Kristin, I'm glad the news for your grandmother was in the realm of good. Still sending ~ma for your student. What an awful situation for the family.

Looks like my school will be cutting a couple of programs too, although mine seems to be safe (for which I need to thank my lucky stars, given my small class size and lack of experience).

The thing that's so frustrating to me is that I've seen the double-block solution, and I don't think it helped. Kids who weren't getting it just got two hours of not getting it. Yes, extra time should help, but I haven't seen it do so.

My school is cutting programs purely for budget reasons, not test score reasons -- I seem to have lucked out this time and gotten a school with high test scores.

good news for grandmother !

Matt sent out a bunch of resumes last night. he just got a call from one of them . He's been worried because there don't seem to be as many positons out there as there were in October. I think he is still seeing the after christmas --huh, what , oh work , that's right --. Any way , I figure as long as he is getting calls - something will show up. and more calls -- the less time for worrying.

In only tangentially related news, I hate writing recommendation letters. I mean, once I get done saying he's a wonderful student, a joy to have, and a credit to any organization that'll have him, what's left to say?

Pix, I'm glad the news about your grandmother was good. Here's hoping that family from your school hears something positive soon.

what's left to say?

If you can talk about a specific assignment where s/he impressed you with a certain skill/insight/maturity/whatever and how it made him/her stand out from the rest of the crowd, those kinds of comments are generally the only ones I really remember when I read recommendations. Bonus points if it shows the student has a sense of humor (in my world).

I see your recommendation letter and raise you two students applying to the same organization. So, I basically have to write TWO great letters. Ugh.

ION, I just threw up in the bathroom at work. That is an automatic go home early in my book. I'll be posting later from either my bed or my couch. Ugh. The messed up thing is that I actually feel better than I've felt all day.

If you can talk about a specific assignment where s/he impressed you with a certain skill/insight/maturity/whatever and how it made him/her stand out from the rest of the crowd, those kinds of comments are generally the only ones I really remember when I read recommendations.

It's just, that's kind of every assignment for this student. He just really is that good. I think I managed to say that.

Oh dear Vortex, go home and take care of yourself.

I am very upset about the mid-year budget cuts at LAUSD. I fear I can't even express my concerns rationally, I'm just left shaking my head and trying to figure out the thinking behind it. Is it that the parents should pay for extra teachers and the extra week of school if they care enough?

Not to side with the overlords, but don't they actually get less money this year? In a district as big as LA, we're talking about a crapload of money, but I know our tiny district is short a couple of million this year and teacher salaries is the largest part of the budget.

Well, as I understand it.

Emily, the thing is, the state has cut the education budget practically in half over the past few years, and though there may be waste in terms of too many administrators (from what I hear, anyway), the teachers are insanely overworked already. High school teachers average 35+ students per class and teach at least 5 classes, for example. Now they're cutting even more midway through the year with yet MORE cuts to come. It's criminal, as far as I'm concerned. I don't know how the public system is going to survive if they keep it up.