Safe Schools

I'm not sure how I've avoided venting on this issue for so long. I probably feared that I might offend someone or violate some protocol or requirement. Now that school is almost over for the year and after reading about another incident in another Alternative Ed. Program, I've decided to vent. I will avoid mentioning specifics myself and instead will let the news articles stand (mostly) on their own. Then I will gripe about the overall inefficiency of "The System" in regards to these events.

Most recently, students in my class mentioned that they heard a "teacher" at "Five Star" had been fired for beating a student. I immediately assessed this at about 5% chance of being accurate (or 95% BS). Googled it. Found --

Cops: Student choked teacher

By Amanda O’Rourke
The Daily Item

SUNBURY — A Winfield teenager faces assault charges after he allegedly choked a teacher at a city school Wednesday morning.

This is local news. Not something happening in the big city or on the west coast. Granted, Five Star is an alternative ed. program similar to the PATH AEP where I work. We get troubled kids with lots of anger issues. Still, it is not expected that they will just attack teachers. Why is this happening? And what is to be done?

Our program has had a similar incident.

Cops: Mom kicks man's face
Middleburg woman attacks son's teacher

By Wayne Laepple
The Daily Item

MILTON -- A Middleburg woman kicked a fallen teacher in the head and face, and pulled his hair, after her student son had gotten into trouble over a cell phone, Milton police said.

Obviously, I was there. The story is not entirely accurate. I didn't get kicked. Mr. Matt did. We did restrain the youth. No one was hurt. From the PATH end, we acted very professionally.

The question, again, is "how have we gotten to the point were students and parents have no qualm with assaulting teachers"? I have heard that Five Star had an incident about two weeks after mine that involved a parent. And if you google "student attacks teacher" you'll get (drum roll please) thirty-four million hits. Why?

Our judicial system, which is suppose to provide an expeditious and timely trial, is bogged down. In my case, the assault happened in mid-February. The preliminary hearing is scheduled for the 10th of July. I suspect that the result of that hearing will push the trial back into October. By the time anything is resolved . . .

I'd like to blame national apathy. Perhaps this trend is due to a swing back towards moral relativism. My students often justify their behavior by claiming that they don't feel like they have to treat us (the teachers) with respect because we don't treat them with respect. Maybe the confusion is in understanding what "Respect" is?

(TBC)

Bull or No Bull!?

Sometimes you wish the bull would beat the bullfighter. This time the bull did win. Be warned -- this is kinda 'gory'! (only the first minute of the video has the bull winning - after that . . .)

YMCA Day Camp Training - annual recharge

I really enjoy this time of the year. Not only is school almost over and the weather getting great, but I get to go to the Sunbury YMCA, meet some old friends, make some new ones, and share some of my ideas and knowledge in the annual Day Camp training.

And again, this year was great. I feel like my motivational battery is recharged. What a great program we have in the Greater Susquehanna Valley YMCA!

This year we focused on emergency procedures, child development and effective discipline, and song leading. It all went well. I had fun teaching everyone "singing in the rain" with additional motions added in. The last verse of the song is sung with everyone dancing with their elbows together, their knees together and bent, body bent, and tongue stuck out. I figure, what better time to get out the camera?


I ended the session with a large group team building exercise that involved jig saw puzzles and blindfolds, as well as a devious trick.


Everyone worked well together. Quality staff members. I get the feeling there will be lots of happy campers this summer.

Cross Curriculum

In an attempt to maintain our high rate of cross curriculum activities, Mr. Matt integrated the social studies current events material with the rocket portion of the physics class.

Steven Rodriguez' accused murderers get day in court

An update - the three assailants in the Steven Rodriguez murder had their first day in court. read about it in the Dialy Item -

"Steven M. Rodriguez was shot dead in his apartment May 11 after he stole marijuana from one of the three men accused of killing him, a friend and witn . . ."

Who knew orgasms could be so funny?

Mary Roach has written several laymen scientific books -- "Stiff" (about what happens to cadavers - post mortem of course), "Spook" (sciences attempt to explain what happens to our souls, if we have one, after we die), and now "Bonk" (boink, bang, the home run - scientifically of course).

TED has a video of Mary Roach speaking to an audience in California. Funny and, well . . . funny. If you don't have time to watch the whole thing, you must - MUST! - check out the segment starting at 11:00 minutes.

Kindle

I pondered the decision to buy an e-book for several months. I am a closet bibliophile and wasn't (and am still not) comfortable with the idea of not experiencing the printed word printed. There is something about the feel and smell of a good book. And I like the practice of sharing or giving away my books.

As I get older, I am recognizing the need to shed some of my material wealth, my stuff. I even did spring cleaning twice this year, just to get rid of clothes and other junk that has accumulated in my closets and other spaces. Compound this desire to not accumulate any more clutter with the rising costs of books, and you can understand why I committed what I thought was a sacrilege. I bought a Kindle. The Kindle 2, to be more precise.



And I love it! It is as thin as a pencil, fits in my book bag, can hold more books than I could haul in a car, let alone a backpack, and (thanks to e-ink technology) holds a battery charge for almost a week. E-books are generally cheaper than the book store price. And the Kindle uses cellular network to download books to my Kindle. Anywhere I can get a cell signal (in the United States), I can order and download a book. Immediate satisfaction.

I did make some concessions. I decided to justify the initial expense by banning myself from Borders and not buying any real books for four months. (I was spending around $150 a month at Borders. By not spending that money, I have made up the expense of the Kindle) I have also had to accept that I won't be able to share my books with others. E-books cannot be shared (legally) with other Kindles.

Another benefit of the Kindle is the subscription services to periodicals. I would never spend the money to subscribe to a National Newspaper like the Washington Post or the New York Times. It would be to expensive and the paper waste would rub against the few "green" nerves in my body. Kindle allows me to get the Washington Post at a very reasonable price without the waste or annoying advertising inserts. Currently, you can try a trial 2 week subscription of any of the periodicals offered on Kindle.

Biggest disappointment - within weeks of me getting my Kindle 2, Amazon came out with the Kindle DX (a 9.7" screen vs a 6" screen). It is more expensive and has some new features. I would have liked the new features. I'm not sure I mind having a smaller screen. My Kindle 2 'feels' like a paperback because of it's size. I think the bigger Kindle DX would remind me of a text book. And, although the cost difference was not prohibitive, I probably would have opted to save a few dollars and stay with a model I can chuck into my book bag.

Check the Amazon site for more details on the Kindle. I looked at several other e-books and settled on Amazons Kindle for many reasons, but I encourage you to do your own research. If your looking for a device for just reading e-books, the Kindle is it.

Bear in the backyard (my backyard is an alley!)

Trash has been an ongoing problem in downtown Milton. I'm not sure if it is an economic issue or if it is just a matter of people being lazy, but trash has piled up in the streets. The pile below sat on the opposite side of the road from the MOOSE for one week.



Other people have stacked the trash in the alleys behind the apartments. And now, look who has stopped for dinner!



The poor bear made the mistake of coming into downtown Milton for a meal. He managed to get himself cornered by a bunch a the downtown bar patrons and resorted to climbing the telephone pole. I snapped a quick shot and got the heck outta the way. I didn't want this guy to become smokey. Milton PD came by and chased away all the ogglers. Not long after, the bear climbed down, grabbed a snack, and hightailed it out of downtown.

Fringe Season Final - An Enterprising finish

Without getting into a lot of what the Fringe is about - if you cared you'd watch it - I did want to share that the series took a wild, almost Star Trek Movie like, twist at the conclusion of the season. Not only did the show introduce the possibility of an alternate reality, it also introduce Leonard Nimoy as the long hidden nemisis! I guess your never to old to get into Sci-Fi.

If you have not been watch Fringe, you can catch back episodes on Fox.com.

Star Trek

Yes - I went to see it.
Yes - It was worth a full price ticket. And,
Yes - I will go see it again; which is something I haven't done in many years (see a movie in the theater twice)



The sci-fi plot was as tight as you can get with a universe as big as the Star Trek Universe. Time travel has always been a mainstay of Star Trek. The newest movie uses time travel and alternate versions of reality to lay open a whole new frontier for the reincarnations of the original crew of the starship Enterprise.

The movie had some surprising twists (compounded by some deceptive advertising and well kept secrets) and plenty of action. The new actors seemed to comfortably take on the mantles of their predecessors, assuming some of the quirks of the original cast, while bringing along their own unique foibles. I particularly got a kick out of Scottie's new sailor worthy vocabulary. And I continue to cringe at Kirk's nut smashing leg cross when sitting in the command chair.

I'm sure their are many die hard trekkies out there who have found faults with the movie. Don't look so hard! This entry into the saga is as worthy as the best of the other movies. My question - what's next? A second movie? A TV spin-off? A couple hundred new Star Trek Novels? The universe is wide open once again.

Local shooting strikes close.

I don't often get specific with names and such when it comes to most of my students, but on this occasion I'll make an exception.

Back during the Nicole era (Nicole Bingaman and Nicole Snyder), we had a particularly difficult student. I remember a particular "run in" he had with Nicole Snyder.

Sadly, I have heard today, that he was killed last night in a shooting.

3 in custody following Snyder County murder


By Marcia Moore
The Daily Item

SHAMOKIN DAM — Three men allegedly involved in the fatal shooting of a 19-year-old man at an apartment off Routes 11-15 late Monday are in state police custody.

Steven Rodriguez was shot at an apartment at 2-78 Susquehanna Trail around 11:30 p.m. Monday and died about an hour later at Sunbury Community Hospital. An autopsy is scheduled for today at Lehigh Valley Medical Center in Allentown.

Law enforcement were on the alleged suspects' tails shortly after the shooting.

Sometime around 12:30 a.m., Fred Loreman, 43, was listening to his police scanner inside his house at the corner of Old Route 15 and New Columbia Road when he heard a vehicle was being pursued in his neighborhood.

"My ears perked up," Loreman said.

He stuck his head outside the kitchen door and saw a fast-moving vehicle traveling north on Old Route 15 with police cars in close pursuit.

"Thank God the cops were behind him with lights and sirens because that guy was really moving," he said.

Loreman said it appeared the suspect may have been trying to get onto Routes 15 or 80 and made a wrong turn and crashed into a tree behind a Short Stop convenient store next to his home.

"I was scared," he said. "I thought he was going to hit my house. I've got two young kids and they were asleep."

The occupants of the car fled the accident site, running across a creek and into a housing complex where they were nabbed.

"There were dozens of police in the area, swarming like bees," Loreman said, describing the action as like "watching an episode of 'Cops'" on television.

And from TalkRadio 1380 WMLP News --

Three charged in Snyder County homicide

SELINSGROVE – Three men have been charged with felony counts of homicide after the shooting and killing of 19-year-old Steven Rodriguez Monday night at an apartment near Runyon Road along Routes 11/15 in Monroe Township, Snyder County. 25-year-old Abdul Malik Saeed Walker of Williamsport, 25-year-old Ibrahim Musa Wells of Mill Hall and 27-year-old David Cannie of Philadelphia were arraigned Tuesday before District Judge Edward Mihalik. Rodriguez was shot around 11:30p.m., and died about an hour later at Sunbury Community Hospital. Walker, Wells and Cannie all fled the scene of the crime in a vehicle, which was later spotted in Union County. That vehicle then reportedly crashed near the Short Stop gas station in New Columbia and the three were taken into custody.
Snyder County District Attorney Mike Sholley says he believes the three knew Rodriguez. He says he does not believe the shooting was gang-related and would not confirm if it was drug-related. He says there were several witnesses to the crime. Weapons known to be involved include a shotgun and a 9mm pistol. Walker, Wells and Cannie are being held without bail in Snyder County Prison.

This is the second young person who was in our program to have died a tragic death since I started working for PATH. (the other was Ryan Francis - who I had living with me in Foster Care) It calls to question the role we - the teachers, foster parents, caseworkers, and all the others involved - have in the lives of the young people we interact with.

The pessimist might say that incidents like this one show that we have failed. But I wonder, how many youth have we had in our program that we have managed to detour onto a less destructive path?

My Facebook was hijacked by pirates (Arr!)

Seriously - my language was switched to "English-Pirate" and it was cool.

You need to try this if you are on Facebook. Log in and go all the way to the bottom of the page. On the left, just to the right of the Facebook (c) is your current language. It probably says your using English. Click on the language and look for "English - Pirates" in the language selection screen. Click it and check out you Facebook page. It will be in pirate-ese. Aarrr!

Wolverine

Took the kids to see the new x-men movie - wolverine. I enjoyed the movie, despite some glaring inconsistencies within the movie and within the franchise of movies. Most troublesome to me, in the movie, was the horrible sequence in the alley with Gambit (you'll have to see the movie to follow this). Logan knocks out Gambit and goes after Sabretooth. There is a scene cut, and we see Gambit running across the roofs of New Orleans and flying into the alley -- where he was last seen unconscious -- wielding some wicked powers from a staff. Bad editing or poor choice to include run across the roofs?

Despite the incongruity, it was a great summer flick (first of the season for me) and should be judged as such. The action was paced well through the movie. There were scenes with different characters that you wish would have gone longer, but the movie was about Wolverine, not all the mutants. And Liev Schreiber was a kick butt Sabretooth (much better than Tyler Mane in the original X-men movie). I'd say - x-men geek or not - brain candy that is worth the ticket for an entertaining evening.

And some pics of my niece

Nephew Pictures

My brother sent down a batch of photos. Here are a few of Sam.

Milton Spring Clean-up

Tony, Roy, and Lenny helped me clean the Capitol Theater Lot on Saturday. Sadly, more cigarette butts than weeds.

Good news - By the time we were done, the site looked great and is ready for the summer.