Toured the Ford Rouge Plant this afternoon as part of the American History Grant I participate in. Only 3 of us went but it was a great time. We watched the F-150 being built; car doors, windshield, air bags, steering wheel, and final inspections. Quite fascinating, really. The three most interesting facts I learned: 1) the Rouge has a deep-water boat slip for delivery of raw materials; 2) the F-150 assembly line is 4 miles long; 3) The Rouge complex itself is 1 mile long by 3/4-mile wide. Just amazing, the vision to build that thing.
Disappointing things occurred in the voting booths of the two cities I am involved with. In the city I live in, the vote was between 2 candidates for school board; voting for the incumbent meant you supported the "Legacy" plan of closing a few schools and re-aligning grades in all the others (k-4, 5/6, 7/8, 9-12). A vote for the challenger meant you supported the group that is suing to have the Legacy plan blocked. The challenger, unfortunately, won. It will be interesting to see what happens.
Secondly, the city in which I work was attempting to pass a bond on the heels of one last year. This year's bond was in two parts: the first would repurpose the oldest middle school and build a new one in the southern region of the district, where all the new building is occurring; along with this would come new classrooms for my own school and another one to handle the kids dislodged from the middle school to be closed. The second part could only occur if the first one passed and was also approved; this would add a theater and pool to the third high school (which doesn't have either of those items), and improve the football and baseball fields which all 3 high schools share.
Alas.... the first one failed by 210 votes. Which means the second one couldn't occur, but that one would have failed anyway. So although the district approved a third high school a few years ago, and approved a new elementary school last year, apparently middle schools don't need to be added. Even though of 5 middle schools, 3 are at capacity, one is over capacity, and the one that is below capacity is the one that was going to close.
Blame the committee, the residents, the economy... but based on this vote I can safely say I will never have a classroom again as long as I'm in this district, even if I return full time. Mark my words. But there are fresh strawberries in the fridge that need to be cleaned and eaten, so I'm off.
Disappointing things occurred in the voting booths of the two cities I am involved with. In the city I live in, the vote was between 2 candidates for school board; voting for the incumbent meant you supported the "Legacy" plan of closing a few schools and re-aligning grades in all the others (k-4, 5/6, 7/8, 9-12). A vote for the challenger meant you supported the group that is suing to have the Legacy plan blocked. The challenger, unfortunately, won. It will be interesting to see what happens.
Secondly, the city in which I work was attempting to pass a bond on the heels of one last year. This year's bond was in two parts: the first would repurpose the oldest middle school and build a new one in the southern region of the district, where all the new building is occurring; along with this would come new classrooms for my own school and another one to handle the kids dislodged from the middle school to be closed. The second part could only occur if the first one passed and was also approved; this would add a theater and pool to the third high school (which doesn't have either of those items), and improve the football and baseball fields which all 3 high schools share.
Alas.... the first one failed by 210 votes. Which means the second one couldn't occur, but that one would have failed anyway. So although the district approved a third high school a few years ago, and approved a new elementary school last year, apparently middle schools don't need to be added. Even though of 5 middle schools, 3 are at capacity, one is over capacity, and the one that is below capacity is the one that was going to close.
Blame the committee, the residents, the economy... but based on this vote I can safely say I will never have a classroom again as long as I'm in this district, even if I return full time. Mark my words. But there are fresh strawberries in the fridge that need to be cleaned and eaten, so I'm off.
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