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Video Games |
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Written by Dr. Early
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Last Updated on Friday, 05 February 2010 10:40 |
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Prior to winter break I wrote in this column about video games. Every parent, in today’s day and age, has some familiarity with video games, whether the games are X-Box, Wii, Nintendo, or some other high tech gadget that has caught the attention of our children and seems to mesmerize them for hours on end. Last week I attended a meeting called by James Glasgow, the Will County State’s Attorney. The name given to this meeting was Kids in the Crosshairs and dealt with content of the video games on the market, specifically those games that are embedded with violence and are being marketed to young people. At the meeting were leaders in education, municipalities and law enforcement. The objective was not to rid society of these videos, rather to inform and educate of the content contained within the videos and allow parents to make decisions based upon this knowledge. An analogy can be made to pornography, as a parent you can make a judgment as to the content of a movie you will, or will not allow your child to see based upon a rating system, i.e. PG-13, R, X, or XXX. Law prohibits theaters from allowing children under a certain age from being permitted into theaters showing films with an X rating. Ironically no rating system is used with video games, even though the content is extremely graphic and violent to the point of being vile.
The committee’s purpose was not to institute or imply censorship, for adults have the right under the First Amendment to view and play these type of games, the question is are parents informed as to what their children viewing, playing and being exposed to. While there does not seem to be any empirical data, or research to support, it appears as though exposure to the extreme violence of these games may desensitise a child to violence and skew their ability to discern between reality and fantasy. A real documented police case of a teenage boy illustrates this point quite well. The boy with no criminal background was arrested for a misdemeanor, while being processed somehow the boy got a hold of a policeman’s gun and shot three officers at point-blank range killing all three, in effect acting out a scene from Grand Theft Auto. In response to his actions the boy allegedly made an unemotional statement “life is nothing but a video game”.
As an educator and more importantly as a dad, in this “high-tech” society, I highly recommend that we be keenly aware of what are children are doing, who they communicating with via the internet, what they are watching and if the games they are playing are appropriate. For as parents and educators we have a relative short window of time to teach our children. For the children learn continuously, and sometimes what they learn, is not what we intended to teach them.
Have a great weekend.
Dr. Early |
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Thursday, 21 January 2010 11:13 |
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Trends at Richland |
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Written by Dr. Early
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Last Updated on Friday, 05 February 2010 10:40 |
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1/15/10
As has been reported several times through this communication over the past six months we are in the middle of a very extensive strategic planning process. In that process we are reviewing the data from the School Report Card concerning demographics and some interesting statistics were discovered. Low income students in 1999, with a total student population of 281, accounted for 11.7% compared to 23.5% in 2009 with a population of 950. Even with the significant increase in overall population the attendance rate increased slightly from 95.7% in 1999 to 96.1% in 2009, however chronic truancy rose from .4% in 1999 to 5% in 2009. Parental involvement has remained consistent at 100%.
Even with the increase at nearly five times the number of students from 1999 to 2009 average class sizes actually decreased overall from most classes being 30 or over in 1999 to all classes being 25 or less in 2009.
A very important statistic, ISAT Results. An upward trend of the past four years of students meeting/exceeding state standards on ISAT test in grades 3-8 from only 63% meeting and exceeding in 2005 to 83% meeting and exceeding in 2009 That’s a 20% jump!
There has been much media coverage recently about the quality of teachers, some interesting statistics regarding teachers over the past ten years. While the average years of teaching dropped from 14.2 in 1999 to 9.2 in 2009, the percent of teachers with Master Degree or higher increased from 34.1% to 60.7% over the same period of time. Further, keeping in mind the significant increase in the overall student population, pupil-teacher ratio actually decreased from 19.2 – 1 in 1999 to 19.1-1 in 2009.
At the end of the day these statistics demonstrate many meaningful trends within your school district. Many times trends of increased population and expansion of diversity equate to lower overall test scores, just the opposite is true at Richland 88A. While the White population percentage in our district has dropped significantly and minorities have increased equally significantly, the test scores too, have increased significantly. These are statistics I am proud to share and as stakeholders you also can take great pride in.
Have a great long weekend.
Dr. Early |
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Thursday, 14 January 2010 09:25 |
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Dismal Financial Forecast |
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Written by Dr. Early
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Last Updated on Friday, 05 February 2010 10:41 |
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Happy New Year!
Boy, the older I get the more I realize how much I hate the cold weather. As far as I am concerned it can snow beginning on December 24, and then melt on December 25 and that would give me my snow/winter fix for the year. I trust that everyone is learning to cope with this cold weather and finding ways to stay out of harm’s way.
The New Year brings with it some bad news. As has been in the news for several weeks, even months the State of Illinois is in a very dire financial condition. If there is a glimmer of good news, it is that Richland School District is not as reliant on State monies as some other districts. However, as of the end of 2009 the State has unpaid bills to Richland in the amount of $218,320.00. This amount is for things such as transportation, special education, general state aide, etc. If this trend continues, and I suspect it will, the state could be in debt to us by close to one half million dollars by the end of FY10. While I do think there will be some dollars that will be paid by the State, there is a possibility that those funds could be prorated. Any dollars that are not paid by the State have to be absorbed by the District.
Couple that cheerful news with the CPI (Consumer Price Index) for 2009 which is .1%, one tenth of one percent. Which means our property tax revenue will increase by, yes one tenth of one percent for FY11. Having said that, we have our work cut out for us as we develop the FY11 budget, because costs will obviously increase more than one tenth of one percent, plus the significant possibility that we will get less from the State than they are obligated to provide. There will be cut backs. To what extent we are uncertain, however we want to keep you informed of what is going on and how the State financial situation is hitting close to home.
Stay Warm
Dr. Early |
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Thursday, 07 January 2010 09:39 |
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Lice |
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Written by Dr. Early
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Last Updated on Friday, 04 December 2009 14:22 |
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In a district of over 900 students and employees exceeding 100 most anything that can go wrong does and at the most inopportune time. The latest issue is lice. We have discovered students and staff with lice. When discovered, the nurse will check siblings and the classroom if indicated as time allows. If anyone is found to have lice or nits they will be excluded from school per policy. If excluded from school it is imperative that treatment with over-the-counter shampoo to kill off both the lice and eggs is used. To be proactive I would request that you tell your children to not share hats, head dressings and check your children for lice on a regular basis. In the event that lice are discovered on any of your children please contact Ms. Sakalas at school immediately.
At the beginning of the school year we requested that parent’s provide us with a preferred e-mail address. To date we have a majority of parents that have responded to this request. Beginning in January 2010 in addition to having the News & Notes on the web-page, we will send it out via e-mail to all parents that have supplied us with an e-mail address. If you have not yet provided us with a preferred e-mail address and would like to, please contact Ms. Medina at
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, or by telephone at 815-744-7288 ext 2212.
Over the past week a number of our staff members have lost loved ones, our thoughts and prayers are with them and their families. As we approach the Thanksgiving Holiday, take time to share your appreciation and love for your family, as life is too short. |
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Friday, 20 November 2009 09:26 |
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New Web Site |
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Written by Dr. Early
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Last Updated on Friday, 20 November 2009 08:27 |
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I would like to draw your attention to the “new look” of our web site . Over the past five years the web site has evolved to a point where there was an enormous amount of information however it became confusing to navigate. The new format is much more pleasing to the eye and while there has not been a compromise or reduction in the information contained within, it is organized in a fashion that makes it much easier to navigate and has been designed to meet not only the current needs of the district, but the future needs as well. Those of you who are not technology savvy, like myself, will appreciate this forum, for it follows the model of a number of recent books on a variety of subjects; navigating the web site “for dummies”. The work you see on the web site is result of the efforts of Mr. Jim Cole over the past several months. As we will always have a goal of improving our communication we welcome your input on the web-page, please send any comments you have to
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Friday, 13 November 2009 17:30 |
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