Presidents Day Recipes

A remedial recipe

America has been trying to "fix" its public schools since Sputnik was launched in 1957. Educators, politicians, even U.S. presidents have committed a great deal of time and effort to improving public schools. Yet it has all been for naught. Every attempt to improve the schools has ended in abject failure.

Among these failures are: The National Defense Education Act in the 1950s, A Nation At Risk in the 1980s, America 2000 in the 1990s and No Child Left Behind in the 2000s. None of these federal laws, nor the billions of dollars attached to them, did much to improve public schools. President Barack Obama 's new plan, Race to the Top, will amount to nothing more than the Race to Mediocrity.

Federal and state legislation will never improve schools. Legislating school improvement is tantamount to legislating morality. It would be nice if it worked, but it will not.

Instead of trying to improve schools, we should be trying to improve student performance.

Student performance is linked to three essential elements: student attendance and effort, family support and school program. School personnel can have some impact on the first two elements, but the students and the families have the most control in those arenas.

The recipe for school improvement is relatively simple. However, like all recipes, this one must be followed step by step and in proper order. Steps cannot be skipped, and until the previous step is accomplished, the next step cannot even be considered.

If not, like the cake that flops, the school improvement effort will fail. Just as cakes are baked one at a time, schools must be improved one at a time. Federal, state and even district improvement efforts will continue to fail.

If you don't believe me, just look in the media any day and see how we are doing.

We can follow the simple recipe below, step by step, and schools and ultimately student performance will improve. Or we can keep doing what didn't work yesterday and expect it to work today. It's our choice.

Safe and orderly environment: Without this, we have nothing. Students must feel safe in their schools at all times, both physically and intellectually.

Functional and well-maintained physical plant: It does not have to be a brand new building, but there is no excuse for a poorly maintained one. The condition of the building shows the kids if we care about them or not. Additionally, the students should help with upkeep of the building. It is their school.

President's Day Recipes - Meat Me in the Middle - Meat Me in the ...

Ingredients:

1 pastry shell 1 cup of diced cooked ham 2 ounces of cheddar cheese - grated 2 ounces of Swiss cheese - grated 4 eggs 1 1/2 cups of half & half 1/2 teaspoon of salt 2 tablespoons of chopped chives

First, preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spread diced ham over the bottom of the pastry shell and sprinkle about half the cheese as well (the other half will be for the top of the quiche). Next, lightly beat the eggs with a wire whisk and add the half & half and seasonings until smooth. Place the pastry shell on a cookie sheet and carefully pour in the mixture. Sprinkle with remaining cheeses. Bake at 375 degrees for around 25-30 minutes or until top is puffed up and browned. You can place a knife or toothpick in the center of quiche to tell when done - if comes out clean it's ready. Remove from oven and let cool for 10 or so minutes. *for our veggie friends you can substitute the ham for Morning Star bacon or sausage.