West Virginia Blue
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We are spending $2 Billion a week in Afghanistan. If you want to see zeros, that's $2,000,000,000.00 a week. It also means $104 Billion a year.
Meanwhile, we can't afford to keep our education budgets in functional condition. We can't reduce our National Debt. We can't bring down our operating deficit. And we are spending a fortune on foreign servicing (read China) of our debt.
Not pertaining directly to progressive West Virginia politics, but this is most certainly relevant to West Virginia itself.
The Elewana Education Project was recently started by West Virginia native Rev. Zachary Drennen in coordination with the Episcopal/Anglican church to help foster growth in education and sponsor children in Kenya to go to school.
I am now doing the first part of my blog regarding the Elewana Education Project in Western Kenya. As I sit here now, I am in the confines of the Katakwa Mission House in Amagoro, Kenya. This initial blog may be fairly small but the second part which will be issued in the coming weeks will be more detailed.
Before I begin I must tell the folks back home a bit about Kenya, the first rule of Kenya anyway. The first rule is that there is only one road rule. The larger vehicle has the right of way. You will try to drive on the left side of the road when it is convenient, but that is not necessarily what always happens. Potholes are a pain, and will cause large semi-trucks to flip and crash in the middle of the night. The corruption is staggering and Kenya itself is going through a rough political time due to a referendum on a much needed new constitution.
The crux of the project is to provide sponsorship through scholarships to students in the western Kenyan area in order to help foster their educational growth and advancement through the Kenyan school system. Although this is the idea of the project, it has grown into much more. Much of my time here has been spent getting the children of the schools we visit familiar with computers and helping them establish their own g-mail accounts to email each other. The computer labs were started and financed by people who donate to the non-profit education project, so its a wonderful thing to see the children's eyes widen as they see their e-mail address pop up on the screen. Their very own e-mail. Something we in the states take for granted, but to the children (and adults) in Kenya it is amazing and incredibly new and exciting to them.
A lot of the schools computer labs are powered by solar panels, also provided by the Elewana Education Project. I'll try to post pictures of the units as soon as I can but they are quite impressive to have in the rural African schools we visit. The large batteries that the units power slowly evaporate distilled water. As long as the water exists inside the batteries, and general mainteneance is upheld, then the units will last quite a long time.
The Elewana Education Project was started by Rev. Zachary Drennen and was initially only sponsoring a small amount of students. Today it sponsors roughly 130 (i believe) with scholarships that pay for the costs of their schooling. Most sponsored students are in Western Kenya, but some go to schools in Uganda as well. Crossing the border there is a pain in the rear for a white person (Mzungu in Swahili).
I am off to teach an English class today to girls hoping to become teachers. I will try to give a more detailed blog later on. For now, however, I strongly encourage you to check out the website (www.elewana.org) and see all of the great things this project is accomplishing.
Not pertaining directly to progressive West Virginia politics, but this is most certainly relevant to West Virginia itself.
The Elewana Education Project was recently started by West Virginia native Rev. Zachary Drennen in coordination with the Episcopal/Anglican church to help foster growth in education and sponsor children in Kenya to go to school.
I am now doing the first part of my blog regarding the Elewana Education Project in Western Kenya. As I sit here now, I am in the confines of the Katakwa Mission House in Amagoro, Kenya. This initial blog may be fairly small but the second part which will be issued in the coming weeks will be more detailed.
Before I begin I must tell the folks back home a bit about Kenya, the first rule of Kenya anyway. The first rule is that there is only one road rule. The larger vehicle has the right of way. You will try to drive on the left side of the road when it is convenient, but that is not necessarily what always happens. Potholes are a pain, and will cause large semi-trucks to flip and crash in the middle of the night. The corruption is staggering and Kenya itself is going through a rough political time due to a referendum on a much needed new constitution.
The crux of the project is to provide sponsorship through scholarships to students in the western Kenyan area in order to help foster their educational growth and advancement through the Kenyan school system. Although this is the idea of the project, it has grown into much more. Much of my time here has been spent getting the children of the schools we visit familiar with computers and helping them establish their own g-mail accounts to email each other. The computer labs were started and financed by people who donate to the non-profit education project, so its a wonderful thing to see the children's eyes widen as they see their e-mail address pop up on the screen. Their very own e-mail. Something we in the states take for granted, but to the children (and adults) in Kenya it is amazing and incredibly new and exciting to them.
A lot of the schools computer labs are powered by solar panels, also provided by the Elewana Education Project. I'll try to post pictures of the units as soon as I can but they are quite impressive to have in the rural African schools we visit. The large batteries that the units power slowly evaporate distilled water. As long as the water exists inside the batteries, and general mainteneance is upheld, then the units will last quite a long time.
The Elewana Education Project was started by Rev. Zachary Drennen and was initially only sponsoring a small amount of students. Today it sponsors roughly 130 (i believe) with scholarships that pay for the costs of their schooling. Most sponsored students are in Western Kenya, but some go to schools in Uganda as well. Crossing the border there is a pain in the rear for a white person (Mzungu in Swahili).
I am off to teach an English class today to girls hoping to become teachers. I will try to give a more detailed blog later on. For now, however, I strongly encourage you to check out the website (www.elewana.org) and see all of the great things this project is accomplishing.
The Appalachian Leadership and Education Foundation (ALEF), a non-profit organization funded by foundations and companies, supports and enables young men and women from Appalachia to pursue higher education though scholarship and leadership curriculum. The program includes an emphasis toward the preparation required to be the leaders of the next decade. The concept of operations for ALEF is to partner with established academic institutions across Appalachia to provide the technical skills necessary as the basis for credible leadership.
Obama picked 10 charities in all to make donations to, with ALEF being one of six charities that helps prepare students for higher education. Those six are each receiving $125,000. The other five are: American Indian College Fund, College Summit, the Hispanic Scholarship Fund, the Posse Foundation and the United Negro College Fund.
Get the word out. If you know a current high school senior who is good on civil liberties issues and looking to go to college next fall, please make sure they know about the ACLU's Youth Activist Scholarship Program.
The requirements are pretty modest.
A demonstrated commitment to civil liberties issues through some sort of activism
You have to be a high school senior
You have to be enrolled in, or planning to enroll in an accredited college or university as a full time, degree seeking student
So, if you know anyone that you feel falls into this category, please get word to them. The process of evaluatiing applications takes a little time, and the deadline is the end of November.
Debate and votes on amendments have been going on over the lasttwo days. My understanding is that this claws back the fees and subsidies to private banks for making student loans, re-invests 88% of those the savings back into community colleges, schools in areas with natural disasters and increases in Pell Grants, then returns $10 billion over ten year to the General Fund. Some colleges already have decided to skip private banks.
Agreeing to the Rule for Debate #703 241-175 Mollohan AYE
Rahal AYE
Ca-pee-toe NO
And since there are no funds for ACORN in the bill, Rep. Issa (R-CA) has a motion to recommit and amend the bill to defund ACORN. (I consider it a cheap trick.) #718 345-75 Mollohan NO
Rahal NO
Capito AYE
Final Passage H.R. 3221 to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965, and for other purposes #719 253-171 Mollohan AYE
Rahal AYE
Ca-pee-toe NO
Kudos to the students of the two West Virginia schools which earned the 2009 National Blue Ribbon Schools award. And special recognition to the teachers, the parents, and especially to the county school boards of Wirt and Hancock, WV, for their fine support.
Only 50 private schools and 264 public schools across the U.S. earned the 2009 National Blue Ribbon distinction of excellence.
Public schools are judged based on at least one of two criteria: Schools whose students, regardless of background, achieve in the top 10 percent of their state on state standardized tests; and schools with at least 40 percent of their students from disadvantaged backgrounds who demonstrate dramatic improvement and reach high levels on state tests or nationally benchmarked tests. source
Wirt County's leading industries include lumber, petroleum, hay and grain, livestock, poultry, dairying.
Although the US Geological studies show that there are some coal reserves there, they don't mine it.
In Hancock county, the jurisdiction under which Weirton's Liberty Elementary falls, the leading industries include the production of iron and steel including tin plate, chrome plate, hot and cold rolled, galvanized, and structural shapes and piling; chinaware, pottery, brick and fire clay; sheet metal; tin products; apples, dairying, livestock.
They don't choose to mine the coal reserves in that county, either.
Yet the support for their schools has been nationally recognized as EXCELLENT.
In contrast, 4 out of 5 school districts which have had to be seized by the state of WV due to lack of funding have been in counties where coal extraction is by far the top industry. And although the tons of coal produced per man efficiency is at an all time high in Mingo county, that school board has had to be taken over by the state TWICE. In fact, Mingo county's teachers have even had to circulate petitions just to could get paid a decent salary!
FACT: According to last available census data (2007) in coal-rich Mingo 24.9% of all folks living there were below the nationally recognized poverty level. In Wirt County, the rate of poverty was 18.7% and in Hancock county the 2007 poverty rate was 12.7%.
Meanwhile, the aquifer in the Ming communities of Rawl, Sprigg, Merrimac, and Lick Creek have been poisoned by Lead, manganese, arsenic, barium, selenium, iron, and beryllium.
According to a team of corporate lawyers, it is purely coincidental that Massey Energy has been injecting coal slurry in that area since 1977. And nevermind that folks in those communities are getting sick and dying at a far higher rate than non-coal producing towns.
FACT: There are more than 400 coal slurry injection sites across WV.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- If Marco and the Mountaineer can live in harmony, is there hope for fans of the Thundering Herd and the Blue and Gold?
Marshall University's Trey Barker and West Virginia University's Rebecca Durst, each the mascot for their university, grew up together in Point Pleasant and share a long friendship. Both are 20 years old.
First, both attended kindergarten at Roosevelt Elementary School in Mason County, Barker said.
On the first day of school, their friendship blossomed after one little incident.
"I guess she thought I was cute," Barker said. "She kissed me on the cheek and I ran up the hallway and told a teacher."
I'm nearly certain this is one of the signs of the impending apocalypse.
Sitting alone at night in secret study;
I have seen on the brass tripod.
A slight flame comes out of the emptiness and
makes successful that which should not be believed in vain.
Thundering Marco and Thunderous Mountain Dweller
Shall clasp hands in a season of championships
And victorious shall be their endeavors.
Nostradamus can be kind of vague and difficult to interpret.
As Governor, I was truly privileged to recognize the 2009 West Virginia Golden Horseshoe Award winners a couple of weeks. About 225 eighth graders were inducted as "knights" and "ladies" into the prestigious, historic Golden Horseshoe Society.
Having been administered since 1931, the Golden Horseshoe test acknowledges the state's top West Virginia history students. It is the longest-running program of its kind in the nation, making it a most impressive award. I commend the outstanding hard work, commitment and perseverance shown by these students. Their efforts have certainly paid off, allowing them to be the top scoring students in the Mountain State.
I applaud this year's award recipients, and I welcome each one into the Golden Horseshoe Society. Membership in this elite group is certainly a West Virginia distinction.
This year's students joined more than 15,000 students who have received this recognition - these are West Virginians we want to encourage to come back and visit the Capitol grounds. Therefore, it is with great pleasure that I officially invite all past and present Golden Horseshoe winners to attend the 2009 Golden Horseshoe Reunion on Friday, June 19, 2009 at the State Capitol.
This one-day reunion is free, and the day's festivities range from a VIP tour of the all-new State Museum to an evening concert. This event is being coordinated through the Department of Education and the Arts in conjunction with its Division of Culture and History. The deadline to register is Friday, May 15, 2009. Golden Horseshoe Winners may find out more information and register for the event by going to www.wv.gov/ghreunion or contacting the Department of Education and the Arts at 304-558-2440.
This is only the second time that past-winners have officially gathered on the Capitol grounds. The previous reunion in 1996 attracted more than 800 winners.
This reunion is a great way for our state to recognize the legacy of hundreds of outstanding West Virginia history students. I encourage all past and current winners to bring their family and friends to this reunion, which showcases the importance of our state's heritage, while also highlighting those who excelled in West Virginia history in the eighth grade.
MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan is scheduled to visit Berkeley County Tuesday on the first stop of his nationwide "listening and learning" tour, the U.S. Department of Education announced in a news release.
Duncan will meet parents and teachers at Bunker Hill Elementary School in the morning, then have lunch with students at Eagle School Intermediate from noon to 1:30 p.m.
"Our students and staff members are looking forward to meeting Secretary Duncan," Eagle School Principal Margaret Kursey said in a news release.
MARTINSBURG - U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan is expected to visit the Berkeley County Schools and Blue Ridge Community and Technical College today as part of a nationwide tour, which the department has dubbed "Listening and Learning: A Conversation about Education"
Berkeley County is the first visit on the secretary's tour.
Following a visit to Bunker Hill Elementary, where he will meet with students, Duncan will attend an event hosted by Eagle School Intermediate, where he will have lunch with students and staff members. West Virginia first lady Gayle Manchin will be in attendance as well.
Remember that old song Where Have All The Flowers Gone? A well worn and much loved anti war peace activist song. I remember it well. I sang it to my children many times.
Don't worry I am no American idol star. I cannot sing in a voice that anybody but my once young children would appreciate . So I will give those not familiar with the song the short version of the meaning of the song.
Where have all the flowers gone?
Children born, only to be lost in wars.
Where have they all gone?
Where are the flowers on the graves of the dead?
What have we done to our children?
Why do we send soldiers to their death in needless wars?
Will we ever learn? Will we never learn?
Long, long time this goes on, will we ever learn? Where have all our children gone?
I am wondering if we need to ask these same questions of parents today? Where have the parents gone? Will we never learn?
I came across the following comment. We will call it from a mom named karen. But this could have came from endless numbers of parents because I have heard this far too many times.
Here is what Karen the mom has to say.
"" BEING a calm and relaxed person, it is rare that I can be bothered to be bothered. However, my son's school has discovered exactly the right buttons to press.
Every afternoon we are faced with a barrage of spelling, maths, writing and reading. At the end of a six-hour day they send home a tired and cantankerous eight-year-old and expect me to make him complete another hour of school work.
I have half a mind to keep my kid up until 11pm and feed him doughnuts for breakfast; an exhausted kid on a sugar high should give his teachers some insight into his typical after-school mood.
Just in case there is any chance of idle time on the weekend there is additional homework in the form of assignments. Luckily I have an independent son who refuses to let me have any involvement in his projects. Perhaps he has learnt from experience and knows I'll end up glued to the table and he will get marked down for my bad spelling.
Unfortunately for him, I suspect that some of his peers, who turn out scaled models of volcanos that can erupt via remote control, may actually be wunderkinds, or perhaps they are just blessed with more capable parents.
What about the benefits of homework you may ask?
I searched for answers using the thinking woman's guide to the universe, Google. Interestingly, there was absolutely no research that measured any benefits of homework for primary school kids. On the contrary it seems that there is overwhelming evidence to suggest that homework is at best wasted time and at worst harmful to self-esteem and damaging to family relationships. One study even likened it to child abuse.""
Heard enough from the karen the moms of this world? ........... I know I have. Karen the mom........... or phil the dad............. many many parents speak like this and echo this sentiment.
Well here is what I have to say to them.
I am wondering where have all the parents gone?
To Moms like karen where ever you are.
Homework is given for many reasons and most of them have nothing to do with some attempt to abuse parents and children . Or to get teachers and schools out of work.
Lets list a few valid reasons for homework.
First and foremost .
Most classrooms are over crowded . With classes as big as 30-35 kids per one teacher it's nearly impossible for a teacher to give kids all the individual attention they need. Teachers are not super humans . They can only do so much. Homework allows a attentive parent to get involved and recognize if their child is having problems. ................. So that in partnership with the teacher and school steps can be taken to make sure the child doesn't fall behind and gets the help if needed to succeed in their school work.
A benefit parents should appreciate.
Karen the Mom complains that projects are given to kids that parents are expected to get involved in............... in todays busy working world far too many parents don't take seriously the need to spend quality time with their children after work and school.
How many families eat dinner sitting in front of the TV? parents and child absorbed in their own interests . Neither bothering to communicate in any meaningful way.................. How many nights are the kids on the computer? or playing a video game? While the parents watch their fav TV show, American Idol and NASCAR being all the rage? ................. How many families spend their time this way? ................. The answer is far too many.
What karen the mom doesn't seem to realize is that parents being expected to be involved in their childrens education is not a new thing. Good Parents consider it their active parental duty to be involved in schools and education on the norm ............. always have and always will. Nothing has changed about the way good parents stay involved in all aspects of child rearing.
What has changed is we have a generation now that was not parented very well and now they in turn have children that they do not understand how to parent well.
We came to the model of two parents working in most families not so long ago and educators began to expect less from parents.............. excusing them a bit because moms had their work duties too . But nobody excused parents completely from the duty of making sure their child is being educated and from being involved. .
If a parent is not the best advocate for their child how can they expect anybody else to be?
Far, Far too often I have heard the exact same complaints mom karen is making here.............. And frankly the same lies she tells about studies that conclude homework is detrimental to children. ( that is a lie) Anybody can come up with a study, and slant it's findings to further their intended agenda.
Mom karen saying homework is detrimental to a kid is simply a lie. or she is sorely mistake and uninformed. The educational community would back me on that. Far too often parents who are either rather uneducated themselves, lackluster about their parenting obligations, or simply lazy make the same complaints mom Karen here is making.
Frankly all they are proving is that they are poor , lackluster fairly incompetent parents. All they prove is that they hadn't given any thought into what is truly needed to educate, and raise a child properly. That now that they have them they want to assign somebody else to do their job for most of the day and have their evenings free to do as they please.
A caring parent gets involved and helps to make homework fun and productive. A caring responsible parent seeks to aid and support schools and teachers to make sure their children get the best possible education possible. A good parent does not whine because they are expected to spend time with their children or help supervise learning for their child.
Somebody needs to teach parents about the lessons and opportunities homework and time spent with their child can provide.
President Obama has made a start speaking about this.............
I will paraphrase. But a close quote............ because when I first heard him say this I stood up and applauded in my living room................ Had he not been on the TV I would have given him that standing ovation in person and then shook his hand.
President Obama when asked about the perceived poor performance of the educational system by a reporter said.
" well now hey........ we need educational reform. But that will not happen over night. More importantly what we need is for parents to remember that it's their job to raise and make sure their kids are educated. Time for parents to turn off that TV or computer in the evenings and spend time making sure that happens for their own children. Schools can't do it alone. Parents have to be involved."
Bravo Mr. President
Every time I hear that I have to stand and applaud.
So I'll end this now and applaud speaking truth to lackluster uninvolved parents for the sake of our children.
But I am wondering something. Suppose we could get permission to change some words in that old song?
Should we teach the children to sing something like this?
Where have our parents gone?
Long time passing, where have they gone?
Can't they see I need them? Can't they be with me?
When will we ever learn? Will we never learn?
I go off to school long time passing .
Mom and dad off to work , long time too.
When their gone I miss them so.
Where have my parents gone?
When will we ever learn? When will we ever learn?
Shall we teach the children to sing this song? Perhaps we will be forced to.
Because it seems we will never learn.
Clayton Stover, a 12th-grader at St. Albans High School, overheard derogatory statements for years in the school hallway.
Words like "faggot," "dyke," "That's so gay" and "queer."
"And that's unacceptable," Stover said.
With just a few weeks left in his high school experience, the senior felt the need to do something about it.
On Thursday night, he asked Kanawha County school board members to add sexual orientation to the school system's cultural diversity policy.
Stover quoted research that shows lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students are much more likely to attempt suicide than their heterosexual peers.
Many students report that they are verbally and physically harassed or assaulted because of their sexual orientation, or because they are perceived to be gay.
Stover also said many gay and lesbian youth are at risk of dropping out because they feel severe social isolation.
[snip]
School board general counsel Jim Withrow said the school system is already revamping its diversity policy. About four months ago, a group of teachers suggested the school board include sexual orientation in the policy, he said.
Board members could vote on the revisions as early as next month, he said.
The article has more details on support from Del. Carrie Webster (D-Kanawha).
Congratulations to Clayton Stover on his brave activism. It's great to hear the school board is moving in the right direction.
Here's a green idea we should enact right here in W.Va. We don't need to wait for the federal government to act, we can start prioritizing our state dollars on this immediately: Greening the School House.
Of course, it wouldn't hurt for our high-powered Congressional delegation to help make this a part of the next stimulus package, too.
We have a chance to change the way things are. We need to turn this state into a Democratic state again. Senator Byrd has asked for your help. Governor Manchin needs you. The Kennedy family, the Clinton family have all pleaded for your support. I can remember standing on picket lines in the mountains years ago during the last teacher strike. Coal miners in Tucker County stood on those lines with teachers. Today Barack and Joe Biden promise to support the unions. They promise to bring new jobs back to our country. They listen to the voices of teachers like me. Today the young people are supporting Barack Obama. He is the candidate that reaches across the races and the generations.
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