wiredfool

The background: On the 23rd, the the 2010 supplement to the 2009-2011 omnibus budget bill went into conference, with a line item that removes support for all schools like the Whidbey Island Academy for grades K-6. This will be discussed in committee on the 26th, and probably from there go to the floor. There’s no doubt that the state is in a budget crunch, but the way to solve that is not to push kids out of the public school system.

UPDATE — I’ve now heard from two of my three State Reps/Senator, and this has been reversed in committee. So funding is restored, at least for now. Apparently they heard from quite a lot of us.

I am writing to request your support for continued funding for Alternative Learning Experience programs to be preserved in the K-6 age range in the 2010-2011 school year budget. (Agency 350, Program 021, 2010 Policy Non-Comp Changes: 1. K-6 ALE Programs)

My son is a kindergarten student in a k-5 class in an ALE program, The Whidbey Island Academy, run by the South Whidbey School District. The Whidbey Island Academy is a parent partnered program that promotes strong interaction and cooperative learning between the student, parent, and the school teacher. This promotes one of the strongest factors in determining student performance: parental involvement in the child’s learning.

This program has performed incredibly well to teach him the basis for what he will need to develop and prosper as a student and as a productive adult. In the past 6 months, he has progressed from nearly no reading skill to reading at the second grade level and beyond. His math skills have similarly progressed well into the first grade level. Some of this is due to the instruction in the classroom, and some is due to the work that we have put in as parents. His work in the classroom tracks his progress at home, so he is not spinning his wheels in school with material that he has already mastered. Each student in the class is able to work at their own level and pace. Where he is ahead of classmates, he helps them learn in the class. Likewise, the older and more advanced students help him where they are stronger. Teaching other children is a very effective learning technique. This mix of abilities and ages in his classroom is not available in the main public school system.

Cutting funding for the ALE program will drive some students to the public schools, which may not be a good fit for those children. The projected savings from cutting the ALE programs assumes that 75% of current K-6 ALE students will turn to full-time homeschooling. While driving students out of the schools and into the home does save money, it’s not good policy. In fact, it is in direct contradiction to the recent State Supreme Court decision which states in part:

“This court is left with no doubt that under the state’s current financing system the state is failing in its constitutional duty to make ample for provision for the education of all children.”

Either way, it will be harder for these students to get the sort of customized instruction and support that they need to excel. This is not the sort of penny wise, pound foolish action that we should promote.

Please restore funding for K-6 Alternative Learning Experience programs in the 2010-2011 school year.

Mood: Calming Down.
Music: Burning Down the House (Talking Heads)

Well now. That was a nice little arc welding experiment in the oven just now. And me with a nicely heated stone and pretty well proofed bread. I was getting ready to stick a couple of loaves in, and I noticed quite a bright light from the bottom of the oven. Closer inspection told me that I didn’t really want to look directly at it. It was slowly spiraling the element fading in and out of view. Lots of sparks too. A couple of minutes after turning off the oven, I decided that I’d really rather have it stop. I wasn’t actually sure if it was an arc or just burning aluminum, but after putting a soaked cloth diaper on it and both not seeing it stop and half of the element still glowing red, I had Rose kill the breaker to the stove. That and the wet cloth stopped it. I was prepared to use the dry fire extinguisher, but I really didn’t want to coat the kitchen in the chemicals if I didn’t have to.

I know that we’ve fried the element, as it’s in a couple pieces. I suspect the controller’s dead, since it didn’t kill power to the element when I turned it off. And the bread is quite interrupted. Grrr. I wanted bread.

I doubt it’s going to be cheap to fix the controller, and I really don’t think that it’s going to be cheap to replace the whole stove.

Update — Replaced the main bake element, and things seem ok. The controller seems to work, the oven seems to heat up faster, and there’s no more scary arcing. For now anyway.