http://denver.yourhub.comThe latest blog posts in The Denver Newspaper Agency YourHub.comen-usnews@yourhub.com(c) 2009, YourHub.com5The US Department of Education held a media briefing this afternoon in effort to deliver honest answers to reform. US Education Secretary Arne Duncan discussed how the quality of states' public charter schools will support the ability to compete for grants from the "Race to the Top"...http://denver.yourhub.com/Parker/Blogs/Archive/Education-General/Blog~624641.aspx6/9/2009 6:55:19 AMKarin Piper I have been so busy lately that it's been difficult to get anything on my schedule to completion. There have been times I have driven morning carpool in my gym clothes, and run the afternoon carpool...still in my gym clothes. Gross. One thing I haven't forsaken off my schedule regardless how b...http://denver.yourhub.com/Parker/Blogs/Archive/Literature/Books/Blog~613566.aspx5/10/2009 8:10:54 AMKarin Piper SB 176 CONCERNING CHARTER SCHOOL PARTICIPATION IN DISTRICT BOND ELECTIONS passed through senate with a unanimous vote and house with a 64-1 vote in favor of the bill. Rep. Debbie Benefield (D-Westminster) was the lonesome no vote . Why the amazing bipartisan support for including the char...http://denver.yourhub.com/Parker/Blogs/Archive/Education-General/Blog~605319.aspx4/18/2009 2:56:40 PMKarin Piper The Douglas County School District is in budget mode and rumors about this cut and the other seem to change each week. This week a couple of friends called and asked if the charter schools will participate in budget cuts the same way as the neighborhood schools. The questions were mostly about c...http://denver.yourhub.com/Parker/Blogs/Archive/Education-General/Blog~589171.aspx3/9/2009 9:11:22 PMKarin Piper My mother has been begging me to Skype for years. Apparently you talk through a computer headset, which is fine. But you're also supposed to have a video camera--not so fine! I hate to disappoint, but that formal dress in the photo in the top right corner is not what I wear every day. No, I a...http://denver.yourhub.com/Parker/Blogs/Archive/Blog~580477.aspx2/15/2009 9:53:34 PMKarin Piper Wanted! Not dead, but very much alive: Charter school teacher. Salary $125,000 plus bonuses. Someone is finally testing the much debated question "Does higher teacher earnings result in better education?" A charter school slotted to open in 2009 in Washington Heights, NY, is taking on the c...http://denver.yourhub.com/Parker/Blogs/Archive/Education-General/Blog~577646.aspx2/6/2009 6:51:44 PMKarin Piper Where does President Obama go when he gets cabin fever at the White House? A public charter school , of course. The President was accompanied by First Lady Michelle Obama as they popped in for a surprise visit at Capital City Public Charter School in Washington DC. The President...http://denver.yourhub.com/Parker/Blogs/Archive/Politics/National-Politics/Blog~576291.aspx2/3/2009 6:51:30 PMKarin Piper New safety law may prohibit children under 12 from libraries - or make many books illegal. Apparently the recent Consumer Product Safety Act, which was passed in response to recalls on toy which contains lead paint, may come with side effects. The law is geared toward products for sale, ...http://denver.yourhub.com/Parker/Blogs/Archive/Blog~573517.aspx1/28/2009 11:09:42 AMKarin Piper Assume this to be a confessional from someone who is a supporter of newspapers. I am about to cancel my printed paper subscription. This decision is only a couple of weeks after I began receiving it to my home. Am I disappointed with the publication? Did someone write an awful commentary that ...http://denver.yourhub.com/Parker/Blogs/Archive/Blog~572330.aspx1/26/2009 9:03:07 AMKarin Piper What is worse than falling off the wagon?--Getting back on it. Someone washed all my gym wears in hot water, because either the clothes got smaller or my arse got bigger. Who would have thought this body made it through a marathon a little over a year ago. I'm fluffy. Pasty white is not the ...http://denver.yourhub.com/Parker/Blogs/Archive/Blog~564275.aspx1/4/2009 9:42:17 PMKarin Piper Few are the people that don't like ice-cream. Perhaps I don't remember meeting any anti-ice-cream-eaters because "weirdies" get filed in the black-hole of my memory. This blog is for us "non-weirdies" who have appreciation for cold, sweet, drippy ice-cream. Good schools are just like ice-cream...http://denver.yourhub.com/Parker/Blogs/Archive/Education-General/Blog~559212.aspx12/16/2008 10:06:33 AMKarin Piper Define childbirth--exhaustion, weight gain, and frequent bathroom visits, followed with pain. The only reason why people choose to go through this multiple times is because of the miraculous end result--baby! This is the best analogy I can give you to answer why someone would become a repeat ch...http://denver.yourhub.com/HighlandsRanch/Blogs/Archive/Education-General/Blog~559081.aspx12/16/2008 6:55:52 AMKarin Piper Define childbirth--exhaustion, weight gain, and frequent bathroom visits, followed with pain. The only reason why people choose to go through this multiple times is because of the miraculous end result--baby! This is the best analogy I can give you to answer why someone would become a repeat ch...http://denver.yourhub.com/Parker/Blogs/Archive/Education-General/Blog~558954.aspx12/15/2008 6:34:47 PMKarin Piper Define childbirth--exhaustion, weight gain, and frequent bathroom visits, followed with pain. The only reason why people choose to go through this multiple times is because of the miraculous end result--baby! This is the best analogy I can give you to answer why someone would become a repeat ch...http://denver.yourhub.com/LoneTree/Blogs/Archive/Elementary-Pre-school/Blog~558678.aspx12/15/2008 11:04:58 AMKarin Piper American Academy Charter School reminds me in many ways of Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station. You could drive by the building ump-teen times and never know it was there. But once you enter the building you realize the imperative program which is hidden inside. The Lone Tree facility where Am...http://denver.yourhub.com/LoneTree/Blogs/Archive/Education-General/Blog~556482.aspx12/8/2008 12:30:09 PMKarin Piper American Academy Charter School reminds me in many ways of Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station. You could drive by the building ump-teen times and never know it was there. But once you enter the building you realize the imperative program which is hidden inside. The Lone Tree facility where Am...http://denver.yourhub.com/CastlePines/Blogs/Archive/Education-General/Blog~556477.aspx12/8/2008 12:26:30 PMKarin Piper A recent Berkeley study claims proof of that "the brains of low-income children function differently from the brains of high-income kids." The study shows that 9 and 10 year old children "differing only in socioeconomic status have detectable differences in the response of their prefrontal cor...http://denver.yourhub.com/Parker/Blogs/Archive/Education-General/Blog~556326.aspx12/8/2008 7:52:23 AMKarin Piper On the third day of Christmas Our charters gave to me: Much higher CSAP's Increased property values and an education at a cheaper fee. I am about to expose a huge secret: No charter application is ever submitted with the goal of mediocre academics . Why would anyone ever put th...http://denver.yourhub.com/Parker/Blogs/Archive/Education-General/Blog~554766.aspx12/3/2008 1:51:06 PMKarin Piper One of my favorite movie scenes is when Jim Carrey asks Lauren Holly to rate the chance for a potential relationship. She tells him the odds are "one-in-a-million," to which he replies "So you are saying there is a chance!" That's positive thinking. Parker Core Knowledge Charter Schoo...http://denver.yourhub.com/Parker/Blogs/Archive/Education-General/Blog~552546.aspx11/26/2008 9:06:20 AMKarin Piper I am feeling a little postelection philosophical. There's much buzz about who's being chosen for what job, what job's will still be around--and economy, economy, economy. Not that I was asked my opinion, along with any other main street voter, but I ponder the way my taxdollar is volu...http://denver.yourhub.com/Parker/Blogs/Archive/Politics/National-Politics/Blog~551464.aspx11/22/2008 8:33:44 PMKarin Piper Did hell just freeze over? Speaker of the House, Terrence Carroll , appoints Mike Merrifield to continue at the helm of the House Education Committee. With the infamous Merrifield authored email-- "there must be a special place in hell for those Privatizers, Charterizers, and Vouche...http://denver.yourhub.com/Parker/Blogs/Archive/Elementary-Pre-school/Blog~550818.aspx11/20/2008 6:45:40 PMKarin Piper "On the second day of Christmas The charters gave to thee: Increased home values and education at a cheaper fee." Have you ever been at a party with friends and family, wondering why everyone is giving you the stink eye? Suddenly you realize that someone has tagged you on the back...http://denver.yourhub.com/Parker/Blogs/Archive/Education-General/Blog~548776.aspx11/17/2008 8:01:45 AMKarin Piper This is part two in a series. For a complete prelude, please refer to previous post "3A, 3B...3C?" Everybody sing: "On the first day of Christmas The Charters gave to Thee Education for a cheaper fee" I am well aware that some of you just coughed on your eggnog. There is an urba...http://denver.yourhub.com/Parker/Blogs/Archive/Education-General/Blog~547044.aspx11/12/2008 11:15:48 AMKarin Piper I have now spent about one week mil'ing over the fact that the 3A/B override and bond did not pass for the Douglas County School District. Changes are coming and a $16,000,000 budget cut is hanging in the air. I am admittedly one of those disgustingly optimistic people that do not dwell on th...http://denver.yourhub.com/Parker/Blogs/Archive/Education-General/Blog~545758.aspx11/8/2008 5:22:42 PMKarin Piper November 4 th 2008 is the day that you can support the Parker Library with your vote. How many of us are saying YES on 5a? Let me see a show of hands. This is going to be huge! May I suggest group voting? More than one person per polling booth may be frowned upon, so chat up your friends a...http://denver.yourhub.com/Parker/Blogs/Archive/Politics/Local-State-Politics/Blog~543786.aspx11/3/2008 7:17:35 PMKarin Piper Mrs. Mary Campbell. She was my son's first grade teacher. It was the first year for this new charter school and many amenities were still on the wish list--like a school building. But my boy did not complain about being taught in a trailer, lacking of a cafeteria, school library, or a play...http://denver.yourhub.com/Parker/Blogs/Archive/Education-General/Blog~541582.aspx10/29/2008 3:26:56 PMKarin Piper You can pick your friends, you can pick your seat, but you cannot pick your friend's seat. These were some of the fundamental rules we learned as preschoolers. As amusing as it sounds, we can apply these same guiding principals to our public charter schools. Charter Schools have their frien...http://denver.yourhub.com/Parker/Blogs/Archive/Education-General/Blog~539043.aspx10/23/2008 10:12:29 AMKarin Piper Highlands Ranch, Colorado, has long been stereotyped as cookie-cutter suburbia, where everything is conforming from homes to landscaping. Its community and HOA's have many strictly enforced rules in regards to exterior presentation, which contributes to the typecasting. To yard sign campaigner...http://denver.yourhub.com/Parker/Blogs/Archive/Blog~536153.aspx10/16/2008 9:18:22 PMKarin Piper After years of residing in this country and contributing to society with my generous personality and pearls of wisdom--I have become a U.S. citizen. As a registered legal alien I was permitted to partake in almost all the American rights; working, paying taxes, purchasing a home, raising a fam...http://denver.yourhub.com/Parker/Blogs/Archive/Politics/National-Politics/Blog~534576.aspx10/13/2008 8:34:22 PMKarin Piper Charter Schools make all public schools better. Please check any torches and pitchforks in with the coat-clerk, pull up a seat, and let's talk. If you still feel hostile after our conversation, you may use the handy-dandy comment button below and spill your discontentment. To the enthusiasts,...http://denver.yourhub.com/Parker/Blogs/Archive/Education-General/Blog~533742.aspx10/12/2008 8:42:27 AMKarin Piper