Topic: schools

Disgusting Cruelty: Over A Dozen Animals Slaughtered At A Detroit School For Pregnant Teens

In 2012, Detroit was neck and neck with New Orleans for the title of Murder Capital and it usually ranks in the top five. With blocks and blocks of abandoned and burned out houses it’s not an easy place to live, especially for pregnant and teen mothers. The school is a charter school run by Evans Solutions. For students who attend the Catherine Ferguson Academy , they are required to be accepted by at least one college by the time they graduate. They is daycare on site. There is also a very large garden, which is referred to as the farm. More »

Suspension Of Pencil ‘Weapon’ Wielding Boy Makes Me Want To Put Driver Elementary School In Time-Out

I might not understand gun culture, but I do understand common sense — possibly unlike Driver Elementary School in Suffolk, Virginia. More »

Meditation For Kids Makes Students A Little Smarter And My Toddlers A Little Less Bratty

I used to think the practice of meditation was so “out there” and definitely not for the uber-competitive like I was as a new lawyer. I was so wrong. Not only does research show students who meditate score higher on tests, but my own experience shows the practice makes my toddlers more focused and well-behaved. More »

Mommyish Presents The Laid-Back Mom’s Guide To Navigating The PTA

Oh, the PTA. The bastion of competitive motherhood. Childrearing and housewifery as an art form. There’s nothing more domestic than a parent teacher organization. But not all parents are up for it. They don’t want to deal with the sanctimommies and the rules. For those parents, we have some help. More »

13-Year-Old-Girl Boob Shamed By School District Full Of Morons After Being Sexually Harassed By Classmates

Now, I’m not an educator, but I love teachers, especially the good ones, and just as a human person who is not an educator I would think that the correct response to the bullying of a girl due to breast size would be to maybe address the bullying issue, and not suggest a young girl get a dangerous elective surgery that can cost $7,000. But that’s just me! Don’t ask me, I don’t make the rules! No one here but us non-body-shaming chickens who think that a girl should have to get surgery just so she isn’t teased! More »

OK, Who Else Got A Homework Assignment Email During Winter Break For Their Kids?

It could have been much worse. We could have received an assignment to build a volcano or construct a diorama of the signing of the constitution or something, but Schoolhouse Rock is now officially ruined for me. I used to think it was cute, charming and retro kitschy but now it makes my ears bleed. More »

Grade Expectations: I Just Got Shamed For Being Stingy With My School Holiday Gifts

Yesterday, I walked into my daughter’s after-school care with holiday treats in hand. I was delivering cookies for teachers, assistants, and administrative staff, as well as books for my little girl to give her teachers. It’s always a good feeling, giving out cookies and presents. My holiday spirit was suddenly ruined though when I got some serious snark from a couple of employees who obviously felt that I wasn’t doing enough for the entire staff. More »

Grade Expectations: My Daughter’s School Went On Emergency Lockdown And I Barely Survived

Grade Expectations: My Daughterâ��s School Went On Emergency Lockdown And I Barely Survived

We all know that our children’s schools have an emergency protocol. It’s not just the fire drills where everyone stands around whispering on the playground. Not just the tornado drills where you have to bend down with your butt in the air and hands covering your neck. There’s another emergency protocol. It’s what happens if a child goes missing. Or if a suspicious person is hanging around the playground. This is the emergency protocol for a human threat, not a natural one. And that’s the kind of emergency protocol my daughter’s school had to put into place last week. More »

Parents Threaten To Sue School Over Yoga Classes, Could Use Some Time In Lotus Pose

Schools spend plenty of time and energy enforcing eye-roll inducing dress codes and punishing ridiculously minor offenses. But the educators aren’t the only ones who get more than a little hyperbolic and out-of-control over really small problems. More »

What We're Reading:

Stop Blaming The Schools: Parental Involvement Is More Important For A Child’s Education

You know how parents are spending thousands upon thousands of dollars to ensure that their children have the very best education money can buy, so that they’ll hopefully grow up to be successful, self-sufficient members of society? It’s funny to think that maybe those parents just needed to be a little more involved in their kids’ educations. More »

Telling A Teacher About Kids Sexually Abusing Each Other Isn’t ‘Tattling”

It’s one thing to have your kids take a wrong turn on the Google machine at home and end up seeing something they aren’t old enough to see. It’s an entirely other issue for your kid to be seeing these things at school, and then acting them out with their classmates. More »

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