…nine state-of-the-art laboratories, a computer-aided drawing lab and a greenhouse…

This project came about through serendipitous timing prior to the economic melt-down and is progressing so well that it is projected to come in for LESS than originally expected.

This sounds like an amazing facility and the students at Glen Rock High School will be lucky to have access to it starting in January 2011. Very reassuring to see the dedication of GRHS to the sciences.

Thursday.

This Thursday.

Today.

April Fool’s Day.

The motivation for the decision is clear – take an opportunity to make up a day by reducing vacation. This seems to make sense except that it doesn’t.

The news of this decision came very close to the beginning of the vacation meaning anyone who had any plans to travel with their kids was not going to make it back to school on that Thursday. In addition, getting kids motivated to school only to lull them back into the arms of another 3-day weekend means the activities on this Thursday would be lost – no continuity, homework or follow-up for another 3 days.

Finally, this decision puts the burden of attendance back on the parents. It no longer becomes a vacation day that the kids had off anyway. The parent (us) now has to decide whether it’s worth altering vacation plans to make their kid go to school today or to miss it at which point the child is penalized for missing the day. The school needs to be open a certain number of days a year. That’s clear and understood however when making decisions to alter the vacation schedules (many of which have to align with other schools’ schedules, work schedules, sitter schedules, etc) it would be advisable for the city to present its plan significantly sooner to the parents.

Has the model not evolved because nothing better has been invented? Or is it because we, given the generational momentum of this model, would be uncomfortable with new (and potentially unproven methods) ?

Will education still resemble today’s model in 2023?

Tell us in the comments what you think.

Photo courtesy of northjersey.com

How did you fare? Did you lose power? Are you still without power?! That was some storm last weekend and Glen Rock certainly took a beating. From the comfort of our homes perhaps it didn’t seem as vicious as it was (unless of course something fell on to your house). The aftermath however proved to be disruptive to most Glen Rock residents. 80% of homes lost power in our town according to the town web site. That’s significant. In addition, all schools were closed for a couple of days. This of course made any kind of transition back into the work week, a bit more challenging.

There are still many trees down around the neighborhoods and it’s not clear whether everyone has power back. The outages, at least for the younger children can cause confusion and anxiety but once that wears off the fun of candles, flashlights and perhaps a trip to grandma’s for some heat, light and warm food brings on a small sense of adventure.

So, how did you make out? What accommodations did you have to make on Monday and Tuesday since the kids couldn’t go to school? Tell us in the comments.

Central School is nearing it’s 100th day of classes this year. To commemorate this milestone the kids at the school have split into groups and are putting together efforts based around the number 100. One group has decided they would like to raise funds for the victims of the Haiti earthquake. This group of 1st graders are focusing their efforts on building shelters and new homes for the residents of Haiti.

The group has chosen Habitat for Humanity as their charity to support focusing specifically on their Disaster Response arm. According to their web site, the mission of Habitat’s Disaster Response arm is:

To develop innovative housing and shelter assistance models that generate sustainable interventions for people vulnerable to or affected by disasters or conflicts. In addition, Disaster Response builds the capacity of the global Habitat community in the areas of disaster mitigation, preparedness and recovery through education, training and partnerships.

To symbolize their support for the organization, the group from Central School is nailing 100 nails into 4 boards (one for each child) to kick off the building of new shelters and donating $1 per nail for a total of $100.

If you would like to help the team please consider donating to Habitat for Humanity as well.

The letter from the principal of the school in essence is reprimanding the parents for keeping their child out of school too many times last year. For those of you familiar, there are very strict guidelines around when your child can and cannot attend school – specifically around the topics of viruses, fevers and other health conditions. Now, this season has seen its share of H1N1 flu, regular flu, pneumonia not to mention a variety of other infectious diseases. The schools are, to be mildly cliche, a petri dish and kids will get sick — especially the younger ones. If they exhibit symptoms of a certain severity and within a certain timeframe, they cannot go to school according to the policy passed down to the parents from the school board.

It’s safe to say that most parents are not taking their kids out of school on a regular basis for week-long excursions to French Polynesia and other exotic destinations.

Most parents recognize that the best way for their child to learn is to actually attend class. That being said, when a letter like this is received the insinuation is immediate – you’re a bad parent. You take your kid out of class way too often and now their education is suffering. This is neither helpful nor productive – especially for those parents (the majority) who are simply following protocol.

In addition, these types of letters put a burden on the school secretaries since they field any incoming phone calls from parents concerned and offended at the contents of the letter.

Further investigation revealed that this is indeed a threshold-triggered form letter and was not meant to single out specific parents or poor behavior however the Glen Rock School Board should think a step or two ahead before sending out letters like this that come off as accusatory in nature and tone. If there’s a reason to send a note home on this topic, re-wording the letter to be clearer about its intended goal would go a long way to relieving any concern raised by it. Most Glen Rock parents work very hard to do what they believe is best for their child’s health and education while maintaining the guidelines set forth by the school. Let’s reward and thank them for that instead.

The two that always get mentioned in general conversation at the drop-off/pick-up lines and grocery stores are not actually in Glen Rock. First Presbyterian Church in Ridgewood has an outstanding, non-religious preschool as does the Fair Lawn Jewish Center.

Where do you send your kids? What has your experience been? Have you had kids at First Pres or at the FLJC? Tell us in the comments.

Are they sick? Do they have a fever? Are they well enough to go to school? If I don’t send them I have to re-arrange my schedule, arrange childcare, take a sick day myself….the hassle starts to grow exponentially.

Every parent has a different threshold of tolerance for what constitues sick in their and also in other kids. In addition some parents are simply more germophobic than their neighbors. The decision starts to dwell in those pesky shades of gray as opposed to the clear extremes of the rich hues (aka black and white).  An easy way to determine whether or not your kid is school-worthy (assuming they are not running a high fever) is to ask yourself the following question:

“If my child’s friend came over to my house and was exhibiting these symptoms, would I want them near my kid?”

If the answer is a solid “No” then you should not send your child to be around their friends in school. However if you feel comfortable with answering “Yes” to that question, then your child should probably go to school.  This has to be a clear-cut choice. If you’re on the fence, then the answer is “No.”

Keeping your child home let’s them rest and get better. They will get healthy faster. In addition they will keep other kids healthier by not infecting them (an infection that could very easily come right back to your child). Also, teachers will be healthier. The less teachers have to miss a day at work, the  better off our children will be.

Let’s work to keep our kids healthy and safe this cold and flu season.

What do you think? Is there a better way to determine when to send your child to school? Share you thoughts in the comments.

Happy Holidays!

p.s. – don’t forget, we’re still looking for contributors to help round out the content of this blog. Email info@glenrockparent.com to let us know you’re interested.

The design is dated but, more importantly, the content is organized in such a way that it makes the adults using feel like first grade students. This is true of ALL the system’s sites and it’s time for a redesign. This shouldn’t have to be costly but even if it does cost a bit, the savings gained from the reduced time supporting curious and confused parents would be well worth the cost.

What do you think? Have you used the Glen Rock School System web sites? What was your experience. Tell us in comments.