FCAT, tests, and vacations.
Sebastian has FCAT testing Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and then he can stay home Friday because the higher grades have FCAT testing that day, and the teachers have nothing at all for any of the other students in any other grades to do.
That's pretty stupid in my opinion.
It's not like his grade teachers will be doing the testing for the higher grades, so why are there no lessons planned for Friday?
Oh I know, it's because the less students they have in school, the less work they have to do, so they told their students that they don't have to come in on Friday because there will be nothing to do because the higher grades are testing and the school needs to be quiet while they test.
Yuh.
Suuuuure.
Mark is basically finished, so he doesn't have to go to school at all Tuesday and Wednesday, and Friday.
Why he has to go Thursday, I have no idea.
In other news, my brother, niece and nephew, and sister-in-law, Jenna, have booked their upcoming Orlando vacations for this year.
Jenna has MS, and I blogged in the 2007 blogathon for The Montel Williams MS Foundation, and raised a decent chunk of money basically, because of her.
I saw her go from a vibrant working mom with a ton of energy, to a vibrant mom who gets super tired, has really bad days, has days where the effects of the MS completely wipe her out.
She was diagnosed 12 years ago and is now in the secondary progressive stage, but you wouldn't know it talking to her.
She loves life, she lives it, and that's why she's always going and doing as much as she can every single day.
When making their vacation plans, she worked closely with her travel agent, made sure that every bit of their trip would be handicap accessible, they will have someone at the airports to assist with changeovers and transfers, their hotel room will have a roll-in shower, and she made sure that every question she asked, she got an answer to.
I know that they will have a great time on their vacation because Jenna took the time to organize and plan, wrote all of her questions down, asked those questions, made sure that her travel agent knew exactly what her needs were going to be on every part of their trip, and that those needs will be met.
I hope to be able to see them when they come in October, I'm not super far from Orlando, but depending on when my surgery is, recovery and all of that jazz, I don't know if I'll be able to meet up with them.
My sister might be able to take the teens, but we'll have to wait and see if I can go too.
Comments
I had a 25 year old nephew who died from the MS he had. It slowly sucked away all of his strength, then he was unable to move very well. He slowly gave up and eventually died. The disease is not something that i would wish on my worst enemy. I will be praying for Jenna and her entire family. If able, she will be needing as much help and personal contact as possible to help her keep up her heart and mind. The Muscular Dystrophy Association, MS Society has leaflets that can help people to understand this disease. It is worse than cancer in its own way.
Posted by: TwoTonTilly | March 10, 2009 2:22 PM
I wonder what good the grades from all year are if the FCAT is the final authority.
A student could have straight A's and fail the FCAT. Does that student get promoted? What if it's reversed? A student does miserably throughout school, but aces the FCAT. Does he get promoted?
I lived in FL for six years. The FCAT is a poor system. My son did pretty good through the year, but struggled on the FCAT. Luckily, for him, Tennessee has a slightly better system...TCAP. ( same crap, really-with slightly less emphasis on one test)
Posted by: mac | March 11, 2009 3:38 PM
Kat, it seems to me that schools are all about wasting our time these days. So I'm not surprised the teens got a few days of hall passes there...
It's over-the-hump-day. I hope you're Wednesday goes OK.
Posted by: The Constant Complainer | March 11, 2009 4:31 PM