| Avalanche warnings issued as more snow heads for Northwest
Blowing snow and avalanche danger caused new highway closings in Wyoming and Washington, where some schools were closed for a second consecutive day. The stormy weather also dragged bitterly cold air across the northern Plains, with the National Weather Service reporting a midday temperature of 24 below zero at Glasgow, Mont. North Dakota registered wind chills of 54 below zero early Tuesday at Garrison, with an actual low of 24 below at Williston. .
eSchoolnewsletter acts to speed notifications
The company eSchool Systems LLC, which provides e-mail school newsletters to Howard County families, is moving to improve the way parents receive emergency notifications.
Parents will be able to receive text messages about school closings or delays this winter, and recent changes to the e-mail system allow news to reach parents' inboxes more quickly.
About 36,000 families in Howard County subscribe to eSchool Systems e-mail, called eSchoolnewsletters. These free eSchoolnewsletters provide a direct line of communication from schools and the central office to parents. The eSchool newsletters contain information about PTA meetings, postponed athletic events, scholarship deadlines and other things.
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PG South: Colin Dunlap's notebook
It won't have an impact on the WPIAL playoffs that begin next month, but there is a very intriguing game involving two PG South area boys' teams Sunday at the Palumbo Center when Chartiers Valley and Upper St. Clair get together at 3 p.m. to kickoff an attractive high school tripleheader, the Pittsburgh High School Basketball Classic. Both teams -- Upper St. Clair (17-3) in Class AAAA and Chartiers Valley (18-1) in Class AAA -- look to have the makings of squads that can make deep postseason runs. In addition, a subplot to the game could be which cousin gets the better of which on the perimeter, as Upper St. Clair junior guard Peter Serio will square off against Chartiers Valley sophomore T.J. McConnell. The two were formerly AAU teammates and it should be interesting to see what happens when one has the basketball and the other takes a defensive stance in front of him.
Language programs translate needs of diverse student population
Public school districts are required under the No Child Left Behind Act of 2000 to meet the needs of English language learners, or ELL. In Mississippi, students are tested for their English proficiency - including listening, speaking, writing, reading and total comprehensive - at the beginning of each school year. Depending on their scores, a district can decide whether children need daily English language instruction or weekly monitoring. Rankin County has 10 full-time English language instructors, and of those, one is Egyptian and speaks Arabic. Four others are fluent in Spanish. While it is critical to educate the students and bring them to the same level as their native English speaking peers, it also is important to make sure parents have basic school information translated for them, said Kameron Ball, director of federal programs for the Rankin school district.
Theater Events for the period Nov. 1-10
Disney's High School Musical A basketball star and a beautiful but shy brainiac discover they share an interest in singing, and turn their school upside-down. Kalamazoo Civic Youth Theatre at the Civic Auditorium, Kalamazoo. Thu.-Sun., through Nov. 4. 269-343-1313. www.kazoocivic.com The Full Monty Unemployed steelworkers in Buffalo decide to raise money by staging a "girls' night out." Players Guild of Dearborn, Dearborn. Fri.-Sun., Nov. 9-Dec. 2. $18. 313-561-TKTS. www.playersguildofdearborn.org The Home Team Family, football and gender roles come clashing in the Gurley home on the day of the UM/MSU game. Whole Art Theatre at the Epic Theatre, Kalamazoo. Fri.-Sat., through Nov. 3. $20. 269-345-7529. www.wholeart.org One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Next A charming convict fakes insanity to avoid a harsh prison sentence.
'First Sunday' puts Ice Cube into holy mess
Cube found Talbert's script hilarious with an uplifting message about forgiveness and redemption. ''It's right in our wheelhouse,'' he said. ''David made it a Friday and a Barbershop mixed into one.'' Making First Sunday was an enjoyable experience for Cube. The key was to get out of the way of the comedians and let them do what they do best. His job, he said, was to try to stay straight-faced on camera. It wasn't easy in the presence of Morgan and Williams, who are prone to make people laugh. Cube also was impressed with their professionalism. ''Tracy not only came up with his character's back story, he also came in with LeeJohn's attitude,'' he said. ''I still feel like I've known him since the first grade. He's got the charm thing going.'' Though he isn't a churchgoer in real life, Cube had some initial concerns about his character brandishing a gun in the chapel, fearing it might turn off some moviegoers.
A tough choice for L.A. teachers
As an urban high school teacher, I'm ceded the moral high ground in most encounters with people in more highly compensated fields; invariably, they tell me how much they admire what I do. Although they rarely say so explicitly, they regard my work -- the students -- as difficult and cannot imagine themselves in my shoes, just as I can't imagine rushing into burning buildings as a firefighter.
These same people frequently characterize my employer, the Los Angeles Unified School District, as an unmanageable failure. There's some truth in that, but our schools' mission is far more difficult than critics understand. If it were easy to educate children raised near or below the poverty line, most from homes in which English is not spoken, then L.A.'s public schools would produce better results.
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