I was in Bed, Bath and Beyond the other day, and I was amazed to find that cupcakes have taken over the holiday season. There were cupcake-related items on display everywhere. It was literally cupcake Christmas overkill. My curiosity got to me so I did a bit of online investigating and found out that not only did [...]
Kent County urging ‘collective impact’ strategy to achieve large-scale social change
GRAND RAPIDS Millions of dollars are being pumped into this community for myriad initiatives aimed at improving the lives of children and families. But is that cash infusion really moving the needle when it comes to key issues like education and poverty? Kent County leaders and some local foundations say the isolated style of these [...]
My dog is going on the Christmas tree!
First of all, I’m Jewish. I never considered the issue of a dog peeing on a Christmas tree until it came up on my Tibetan Terrier Facebook discussion group. But I’m sure there’s a lot of you out there who have struggled with this issue, so I thought I’d share the results of my ‘research’ [...]
Michigan schools part of nationwide movement to overhaul teacher evaluations
KALAMAZOO Until recently, a good job evaluation was virtually automatic for U.S. schoolteachers. For tenured teachers, something on the order of 99 percent were rated as satisfactory, according to The Widget Effect, a 2009 report by The New Teacher Project. Kalamazoo-area educators say that assessment sounds about right. Now, 33 states are overhauling their teacher [...]