Sat 31 Jul 2010
Back-to-School Shopping Primer
Posted by admin under Education , Personal Finance , Schools No Comments
(From SmartMoney.com) Back-to-school sales are already in full swing, but shoppers hunting for bargains this year face the challenges of bigger bills and reduced store inventory. The average family will spend $606 on clothes, shoes, school supplies and electronics, according to the National Retail Foundation. That’s up 10.5% from last year’s average $549, and just slightly above the pre-recession spending of $594 in 2008. (more…)
(From the Signal) A state agency has ranked three Santa Clarita Valley elementary schools as low achievers, which allows parents to pull their students out of those schools and enroll them elsewhere. But a local educator says the ranking is flawed, adding that no exodus of students is expected in the new school year. “Our parents know that our schools are doing good jobs,” said Joan Lucid, Saugus Union School District assistant superintendent of instruction and curriculum. 
(From Science Daily) To children, the summer slide means water, garden hoses and slippery plastic sheets. To teachers, the “summer slide” is the noted decrease in reading skills after a vacation without books. University of Tennessee, Knoxville, faculty members Richard Allington and Anne McGill-Franzen have completed a three-year study showing a significantly higher level of reading achievement in students who received books for summer reading at home. Allington and McGill-Franzen are both professors of education; McGill-Franzen is also director of the Reading Center in the College of Education, Health and Human Sciences. 
Encouraging young people to continue studying and improve reading skills during the summer months, the Los Angeles County Public Library’s Summer Reading Program offers a guided course of reading on age-appropriate topics and free scheduled activities such as films, story times, crafts, and speakers for children,” announced Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich. 
(From the AP) Groups representing low-income families sued the state of California Monday in the second major legal action alleging the government is failing to adequately fund public education. The complaint was filed in Alameda County Superior Court by a coalition of parents, nonprofit advocacy groups and students representing low-income families. 
Just incase you live near the raging Santa Clara river or some other area that is prone to flodding, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works will host two free workshops on the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) on Tuesday, July 13, 2010. 
Some of those just-being-fired teachers who have practically worshipped Obama and voted for him en masse in 2010 are starting to take his picture off their desks. Like many a bride has found, a husband’s good looks may get him married, but good looks won’t keep him married if he never brings home the bacon. The problem is with the over 25,000 California teachers and 300,000 public educators in the country being laid off. It is because there is the lack of revenue yield from a feeble economy that has no money for them. 
(From Science Daily) Problems with math? And perhaps with handwriting — and motor skills? Researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) believe that the explanation for your troubles may be that not all of the cells in your eyes work the way they should. 
If you have been laid off from your job, the City of Santa Clarita WorkSource Center can help. On Tuesday, June 22, 2010 from 2:00 -3:30 p.m. the Center is hosting a FREE workshop titled “Layoff Recovery: Top Tips for Getting Back to Work” designed to provide qualified clients with the most effective methods for regaining employment. The workshop is free of charge for laid off workers, but space is limited. Those interested in participating should contact the Santa Clarita WorkSource Center to inquire about enrollment. 
The great English physicist Stephen Hawking started a furor when he created a TV show on American cable this past spring. In the feature, he warned Earthlings that any visit from creatures from out of space will be an equally horrible experience for all us people now busy fighting each other on the Earth’s landscape. Hawking compared an alien invasion to Columbus visiting and overcoming the native Americans, but he meant that it could be even worse for us Earthlings than when the Spanish conquistador Pizarro came to loot and destroy the helpless Incas. 
(From hometownstation.com) Castaic High is a step or two closer to becoming a reality, after much discussion of reams of reports given to members of the Wm. S. Hart High School Governing Board Wednesday night. An update from experts hired to do preliminary research on two favored sites for a Castaic area high school focused on traffic issues, state requirements and civil engineering studies. 
A lot of people may have forgotten, but there was a slender, quiet man named George H.W. Bush who served as president of the United States from 1989-1993. The world changed so much under Bush’s presidency that maps and globes had to be thrown out of schools and revised according to a new world order. Perhaps no one in history has ever changed the world map for the Greater Good as has this man. The old cold war ended – it was ultimately to be replaced by the present terrorism which isn’t too good either. Yet back then even the powerful USSR – the evil empire itself – in a matter of months ceased to exist during the Bush presidency. It was like a terribly ugly bubble that just burst in the sun, exuding new sweet perfumes of freedom. 
The Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health (LACDMH) will be hosting its 9th Annual Mental Health and Spirituality Conference at the California Endowment Center for Healthy Communities at 1000 North Alameda Street in Los Angeles. The 2010 Mental Health & Spirituality Conference is a forum for learning, sharing and building partnerships between faith groups and encourages involvement of the faith based community with LACDMH. 
