Random Thoughts 15: Crystal Clear 2021 Edition

[CycloneErik]

OK, for people who have relocated (on the one in a billion chance such a thing would happen----no contacts here), how do you go about evaluating schools and such from a distance?

Somebody just posted their ad for the 2nd or 3rd time. That makes me nervous and curious.

 

[ImJustKCClone]

......and television station KRNT stood for Register 'n' Tribune.

In the Seattle metro it was the Seattle imes & the Seattle PI (Post-Intelligencer). One skewed left, the other right. We lived in Bellevue (due east of Seattle, on the opposite shore of Lake Washington. We had our own town paper, the Bellevue American, but it was mostly a small town gossip rag. Now Bellevue is this huge high rise, big money city (nothing like the small town atmosphere it had when I was a kid). I don't know if the Bellevue American still exists, but I doubt it will tell you who had out of town visitors this week, and what the Overlake Service League had planned of the future.

 

[BCClone]

So how’d you feel about being 3rd then?

Not quite. I changed schools my senior year. Was told I needed one class to graduate, offered 2nd semester. I had already been accepted to ISU. I showed up 7th and did marginal work. Was content with Bs, except for classes they called different but were similar to ones I had. Had a basic computer programming class with the Jr nerds. I finished everything early. They would about stroke out when I finished, I just remembered the code I wrote at my other school. So I dropped a few spots to 10th, then the damn FESs got shoved in there.

 

[ImJustKCClone]

OK, for people who have relocated (on the one in a billion chance such a thing would happen----no contacts here), how do you go about evaluating schools and such from a distance?

Somebody just posted their ad for the 2nd or 3rd time. That makes me nervous and curious.

I only moved my boys once after they were in school, and I had the opportunity to look around before we chose where we would live. We lived in a duplex near North Grand Mall when we moved here, and the oldest started kindergarten right away. In December we bought a house in one of the neighboring towns; we moved out of Ames because I didn't want them in a school system that large. Granted, there were more classroom options in Ames, but I went to a large high school where you had to "specialize" in order to participate in extracurriculars. My boys would never have even sniffed the athletic field in most sports in Ames. They might have been able to snag roles in plays, or solos in the choirs, but where they went to school they had the opportunity to try pretty much anything they wanted to try. Both participated in the TAG program in elementary school, and took AP classes in high school. I also liked the fact that most of the teachers knew most of the students by name, and vice versa.

That said, all of that and all of the moves I made as a child (TX - WA - FL - WA) were before the internet. We had no realistic way to search out school systems. I've noticed that many real estate sites like Zillow & Realtor.com are providing school assessment rankings on the individual pages for the houses for sale. That might be a start; even if you won't be buying at first, it might tell you the basic quality of the local schools. I guess it really all depends on what you're looking for in schools. I wanted my kids to get as much opportunity to do kid stuff as I could, while still receiving a good education. Your goals might be different, as Z sounds like a pretty precocious little gal.

 

[stormchaser2014]

People need to learn how to ******* drive. Almost got into 3 accidents in a less than 2 mile stretch on my way home.

 

[BCClone]

People need to learn how to ******* drive. Almost got into 3 accidents in a less than 2 mile stretch on my way home.

Sounds like you are the constant there

 

[VeloClone]

Maybe he’s a dwarf?

How I now picture GR8's neighbor:

 

[SCyclone]

People need to learn how to ******* drive. Almost got into 3 accidents in a less than 2 mile stretch on my way home.

Doctor SCyclone says take three of these (or more as needed):

 

[wxman1]

Our score of the week. A family friend found a Campbell and staff signed football at Stuff Etc. Yesterday...so I went and bought it for $40. #Winning

 

[cyhiphopp]

My closest sis was valedictorian of her class, she worked hard at it. I was always 1/2 in my class and never studied or put any effort into it. The other one that was 1/2 hated me because she studied all the time and was current on everything. I would about sleep through class, scribble a few notes but knew what to listen for and would smoke the exams. There was pure hatred from her to me.

What ticked me off was I could write a 15-16 page paper on the military career of general Pershing and get a 96, another student would write a 4 page paper on pure non-sense and get a 94. I got ticked and asked the teacher once, was told they expect more from me since my sister did well and I had better grades.

My sister is 3 years older than me, and my brother 8 years older.
Teachers remembered my brother but not my sister who was still in HS when I started. She always struggled and my brother and I were/are nerds who the teachers remembered.

I remember my sister asked my older brother to help her with Chemistry and she ended up in tears because she couldn't do it. Unfortunately she was several weeks behind at that point so it was pretty hard to catch up.

I also remember helping my sister with her 100 level "Physics" course at ISU. Basically you just had to plug numbers into equations that they gave you. I had a hard time because I was used to doing it the hard way.

 

[NWICY]

We have a client that is exiting real soon to another outsourcer. I just got a request about something that happens every weekend. So it wasn't a problem until they decided to pack up and go to Ta Ta?

I'd let that one slide if I was you.

 

[NWICY]

My closest sis was valedictorian of her class, she worked hard at it. I was always 1/2 in my class and never studied or put any effort into it. The other one that was 1/2 hated me because she studied all the time and was current on everything. I would about sleep through class, scribble a few notes but knew what to listen for and would smoke the exams. There was pure hatred from her to me.

What ticked me off was I could write a 15-16 page paper on the military career of general Pershing and get a 96, another student would write a 4 page paper on pure non-sense and get a 94. I got ticked and asked the teacher once, was told they expect more from me since my sister did well and I had better grades.

LOL small schools at their best/worst where teachers actually know the kids and push each one to their ability, and if they know a struggling kid is trying really hard they'll help them out.

 

[NWICY]

OK, for people who have relocated (on the one in a billion chance such a thing would happen----no contacts here), how do you go about evaluating schools and such from a distance?

Somebody just posted their ad for the 2nd or 3rd time. That makes me nervous and curious.

If you actually go out there for a in person interview, talk with people on campus, secretaries, profs, etc and ask their opinions. Big enough school would they offer on campus stuff?

 

[CycloneErik]

If you actually go out there for a in person interview, talk with people on campus, secretaries, profs, etc and ask their opinions. Big enough school would they offer on campus stuff?

Nah, it's a community college in rural WA.
Town's a little bigger than the with-students version of Ames.

Ad closed back in mid-January. I passed because it's really remote. It's been open the whole time, and they reposted it today. It makes me curious in all the ways, good and bad.

 

[NWICY]

Nah, it's a community college in rural WA.
Town's a little bigger than the with-students version of Ames.

Ad closed back in mid-January. I passed because it's really remote. It's been open the whole time, and they reposted it today. It makes me curious in all the ways, good and bad.

You might not have too many choices if it's really rural with out taking her to where the next school district boundary starts. Do you know if WA has open enrollment?

 

[CycloneErik]

You might not have too many choices if it's really rural with out taking her to where the next school district boundary starts. Do you know if WA has open enrollment?

Haven't looked yet.
I'm not exactly sure how, but the district has 17 elementary schools and an online academy.
My usual concern is having a place that can support a wildly-bright, really shy, twice-exceptional kid. She's a tough one to match thing up for at times.

 

[NWICY]

Haven't looked yet.
I'm not exactly sure how, but the district has 17 elementary schools and an online academy.
My usual concern is having a place that can support a wildly-bright, really shy, twice-exceptional kid. She's a tough one to match thing up for at times.

Well that seems like there should be plenty of options, between that many schools and the on line academy. If I remember your postings right she has really shined in on line learning.

 

[CycloneErik]

Well that seems like there should be plenty of options, between that many schools and the on line academy. If I remember your postings right she has really shined in on line learning.

She's the poster child for online learning. If nothing else, that should be a really good option, depending how it would work with me having an actual schedule.


Looks like I've used the site that manages their apps before for some other place. App process shouldn't take long.

 

[Cyclones_R_GR8]

I'd let that one slide if I was you.

I really have no idea what they want. I keep a log of automated tickets I generate for them and I don't see anything like they described

 

[ImJustKCClone]

Friday funnies!