Helping Suspended Students Get Back on Track

Two police cars sit watching at the 7-11 off Route 7 in the Culmore Neighborhood of Falls Church. On weekday mornings, there are hundreds of hispanic men seeking work as day laborers.

There's talk a machete fight two nights ago.

If you live in this neighoborhood, and your child gets suspended from school, these are his/her surroundings.

Two years ago, the Culmore Support on Suspension program started up with federal grant money. It's goal... to keep kids out of trouble and keep them up to speed with their school work. It worked. Last year, the center served 30 students, only one dropped out of school. The others all went back.

But now, the program could fold. The federal seed money is gone. But the community and program leaders are hoping to raise the $50,000 to keep the program going for another year.

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For more information about FPY visit www.fairfaxyouth.org. For more information about Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Center visit www.daralhijarh.net.

Girls Like Math

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I met a five year old girl who had the Pythagorean theorem memorized. Her two year old sister could do simple addition and subtraction. How was this possible?
Look around their house.

The five year old's room is decorated on the walls with mathmatical equations. There are labels on everything in the living room so the girls learn words and how to spell them.

What kind of crazy fanatical parents are these? Normal, loving people who are just planting the seeds of learning early. They are Marvcus Patton, former Redskins Linebacker, and his wife Ina, a psychologist.

"If we teach them that math is fun, then they can run circles around the boys, even on the football field, it doesn't matter," says Ina.

Ina spends a lot of time doing art with the girls. She painted a picture of two stick-figure girls at a chalkboard doing math problems to hang in Bobbi's bedroom. Marvcus looked at it and thought it would make a nice t-shirt idea.

Now, it's blossomed into an online business, GirlsLikeMath.com. She's made 16 different designs for t-shirts and they are selling. Marvcus is writing children's books for each of the designs.

Very cool. Marvcus has a great 'ROAR' when he reads the one about the math monster! I just wish I could get him to read it like to my kids!

Here's a link to their site:

girlslikemath.com

Flexible Jobs for Moms

When moms leave work to spend time with their little ones... it can be gamble if they hope to re-enter the workforce at the same level. Oh, sure, you can go do low-paid temp stuff... but who wants to do that when you've had a good paying job?

Well, a new company appears to be answering a lot of prayers. Momentum Resources was created by moms for moms.

"It's a fabulous opportunity." says Lori Luster. The Alexandria mom left her 60-plus hour-a- week education job after she and her husband Chris had Jack. After about a year, she missed the challenges of work, and they needed more income. She found Momentum, and they found her a great temporary, part-time job working on a graphics project for the company Brightline.

"We help very educated, talented, seasoned professionals find work with reduced hours or flexible roles with really smart organizations," says Jennifer Folsum, Momentum's director.

Since Momentum started up in January... it's been gaining... momentum...with more moms looking for work... and more companies signing them on.

"When they realize they bring someone on with ten, 15 years of experience and a graduate degree for about the same cost as someone right out of college at fulltime, who do you think gets more done, who do you think does higher quality work, who has less training and leave time? It's that seasoned professional," says Folsum.

Lori Luster says her job was great fun, and stimulting with a great group of people. And, the pay was good, right at market level, she says. Now, she's ready for the next job.

Because of the downturn in the economy, Momentum is seeing a new kind of jobseeker, women in their 50s who've retired, now looking work because their medical bills are going up and their pensions are falling.

Folsom says the downturn has also benfitted moms looking for parttime work because that's all some companies can afford right now.

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Momentum's website is:
http://www.mom-entum.com/

Seat Belts on School Buses

When my son was getting ready to enter kindergarten, he was most excited about riding the school bus. We have pictures and video of him as he stepped on and waved goodbye. (Of course I followed in the car to make sure he found his room OK!)

But when he came home, he was very confused about riding the bus. Where were the seat belts? Hadn't we always told him he ALWAYS had to wear a seat belt while in the car? Why wasn't that true on a school bus. I could not answer him very well. It was hard to explain that it was safe for him to not be in a seat belt. And now, I'm not so sure.

Most area school systems say buses are safer without them. But not Loudoun County. The Virginia school system is shaking up the debate becoming the first in the region and the state to mandate all new buses be equipped with seat belts.

Sixty new buses will roll into service when school starts. Loudoun County Schools Director of Transportation Mike Lunsford says he pushed for seat belts because he thinks it enhances safety by keeping children in their seats in the event of a rollover or side impact. He also believes requiring children to buckle up encourages and reinforces the habit, which will keep children safer their whole lives.

But Fairfax County School's Chief Operating Officer Dean Tistadt says it's a bad idea. He says if a bus catches fire or plunges in the water, seat belts may hinder evacuations. Tistadt says fires are more common than rollovers.

But Lunsford disagrees safety belts pose a problem and says children today are able to unbuckle quickly. He says the belts may make an evacuation more orderly. One of main reasons Lunsford pushed the school board to mandate seat belts he says, is to reinforce a good habit. If children get in the habit of buckling up, he reasons, that practice will protect them their whole lives. Who could disagree with that?

For more information, visit the National Coalition for School Bus Safety at http://www.ncsbs.org/.

CLICK HERE FOR LINK TO MY STORY: http://www.wusa9.com/video/default.aspx?maven_playerId=articleplayer&maven_referralPlaylistId=playlist&maven_referralObject=800744478_________________

WallE: Dee-pressing!

I saw WallE with my kids... and hated it. My kids enjoyed it, but I thought it was depressing. Humans have destroyed the earth and left behind a robot who has become a psuedo-human with emotions. Blah.

My au pair, who's from Germany came with us. She also didn't like it very much... thought it was "critical and sad."

Maybe that was the point... to get us thinking about what we can do to not turn our beloved planet into a huge garbage heap.

A Vicious Tuckahoe Tiger

We start 'em young!

The swim team season is winding down... great job swimmers!

Outreach to Teach at Wakefield High School

Outreach To Teach saw 350 volunteers... retired teachers and college education students... descending on Wakefield High School in Arlington . Why Wakefield, and not a public school in D.C. that's in dire need of help? Because the event is put on by the NEA not the AFT...whose territory is D.C.

Anyway, still a great project. Wakefield is an old school...the only high school in Arlington that hasn't had a major renovation. The volunteers painted, planted, hammered and stapled.