Having an awesome summer with family and friends. While it hasn't been entirely relaxing, it's been a great time to rejuvenate.
We are getting ready to start another year at Atala. We are starting the year with more children than we started last year, and we're expanding up to 7th grade. The toddler room only has one space left! I've met some wonderful parents and gotten to see our first class of Atala kindergarten students graduate into elementary school. Livya was among those children--I am so proud of her!
It was a year of firsts, which was awesome and tiring all rolled into one. This year we can work towards perfecting some events, and adding new ones. We are going to do the Chili Cook Off again in the fall. And in the spring we're adding a Renaissance Faire. I've spent the latter part of the summer honing my recorder skills and will play in a Renaissance consort as part of the entertainment. Can't wait!
In the meanwhile, I enjoy scanning articles in the Chronicle of Higher Education. Universities and colleges live in a bubble and it seems to be catching up a bit, at least with a few. So much corruption--padding enrollment to receive additional funding from the state, charging students for services they never received, plummeting admission standards to try to fill seats. Tenure is fast becoming a thing of the past, which is a good thing in my opinion. Why guarantee someone a job for life? Shouldn't you have to earn your job and work to keep it?
Spread your wings!
06 August 2011
29 May 2011
Year One
One year ago yesterday I left FIU. No more bologna, no more blatant sexism, no more "Peter" principle, and no more stress. Well...that last one probably doesn't really hold true, but this is a totally different kind of stress. That was then and this is now.
Living and breathing all things Atala has been fabulous. Kind of makes me want to get up in the morning and figure out how we can X, Y, or Z better. You name, we have tried it this year. And next year is going to be even better.
We ended our first year making our payroll every month, paying all our bills every month, and with a track record that includes a gubernatorial proclamation, a mayoral proclamation, a lot of happy families, new friends, and a feeling that this is going to be a lot bigger than all of us put together!
Thank you everyone who made this possible. Spread Your Wings!
Living and breathing all things Atala has been fabulous. Kind of makes me want to get up in the morning and figure out how we can X, Y, or Z better. You name, we have tried it this year. And next year is going to be even better.
We ended our first year making our payroll every month, paying all our bills every month, and with a track record that includes a gubernatorial proclamation, a mayoral proclamation, a lot of happy families, new friends, and a feeling that this is going to be a lot bigger than all of us put together!
Thank you everyone who made this possible. Spread Your Wings!
23 April 2011
Strange, but true
So it's been nearly 2 months since I sent my letter of resignation to FIU. I have not received official confirmation that they got the letter let alone got the letter. When I wrote her, my friend who works in the dean's office did email me back to let me know that "they" received my letter and were working on a response. Two months and still no response at all? I know it's too much to ask for someone to actually thank me for my 14 years of work, but a simple breakdown of the sick leave pay the owed me would have been the professional thing to do. I had a mysterious deposit from FIU in my bank account, but I have nothing to let me know how many sick-leave hours I had, how much tax was taken out, and what the rate of pay was for the sick leave. It's not at all surprising given the lack of professionalism in the College of Architecture + The Arts, but it is disappointing.
On a happier note, several of my former students got accepted into great graduate schools including University of Oregon and Brown.
And coolest of all, Colby and I had a terrific article written about us in the Miami Herald: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/04/02/2145726/the-sound-saver.html. Strange thing was I received a call from a former boss at FIU telling me that it's too bad the author didn't mention that I'm a composer and not giving me enough press. Apparently he didn't read the article and completely missed the point. We collaborate on things. It's not about who gets the top line of the article, it's about the difference you can make in your community.
Spread your wings!
On a happier note, several of my former students got accepted into great graduate schools including University of Oregon and Brown.
And coolest of all, Colby and I had a terrific article written about us in the Miami Herald: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/04/02/2145726/the-sound-saver.html. Strange thing was I received a call from a former boss at FIU telling me that it's too bad the author didn't mention that I'm a composer and not giving me enough press. Apparently he didn't read the article and completely missed the point. We collaborate on things. It's not about who gets the top line of the article, it's about the difference you can make in your community.
Spread your wings!
01 April 2011
Science Fair and Art Show
This has been a year of firsts and tonight was no exception. The 1st annual Atala Science Fair and Art Show was awesome! The kids focused on recycled art, found art, reusing and repurposing materials, and everyone did a great job! I'll post pictures on our Facebook account.
Had two more registrations for next year just today and a lead on several properties for our permanent home.
So glad it's Friday! Spread Your Wings and breathe!
Had two more registrations for next year just today and a lead on several properties for our permanent home.
So glad it's Friday! Spread Your Wings and breathe!
24 March 2011
Spring Cleaning
We had a fabulous Spring Break at Disney with my sister-in-law and her family. Great to just kick back and finally relax a bit.
Things are moving ahead at a wonderful pace for Atala next year. We have 85% of our students re-enolled already and have had several new families sign up for the toddler and preschool rooms for next year already. Plans for the new middle school are coming along nicely.
Big news is that we have been looking for a permanent property for the school. We've been all over Homestead and seen the good, the bad, and the ugly. We think we may have found the perfect place. I don't want to say too much until we've been through it again with the professionals and our bid has been accepted. The bank is coming today to talk about a mortgage loan and line of credit to fix up the place. We're meeting with the real estate attorney soon. So I should be able to report on more good news by the beginning of the summer.
Spread Your Wings!
Things are moving ahead at a wonderful pace for Atala next year. We have 85% of our students re-enolled already and have had several new families sign up for the toddler and preschool rooms for next year already. Plans for the new middle school are coming along nicely.
Big news is that we have been looking for a permanent property for the school. We've been all over Homestead and seen the good, the bad, and the ugly. We think we may have found the perfect place. I don't want to say too much until we've been through it again with the professionals and our bid has been accepted. The bank is coming today to talk about a mortgage loan and line of credit to fix up the place. We're meeting with the real estate attorney soon. So I should be able to report on more good news by the beginning of the summer.
Spread Your Wings!
04 March 2011
26 February 2011
DCF, revisited
Let me preface this whole entry with a fact: I am neither a Democrat nor a Republican. That being said, I do lean more to the radical side of things in general, but not always. Yesterday was a perfect display of when I lean the other way...
A friend and I were headed to the SOBE Wine and Food Fest for a quick break and a wine tasting. We were headed to Ocean Drive, got to 8th St (roughly halfway there) and then hit a traffic nightmare. So we both agreed to head home: there was no way we were going to make it to the event before it was over. Once we turned around, we realized it was divine intervention.
We got a call from the Atala office saying that DCF was there to survey. Anytime DCF shows up you get a knot of frustration in your stomach, but this didn't make sense since we had already had our licensing officer measure everything. We were glad that we had made the decision to turn around, as we would arrive back on campus in time to speak with the rep. Several nerve-wracking phone calls went back and forth, but we prepared when arrived home.
When we arrived back, Beatriz was in the office with our DCF visitor. This DCF guy was having her complete a survey (they were measuring, but not our playground!) about the health and nutrition of our children. There were three questions she had waited to complete: 1) are you interested in participating in the government program for health and nutrition, 2) are you interested in having technical advice on health and nutrition, and 3) are you interested in receiving information on health and nutrition. When I questioned our "guest" about whether these were free programs, he said yes. But when I questioned him about where did it say that these were free programs and if we were obligating ourselves to participating in the program, he said it was in the literature he was leaving. Then I pointed out that neither of us had read the literature, so we were both uncomfortable signing anything.
Then the real fun began. First the DCF officer tells us about a little 2-year-old girl who was 300 pounds because her mother didn't know what to feed her. Then he starts using the word "abuse" in the same sentence. So I put two and two together and asked, "Are you telling me that if a parent of one of our school children sends a peanut butter and jelly sandwich everyday of the year because that's what he child eats, we are going to have to call and report that as child abuse?!" He answered, "Yes, that's not healthy" and again recounts the 300 pound 2 year old story.
The DCF officer then goes on to say, "We license you (as he points to the license hanging on our wall), and we want to work with you to educate you about the issues that are important to Mrs. Michelle Obama, who is going to be at the University of Miami meeting with DCF next week." So this not-so veiled threat to pull our licensing is all in the name of Michelle Obama?! Just on the off chance that Big Brother is reading all the blogs out there, let me just say to Mrs. Obama that DCF in Florida is one of the most shabbily run, disorganized, and corrupt government agencies with which I have ever come in contact. And you are thinking of putting them in charge of our children's health?! I implore you to rethink this decision. While I have no doubt that the 2-year-old our DCF visitor spoke of really existed, this is an extreme case. Kids are kids. One of my kids went a whole year eating nothing but nuggets--as long as we said it was a nugget, it was eaten. So we had chicken nuggets, fish nuggets, hamburger nuggets, whatever it was we called it a "nugget."
Whatever ridiculous DCF officer is going to try to monitor (and I still don't know if this was going to be free, but I'm guessing the school was going to get socked with some extra fees to cover the costs of monitoring everyone's lunch boxes), I guarantee you he or she doesn't know squat about children. Let's look at all the recent and not-so-recent news coverage about DCF in Miami-Dade County alone. Kids are getting lost in the system, dying at the hands of adults that DCF deemed fit to watch over children. And now you're giving them more power to screw up.
Did you know that there are 6 counties in the State of Florida who refuse to abide by the rules of DCF? I'd like to mount a campaign to have Miami-Dade county added to that list! I do not believe big government can help this situation at all. Requiring us to monitor the lunch boxes of our families and then reporting back to a government agency is just bologna (and not fat free)!
A friend and I were headed to the SOBE Wine and Food Fest for a quick break and a wine tasting. We were headed to Ocean Drive, got to 8th St (roughly halfway there) and then hit a traffic nightmare. So we both agreed to head home: there was no way we were going to make it to the event before it was over. Once we turned around, we realized it was divine intervention.
We got a call from the Atala office saying that DCF was there to survey. Anytime DCF shows up you get a knot of frustration in your stomach, but this didn't make sense since we had already had our licensing officer measure everything. We were glad that we had made the decision to turn around, as we would arrive back on campus in time to speak with the rep. Several nerve-wracking phone calls went back and forth, but we prepared when arrived home.
When we arrived back, Beatriz was in the office with our DCF visitor. This DCF guy was having her complete a survey (they were measuring, but not our playground!) about the health and nutrition of our children. There were three questions she had waited to complete: 1) are you interested in participating in the government program for health and nutrition, 2) are you interested in having technical advice on health and nutrition, and 3) are you interested in receiving information on health and nutrition. When I questioned our "guest" about whether these were free programs, he said yes. But when I questioned him about where did it say that these were free programs and if we were obligating ourselves to participating in the program, he said it was in the literature he was leaving. Then I pointed out that neither of us had read the literature, so we were both uncomfortable signing anything.
Then the real fun began. First the DCF officer tells us about a little 2-year-old girl who was 300 pounds because her mother didn't know what to feed her. Then he starts using the word "abuse" in the same sentence. So I put two and two together and asked, "Are you telling me that if a parent of one of our school children sends a peanut butter and jelly sandwich everyday of the year because that's what he child eats, we are going to have to call and report that as child abuse?!" He answered, "Yes, that's not healthy" and again recounts the 300 pound 2 year old story.
The DCF officer then goes on to say, "We license you (as he points to the license hanging on our wall), and we want to work with you to educate you about the issues that are important to Mrs. Michelle Obama, who is going to be at the University of Miami meeting with DCF next week." So this not-so veiled threat to pull our licensing is all in the name of Michelle Obama?! Just on the off chance that Big Brother is reading all the blogs out there, let me just say to Mrs. Obama that DCF in Florida is one of the most shabbily run, disorganized, and corrupt government agencies with which I have ever come in contact. And you are thinking of putting them in charge of our children's health?! I implore you to rethink this decision. While I have no doubt that the 2-year-old our DCF visitor spoke of really existed, this is an extreme case. Kids are kids. One of my kids went a whole year eating nothing but nuggets--as long as we said it was a nugget, it was eaten. So we had chicken nuggets, fish nuggets, hamburger nuggets, whatever it was we called it a "nugget."
Whatever ridiculous DCF officer is going to try to monitor (and I still don't know if this was going to be free, but I'm guessing the school was going to get socked with some extra fees to cover the costs of monitoring everyone's lunch boxes), I guarantee you he or she doesn't know squat about children. Let's look at all the recent and not-so-recent news coverage about DCF in Miami-Dade County alone. Kids are getting lost in the system, dying at the hands of adults that DCF deemed fit to watch over children. And now you're giving them more power to screw up.
Did you know that there are 6 counties in the State of Florida who refuse to abide by the rules of DCF? I'd like to mount a campaign to have Miami-Dade county added to that list! I do not believe big government can help this situation at all. Requiring us to monitor the lunch boxes of our families and then reporting back to a government agency is just bologna (and not fat free)!
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