September 2011
57 posts
Girls 'Dare To Be Rare' at Lakewood School event... →
Sep 30th
4 tags
Sep 30th
710 notes
D300 won’t give up Sears tax dollars without a... →
This is one of the longest stories I’ve ever written, but it’s a story that ends in real consequences for one of the school districts I cover, and one you’re not hearing in major Chicago media outlets’ coverage of the possible Sears EDA extension. “EDA is not the way.” “RIP, EDA.” Allison Strupeck, director of communication services in Community Unit School District 300...
Sep 30th
So true! RT @hellogiggles Thanks to @Bagyants for @PolaRoid_rage’s Illustrated Tweet Of The Day! http://j.mp/qIKTQn
Sep 30th
1 tag
Sep 29th
214 notes
As promised: @CUSD300 approves longer high school day, 2011-12 budget. http://ht.ly/6FJvB #D300mtg
Sep 29th
Well, *I* loved that book! RT @marcusgilmer No love for Grover’s THERE’S A MONSTER AT THE END OF THIS BOOK. http://n.pr/qM2hdQ
Sep 29th
U46, D300 pass 2011-12 budgets (Sun-Times Media) →
Sep 28th
A sweet new year indeed! RT @scottkleinberg Baked pumpkin jam w/cinnamon, ginger, couscous; other Rosh Hashana recipes http://t.co/lDUlG3hV
Sep 28th
2 tags
Sep 27th
4,505 notes
ECC president: Burlington site best for safety... →
ELGIN — Elgin Community College President David Sam says the Burlington site the school has chosen for its planned Public Safety and Sustainability Center is the “best location for everything.” Sam’s comments to The Courier-News editors followed Elgin City Manager Sean Stegall’s remark last month that it “remains to be seen” whether Elgin emergency responders will use the planned training...
Sep 27th
D300 approves longer high school day, 2011-12... →
Sep 27th
Interesting fact: @CUSD300 is “one of the largest users of WikiSpaces in the country.” — Chief Technology Officer Eric Willard #D300mtg
Sep 27th
Charter school sorting out traffic problems... →
Sep 26th
This 'New Girl' Rocks: Zooey Deschanel (Lean Girls... →
This week was Fall TV Time! Or whatever it is it’s called. TV premiere week. Or the start of the new TV season, I guess. You can tell I don’t watch that much TV. I don’t even have cable — just Season Two of Mad Men on DVD and a fondness for Saturday morning cooking shows on PBS. But I did tune in for one premiere: New Girl, 9/8 Central Tuesdays on FOX. It was a little awkward, as most pilots...
Sep 26th
is taking the first steps toward membership! (@ Covenant Presbyterian Church of Chicago w/ @joelemiller) http://t.co/gwTByyTh
Sep 25th
is at the FBI girls retreat. That’s Friendship, Beauty, Independence. (@ Lakewood School) http://t.co/xTig6P1c
Sep 24th
Guess what I’ll be writing about tomorrow? Obama rolling back Bush-era education law. http://ht.ly/6CraM via @AP #NCLB #edreform
Sep 23rd
FIGURED IT OUT. You now can comment on my Tumblr-powered website. Let’s hear it!
Sep 23rd
ECC president Sam touts success of financial... →
Elgin Community College saw it coming, according to Amy Perrin, the college’s director of financial aid and scholarships. High unemployment rates, students’ outsized expectations of how much money they might make after obtaining a college degree, new government calculations of default rates on federal student loans — all have contributed to a rising default rate on those loans, Perrin said. But...
Sep 23rd
American Jobs Act works for education officials... →
Sep 23rd
With all the #weddings and updos over, it’s time to lop off all this hair! (@ Headquarters Salon) http://t.co/81XNxEhc
Sep 23rd
RT @DGreporter: @mcemilywrites I’ve never figured out why ed. gets such little play at so many papers. Tons of great stories lurking there.
Sep 22nd
Learn more about @CUSD300’s proposed longer high school day in the school district’s @YouTube debut: http://ht.ly/6AHM4 #cnbylines
Sep 21st
Dist. 300 students, parents, staff weigh in on... →
ALGONQUIN — Community Unit School District 300 talked again this week about a proposed schedule that would lengthen the school day for its high school students — this time with about 50 community members at a public forum at Jacobs High School. People at Monday’s gathering were equal parts district staff and parents, as well as a handful of students, according to a poll Assistant...
Sep 21st
Castro daughter shares stories of Cuba and its... →
ELGIN — Alina Fernandez may have been a toddler in 1959, but she said she remembers “sitting quietly in my little rocking chair with my diaper and pacifier when the cartoon I was watching on TV disappeared.” “Uncle Scrooge, his nephews and Mickey Mouse” were replaced on Cuban television by a “hairy man” whose first televised speech was seven hours long, Fernandez said. She remembers when that...
Sep 21st
Revamped special ed program ‘continuing to grow’... →
WEST DUNDEE — Thursday’s sixth-grade language arts class at Dundee Middle School started with five minutes for students to write freely on a topic in their journals. Teacher Kristine Pizzolato brought up a five-minute timer on the interactive whiteboard at the front of the classroom. Meantime, co-teacher Judy Yuvan wrote out the writing topic on the chalkboard: “Describe a place where people...
Sep 20th
is headed home to type up the questions, answers from tonight’s #D300mtg for @couriernews. Details later at www.couriernewsonline.com.
Sep 20th
D300 joins YouTube (Between the Bylines) →
Sep 19th
1 tag
My matron of honor speech at my sister's wedding
This weekend was my baby sister Annie’s wedding. It was funny (Nicole’s face, the unauthorized baby shower-looking pew bows, Jeremy and Annie massacring their cake as badly as Joel and I did) and grand (Annie’s costume change, the Hummer limo, the live band, how many bottles of champagne?) and just a tiny bit emotional (my lip definitely was a-trembling during the bride’s...
Sep 19th
Building on Beijing (Sun-Times Media) →
Sep 19th
My question is…what are the Jolie-Pitt kids going to do?! RT @julesdoyle: @mcemilywrites I told you to go with Kardashian! ;)
Sep 17th
Ha! I’ll let you know! RT @julesdoyle: @mcemilywrites But can she top the availability of food on a stick? And that cucumber lemonade?
Sep 16th
Judson ranks No. 20 in Midwest again (Sun-Times... →
Sep 15th
Koppie in race for 33rd District, too (Sun-Times... →
Sep 15th
Longer school day means more money and teachers in... →
Chicago Public Schools isn’t the only district having this debate…
Sep 15th
“I really hope Emily (McFarlan) Miller sees this too, because she’s a...”
– Anna Tarkov, on metrotimes’ “How to Kill Journalism” (Google+) Thanks, Anna. That’s one of the nicest things anybody ever did say about me… in the comments on one of the most egregious examples of -just-doesn’t-get-it in new media (not written by Anna —...
Sep 15th
University study links school bullying to lack of... →
A new study suggests not getting enough sleep can get you into trouble — and not just with your doctor. That was the conclusion of a University of Michigan study published in the journal “Sleep Medicine” last month that suggested children who are bullies are more likely to have sleep problems. It’s also something Elgin School District U46 officials said they see in schools “all the time.” “We...
Sep 14th
Judson stresses service at start of school year... →
ELGIN — When students started class at Judson University on Aug. 23, they didn’t just start into the three R’s. The first full week of class started with a focus on one S. “Part of the education of our students is service,” said Kelly Skiles, director of student life and leadership at Judson. “We have a community in need right around us, and we also have a community that has so much to offer...
Sep 14th
RT @RobertFeder: Longtime food critic Pat Bruno leaves Sun-Times with bitter taste: “It was kind of a punch in the stomach.” http://t.co …
Sep 14th
State: Channing violates federal parental... →
ELGIN — Channing Memorial Elementary School in Elgin is in violation of the parent involvement requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind Act, according to the Illinois State Board of Education. ISBE’s findings were presented to the Elgin School District U46 Board of Education by Channing parent Krista Badani at Monday night’s regular board meeting. Badani, of Elgin, is one of 59...
Sep 14th
U46 budget hearing quiet after dueling letters... →
Sep 13th
How so you teach what happened on Sept. 11, 2001, to kids who were 2 at the time? (@ Algonquin Middle School) http://t.co/oVY46nz
Sep 13th
ECC students remember 9/11 victims, push for peace... →
Sep 12th
RT @whuntah: Just so you don’t freak out, at noon tomorrow police cars and fire trucks across Chicago will sound their sirens in remembr …
Sep 11th
Here’s a really original piece on the Sept. 11 attacks: For Young Afghans, History’s Lessons Lost? http://n.pr/pUvnWY via @nprnews
Sep 10th
Surges second to announce run for 33rd state... →
Sep 9th
D300 students get a feel for art on Elgin alpaca... →
Oh, yes. There are alpacas in Elgin. And we have the photo gallery to prove it. ELGIN — Sitting cross-legged in the grass, eating a picnic lunch while watching 35 alpacas grazing in their pens nearby, these Dundee-Crown High School students weren’t in Carpentersville anymore. The 15 art students who came to the Waldron Grove Alpaca Farm, at 39W856 McDonald Road on the southwest edge of Elgin,...
Sep 8th
Comcast Internet program to help bridge ‘digital... →
Sep 7th
Happy #backtoschool, CPS! I’ll be back to work tomorrow…RT @Suntimes Mayor visits 3 schools that voted for longer day http://t.co/KxGg7JF
Sep 7th