Beaver Island Michigan

Lost Black Backpack (Beaver Island Ferry): Sy and I rode the ferry back from Beaver Island a few weeks ago and lost a black backpack. Not really any identifying information on it (though in small embroidery it says "Catalyst for Educational Change - a place I've worked in the past). It's your s...

Suburban sold,

I’m posting this again for Tammy and Steve Radionoff. I've had their suburban in my yard through the winter but just took to the airport so they can use when they come across. I don’t know details except that Steve wants $2500 for it. Call him. It’s a 2001 with lots of miles. I know he’s fixed and r...

A very sweet calico cat showed up at my place last week. It is clearly domesticated and very much accustomed to people. She's sweet and beautiful but I have three rescued cats already and DO NOT WANT ANOTHER! She's been crying at my door for a week now, however, and so I've started feeding her, have...

Christmas Eve Caroling Service St. James Episcopal Church We invite you to join us for an informal Christmas Eve Caroling Service at 7 pm at St. James Episcopal Church. We will sing the first two verses (all that anyone knows!) of favorite Christmas carols with short accompanying scripture readings ...

Donâ??t forgot my sexy husband, Mark Engelsman! Mark Engelsman (owner of Happy Paddle, father of first grader Sy) is a write-in candidate for the two year school board position. Call Mark if you have questions about how he wants to build collaborative and positive relationships to have a strong scho...

â??It was great, great, great, great, GREAT!â?￾ - my sonâ??s description of the Halloween party at the library last night. There were haunted halls of books (lights out and kids with flashlights), lots of food, pin the nose on the pumpkin, piles of leaves in the library, fun movie, costume prizes and unrestrained childrenâ??s glee.

I just want to say a big thank you to all those who put on the party last night â?? Teen Library Advisory board for planning, organizing, decorating, and taking the initiative; PTA for supplying food; Patrick and the library staff for making the space available for something so un-quiet. Patrick, especially, you have made the library a place where my son is comfortable and excited to go.

Sy was so excited when he came home. He loves parties. On a small island it takes many volunteer hands to create fun and unexpected opportunities for kids. Thank you to all those who put in the time and work to make this happen and to parents who sat through the craziness. And thanks, teens, for your vision and work â?? you made a very special night for younger kids.

KaiLonnie Dunsmore (and Mark & Sy Engelsman)

I've had several questions about the 30 minute presentation I'm doing tonight (Tuesday) at the school board meeting (7:30 pm) on the common core and school reform. It's a board "work meeting" on identifying school year goals but it's, obviously, an open meeting so all parents, community me...

As a parent, what I have found most disconcerting about this whole decision is the lack of involvement and information I have been provided. Parents were never notified that this issue was even under discussion. I learned about it through word of mouth. Because the board doesn't put out an agenda in advance or provide information about what they are discussing, we again only knew about it because we heard from someone. By the time the issue came to the board, the decision had really already been made.

I know that the teachers and administration and board are really working hard to provide a quality education for our students and I am confident they care very much for our students and the school program. That doesn't mean that we will always agree but we should have the opportunity to respectfully and appropriately share our perspective. By excluding parent voices from the conversation (through not inviting parents into the conversation in advance, or creating an opportunity to share a perspective, or even talking about the rationale) it may make it easier to make a decision (less conflict with fewer voices) but it alienates parents from being engaged in the conversation. It also raises a program change to an issue of conflict and short circuits the energy and resources we can bring to help problem solve and look at solutions.

A board discussion is very intimidating to many parents. I was surprised by the number of people who told me that they just couldnâ??t speak at the board meeting. They feared losing friends, business, or having their child alienated. I was also told by some that at this point "the decision has already been made" and that their voice wouldn't matter. We all care about our kids; we should be able to have space and an opportunity to express our perspectives â?? and get in and help find solutions as partners â?? without raising the conversation to such a level that â??sidesâ?￾ need to be taken, that our input is timed and limited, or that strong friendships are lost because of a difference in perspective.

I believe that people involved in the decision are working in good faith to make the best decisions for kids from their perspectives. Yet, in the long run finalizing a decision without notifying us reinforces a sense that parents views aren't really valued or helpful in trying to work through curricular decisions.

Parents still have not been formally notified about the change or the details that will be put in place to support funding and time. We've never been notified that strings lessons at the school have already ended this week (so unless the word of mouth got around kids brought their violins to school today). Throughout all this, parents were provided no information that this was under discussion.

And Pam I agree - for our little guy 7 hour days (35 hours/week) is a lot of time in school. Adding strings at the end of the day will be difficult. For my son replacing nap time (not very helpful for an active little guy!) would be a better solution or using the non-instructional calisthenics time (which the school doesn't count as gym time officially) in the morning. But again, as I've not been involved in any of the planning I can't say if there are other reasons making this less feasible.

From our perspective the strings program is amazing; we think Sheri is an exceptional teacher. This year the program involves nearly half the kids in the school (30 students). Itâ??s inclusion as part of the daily academic day was one of the reasons we were comfortable with the transition to the island school. It reflects a commitment both to carrying on an important cultural tradition of the island and belief that education and learning are about all facets of human experience. I work with schools across the country and the inclusion of an instrument program (not just general music) tends to increase the engagement of students, draws in families, and boosts the quality of students overall learning and achievement. It also provides an opportunity to help students excel who may not find a space otherwise in the curriculum. This program was very well funded; the majority of the resources come from Crooked Tree and the school pays only $56/week (a fraction of the nearly $100,000 we spend on sports). Other schools locally operate under the same time constraints as we do but find space in the curriculum for in some cases daily instrument instruction. Strings here took up only 30 minutes/week for each group.

I am committed to supporting the educators in our school - they care and show ongoing and daily commitment to our kids in many varied and thoughtful ways. I'm so pleased and grateful for the many kindnesses of the educators and the hard work they do every day. And I know that being on a school board can be a thankless task so it's wonderful they're willing to serve our school in that way.

I just wish the board and school system (administrators and teachers) created more spaces for our voices and were more transparent about the conversations they were engaged in. We won't always agree but by working together in respectful ways we can strengthen opportunities for our kids.

Now that the decision has been made, we have an opportunity to explore how to build something new and perhaps better. I hope that weâ??ll be invited into that conversation.

I hope it's okay to post this query to this forum. My husband, son (age 4), and I would love to find an "affordable" rental for 2-4 months this summer between end of May - early September. If there was a week or two in the middle that we needed to leave to let someone else in, we'd go visi...