Tom called for the elimination of school buses due to high gas prices. He also went on to say that it’s the parents responsibility to be better parents and make sacrifices for their children. What type of sacrifices would we make Tom? Change jobs and go in later? Then tell your kids that they can’t have the normal lifestyle that they have become accustomed to because their mom or dad had to changes jobs making less money because a talk show host had their school buses eliminated!

Let me ask Tom a question, “How’s the view from the cheap seats?” It must be rough being able to set your hours, or have an assistant pick up your kids. Maybe I’ll just hire a nanny!

I am sure that tomorrow I will go right back to listening, but for now I’ll just be grumpy…

Elk Grove teachers won’t have the guidance of experienced teaching coaches next fall. A gleaming new school in Natomas will sit empty. And in Sacramento, middle schools will have fewer music classes and high school teachers will have less time to run special programs like athletics and honors academics.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s May budget proposal gives more money to schools than he suggested in January, and meets the minimum guarantee schools are owed under state law. And his latest proposal increases school spending next year by $200 million over this year – but it’s an amount education advocates say is paltry compared with their needs.

The governor’s latest budget proposal doesn’t cover the higher costs schools will face next year for things such as gasoline, health care and raises for teachers as they advance in experience, said David Gordon, superintendent of Sacramento County schools. So districts are trimming other parts of their budgets to keep up.

“That is a big cut when you’re not kept even with the inflationary factors,” Gordon said. “You have to cut other things to keep marching in place.”

…Natomas Unified has managed to trim its budget without laying off any teachers. Instead, the district is putting off opening the new H. Allen Hight Middle School that has already been built, for a savings of $1.2 million.

Natomas is also trying to save money on school lunches by improving the food it offers at its high schools. The hope is that with tastier choices, more kids will buy lunch and offset the money the district now spends to keep cafeterias afloat. The district is looking at opening Mexican or Italian food stations at Natomas High.

“More students will simply buy lunch,” said Superintendent Steve Farrar. “We’re hoping (they) will not bring lunch from home.”

California spends only $7,127 a year per student (according to 2006 data from the National Center for Education Statistics). Where does the rest of the money go? ADMINISTRATION!

We need to start from the top and work our way down. Eliminate all of the dead weight in the administration and start holding non-performing teachers accountable. My daughter is in grade school, one teacher. The teacher does a great job. My son is in middle school with 6 teachers. One or two of which actually seem to care about the students. the others seem to be treading water. These teachers need to be held accountable.

Accountability is the key. If these teachers are simply not performing, then place them under review and deal with the situation. This should go for the school Principals as well. My daughters Principal does a great job and is very involved. My sons Principal is just the opposite! I have spoken to him (my sons Principal) on numerous occasions and each time I find it amazing that he is charged with running a school.

Bottom line, throwing more money at education, is not the answer. Refine the system, eliminate the dead weight, hold the teachers accountable and then fund it.

People who live across the street from the school were outside. Mrs. R stopped and chatted. They told her that everyone from Rio Linda Junior High went home at about the normal time and that other than A LOT of traffic (people looking at the school), everything seemed business as usual.

I hope for our children’s sake this is not the case. That perhaps this person living across the street missed the caravan of cleaners!

It goes on to say, and I quote:

Let me assure you that we are taking all the recommended steps and disinfecting all contact surfaces at the school. As a precaution, we are also:

-Disinfecting all contact surfaces at all other Grant District schools and all buses and

-Providing hand sanitizers in all classrooms, music rooms, labs and locker rooms.

The letter goes on to give recommendations on how to prevent the MRSA infection from spreading.

KCRA.com is reporting that Rio Linda Junior High School will be cleaned Tuesday afternoon and evening.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Grant Joint Union High School District said Tuesday that an eighth-grade student at Rio Linda Junior High School was diagnosed with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA.

The student was out sick last week and is currently being treated with antibiotics, school officials said.

Rio Linda Junior High School will be cleaned Tuesday afternoon and evening, school officials said.

Other local schools, Rocklin High and Natomas Middle, also have had an outbreak:

Natomas Middle

Administrators at the Natomas campus, which is located at 3700 Del Paso Road, are working on a plan to prevent an outbreak.

Fifty classrooms at Natomas Middle School got a full scrub-down on Monday.

The facility will be sanitized twice more before 800 students return to class on Tuesday.

Natomas staff worked Monday as part of a scheduled in-service day.

Parents of the Natomas students were also notified with automated phone calls.

Rocklin High

Rocklin High School officials received word that a student had contracted MRSA Monday morning, after a parent e-mailed officials over the weekend and notified them of the infection, Principal Michael Garrison said.

The student is doing well, Garrison said.

Four custodians thoroughly disinfected the campus Monday afternoon after school let out for a minimum day.

Custodians also had scoured the campus last week in an effort to prepare for the upcoming cold and flu season, he said.

Parents were notified of the staph case Monday through an automated messaging system.

Ok, a couple of concerns:

-In my personal opinion, RLJH has extremely poor disciplines. So, I certainly hope they take this serious and not just use handy wipes on the door handles.

-Why were the students not let out early? NO!

-Were Parents called? NO!

-My child came home with a letter. Could the MRSA infection be carried by this piece of paper? Can I contract this by simply reading it?

-Why did the school not use the automated telephone notification system? They used it for Back to School Night. Was this not that important?

Mrs. Republicrat and I have not made a decision on whether to send out little Republicrat to school tomorrow or not. I have calls in to both the RLJH Principal Harjinder Mattu and Pat Newsome, Interim Superintendent of Grant District. I will post a follow up when I actually speak with someone.