Watch parables come to life

Posted on 07. Apr, 2010 by kchristieh in religion

I’m a visual person. I’m far more likely to remember an image I see than words I read. That’s why I love the 36 Parables video series. This innovative project is bringing the parables of Jesus to life via short films.

These films are well-made and thought-provoking. They’re not at all dorky, and their messages have really stuck with me. Here’s one of my favorites: “Sean”, about a boy who’s in big trouble at school. It’s based on the Parable of the Barren Fig Tree (Luke 13:6-9)

The 36 Parables blog advises that you view the movie first, then read the passage it’s based on, then watch it again. I found that to be especially potent, as it helped me to internalize the message of the video and of the parable better.

Which one is your favorite?

Stressing out at the fork in the road

Posted on 16. Mar, 2010 by kchristieh in education

‘Tis the season when high school seniors across the country run to the mailbox each day hoping that a big, thick envelope from the university of their choice has arrived. Until it arrives, the internet makes it easy to track how others have fared, and stress out about what that means for you or your child.

Traditional college information sites such as Princeton Review, Students Review, etc. are most useful before a student applies or after they’re accepted at a college. When you’re awaiting a response, it’s easy to get addicted to College Confidential, which hosts discussion forums on a variety of different topics and different colleges. If you’re even moderately stressed about the application process, you should proceed with caution. Once you start scanning the forums for the schools you’re applying to, you might get hooked. And chances are, your level of stress will go up, not down.

Here are some sample postings:

From the Stanford forum:

I’m hosed and depressed
I get straight A’s, but somehow my rank is 27…my classes are challenging. I don’t understand how this could happen. My friend has the exact same schedule as me but is ranked 21. I used to be rank 3 or 4. I don’t understand. I haven’t even met anyone ranked higher than me, I don’t know who these people are that are beating me. Are they tanking extra classes? I don’t know.

My chances of going to Stanford are gone now…my rank was the only thing I had going for me. All I have left are essays. Please, someone help me.

From the UCLA forum:

Welcome in my world everyone !
EVERY SINGLE PERSON told me I had good chances to get into UCLA. And yesterday night, I checked and got rejected.. People with waaaay lower scores than me got in and not me !
Even more, it was my first answer, and almost all of my other choices are Ivy Leagues..
What should I think now ?!

From the Yale forum:

I heard that Yale accepts only 1 person per school, no matter the size or reputation, no matter what. Is this true?

A response to the Yale post read:

as everyone has said, this is untrue. the fact that there is usually only one per year at some mediocre schools is probably due to the quality of the student more than to the quality of the school. it has been true in my case, but as i said that is probably due to the quality of the applicant in my school/town, not to any quota system.

Another useful but possibly-stress-inducing site is the Scattergrams section of Naviance. I believe you can only access this through a specific high school account, but many high schools offer this to their students. It plots how students at a given high school have fared when applying to a specific college, with test scores on the x-axis and GPA on the y-axis. A green dot means a student got in, and a red x means they were rejected. Here’s an example. I removed the college name, since this reflects the students at a specific high school.

Of course, don’t forget Facebook. When letters come from a given college, many kids post whether they were accepted or not.

A friend reminded me the other day that “College is not a prize to be won, but a match to be made.” Wise words to remember. I can’t wait until April 1st, I think.

Video of Kara Powell speaking on “Graduating from Faith” (Part 1)

Posted on 08. Mar, 2010 by kchristieh in religion

Who do teens say provide the most support to them? Parents or friends? What percentage of kids leave their faith behind when they leave high school? What characterizes kids who don’t leave their faith behind?

Find the answers to these and more by viewing Kara Powell’s great presentation from yesterday’s Growing Families talk at La Canada Presbyterian Church. I even purchased a Vimeo account so that I could post a 38-minute video. Mark your calendar for her next talk at 9:30 am on March 28th.

from on .

Location: La Canada Presbyterian Church (LCPC)

Date: March 7, 2010

Guest speaker: Kara E. Powell, Ph.D. Executive Director, Fuller Youth Institute, Fuller Theological Seminary

Description:

“As leaders, parents, and grandparents, we do all we can to help kids develop a faith that lasts. Yet according to research conducted by the Fuller Youth Institute, somewhere between one-third and one-half of graduating seniors pick up their diplomas and ditch their faith. Why is that? And equally important, what can we do NOW when kids are in preschool, elementary school, middle school, high school, and college to help them develop sticky faith? Regardless of how old or young the kids you care about are, come and learn all sorts of practical tips that you can apply immediately to help kids develop a faith that sticks for the long haul.”

Dr. Kara E. Powell serves as an Assistant Professor in Youth and Family Ministry and the Executive Director of the Center for Youth and Family Ministry at Fuller Theological Seminary. Prior to that, Kara was an Assistant Professor of Youth Ministry and Practical Theology at Azusa Pacific University.

In addition to her roles at Fuller Seminary, Kara currently volunteers in student ministries at Lake Avenue Church in Pasadena. She was also college pastor at Lake Avenue Church from 1995-1998 and was the Associate Youth Minister at San Diego First Assembly of God from 1991-1995. During college, Kara gained an ongoing commitment to church/parachurch partnerships during her time on Young Life Student Staff in the Stanford area.

Kara is the co-author of Deep Justice in a Broken World, Deep Ministry in a Shallow World, as well as many other books on youth and women’s ministries.

Kara is also a regular speaker at Youth Specialties National Youth Workers Conventions, Forest Home Christian Conference Center, as well as retreats and conferences across the country.

La Canada High School seeks gently-used piano

Posted on 24. Feb, 2010 by kchristieh in education, music

Do you have a gently-used upright piano gathering dust? Give it new life and get a tax-deduction by donating it to the La Canada High School instrumental music program. Funds are tight, so please consider doing your part to keep the music coming.

If you’re interested in donating your piano to this incredible program, please contact Fernando Aenlle-Rocha at or .

Please spread the word to anyone else you know who might have a piano to donate!

Top 10 Lessons Learned from nearly 14 years as a Soccer Mom

Posted on 22. Feb, 2010 by kchristieh in life lessons, parenting, sports

When I registered my preschoolers for soccer in the Fall of 1996, I never imagined that I’d be a soccer mom until 2010. My soccer-viewing days ended last Friday when my daughter’s high school team lost in the first round of CIF playoffs. Our soccer experience was sometimes rewarding, and sometimes frustrating, but always an adventure.

Along the way, I learned or confirmed the following lessons:

1. Don’t become the frog in boiling water. If someone had told us how much club soccer would impact our family, we may not have chosen to do it. Instead, the warm water just got hotter and hotter.
2. Find your niche. I had no interest in being a referee, but I loved making AYSO team banners.
3. Even though it’s hard to make a banner of a hyena, whatever you design will be ok since no one’s sure what a hyena looks like. Use lots of fur. Best mascot ever.
4. Don’t question the refs. They’re trying hard, and they’re no more perfect than anyone else. Complaining won’t change the call, and it’ll just make things stressful.
5. Expect little, so you won’t be disappointed.
6. Get a chair with a built-in umbrella.
7. Kids don’t need snacks at the end of the game. But they like them as long as they’re not healthy.
8. Always carry a blanket, extra water and a first-aid kit in the car.
9. Bad coaches don’t get better.
10. Sports aren’t as enjoyable when winning becomes more important than having a good time.

My daughter says that she learned:

1. You should always work really hard, but
2. Hard work won’t always pay off, but
3. It’s worth it when you love the sport.
4. How to get along with all sorts of people.
5. How to deal with all sorts of coaches, which has helped her to adapt to different teachers, and some day, bosses.
6. How to be a team player.

Those are good lessons.

Would I do it over again? Only if the kids wanted to. They probably would.

Tivo this: “Undercover Boss”

Posted on 15. Feb, 2010 by kchristieh in tv, work

When I studied Industrial Engineering, it seemed like everything was reduced to an acronym. Even simple concepts were reduced to three- or four-letter words. I thought that the silliest was MBWA: Management by Walking Around. Isn’t it obvious that you’ll be a better manager if you get out of your office and find out what’s going on at all levels? It’s probably the oldest management technique that exists. Apparently not everyone follows it, however, which is why the new reality show, “Undercover Boss,” is able to find company presidents whose eyes are opened to what’s really going on when they go undercover in their own organizations.

Although it’s sad that these people haven’t taken the time to do this before the show filmed them, I’m impressed that they cared enough to participate and air their company’s dirty laundry in order to make things better. The first episode followed Larry O’Donnell, the President and COO of Waste Management. He spent five days at different locations doing everything from picking up garbage on a windy hillside to accompanying a garbage truck on its daily run. He learned that directives to increase productivity were having unintended consequences such as not allowing female truck drivers to use a restroom on the route, and that staff reductions were forcing some people to do that work of five people. He met a man whose attitude towards cleaning out portable restrooms is so sunny that he inspires everyone who works with him. At the end of the show, O’Donnell brought all the people he met to the company headquarters, and when he revealed who he really was, he also promised to take what he’d learned and who he’d met to make the company better.

Last night’s episode followed Hooters’ CEO, Cody Brooks. He took over the management of the company from his father, who founded it. His father was very hands-on, and was known for visiting different stores and facilities, but Brooks hadn’t done much of that before this show. Like many women, I’m not a fan of Hooters, and this show didn’t change my mind. When a company calls women “girls”, dresses them in tight shirts with big owl’s eyes reminiscent of breasts, and has a “Humps Ahead” sign in its boardroom, I don’t consider them to be very respectful of women. I was amazed that Brooks didn’t realize the extent to which women don’t like his restaurants, but I wasn’t surprised that this company image would foster a restaurant manager who would “inspect” the “girls” before each shift and make them play “reindeer games” where they’d have to eat beans off a plate without their hands or utensils. I’m happy that Brooks had his eyes opened to what is really going on in his company and the image it has with the public, but I think it’ll be tough to surmount Hooters’ reputation.

I look forward to next Sunday’s show, which features 7-11 CEO Joe Depinto. I doubt this series will be able to continue for very long, because it’ll be harder to convince workers that a trainee with a camera crew isn’t being filmed for a reality show.

Here’s what I think the next reality show should be: “Undercover Student.” I wish someone would put a hidden camera on a student at an American high school, and see what happens on a regular day. Although there are, of course, wonderful stories of learning and friendship that take place, I’m stunned at some of the stories I hear from my kids. Perhaps I’ll blog about that in June, 2011.

Note: If you missed the first few episodes of “Undercover Boss” you can view them on the CBS website.

The Westboro Baptist Church forgets that God is love

Posted on 29. Jan, 2010 by kchristieh in religion

Here’s a shout-out to the students, parents, staff and supporters of Gunn High School in Palo Alto, CA for protesting the demonstration by the members of the Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church. These insensitive, hateful people had the nerve to tell the Gunn community that the reason that five of their students had recently committed suicide was that they failed to obey God.

“You’ll be in front of the train next! God laughs at your calamity!” shouted Margie Phelps, wearing an American flag as a skirt.

The daughter of Westboro Church founder Fred Phelps, she said that the Gunn students died because they failed to obey God, and now live in hell.

This story literally made me cry. I can’t fathom the pain that Gunn has gone through, and am completely appalled that anyone would try to drive such a knife through that hurt. The fact that these people call themselves Christian is shameful and embarrassing, and I hope that people realize that the Westboro Baptist Church does NOT represent the viewpoint of mainstream Christianity.

When the church members (oh, it hurts to call them that!) sang ugly lyrics to “America the Beautiful,” students countered with “All You Need is Love.”

They get it. Just like the rest of us, Gunn students need love. The God I embrace is a God of love, not a God of hate.

Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. (I John 4:8)

After the Gunn protest, the WBC folks (better label!) went to the Stanford campus to protest in front of the Jewish student center, Hillel. They wanted to tell Hillel students that they too were destined for Hell. I’m so proud of the Stanford response: over 1,000 people showed up in solidarity to let the WBC know that their hatred wasn’t welcome on campus. The band and the Tree were even there.

“I just wanted to come out and show them that being a Christian isn’t about hate, it’s about love,” said Monica Alcazar, a Stanford freshman and Gunn graduate.

I wish I could have been there.

Links:

• “Protestors at Gunn, Stanford confront ‘God hates America’ group” (San Jose Mercury News)
• “Op-Ed: Westboro: A Christian Response” (The Stanford Daily)
• “A Few Comments on Westboro Baptist Church’s Visits to Stanford and Gunn High School” (Fiat Lux blog)

Last field trip to Hyperion Treatment Plant

Posted on 06. Jan, 2010 by kchristieh in education, parenting, travel

Yesterday I chaperoned what will probably wind up being my last school field trip ever when I accompanied my daughter’s AP Environmental Science class to the Hyperion Treatment Plant near LAX. Thanks for inviting me, Dr. E!

We got to ride in yellow school buses without seat belts. I had fun sitting next to my friend Sharon S. We sat in front so we wouldn’t make the kids feel awkward. It was strange to be able to see so much in the rear view mirror.  Apparently, other chaperones must choose these seats, too. Of course, all the kids were quite well-behaved.

I knew we were in for some fun when this was the first sign I saw. Once the waste water is processed, the clean water is pumped 5 miles out in the ocean, 90′ below the surface, via a 12′ diameter pipe.

But first, we hung out on Dockweiler State Beach for an hour and a half while the first bus took the tour. Hey, 2006! I found your cellphone!

This plant treats 350 million gallons of wastewater from 3 million Los Angeles residents each day. That’s enough to fill up 3 or 4 Rose Bowls each day.

“Wastewater” refers to what comes from your house, not what goes down the drains in the street. That goes straight to the ocean, which is why it’s particularly important not to litter on the street.

Of course, many of us in La Canada have septic tanks, so our effluent never makes it to such a fancy treatment plant. Instead, it collects under our yards and kills our beautiful oak trees. Or mine, anyway.

Guess what’s in this truck? I hope it’s not dumping it near you.

These guys are the facility watchdogs. I think one of them is in the Witness Protection Program.

If you imagine some of the worst things that could wash down the toilet or the drain, they’ve probably been sifted here. I wouldn’t want to explain some of this to younger kids.

Our tourguide says that they’ve found motorcycle parts, money, bowling balls, and even body parts coming through. Eeek!

It smelled bad enough, so I’d hate to be around when the siren sounds.

Everything was really clean on the outside.

Water is being processed under these grids.

The architecture was impressive. The Hyperion plant was named as one of the most amazing public works projects of the 20th century.

Seagulls enjoyed feasting on the bacteria in the skimmer ponds.

Everything looked so sparkling clean. But when I see this, I still smell it…

Nancy, our tour guide, was fantastic. She was sharp, knowledgeable, and enthusiastic. Here, she’s showing how water leaves the ponds.

I didn’t take any pictures after this since we went to an underground area where photography wasn’t permitted. It reminded me of Jack Bauer’s haunts at CTU. Many movies and tv shows have been filmed at Hyperion, including Spiderman.

Nancy says that Hyperion is featured in the tourism book . You might be able to take a tour if you call ahead.

The best part of the day occurred before my daughter went to bed, when she thanked me for going on the trip. Awww!! I’m so grateful that my mere presence there didn’t embarrass her. Too bad this is our last field trip together.  :(

LCHS ranks 80th in U.S.

Posted on 10. Dec, 2009 by kchristieh in education, local news, startling statistics

Go Spartans! US News & World Report has ranked La Canada High School as #80 among U.S. public high schools. The rankings are based largely on test performance, especially the AP test. Unlike Newsweek’s rankings, the US News methodology gives weight to how schools performed on statewide assessments.

From what I can tell, the only California schools that aren’t a magnet school or a charter school that are ahead of LCHS are Gunn (Palo Alto, #67), Monte Vista (Cupertino, #70) and Piedmont (#73). San Marino, which was the only public non-magnet, non-charter school to beat La Canada on API scores, wasn’t on the top 100 list.

This is wonderful news. All schools on this list should be proud.

It bears mentioning, however, that Gunn High School has been in the news recently because four of its students have committed suicide in the past year. Is it a coincidence that this is happening at the top school? I don’t think so.

I was surprised to see that my alma mater, Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School (NJ), is even less diverse than when I attended. I assumed that nearly all U.S. high schools are more diverse these days. When I attended RFH, I think about 4% of my class was Black. These days only 1.4% of the school is, and less than 1% of the school is Asian.

Links:

• America’s Best High Schools: Gold Medal List
• California list
• Ranking methodology

New website launched: La Canada High School 9-12 PTSA

Posted on 13. Aug, 2009 by kchristieh in education, non-profits, work

When I sent my kids off to camp and Costa Rica last month, I finally found time to fulfill my 2008 New Year’s resolution and learn to incorporate a database into a website. You can see the results on the La Canada High School 9-12 PTSA website, lchs912.org. Events and news items are easy to enter and automatically show up on their correct pages and drop off the site when they expire. I’ve even set up sub-categories such as athletics and college recruiting events so that those events also show up on the appropriate pages. Although I took a PHP class last year, I chose to create this website using ExpressionEngine so that it would have a robust content management system that non-professionals would be able to use.

Another great feature of this website is the online One Check Order Form. This form used to be about 15 printed pages that were mailed to every school family. It would take a long time to fill out, as you’d need to re-enter your name and address on each page since they’d be sent to various committee chairs. I used Icebrrg to create this online form, and it takes about 3 minutes to fill out. It then takes you to PayPal to complete your payment. Icebrrg keeps track of all entries in an online or downloadable spreadsheet, so it’ll be easy for our Financial Secretary to pass the information input on to the committee chairs. Over 100 people have already clicked on the link in my Constant Contact email and completed the form.

I’m confident that this will make my job as PTSA President easier, and will make it easier to pass the website on to my successor in a few years when both my kids have graduated.

How to kill a teen’s love of reading

Posted on 11. Aug, 2009 by kchristieh in books, education

Shouldn’t one of the goals of high school English be to emphasize the joy of reading? If so, then the following isn’t likely to achieve that goal:

• Step 1: Tell students which book they have to read. Don’t give them a choice.
• Step 2: Make them read it over the summer.
• Step 3: Require them to annotate at least three comments in the margins of every page.
• Repeat with several more books.

I know someone who’s annotating George Orwell’s this week. Instead of appreciating the greater themes at the pace that the author intended, this teen is slogging through this book so slowly that all the life is being sucked out of it. It’s bittersweet when a kid says, “It actually seems like a really good book, but I’m not able to enjoy it when I do this assignment.” Big Brother, can you hear this?

I told the child that hopefully they’d remember that reading can be fun, and that when they graduate they’ll rediscover that.

Links:

• A explaining why annotating is considered so valuable. I think it’s a recipe for sucking the fun out of reading.
• My list of Non-”Teen” Books for Teens, Plus Books for Boys. Please let me know if you have any books to add.

I never ate this well at school

Posted on 16. Jun, 2009 by kchristieh in education, food

Ah, the end of the school year. Finals, stress, searching for lost textbooks, and FOOD! The best food is that which earns extra credit.

Last night my teenage son made a Key Lime Pie all by himself for his end-of-year English class party. He used a recipe from our cookbook and even managed to cut the fancy lime slice to put on top. Maybe last summer’s get-off-the-couch-and-cook deal is paying off.

Sorry the picture’s not better. I figured I was lucky he even let me take one as he ran out the door.

PTSA President 3.0: I have the gavel

Posted on 01. Jun, 2009 by kchristieh in education, local news, my life

Today I achieved the Triple Crown of PTA: I was installed as President of our high school’s PTSA. I’ve already been an elementary school PTA president and a junior high school PTA president, so I’m optimistic that those have prepared me well for this job. Unlike parenting, which gets more difficult as the kids get older, PTA President gets easier. At the elementary school I had 90 (!) positions under me, with numerous fundraisers, room representatives, docents and programs. When you added a dash of confusion over PTA bylaws, it got stressful at times. At the high school, we have only a few straightforward fundraisers, no room reps (our kids would kill us!), one program (Red Ribbon Week – any ideas?) and no docents. I’ve got a GREAT group of people on my Executive Board, and all have years of experience. I’m following in the steps of an amazing woman, and she’s done a wonderful job of paving the way.

We’re looking forward to another great year!

What high schools should really teach

Posted on 02. May, 2009 by kchristieh in education

Do you use everything you learned in high school? I doubt it. Aren’t there subjects you wish you’d studied in high school, or you wish that your children would learn? If I were in charge, here’s what I’d propose that students learn in high school in order to challenge them, excite them, and teach them lessons and skills that will enrich them and teach them to lead more productive lives:

Math: Teach geometry and algebra, but try to provide more real-life examples of when you’d use them. Instead of automatically moving kids on to trigonometry and calculus after that, encourage them to take logic and statistics. They’re much more useful, even in the teenage years. Can you imagine how cool it would be if a course could actually teach teens to be logical?

English: I wince when my sophomore son says, “I hate reading.” I don’t think he does, but I don’t blame him for saying it when he’s forced to annotate books written in non-standard English with adult themes. English class should teach kids to appreciate the power and beauty of our language, and give them the tools to comprehend and communicate. It’s important that they’re familiar with classic literature, but they’ll lose the joy of reading it if they have to pick it apart sentence by sentence. After all, that’s not what most authors intend when they write. As for contemporary literature, I’d empower kids by giving them choices, or at least not force them to read books with adult themes that perpetuate racial stereotypes. We should also expose our kids to great poetry, songs, speeches, and other forms of communication. As they learn what makes each work great, they should practice writing and speaking their own words and thoughts.

Social Studies: There’s not enough time in high school to cover all the social sciences needed to become an informed and responsible citizen, and I actually think that most high schools do an admirable job of trying. It’s important to take a general social studies course, an American history course (in America), and an economics course. When possible, I’d also recommend European history, world history, or government. I’d incorporate teaching how ethics and religion tie into any of the aforementioned classes.

Science: Instead of just concentrating on biology, chemistry and physics, I love the fact that our high school offers geology and environmental science. The last one is probably most likely to be used in the future by the most students. I’d also include some sort of computer science course in the science curriculum.

Foreign Language: I dream of the day when every American child is bilingual by the time they leave high school. I wish more kids could attend language immersion schools at younger ages, and feel confident in their language abilities by the time they enter high school. But since that’s not likely to happen soon, I’d propose that schools make more of an effort to reduce class sizes in foreign languages. Learning a foreign language requires that kids have the chance to practice it with a seasoned speaker, and that can’t happen when you have 35 kids in a class.

Physical Education: Forget running around the track and doing calisthenics. Kids should do fun activities and sports in P.E. so that they learn to enjoy exercise, and perhaps find something they’ll enjoy doing for the rest of their lives. Also, instead of requiring kids to take P.E. for 5 hours a week for freshman and sophomore years and 0 hours for junior and senior years, require 2.5 hours a week for all four years. Spread it out so that they can continue to stay in shape.

Electives: There are already many fine electives that well-funded American high schools offer, including art, drama and music. Here are a few that are often not taught:

• Accounting: Unless you’re some sort of business major in college, you probably won’t take accounting. And yet, it’s important for most people in their lives and careers. I think many high school students could handle and would benefit from an accounting class.
• Family Life / Health / Sex Ed.: Teach kids the basics of running a household, keeping healthy, and family planning.
• Typing: Supposedly kids learn it in elementary school, but I’m skeptical. Typing is so important to so many careers these days, so I’d make sure kids have this basic skill down pat.

Other notes:

• Class size: In order to implement these suggestions, class sizes would have to be small enough for teachers to give students individual attention in both the classroom and when grading papers.
• # of periods per day: Schools need to divide their school day into more than six periods to accomplish these goals.
• Teacher quality: As I’ve said in this blog before, I wish that schools had more freedom and resources to reward teachers that do a great job, mentor teachers that need help, and let go of teachers that aren’t working out in the classroom. I also wish that there were more ways to give feedback about teacher quality.
• Standardized testing: Find a way to reduce it: kids are spending too much time being tested when they could be learning. For example, if a kid achieves a certain score on the PSAT, don’t make him take the CAHSEE (CA High School Exit Exam). Don’t require the SAT II if a kid is enrolled in an AP class.

This is just a partial list. I’m sure I’d think of more things if I weren’t so determined to post this today. Please add your comments and suggestions!

People arrested for stealing $40K in athletic equipment from LCHS

Posted on 28. Mar, 2009 by kchristieh in local news, sports

From today’s Pasadena Star News:

Man, woman suspected in school burglaries

From staff reports

Posted: 03/27/2009 06:50:12 PM PDT

LA CANADA FLINTRIDGE – A man and woman were arrested Friday on suspicion of stealing about $40,000 worth of athletic equipment from two local schools in recent weeks, authorities said.

Martha McRae, 44, and Mark Wallace, 40, both of La Canada Flintridge, are suspected of breaking into La Canada High School and Flintridge Preparatory School, Los Angeles County sheriff’s Sgt. Gary Ogurek said.

The burglaries occurred over several days about three weeks ago, officials said.

Detectives investigating the burglaries served a search warrant about 8 a.m. at a home in the 2100 block of La Canada Crest Drive, Los Angeles County sheriff’s Sgt. Gary Ogurek said.

Inside, property allegedly taken in the burglaries was found, as well as information which led officials to a second location in Montrose, where more allegedly stolen property was found, the sergeant said.

The majority of the property taken from the school’s was recovered, he added.

McRae and Wallace were booked on suspicion of burglary, receiving stolen property and possession of methamphetamine for sales, Ogurek said.

According to court records, both suspects are being held in lieu of $20,000 bail and are due for arraignment in Pasadena Superior Court Wednesday.

Pink Friday at La Canada High School

Posted on 13. Mar, 2009 by kchristieh in economy, education, local news, shopping

Teachers, students and parents all turned out at La Canada High School to protest that California is cutting even more from public school system budgets. We wore pink because today is “Pink Friday,” the day that teachers who are being laid off must receive their pink slips by.

As I said in my previous post, we’re lucky that La Canada has enough reserves to absorb most of the impact of losing $1.9 million from the state this year. But I learned at this morning’s PTSA meeting that we’re expecting to have to cut $11 million from our spending in the next three years. Ouch.

I found out today that a friend got a pink slip in a nearby town, and another friend who was training new teachers saw all those people get pink slips. She won’t be training new teachers anymore (since there won’t be any) but she’s lucky she’s been around long enough to keep a job with her district.

It’s hard to believe California once took pride in its schools.

In keeping with my tradition of highlighting my favorite Etsy find of the week, here’s the pink slip I wish they were handing out instead.

Students need a grievance process so they don’t resort to extreme measures

Posted on 08. Feb, 2009 by kchristieh in education

Imagine this:

• A high school student completes the in-class assignment and hands it in. Weeks later, the teacher finally marks the grades in the online computer program and gives the student a 0, saying he didn’t complete the assignment. The student complains to the teacher, explaining that he was in class that day and handed in the assignment, but the teacher refuses to even check the attendance record. The 0 stands.
• A student is absent, and when he attends class the next day he asks the teacher what was assigned. The teacher mentions one item, but neglects to mention the other. The following day, when the teacher asks for both items, the student says he only knew about one. The teacher says he should have found out from the other students, and gives the student a 0 for the assignment.
• A student receives an assignment back from a teacher that has a grade on it, but no explanation. When the student asks the teacher for an explanation, explaining that he’s not complaining about the grade but wants to learn from his mistakes, the teacher is not able to explain the grade.
• A student’s paper is graded by a student in another class. The name on the paper is not hidden. The student in the other class doesn’t like the student who’s paper he’s grading, so he gives him a bad grade. The teacher counts the student grade for the assignment.

I’ve heard of all of these (and others) happening, but to the best of my knowledge, none of these were pursued any further. Many students and their parents are too afraid to complain about unfair situations, because they are afraid that the teachers involved will take it out on the student for the rest of the year. I can definitely sympathize.

I also sympathize with Katherine Evans, who was a high school honor student when she became frustrated with a teacher’s refusal to help her with assignments and reproach when she missed class for a blood drive. She was angry enough to post the following on Facebook:

“To those select students who have had the displeasure of having Ms. Sarah Phelps, or simply knowing her and her insane antics: Here is the place to express your feelings of hatred.”

I wouldn’t advise my kids to post that on Facebook, but it wasn’t a threat and it was no worse than what kids talk about to each other over the lunch table. Unfortunately, Katherine’s school disagreed, and two months after she posted and removed that, she was suspended for three days. She’s now fighting to remove that from her record so that it doesn’t hurt her chances of getting into graduate school or hamper her employment opportunities.

Katherine’s not the only one who complains about teachers on Facebook. A quick search of the term “worst teacher” will connect you with many Facebook groups that have formed in reaction to reviled teachers. Again, I think it’s mean and risky for a kid to join a group like that and to post on its wall, but unless it’s a threat to the teacher, I think it should be considered free speech.

The root of the problem is that students don’t have a fair grievance process when faced with an unfair situation. To be sure, there are some teachers who respect the students they teach and are willing to admit mistakes and rectify their wrongs, and there are many teachers who are careful enough to avoid these problems. Also, there are some students (and parents) who have no problem being a “squeaky wheel” and complaining about a problem. But the bulk of the students and parents I know keep their mouths shut in fear of retribution.

That’s sad. I think there should be a way for students to advocate for themselves without fear of having it backfire on them. I also think that all teachers should be encouraged to to take student concerns seriously and treat them with respect. School districts should also be sure not to give teachers such an oppressive workload that they’re tempted to cut corners and compromise the learning and grading process.

These things would take cultural changes, more supervision, an actual grievance process and more money for smaller class sizes. It’s a tough bill. But I hope it happens, because in the meantime it’s breeding a generation of cynical, cowering students.

PS – If you want a mood boost, search for the term “best teacher” on Facebook. You’ll be impressed by how many teachers have fan clubs and groups dedicated to honoring them and sharing favorite memories. I wish there were more teachers like these!!

It’s much better than a text message

Posted on 08. Oct, 2008 by kchristieh in education, parenting

It still bugs me that the kids at our local high school feel they need to make a big production out of asking each other to dances. They’re not content to merely say, “Would you please go to the dance with me?” No way! Instead, they make big signs to display at football games, write poems, bake treats, and so, so much more. It’s tough when the person being invited doesn’t want to go, and feels pressure to say “yes” since the person asking went to such an effort, and it’s devastating when a person goes to a big effort only to be shut down. It’s also tough to be one of the people who doesn’t get asked when it’s such a big deal when people do get asked.

But I’m softening in that position. I thought back to my high school years, and even when I wasn’t 100% enthused about going to a dance with someone, I would say “yes” and make sure to have a good time. I also read a newspaper article recently that lamented that kids still ask each other to homecoming via text message, and I don’t think that shows as much respect and enthusiasm as doing something special.

From now on, I won’t complain as much about the effort that our local kids go to when asking each other to dances. I just hope they have a good idea of how the person will respond before they ask. I also hope they do just as much someday when it’s their anniversary or their spouse’s birthday.
Besides, it’s really cute when the invitee responds by doing something special, like this:

Those are rose petals. Awww!!!

On the other hand, perhaps the easiest solution is just to go to a dance without a date. It frees you up to dance with whomever you want!

Every senior’s worst nightmare, solved

Posted on 26. Jun, 2008 by kchristieh in education, movies, my life

When I was a senior in high school, I applied to six colleges. That was a lot for 1981, but these days kids are often advised to apply to nine or more. Today I read about a guy who applied to 18 – and got into 17 of them!

My worst nightmare was that I wouldn’t get into any. I remember how relieved I was when I got my first acceptance letter. At least I knew I’d go somewhere, and I could exhale and relax.

But what if you don’t get in anywhere? What do you do? If you’re the main characters in the movie Accepted, you start your own college. I was too tired to work this evening, but had to stay up late to pick up my son, so I watched this on HBO with my teenage daughter. It was actually pretty good (though it completely deserved its PG-13 rating), and brought up some good topics for discussion. (fraternities, following your passion, how long four years is) It’s a silly movie, but it was the sort of brain candy we needed now that school’s out and she’s gearing up for a tough junior year.

“Bloom where you are planted.”

Posted on 29. Apr, 2008 by kchristieh in education, parenting, quotes

That’s my favorite quote from today’s NY Times article about college admissions (or lack thereof): College’s High Cost, Before You Even Apply. The message: kids (and parents) should mellow out and not define themselves by the “prestige” of the college that accepts them.

Students complain about lack of sleep, stomach pain and headaches, but doctors and educators also worry that stress tied to academic achievement can lead to depression, eating disorders and other mental health problems.

“There are some kids who can handle it,” says Denise Pope, a Stanford University education lecturer and author of , a book about stress and academics. “But some of these kids have had college on the brain since sixth or seventh grade or even earlier. When you have that kind of stress over that kind of time, that’s where it starts to worry us.”

Ms. Pope is trying to teach students and parents to get some perspective:

“College admission is how a lot of people are defining success these days,” says Dr. Pope, founder of the group. “We want to challenge people to achieve the healthier form of success, which is about character, well-being, physical and mental health and true engagement with learning”

Amen to that! I hope my children work hard but retain balance in their lives, develop healthy relationships with others, and stay ethical (no cheating or Ritalin!) in their quest for excellence. I hope they’re genuinely excited about where they wind up going to college, and make the most of wherever they go.

Feeding the masses at the Rose Bowl lacrosse tournament

Posted on 09. Mar, 2008 by kchristieh in my life, sports

Have you ever been so grateful to someone for what they do that you’ll do just about anything for them? That’s how I wound up organizing the food booth at yesterday’s Rose Bowl lacrosse tournament. My daughter’s lacrosse coach has put so much time and enthusiasm into the team that I couldn’t imagine letting her down.

At first I assumed I was ill-equipped for the job. But then I realized that running the elementary back-to-school picnic, operating a beach hot dog stand one summer, working at a restaurant in high school and overseeing various fund raising events had actually prepared me pretty well. The key was to delegate tasks, and I was fortunate to have a team of competent and energetic parents willing to take on the various positions I assigned.

We were told to expect to feed 1,000 people, so we purchased tons (literally?) of food and drinks. I’m not sure how many we fed, but we worked non-stop from 7:30 am – 5 pm. It was good that we ordered so many smoothies from Juice-It-Up and bought so many Diet Cokes to sell, but if we do it again we’ll order less pizzas. And we’ll definitely remember to bring the scissors and the Sharpie again!

The best parts were finally getting to see a lacrosse game in person and getting to know the other team parents better. I was exhausted at the end of the day, but it was worth it. Now to gather our receipts and see how much money we made. This is our team’s first year, so we need equipment and supplies to get us going.

Lacrosse is currently a fun, less intense alternative to many of the other high school sports. It’ll be sad when it goes the way of soccer, volleyball and baseball and gets too competitive. It’s nice to have a team that accepts beginners and is willing to teach them the sport.

How am I so sure this will happen? When I opened my Target toy circular yesterday, here’s what I saw on page 5. It’s just a matter of time…

Should we throw money at the schools? Yes.

Posted on 02. Mar, 2008 by kchristieh in education, startling statistics, things that bug me

Want to provoke me? Then say this,

“Throwing money at the schools won’t fix them.”

If that’s true, then

• Why do some people pay $25K a year for their kid to attend private school?
• How would we pay the teachers required to reduce our class sizes down from 31 per class in the high school?
• How would our school district pay for art, music, drama, counselors, librarians, computers and more if parents didn’t generously donate to PTA, Boosters, the Educational Foundation and more?

My husband and I attended the LCF Educational Foundation fundraiser last night. It was great to see old friends, make new ones, and raise loads of money for the schools. Our community’s lucky that it can supplement the meager money it gets from the state. Even with what the parents chip in, our district spends $6,875 per child. Unfortunately, today’s Pasadena Star News says that the state budget shortfall is expected to shrink our school district’s budget by about $2 million, or 6% of the total. That’ll be tough to do without impacting classrooms.

I recently sat on a panel with a member of the Westport, CT school board. He told the audience that his district was getting SmartBoards into the classroom. I laughed, as there’s no way we’d have money for that. I looked their district up on GreatSchools.net, and their high school spends $15,610 per pupil. It’s no wonder they have one teacher per 10 kids.

We only dream of such things in California…California dreaming, on such a winter’s day…

Going through high school with a conjoined twin

Posted on 11. Feb, 2008 by kchristieh in disabilities, inspirational people

Here’s a featuring conjoined twin girls, Abby and Brittany Hensel, who were born in 1990 and live in Minnesota. They have two spines, two stomachs, three lungs and two arms. Even so, they lead incredibly normal teenage lives, and have great attitudes. According to Wikipedia, they play sports, play piano, and even drive. They’re on track to graduate from high school this year.

Yesterday’s multicultural day

Posted on 09. Sep, 2007 by kchristieh in articles, education, music, my life, politics

Now that school’s started, our calendar is filling up! It’ll get even busier once my son’s arm has recovered enough to play club soccer again.

Yesterday was not only busy, but it was very multicultural. The first phone call of the day was from a parent who will be translating the high school PTA newsletters into Korean this year. We’ll publish our first issue soon.

Later in the morning, I took my daughter to an orientation session for the STARS tutoring program in Pasadena. It’s run through the Lake Avenue Foundation, and is supported by our church. My daughter’s going to tutor there one evening a week, and will probably tutor younger kids who are either Latino or African-American.

In the early afternoon, my husband and I attended the funeral of Donald Long Chu in Rosemead. (see obituary) His son, Newton, lived across the street from us when we lived in Pasadena. We’ll always remember Mr. Chu’s big smile, and how he loved carrying the American flag as he led the tricycle/bicycle parade at our neighborhood block parties. Before he retired, he was a film editor, and in fact was the first Chinese-American film editor in Hollywood. His son Nathan read a very touching letter from the Motion Picture Editors’ Guild praising Mr. Chu’s skill and dedication. One of the most memorable parts of the ceremony was learning that the box that contained his ashes was made from a tree that he’d planted in his yard many years ago.

After the service, we rushed to downtown Los Angeles to attend a Stanford alumni conference about Immigration. There were great speakers, including Xavier Becerra, Zoe Lofgren, Alan Acosta, Mariano-Florentino Cuellar, Hazel markus and Al Camarillo. I especially enjoyed my breakout session with Monica McDermott. My biggest takeaway from the event was that the immigration debate is often colored more by negative images of immigrants, and could benefit from a more balanced view. That’d be tough, however, as most illegal immigrants would be loathe to publicize their status.

Finally, as we were leaving the Wilshire Grand Hotel where the conference was held, we passed the venerable Prairie View A&M University Marching Storm band. We felt like we were in the presence of celebrities, since they were featured on the front page of the NY Times yesterday, hailed as having an incredibly entertaining, disciplined, and high quality band. I’d even taken the time yesterday morning to watch the online video about them. We asked some of the band members if they knew about the story, but they didn’t. It turns out they were in town to play North Carolina A&T in the Angel City Classic at the Coliseum. My husband and I are both former high school trumpeters, and we love the direction today’s innovative bands are going.

Note to self: get tickets to next year’s Angel City Classic. Unless there’s soccer, of course.

If you enjoyed this post, get free updates via email or RSS.

Top 10 Tips for Starting High School

Posted on 03. Sep, 2007 by kchristieh in education, my life, parenting

My son starts his freshman year of high school tomorrow. He’s savoring the last day of summer and the fourth day of having his cast off by playing video games and swimming with some friends. Once the friends leave, I’m going to have him read the following from Cherie Bennett’s column that I read in the San Diego Union this weekend. We’ve already spoken about #6 today, and I’ll talk to him about #5 later on this evening. Thankfully, #9’s not an issue!!!

Top 10 Tips for Starting High School

1. There’s a much bigger difference in maturity and what you can do between a 10th-grader and a 12th-grader than between a seventh-grader and a ninth-grader. Always remember who you are.
2. Don’t drink. Don’t do drugs. High school is complicated enough.
3. Don’t get in a car with anyone who ignores No. 2. Life is precious and an accident where you’re a passenger with a drunk driver is such a waste.
4. The great novelist Kurt Vonnegut said, “We are who we appear to be.” (Yeah, yeah, I wish I’d said it.) This is especially true at a big school where people don’t know the real you. Who you appear to be is what people will think you are. Act and dress accordingly.
5. Reputations are made quickly and repaired slowly. Act and dress accordingly. What your teachers decide about you in the first week will help you or hurt you.
6. Don’t get behind in your schoolwork. In fact, get ahead in your reading. You will get sick at some point during the year. It’s much more pleasant to recuperate from a stomach virus without having to read a history textbook in bed or elsewhere.
7. Make acquaintances quickly and friends slowly. There is a very good chance that your best friends from the first week of school won’t be your best friends when you graduate.
8. Never forget that despite bravado, every other new student is just as nervous as you, except for the ones who are repeating the grade. And they should be nervous.
9. Schoolwork first, boyfriend/girlfriend second.
10. Review, review, review — starting with 1 through 10!

If you enjoyed this post, get free updates via email or RSS.

People who are more special than we are

Posted on 28. Aug, 2007 by kchristieh in education, my life

I spent the last two days volunteering at high school registration. I distributed the numbered forms required to start the registration process, and made sure that kids registered at the time assigned to them so that we wouldn’t have a bottleneck at the next station.

A person’s true colors often shine through when they face adversity. I wouldn’t exactly define waiting an extra hour or two to register as an adversity, but there were some people who just couldn’t stand it. I was amazed at the number of people who begged to be the exception to the rule, even though they knew that others right next to them were also denied. There were kids who told my daughter to tell me to let them go early, and there were parents who went to the registration chairperson because they didn’t want the inconvenience of waiting. It was as if they thought they were above the rules, and more special than the others who had to wait.

Of course, most students and parents were quite gracious. They either came when it was their assigned time or politely accepted our explanation as to why they’d have to wait.

These people gained my respect, while I’m afraid to say that the others lost some of my respect.

If you enjoyed this post, get free updates via email or RSS.

Longing for the mud

Posted on 23. Jul, 2007 by kchristieh in articles, education

Here’s my new French phrase for the day: “nostalgie de la boue.” It means “longing for the mud,” as in when someone longs for something below where they really should be. Thomas Chatterton Williams uses it in his Washington Post article “Black Culture Beyond Hip-Hop.” He says that nostalgie de la boue exacts a heavy price among America’s Black youth.

The historian Paul Fussell notes that for most Americans, it is difficult to “class sink.” Try to imagine the Chinese American son of oncologists — living in, say, a New York suburb such as Westchester, attending private school — who feels subconsciously compelled to model his life, even if only superficially, on that of a Chinese mafioso dealing heroin on the Lower East Side. The cultural pressure for a middle-class Chinese American to walk, talk and act like a lower-class thug from Chinatown is nil. The same can be said of Jews, or of any other ethnic group.

But in black America the folly is so commonplace it fails to attract serious attention. Like neurotics obsessed with amputating their own healthy limbs, middle-class blacks concerned with “keeping it real” are engaging in gratuitously self-destructive and violently masochistic behavior.

Thankfully, there’s not much nostalgie de la boue in our community. Unless, of course, you count the “mud bowl” at the high school church camp…

If you enjoyed this post, get free updates via email or RSS.

Graduation: The truth hurts

Posted on 23. Jun, 2007 by kchristieh in articles, education

I think Barbara Ehrenreich is a brilliant observer of the American worker, but I probably would have been a bit depressed if I’d been a student listening to her commencement address to the Haverford College Class of 2007.

She told the graduates, “At the moment you accept your diploma today, you will have an average debt of $20,000 and no health insurance. You may be feeling desperate enough to take whatever comes along. Some of you will get caged in cubicles until you’re ejected by the next wave of layoffs.”

She continued, “Others, some of the best and brightest of you, in fact, will still be behind a counter in Starbucks or Borders three years down the road.”

She’s probably right, but how depressing is that? Is it worth pursuing your dream major if your chance of working in that field is next to nil? If that’s the case, should a student major in her second choice, which might yield a career that’s far better than if she majors in their first choice? As an engineer married to an attorney who majored in Government, I’ve had this discussion with my husband many times.

This reminds me of this American Greetings graduation card I purchased a few weeks ago. I don’t have someone to give it to yet, but it’ll have to be just the right person.

Track star teen dies from using too much pain cream

Posted on 10. Jun, 2007 by kchristieh in articles, health, parenting, sports

Here’s a sad story/cautionary tale reported in the Staten Island Advance:

A 17-year-old Notre Dame Academy track star died in April from a rare toxic dose of sports cream, the city Medical Examiner said yesterday.

Toxicology tests revealed that blood contained lethal amounts of methyl salicylate, the active ingredient in common muscle rubs like BenGay and Icy Hot, said Ellen Borakove, a spokeswoman for the medical examiner’s officer. The petite teen accidentally used “topical medication to an excess,” causing poisons to accumulate in her body over an undetermined amount of time, Ms. Borakove said.

The overdose likely led to a seizure.

I made sure to show this to my cross-country runner daughter, and warned her against using pain creams too much. I wish we knew how much is too much, however.

Cross-country running scares me. I prefer Curves.

If you enjoyed this post, get free updates via email or RSS.

Newsweek’s ridiculous high school ranking system

Posted on 23. May, 2007 by kchristieh in articles, education, startling statistics

Here’s how Newsweek says it ranks America’s public high schools in this week’s issue:

Public schools are ranked according to a ratio devised by Jay Mathews: the number of Advanced Placement, Intl. Baccalaureate and/or Cambridge tests taken by all students at a school in 2006 divided by the number of graduating seniors.

What if a school has a high dropout rate? It wouldn’t be penalized by this system. In fact, getting rid of the kids less likely to take AP tests would increase a school’s ranking. Also, what if the kids that take the test don’t pass it? (Click here for the author’s explanation of his grading process.)

There are some surprises on the list regarding the schools in our area. Marshall Fundamental School (#123) in Pasadena ranks higher than Palos Verdes (#156), La Canada (#162), Corona del Mar (#237) or San Marino (#239).

The Newsweek ranking doesn’t jive with other data. GreatSchools.net says that Marshall’s average Academic Performance Index (API) score of 699 (with a state ranking of 6/10) is far below that of La Canada (898, 10/10). In fact, GreatSchools gives Marshall a 4/10 rating overall, but it gives La Canada a 9/10 rating. Also, the Pasadena Star News reports that Marshall’s AP pass rate is only 26%. (La Canada’s pass rate last year was 84%.) It looks like Marshall does an admirable job given the demographics of the kids it serves, but I think that Newsweek’s rankings are misleading.

By the way, here are a few surprising statistics from GreatSchools.net:

• La Canada spends $6,875 per pupil, but Marshall spends $8,460 per pupil.
• Average class sizes in grades 9-12 range from 30-36 in La Canada, and from 28-29 at Marshall.
• Percentage of English Language Learners: La Canada (2%, of whom 67% speak Korean); Marshall (12%, of whom 88% speak Spanish)