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You have to go around the block to hear the word on the street

A friend recently told me, “Don’t take this wrong.  But you’ve been around the block.

Now, how could I take that wrong?  I kind of sort of think I know what he meant. I’ve worked in public schools and for public schools for a long time. It’s been my block.  My neighborhood.

My first job in a school was in 1973 when I graduated from high school. I was a lunch lady in a school cafeteria—hairnet, comfortable shoes, the works.

Salt Lake City in the winter by NEA-HQ.

I didn’t know the kids’ names so I’d just make up nicknames.  “Hey Superman, those peas give you muscles!” “Hey Cutie Poop, make me a milk moustache!” I was a fabulous lunch lady.

When they had an opening as a kindergarten aide, I got it, and I’d bring my guitar to school.  My babies knew all the words by heart to the hit single, “Don’t Stick Your Finger Up Your Nose ‘Cause Your Nose Knows It’s Not The Place It Goes.”  And we sang it with dignity. I was a fabulous teacher’s aide.

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When the good news really isn’t…

I often complain about the lack of “good news about schools” stories in the media.

Sure they get the story when a third grader brings a gun to school but I never saw my 6th grade Science Fair on Channel 2.  So, hey, I was thrilled, thrilled, I tell you, to see a good news story on the front page of my Washington Post.

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I could have spent the day a happy woman, but noooo. I just had to read the whole story. I wanted to love this story. I wanted to call up the Post writer and invite him over for a pedicure (which I believe is the highest form of human gratitude). But I am haunted that the good news was the bad news.

It was a sweet piece on the success in Montgomery County, Maryland, where a superintendent is getting well-deserved credit for concentrating on closing the “achievement gaps” between white kids and black and Hispanic kids.

(I hate to be picky, but this is actually standardized-test-score gaps which, please trust me, is not the same thing as achievement but anyway the point is…)

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