Insanity is a dish best served microwaved

I miss the drive in theater.  I remember the warm summers when I was a kid going to the local drive in with my mom and sisters.  It was always a fun occasion.  My mom didn’t like going to a traditional movie theater to see movies.  I think it might had something to do with our behavior.  Nonetheless, I always looked forward to going.  We would pop airpop popcorn into a paper bag with melted butter, get a bunch of candy from the store, and a Pizza Hut pizza to boot and head to the drive in.  

When we got there, we were able to either sit in the car or go sit outside on a blanket.  Our drive in still had the speakers or you could use your car radio.  But with the combination of the two, you could just enjoy the movie in the warm summer breeze under a clear Northern California sky.  Towards the end of the second movie, I would doze off and wrap myself under the blanket.  I could remember on numerous occassions, my mom waking me up at the end of the movie to crawl back into the car to go home.  The only sucky thing about going to the movies was cleaning the car the next day.  I remember watching Top Gun at the Drive In as well as some other great movies.

When I was in high school, one of my first driving experiences was taking my friend Rachel, her little brother and my sisters to the drive in.  This was also the first and only time so far that I ever ran over someones pet.  There were also other nights with my friends that we spent at the drive in watching movies and being teenagers.  It was a great experience and I’m sad I’m not going to be able to do it again.

I would hope that someone would see the profitability in drive ins and start to bring them back.  I think families, teens, and lovers (you thought I was going to leave that out) will appreciate the nostalgia of a good drive in movie under the stars. 

I attended the CADA conference last week.  As an exhibitor, I spent a ton of time in the exhibit hall.  Before SB 12/965, schools were allowed to sell pretty much anything they would like.  I used to LOVE going to the exhibit hall to see what fun and exciting products I might be able to introduce as fundraisers at my school the following year. This year, I was so disappointed because most of the exhibits dealt with photos, shirts, or trips.  No more fun candies or unique food items.  Bye, bye sandy candy and eatable rats… gone, gone, gone.

Don’t get me wrong, I think there needs to be some limits on what can be sold. But really there’s got to be a line somewhere.  I feel the worst for our school cafeteria staff who now have turned into the fat wardens.  They have to make sure teachers aren’t sneaking in cupcakes and pizza to class parties.  Their job is already hard enough trying to prepare hundreds of meals a day.  Now, they have to deal with whiny activities directors to why they can’t sell this or that. 

The law leaves very little room for schools to serve what students will eat.  The argument is that students will become accustom to healthier food doesn’t fly with me.  If you don’t believe me, walk onto a high school campus after lunch and see the literally masses of bagged carrots, sliced apples, and milks on the ground or in the garbage.  I am not saying we should send our children in a sugar coma every day for the sake of the all mighty dollar.  Not in the least. However we have to be realistic.  This goes back to my previous post regarding parents education their children.  If we are trying to serve food to them at lunch that is good for them and then they go home and have a cup of noodles (loaded in sodium), where is the lesson learned?  There is nothing at home reinforcing the “idea” (because we aren’t educating on healthy eating, just telling them what to eat/not eat) at home, is it going to stick?

Here’s what works for me. Post the amount of calories,  fat, and other important details RIGHT next to the food they are consuming.  Then, take it one step further… post how many minutes of regular exercise its going to take to burn that off.  It might stop Ms. Suzie or Mr. Bobby for reaching for those fries or hamburger.  We, when it comes to school law, just lay down these rules and no rationale to the people they are affecting.  If we wish to have a rule be successful, especially with teenagers, we must discuss with them the reason for the rule and the ways it will benefit them.

Because trust me, I sampled some “compliant” Nabisco Gingerbread cookies at CADA and spit them out.  They were terrible.  I would rather not eat than eat those.  So if that’s what the great State of California wishes their children to get healthy, then by all means, make things taste poorly.  They will be thin in no time.

Link to an article:

http://www.acsa.org/publications/pub_detail.cfm?&edcalID=2278

Dovetailing my previous entry, I think it is high time we pass the responsibility of raising children back on to parents.  Parent advocacy groups have fought long and hard to have so many rights be given back to parents.  Why fight them on the issues?  Give them all back to them.  This is going to turn into a rant and I feel it coming… yep, here it is.

If/When I am a site administrator, I might not suspend a student for fighting.  Why?  I don’t want to lose the ADA.  They committed a misdemeanor–call the police.  You don’t like that parents?  Well, if they were fighting in the mall, at the theater, or on the streets, that’s what would happen.  Why should school have a sheriff and a different set of rules?  That’s right.  I’m not going to be the police officer.  I have a school to run and your child is ruining it for others.  So you have an option parents.  You set up, on your own dime, some counseling and rehabilitation OUTSIDE of school hours to correct your child.  I am not talking about weeks from now–you have three days to get that counselor calling me telling me that child was in to see him/her this afternoon.   Otherwise, our cities’ finest will be called and you will be dealing with them instead.  Don’t worry.  I have a relationship with the local law enforcement and they are already expecting my phone call.  Why do this instead? Because parents, this is YOUR child, and YOUR responsible for correcting their behavior, not me or the school.  It’s high time you took some responsibility.

You don’t like sex education in the school.  Gone.  That’s your responsibility.  You just send me a little note letting me know you completed the requirement on your own terms.  But don’t blame the school when something terribly goes wrong.  We will teach your child how to be healthy and wise.  You need to teach them the morals and values of your family. 

Somehow in the mix people have gotten lazier and lazier in the past decades.  Schools in the 50s were not responsible for after school programs and RTI.  Part of my theory (I wasn’t there at the time) was parents took greater responsibility in their children’s education. Granted, the 50s was an entirely different world and family had different dynamics.  Yet, the obligation to their children is something that is completely lacking in today’s society.  We treat children like mini-adults loading them up cell phones at the age of seven and scooting them out the door on our way to work.  Well, I hate to break it to you, they are, and will always be children and not mini-adults.  Children need support, consistent boundaries, and a CHILDHOOD. 

The principal at the school I student-taught told me that she believed that parents are the primary educator of their child.  I blew it off when she told me this.  However, the further I get into education and the different angles I get to see it from, I could agree with her more.  Parents need to take back the responsibility of being parent and allow schools do what they do best–teach.

I just return from the movies with my friend Susan.  We went to see “Charlie Bartlett” and I would recommend it as a good, slightly whimsical movie. 

However, the principal character played by Robert Downing, Jr. is the character that I felt the most in the movie.  To give you a little background without blowing the movie, he was very happy teacher and moved up to administration and was deeply miserable from making the move.  Robert Downing, Jr. did a great job of emulating the tear of loyalties a principal has between being an advocate for his/her students and trying to please what seems the endless parade of parties that march through his door.  The movie also highlighted that school administrators really don’t have a social or professional outlet.  His character in the movie resulted to drinking and driving a remote control boat in his pool for his outlet.  It a sad, but very realistic, picture of a school administrator’s outside life.

I felt for his character because he really did care about his students but many of the decisions he had to make weren’t his to make–they were his to deliver.  He was just the messenger.  We all know the cute little saying about not shooting the messenger.  But as we might chuckle, we all still shoot the person delivering the news.

My point tonight on this subject is this… it’s a lonely job to run a school.  Even with your administrative staff are really on the same team.  No one wants to be a vice principal long.  No one goes through two or three additional years of education to be a vice principal.  They are going to carry the torch you give them long enough to be the one lighting the torch and passing it to someone else.  So, really, you have your students to be the ones that you can impact and change.  You don’t have to be a draconian dictator or their best friend.  But there must be balance.  You have to attend events, listen to their problem, and solicit their suggestions to improve the place.  Otherwise, you will end up with an even like a near riot and you will be out of a job.