DC Metro Moms

Local Cuts in Education Will Affect Teaching and Learning

Throughout the DC Metro area public school systems are bracing themselves for 2 things- spring statewide mandatory standardized testing and the effect of shrinking budgets on staffing projections for the coming school year.  As in years past, the economy continues to force school systems to make additional cuts but this year many counties are forced to reduce the number of teachers which will have a direct impact on teaching and learning.

Last week Prince George’s County Board of Education announced that their budget would eliminate 800 positions, 335 of which were classroom teaching positions.  In addition to having fewer teachers, class size in Prince George's will increase by two students at every grade level except for pre-kindergarten and kindergarten. Across the river in Fairfax County, the school system expects to make $16 million in cuts and looks towards increasing property tax to help fund public education programs. 

Late last week staff allocations to Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) principals were released and the future looks grim.  In a message to staff from Superintendent Dr. Jerry Weast, class size throughout MCPS will increase by one student that will eliminate a total of 252 positions- 142 in elementary schools and 55 each at middle and high schools.  Additional reductions in staffing can be made depending on enrollment and central services will take hits as they have over the past 10 years. 

Power Failure Is A Complete Failure All Around

I just spent the past 73 hours without power in my house.  In a blizzard.  More if you count the 8 hours we lost power, and then it came back on for 8 hours, just to lose it again, for 73 hours, straight.  And what I encountered during that time was a complete failure by our electric company to communicate any information as to what was going on or when we were going to be able to get our electricity back.

At first, it was ok.  Sure, it was boring and cold and annoying.  But I kept calling the outage line to be told by an automated machine they had no restoration times and I understood.  We were in the middle of a blizzard.  Snowpocalypse the DC area was calling it.  So we light a fire and hunkered down and then I started tweeting on my iPhone.

Has the D.C. Area Gone Crazy? Shopping for the Snowpocalypse

The impending snowpocalypse had made everyone completely insane.

Did you go to a grocery store yesterday? HOLY COW. People were going nuts. There is no bread. There is no toilet paper. There is no kitty litter. Everybody bought four gallons of milk.

I grew up in Florida. I am familiar with storm preparedness.The summer my twins were born we had four hurricanes come through Tampa. (Yes, I said four. It was a crazy year.) When a hurricane comes you buy bottled water, batteries, duct tape and plywood. That I understand.

I don't mean to question the wisdom of the masses but - oh wait - I do mean to do that. Here is my query: Why are you buying so much milk?

Post 9/11 GI Bill--Send it Back to School

I am not going to pretend to be an expert on the subject of the Post 9/11 GI bill; I am not a veteran myself, nor am I married to one. If I make mistakes here; forgive me.  I'm learning as I go and am trying my best to understand what appears to be a muddied, confusing mess involving education, lots of people's lives and dreams, and tons of money.

One of my most favorite people in the world served five years in the Navy, enlisting in 2000, after graduating from high school.  He’s my sister’s high school sweetheart, now her husband, the love of my children’s lives, and he seriously has been dealt a raw deal with the Post 9/11 GI Bill. 

I couldn’t be more ticked. 

Brian, like all of the men and women who put themselves in harm’s way for the sake of our country, does not deserve the mess--the chaos--that has become of a bill designed to better their lives.   What began as a light at the end of the tunnel--a fully-funded education, complete with money for books and supplies and a stipend for housing, has turned into a black hole of debt for my sister and her husband. And thousands of other undeserving veterans.

Maybe Cory and Conan will fight over me

I don't recall how it happened, whether I followed him first or he found me.  All I know is we shared our love. Yes, it's true. I shared love with a man other than my husband. A man I met over the internet. We Tweeted  expressed it openly and  DM'd it in private.  I told this man, I wanted to visit him and we could continue what we had started online and bring it into our real lives. I even made a video about the love we both share. I know, I know. I'm married. I have two kids. I live in a completely different state.  And yet I told this man I would meet him at a diner in New Jersey so we could both get us some...

Coffee.

Oh what a woman would not do to get a decent cup o'Joe. Maybe it borders on criminal, maybe it borders on the inappropriate, but Cory Booker, the Mayor of Newark, became my caffienated confidant. You see, I could tell Cory about my Java use knowing he was simpatico. Yes, I know, some people would consider it akin to a platonic  affair, disclosing my gold filtered unfiltered feelings to a man other than my own husband, but I don't see it that way at all. My husband has no interest in coffee. Nay, he spurns it.   Do I sneak out of the house to fulfill my needs? No. Absolutely not! I grind at home. Right in the kitchen. In front of G-d and everyone. There is nothing tawdry going on and my 19  year marriage is still a strong brew.

Rolling Over DC Speed Bumps

An article in last week’s Washington Post has stuck with me all week, most likely because my feelings toward the subject have fluctuated between feeling like I wanted to shake some serious sense into people and feeling like I wanted to honk my horn right along with them.

Honk my horn? Yes, honk my horn.

In an attempt to protest Mayor Adrian M. Fenty's instillation of hundreds of speed humps in the District to thwart speeding drivers and to better control traffic, some angry residents have been encouraged by their community associations to honk their horns while driving over the humps as a united sign of disapproval.

According to the article, one resident of Cleveland Park is quoted as saying that “’No one would want to move to ‘Humpville’” because of how “ugly” it is. 

Ugly? How about how loud it is over in “Humpville” with all the people beeping?  Is this guy really concerned about 'ugly'?

He has a higher security clearance than the school bus driver. So shouldn't you be able to trust him with your kids?

Being in the the shadow of the capital, one might think every public school within 50 miles of the Beltway would be showing the speech President Obama delivered on the first day of school. A speech delivered in Arlington Virginia. Can't get much more local than that. Well, think again.

Last week my son's elementary school principal sent home a note to all of the parents informing us the president's speech to children will be shown in a couple of days. The note stated it was being sent home in response to several parental inquiries regarding the showing of President Obama's speech to school children in Arlington. It included information for parents who may wish to request an "Opt Out" for their child. The note shared that an alternate activity would be offered to those children who would not be watching the president's speech. I heard my grandmother's voice in my head, "What has gotten into these people?"

Indeed. Something is seriously amiss.

Topic Day: Children of the Recession

Last week, Katie Couric  wrote a moving piece for our sister NYC Moms Blog site about the Children of the Recession and spoke to twenty five SV Moms Group bloggers about this series. The piece mirrored a series, CBS Reports Children of the Recession.  In her post, Ms. Couric shared some shocking statistics:

The poll found that 56% of parents surveyed have discussed the economy with their kids, and half of all parents have discussed their own family’s financial situation. These conversations can be very uncomfortable, particularly if a parent has lost a job or is struggling to pay the bills.

Another poll statistic I found interesting concerned diet. 21% of parents said they are now buying generic brands and less expensive food items for their children.

There’s nothing wrong with store brands or generic brands. I do worry, though, that by “less expensive,” some people are pushed into choices that may not be as healthy, like fast food & meals, that could have a long-lasting impact on children, as well.

Ms. Couric then went on to ask how the recession is affecting our families and our children.  So today, the writers from all of our sites are blogging about just that: how is the economy affecting our families.  How are our own "children of the recession" doing?

Join us here and at all of our sister sites throughout the day to see what we have to say. 

SV Moms Blog
Chicago Moms Blog
DC Metro Moms Blog
50-Something Moms Blog
New York City Moms Blog
New Jersey Moms Blog
Deep South Moms Blog
Los Angeles Moms Blog
Rocky Mountain Moms Blog
Philadelphia Moms Blog
Canada Moms Blog

Tonight and tomorrow morning we'll also have a round up post sharing all of our blogs on the topic.

This is an original D.C. Metro Moms Blog post.  Stephanie also posts at her personal blog, Lawyer Mama, and at a kick ass political blog, MOMocrats.

The Homeless Mom: She Could Be Me

I was on Oprah today.  (Okay, I DVR’d it and just watched it today; it aired last Tuesday.) 

Actually, I wasn’t actually on Oprah, but the woman who was on could be me—or one of my friends or my sisters--and that really scares me. 

This woman has three children, very close in age, like I do, but hers are older.  She lives on the west coast, in Sacramento, and I live on the east coast, here in the suburbs of DC.  She’s about my age and was wearing my clothes.  She has a haircut like me or one of my friends.   Just last year, she and her husband were living in a condo in a gated community; they had a pool, cars, and a Wii.  They had a dog whom the family adored.  And now she and her husband are out of jobs, and they are homeless.

Where Will Malia & Sasha Obama Attend School?

Where will Malia and Sasha Obama go to school? The Washington, D.C. private school gossip mill is working full tilt, chewing over the options, the whys or why nots, the connections, the prestige, the free publicity for any school that snags this "get."

"Imagine if they came to our school!" I've overheard more than one parent I know say, giddy with the anticipation of being close to a little piece of history.

The questions of public vs. private, big vs. cozy, famous vs. less-known are nothing new when it comes to the world of Washington, D.C. schools. How do I know? My third-grade daughter attends an independent school in the District, though it's not one that you're hearing about in the news.  (My
eight-year-old has gone to summer camp at Sidwell Friends, but I don't think that counts when it comes to tracking alums!)

One thing I learned as my husband and I tried to navigate the Washington, D.C. independent school culture was that the application process can be insane and it's hard not to get sucked into the private school one-upsmanship that seems to go along with the other status symbols here in the nation's capital, like your zip code and how few degrees of separation you have from a Capitol Hill power player. 

Where the children of the notable and noteworthy go to school is one of the better traded currencies here.