Happy (Thankful) Thanksgiving

So amidst all the chopping and timetables (how can two trains get in at the same time?) and snow, I want to wish you all a wonderful Thanksgiving. No matter your eating persuasion or family ties or travel plans, have a good time. We should be thankful for the country we live in, our family, our friends, our neighbors and our communities. This blog is a community and I appreciate the fellowship with people who care about public education (whether we all agree on how we get there).

Nobody gets through life alone.

So I am thankful for the continued good health in my family, my sons coming home back to the family fold and for the 14 years we had with our cat, Woody (he passed away unexpectedly at the vet's on Monday). We all will miss him especially his sister, Sofina.

Comments

Sahila said…
I want to say "thank you" for all you do here, Melissa - and Charlie too...

The Seattle public school community is very lucky to have you in its midst...

Blessings Be

Namaste
Sahila
11/24/10, 7:09 PM
Jan said…
Happy Thanksgiving. I too am thankful, Melissa for all that you, Charlie, and the other blogposters do to bring thoughtful debate and support to Seattle's schools.

And my thanks as well to all of the others whose comments here have taught me so much -- if I started with names, I would surely leave voices I value out. So I will just say -- thank you all.
11/24/10, 7:23 PM
hschinske said…
So sorry about your cat, Melissa. And happy Thanksgiving to all.

Helen Schinske
11/24/10, 8:39 PM
SolvayGirl said…
I too am thankful to all who interact here and share our ideas, dreams, opinions, triumphs and horror stories..and to Charlie and Melissa for spending untold hours searching for truth. And I am grateful to live in a country where open discussion of serious issues is not only accepted, but encouraged.

So sorry to hear about your Kitty Melissa. He was a lucky cat to have a family who loved him for 14 years.
11/24/10, 9:51 PM
another mom said…
Happy Thanksgiving to all. Enjoy this day with your dear ones.

Melissa, so sorry about your kitty.
11/25/10, 7:50 AM
peonypower said…
thank you Melissa for all you do for public education. I am so glad for this blog and all the information contained within.

Hope all your chopping and prepping goes well, and so sorry about your kitty. We currently have 5 cats and one of them is 14 and is showing her age.
India C.
11/25/10, 1:07 PM
Michael said…
Sorry to hear about your cat. That can be so hard to deal with, especially if you've had them for so long.

Anyways...Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! It is great to live in this sovereign nation, the greatest nation on God's green earth!!
11/25/10, 3:19 PM
Unknown said…
Melissa,

Thank you so much for all you do. I'm a sub in Seattle (hoping against all hope for a FT high school LA position). I have written something that I would love to send to you, and if you feel compelled, I would love for you to publish it on your blog. Please email me if this is ok.

Best,

Sara Hendrickson
sarakathleenh@gmail.com
11/25/10, 10:14 PM
Kat said…
Thank you Melissa and Charlie for all your work and research into complex issues. You did a lot of legwork and I recognize the enormous amount of time it absorbed from you lives.

I am a newer minted teacher who is substituting in Seattle. I am also a parent who is looking into middle and high school for my son. I appreciate the education you offered in your blog. Your oommentaries are always enlightening and useful.

I am grateful to your blog and want to join others in thanking you for all you do and what you enable all the other bloggers to do in teaching us about education.
11/27/10, 2:43 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tuesday Open Thread

The speaker list is up for the Board meeting tomorrow; not as packed as I thought with just four people on the waitlist. The majority of the speakers are speaking on high school boundaries (with several wanting to talk about Ballard High). There are only three of us speaking about the Green Dot resolution asking the City to not grant the zoning departures that Green Dot has requested.  It's me, long-time watchdog, Chris Jackins, and the head of the Washington State Charter Schools Association, Patrick D'Amelio.  (I knew Mr. D'Amelio when he headed the Alliance for Education and Big Brothers and Big Sisters; he's a stand-up guy.)
Read more

Breaking It Down: Where the District Might Close Schools

Update 2: an absolutely fabulous interactive map made by parent Beth Day (@thebethocracy on Twitter - she covers Board meetings and is fun to read).   end of update    Update 1: Mea culpa, I did indeed get Decatur and Thornton Creek mixed up. Thanks to all for the correction. end of update   I suspect some who read this post will be irate. Why do this? Because the district seems very hellbent on this effort with no oversight skid marks from the Board.    To clearly state - I do not believe that closing 20 schools is a good idea. I think they hit on 20 because they thought it might bring in the most savings. But the jury is still out on the savings because the district has not shown its work nor its data. I suspect closing schools and THEN leasing/renting them is the big plan but that means the district really has to keep the buildings up.   But this district, with its happy talk about "well-resourced schools" is NOT acknowledging the pain and yes, grief, that is to come fro
Read more

MEETING CANCELED - Hey Kids, A Meeting with Three(!) Seattle Schools Board Directors

 Update 2: So I have seen a message from President Liza Rankin on why she, Director Evan Briggs, and Director Michelle Sarju backed out of this meeting.  In a nutshell: - She says there was no organization to the meeting which is just not true. They had a moderator lined up and naturally the board members could have set parameters for what to discuss, length of meeting, etc. All that was fleshed out. - She also claimed that if the meeting was PTA sponsored, they needed to have liability insurance to use the school space. Hello? PTAs use school space all the time and know they have to have this insurance.  - She seems to be worried about the Open Public Meetings law. Look, if she has a meeting in a school building on a non-personnel topic, it should be an open meeting. It appears that Rankin is trying, over and over, to narrow the window of access that parents have to Board members. She even says in her message - "...with decisions made in public." Hmmm - She also says that th
Read more