their support for the program although it was not originally one of their 7 schools in the lottery nor high up on their second list. As one of them said, they have to live up to their lefty politics. The dad said it is nice to be able to say high to people he would ordinarily have nothing to do with. They value the "diversity" and the education said diversity brings their kids. I asked if their son had come to them with any stories about dad's in jail, getting shot etc. He said he had heard anecdotal stories but not from his kid. He did say clearly some kids have some behavioral issues and some come to school without breakfast (no food at home). I read somewhere that a lot of these kind of kids suffer from post traumatic stress disorder - obviously making it hard to concentrated on learning (as does an empty belly). I just can't imagine putting my kids in that situation, especially Aidan ("there are no REAL bad guys in San Francisco are there?"). Another dad from our school was sort of arguing with the other dad that he wanted a place where his kid could focus on learning and not be distracted by that other stuff and diversity training was really something modeled by parents and not something you just get at school. I am glad there are middle class folks that are willing to take that leap of faith and enroll their children into schools that don't look like themselves and try to make it better for everyone, but I am also glad not to have to be that family. It is one thing to walk the walk yourself, it is another to make your kids do it. As most any parent, I just want to shelter my kids as long as possible.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Creative financing.
Our school site learned in late September that, oops, the district didn't have enough $ to fund us fully. Go on, find a teacher to "consolidate" (i.e. fire). You are $40K short, no, 20K, no 30K, well, we don't really know how much... Hmm. OK. This is a plushy school, hey, just ask the parent groups to pony up the extra. We have 2 parents groups and we each have over $200K sitting in the bank. Time to get rid of the librarian. We have a GREAT principal. Newish, but great. He asked the school district 3 times and got 3 different answers. How much do we need to pay to keep our librarian. $16,000 was the common answer. Oops! Sorry, we really meant $29,000. Turns out your librarian (who isn't credentialed thus we won't give you the $16K in city tax $ to use for librarians that you are owed) has worked for 30 years and is paid a lot more than the average librarian (I think that amount was $24K for 1/2 time - her other 1/2 time is spent at school under the auspices of the special ed department - separate budget - she helps kids read or something). Turns out our district (and probably most of them) use cost averaging for schools - each school gets a certain amount of site funding based upon number of students and a complicated formula of how many students qualify for things like free lunch, have learning disabilities etc. They then are assessed average costs for salaries - average principal, average secretary, average teachers, average lunch ladies, average librarians... (we are one of only about 3 schools to have actually had a librarian until this new tax was passed a couple of years back). We have many teachers who have been here much longer than average (hence earn much more than average - teachers are of course paid by # of years worked, not ability as they are union employees). Quincy's teacher has been here for 30ish years. Aidan's teacher about 10. The librarian about 30. In general this accounting method benefits our well established school - we get assessed average costs but in reality the district has to pay our staff much higher than "average". It really sucks for struggling schools that have poor teacher retention and are filled with brand new teachers - paid less than average, but the school site is assessed average rates. Make sense? Anyway, I seem to be one of the few who understand this (altho perhaps can't explain it). Turns out we would have to pay $29K to keep our librarian (and remember we are giving up a district provided credentialed one who is "free" to us) and our school would only be credited $24K for her. Kind of sucks! Turns out we have a mom who has a middle school kid at a school that had the same thing happen. When this happens to them they just fund the lowest paid teacher and get credited back more than they pay. Pretty smart huh? Our nifty principal hadn't heard of this, but he went back and made it happen. We now only have to pay $16K to keep our $29K librarian - and the school gets an extra $8K on the books to use against something else (or rather to help offset the funding deficit). It is unreal that public schools are so unbelievably under funded. We face union strikes every few years (for paltry cost of living increases and medical coverage - not for extravagant things). The parents have to fund the art teacher, PE teacher, music teacher, and librarian. Oh yeah, and all computers in the school classrooms and computer lab and teacher. And field trips. Our school has a much higher socio-economic group than the average in the district - only 13% of our kids get free lunch while district average is around 60%. Our parent groups raise over $300K each year to pay for our consultants. Did I mention that we had to "win the lottery" to get into the school? You put down up to 7 schools on your application and hope for the best. Our school was the #1 most requested school the year we applied.
Our school site learned in late September that, oops, the district didn't have enough $ to fund us fully. Go on, find a teacher to "consolidate" (i.e. fire). You are $40K short, no, 20K, no 30K, well, we don't really know how much... Hmm. OK. This is a plushy school, hey, just ask the parent groups to pony up the extra. We have 2 parents groups and we each have over $200K sitting in the bank. Time to get rid of the librarian. We have a GREAT principal. Newish, but great. He asked the school district 3 times and got 3 different answers. How much do we need to pay to keep our librarian. $16,000 was the common answer. Oops! Sorry, we really meant $29,000. Turns out your librarian (who isn't credentialed thus we won't give you the $16K in city tax $ to use for librarians that you are owed) has worked for 30 years and is paid a lot more than the average librarian (I think that amount was $24K for 1/2 time - her other 1/2 time is spent at school under the auspices of the special ed department - separate budget - she helps kids read or something). Turns out our district (and probably most of them) use cost averaging for schools - each school gets a certain amount of site funding based upon number of students and a complicated formula of how many students qualify for things like free lunch, have learning disabilities etc. They then are assessed average costs for salaries - average principal, average secretary, average teachers, average lunch ladies, average librarians... (we are one of only about 3 schools to have actually had a librarian until this new tax was passed a couple of years back). We have many teachers who have been here much longer than average (hence earn much more than average - teachers are of course paid by # of years worked, not ability as they are union employees). Quincy's teacher has been here for 30ish years. Aidan's teacher about 10. The librarian about 30. In general this accounting method benefits our well established school - we get assessed average costs but in reality the district has to pay our staff much higher than "average". It really sucks for struggling schools that have poor teacher retention and are filled with brand new teachers - paid less than average, but the school site is assessed average rates. Make sense? Anyway, I seem to be one of the few who understand this (altho perhaps can't explain it). Turns out we would have to pay $29K to keep our librarian (and remember we are giving up a district provided credentialed one who is "free" to us) and our school would only be credited $24K for her. Kind of sucks! Turns out we have a mom who has a middle school kid at a school that had the same thing happen. When this happens to them they just fund the lowest paid teacher and get credited back more than they pay. Pretty smart huh? Our nifty principal hadn't heard of this, but he went back and made it happen. We now only have to pay $16K to keep our $29K librarian - and the school gets an extra $8K on the books to use against something else (or rather to help offset the funding deficit). It is unreal that public schools are so unbelievably under funded. We face union strikes every few years (for paltry cost of living increases and medical coverage - not for extravagant things). The parents have to fund the art teacher, PE teacher, music teacher, and librarian. Oh yeah, and all computers in the school classrooms and computer lab and teacher. And field trips. Our school has a much higher socio-economic group than the average in the district - only 13% of our kids get free lunch while district average is around 60%. Our parent groups raise over $300K each year to pay for our consultants. Did I mention that we had to "win the lottery" to get into the school? You put down up to 7 schools on your application and hope for the best. Our school was the #1 most requested school the year we applied.
crosswalk update
Apparently $270,000 was set aside in the mayor's budget for the work near the school. The DPT (dept of transportation) is just turning in a grant application (to the state and feds) for more $. Apparently $200,000 are earmarked to create a block long sidewalk (and retaining wall where necessary) and the remainder is for things like road paint... Amazing how much stuff can cost. Didn't you used to be able to buy a whole house - a nice one only a decade or so ago (not in the bay area of course) for $200K? Now you can't quite eek out a sidewalk for that amount. Crazy. I just read the grant application. I'd give us $.... Think it is likely to be a bit of a long shot however as there are people in much worse shape. It will be months before we hear anything... I have my fingers crossed but am not holding my breath.
Apparently $270,000 was set aside in the mayor's budget for the work near the school. The DPT (dept of transportation) is just turning in a grant application (to the state and feds) for more $. Apparently $200,000 are earmarked to create a block long sidewalk (and retaining wall where necessary) and the remainder is for things like road paint... Amazing how much stuff can cost. Didn't you used to be able to buy a whole house - a nice one only a decade or so ago (not in the bay area of course) for $200K? Now you can't quite eek out a sidewalk for that amount. Crazy. I just read the grant application. I'd give us $.... Think it is likely to be a bit of a long shot however as there are people in much worse shape. It will be months before we hear anything... I have my fingers crossed but am not holding my breath.
Quincy was a clown for halloween we discovered that kids water based markers are EXCELLENT for use for face painting - much easier to apply and remove than face paint! FYI...
cousin Ellie was a forest fairy
Quincy's class after the school parade
Aidan was a ninja - hard to see in the dark!
We trick-or-treated on Belvedere St. again this year. The police cordon off the street each year and apparently if you live on the street, when you buy your house it is "disclosed" that this is a huge trick-or-treat street. I seem to recall hearing a figure of $500 for candy per house - altho that is awfully hard to believe! I prepared dinner for Julia & Phil and also Mai Ly's (Aidan's classmate) mom. Butternut squash soup, a black bean salad (get it - orange and black?) and another salad that had chicken and couscous and arugula and a host of other things. It was pretty good. The kids had hot dogs and seasonal pasta - orange and black spaghetti. The spaghetti was pretty cool. Then we headed out for trick-or-treating with Aidan, Quincy, Ellie, Maggie & Mai Ly (also dressed all in black but at least not sporting full face mask like Aidan). We all had fun and the kids averaged about 2 1/2 lb of candy which was around 75 pieces of candy. Not a bad haul. We'll inevitably still have some around come next Halloween...
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