I had the pleasure of meeting with FHS teacher extraordinaire Scott Slechta yesterday to discuss the possibility of his students blogging for Fairfield Voice. It was a great meeting, with a positive outcome. At the end of the meeting however, Scott got serious and asked me if this would cost the school anything. When I assured him that it would not, he was relieved, for as we all know, our district has to cut millions from its budget to accommodate larger budget cuts at the State level. Which reminded me…

Education Cuts Hurt

Reminded me that I’ve  been meaning to write about this for a while, but  life got in the way. So here goes…

A few weeks ago, the Iowa Independent reported “Education to endure 58% of budget cuts from the State budget. 58%! At the time I thought, “are you shi***ng me?”  I mean, one of the reasons my family and I moved to Iowa was due to the quality of the education system. We are the home to the standardized Iowa test after all…

58% indeed. Which led to millions (my apologies, I can’t find the exact figure right now. ..) of dollars being cut from Fairfield’s education budget, which will likely end up as cuts in the arts (among other things of course) because they seem to always get cut before anything else. (But that’s fodder for another post…)

I just can’t help but to be angry about this. Angry at the State, angry at Washington. I still support what the White House is doing, however, both the President and the First Lady (as most Presidents and First Ladies have done for every administration I’ve followed) have spoken out about the importance of education in America. Yet, here’s where slogans such as “No Child Left Behind” really get us -  “The United States now ranks eighteenth in Education among the World’s industrial nations” – The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development November 19th, 2008

Eighteenth? Really? The world leader that is these United States?

I have always believed that there is nothing more important to the future of our country than education. And I know that many of you do too, particularly the group of wonderful, giving people who teach our children. My gosh, I received an email from a teacher at FHS that had a timestamp of 4:15 AM on it a couple of weeks ago. This underpaid, over-extended group has got our future in their hands. Yet, our government, who continues to talk a good game about education, continues to take these amazing public servants’ budgets away. Leaving them with wonderful choices such as “do we buy math books or a couple of trumpets” to make instead of being able to put that time into our children or, perhaps, into getting some sleep.

I am appalled that Iowa Governor Culver has cut so deeply into our future. Surely, governing is not easy. Governing is about making tough choices. There are major trade-offs that have to be made. I understand, I really do. But if education is his “centerpiece” as indicated on his campaign website, “Issues” Nov 7, 2006 – “Drawing on his experience as a teacher, Culver has focused on education as a centerpiece of his gubernatorial campaign. As Governor, Culver will expand Iowa’s accredited early education programs, raise teacher salaries, create innovative programs to keep new graduates in Iowa to teach, and make college more affordable and accessible for Iowa students” then I am really confused.

It’s time for this madness to stop. This country is in trouble. It has been for years. And it’s not just due to what we read about in the headlines. I’d suggest that a big dose of what is wrong is that we (the government) have NOT prioritized education. For if we did, we wouldn’t be staring down the barrel of huge budget cuts year in and year out. We wouldn’t be making the already hard job of teaching our children ever harder.

Education is a social process. Education is growth. Education is, not a preparation for life; education is life itself. – John Dewey

I couldn’t agree more with Mr. Dewey and I couldn’t believe more in education – and I know that I’m not the only citizen who feels this way. Our government? I’m just not so sure anymore…

What’s your take?

When I married an animal lover, I thought I knew what I was in for. A dog, a couple of cats, some fish. As I look at the two 4 week old kittens who are literally on my feet however, I guess I got more than I bargained for…

These kittens are part of a litter that was left for dead, in a trash can in Jefferson County State Park. One did die before they made it to our house, and now there are 6 of the cutest little babies you ever did see.  You can read more about them and see them here.

Not only are they cute, but from day one they were as friendly towards humans as I’ve ever seen kittens at this age. Which begs the question. Why. Why would anybody do that to innocent little lives such as these?

Being in the animal welfare biz (ok, full disclosure, my wife is the now acting Executive Director for Noah’s Ark Animal Shelter), my wife always seeks the kindest and most understanding answers – maybe they couldn’t afford them any longer and didn’t know what to do – like that.

But as I watched them chasing shadows this morning, (before one white and one tabby one perched on my slippers) I realized that one of the reasons in Fairfield at least, may be that not enough people know about Noahs Ark. Not that they can take every “stray” – due to the large number of cats who are not spayed or neutered and allowed to run free in this town – but they can take some, and they can provide options, and they can at least stop animals from being abandoned and left for dead…

These trash can kitties are indicative of larger problems related to the treatment of animals that I’m not knowledgeable enough to write about – so I won’t. What I will do however, is to encourage you to do what you can to help.

Ever consider being a foster home? It’s so much fun and so rewarding. Our kids love to have kittens running around the house (and just think, when they’re old enough, they get spayed and neutered on Noah’s Ark’s dime, and then get adopted out!)

Not into fostering but still want to help? The shelter can always use volunteers. Give them a shout at 641-472-6080 if you’re interested.

With our lives as busy as they are, we don’t always have time to donate, but there are other ways to help too. For example, the shelter has a wish list of items that they can always use…

After days at the shelter when calls come in to save kittens from trashcans, or to help a 3-legged dog find a home, my wife is pretty wiped out. She feels like she, too, is chasing shadows.

But all it takes is an email or call from somebody like you, to remind her that it’s all good. That more people value these animals’ lives than not. And that this incredible little animal shelter in SE Iowa will continue to save lives…