4th Grade breakdowns

I pull up to school today at 2:55 like I do everyday, only today was like no other day.....


I pull up and see all these kids crying like someone had just stole the most prized possession that ever had owned. I see one of the dads i know and say "Frankie, what the hell is going on?" He said he did not know. Little Frankie (his son, Mary Jo's friend) says to me, hey, look at Mary Jo. I turn to see my daughter bawling her eyes out. I ask her what's wrong and she says that her teacher is leaving. I can not understand a word she is trying to say in between sobs.

I managed to get to Marty's teacher and get the scoop from her. MS TIERNAN (Mary Jo's teacher)GOT LAID OFF!!! It turns out that teaching positions are allocated using a formula that looks at student enrollment. It is separated as follows: Kindergarten, 1st-3rd & 4th-8th.

4th grade has 95 kids - 3 teachers
5th grade has 78 kids - 3 teachers
6th grade has 102 kids - 3 teachers
7th grade has 69 kids - 3 teachers
8th grade has 73 kids - 3 teachers

The budget dept. works with Human resources to select the position number that closes, after that is decided then they identify the quota teacher with the least seniority and that is the teacher that gets laid off. So this is how it worked in laymans terms.

Mrs Cutro's 7th grade position got axed due to lack of students and Ms. Tiernan who is only in her 2nd year here is low man on the totem pole so she gets laid off.

They just told her on Friday the 26th and today Tuesday the 30th is her last day.

Whatever happened to a 2 week notice. They told the kids today at 2:30. How can they be so insensitive to these kids and this teacher.

Can you imagine getting told you are getting laid off effective immediately but have to come back for 2 more days. And remember don't tell the kids in your class until 15minutes before you dismiss them?

Maybe a better way to do this would have been a note home to the parents to let them explain to the kids what was going on. You just don't spring this on a bunch of 9/10 year olds.

The school grounds are usually empty by 3:30, not today, no one really wanted it to end.

You will be missed dearly Ms. Tiernan.

IF TONI HAD A BLOG

I got this from my dear friend Toni today.

If I had a blog, today I would write: Today for about the 35th time in my life, I was able to wish my friend Dee "Happy Birthday". Being the kinda friend I am I wanted to be the first. At 7:20 am I called her and said "HAPPY BIRTHDAY FOR THE FIRST TIME TODAY" . And instead of a laugh or a thanks, I get "Your waking up my kids!". Now prior to calling I did put some thought into it and I think, Marty gets up early for work and the kids probably have to be in school by 8:00am or around then, Dee works at 7:30 so they should all be up now, it's Dee's Birthday and they are all probably up giving her a Birthday cup of O.J.to get her off to work. Right?... Wrong! I ask "what time do they get up?" Dee replies "7:30". Now I'm thinking if I had just waited a mere 10 more minutes, my nearest/dearest/oldest friend would have been happy to hear from me instead of being perturbed of my waking her kids up a measly 10 minutes early. The good news is, I have learned from my mistake and will not do it again next year. I will try instead next year to wish her the last "Happy Birthday" she hears for another year. Problem is I'm kinda stressin about what time the kids go to bed! My luck 9pm and I will be calling at 9:10.

The Pioneer Press

For those of you who do not or have never lived in the great city of Chicago, we have a local paper called he pioneer press. Each area has there own, for example, mine is called the Harlem/Irving Times.

Long story short... Yesterday, I am sitting at footbal and this one mom hands me the paper and says, "check it out" it was from the Parade on Sunday. Right there on the cover was the Vikings boat and they actually got close enought so you can see the kids. Guess whose mug is right there in the middle?

MICHAEL AUGUSTINE CASEY

As soon as I can log on the the site, I will try to download the picture.

Storms

Jessica's daughter Sam is so afraid of storms. I always thought that was strange because Sharon(Jess' mom), Toni & Jess were always doing scary things. Living with ghosts, hanging at the graveyards and what not. So for Sam to scared was weird to me.

Now I know what Jess goes through with Sam. Mary Jo has officially become afraid of storms. We have a doozie of a couple of 3 days ahead of us due to IKE.

I was going through some pictures and found 2 pictures I took one morning.




I am sure this weekend will bring more cool shots.

New Toy

We just could not resist. The best toy we bought in a long time.

Holds 100 cd's and you can change them out if you get bored. How cool is that.

ARE YOUR READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL!!!!

Well it has arrived, opening day for the NYA Football league. They really go all out for this day. It was pretty cool. The boys had a blast. First we started the day off at 8:30 a.m. to the head of the parade route where we decorated the floats/boats and cars.




Then at 9:30 the Parade left the bank lot and off to Norridge Park we went.



Had a little Pep Rally.



The "A" team played at 12:00 so we sat around and watched that game then....it was GAME TIME!






We lost 12 - 0. They played a good game and we will get them next time.

My 2 FAVORITE FOOTBALL PLAYERS