Sample questions for Westest 2–instead of going to fast food place

Westest 2 sample questions By goodnessgraciouswv I complained to the CCBOE administration about them only having the sample test questions for the new Westest 2 available at fast food restaurants on the tray liners. They still don’t seem to get my issue with this, but sent me some of the questions. Not really the point, but, I will try to put them here for you, too.

Sample Westest 2 questions

FYI, these are also available online at http://westest.k12.wv.us/filelib.htm
I hope to find out from Dr. Smith if they are available in print somewhere locally for parents/public as well.

from HD: Thomas McChesney’s guest column

Thomas McChesney: Superintendent insults Highlawn community with his comments
February 19, 2009 @ 09:45 PM
The Herald-Dispatch
Comments about the Highlawn neighborhood made by Cabell County school Superintendent Bill Smith in a Feb. 12 article were insulting and disgraceful and illustrate that our Board of Education is completely out of touch with the community it serves.

Let me tell you about Highlawn. It’s filled with friendly people, affordable historic homes, parks and tree-lined streets. It’s convenient to schools and Marshall University, to entertainment and employment. It’s safe, walkable and a very desirable place to live.

The Highlawn Neighborhood Association brings neighbors together to reduce crime, fight litter, plant flowers and host community picnics. We’re partnering with the Greater Huntington Park and Recreation District to upgrade two parks. We’re partnering with schools, businesses and churches to help the needy. We’re working on walking paths, public art and recycling. We are, in fact, creating a great neighborhood where people who desire a high quality of life can restore classic homes and be part of a real community.

I fail to understand why it’s so difficult for our public schools to work with the community when private schools seem to excel at it. They raise private money, use existing buildings and land, have increasing enrollment and high college-going rates. We believe that education is a shared responsibility and is of primary concern to our community. It should be a collaborative effort.

For two years, we tried to partner with the board to locate a middle school in Highlawn. We did so because we wanted to help create a school that would be an ideal educational environment for children and an asset to our community.

For two years the board ignored our offers to help and shunned our requests for consideration. From Mr. Smith’s comments, it’s now clear that board members did so because they have a complete disrespect for our community and disregard for the environment in which children, staff, teachers and administrators learn, work and play. That is a sad condition for a public servant.

Highlawn will continue on its path to be a great community again even without Enslow Middle School. I question whether our children will do as well.

Thomas McChesney is a resident of Huntington’s Highlawn neighborhood.

Is that really an editorial?

I am still upset about YESTERDAY’s “school news” where the Superintendent declared that the people in Highlawn who think keeping a neighborhood school could save their neighborhood are wrong.  Superintendent defends decision.  First off, what expertise does he have in this area?  Secondly, it is just rude.  He manages to slam any families who rent their homes at the same time, too.  And then the article goes on to say that plans are being made to re-utilize the Beverly Hill Middle School building for a consolidated Geneva Kent and Altizer Elementary.  I’ve heard this before, but it strikes me as ridiculous to claim, on the one hand, that the building is not sufficient for instructing middle school children (too dark and not built/planned to fit today’s curricula, is I believe how it has been put), while, on the other hand, it OUGHT to be used to house even younger kids (who, in my opinion, are better served, again, by maintaining their smaller, neighborhood schools).  Not to harp on the obesity issue again, but putting kids in a school they cannot possibly walk to, with possibly limited playground space (I’m not sure about the playground possibilities at BH, but I thought I’d heard complaints that it was landlocked, and it has been a middle school, where, typically CC does not have playgrounds or recess–even though middle school experts say they ought to) cannot help with the report from just a few days ago that our kids aren’t getting enough exercise or healthy food.

Then I get up today and find that the Herald Dispatch has even MORE lovely, depressing news for me.  On the Opinions page, of all places, is a nice big story about how the Miller school building has about one year to find a taker before it is demolished.  Editorial: Miller building has year to find new use or be demolished .  I cannot figure out how THIS is an OPINION, really, and how the HD editorial board has not mentioned the whole Highlawn/Enslow/BH thing recently.

I do not have any particular thing for the Miller building, but it is a LOVELY old building (high ceilings and hardwood floors, gorgeous windows on the stairwells…) and I did sort of dream that I could get it to be an alternative school.  If it is knocked down, not only is it a waste, but that will be one less wonderful venue for a different type of school in Huntington.  I would love to buy it myself to save it from destruction, but I doubt that I can find the funds to convince the school board that I would be able to maintain it.  We need some sort of a great entrepreneur type to help, because if we had a couple of shops or offices in the building, it could easily be a community-oriented building and house a school, too..  There is a gym with a stage, a kitchen, one “newer” part of the building with bathrooms and 6 classrooms, the older/main part of the building with the offices, 13 more classrooms, each with a sink and a coatroom and those high ceilings and hardwood floors, and a couple of smaller office-type rooms.  There are large bathrooms in the basement (with two of the classrooms and two large closets), on the main floor and the third floor there are half-baths located in two of the office-type rooms.  It is on 12th Ave and 7th St and only a couple of blocks from Ritter Park.

If you are the sort of person who knows what to do with a space like this, please email me  (if you want me involved, lol) or get in touch with someone at the BOE office!  Maybe the EAGLE would like to develop a real full-time building presence??

I’m confused…(and sarcastic)…about the University Heights property for a consolidated school

I don’t KNOW that there is anything inherently wrong with the site. I am not familiar with its EXACT location or the size. I am INCENSED that the BOE thinks they ought to steal it from Prestera. I think that it is probably too close to Prestera, to Rte. 60, and to what my MeMe calls “titty bars”. I want to know where the money came from that the BOE was going to spend on this property if they had won the bid process (or, alternatively, might be paying to Prestera with the eminent domain seizure of the property since BOE lost the bid), since last January the BOE said they did NOT have any money to purchase property and that was why the ONLY property that would work would be by the Vo-Tec. Smith said in one of the articles, the BOE could have bid higher than the $1.9 million. I thought there was no money to purchase property??

See article in HD about the eminent domain thing. http://www.herald-dispatch.com/news/x181484999/BOE-votes-to-take-land-from-Prestera/index.html?show=all Look on the sidebar for related articles for the history on the property and the bids and BOE interest.

I have heard/read Mike O’Dell (operations director for the BOE) say that the Memorial Fieldhouse property wouldn’t be funded by the SBA. I thought they were trying to say that there was something about the site that did not fit the regulations or Policy 6200. I emailed the BOE today to ask about this. Apparently it is all down to the cost. Again. See more at a different article in the HD.

But, the claim (by Superintendent Bill Smith by email to me) is that there is too much traffic by the Field House (granted, but could we not ameliorate that in some way–say, a big fence and a pedestrian walkway over the road?), that the demolition is expected to be over $2.5 million (how much will the demolition of University Heights cost?, after we pay “fair market value” and take it by eminent domain from Prestera), that the drainage is bad and cannot be handled by the city, so there needs to be big holding tanks & buffer system underground for that (the second HD article says $375,000 for that). And, I’m afraid that we’ve forgotten what was said at the “Community Meeting” last January by Charles Holley who works for the city of Huntington — their experience is that they spend (if gutting an old, strong, historic building and rebuilding all the guts to be up to code) one-third less than building from scratch. I refer you also to a “comment” from the HD that is unattributed but sounds like they might know something from last January’s blog post.  And it is likely we could get the main part of the Memorial Field House for free from the Park District.  We would need to purchase some surrounding property.  So, take THAT by eminent domain.  Sheesh.  Did we only notice how wonderful the University Height property was when someone else wanted it?  Could we get someone to come up with a great plan for the Memorial Field House so that the BOE would want IT?  I know the Enslow and Highlawn parents would be happier.  I don’t know about all the people who are still ticked off about the last bond for the high schools, which resulted in the BOE offices occupying the old Huntington East High, instead of a consolidated Enslow/Beverly Hills middle school (does this sound familiar?)?

See?  I’m still confused about having the University Heights property is really saving any money.

Crystal’s comment, elevated

Comment from Crystal:
I’d be the last one to tell you to give up trying to make things better. I admire your “sticktoitness” but you realize that everyday that your kids are forced to stay within the confines of the cookie cutter education we have, they are becoming the cookie. You and I both know that we don’t have time to waste (for our kids) on fixing the system. Their formative years are fleeting. You’re completely right though. They look at a child who’s “got it” and they say “oh,, he’ll be fine, now I can focus on this kid” and who can blame them? What else can they do? We know this isn’t the teacher’s fault, it’s the system. There’s no freedom in it. Education without freedom is just total fail.
::steps off soap box::

response from Grace:
But I can’t do it! I know that I have the knowledge to teach them what they need, but I don’t know that I have the temperament to put up with them 24-hours a day, and have them do what I want without making me nuts and making them hate me! They both LIKE going to school. One of them likes TAG still. The teachers are trying–Christopher’s teacher got him put into 3rd grade math; Evan’s teacher does lots of great things and really does try to do some differentiation. I worry that if I take them out of TAG then I’m falling into some evil conspiracy of the school administration to get me to not use the “wonderful resources” they’ve provided and cut the program more.

I probably need to be a big girl and take them out of school part time. See if we kill each other. lol

My new mantra, even though it might not be helpful…

“Why should my child be the one that learns the least this year?”

This is based on the introduction to Susan Winebrenner’s orange book, Teaching Gifted Kids in the Regular Classroom.

I want to say it all the time.  But I’m not sure what that will get me.  I’m already a “troublemaker” after all.  But, maybe it will help SOMEONE who previously didn’t get why I am upset about what my kids are getting in school “get it.”  Because little Johnny who is on grade level will gain a whole grade level this year in school, and little Tommy who is below grade level might even gain more than a grade level, but my kids, who are above grade level, will probably NOT gain a whole grade level in school this year.  Is that fair?  

I know that lots of people think it is elitist for me to want more for my kids, but, why should they learn less in school than everyone else just because they started out ahead?  They learn quickly.  If given ideal circumstances, they could learn MORE than one grade level’s expected learning in one year.  And yet, alas, they probably will not.  They will “eventually even out” with the other kids.  I think that is a disservice to my children and am trying my hardest to keep it from happening.

A friend of mine works at a print shop and has got a copy of a book having to do with something called the Schoolwide Enrichment Model Reading Framework by Joseph Renzulli and is going to send it to me.  I haven’t read very much Renzulli (and I cannot go back and check since I lost most of my email messages during the tragic fried hard drive incident in November), but I’m fairly sure he is the researcher that our school district is supposedly following in their plans for the new curriculum and 21st Century Schools.  Anyhow, some related stuff is available online from the publisher, http://www.creativelearningpress.com

After I read it, I will report back.  They have some printable activities on the website that teachers, etc can use to encourage creativity in kids.

Listening to NPR this morning and the sponsor of one of the programs was George Lucas’ education foundation Edutopia, so I went and looked them up, too.  That led me to Big Picture Education.  Cool.  I haven’t read enough about the “how to get one” part…but, I am doubtful, nonetheless, as I seem to hit wall after wall trying to get something different here.

Oh, I’m also trying to read Bob Wise (former governor of WV)’s book Raising the Grade about high school reform.  I read all the parts where he used analogies about the current education our kids are getting being like driving a 1963 (?) Corvette on today’s roads…Not so safe, not so efficient, even if it was cool and great then.  But, as he points out, we are using a 100-year old (or older) model for curriculum and calendar and think we can keep using it, even though the world is so different and the jobs are so different now, and we don’t even KNOW what it will be like 20-30-50 years down the road when these kids are in the workforce.

Cabell County homeschool EAGLE

If you live in Cabell County and are homeschooling, please run, don’t walk, to the EAGLE website to read up about their classes.  The deadline to sign up is next week!!

Creativity in Education??

A friend sent me this and I LOVED it.

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html

Not sure what to do about it…

Be a role model…

Try to NOT kill creativity…

 

 

Private school and start small?

I would LOVE comments on this, as well as people telling me if they would want to send THEIR children to this type of school.

 

Today our sermon at church was about sacrifices that we have to make to do the right thing.  I was thinking AGAIN that this school is really something I would like to get off the ground, even though I keep hitting brick walls and do not know how to get past those problems.

 

So, it occurs to me that since I cannot seem to get the public school people involved, it might have to be private.  And since I can’t know yet about getting the building I would really like, it might have to start someplace else.  I think perhaps I will try to get together a “board” and do the nonprofit thing.  And start writing to foundations to get money.  I started wondering how we could start small.  I will approach the pastor (although it would probably have to also involve the Trustees, as Methodist pastors don’t stay around for years and years, especially with the new bishop) again about whether we could perhaps do a school at the church.  He said before that it would be okay for us to do a homeschool coop in the building, as long as we checked that we were following any laws.

 

We would need a Principal Teacher, I think.   Someone who has experience as a professional educator, who could be the last word for discipline and tuition collection.  So, if we could just get enough money to pay ONE full time person a decent salary.  Someone who wants to help implement a project-based curriculum.

Doing the homeschool coalition WITH a principal teacher and meeting at the church might be enough to get started.  With some grant money we could keep the tuition low.

 

It would be handy to have more computers and other science equipment, like microscopes.  If the church would let us use space, they might also let us use a few computers–there is a small computer lab with 5-6 PCs.  But more would be good.  If we couldn’t get the money for more, maybe we could require students come with a laptop.  I just got an older Mac laptop with wireless internet for under $200 and I am guessing people can find older microsoft-running laptops for less.  They would just need to do internet and wordprocessing.

 

Private schools in Huntington seem to be $2-$4k per year for tuition.  I would still prefer a tuition-free school, but am thinking perhaps we could have a sliding scale with “sweat equity” from parents to decrease tuition from those who have more time than money.

 

We would need an application process, with at least a small fee to apply for admission (could be waived as necessary).  We would need to make it clear we could not, at this time, serve physically challenged nor much in the way of mentally challenged students.  We will NOT keep students who are discipline problems.  Parents who do not pay tuition and/or sweat equity will have their children removed from the school.

 

I’m starting to bang my head about how to provide all of the coursework needed, but I’ll get to that.  Maybe if we start small and get some grants and do well, we could attract more grants and more teachers, more students, a bigger facility.  Maybe we could figure out how to get ahold of a real school building.  I will ask Suzanne Oxley again about what she thinks about the Miller school building and if it has already been “promised” to another organization.

 

Please comment or contact me off-blog!  I would love to hear what you think!!

ACTC College Camp, including my Grossology class

http://www.wsaz.com/home/headlines/19991704.html

Children Get a Dose of College Experience Save Email Print

Posted: 8:32 PM Jun 16, 2008 Last Updated: 8:32 PM Jun 16, 2008 Reporter: Carrie Cline Email Address: carrie.cline@wsaz.com 0 comments Children Get a Dose of College Experience

A | A | A ASHLAND, Ky (WSAZ) — From boogers and snot to do-re-mi: throw in a deep sea adventure and a strut down Broadway and you have a bizarre few weeks of summer fun. That’s college camp for you; ten days of adventure and discovery in a collegiate setting. It’s all a part of college camp at Ashland Community and Technical College. For the next two weeks, children ages six to 13 will get an exciting dose of learning. This is only the start of a learning experience with plenty of gross factor along the way. The kids study grossology, a study of all things gross going on in a body. They are also taking acting lessons. More than 200 children signed up for nineteen classes. College camp has been going for more than 20 years.