Valuetainment: The Fatherless Crisis in America

 

[VIDEO] Where are the men to be part of raising healthy children? Not all parents are perfect sadly, however, I do believe you need both a mother and father for children to be successful. That's not to say a single parent can't do the job, however, the job is much more difficult.

I've been following Valuetainment for a while now and Patrick Ben-David does some pretty good social analysis. The question to ask here is are fathers the key to getting America back on track. Getting men and women to form familial bonds is what it takes to keep our young people in school? To even keeping them out of the criminal justice system?

If you watched this over nine minute video, what are you thoughts on what Mr. Ben-David is saying?

Stossel: Let charter schools teach

[VIDEO] John Stossel who I remember was something of a consumer advocate on teh ABC News program 20/20 and later joined FOX Business channel with a program highlighting the philosophy of libertarianism has been producing these short videos for Reason. It continues his work in the broadcast media as he continues to take on libertarian subjects.

In this most recent edition he takes on charter schools. Charter schools are in a number of urban school districts around the nation. Although these schools take public money they can be run like a private school. In this case Stossel looks at a charter school out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania called Boys Latin.

The question is whether or not allowing parents a choice as far as who educates their children a choice. Should they be able to chose a public, charter, or private school? Another issue touched upon is whether or not a public school district wants increased competition from these charter or private schools.

Educational family vacation still an unexcused absence

If only I could do for my kids what this father did for his in running the Boston Marathon and noting Boston's importance in American history. Alas, his school district didn't appreciate that and apparently according to state law in Pennsylvania those absenses were considered unexcused.

I understand his frustration although I don't yet have children and therefore no need to take anyone out of school. Who knows if CPS could be flexible probably not since well most public school bureaucrats are known for making similar decisions. We only know about this one because this father made it public.

Which reminds me of many stories I've heard over the years where parents go up against the public school bureaucracy. Government agencies in general may have some stringent processes and when it comes to what a parent believes is best for their children even more stringent. Unfortunately in this case, this father ran into this stringent process with no flexibility.

FYI: Bennett Elementary Parent Advisory Council Meeting

Bennett School - 10112 S. Prairie Ave.

 Received this e-mail on Sunday. Hopefully there is some interest in attending this meeting:

• Bennett Elementary Parent Advisory Council is sending an invitation to the Roseland community organizer to join our first meeting on March 6, 2015 at 6pm. As the new chairwoman, I will like to provide our parents with the best support from Bennett P.A.C, 9th Ward Alderman, and community organizers of Roseland Heights.
  
  
  Bennett Elementary Parent Advisory Council Meeting
  Bennett Elementary School
  10112 S. Prairie Ave.
  Chicago, IL 60628
  March 6, 2015
  6:00 pm
  
  Thank you,
  
  P.A.C Chairwoman
  Mattie Carter
  M.A. Geography Economic Development
  Certified Community Developer
  
  

Tribune: Chicago schools to stay open during cold snap

UPDATE 1/5/2013 5:40 PM According a report by the Chicago Sun-Times media wire the Chicago Public Schools has cancelled classes on Monday. Please continue reading this post for the CPS Hotline at the end.

UPDATE 12:25 AM Forgot to post a link. My apologies!

What you see above I have on my ABC7 app for my mobile device. The temps you see for Monday & Tuesday are expected to get that low and CPS made the following advisory according to the Chicago Tribune:

Chicago Public Schools are leaving it up to parents to decide whether their children should go to school when wind chills drop to 50 degrees below zero or colder next week. Meanwhile, some suburban school districts expect to decide Sunday whether to stay open.

All Chicago Board of Education schools are scheduled to be open Monday and Tuesday, when highs are barely expected to reach zero degrees, according to a release from CPS.

"While all District schools are slated to be open on Monday, I strongly encourage parents to use their own discretion in deciding whether to send their children to school," schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett said in the release. "We will be working throughout the weekend to ensure that our buildings and school officiails are ready to receive students on Monday."

Building engineers were to head into city schools on Sunday to turn up heat to standard classroom temperatures in preparation for children going to school Monday, according to CPS. If heating systems are malfunctioning, CPS will take students to alternate sites.

The contractors who run the CPS bus system are checking their vehicles to make certain they will be ready to arrive on-time Monday.

Parents can call CPS hotline if they have any questions: (773) 553-3100.

BTW, there is an accuweather widget on this blog if you want to keep getting updates on weather, especially updates for the weather on the days in question.