As I am sure that you know, education funding in the State of Washington is taking a beating now that the government is suddenly broke. A practical example of just how broke my local school district is really brought this home to me.
My son's grade school Physical Education class is having a bicycle safety class this month. The district, has some bikes that they got from somewhere, and they are bringing those in for the kids to use. I don't think that they belong to the school because the PE teacher didn't know how to adjust the seat height, so my 5th grade son was riding around with his knees up to his chin. Anyway, the kids need to have a helmet, but if they don't have one, the school district has some that the kids can borrow. If you are a parent you are already cringing and thinking, "head lice," like I was. Not to worry. The district is way ahead of us and they indicated that they would provide hair nets for the kids to wear under their borrowed helmets. I was not aware that hair nets would keep head lice off of you, but that was the plan. I just sent Alex to school with his own helmet, and I was very glad that I did when he came home and told me how the "hairnets" had worked out.
It turns out that the school doesn't have hairnets for the kids who are going to borrow helmets. I don't know if they can't afford them, or it was just bad planning, or what happened, but there aren't any hairnets. Instead, the kids who borrowed helmets were given - I am not making this up - coffee filters. They had to wear coffee filters on their head under their borrowed helmets. It doesn't end there. The kids were asked to write their names on their coffee filters so they could use them again for the rest of the bike safety classes. I guess that can't just give those things out, willy nilly.
I am embarrassed for the coffee filter kids. In case you were wondering, no, my son doesn't attend school in a developing nation somewhere. This is right here in Seattle. It is possible that the school has plenty of money and the PE teacher is just a massive idiot, however, we have not seen any indication of sub standard practices in the past, so I am giving the PE teacher the benefit of the doubt. Hairnets, or even coffee filters, come about a million to the case at places like Costco, but the school, apparently, doesn't have money for them. It's ridiculous and demeaning, and we have to tell our government to get it together.
My son's grade school Physical Education class is having a bicycle safety class this month. The district, has some bikes that they got from somewhere, and they are bringing those in for the kids to use. I don't think that they belong to the school because the PE teacher didn't know how to adjust the seat height, so my 5th grade son was riding around with his knees up to his chin. Anyway, the kids need to have a helmet, but if they don't have one, the school district has some that the kids can borrow. If you are a parent you are already cringing and thinking, "head lice," like I was. Not to worry. The district is way ahead of us and they indicated that they would provide hair nets for the kids to wear under their borrowed helmets. I was not aware that hair nets would keep head lice off of you, but that was the plan. I just sent Alex to school with his own helmet, and I was very glad that I did when he came home and told me how the "hairnets" had worked out.
It turns out that the school doesn't have hairnets for the kids who are going to borrow helmets. I don't know if they can't afford them, or it was just bad planning, or what happened, but there aren't any hairnets. Instead, the kids who borrowed helmets were given - I am not making this up - coffee filters. They had to wear coffee filters on their head under their borrowed helmets. It doesn't end there. The kids were asked to write their names on their coffee filters so they could use them again for the rest of the bike safety classes. I guess that can't just give those things out, willy nilly.
I am embarrassed for the coffee filter kids. In case you were wondering, no, my son doesn't attend school in a developing nation somewhere. This is right here in Seattle. It is possible that the school has plenty of money and the PE teacher is just a massive idiot, however, we have not seen any indication of sub standard practices in the past, so I am giving the PE teacher the benefit of the doubt. Hairnets, or even coffee filters, come about a million to the case at places like Costco, but the school, apparently, doesn't have money for them. It's ridiculous and demeaning, and we have to tell our government to get it together.
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