The Daily Press Mommy Blog

RIVERSIDE – Hip-hop poetry, Renaissance art and Afro-Brazilian music are among the workshops UC Riverside’s annual Gluck Summer Camp for the Arts will offer high school students in a free, four-week program that begins July 1.

Applications are online at www.gluckprogram.ucr.edu/summer_camp/index.html and are due by 5 p.m. Friday, May 30.

Any high school student is eligible to apply, as long as they can reach their workshop on time, although preference is given to students from the Inland Empire. “We had a student from Hawaii one year,” said Amanda Fiddyment, Gluck program coordinator who has been instrumental in organizing and running the camp for the past three years.

This year’s program will feature eight workshops on the UCR campus offered through the departments of Art, Creative Writing, Dance, History of Art, Music and Theatre, the Sweeney Art Gallery and the UCR/California Museum of Photography. Each workshop will be taught by a graduate fellow in the Gluck Program of the Arts, a program funded by the Maxwell H. Gluck Foundation.

Workshops will be offered in one session – July 7 through Aug. 1 – from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays and 9 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. on Fridays. Students provide their own lunches. 

 http://www.gluckprogram.ucr.edu/

Debbie Fox, a daily reader of the Daily Press, recently responded to our call for fun family outings in the High Desert.
 
“I thought I would share my experience at a place called JT Racing,” she writes. “They are at a track in Apple Valley off of Stoddard Wells Road. We took our family there this past Friday to rent their go-karts. All I can say is “Wow!” What a fun time. It was the neatest thing we have done in a long time and it isn’t very far away at all. I can’t wait to get back out there.”
 
“I think the community will think this is a great time too since there really isn’t a whole lot of things for families to do together here in the High Desert on a regular basis. I hope you will consider this place and put it in your list of things to do in the High Desert because it was really great fun for our family.”

Phone: (760) 680-6756, (760) 680-6757
E-mail:  info at jtracingkartrentals.com
Fax: (760) 949-1818
Address: 20455 Central Rd., Apple Valley, CA 92307
Web:

Serrano High School in Phelan will present the stage production of “Disney’s High School Musical - On Stage!” — straight from the made-for-tv mega-hit movie.

Serrano High School, 9292 Sheepcreek Rd., Phelan, CA 92371 (18 minutes west of I-15)

Performances at 7 p.m on Thursdays through Saturdays May 1, 2, 3, 8, 9, 10

Additional matinees at 2 p.m. on both Sat. May 3 and 10

Show info line: 780-6405

California set to pass bill protecting student speech and journalism teachers

SACRAMENTO – The Newspaper Association of America (NAA) Foundation this week released a study that found students who work on high school newspapers and yearbooks are more likely to receive better grades in high school and college as well as score higher on college entrance exams.  The study bolsters an argument made by proponents of a bill currently pending on the floor of the California Senate to protect journalism teachers and other school employees from retaliation by administrators as a result of student speech. 

“California has always led the way in making sure true freedom of the press is alive and well on our campuses,” said Yee.  “Allowing a school administration to censor in any way is contrary to the democratic process and the ability of a student newspaper to serve as the watchdog and bring sunshine to the actions of school administrators.  This recent study also shows the clear academic benefit to students who work on school newspapers and who are able to exercise their free speech rights.”

The NAA Foundation research was conducted by Jack Dvorak, Ph.D., director of the High School Journalism Institute and professor of the School of Journalism at Indiana University.  The study looked at the academic performance of 31,175 students who are attending or have attended colleges and universities in all 50 states and some foreign countries during the past five years.

The study found that students with journalism experience in high school earned higher scores than non-journalism students in the following areas: high school overall grade point average, ACT Composite score, ACT English score, college freshman English grade, and college freshman grade point average.  In addition, journalism students also had higher grades in high school mathematics, social science, science and English courses than non-journalism students.

“Rather than retaliating against teachers who protect their students’ speech rights, administrations should be finding ways to support their faculty and journalism programs,” said Yee.  “The research clearly shows that journalism programs result in better critical thinking skills, more impressive grades, and higher test scores.  It is this academic performance that will allow our young people to become greater contributors to our society.”

Senate Bill 1370, which will likely be considered by the full Senate on Monday, April 21, is in response to a number of cases throughout the state where journalism advisers or professors were disciplined for content in a student newspaper.  The bill follows a 2006 law authored by Yee which prohibits censorship of college press by administrators and protects students from being disciplined for engaging in speech or press activities.

Specifically, SB 1370 would prohibit an employee from being dismissed, suspended, disciplined, reassigned, transferred, or otherwise retaliated against for acting to protect a student’s speech.

A Los Angeles Unified School District case is one of many where a highly respected and successful newspaper advisor was removed from his position.  In November 2006, the student newspaper published an editorial criticizing random searches conducted on campus.  The newspaper advisor, Darryl Adams, was immediately removed after refusing to eliminate the editorial at the principal’s request.  Adams was later removed as basketball coach and even as announcer for the football games.

“In a span of four months, they all but stripped me of my professional existence,” said Adams.

Another case involved Janet Ewell, a Garden Grove tenured teacher and certified journalism educator, who was removed as newspaper advisor in 2002 despite her students winning numerous journalism awards.  The schools principal admitted to student reporters that he had removed Ewell as a result of editorials that ran in the school newspaper.  The editorials focused on such issues as the school bathrooms, cafeteria food and a teacher who was unavailable to help students.

Ronnie Campagna, a journalism teacher of 18 years at San Marin High School in Novato, was removed in 2003 and replaced by a new teacher with no previous journalism experience after the student paper published stories critical of the administration.  For example, one story criticized the school administration for not letting students stand up in the bleachers during varsity basketball games.  The school board went so far as to attempt dissolving the entire program until parents protested and even offered to fund the class themselves.

In San Francisco, journalism and English teacher Katharine Swan was told that she must find a different school in which to teach after her students covered a first-year principal’s attempts to effect prior restraint and influence coverage of events occurring at the school.

“Since administrators are unable by law to exercise prior restraint with regard to a student publication, they lean on advisers to do what they legally cannot,” said Jim Ewert, Legal Counsel for the California Newspaper Publishers Association (CNPA).  “When advisers refuse, they are punished because administrators know they will face no legal consequences.  SB 1370 is necessary to close this gaping loophole in the law.” 

The NAA Foundation study can be found at http://www.naafoundation.org/

Source: Office of Senator Leland Y. Yee, Ph.D.

Christine Martinello, ‘America’s Momager,’ believes that stay-at-home parents should receive a monthly stipend from the government.

In her new book, “The Momager Guide: Empowering Moms to Leave a Loving Legacy,” Martinello explains why the government laying out money for moms who take care of their pre-school age children at home makes absolute sense. 

Following are her points:
 
The vast majority of Americans would agree that if possible, a mother (or father) staying home with young children is the ideal situation.

France and Finland offer “Child Home Care Allowances” in which the allowance depends on the family income and child’s age. The Home Care Allowance is paid up until the child is 3

Norway: A monthly cash benefit for parents with small children: For children between the age of 1-3

A study by Professor Mark A. Cohen of Vanderbilt University found that for each high-risk child prevented from adopting a life of crime, the country could save between $1.7 and 2.3 million.

The dollar value of an at-home mother is $142,844 per year

Providing money to stay-at-home mothers, when taking into account the benefits to children, is a wise national; financial investment.

“When people hear things that sound like entitlements, many have an instant negative opinion,” says Martinello. “But if you look at the numbers across the board – from the developmental and social value of young children having stay-at-home moms to the cost to incarcerate a juvenile or adult — to do it is a no-brainer.”
 
Christine Martinello is recognized as a leading authority in leadership, life balancing, and Momager topics. She is founder of the Momager Movement, Camp Her Way, a facilitator of edutainment’ programs, and a sought-after speaker. President of Training Solutions International, she is known as a highly effective motivational speaker who has presented to companies including Merrill Lynch, Iams Corp, Girl Scouts of America, the U.S. department of Energy and many other corporations and non-profit organizations.

She has been married for 15 years and is Momager to three children, ages 13, 11 and 10.

“The Momager® Guide: Empowering Moms to Leave a Loving Legacy” is available for purchase at all major online bookselling sites.
 
To learn more, visit www.momager.com

Does your baby draw “oohs” and “aahs” from strangers?

If you have an adorable photo of your child that you’d like to share with the world, enter the High Desert Online Baby Contest.

The top 16 winners will be featured in the Press-Dispatch and will be on the 2008-2009 16-month poster calendar, on sale May 2008.

Cost to enter is $5. Votes are $1 each.

Ready to learn more? Click here.

Kindergarten registration for Sitting Bull Elementary will be held between 1 p.m. and 6 p.m. April 9 in the multipurpose room at Sitting Bull Elementary School.

For registration the school will need:

— Proof of residency
— Social security number
— Immunization record
— Birth certificate

The child will need a physical and dental exam to start school in August. The child must be 5 on or before Dec. 2.

For more information, e-mail  gail_mullen at avsd.k12.ca.us

Look for wildlife and native plants along the Pacific Crest Trail during a special hike for kids at 9 a.m. April 5.

This hike is open to children of all ages, as long as they can hike a distance of approximately 6 miles; three miles out, lunch, then three miles back. The terrain is mostly flat, with some slight hill climbs. These hikes are geared to be of interest to youth and a responsible adult.

Meet at Victor Valley Museum parking lot, 11873 Apple Valley Road, Apple Valley. Bring sturdy hiking shoes/boots, lunch, snacks, plenty of water, hat, layered clothing.

Call to register: Melody Nichols at 963-4430 or Terrance McCorkle 252-2194.

Mojave Mesa Elementary School will start Kindergarten registration for next school year on Wednesday, April 2.

Registration will be from 8 a.m. to noon April 2, 3 and 4, and from 12:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. April 9 at the school, located at 15552 Wichita Road in Apple Valley.

Parents should bring the student’s birth certificate, immunization record, social security card and proof of residency.
Children also need to have a physical and dental check-up done after January. Physical and dental forms are available in the school office.

For more information, call 242-5883.

Americans work hard to protect their children, but child abuse and neglect remain at unacceptably high levels with nearly 900,000 U.S. youngsters hurt each year. Since many of even the best-intentioned parents don’t know how to prevent abuse and the conditions under which it may come about, the 125-year-old national children’s crisis charity KidsPeace is offering free downloadable information packets called, “24 Ways You Can Prevent Child Abuse..Before it Starts.”

During this April’s National Child Abuse Prevention Month, parents, teachers and others can go to www.kidspeace.org (click on “resources” and “brochures”) and find two dozen simple yet effective tips to “Make Your Home Safe, Give Your Child Trust and Build Communication, Give Your Child Independence, and Give Your Child Self-Esteem.”

“Most parents love their kids and want the best for them,” says Dr. Lorrie Henderson, acting president of KidsPeace, which helps thousands of children every day at 65 centers nationwide to overcome abuse, neglect, and the other emotional crises. “Our task now is to help adults identify and avoid the most common situations in which a child may be harmed physically, sexually, or emotionally - as well as to create the kind of positive, open communications that can serve as an early line of defense when trouble looms.”

Just a few of the “24 Ways You Can Prevent Child Abuse,” which are explained in more depth online, include the following:

* Establish house rules and be consistent

* Interview your babysitters

* Never strike in anger — use short timeouts and try not to yell or use hurtful words

* Teach your children to say “no” to anyone who asks them to do anything they feel is wrong

* When you feel frustrated, angry or overwhelmed, vent your feelings positively — away from your children. Do not stay alone with your children if you are overwhelmed. Call a friend or leave your children with someone trustworthy.

* Put yourself in your child’s place and ask “Is what I’ve said or done building my child up or putting my child down?” and “Is what I’ve said or done really for my needs or for the needs of my child?”

* Listen to your children and be available when they have fears, worries, or other concerns

“Even in a nation that loves its children, abuse happens far too often — about once every 30 seconds,” says Dr. Herbert Mandell, medical director for KidsPeace and the KidsPeace Children’s Hospital, which helps youngsters in severe crisis. “If we can avoid or better handle the situations that can lead to problems, we have a better chance of lowering the incidence of child abuse and keeping our kids, whom we work so hard to protect, healthy and happy.”

KidsPeace is a 125-year-old national children’s charity dedicated to helping America’s kids avoid and overcome the kinds of crises that can strike any child - from traumas to neglect, depression, and the stresses of modern life. KidsPeace helps thousands of children a day with lifesaving programs at 65 centers nationally and millions more through public education and outreach efforts supported by its national spokesperson and founder of the Memory Foundation Leeza Gibbons and child safety and self-esteem icon Retro Bill.

KidsPeace was called “the outstanding organization” of its kind by the American Association of Psychiatric Services for Children and “a prototype of what we need for all children everywhere” by family expert Dr. Lee Salk.

For more information, go to www.kidspeace.org