Dreams

I hope that everyone follows their dreams. I have always tried to convince my children to follow their hearts and their dreams. However, several people that I have seen have stomped on the dreams of their family and their children. Please do not be one of those people. Help our children to see just how important it is to fight for their dreams by fighting for yours.

Birth Control in Middle School

There is a middle school in Maine that is allowing any of their middle school student to receive birth control without parental permission. They only have to have permission from a parent to be treated in the health center but all of the consultations are confidential and parents are not allowed to find out what happened or what was prescribed unless their child tells them. As a parent, I am appalled. What happens if the student starts experiencing an allergic reaction. Parents have no idea what medications their child is on or what side effects to look for. In my opinion this is a school stepping over the line.

Election '08

With the elections coming up next year, I have begun thinking about how few people come out to vote. I think that we need to adopt the plan that 'if you don't vote, don't say anything about how the country is run'. I think that too often people refuse to register or go vote and then yell the loudest when things are not going the way that they believe it should. People Wake Up, Go Vote, then and only then can your voice be heard.

Teachers Performance Pay

The current teachers pay is based on years of experience and amount of education. However, Mr. Cargill wants to change the current pay raises to performance pay. What this means is that the teachers will be judged on student's test scores, administrative assessments, and peer reviews. This would mean that the teachers in the higher income level would have a better chance at receiving a higher pay raise than those in lower income schools. Some teachers may be doing a wonderful job at teaching but some of the students may be more interested in where their next meal is coming from rather than their test scores. How is this fair to them? Besides that where are we going to come up with the additional money for these pay raises when we can't even afford to pay them a descent wage. Oklahoma is number 47th in the country in teacher pay. How about we consider paying our teachers more so that we are able to keep them here rather than worring about additional merit pay right now.