Ms. Markowitz,

I love a good challenge! Too bad this isn’t one of those! BURN!

Do you see what I just did there? I “pwnd” you. Yes, I am learning the language of the American Youth. I am doing this so that I gain their trust and so that they will beg their mommies and daddies to please please please make Rupert Hornsby the president of the Dorland County School District PTA. Then once I have been placed in your current (my future) position, I will obviously make changes. BIG CHANGES!

I will start by having the students take an increasing number of field trips to your wicker basket factories. The children will, no doubt, be moved by the productivity and crave for their little hands to be helping the process. So, we will have a basket making session afterwards. They will fall in love with assembly line work, much like how I did when I was a lad.

You see, Ms. Markowitz, I never intend on forcing any children to work. I believe you have me all wrong. I simply wish to inspire in them the love for constantly working for little to no pay with no benefits and for an unclear ultimate goal that seems to only aid the tycoon at the top of the chain (yo). This is what happened to me as a child, and I wish to inspire in these children the same lust for the 19th century industrialist era.

This is why I sent all the children in the school district polls and survey questions. I have instructed them to send the answers to both myself and to you, Krystine, so that you can read not only the honest questions, but their true desires.

“Catcha latron”!

- Rupert Hornsby

Today is the day I get to hear about my little darlings and how well (I hope) they are doing in school. Tell me, why can the children themselves not be there to listen to the teacher’s criticism? Why do they have to sit at home waiting to find out their fate?

What’s also ridiculous to me is that they send the kids home early so they can do the Parent Teacher Interviews. Who the heck is supposed to watch the kids when their parents come to the school to squeeze their backsides into tiny little chairs? We don’t all have built in babysitters with our apartments and houses. Today I have to shlepp my little darlings with me. My built-in-babysitter ™ will still be in class in High School.

Today, I guess the kids can wait outside in the foyer while we talk about them behind their back. It just seems wrong. Why can the kid not hear directly from the teacher what he is / is not doing right? By the time I get home and talk to them, the discussion is all mixed up with pride or sadness which totally changes the trajectory of the conversation.

Or alternatively, seeing as they don’t want the kids there, but they want the parents there, why don’t they have some kind of activity to keep the kids occupied while their parents get the low down?

Oh yeah, this is parent teacher for just the secular studies teachers. We get to do this all over again on Sunday for the Rebbeim. Why can we not kill two birds with one stone? Because that would be convenient…and we don’t want that.

Curriculum Night and Portable Sound System 

Last Thursday, we had a curriculum night.  The specialists had never attended the curriculum night before, but our new principal asked the entire staff to attend that night.  It was nice to see all the staff dressed up nicely and anxious to meet their new class parents.   The principal introduced each teacher and included which grade and what they are teaching at Eastgate.  After a short introduction time, we were asked to go back to our own classrooms.  We specialists did not have to present our curriculum but waited in the classroom.  Some parents stopped by and visited the new music classroom.  A few parents asked me about the choir and wanted to sign up their child. 

Before September, I requested the PTA to consider purchasing a portable sound system for the music department.  Even though we have a wonderful brand new built-in sound system at school, I really think that we need a portable sound system as well.  In the past, when I have needed a portable system, I have borrowed one that was personally owned by one of my good friends. He has graciously let us use his equipment at least ten times a year for the last four years that I have been the music specialist here at Eastgate.  I plan to have our choir perform outside of school grounds at least 3-4 times this year.  When we prepare for our spring concerts during our music class, I take my students out to the cubby area because we need a much larger place to practice the dancing parts five or six times.  When the classroom teachers have their mini concerts in their rooms, I am asked to provide a PA system.  I also believe that the PE teacher needs a system for her field day.  In addition, the PTA can use the system for the annual walkathon and save $300 every year.  So, I would say we need the PA system for about 13-14 events throughout the year.   

Luckly, there was good news.  The PTA approved my request and decided to purchase the portable sound system. This would allow me to forgo asking my good friend for his generosity and would also save me from lugging the heavy equipment from his house to our school and back after each and every performance. This portable sound system will be first used for the walkathon this Friday.

I always tell my son not to pass judgment on anything before he’s tried it out. Whether it’s lima beans or cricket, he isn’t allowed to say that he doesn’t like something until he’s given it a fair shake.

Lately I’ve been telling myself this as well.

You may recall that a few months back, my son started a new school. And while I was very excited for *him* to make new friends…take new classes…heck, even to don that new pink (!) tie,I decided ex-ante that *I* didn’t need any new friends. Sure, I planned to attend all the parents’ evenings and concerts and do playdates and what have you, but for me it would all be strictly business. (Or possibly good blog material. Because, let’s be honest, it always is.) I just…Didn’t. Need. New. Friends. Damn it!

I’m not exactly sure where this militant anti-social attitude came from. After all, I’m an extrovert. I love meeting new people and will happily chat up just about anyone in just about any situation. My husband’s the same way. But somehow, when faced with a new social environment that was somewhat different from the one I’d been hanging (comfortably) in, I got all defensive…and judgmental…and uptight.

And then a funny thing happened on the way to becoming a wallflower. I went to a holiday party – and had a really good time.

Sure, as I wandered in and was blinded by all the glittery cocktail dresses, I realized that I was woefully under-dressed and should have consulted LPC about what to wear before I left. And I’m fairly certain that I was the only woman drinking beer.

But I had at least three or four conversations that I really enjoyed, including one with a Jewish guy – married to a fellow Shiksa. We jointly bemoaned how hard it is to find a synagogue in London that is truly open to “patrilineal” Jews – i.e., kids where only the father is Jewish and who thus don’t technically “count” as Jews. (FYI: Lately I’ve been eyeing the Gay and Lesbian synagogue here, despite being neither gay, nor lesbian, nor Jewish. But I’ll leave that for another blog post, speaking of material…)

Then I went to a birthday party over the weekend and had this same experience all over again. This time, I ended up talking to a couple with a child at the school for about 45 minutes. The husband was English but had grown up in the States. He and I bonded over how Americans take it for granted that you get involved in your children’s school, whether coaching (as he does) or raising money (as I do), whereas for the Brits that’s still largely anathema. The wife was Indian and she and I bonded over what it’s like to be a foreigner at a predominantly English school.

The moral of the story, I suppose, is that even as adults, we need to be open to new experiences and “give them a go” as we say on this side of the pond. Not everything is a lima bean. New experiences can be fun. New people can be stimulating. And most importantly, as a friend of mine put it so succinctly: “Not everyone is an *&%hole.”

Hard to argue with that.

Image: Doc Marten Lima Beans by luluisforlovers via Flickr under a Creative Commons License.

Order forms and checks made out to Ralston PTA are due this Wednesday, December 2 by the end of day. Remember this is the ONLY chance to get your gift cards for Christmas presents, birthday presents, shopping, etc.

Kmart and Sears have both upped their contribution from 4% to 10%. Please contact Sherri Malone with any questions or to get an order form.  720-746-3023 or email at smforms@msn.com

December is here and Franklin Elementary PTA has a few projects this month to help our school start off 2010 on the right foot!

First of all, the Franklin PTA is starting a Wish List. These are items you hope could be purchased or programs you would like to see at our school. Please feel free to leave a comment on our Wish List page. We would really like to hear your opinions.

Second, with the holidays and winter break quickly approaching, Franklin Elementary PTA has a great way for parents to help the school earn some money! Each year, “free” money programs have contributed $2,000 – $3,000 to the PTA annual budget and is used for supporting our teachers, funding field trips or family nights, and buying needed items the school can’t afford because of cuts to Franklin’s budget.

If you sign up for e-Scrip with your Safeway Club Card, or sign up for Albertson’s Community Partners Program with your Albertson’s Preferred Savings Card, anywhere from 1%-4% of your purchases will be given back to Franklin Elementary as CASH.

For your convenience, Beata Cole has volunteered to help parents sign up at the school. Please stop and see her…and don’t forget to bring your Safeway or Albertson’s cards with you. She will need the numbers to help you get signed up!

Check out the November newsletter under the Hoot!

GamerChris has a very good overview of his experiences at MACE’09.   I meet Chris in person for the first time at the con.  We even played PTA together.  He’s a great guy, lives not too far away, and I hope I am able to game some more with him soon.  He has an excellent gaming blog.  Check it out.

I love quotes.

I simply can’t get enough of them.

Great quotes, funny quotes, inspirational quotes, sad quotes, happy quotes.

Well, it seems so too does the principal of my boys’ school for its hallways and rooms are adorned with them.

Last night, we were at the school for the annual PTSA Reflections awards ceremony that my middle son had entered a poem into.  The night had started off a little rough.  With the hubby working late as usual and Grandma still in Scotland, it was up to me to get all three boys plus myself there.  It was bed-time for the little one and true to his usual evening schedule he had a naughty half-hour . . . during the ceremony . . . before collapsing in my arms.

The ceremony came to a close and as we were leaving through the large, blue industrial-strength double doors, a quote painted above the door frame made me stop and smile.

What have you done today to make you feel proud? — Heather Small.

I hugged my sleeping toddler in tight and cast a knowing glance at my middle son.

I couldn’t have been prouder of him and I know he was too.  His mannerisms and the way he was holding himself suggested just that — his chest was puffed out a little more than usual and he was beaming!

His poem had just taken first place in the intermediate literature category and is now going on to represent his school in the county-wide competition.

My middle son is truly a beautiful poet.  The words he chooses are so sweet and descriptive, funny and full of life!

BEAUTY IS . . .

Beauty is . . .

Seeing a breathtaking countryside dotted with white sheep that look like clouds in a green sky.

Beauty is . . .

Tasting a delicious chocolate lava cake that melts in my mouth.

Beauty is . . .

Feeling the wind slipping through my hair and gliding along.

Beauty is

Catching the scent of freshly baked bread as I walk in to town.

Beauty is . . .

Hearing the sound of trickling water falling from above on to the pebbles in the stream below.

Beauty is . . .

In everything.

And, I am so very proud.