PBMom's Blog

This Thursday's topic on the Your Family Matters segment was about homework.  Too much, not enough, or just right? 

At the center of the matter was the Spring Branch School Board is ordering a committee to review the district's homework policy to make sure students are benefitting rather than burning out from homework. 

We had the lovely Melissa, Laura and Carolyn weighing in on the issue.  

Here's my take on the issue.   And I don't expect this to be popular.

The Texas education model is one of the worst in the nation.  For people who have moved here from other states with better educational models, you know this.  For people who have never been out of this state, you have nothing to compare it to so you don't know any better and that's okay.  Senator Shapiro herself said in the August 18, 2008 Senate Committee on Education (which you can listen to on-line) that Texas is "the laughing stock" of the nation.  Indeed Texas is.

And when I share this with people, I get the  very intelligent reply (sarcasm here), "So move."  Yep, you are proving my point.  No, I will stay and I will fight for a better education for all our children, and maybe even you.  

Texas is on the "Needs Intervention" list for No Child Left Behind in 2007 yet we seem to be returning money to the federal government for No Child Left Behind, in fact $11.5 million in 2004.  We have a drop-out rate nearing 50%.  Our educational requirements do not match states like New York or Massachusetts.  Massachusetts scores the highest on national testing.  Instead of bringing up the standards, states like Mississippi is making their state testing easier to make it appear as if they are doing a better job, but we join Mississippi in the few states that "needs intervention." 

You cannot fix the homework issue until you fix the roots of the tree.  The homework issue is a branch on that tree.  You must heal the disease in the roots. 

Let's start with TEA.  They have to go.  They are being investigated for criminal activity for the moment.  They are in bed with lobbyists and lawyers that give business to each other.   Many students who are "bored" in school likely would test for gifted and talented programs, but just as with special  education, gifted and talented programs are being underfunded.  The problem is much deeper than this blog will allow, but it's a start.

Let's go next to the school boards.  Most of them are politicians who hope to leap-start their career.  Hardly anybody votes in school board elections or school bond elections.  The "I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine" starts here. 

Superintendents and upper management make far too much money and get far too many perks.  The superintendent of Conroe ISD with maybe 46,000+ students makes more than the annual salary of the Vice-President of the United States.   Granted once out of office, the VP makes far much more money and a lifetime of perks, but let's just make a direct salary-to-salary comparison.  

Our teachers.  While we have many, many hardworking good teachers, they are far too many who can't even pass the tests for the areas they are teaching.  We need to offer higher salaries to attract more intelligent people to want to teach and let go of these people who cannot pass their own tests in their own areas.  We also need to make teaching about teaching again and not about politics.  So many teachers get burned out on the politics that our educational instutitions have become. 

Our parents:  You need to take some responsibility here.  You are the first and best teachers for our kids.  If you don't or didn't do your job, don't expect the school to be the sole responsible institution for your child's education.  School is a part of the team but YOU are the captain of that team. 

Our curriculum:  We need to look to the states that have better programs, like Massachusetts, who recently received a grade of A, one of the few in the nation.  Or let's look into Japan.  Japan has an excellent curriculum and they do not assign homework.  Blogger Chassan shared that there is a school in Houston who has an afterschool program for homework help and those children in that program have a high percentage of graduation and going on to college.  Let's look at these curriculums and be open to new ideas.  What we have is not nearly adequate enough to help our children. 

Our education is our foundation for our country.  If we do not adequately educate our children, how can we expect them to inherit the problems we face in the 21st century and beyond?  Employers are saying they have to hire outside the country for positions that require a higher skill level because American is not producing these individuals. 

My son, as you know, has multiple disabilities.  His "homework" begins from the moment he wakes up until the moment he goes to bed. 

But I have wonderful memories as a student.  In elementary school, there was a group of 8 of us within the regular classroom who were allowed to work at our own pace and there was fierce competition between us about who could get the farthest the fastest and the most accurate.  It helped launch me two maths levels above my grade.  They recognized they had a group of kids who could self-teach with some mentoring. 

But let me share with you all this.  From a student point of view, I was in accelerated/AP courses in the state of New York, a state known for its outstanding educational experience, 10th in my class of 1000 in junior year, 2nd in my class in Florida when I graduated.  I had hours upon hours of homework to do.  None of my teachers coordinated anything about homework.  In junior year, in one particular semester, I got scheduled double English classes.  My schedule looked something like this:   Fantasy (with the hardest English teacher our school had who rarely gave out A's)/Lyric Writing, Debate, AP American History, French, Chemistry (with the tougher teacher), 12th grade Calculus along with fun classes like PE, Chorus, etc.   All this without the benefit of the internet I must add.  All my research was done in our city's library.  We had our assignments; we were expected to do them and we did them.  I had much more than 2 hours a night on homework in high school; high school is supposed to be like a preparation for college.  I spent most of my weekends on projects and assignments.  I also had enough time to be president of my class, have a part in a play (where we would do our homework together up in the theater until we were needed on stage), was a member of Chorus, among many other things, and had plenty of time to play on Fire Island in the summer.  I always took the latest bus home.  My senior year was going to AP courses across the board. 

In my senior year, we were going to move to Florida and because I was going to be in college-level courses in NY, NY State was going to arrange for me to skip my senior year in Florida and go straight to college in Florida and then once finishing freshman year, I could come back and graduate with my class.  (One other student was doing that, too, actually my prom date).  That is how bad the educational system was in Florida. Something happened (I'll spare you the details), I didn't get to do it, and I remember sitting in the high school counselor's office saying, "Just tell me what I need to get a diploma because everything you have to offer I've already had years ago, so the best thing is for me to just get through this system as quickly as possible."  The administrator said, "I don't like your attitude, young lady."  And I said, "And I don't like that you can't match the education level in New York State."  (Yes, I was an obnoxious teenager).   

I was bored to tears those three months, so much so, that I decided to study on my own and took the full year's courses of Latin, and bookkeeping and accounting, and English, and anatomy/physiology and my teachers graded my work for me in those three months of prison.  I basically was homeschooling myself.  I stopped even showing up.  I'd just do it at home, go to work at my full-time job to pay for the rent of the place I was living (I moved out of my foster home by then) and got my assignments to my teachers to grade.  It had no affect on my grade, but I had to do it in order to keep my sanity.  I could see it now:  I'm an emancipated minor:  To whom it may concern:  Please excuse Hilda from being absent this week, but she can do this better by herself at home, and hold down a full-time job at the same time).  Signed  Hilda It's all about time management.

And our kids need to learn time management.  What might take one child 20 minutes to their homework might take another child 2 hours.  If my child is struggling with something, I'm going to ask that teacher to send home more practice questions.  If my child doesn't have homework assignments, I'm going to take what they are learning now and incorporate those lessons into normal life or make up assignments for them. 

And it is about the people in the state of Texas making a decision that football and cheerleading is not what life is about.  When we are paying a $20,000 stipind to the football coach versus a $3000 stipend to the Debate Coach, we have an unbalanced system.  We need to put the money we spend to build elaborate training and practice facilities into our children's educations. 

So my question is:  How can you fix the branch on the tree (homework) without fixing the disease (the Texas education system)?  Are these numbers acceptable to you?  If not, what are you doing to try to fix that? 

Is it working?

More than 200,000 kids are spanked at school in the 21 states where it is legal including Texas.  Texas alone spanked at least 48,197 students. 

Here is where it starts to bother me:  The punishment is disproportionately applied to black students.  For example, black students made up to 17.1% of the nationwide student population but 35.6% were paddled at schools.  Black girls were paddled at twice the rate than white girls. 

Here is where it bothers me even more:  Special education students with mental or physical disabilities were more likely to receive corporal punishment.

James Dobson said, "Corporal punishment is not effective at the junior or senior high school levels, and I do not recommend its application.  It can be used for elementary schools, especially with amateur clowns (as opposed to hard-core troublemakers).  For this reason, I'm opposed to abolishing spanking in elementary schools because we have systemically eliminated the tools with which teachers have traditionally backed up their word.  We're now down to precious few.  Let's not go any further in that direction."

Most schools will allow parents to opt out, but Andrea Cancellare said her 13-year-old son was paddled -- or "swatted" -- three years ago for flicking rubber bands in class, despite the fact she had written a letter directing school officials in Alpine, Texas not to use corporal punishment against him.  School officials told her they "could not find the letter" when she complained.

When the young man was interviewed on CNN, he said it was a very strange experience and I knew immediately where he was going with this.  It was awkward for a teen in puberty to be spanked by someone other than his parents.  One has to wonder the possible sexual implications that might be involved here.  Obviously this young man felt a boundary was crossed.  How do we know the "paddler" isn't taking pleasure in what they are doing? 

All children who have special needs or disabilities have in place in their IEP (individualized Educational Plan) a BIP (a behavioral intervention plan).  It says that when the student does XYZ, the following things will happen as a result.  They are supposed to focus on positive behavior strategies.  If the BIP is not followed, the school had be in a lot of trouble.  Many children with disabilities have behavior issues as a result of their disability.  Much of the time, it is not anything they can control.  Many have no way of communicating (well he did until the school took that away from him when they decided not to teach him properly for 2-1/2 school years), like my child, and can you imagine the frustration of being in a body where you cannot tell others what is wrong so that they can help you?  I'd like to know any of you would feel utter frustration.  Many of our children who are nonverbal are in pain, and we would never know it, other than they have behavior changes.  Let me show you, as the story Fox did is still on line:

http://www.myfoxhouston.com/myfox/pages/Conten
tDetail?contentId=3249002

After watching that, do any of you believe that spanking my child would have had a positive effect on him?  It would have had the exact opposite.  What he needed was a program that focused on applied behavior analysis where his day was structured in a fast-paced manner so that he didn't have a lot of downtime so that those behaviors could manifest themselves.  Once the teaching techniques were reimplemented, his behavior immediately improved. 

They should not be spanking these kids with disabilities and special needs unless the parent agrees to it on paper in their BIP in their IEP. 

As far as the rest, I believe the schools should only do this with the express permission of the parent(s) or guardians.  I agree with Dr. Dobson that it needs to be eliminated for the older children.  Schools need to be careful to use this technique equally and not single out a group of children; when they cross that line, it is wrong. 

I look at the current state of education and crime in Texas.  Obviously spanking has been going on.  Has it made our schools any safer?  Has it made our children more polite and less disruptive.  Are they suddenly following the rules after the spanking, or do they go on to rebel and cause greater problems. 

Texas has the worst drop-out rates, the crime rate in Houston is greater than then crime rate in New York City, this state has put to death more people, and I'd almost guess that it would be more than all the other states combined, which would tend to say that our violent crime rates are higher. 

I don't see any studies that tell us of those children spanked, what has happened to them (follow them through the years and let's see where they end up). 

Having come from a home where "spanking" went beyond a discipline lesson and more like episodes where my parents frustrations and pent-up feelings were taken out of us instead, where mere kitchen utensils because weapons of choice, I start feeling incredible anxiety when we start talking about this issue. 

In the ideal world, parents who spank are sitting down when they aren't angry, to say to the child, "Tthis is why I am about to spank you."  The child gets spanked, and you ask the child why they were spanked and what they have learned.  But this is not an ideal world, and when parents are spanking (at least the ones I've seen in public) are doing it with great anger.  That teaches nothing except that I can use violence to make you comply (and they usually don't because the kids go back to doing exactly the behavior for which they're being spanked).  I certainly would never give the power of this to someone else because one never knows the emotional state of that individual.  We are all on such heightened alert about sexual predators.  Can you be sure the paddler himself or herself is not a sexual predator, too, who might be deriving pleasure from this experience? 

What do you all think?  Do you see spanking actually working in the public schools?  Does it create better learning environments?  Are certain categories of people being disproportionately singled out?  If not, why do you think we see the numbers that appear that we do? 

This is a not-to-be-missed conference and it is local, coming in October.  Even if your child doesn't have autism, there are great topics for people who children or adults with other disabilities, too.  This group has been an awesome resource for our community and their conferences do not disappoint.   Their commitment and passion to bring you the best conference they can is only outdone by the one they will plan for next year. 

The 4th Annual Autism/Disability
Resource Fair & Conference

Presented by the Northwest Houston Chapter Autism Society of America…
and
… our Community Star Supporters, Sponsors, & Exhibitors;  who are listed in the Conference Program.

For Questions about Conference:
Northwest Houston Chapter of the ASA
Phone: 281-686-0103 

Inquiries by e-mail are preferred:
NorthwestHoustonChapterASA@yahoo.com

October 3rd from 6:30p – 8:30p
and
 October 4th, from 8a – 5p

We are pleased to feature
Future Horizons
www.FHAutism.com
as our conference bookstore.

Conference Location:
Graceview Baptist Church,
25510 Tomball Parkway, Tomball, TX
For directions only:  281-351-4979
(during business hours)

Hosted by:
Graceview Baptist Church
www.Graceview.org
and
The JOY Ministry
www.TheJOYMinistry.org

AGENDA
October 3,  from 6:30 – 8:30pm
Pre-conference session on Special Education Free with your conference registration.
Featuring TOPAA:  www.TOPAA.org
Louis Geigerman – Advocate
Dorene Philpot - Attorney

October 4, from 9:00a – 5:00p
Our conference this year will be different in that we are pleased to feature the Staff from Thoughtful House Center for Children.
Our focus this year will be Bio-Medical Treatments for Autism & related disorders.
Dr. Wakefield, MB, BS, FRCS, FRCPath
Dr. Bryan Jepson, MD,
Kelly Barnhill, CN, CCN
 P. Lucas Ramirez, FNP,
Melissa Olive, PhD, BCBA
 Anissa Ryland – Director
(www.ThoughtfulHouse.org for bio’s)

Other featured Keynotes
Steven C. Rhatigan:  www.stemark.com
Estate & Financial Plans for Special Needs, Financial Issues for Special Needs, Social Security Benefits for Disability.
Lisa. L. Wilson – Trusts and Life Planning
Michele Goldberg – Guardianship
Arden Trudy – Customized Employment
Louis Geigerman – “Ask the Advocate”

Medicaid Waiver Boot Camp
www.imagineenterprises.com/index.html
Self-Determination, Which Waiver Does What, Eligibility, Enrollment, & Entitlement

The JOY Ministry
Denise Briley - Helping Churches help Families!  
Stop by during the conference for a tour!

CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE REGISTRATION FORM

Coming on the heels of the Senate Committee on Education meeting is that the Travis County district attorney's office is investigating a criminal complaint involving Texas Education Agency's watchdog unit, which was confirmed by that DA's office on Monday.

They were unable to give details about the complaint because of the pending investigation. 

We know, however, that two former TEA inspectors said the complaint involves "allegations of fraud, waste and abuse in the agency and several school districts" that they received while working in the agency's Office of Inspector General.  The former employees were fired in July.  They state that they were not allowed to investigate the allegations, which TEA, of course, denies. 

Mr. Catazaro and Mr. Lyde, the former TEA inspectors, said they received numerous allegations involving school districts, including about kickbacks paid from a teacher to a superintendent and nepotism and possible fraud in awarding a multimillion-dollar construction projection.  Some complaints involved TEA directly.  In one of those cases, the agency planned to spend several hundred thousand dollars on a computer software program that could be built in-house FOR FREE.

The TEA's inspector general office was created in 2006.  It had 7 people on staff at its peak but is now down to 1 employee and an interim director. 

People, another example of your tax dollars hard at work.  TEA is in desperate need of being cleaned out and an independent oversight department created to ensure the agency is being a good steward of your tax dollars.  So how do you feel about this?  Will you write letters to your legislators to tell them how you feel?  Or even better yet, pick up the phone and call their office and talk to their educational liason?  They say they don't hear enough from the public directly.  People like to complain about the things we dislike; are you willing to put a little effort into that and take some action?

On August 18, 2008 at 9:00 a.m., the Senate Committee on Education met and before they talked to their panels and got into public testimony, Senator Shapiro asked everyone from TEA to please stand and then she addressed them on the topic the drop-out issue and about how TEA is doing a lousy job.  I typed up some of the hearing so you could enjoy this as much as I did.  Senator West had a few choice words for TEA himself. 

Senator Shapiro:   Do we have TEA here?  Okay.  And David Anderson.  Is anybody else from TEA?  Okay.  Would all of you come to the front for just a minute please.  You don't have to do a witness card.

Senator Shapiro (very frustrated):  I'm surprising all of you, aren't I?  You can sit down.  And I know many of you obviously and I know your positions and in this situation that I'm about to embark upon, I don't know that any of this, besides David, of course, is your sole responsibility but I am so frustrated and so angry at this moment in time about drop-outs, that I have no other way to express myself then to talk to each and every one of you.  I certainly will allow committee members to join in.  We are sitting with a situation that is intolerable and it doesn't seem to get better.  Week after week, month after month, year after year.  We talk about drop-outs and we do nothing about it except pontificate.  Three--four-five years ago, 2003, when we did not trust our definition of drop-outs, we changed, in 2003, and we decided to go with a federal definition of drop-outs. We're still monkeying with that definition and we're still not comfortable with it, and we're still making excuses about what we're doing.  We're being ridiculed for our faulty numbers day after day after day.  I am really concerned, as we go through and continue with this process, I think we are not holding our districts accountable.  I think we are extending exceptions for another year, which we did, the Commissioner did, about two weeks ago, and we expect the districts to change the problem?   That hasn't happened to date.  I just think we are just waiting and waiting and waiting and..and as far as I'm concerned, the time's up.  And I think what probably brought it home AGAIN, which it has been brought home so many times, is, as we looked at the recent article that was in the newspaper and they talked a lot about special needs students and how many of them are dropping out and the fact that we have this disproportionate number of African-American students in the Northeast [Texas] who are put in special needs classes, and I'm I'm just frustrated.  I'm just angry and I'm frustrated, and I just don't understand why we can't seem to get this right.  The most recent situation, I think, is we don't have a hammer.  We just wait and wait and wait for someone to make a change, and we have no accountability and those changes are not being made and I'm as frustrated as I've ever been about a situation and about an agency.  We don't know what is happening to these kids.  It's like they've just gone into a black hole and we're not doing very much to do anything to find out what's happening.  We know the problems.  We know there are disproportionate numbers of African-American students.  I think they said that they comprised 24% of the kids that we don't know where they are, they've just disappeared, and they represent 14% of the population.  How could we be missing 24% when they represent 14%.  I don't understand it.  I think the issues with special needs, which is what I've just mentioned, is what finally brought it to my attention because special education students make up 12% of the student population but nearly 15% of the drop-out population, so we are just getting farther and farther and farther behind with very little resolve.  We…we just keep pushing the problem farther.  We have become, in my opinion, a system that has become the laughing stock.  We are not…we are not doing what the public expects us to do, and if we continue along this line, there is not an end in sight.  We just continue to do this.  We cannot even account for where these youngsters are.  I just think our methodology was granted to us, drop-out methodology was given to us in a [unknown word] by the Lieutenant Governor, but I'm going to expand that to not just the methodology, but we've got to begin calculating and understanding--what's happening?  Are we actually cheating these students?  Are we cheating the State of Texas?  Are we just limiting the reviews of the methodologies?  I don't think we can.  What we've got to do is to have our committee hearing which is the next one on September 15, I believe, is that correct?  On September the 15th, and we've got to review extensively what we are doing in this state for the problem of drop-outs.  I expect TEA to come to that meeting not only with answers to what we're trying to do, but with solutions.  No more are we going to say, "We're going to study it."  We're waiting another year as we did with this lever problem we've got.  We CANNOT continue along this path.  It's impossible.  We've got pressures that are not being put on our districts.  We are allowing them to handle this problem by themselves, and we are also assisting them in handling this problem by spending another year, giving them another exception to our accountability system.  We are not doing these students justice.  I think we are absolutely at a point where we've got to not just ask the questions, we've got to find the solutions.  So at our next meeting,, I think we've got to do better.   We've got to ask TEA to come before us on September 15 and let's find out how we can potentially find solutions and not just talk about the problem.  We've got to find out how to solve it.  These are students lives that we are talking about.  They're not numbers.  They're not percentages.  They're individual students.  And this is _______ of the State of Texas, and without this committee taking STRONG AND SEVERE ACTION, we're just going to MULL ALONG AGAIN, and WAIT AGAIN FOR ANOTHER YEAR TO PASS US BY, and I think it's time that we stop playing these games.  So, I'm asking each of you to take the message back to TEA.  September 15th.  We're not going to talk about what we're doing.  We're going to talk about solutions to all of these problems.  Members?

Senator West:  Madam Chair

Florence Shapiro:  Senator West

Senator West:  Madam Chair.  I thank you for making that statement.  You know I've been on that issue for some time.  On September the 15th I also ask…we crafted legislation during the last session to provide monies for public entities to go after drop-outs.  I did it in consultation with the Texas Education Agency.  For some strange reason, during the process of awarding grants, TEA read the language, to include David, the ability to provide vouchers.  When I was told that, it was really disappointing, from two perspectives.  Number one:  It was never, ever my intent or anyone associated with that bill's intent, to allow vouchers.  And I thought that was very clear.  Apparently it wasn't.  We TRUSTED TEA to consult with us on drafting legislation, and for some strange reason, someone decided to put language in that bill unbeknownst to us, that allows an interpretation that basically says that vouchers could be granted, and in fact, that's what was done.  This is what I'd like.  I would like to know who put the language in there?  Why they put it in there?  And why did they not inform us that they were putting that language in there in order to allow it to be interpreted as such?  There is a trust factor here.  If we can't trust the agency that's responsible for these particular subject areas to draft legislation consistent with our intent, how can the executive and legislative branch of government work together?  There is a trust issue that I now have with the Texas Education Agency as it relates to its ability to help me draft legislation on a subject matter that you ultimately have responsibility for.  I want to know.  I really want to know, why it was done, who did it, and I'd like that also, Madam Chair, to be a part of the conversation on September 15th.

My advice to the Senators?  You really want to make sweeping change.  Sweep out TEA.  Fire all of them.  They are corrupt through and through.  Bring in people from outside of Texas to run the show, someone who is not linked to kickbacks or special interest groups.  Take due process hearings that are so heavily stacked for school districts out of TEA's jurisdiction and place it in the Office of Special Hearings where there is no conflict of interest.  Although you are trying to account for the special needs kids who have dropped out, you haven't accounted for parents pulling not only their special needs kids, but their general education kids. out of the public schools because they are no longer effective at teaching.  Texas has become the nation's laughing stock for many things lately, one area being education.  To fix something that huge, drastic, out of the box thinking is necessary to be implemented.   And please, stop inviting school district's private attorneys paid by taxpayer money to testify on these panels.  They have no desire to help our children, only to keep the cash-cow full for their own personal profits.  They are consistently perjurying themselves to you time and time again at these hearings which makes the committee lose credibility.   Perhaps Senator West now feels how we, as parents, feel -- that we trusted TEA to do their job, how we trusted TEA to care about our children, how we trusted our school districts to put our children's educational needs first but instead they treated them like garbage to be throw out.  

If you would like to listen to the whole meeting, click here.   And then choose the Aug 18 Senate Committee on Education. 

What are your thoughts on this?

As some of you know, I'm a part of a larger group of women who will be taking turns on Thursday afternoons with the 5:00/5:30 newscasts for a segment called "Your Family Matters." 

The first live show for this segment will be this Thursday, August 21st. 

The topic will be the very heated topic about the school district who is allowing teachers to carry concealed weapons. 

To meet 12 of the ladies (not all of them have pictures here yet) to get to know our names and who we are, click here.

You guys will be able to figure out which one is me ("avid blogger").   LOL

When you've seen the segment, come back and let me know your thoughts (what did you like, what didn't you like, etc.). 

In watching the special on Sunday night at 9:30, it was so wonderful to see the history of the station and how it has changed over the years.   There were shots of the original anchors to the anchors that changed over the years.  Finally I saw some faces I am familiar with or at least remember because they are still with us today:  Mike Barajas, Melissa Wilson, Mark Berman, Greg Groogan.  It was like looking back through your high school yearbook. 

I think Mike Barajas said he was at the station now for 22-23 years.  That is historic given that many reporters move around the country to gain experience and exposure to whatever their personal goals are.   Just how many of us can say that we've been at our current employers for 20 or more years (I am about to be in February 2009). 

I loved seeing pictures of ground being broke on the building. 

You have done well, Fox 26!

My boss said something to me when I was first hired.  Nobody remembers who was second, only who was first.  Fox 26 has had many "firsts" that made it stand out from the crowd.  Allowing common people to blog on their website (local Fox channels throughout the country) and not just post comments.  Then the Emmy-award winning MyFoxHoustonLive show at 4:00 available only on the internet.  And expanding the chat room so that the chatters can become actual participants in the on-air news (I still don't understand how you all pull off a newscast and blog at the same time, but there is no lack of talent at Fox 26!).  No other station has an interactive chat room and I believe Fox is leading the way to the future of TV viewing.  Now I know that even when I'm out of town, I can just go to a local computer where I'm at and see my local news.  How cool is that? 

So Happy Anniversary and good luck (oh, I mean break a leg) with the 5:00/5:30 segment.  Don't forget that the 5:30 segment is the only local news while all the other stations to to the national news.  I will not miss history in the making and plan to be in the chat room (I'll take my hour break from work just to be there).   If you like the broadcast, spread the word to your neighbors and friends.  Make sure you flood the station with comments using the "Contact Us" tab on the web site.  And let's make history together by making Fox 26 first in the ratings for this new times.   Power of the people baby. 

See you in the chat room on Monday at 5:00.  Come join us and become a chatter (and you bloggers who haven't chatted yet, try it out).  It's pretty fun and the language is definitely clean. 

Some of you caught apparently a commercial/ad that had me in it the morning of August 14.  I have not seen it yet.  Been looking for it all night.  I will DVR all morning to see if it pops up.  Then I can curl up and say, they did a great job editing it as they always do, but look how FAT I look!  LOL.  Then I'll get over body image issues it until the next time.  Maybe we'll see some transformation on the air.  I hope not like Star Jones or Oprah's weight loss, but more gradual.  I plan to spend a full half-hour swimming this weekend without stopping. 

I've been teasing my blogger friends about my trips down to Fox 26 and what, oh what, was I up to now!  The truth is now out, so let me give you the details.

I was invited to be a part of this group of about 20+ women.  They've ultimately decided to make it a 3-minute segment on Thursdays, starting August 21, 2008 with 3 of us out of the group.  I don't know yet who those people will be; it will depend on the subject matter.  It will be about current events and how it affects their personal lives and what they would like to be done to resolve the problem, issue, etc.  Mike Barajas will be moderating that discussion for us.  We won't know until a day or two before what the subject matter and based upon our passion, expertise, past history, etc., with that subject, we will in the pool from which they pick 3 people.  Well I guess also availability will be a factor as well.  The women range in age, some have children, some don't.  It is to try to be representative of all the different people that make up our city and in listening to their stories, there are similarities in some of our past history, but we all have unique stories.  On Tuesday or Wednesday we'll find out what the subject matter will be and they will pick who they would like based on that. 

Since I don't want to spoil it for the others if they decide to blog, too, to give you more details about themselves, but as of today, these are the people I know are part of the group:

Melissa:  Mother and grandmother.  Used to be a professional working in a business, but is now raising her granddaughter. 

Melva:   She is an entrepreneur and is, I believe, the oldest member of our panel.  What you see with her is real; she just makes me laugh all the time. 

Kim:  Owner and editor in chief of Houston Family Magazine at this site:   http://www.houstonfamilymagazine.com/

Teddy:  A special education teacher and a caregiver to her parents. 

Carol:  Works for Harris County Department of Education.

Jalene:  With the group http://www.sceneoftheaccident.org/

Charlotte:  An motivational speaker and businesswoman.  Her site can be found at:  http://www.gettingsmartonline.com/

Then there is Laura who works at Wells Fargo Bank, but volunteers within the community.  I'll try to get that information and add to this. 

Corey:  (Hope I spelled her name correctly) From the Gamer Girls you've seen on MyFoxHoustonLive (and I believe the other two ladies, but I've only seen Corey at the meetings).

Sharon:  An anthropologist, has a passion in education and has a great tough live to success story. 

Plus me totalled 11 people that showed up on Wednesday to get some tape of us just chatting together. 

Nicole, the former co-host from MyFoxHoustonLive, will also be on the panel, but she was unavailable on Wednesday for the event.  My son decided she was just lovely at that first meeting and flirted with her tremendously, wanted to reach out and touch her arm.  Something he never does and she really should feel honored that he thought she was safe enough to touch.  I asked her very politely if we could switch spots.   Flirting genes came from my DNA pool for sure.  But his silly laughing continued almost the whole meeting. 

There are a few other names on the list, but I have not gotten an opportunity to get to know those women. 

We are all bonding and laughing and learning about each other.  I hope the segment becomes a great success and that you will all enjoy it.  Make sure you use the "Contact Us" table and let the station know what you think, or blog and chat about it.

So stay tuned to the commercials and set your DVR's or your schedule aside to watch the special on Sunday, August 17, from 9:30-10:00.  You'll get to hear more about it. 

The target group is women. (in case you were wondering why there were no men there). 

With my coworker passing away the weekend before the first meeting, I was reminded about living in the moment and taking opportunities as they come.  Right now, I've been having lots of fun and feel so blessed.  I didn't realize how much I missed face-to-face actual intelligent conversation with other women.  I need more fun in my life.  So here they did it again.  Fox 26 seems to be solving all my problems in my life before I even know it is a problem.  Ooooo.....psychic.  LOL. 

Based on the information you have, does it seem interesting, not sure, looking forward to see me mess up on Live TV and do an American-Idol-Like screening of my performance? 

What matters to YOUR FAMILY?

Last week, I had the pleasure to go down to the station twice, once on Monday, July 28th, and once on Friday, August 1st. 

So why did I go?  You'll need to tune in to the special on Sunday, August 17, 2008 from 9:30-10:30 p.m.   There may be flashes of pictures from my life during one of the commercials, too, before that, but I'm not sure about that). 

What I will tell you is it has to do with the the new news broadcasts starting August 18, 2008. 

The first visit I was without a babysitter, so I had to bring Patrick with me and the everyone was so thoughful about him having to tag along.  Patrick decided he was going to reach out and touch Miss Teen USA, Nicole O'Brian Ballard, who used to co-host the MyFoxHoustonLive 4:00 internet broadcast.  He is such a flirt; mom's boy for sure.  Patrick, he did his vocalizations throughout the time I was there, and we had to make a quick exit stage left so Mike could do a weather promo. 

The last time I was in a television station was when I was a child and we had a field trip for school.  Things have changed quite a bit since then.  This was a trip full of wonder at all the new technology, seeing it through the eyes of an adult, and I had an absolute blast.  I decided I needed more fun in my life. 

Over the two days I met so many people:  Mike Barajas, Melinda Spaulding, Mike Iscovitz, Ruben Dominguez (who has already revealed my visit on his blog), Emily Akin, Damali Keith.  I caught up with the ever charming Greg Groogan who could not believe how tall Patrick had gotten in just a year since he did our story.  I also met the lovely Melissa Wilson.  I met The Big Dog himself, D'Art.  There were several behind-the-scenes people I also met.  The station is a like art in motion.  Everyone was so generous, so warm.  When I said, "Hi, I'm Hilda" but when I said, "I'm the blogger PBMom -- it was like I was long-lost family.  It was such a fun experience.  If I left anybody out, I'm so sorry!  These people are as warm and caring and fun as they are on the air. 

Ruben revealed something about me being taped, but you'll have to stay tuned to the commercials and the special on the 17th to see what is going on. 

But I'll say one thing, I must re-double my efforts to lose weight.  It is so true what they say about looking 10 pounds heavier on the screen.  I already have body image problems, so I'm sure it looked like I was 50 pounds heavier than my mind perceives that I am.  I'm actually 10 pounds lighter than when Greg Groogan did our story last year and I've lost a total of 30 pounds, but I have several disadvantages that are medical-condition related so it is a little bit more difficult for me than most people.  Reduction of eating and increase in exercise is not a simple formula in my body, dubbed formally by my husband as "biohazard." 

The sets are beautiful and the timing of everything is like the perfect dance, all components flow together to create something quite beautiful. 

Are you all excited about the new news segments from 5:00-5:30 and then 5:30-6:00 p.m.?  I think we got a glimpse of what it might look like when they aired a 5:30-6:00 segment on Tuesday when the storm was coming through. 

The campaign has been "Your Time."   What would you like to see during the broadcasts? 

By the way, Ruben is looking for people who commute during that time.  Tune into his blog to see how to contact him. 

I'm so excited that Fox is bringing an early evening news show to our screens because I've been tired of tuning into the "other guy."  And the 5:30-6:00 broadcast will be the ONLY local broadcast (all the other stations go to national news then). 

I will tell you that in my conversation with The Big Dog, he is sincere and genuine about wanting to make a difference in the community.  Fox 26 made a difference in our lives; no doubt about it.  And it is my honor and pleasure to be able to have a small part in their newest endeavour. 

So let's hear it Bloggers!  What's on your mind?

Today I cried for Danieal Kelly.  She was a 14-year-old teen with cerebral palsy who died in August 2006 because no one cared.  This week the grand jury report was released. 

Her mother was embarrassed by her.  Her father didn't care and walked out.  Four social workers falsified reports didn't care enough to go visit her where they could have saved her life.  And three family friends lied to the grand jury about the child's condition before she died. 

She died alone in a rancid, airless room during a summer heatwave, bedridden, begging for something to drink.  She died from malnutrition and maggot-infested bedsores.  She died alone on a mattress filled with feces.  She was 14 and weighed 42 pounds.  It's creates a picture in my mind that makes me want to vomit. 

The grand jury in Philadelphia is now charging 9 people -- her parents, four social workers and three family friends -- in her horrible death.   Her mother, Andrea, is the only one being charged of murder.  The social workers are facing charges ranging from child endangerment to involuntary manslaughter.  The family friends are accused of lying to the grand jury.  An angry District Attorney, Lynne Abraham, said, "It was the indifference that helped kill Danieal Kelly.  How is it possible for this to have happened?"

Her teachers in Arizona described her as an active learner and "one of the sweetest students ever enrolled in this program."  Shortly after that report, allegations of neglect surfaced soon afterward and after Daniel Kelly's breakup with his girlfriend in 2001, Danieal never attended school.  Daniel Kelly moved his family to Philadelphia in 2003.  He then asked his estranged wife to move in even though she had several children and knew she was incapable of taking care of their daughter.  Then, he moved out. 

The Department of Human Services received at least five reports of Danieal (the teen) being mistreated between 2003-2005.  All described a "helpless child sitting unattended, unkempt, and unwashed, in a small stroller in her own urine and feces, her screams ignored by her mother." 

They didn't think that was grounds enough to remove the child?  This child had cerebral palsy; that didn't necessarily mean she had any cognitive disorders.  Many people with cerebral palsy just have issues with body control; their intelligence remains intact. 

And what about these "friends" of the family who had the nerve to lie to the grand jury?  They had an obligation to report child abuse and if you see that nothing is being done, you have an obligation to followup and continue to try.   

How can people just abandon their child, especially their special needs child?  I understand that perhaps it might be an overwhelming prospect in someone's life, but that is when you sign over custody of the child to the state. 

The woman needs to be sentenced to life in prison without the eligibility of parole, ever, with the picture of her daughter found dead as the cell wallpaper so she is haunted by what she has done for the rest of her life.  The father, as well, deserves jail time for abandoning this child, knowing full well what was likely to happen.  The social workers should permanently lose their jobs and their licenses so that they are never allowed to work in this field again, and the neighbors need to serve some jail time for lying to the grand jury (perjury).

I would like to say this is isolated.  But I read about deaths of children with disabilities at least several times a week.  Many are accidents, but this amount of cruelty touched my heart so deeply, and the issue that many people knew and no one did anything about it makes it even harder to understand. 

And I implore all of you.  Please start caring more.  Please start involving yourself in the lives of others (a neighbor, a co-worker, a church member).  Perhaps if the right person had entered their lives and saw something was wrong, even from what the life of having a child with a disability is like, and had spoken up, Danieal would be alive and thriving in a foster home.  Our children matter.  Isolation, unfortunately, is one of the side effects of having a child with a disability.  People feel uncomfortable for a variety of reasons and because of it, tend to not want to hang around those families' lives. 

Rest in peace, beautiful child.  You are in Christ's loving arms now where you will feel no more pain and no more sorrow.  Justice will be served if not on this plane of existence, but they will atone for what they have done before God on the day they die. 

A listing of the "adverse effects" of the immunization Tripedia, now includes this

From this web site:  click here

Additional Adverse Reactions:

· As with other aluminum-containing vaccines, a nodule may be palpable at the injection sites for several weeks. Sterile abscess formation at the site of injection has been reported.3,36

· Rarely, an anaphylactic reaction (ie, hives, swelling of the mouth, difficulty breathing, hypotension, or shock) has been reported after receiving preparations containing diphtheria, tetanus, and/or pertussis antigens.3

· Arthus-type hypersensitivity reactions, characterized by severe local reactions (generally starting 2-8 hours after an injection), may follow receipt of tetanus toxoid.

· A few cases of peripheral mononeuropathy and of cranial mononeuropathy have been reported following tetanus toxoid administration, although available evidence is inadequate to accept or reject a causal relation.37

· A review by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) found evidence for a causal relationship between tetanus toxoid and both brachial neuritis and Guillain-Barré syndrome.37

· A few cases of demyelinating diseases of the CNS have been reported following some tetanus toxoid-containing vaccines or tetanus and diphtheria toxoid-containing vaccines, although the IOM concluded that the evidence was inadequate to accept or reject a causal relationship.37

Adverse events reported during post-approval use of Tripedia vaccine include idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura, SIDS, anaphylactic reaction, cellulitis, autism, convulsion/grand mal convulsion, encephalopathy, hypotonia, neuropathy, somnolence and apnea. Events were included in this list because of the seriousness or frequency of reporting. Because these events are reported voluntarily from a population of uncertain size, it is not always possible to reliably estimate their frequencies or to establish a causal relationship to components of Tripedia vaccine.2  

All I can say it is about time!  I go to sleep in peace tonight knowing that at least the manufacturer, even though not admitting it's because of their vaccine, has now officially put the label warning in the information.   Now, we just have to make sure the parents read that package insert before their poor babies are stuck so true informed consent can take place.

I consider this a small step in winning for our side against Big Pharma (as it is now called).  Thank you to whoever it was that fought to get that published.  It's just a a small group of us working in the areas we know best to get the job done and this is a good start. 

The state of Pennsylvania has recently become the first state in the country with the one of the better, if not best, health care mandate for insurance companies to cover autism and autism spectrum disorders.  With a cap up to $36,000 annually for all those under the age of 21, it also includes coverage for applied behavior analysis, which if you remember, Fox 26 did a segment about during the week focus on autism at the end of April.  You can also go to my archived blogs for April/May and see the one on Autism and ABA.  The bill also includes other treatment that focuses on teaching social, verbal and other skills to help shape behavior.  For treatments above $36,000, families, regardless of income, can turn to the state's Medicaid program to fill in the gap.  Health plans covering businesses with fewer than 50 employees will be exempt in the bill. 

In the last legislative session in Texas, an insurance plan that covered only children from ages 3 to 5 (and would carry with them as they age) but not any self-funded plans was barely passed after 8 years of significant efforts from parent advocacy groups, including the efforts of Cynthia Singleton and Senator Eddie Lucio and others who sponsored the bill.  Applied behavioral therapy (or known to us as ABA) can help any child but has decades of history of being the leading treatment of choice in helping children with autism.  The Texas Insurance Agency said that it would raise premiums by $1.00.  Yet the business lobby fought hard not to get it passed. 

Our children are here and we are doing the best that we can do, some of us, like our family, going into significant financial debt to add to what the school was already doing.  But when school decided in August 2004 to stop providing that, we lost just about everything we had gained since 1997 when he was diagnosed in just a matter of two school years.  If anyone has not seen the video and would like to see the horror of what my son became after the school took that away from him (although they swore to me they were providing this in the classroom), here is the link:

http://www.myfoxhouston.com/myfox/pages/ContentDe
tail?contentId=3249002

Have you ever wondered what your school district is doing with your tax dollars?  Have you tried but only felt overwhelmed about the amount of information that you had to sift through? 

A new group has formed in Texas, called Texas SchoolWatch, that will hold the public school districts accountable to taxpayers.  If you've watched the news over the past few years, you have heard more and more stories regarding the secrets that school districts keep from the taxpayers--the same districts that put football stadiums before education, waste taxpayer dollars in ways too numerous to count, keep students in unsafe conditions, allow criminals to have access to our children, pay lobbyists out of your tax dollars, and who care more about themselves than they do our kids. 

It's Eviction Day.  This is the day we take back our school districts. 

In the last several years, when Patrick's school failed him between 2004-2006, when a school official tried to use extortion to get me to change my course of action, I became an advocate, not professionally, but privately.  When Greg Groogan of Fox 26 Houston brought a story to air about Clear Creek ISD spending over $100,000 of your tax dollars to fight a parent, the story that won him a Casey Award, I was listening.  I never realized the extent to which school districts were spending our money irresponsibly.  My naviety that schools had the best interests of our children at heart disappeared.  I started paying more attention.  Looking into my own school district's check register (which is available on-line),  I was very troubled with some of the payees. 

My biggest pet peeves have been the extent to which school districts are with law firms like parasites are to hosts.  In some instances, I've wondered if the law firm rather than the school district was the one running the district.  When I see more money being spent on fast food than books, I get angry.  When I hear congressional testimony by a school district's law firm stating that they have never denied a parent the opportunity to attend one of their "workshops" when I know for a fact that they have, I get angry.  And like Wonderful-World, another Fox 26 Houston blogger, has so candidly pointed out many times, I get angry when I see people complaining about things they don't like, but don't make an effort to try to change things.  Here is a wonderful opportunity to make a difference.

School Watch has been active in other areas of the country.  The group in New York broke the scandal about the lawyers receiving pensions on Long Island (lawyers that weren't school district employees).  A group in Ohio informed the public just what the Parma School District in Ohio had been up to, spending over $1 million to fight one family up through the Supreme Court and even when a judgment was found in favor of the parents in a lower court on a different issue, basically snubbed their noses up and refused to follow the court order.  If any state in the union needed this group more, it is Texas. 

According to the web site,

http://texasschoolwatch101.virtualnsn.com/modules/w
fchannel/

School Watch fights for:

The entire community, not just special interests

Transparency and fiscal responsibility in schools. 

Educational and property tax reform

Fair contract negotiations in collective bargaining situations

Adequate funding for state-manded services

Alternatives to property taxation in funding of schools

Students to receive free appropriate educations

Safe schools and healthy educational environments

Uncovering school waste and mismanagement, corruption and fraud.

The site just broke ground and is ready for membership.  If you want to make a difference not just for your own children, but for all our children in Texas, this group is for you.  If TEA won't police themselves or allow independent oversight (as was recently posted in a blog by Chassan), then it is up to each citizen to make sure our collective voices are heard and that we provide that oversight. 

This taxpayer is fed up and isn't taking any more.  I've already signed up.  Join me!

There was a report out this past week that you might be interested in reviewing. It lists each school district in Texas, how large the student population is, and how much the superintendants have spent wining and dining. They article also has some examples of what those expenses were.

http://www.peytonwolcott.com/TexasSupeExpenses.html

After reviewing it, do you believe your district is being a good steward of money, or do you think a fancy $70 per plate dinner (in one example) for 35 people is an abuse of taxpayer money.

Have you ever done any records requests of your own district to get answers about what money they are spending of your tax dollars on certain things? What was the outcome? Did you encounter any resistance from the district? I don't really see a reason for expenses like this unless the superintendant has to go out of town to a conference and should have the type of dollar-per-meal amounts that we have set in our company and if you want to eat anything more expensive than that, it comes from your own pocket.

Superintendants, special educators, and others were gathering in Austin this week for a TCASE conference at the Renaissance Hotel, which is over $300 a night. Fees will also include meals (at the best restaurants for the most expensive food), mileage or airline tickets, rental cars, etc.   The people putting on the conference:  Walsh Anderson law firm who is getting rich and owning summer homes and driving awesome cars because of the money it is getting from the school districts they represent in Texas, which is coming from your taxes, which has become a very profitable industry for them.

So look it over and come back here and let me know what you think? 

How much is a baby's life in Argentina?  For GlaxoSmithKline, apparently the price is $8,000.  And when you live in one of the poorest province in the country, that is a lot of money.

Because people in the US and in Europe wouldn't allow their babies to be test subjects in yet another new vaccine, GSK (GlaxoSmithKline) has decided to go to the poorest regions of the earth to do its clinical trials.  Since 2007, 15,000 children under the age of one from the Argentine provinces of Mendoza, San Juan and Santiago del Estero have been included in the research protocol.  Twelve babies have died as a result of the clinical trial directly related to vaccine, a vaccine said to prevent pneumococcal bacteria. 

But it gets worse. 

Informed consent "is a legal condition whereby a person can be said to have given consent based upon an appreciation and understanding of facts and implications of an action."

Argentine Federation of Health Professionals, known as Fesprosa, said that in most cases these are underprivileged individuals, many of them unable to read and write, who are pressured into including their children in the trials.

A great aunt of one of the babies that died said that a lot of people want to leave the protocol but aren't allowed; they force them to continue under the threat that if they leave, they won't receive any other vaccine. 

The article didn't state what the proposed brand name for this vaccine will be, but I imagine it comes with the standard things all the other vaccines contain -- the fillers -- that can be more harmful than the vaccine itself.

GSK is also conducting trials in Colombia and Panama for this proposed new vaccine. 

So why does it seem that the drug companies are moving more towards vaccines versus drugs?  Because they are shielded from lawsuits.  It's all about the almighty dollar and their almighty profits, and making people sick so they can take a whole bunch of their other drugs or more vaccines to negate the effects of other vaccines. 

I imagine once they've concluded their clinical trials, they'll get a green light from the FDA, who they also own, and try to convince politicians, many of whom they also own, that this new vaccine needs to be a mandated vaccine for every baby, at least here in the United States.  They wouldn't dare try to market it in Europe because their governments have been known to file charges of manslaughter for their products that have harmed their citizens, the last one France for some vaccine they were sticking people with other there. 

What do you all think about this new way of conducting research?  Why do we automatically believe the pharmaceutical companies have "our best interests" at heart and would always be trying to make our lives better?  Have you ever truly given "informed consent" when you vaccinated your children (meaning you found the list of ingredients in a Physician's Desk Reference and then researched what those fillers were)?  I certainly didn't when Patrick was little.  Now I wish I had asked more questions instead of just giving away my trust so easily.