Month: February 2010

Save Our Children’s Future

With the “Great Recession” the economic outlook in Indiana has been downright bleak.  It’s so bleak that the state has been forced to cut funding to K-12 schools and all publicly funded post secondary schools.  This is primarily due to the cuts in property taxes passed several years ago, which is where our public schools get their money.  A decade ago, I didn’t really care, as my time in school was horrible at best.  I have a daughter in 4th grade now, and another who will be in school before I know it.  It’s important to me that they have the same opportunities to enrich their lives that I had.

While the post secondary schools can handle these cuts by many different means, our public (K-12) schools have very limited means to deal with the lack of funding.

Many are closing or consolidating schools, requiring payment to ride a bus, adding fees for extra-curricular activities.  This is almost all options our public schools have, and it really ticks me off.

While I’ve been hearing about school systems around Indianapolis having meetings and public forums to discuss how they are going to handle these shortfalls, it didn’t hit home until our local school system, MCCSC (Monroe County Community School Corporation) brought up the subject.  They are proposing to eliminate many of the programs and services that make our school system diverse and great.

There has been talk of a referendum that if passed, would help eliminate that shortfall.  I’m all for it, but I don’t know how much support it really has.  My property taxes are so low, that it wouldn’t bother me at all to pay a little extra to help my childrens education.  Property tax caps are the reason for this mess in the first place.  Thank you Mitch Daniels, you’ve done a wonderful job ruining the surplus our state had.

Here’s a list of the proposed cuts:

• Increase class-size ratio, generating approximately 45 certified staff (teaching) cuts.

• Eliminate elementary and middle school media specialists.

• Eliminate middle school foreign language.

• Eliminate middle school Family and Consumer Science.

• Eliminate one assistant, part-time athletic director at each high school.

• Reduce high school assistant coaches (no specific numbers or areas revealed)

• Possibly reduce extracurricular activities (brain game, spell bowl, etc.) at high schools and middle schools.

• Eliminate six elementary assistant principal positions for 2011-12.

• Eliminate the unfilled assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction job and the secretarial job for that post.

• Eliminate the healthy school coordinator position.

• Freeze all administrative salaries.

• Reduce school board salaries.

• Consolidate Aurora Alternative High School into an existing high school with some reduction to staff.

• Close the Teen Learning Center.

• Close Alternative to Suspension.

• Close Youth Outreach.

• Eliminate the Bradford Woods.

• Eliminate Honey Creek School.

• Eliminate elementary strings program.

• Drain the high school pools out of season.

• Eliminate Batchelor Middle School pool and fill it in.

• Eliminate substitutes for building secretaries.

• Eliminate summer school.

While some of these cuts make sense to me both financially and logically others do not.  Here is a list of the programs/services that should be saved in my opinion.

  • Elementary and middle school media specialists (librarians).  This is a bad move, really bad.  As a child I loved books, and I believe librarians are the reason why.  Without librarians, our children won’t receive the proper knowledge, appreciation and enthusiasm about books.  This seems like a gateway to eliminate libraries altogether.
  • Reducing some extra-curricular activities.  Some kids aren’t athletic, some kids like to expand their minds through some of these activities.  Why punish those kids while leaving the ones who enjoy athletics alone?  Why some and not all?
  • Consolidation of Aurora.  I’m a little on the fence about this issue.  My generation was the first to  use this invaluable resource.  Some kids don’t learn well in normal learning environments.  Aurora allows these kids to learn on their terms.  In many cases these kids would simply drop out.  While consolidation may help the bottom line, it’s not beneficial if it hurts the education of it’s students.
  • Alternative to Suspension.  Is this “In-school suspension?”  That’s what the alternative was when I went.  It should be saved so those students don’t fall farther behind, this is essentially turning your back on the students who need help the most.
  • Eliminating Bradford Woods.  When I went, it was a week long event.  It’s now only a day or two I believe.  While I understand it’s not completely necessary it is a nice treat to get away and learn about nature and your surroundings.
  • Eliminating Honey Creek School.  This astounds me.  This school is a two room schoolhouse that is used as a learning lab for elementary students.  They get the opportunity to act as if they are living in the 19th century.  If you don’t appreciate your past, you’ll never appreciate what the future brings.
  • Eliminating the Elementary Strings Program.  This program is dear to my heart, as I was in this program in 4th and 5th grade.  Without this the only interaction children have with instruments is the recorder in 4th grade.  It’s really an eye opener to the world of music.  Without this program, I don’t think I would have played the violin in the school systems’ orchestra from 7th grade until I left high school.  I can’t wait for the day I can get my hands on another violin and start playing again.  Music is essential to creativity, something that doesn’t transmit on paper.
  • Eliminating Summer School.  Hello?  Seriously?  I don’t even think I need to explain this one.

I hope the community will rally behind our children.  They are our future!  If you want to voice your opinion, the MCCSC has a web page you can visit and let them know.  I’ll be sending them a link to this posting.  Do the same!  As Spock always said, “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.”

The Invasion is On

Saturday morning, I awoke to a very vivid and bizarre dream.  One who’s details have still stuck with me.  I haven’t had a dream like this since I was taking Chantix to help quit smoking.  It was very similar to the movie Red Dawn.  That’s where it begins to get a little strange.

The dream starts with me enjoying my beautiful yard, the smell of fresh cut grass, the beautiful sky.  When a squad of large “bomber” type planes flying in formation whiz by at a low altitude.  They start dropping bombs!

But the bombs don’t explode on impact, no that would be too simple.  When the bombs struck the ground, they bounced.  Much like a basketball.  They bounced as if they were seeking something, something that would hurt worse than any explosion.  They were seeking water pipes.  When the bomb would find a water main, it would explode!

They dropped bombs all over the east coast, Midwest and the great plains with the same goal in mind, flood it.  Our defenses had been crippled by a hidden virus on all persons with Internet access in the US.  This virus used peoples computers collectively to hack into the DOD system and crash it.

With the water levels rising to where we were suddenly in a Katrina situation and everyone was on their roof trying to survive.  Normal citizens with boats were making the rounds in their neighborhoods trying to rescue as many people as possible.  We found safe places in the hills surrounding the areas.

Just who was attacking us?  I never figured that out exactly.  I knew is was two island nations that were vengeful against the US.  That’s where the trail ends.

I then woke up, wishing I could sleep for 12 more hours and live the battle in my mind.

Educating My Business

While I’m currently taking classes to earn an Associates of Applied Science in Programming at Ivy Tech Community College, I try to use my business as a resource from time to time.

This semester, I get to use it for something I’ve needed to do and spent countless hours doing.  Rebuilding my website.  While I was happy with what I had, I knew I could have a better designed one that might draw in some clients and some revenue.  Without some basic skills, what I had was the best that I could muster.  This semester I am taking CINS-102.  It is essentially a class that teaches you XHTML and CSS.

We haven’t done much in this class as of yet, but I can see the momentum starting to build.  We’ve mainly had tremendous amounts of reading each week with smaller projects in class.  Our project due this week is to find 5 url’s that we like and select one we want to use for a basis of a new website.  What a perfect opportunity for my website to be re-born!

My financial plan this year is to save any money I make.  I plan on saving as much as possible.  I did the math last night and found out I have personally spent over $3000 on expenses for my business.  I hope to eventually repay that debt.

If things are good this year, I may put my new and improved website back up.

Being Productive

Since April of last year I haven’t worked more than 24 hours in a week.  While over the summer I was plenty busy with home remodeling projects and going to school full-time, I didn’t feel like a productive member of society.

While I’m not technically working full time, I am doing what I can, at 36 hours it’s not as bad as only 24.  I’ve discovered some things about myself that I find interesting.

I’m more productive.  I tend to try to accomplish more tasks and goals opposed to when I had more time, it seems strange but also interesting.

I have better self esteem.  While I am tired, both mentally and physically, I feel better about myself which helps my motivation for things above.

I am lucky in the fact that both of my positions allow for me to work on my homework while there.  I guess it’s an advantage of working in the world of academia.  I try to take advantage of this resource as much as possible.

I was thrown into the world of “work” at an early age, 14.  That’s when I got my first job cleaning tables and doing dishes at Gresham Dining Hall at IU.  I enjoyed the work, but didn’t enjoy the atmosphere.  Boys can be just as bad as girls at that age.

I guess age and maturity have changed my outlook since then.  I want to work, it’s just been impossible to find a job.  I hope that with time and with my blossoming skills, I will be able to find a position that pays me what I’m worth.

Down With the Sickness

Life lately in the Lawmaster household has been anything but fun as of recent.  We all came down with forms of the same sickness.  Fortunately we have all recovered.

Originally I thought it was a new recipe that Rachel had tried, Baked chicken thighs with brown sugar.  I think it really might have been part of a larger sickness going around our area.

Little Amelia saw the effects first.  She spit up ( or should I say threw up) almost half of a couple of her bottles, was warm and somewhat fussy for a day.  Some children’s Tylenol made her much better.

Rachel saw her effects span over a two day period.  It started with nausea and diahhrea on the first day and ended with body aches, fever and a general not feeling well on the second day.  She felt much better after a day of rest.

My case became overly complex and is becoming a nightmare in process.  I woke up on the same day that Rachel’s symptoms started feeling the same nausea and diahhrea, but with the addition of severe body aches.

I didn’t have to be at work until noon, so I thought I would sleep in the Kelley School of Business changing rooms – a place I often nap in during lunch.  The 3 hour nap helped me tremendously, but didn’t get rid of the severe body aches that made even walking a nightmare.

Due to the strict attendance policies in place at my job, I thought I would give working a go.  The lab that I work in on that day requires some physical stamina, as I have to cover this lab, this lab, this lab and this lab.  I tried my hardest to fulfill my duties, but was unable and thought it would be best for me to leave and see a doctor.

I went to my doctor’s walk-in clinic.  Where I was almost immediately seen.  They took my vital signs, asked me what I was having problems with and then had me give a urine specimen which I thought was quite odd.  Then the waiting began.  I waited an hour before I was seen by a nurse practitioner, who for some strange reason thinks my appendix was (and still is) about to burst.

I was then directed to take some blood tests and immediately go to the hospital for a CT scan.  I’ll never forget what the nurse told me, “you cannot pass go, you cannot collect $200 – go straight to the hospital.”

I get to the hospital, where I then went to pickup a contrast agent that I had to drink with Gatorade.  Thank god for the Gatorade.  I learned later that particular contrast is used to be able to see the digestive tract.  Then more waiting.  I waited for two and a half hours before I even got the scan!  I then had to wait almost two more hours to get the results, which I got from that same nurse practitioner via phone call!

She said that I had a large amount of lymph nodes that were swollen and my white blood cell count was up significantly but there were no signs that my appendix was in trouble.  In layman’s terms, my body is fighting a infection of some sort.  She then prescribed me 4 antibiotics, which I’m not taking.  I believe I have MRSA and I have read that antibiotics actually perpetuate the spreading of these potentially killer infections.

After finally getting home at almost 9pm, I drank a couple shots of my cure all, Nyquil and went to bed.  I woke up the next morning feeling like a brand new man!

Today I got a call from the walk-in clinic.  They want me to do another CT scan in 3 months to make sure I’m okay.  WTF?  This sounds like either a very inexperienced health care provider, or an organization that is trying to generate some revenue through services that are not needed.  I don’t think I’m going to go to that particular walk-in clinic again.

Living in a Sea of Blue

While there is a big game about to happen, I’m not writing about that – exactly.

I’m writing about how Indiana is an interesting place to live, to say the least.

My friend Editor B seems to have sold out his roots for his new hometown, New Orleans.  While I can partially admit that growing up in Greenwood, Indiana – one of the most blah places to live in Indiana, wouldn’t be a place to create fond childhood memories.  Indiana in general is an amazing place with pockets of greatness surrounded by seas of corn and grains.  This is a direct response to this post on his blog.

I’m writing this to dis-spell all of the myths Editor B has proclaimed and to give those who don’t know, some information about the state that has “more than corn” in it.

1.  Indiana makes dumb laws.  What state doesn’t?  For that matter, what entity doesn’t?  I’m sure if you do a google search on “Louisiana Dumb Laws” you’ll come up with more than a handful.

2.  I’m sure you could find songs about New Orleans with lyrics that aren’t so impressionable about it.  I’m not going to spend the time searching for them.  The only song I can think of off hand is, The House of the Rising Sun, which is commonly known to be about a brothel.  That’s a real good image!

3.  I find it interesting that one of New Orleans nicknames is “The City that Care Forgot.”  So nobody cares about New Orleans?  Why should I then?

4.  The term “hoosier” is seen as many different things in many different places.  Maybe from your point of view B, you’ve got me.  But it is a term of endearment to all of us living in Indiana.  Plus no matter where you live, you’ll always be a hoosier – you graduated from Indiana University!

5.  You’re right about the White river being too sandy for good transportation.  But wrong on many other levels.  Indianapolis was created to be the capital city – instead of just being chosen.  Just like Washington D.C., it was designed to accommodate many of the features it has today, thus giving it an advantage.  Indianapolis isn’t called “The Crossroads of America” for nothing!  With 4 major interstates colliding into it, it’s a transportation hub.  Meaning it’s good for business.  It is one of the easiest “big” cities to navigate in my personal experience.

6.  I honestly have no rebuttal about your #6, because I could really care less about sports.  I was pushed on so many sports as a child that I got burnt out.  My sister-in-law is a huge Colts fan.  So much that she is a season ticket holder, goes to many away games, and even has a room in her home dedicated to the team.  She will be in Miami this weekend rooting her team on, just like she was in 2007.

7.  To continue with #6, plus we here in Indiana have many other things to occupy our time other than merely football.  It’s just a game B.  Many things are about local level events, not national.  You’re the one that taught me that I should be more involved in my local government – which I’m slowly but surely doing.

8.  All you’re doing is bringing up stuff I thought you were higher than.  I’m sure we could find some rumors about Reggie Bush or your “hoosier” quarterback…

9.  I wouldn’t say that.  In all actuality, there is a restaurant in Mooresville that is run by a husband-wife duo that is from NOLA and Indy.  It’s been quite the story maker.  Just read this article.

10.  Even us hoosiers were ticked off about that deal.  It was always the “Hoosier Dome” no matter what the marquee said.  It was the start of corporate sponsorship that has taken over ever aspect of everything we have today.  I have to admit, I really like ROX #82, you documented things well!

Your turn, Editor B.