Public Education

HB 400 died at midnight last night but that doesn't mean it is gone.    Parts of it or the whole bill can be attached to other legislation or brought up in a special session.
Here, again, is how the bill will hurt teachers and the public schools:

# Permanently raises the 22-1 cap in K-4 to 25-1, making it easier for school districts to fire more teachers.
# Permanently eliminates the requirement that districts cannot pay teachers less next year than they earned this year. It also eliminates the state minimum salary schedule and lets districts set their own compensation systems with their own rules.
# Permanently allows school boards to furlough teachers and reduce their salaries accordingly.
# Permanently allows a district to declare a financial emergency at any time for purposes of doing a reduction in force and permanently deletes seniority as one of the factors used in determining who is terminated if a RIF is implemented. # Permanently changes the date for notice of non-renewal to the last day of instruction.
# Permanently eliminates the use of a neutral hearing officer for mid-year terminations and replaces that with a hearing before the board.
NOW is the time to call your state representative and let him or her know what these changes will mean for you, your classroom, your school and your community. We must stop House Bill 400, and your call is critical! If you have called before, please call again. To contact your state representative, call 800-260-5444,  You can call any time.   Leaving a voice message with your representative’s office is just as good as talking to a staff member.




It is important to include the following points in your conversation or message:
# Your name, and that you live and vote in their district.
# Your own story, how laying off educators, ordering furloughs and cutting their pay would hurt the quality of education in your school and for your students.
# Ask your representative to refuse to participate in this unwarranted attack on teachers and public schools.

This will take only a few minutes of your time, and it will be time well spent. Your representative needs to hear from you NOW

stevie crashed the picture

there is one lovely patch of bluebonnets in a field sort of hidden from the rest of the world, however, the rest of the world has found it and is taking obligatory family pictures in our bluebonnets.


so yesterday i learned that earlier this week....the doggies along with dad were walking, leashes off toward our field.    stevie spied a young family with little ones and took off to become their dog.   so i called him my stupid pug a week ago, but  if he's going off and leaving his master for a group of strangers without a pause in his step....then maybe it's not personal.

anyway, he crashed their picture (think they brought their own photog) wiggled around for a while until he was full of compliments and then apparently had to be dragged off by his dad.     

dad has no control over his animals.

dog farm

i want a dog farm.   i want to farm dogs.   big dogs, little dogs, found dogs, lost dogs, pug dogs, not pug dogs.   i want a dog farm....it would be an orphanage for dogs not wanted.    because we are good dog parents...feel like we were pretty good with the kids too...but we are exceptional dog parents

it's great living close to the park so the dogs have a fun place to walk and sniff smells and chase  mammals...but there is something suburban in me that also wants a nice backyard which i don't have right now.  the big dog chases the little dog and there are trails, and some holes, and scattered toys...but very little poop.   i take care of the poop.   a dog farm...they could have their space and i could still have a nice yard.

i figured out on the TRS (teacher retirement system) calculator that technically it's 3 years until i can go out and  buy me a dog farm, or a beach house, or my small urban gem of a house at mueller ...or whatever my whim wants.   the retirement guy said it was 3 years...but i thought he meant to include this year so it wld be only two more.....WRONG.   so if i manage to keep my job during this crazy bizarre time to be an educator...i can say good bye with full benefits in 2014.

but then i would miss the ones who stomp into the classroom mad and tell me......"i'm here."

and i don't believe donald trump should keep talking unkindly about our president while  he  is wearing a comb-over and hosting a reality show.  it makes him appear desperate for attention.

and also...if you ever watched  a certain political drama on nbc a few years ..maybe six or 7 isn't a few  back....this current battle over the budget?....they'll shut down the government....people will be angry.....and i'm thinking the president will be okie dokie.   it's going perfectly according to the script.  

Bye bye

College girl

For the pug with exceptional need....

No Staying Power

Went to a Save our Schools/ Don't Cut Kids Out rally this morning.    The dogs the husband and locals from our schools, parents and kids all walked from the high school to the city park to hear State Senator Kirk Watson and the mayor of P'ville and some high school boys who give us all hope for a good future.

The problem was...Stevie has no staying power.   We walked to the start and then the route and finished close to our home.    Mattie walked around like the queen she is..sniffing and looking and behaving like a royal.   Stevie walked like a red hot mess and I feared for his death from over exertion and exhaustion.   I carried his furry black self  most of the way and we were heckled.    When we arrived at the park he cooled and sipped from the creek and proceeded to act sort of normal.   

Somewhere at some point a photo of me carrying him will surface.   I wouldn't want photo documentation of the event....but someone has it.   If it turns up, I might share.

Eagle live feed

http://www.ustream.tv/decoraheagles

for your viewing pleasure....and i needed a nice  nature experience  to counteract my last web experience with snow bunnies.

enjoy.