At the Request of the Roscommon Education Association, I've provided the following answers (the questions were sent to me via regular mail by the REA).1. As you view Roscommon Area Public Schools, what do you see as the strengths and weaknesses of the K-12 program? What would you do to maintain and improve the strengths? How would you address the weaknesses? I’ll start this response with a disclaimer. While I do have a handful of questions for which I would like answers, I’m also aware that some of my questions stem directly from a lack of understanding on my part.

We spent all last week on the gulf shore of Florida; it gets harder to come back every time we go.  Some highlights and fun times from the week: 

• AJ's Food and Oyster Bar
• The Track Recreation Center
• Hyatt Place - Downtown Birmingham
• The Navy's Blue Angels

Tonight, the Roscommon Area Public Schools hosted a community forum at the high school, where they collected input for areas to cut in the upcoming budget year.  We heard a pretty good (if brief) presentation about the funding sources (federal and state) that are being reduced, and how the combination of those reductions has surprised the district.  We then met in small groups to discuss/group-think ideas that hadn't been mentioned yet.

This blog (the one where you're reading this text) was originally published with Drupal 5.  I've been exploring ways to upgrade all the way to Drupal 7, now that it's out and available, but had been struggling with an easy way to get my old 'blog' entries moved over... there wasn't a lot there (something like 66 entries), but some of them still get click-throughs once in a while, and I hate to just 'give up' on a challenge like that.

Since I announced that I am running for school board, I've had several people ask me about my 'platform'.  It seems fair that I should at least talk about my points of view on things, my history and experience, and my interests, so you get an idea if I'm the right kind of candidate for you.  About MeFirst, a little about my history and background.  My wife and I both grew up in the Harrison Community School District, just down the road from Roscommon.

Interesting article today from the Free Press: Database: See how much your district has put aside for a rainy day

http://www.freep.com/article/20110325/NEWS06/110323044/Database-See-how-much-your-district-has-put-aside-rainy-dayI downloaded the entire state's data and dumped it into spreadsheet formats...interesting reading, for sure.  I wish I had more time today to study it closely.  

Our school district, like many others is facing significant budget problems in the coming year(s). A broadcasted email from our superintendent today has asked for suggestions from parents, teachers, and community members to help solve a projected $1.4 million shortfall for the upcoming (2010-11) school year.

Well, it's official.  I'm running for the Roscommon Area Public Schools (RAPS) board position that will be filled in the May 3rd election.  It's a trying time for the school district, with ARRA grant money running out and proposed state budget cuts in the works.  I'd like to collect thoughts and ideas (mine and others) here in the open, so we can bat them around publicly and easily.  Please come out and vote on May 3rd!!

Such a good tip, that I better save it right here for future use. To hide all the Linux-like dot folders (folders with names starting with a period, or full stop), open Command Prompt and run:

ATTRIB +H /s /d C:\.*

This will fix all the current folders, but any new ones generated later will not be hidden. You'll have to re-run this script (maybe automated as a Windows Scheduled Task?).