Carter’s Chatter

The plan to outsource Henry County’s custodial staff is one that sacrifices the future on the altar of the immediate and people for profit.

The concept is nicely packaged. Henry County Schools will save money, we are told. And in a year when money is tight, that sounds good. But what are the hidden costs to our schools and our community?

How much will HCPS save? Reportedly, in an earlier meeting this year with the custodians and the superintendent, when the custodians asked how much the county needed to cut to save their positions, they were told three percent. The workers offered to take that cut, but the offer was not accepted. Doesn’t that raise suspicion?

If Henry County contracts with either of the out-of-state firms, then our tax dollars will flow to Tennessee or North Carolina. Now, those tax dollars, in the form of salaries for hard-working and loyal employees, stay in Henry County, spent with local merchants. Where will the taxes siphoned from the employees as profit for the companies be spent?

Even if the firms hire local people – supposedly our own workers – they will hire fewer at lower pay. Won’t that lower our tax base? When the tax base is lower, fewer dollars come to our schools. It’s a vicious cycle—contract out to save money, and then lose money in the community and the schools.

What happens to children who need orderly, sanitary learning conditions? In pursuit of profit, the companies will employ fewer staff to clean more space.

How has contracting out worked so far in Henry County? Grass mowing was already contracted out a few years ago with the county retaining their equipment. Too often, the custodial staff still mows because grass is too high for children to play in if they don’t. Teachers thank these men who still perform the mowing, even though it is no longer in their job description. Under new for-profit management, these workers will not be allowed to perform extra.

When will outsourcing end? School custodians will be only the first. Will bus drivers and cafeteria workers be sacrificed next? If this rush to “save” at the expense of workers and children continues, more people will be added to the already overly burdened rolls of people in need of food stamps, health insurance and other services because their payroll is at poverty level.

Even if the schools save money in this first five-year contract, what guarantees we will save money next contract? Once janitorial supplies and equipment are sold for a pittance of their value, we will be at the mercy of the outsourcing company for continued support – except, we will be supporting them while we allow our local people continue working for not much above minimum wage.

Has our school board heard the admonition “Don’t be pennywise and pound foolish?”

Every child and citizen of Henry County will be hurt by this disastrous decision.

The Henry County Education Association objects to a plan that hurts our local people. We encourage our school board not rush into a “pound foolish” scheme to siphon away our precious local resources.

In recent months, there have been growing reports of cancer in Henry County that has afflicted either people I know or their friends and family who live here. The number of people affected is upsetting.

Even more distressing is another type of cancer spreading in the state. It affects educators and students. This cancer expects the state to balance the budget at the expense of its youth.

However, we have been told we must do what is good for kids.

Is it good for kids when classroom sizes promise to be 28-30 pupils/class next year? Is it good for kids when the teacher’s duties will increase along with that number, which is about 1/3 higher than the 2008-2009 school year? Is it good for kids when the teacher will have to spend 1/3 more time on discipline, grading, and parent contact and 1/3 less time on individual attention – not because he/she wants to but because class time is not increasing in proportion to class size?

The constitution of Virginia promises all students a quality education. It does not say we can pull back during a recession.

Some of us are old enough to know that recessions run in cycles. During those times, we have the obligation to pursue the proposed budget and cut projects that can wait until finances improve. But we cannot and should not cut resources from students and teachers. We must remember — what is good for teachers, is good for kids.

HCEA expects the state of Virginia and our local government to Keep the Promise.

This article was published in today’s Martinsville Bulletin (2/4/10).

If Monopoly was the game of the Depression era, Farmville is its counterpart for the current recession. According to Wikipedia, the first version of Monopoly was named The Landlord’s Game, developed by a Quakeress, Elizabeth Phillips. She wanted to “illustrate the negative aspects of concentrating land in private monopolies.” After she sold the game, variations grew until Charles Darrow sold his version to Parker Brothers in 1935. Parker Brothers credited him with creating Monopoly, which is still a best seller for Hasbro.

But Monopoly players, move over. In June 2009, Zynga, introduced Farmville on Facebook and as of January 2010, nearly 74 million people played this game. Why? What is the appeal?

The winner of a Monopoly game is the player who becomes, to borrow a 1925 expression, the “Fat Cat”. The Fat Cats in Farmville are harder to define, because unlike Monopoly, where there are clear losers, everyone wins at Farmville. Some players just win more, which may be the secret to the game’s popularity. Everyone wins. Some more than others, yet everyone wins, and the degree of their winnings is based on personal choice.

Players win by helping their neighbors: fertilizing their crops, feeding the chickens and clearing plots of weeds, gophers or sly foxes. The more a farmer helps his neighbor, the more he wins. The more a player shares his wealth, the more likely he is to gain wealth/goods/animals. The aggressive player, who visits all his neighbors’ homepages and collects the bonuses and gifts listed there, will grow his/her wealth even faster. As the wealth rolls in, the farmer purchases more land, buildings and equipment. The farmer never loses, unless the crops wither.

So the age of socialistic capitalism takes over. The game progresses as everyone helps one’s neighbors; the one who helps the most is rewarded most and becomes a Fat Cat. Actually, everyone becomes a Fat Cat.

PETA members must love this game. Unlike the average farm, where animals go to slaughter, Farmville animals never die. Cows are milked; bulls, calves, horses and even cats are brushed to collect coins. Penquins produce ice cubes, and pigs yield truffles, not bacon. Chickens lay eggs. Turkeys grow saleable feathers. Ducks produce down and rabbits give angora.

Players can buy items with credit cards if they are too impatient to earn coins, but within a few weeks, a farmer who plays every day can earn enough to purchase everything she wants. And Farmville keeps players hooked. New products introduce greed into the heart of every capitalist – who may have thought she was a socialist – or a social butterfly. Players want more items, until the game that started out requiring a few minutes every day, demands more.

I learned this when I started playing just before Christmas 2009. My grandson liked Farmville, so my daughter helped me set up a farm to play on when he came to visit. When he arrived, he had a great time. However, by the time he left, he still did not have a seeder or a tractor. So I kept playing – just for him, I told myself, but I was addicted. Now this weekend, he is back and he has a seeder and a tractor, and a barn and a shed, but he wants more. And what do I want?

I want him to have the memories of spending time together, and if those memories are ones that include playing a game he loves – wonderful. My childhood memories are full of Monopoly games, which we played every winter night. The game remained ready on a basement table. Our large family played in teams of two with the neighbor boys. The game is supposed to last about an hour and a half, but we played until we ran out of money and then allowed debt to run up. Games only ended if someone accidentally tipped the table.

Farmville will not tip – or will the players play with debt, which is excellent. It is also good to help a neighbor get ahead while helping oneself. Who decreed that profit should only result when another fails?

During this recession, if people can play a game without feeling like a failure, as too many feel while they look for nonexistent jobs, they can relive the feelings of their Monopoly-playing ancestors. The ever-optimistic American within me says the economy will recover. As it does, we who play Farmville will also recover – with an improved philosophy – of helping others succeed, while we work toward personal success.

I have added this blog to my school web site, but some others might be interesting in following this:

http://www.henry.k12.va.us/43562081815263420/Blog/browse.asp?A=398&BMDRN=2000&BCOB=0&C=55635#

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1257577731/priming-the-primed-mind-0

Click on the link above to find Alexandria’s newest book with all the best writing hints.

To learn more about Alexandria and her writing, visit:

http://www.alafaye.com/

If graduation is the goal of a scholar, then entry into glory is the ultimate experience for a Christian. Thursday, September 24, Paul James Irwin answered the angel’s call and followed into the embrace of his Savior. He was 82 years old.

Paul had many names. Those who called him son are gone, but three women and one man remain who called him brother. Two wives, also gone, called him husband. For five others, his name was Dad; their children and grandchildren called him Grandpa. Some of us called him Uncle. And every title was given him in love because he loved us so much.

In the 60’s, he moved his family to the Phoenix area, far away from his Pennsylvania relatives. His mother always grieved at the distance her first born had migrated from her. But the years were filled with visits back and forth, and the rest of his life came back to us in his letters. Reading his letters was like reading the stories of the Old Testament saints – not that his life was perfect – far from it, but neither were those Old Testament saints. But like those people, in every situation, Paul remained faithful to God, even when others were faithless to him. And like the saints of the Bible, his humanity and his faith became examples for the rest of us.

A few years ago, he shared his salvation story. Vernon Vanness, a local minister at the time, visited his home in Jackson Summit, Pa. Married, with kids already, Paul had never given his heart to Christ even though he had been raised in church. But that night he gave his life to the Lord and began another journey – a spiritual one that changed his life.

Oh, he still worked as a mechanic, but he got involved in his church – everywhere he lived. He taught primary Sunday school – not the image one expects of a man, but he enjoyed it. He served as deacon and trustee and sang in his choir, and as a soloist or with others. And when he wasn’t fixing cars and buses in the church lot, he was fixing vehicles for his family.

When heartache came to his family and things didn’t turn out the way he had planned, he didn’t turn his back on God because he knew God still loved him. And Paul loved his family just as much, both in Pennsylvania and Arizona.

Paul Irwin leaves a legacy of love and service, and as much as we will miss him, we don’t want to keep him from the heavenly rewards he deserves for his life well-lived.

I have received one more forward which assumes that I, a public school teacher, am afraid to be in public school. It assumes that I am not only afraid to be here, but I am lost in a sea of pagans in the midst of which my life will surely end. I have to say that idea is far from the truth. Many of us, teachers and students in public schools, are Christians and we are here because it is God’s will for our lives. Some of the kids who are here are more dedicated than those students who I used to teach in Christian schools.

We say the pledge of allegiance — every morning. And yes, oral, group prayer is missing, but the problem is, who is supposed to teach it that doesn’t offend someone else? There are some teachers who none of us want to teach prayer. Instead, the parents of public school children see the God given right to teach their own children about God and then to allow them to teach each other. Students have those rights that the adults do not have.

And our students do pray. Every day. Individually, in the moment of silence. And some teachers pray then too. And we all have that right. And in some schools, students meet together in prayer groups. They have that right, and they exercise it.

And as a Christian school teacher I honor that right. And I pray individually, silently for each of my students and they know that without me saying so. This is America where FREEDOM rings and freedom of religion is still present — the religion we individually choose and those religions others choose. That is the definition of religious freedom.

Charlie Spencer was Everyone’s Atticus

Charlie Spencer served as custodian in Henry County schools. He moved furniture and cleaned, always with good humor. But the quiet man behind the broom, like Atticus of To Kill a Mockingbird, contained a character that few possess.

Charlie and teacher Roger Spencer formed the best comedy team that never hit the road. In their routine, Charlie, African-American, and Roger, white, both claimed the same mother and different fathers. Their jokes flowed spontaneously, without rancor or racism, like seasoned performers. The first time I heard them, I understood that Charlie might be the janitor, but he didn’t lack intelligence. He provided levity for weary teachers. Charlie took care of our spirits.

            He had as much honesty as humor and intelligence. Once, while cleaning, he found several hundred dollars hidden in the ceiling of the boys’ locker room. Charlie was wise enough not to tell what he found, but he listened. He soon learned one of the coaches had missed money from his truck. Charlie returned it to its rightful owner.

            One day my freshman English class wrote in their journals on the topic: “Who is your hero?”

            The opening line of one student’s paper said, “Charlie Spencer is my hero.”

            Intrigued, I continued reading. The young man wrote that when times grew tough for his family, Charlie knew about it. Charlie and his wife purchased that young man school clothes and other necessities – on a custodian’s salary.

            Later, I told Charlie about the paper. He quietly smiled and brushed it off as a small event in his life. He simply saw a need and met it, he said. But his eyes beamed.

As Atticus sat behind his newspaper, influencing Scout’s life, Charlie stood behind his broom. While he may not have provided for other teens like he did that young man, he often encouraged disadvantaged students to do their best. He cared about them.

            As gentle as he was, Charlie did surprise me one day.  A colleague, who had given verbal abuse to several faculty members that year, turned on Charlie one day. Most of the faculty bit their lips when this man approached, saying nothing. But Charlie, like Atticus, knew when to fight back. He stood before that man, shook his pocket and set an example. “I’ve got heart pills in here. Don’t you make me start popping them.” The man backed up, walked away and never bothered Charlie again.

            Charlie served in Vietnam, but he never talked about it. Those years were better forgotten he said, but he wasn’t one of those vets who returned ashamed of their service. And he shouldn’t have been. I was proud to buy a VFW calendar from him every year.  Charlie was my Atticus. He stood behind the scenes, ready to come forward when needed. His character was filled with kindness and integrity for everyone. He defended and cared for us in his post-military days as well as he did while he served. Charlie was not only my Atticus, he was everyone’s.            

As I wrote this essay to enter it in The Big Read contest, I knew it needed to be about a local person. But which one? Even though I have met several in the last 11 years who have the qualities of Atticus from To Kill a Mockingbird, I have to confess that I wasn’t sure about whom I should write. I prayed about it and within two days, all the little anecdotes in Charlie’s life were circling my mind.    And so I wrote — and yes, hoped I might win. But I wrote mostly because Georgia Wentzel, president of Piedmont Writer’s group said, “We’re the writers of the community, ladies. We need to participate.” She was right, so I wrote.    The thing I did not expect was the wonderful sense of community that resulted when I won. Charlie became even more of a local hero — a deserving tribute. Those of us who know him reminisced about those good days he was a part of our Magna Vista community and about the others who have retired from our presence. Charlie and those people set a high standard for us to follow that was one of meeting the needs of a whole person, not just academic needs. We remembered the ideals we held important and dedicated ourselves to them again.

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de Spot in Martinsville, Virginia, contains an eclectic collection of art for sale. From handmade jewelry to glass centerpieces, wood carved bowls, paintings, knitted garments, christening gowns and much more, the journey through the shop, owned by local artist by Karen Despot is a cultural event.          

   Karen brings fine pieces as well as creative workshops to the consumer. And she educates the public, enabling them to create their own art. For example, Karen is currently planning with world-famous knitter Debby Ware to bring one of Debby’s workshops to  de Spot.    

   Debby Ware is to the knitter what Yo-Yo Ma is to the musician. She is unique in design, talent and instruction. Recognized from New York City to Martha’s Vineyard, Debby now resides in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. But she doesn’t stay there. She travels the country, teaching her art. And even though stitches may be complicated, she works well even with beginning knitters.

   Few teachers know how to inspire and encourage, but Debby is one of those who can and do. And her talents include more than knit and knit design. She has also authored three books. And now, the knitters of Martinsville and the surrounding area will soon be linked by more than yarn.