Homeless in San Diego

I am shedding some light on something we all see daily living in San Diego.

“Homeless Families Crowd San Diego Shelters”

“Families make up nearly one-third of the nation’s homeless population. The National Center on Family Homelessness estimates 1.6 million children will experience homelessness this year”.

“A record number of San Diego homeless families are waiting to get into a long-term shelter. Waiting lists average two to four months. During the wait, many families stay at emergency shelters, like the San Diego Rescue Mission's Emergency Shelter for Women and Children, which has been over-capacity just about every night for the past two years”.

http://www.kpbs.org/news/2013/may/31/homeless-families-crowd-san-diego-shelters/

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_fTgI8_WRQ&feature=player_embedded

This is America; I know we can do better.

Dr Flavius A B Akerele III

The ETeam

So it continues…

“Dartmouth Students In Clery Act Complaint Charged With Violating Code Of Conduct”

“Dartmouth College students pressing a federal complaint claiming the school underreported sexual assaults said Dartmouth is retaliating by charging them with violating the student code of conduct for an April protest”.

“At least 10 students involved in the April 19 demonstration were notified this week that they face adjudications for a possible violation of the Dartmouth standards of conduct for failing to follow college officials' instructions, according to letters from Nathan Miller, director of the Undergraduate Judicial Affairs Office. Seven students who received letters were either public complainants or were involved in preparing and processing a federal Clery Act complaint filed against Dartmouth last week, alleging the school failed to prosecute and report sexual violence on campus, said Dartmouth senior Lea Roth”.

"We were protesting sexual assault on this campus, and the administration's failure to respond to homophobia and racism on campus," Nastassja Schmiedt, a Dartmouth sophomore, told The Huffington Post. We were informally informing the college of civil rights violations".

Read the rest here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/29/dartmouth-clery-act-code-of-conduct_n_3353969.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000003&ir=Education

Eventually people need to have a real conversation on prevention, but also on how to communicate effectively with each other. The original incident is getting lost in a quagmire of other things.

Keep our students safe, and students find a way to have a conversation all the while remembering that each issue deserves its own separate conversation.

Dr Flavius A B Akerele III

The ETeam

Online Etiquette

With today’s rapid methods of communication, we often forget to slow down sometimes and actually communicate. Worse, we think nothing of communicating really badly:

“i missed ta class yesterday, well honestly because i was out to late and feelin’

crappy the next day did i miss anything cn i make up the quiz?”

“dear XXXX. Hows it going? I am writing 2 U to let U know that we are mssing you transcripts and U will not be admitted. I know you are probably on vakay, but I thought I’d drop you a line. Later!”

I kid you not; these are real supposedly professional emails in an education setting!

Slow down people and remember we are in the business of education, and the first step is to communicate effectively.

Dr Flavius A B Akerele III

The ETeam

The Drama of School Testing

It is that time of the year when many K12 students are taking standardized tests, and schools are revving the students up for them. You also get many parents who are against testing trying to lobby you to boycott them, etc.

We are lucky to be living a country with so many freedoms and with a free working education system, even if the system is far from perfect. These freedoms allow everyone to question without retaliation (in theory). I am not arguing for the test or against the test, what I am talking about is how different administrators, teachers, and parents behave at this time.

I always receive more correspondence from administrators at this time, all about the test of course. I wish I would hear from them when I call about matters that are of equal importance to me.

Teachers are telling student “do your best”, “get plenty of sleep”, and “have a good breakfast”. However, isn’t that what they are supposed to do every day? What is different now? I remember gum being one of the banes of my existence while I was a classroom teacher, and I find during tests this year they are giving students spearmint gum to chew because “it helps them focus”. Where do you think that gum is going to end up? Under the table of course!

Parents join the insanity by protesting everything they dislike about the tests, and they are given extra fodder with allowance of gum and other special “sweet test treats”.

No one at school is happy during this time; there are a lot of strained faces, a lot of anger, and a lot of people holding their breath. This is not healthy!

We need to pick our battles better because the children see all this and wonder what is going on with everyone. They begin to dread this time of the year not because of the tests, but because of the element of madness that exists during this time.

Testing exists, whether you like it or not, but do we need to fill or children with dread and test anxiety? Do we need argue, fuss, and fight at this time every year? The conversation about testing needs to begin before testing starts and it does not need to be an uncivilized loud conversation; it is ok to talk in your ‘inside voice’.

Dr Flavius A B Akerele III

The ETeam

 

School testing search: About 516,000,000 results (0.43 seconds) from Google



Good explanation of Memorial Day

Memorial Day is a United States federal holiday which occurs every year on the final Monday of May.^[1] Memorial Day is a day of remembering the men and women who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces.^[2] Formerly known as Decoration Day, it originated after the American Civil War to commemorate the Union and Confederate soldiers who died in the Civil War. By the 20th century, Memorial Day had been extended to honor all Americans who have died while in the military service.^[3] It typically marks the start of the summer vacation season, while Labor Day marks its end.

Many people visit cemeteries and memorials, particularly to honor those who have died in military service. Many volunteers place an American flag on each grave in national cemeteries.

Annual Decoration Days for particular cemeteries are held on a Sunday in late spring or early summer in some rural areas of the American South, notably in the mountains. In cases involving a family graveyard where remote ancestors as well as those who were deceased more recently are buried, this may take on the character of an extended family reunion to which some people travel hundreds of miles. People gather on the designated day and put flowers on graves and renew contacts with kinfolk and others. There often is a religious service and a "dinner on the ground," the traditional term for a potluck meal in which people used to spread the dishes out on sheets or tablecloths on the grass. It is believed that this practice began before the American Civil War and thus may reflect the real origin of the "memorial day" idea.^[4]

Memorial Day is not to be confused with Veterans Day; Memorial Day is a day of remembering the men and women who died while serving, while Veterans Day celebrates the service of all U.S. military veterans.^[5]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memorial_Day

Our Children Are Not The Enemy They Are The Future

In this day and age of #zerotolerance in schools, it is often too easy for a smart vibrant student to all of a sudden be labeled as a criminal and have their life ruined. It can be worse for African-American children since often they do not get the ‘press’ needed to clear their names.

Putting felonies on children who do not even have the legal right to vote means you are #disenfranchising a future generation of humans and voters (cannot vote with a felony).

“Teen Who Was Expelled From School For Science Explosion Receives Full Scholarship U.S. Space Academy”

“Kiera Wilmot, the 16-year-old honor student expelled from her high school after she allegedly ignited a chemical explosion on school property, received a full scholarship to the U.S. Space Academy, courtesy of a NASA veteran who, as a teenager, was accused of starting a forest fire during a science experiment”.

“Kiera Wilmot made an honest mistake, but the police were trying to throw away her life with a felony. After the community stood up for the girl, the charges were dropped, and she was allowed to move on with her life. Well, her greatness is really starting to shine, as she was recently granted several extraordinary opportunities through scholarship offers she has received”.

“Dr. Boyce Watkins recently wrote about another group of students who were arrested for throwing water balloons. Is it now open season on black children? We have to start asking ourselves why it’s suddenly become so easy for a black child to be sent to prison or jail. It appears that learning and education have been outlawed by the school systems, but getting arrested has become a leading trend. Rev. Jesse Jackson also regularly mentions all the schools in Chicago with old books but brand new metal detectors”.

“Dr. Christopher Emdin, a professor of education at Columbia University, says that the schools are now very similar to prisons in terms of how they are structured, and how the inhabitants are treated. Kiera overcame her situation, but there are thousands of kids across the country who aren’t so lucky. Maybe it’s time to attack the system that is attacking us”.

(http://blacklikemoi.com/2013/05/teen-who-was-expelled-from-school-for-science-explosion-receives-full-scholarship-u-s-space-academy/)

Kids will be curious, but that does not mean they are criminal. They need guidance and nurturing, as well as the knowledge that we have their best interests at heart. We incarcerate too many people as it is for too long.

We are concerned about the kids are we not?

Dr Flavius A B Akerele III

The ETeam

Leadership in Higher Education

For those of you who work in #highered, I would like you take a moment, and look around at your leaders and think about a few things. How did they get into that #leadership position, do they have the leadership qualifications, are they good friends with folks high up the food chain, how long do they last?

This piece is not a blame game, I am just pointing out facts:

1.      Leaders often are promoted because of longevity not skill set

2.      It is often who you know that matters

3.      Having a doctorate does not automatically make you a leader

4.      Leadership skills must constantly be renewed

5.      A lot of people promoted to leadership positions are not ready and go through a “trial by fire”

6.      How many institutions have a written succession plan or a leadership #training program that their staff can take?

I could ask many more questions, but I hope you get the point: sometimes we set people up for failure even though we do not mean to, sometimes the political choice is not the smart choice, and sometimes we have the wrong people in leadership.

“College Leader Takes Over Effort to Train New Campus Chiefs”

“After 15 years as president of Juniata College, a small, liberal-arts institution in Huntingdon, Pa., Thomas R. Kepple Jr. is about to take the reins at one of the country's few organizations that specialize in training potential college and university presidents”.

“He has no doubt that the task of coaching deans, provosts, and vice presidents for leadership roles will increase in urgency in the coming decade, because so many chief executives are nearing retirement in a time of great change”.

(http://chronicle.com/article/College-President-to-Lead/139371/?cid=oh&utm_source=oh&utm_medium=en)

Why aren’t there more training programs like this? In #K12 education, if a person wants to become a principal they need to get another credential as well as have a certain amount of experience. Why don’t highered institutions have this?

If we have good leaders in place, that institute good policies and programs, we will have fewer incidents like this one:

“New Complaints Against Colleges on Sexual Assaults”

“Students, joined by civil rights lawyer Gloria Allred, on Wednesday filed complaints against Dartmouth and Swarthmore Colleges, the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Southern California over their handling of complaints of sexual assaults, The Los Angeles Times reported. The complaints -- filed with the U.S. Department of Education -- charge that the institutions have failed to adequately investigate reports of sexual assault or to accurate report such incidents as required by federal law. The charges are similar to those made recently with the Education Department about Occidental College and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. College officials, while acknowledging periodic missteps, have generally said that they make every effort to comply with the relevant laws”.

(http://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2013/05/23/new-complaints-against-colleges-sexual-assaults)

Seems like a no brainer to me. We are educators right?

Dr Flavius A B Akerele III

The ETeam