Have you ever heard anything this crazy? One middle school has lousy scores so they’re closing it and sending the kids to schools that are just as bad! What a crock! Why not HELP the school and the kids. How do they expect everyone to pass the test when half the kids don’t speak English yet????

Oh, also look at how many of the kids are low income and how many are not white. Think they’d do this at a school where all the kids are white?

Webb Middle School parents react to closure proposal

Most of more than 200 people at meeting scorn proposal.

Click-2-Listen

By Laura Heinauer
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Friday, January 26, 2007

More than 200 people packed a cafeteria at Webb Middle School on Thursday,
most of them to condemn a proposal to close the campus in May because
of students’ poor performance on state standardized tests.

“This school doesn’t even have enough textbooks to send home with the children so they can study,” said Melissa Mullins, parent of a sixth-grader. “They need more assistance, not less.”

Austin Superintendent Pat Forgione said he wants the school board to order the
campus, just west of Interstate 35 off St. Johns Avenue, closed before the state does.

The school has received the state’s lowest rating for three years, and if the students fail to meet passing standards in any area on the state achievement test this spring, the state could require closing or alternative management.

School board members, many of whom were in attendance Thursday, are expected to vote on Forgione’s proposal next month.

“We must think this through and do what’s best for our children,” Forgione
said, adding that Webb’s faculty and campus advisory council support his recommendation.

Almost one-third of Webb’s 663 students come from families that constantly move into and out of the area, which can reverse test gains. Nine of 10 Webb students are from low-income families. About half don’t understand English.

Nearly 40 percent of Webb’s teachers declined to return to the campus last year, one of
the highest teacher turnover rates among Austin middle schools.

(more…)

I am not a big football fan. But my brother is and so we watch a lot of football. Just now, on FOX, they had a story about how New Orleans still isn’t recovered from Katrina and the flooding.

They mentioned the 9^th ward and showed damaged houses and talked to victims who haven’t been able to re-build. Of course there wasn’t any mention of what happened to all the money George W promised them, but at least it was on the air.

If Jackson County Mississippi had a really good football team, you’d hear a lot about the people there that are still in trailers instead of real housing. Since they don’t, click here to read and help, and click here if you are in Texas and can help us collect furniture and appliances.

—Freckles

Good blogs regarding re-building and poltics in New Orleans:

http://www.neworleansvfp.org/taxonomy/term/20

NOLA

Pix of the damage in Mississippi

Our LA & MS pix of the continued damage

I don’t know for sure, but I think that all the contributors to this blog are all teens. I know for sure that two of them are. It’s a really cool site even though it is so professional that I feel I write like a 10-yr-old. Anyway, here’s BLUE STATE OBSERVER.

—-Freckles

.

OK, y’all. I am NOT posting this every day.  This is where I get my lists.  Click and you can check your OWN school!

— Freckles

http://news8austin.com/content/closures/

Update: It is ALL CLOSED AGAIN tomorrow. One more day off from school !

YEAY

—Freckles

Check out all the stuff that’s closed tomorrow. EVERYTHING!!! They ought to just tell us what’s OPEN during the ice storms!

Tuesday: School Cancellations, Closings & Delays

• ACE Academy
• Acorn Learning Academy in Round Rock
• Austin ISD
• A+ Learning Center in Elgin
• Austin CAN Academy
• Austin Community College
• Austin East Side Story Afterschool Program
• Austin Graduate School of Theology
• Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary
• Bartlett ISD opening at 10 a.m.
• Bastrop ISD
• Beaver Brooks Children’s Center
• Bluebonnet Montessori School of Lakeway
• Brentwood Christian School
• Brushy Creek Community Center opens at 5 a.m. All morning classes and programs are cancelled.
• Burnet CISD
• Busy Bee Learning Center
• Capital City Kids Daycare
• Calvary Episcopal Christian School
• Concordia Academy High School
• Concordia University
• Coupland ISD
• Covenant Presbyterian Preschool
• Del Valle ISD (more…)

Ice Storms
by Cassie, Elyse & Hazel*

* Hazel is NOT her real name, but she doesn’t use even her first name on the internet, so we’re calling her Hazel! Hint: only 2 of the letters match her real first name.

Think they will be able to keep WalMart out?

Today’s the last day to take the survey if you’d like your voice heard.

Freckles

(Click here or below for the survey.)

This is great.  Videos, pix, writing.  All of it.  (AND I like the theme he picked.)

http://disembedded.wordpress.com/2007/01/11/a-tribute-to-dr-martin-luther-king-jr/

Freckles

These are cool.

Freckles

This is Keith Olbermann’s speech last night on Bush’s track record. It is amazing how huge a flip-flopper this “president” is.

—Freckles

p.s. Blogging during school lunch! YIKES! I think I am an internet & poltics addict.

No dates yet, but at least a site where we will give details of the mission to deliver building supplies and appliances to Jackson County, Mississippi.
 http://texastoms.headonradionetwork.com/

—-Freckles

Look! I’m famous on someone else’s blog too!! Super-kewl!

Freckles

http://eclecticsanonymous.wordpress.com/2007/01/09/say-hi-to-freckles/

I got really sick last night and had trouble sleeping. Because I am not used to having pain during the night, I was convinced I was going to die.  (Just a little convinced.)

I woke up with a lot of pain, and my brother called the doctor. That was at 8:00. I went in to see a doctor and had an exam and some tests, and by 10:00 AM I knew what was wrong and I knew how to treat it, so I went home and went to sleep.

I have a friend who has cancer but no insurance. He also has pain all in his arm and his shoulder, and he doesn’t know if it is because of the cancer or not. He doesn’t have any medicine for the cancer or for the pain because he has no insurance and no money and no energy to even finish applying for social security. No one is helping him get those things.

The people who don’t want national health care say that it is because they don’t want to have a government program. But the doctor I saw today is an army doctor, and the army paid for my visit. I would much rather have the army tell me which doctor to see, but still know what is wrong and be able to get the medicine. That is much better than not knowing and being in pain and dying of cancer.

Freckles

Scroll down to the bottom of this post for new photos.

This is what I wrote a few weeks ago about Hurricane Katrina.

http://frecklescassie.wordpress.com/2006/12/30/helping-the-people-who-are-still-suffering-after-hurricane-katrina/

Stay tuned to this blog for more info about the donations collection for furniture, appliances, and building materials. Trip will be early February. The truck will be going from Little Elm, TX to Dallas, then Austin, then San Antonio, and finally to Jackson County Mississippi. This is the full list of what Jackson County is asking for:

Here is a list of the items we most need in Jackson County. This list came from our survey assessments and from people on the ground that have been working in the storm surge areas for the past 16 months.

1. Sheet rock
2. Roofing shingles and felt
3. 2 x 4 studs
4. Refrigerators
5. stove, gas or electric
6. washers
7. dryers
8. Furniture, Chairs and/or couches for living rooms
9. Microwave ovens
10. Standard size doors (Inside)
11. Tennis shoes for children and youth
12. Queen/double size matresses
13. Funds to purchase:
    • Groceries for senior citizens and families that have both or if there is only one parent on disability.
    • Turn on electricity in rental units, (costs between $90 – $140 per household) landlords require a down payment before a rentor can move into the property.
    • Medications for senior citizens on fixed incomes and families with parents that have both or if there is only one parent on disability.

The Jackson County Community Services Coalition is a 501 (c) 3 non-profit and we can purchase any of the above items locally and distribute to those in need if individuals or groups want to send financial support instead of paying the freight charges to the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Whatever you may decide, thank you for your support and help. For those considering on supporting these efforts for your information the Community Coalition has an independent audit completed yearly by a CPA.

Thanks,
—Freckles

This one speaks for itself. War is just completely destructive, and it is usually started for stupid reasons.

—-Freckles

Soviet matches go to war

click above to see the video

This column available at WordPress Freckles or P&M FRECKLES.

Do these flags really represent what it says?

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