SavingStar Healthy E-Offer: Green Peppers

This week's healthy e-offer from SavingStar is 20% cash back when you buy loose Green Peppers! Ends 4/6/15

New York Education Leaders Denounce Cuomo’s Latest Teacher Evaluation Plan

The New York Council of School Superintendents and the New York School Boards Association issued the following joint statement in opposition to Governor Andrew Cuomo’s latest proposal to change teacher evaluation: Media Contacts: David Albert, NYSSBA 518-783-3716 (w), 518-320-2221(c) Robert Lowry, NYSCOSS 518-435-5996 Joint statement of Robert Reidy Jr., Executive Director of the New York […]

Aldi Opening Dates Announced

::Drumroll:: The first Richmond region Aldi grocery stores will open on April 23 on Parham Road in the West End and on Charles Dimmock Parkway in Colonial Heights.

Petit Pois in Charlottesville

While you may not be looking for a classic French boite when you visit Charlottesville, your taste buds will miss out if you overlook Petit Pois. A tiny spot situated on the Downtown Mall treated our palate and the rest of us very well.

Green is the color scheme at Petit Pois

The tiny bar at Petit Pois

The menu contains many French classics with an emphasis on locally sourced ingredients. The menu also changes based on season and sourcing.

We experienced Petit Pois during the height of Winter and selected a couple of hearty dishes from the lunch menu.

The Steak Frites delighted. Medium rare and so tender. It was just the right size and came with a lovely side salad and delicious fries.

Extremely tender steak

And the Cassoulet was perfection. The crock bubbled upon presentation with the white beans cooked through (thank goodness!) and chunks of chicken, duck, and sausage. The chicken was a bit surprising, but Petit Pois sources chickens from Polyface Farm and after cooking the chicken they pull it apart so the cassoulet contained large shredded chunks of tasty poultry. A wonderful meal on a day when snow still blanketed the ground.

Hearty fare for a cold day in Winter

We had a nice French wine from Languedoc. While lunch prices were fairly reasonable given the ingredients and preparation, wine prices were a bit higher than I would have liked. But, of course, the meal begged for wine, and we succumbed.

A nice compliment to the meal

As we finished our entrees, we lingered and decided to close out lunch with a cheese plate. There was a variety of cheese options including a house-made boursin.

A lovely ending to a delicious meal

Ah, c'est magnifique! Very happy taste buds.

Houston Chronicle: Vouchers Are a Waste and a Diversion

A few days ago, I saluted Representative Jimmie Don Aycock of Killeen, Texas, for his plan to add $3 billion to the public schools’ budget. Lt. Governor Dan Patrick, a powerful figure in the state, prefers vouchers. Happily, the Houston Chronicle published an editorial supporting Aycock and dismissing vouchers. This is the real world, folks, […]

Nearly 100 Superintendents Sign Petition to Save Public Education in NY

A group of school superintendents in New York banded together in late February to form The Alliance to Save Public Education. They began with 30 superintendents from Nassau County, Suffolk County, Westchester County, and Monroe County, and tjeir number has They invite more superintendents from across the state to join them in signing their Declaration […]

New Coupons to Print (03/29)

Hedge Clippers Revive ’60s Tactics to Exposé the 1%

Ginia Bellafante has a dynamite article in The Néw York Times about a new protest organization called the “Hedge Clippers.” The Hedge Clippers picket, demonstrate, and call attention to the political activities of the 1%. In addition to promoting the proliferation of charter schools, they lobby for low taxes–on the rich. “Two weeks ago, several […]

Are You Part of the Hunger Games?

Bonnie Margolin, a teacher in Florida, remembers a time before No Child Left Behind. She remembers when politicians did not tell teachers how to teach. She remembers when teaching was far more and different from preparing to take tests. We are now trapped in The Testing Games. Like The Hunger Games, the odds are never […]

MUST READ: Revelations of a Disillusioned Reformer

WOW. This is a remarkable and candid story of Jorge Cabrera, who joined the reform movement as a believer. He wanted to help the children of Bridgeport, where he grew up. He wanted better schools. He was a community organizer for Excel Schools. And then he learned the truth. “As I began my work in […]

Peter Greene: Why Seniority Matters

Peter Greene has a problem. He is at the top of his district’s seniority ladder. His wife is at the bottom. Under seniority rules as currently written, she would be first to be fired. He says she is an awesome teacher. Everyone tells him do. But if the legislature eliminates seniority, he will be first […]

Teachers in Washington State Speak Out Against Common Core Testing

This just in: Local Teachers Condemn New Standardized Tests REDMOND, Washington-March 26, 2015-Teachers at Redmond Middle School in the Lake Washington School District have publicly announced their objection to the “Smarter Balanced Assessments” to be administered to students this spring. Their announcement comes as educators across the nation have begun to react against standardized testing […]

Jason Stanford: “I Took the Fourth Grade Common Core ELA Test,” and It Stinks

Jason Stanford, an investigative journalist in Texas, writes that he took the fourth grade ELA test, composed of sample questions from the Smarter Balanced Assessment. He decided to do this after learning that a sixth grader challenged legislators to take the test.   A 6th grader in East Texas recently challenged state lawmakers to do […]

Audrey Beardsley: Is Néw Mexico the Silliest State or the Dumbest?

Audrey Beardsley, one of the narion’s leading experts on teacher evaluation, recently visited Néw Mexicoe and there found an unhappy, test-obsessed school system. She says Néw Mexico has gone “high stakes silly.” She attributes this to state commissioner Hanna Skandera, who was deputy commissioner in Dlorida when Jeb Bush was governor. Hanna never taught. She […]

Meet the Exhibit Hall Coordinators

by Michelle Crooker The HEAV Convention Exhibit Hall consists of nearly 102,000 square feet and more than 190 exhibitors! Who are the architects of this massive undertaking? Meet Bonnie and Cecil, Exhibit Hall coordinators for more than three years. Homeschooling...

Chicago Mom Says “Hell, No, He Won’t Go (to Testing)

Sheri Sobel, a mom in Chicago, writes:     “PARCC testing in Chicago!! My son is in 6th grade and was part of the 10% of CPS population scheduled to take the test; originally. As we are aware NOW, that CPS has to administer the test to 100% or lose IL funding to the tune […]

Susan Jolley: Thank You, Teachers

Thank you, Susan Jolley, for sending this comment. I love this line from one of my favorite works of literature (yes, fiction, not informational text, which can teach us so much about the world and what matters most even when it cannot be tallied):   There is a line at the end of George Eliot’s […]

Florida: Legislator Proposes Abolishing District Lines

A Florida legislator has proposed letting any child transfer to any public school in the state, as long as there is space available and their parents transport them. This smacks of an ALEC-style attack on communities and local control. This is not about improving education but satisfying choice ideologues. ALEC values free-market fundamentalism over community […]

Todd Farley: Opt Out

Todd Farley wrote an insider’s view of the testing industry called “Making the Grades.” I highly recommend it. He said in the book that the standardized tests should not be used to determine anyone’s future. Read it! He writes: Opting Out? ​I spent fifteen years working in the testing industry, so of course I’ll be […]

Long Island Dem Flips on Vouchers After Election

Todd Kaminsky, a Democratic Assemblyman from Long Island, stated his unequivocal opposition to Governor Cuomo’s tax credit proposal–a thinly veiled voucher that will benefit children who attend religious schools. However, the election is over, and now Assemblymember Kaminsky thinks that vouchers are a swell idea. Maybe he thought that local parents are so busy fighting […]