Steven Helmer Publications

I get it's for fun/show school spirit during Homecoming week. But, to be honest, I was a bit surprised the schools still elect to do this when there is such a strong anti-bullying movement going on. As my oldest daughter suggested, they should update this to "Dress Like a Stereotype" Day and let kids dress up as nerds, dumb jocks, stuck up popular kids, etc. rather than just pick on one.

Of course, my first reaction (jokingly) was "why do I need to go to the orientation, I already graduated high school." But, I must admit, the informational meeting was pretty informative and I did come out feeling a lot more confident about my oldest daughter starting her freshman year next month. The thing I found I liked best about their setup is how they have a class period that is set aside to either "enhance" or "intervene." In other words, if a student is doing good in all of his/her classes, they can participate in an additional activity but, if they are struggling in a class, that period is used for extra time with the teacher. This was something my daughter actually needed last year, when she was struggling in algebra. She knew she needed help but her teacher never seemed to be available to help her. I'm glad, at least at the high school level, they are recognizing this is a need. I'm still not a big fan of the fact they allow studen...

school lunches were actually affordable and didn't require a bi-weekly checkbook entry that had to be budgeted around.

I woke up this morning to the news our school district will be having a 2-hour weather delay. We didn't get snow last night. But, we did have a bit of freezing rain and our superintendent must be under the impression the roads are just slick enough to justify a later start. This is an opinion I don't share. I personally thought the streets were fine and have heard the same about the country roads. At minimum, they aren't as bad as they were a few weeks ago, when we had several inches of snow and schools were on time. The most annoying part of this delay is, even though the kids get one, my wife and I don't. That means we are scrambling to rearrange our mornings so we can get them to school. We think we have it figured out (she takes the oldest daughter on her way to work and I went into the office but will come home for an early lunch and take our youngest daughter). But it is definitely an inconvenience that required a lot more forethought than it was worth.