This is the first of many, but really made me chuckle (thanks Ida): Just got the inside word from St. Pete. Apparently when Farrah Faucet got to heaven, she was granted one wish. Farrah asked only for the children of the world to be safe. So God killed Michael Jackson. 

To quote another friend and put our celebrity obesesed culture into perspective: "In other news...149,997 non-celebrities kicked the bucket yesterday. Laid end to end, the corpses would form a line 170 miles long, the distance from New York to Baltimore..." JS

To quote another friend and put our celebrity obsessed culture into perspective:

A truly prophetic quote to sum up today's passings: "one little boys loved the other loved little boys" - TG

Big day today, Owen turns 2, and Jacob will be visited by the tooth fairy for the first time tonight

When is the last day of School in Stamford?

Dear Advocate Editor

I am writing regarding Joe Gonzalez's letter regarding the confusion surrounding when exactly Stamford Public Schools last day actually is and the subsequent article on the same subject.

I must admit that I am terribly disappointed that the only parent quoted in this article is the same Mr. Gonzalez who wrote the original letter. Did the Advocate go to any of the 21 schools in the district to talk to other parents to see if anyone else is confused or worse uninformed about the recent changes to the school calendar? A calendar that was set well over a year ago.

I believe Mr. Gonzalez's original point was that a) the district has moved the closing day twice and b) that those changes have not been well communicated to the community.

Based upon today’s article, it does not seem that the district is concerned about getting this information out, in spite of admitting that the website has had incorrect information. Sarah Arnold, spokesperson for the district says most parents are not confused or frustrated by these changed based upon the amount of complaints that have been called into the central office (and assumingly reported up to her). Is she aware of every single complaint made to the district? Is she aware of every parent that is talking to their respective schools principal about this change?

My fundamental concern is that if some parents are still unaware of when the last day of school is, then how can they complain it has changed? How can they expect others to know, since Mr. Gonzalez found out about these changes at church and not through an official school notification?

The district has a telephone calling system for just this purpose; perhaps it is not too late to call every student’s household to ensure that they are aware of the last day of school. If even one child is sent out on Wednesday morning to wait for a bus or is taken to school then clearly the district has failed to properly and effectively communicate these changes to the community.

Sincerely,

Jeff Herz

Writing copy

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The Case for Year Round School

this is a great idea from the Washington Post, whose time has to come soon. The only way for us to continue to compete in a global market is to evolve our 19th century agrarian educational model into a more modern way to teach and train our young people so that we may remain relevant now and into the future.

Though different schools and districts have different schedules, our modified calendar works like this: The first day back to school typically falls in the first week of August. The children attend regular classes for nine weeks. Then they have a two-week break, or intersession, in October, when they can choose either to attend fun, creative classes or to go on vacation. Then they have nine more weeks of school, winter break, and then a week of intersession in January. Nine more weeks of school, then a two-week intersession that bumps up against spring break. The school year ends in June, at the same time as schools on the traditional calendar. But summer break lasts five or six weeks, rather than the traditional 10.

If students choose to pursue the intersession classes, by the time they've gone from kindergarten through fifth grade, they'll have attended what amounts to an additional year of school. And this isn't just the same test-prep, paper-and-pencil, drill-and-kill stuff that so much public education has become. Done right, intersessions are a time to open minds and discover passions. At our school, students have learned karate, ballet, photography, cooking and a host of other things. Children needing extra help are invited to attend half-day remedial classes. But these are remedial classes with a twist. Like Math You Can Eat. My son learned fractions using brownies. Students learning English hone language skills in Books Come Alive by reading such classic stories as Goldilocks, writing their own scripts and acting them out.

Magnum v. Solo, sequence comparison

And now for a side by side comparison

Han Solo, P.I.

Hysterical, great example of someone with too much time their hands

considering options