[Rhett]

[quote=spdrun]Lastly, I’m from NYC. Driving is a competitive blood sport here, but at the same time, brake checking and road rage aren’t all that common here. Relax and be a good sport about things. How can San Diego drivers be so angry in such a lovely place? Paradox.[/quote]

Despite the tough talk in this thread, San Diego drivers are teddy bears compared to those in other major metropolitan areas in the country, even in this state.

With that said, there are a lot of tailgaters (though they probably exist everywhere), and nobody is even attempting to address the original question – *why* do people tailgate? Yes, there was the “don’t let somebody squeeze in front of me” answer, but that still doesn’t explain most of the tailgating. And what is equally bizarre is that many of these same jackholes are the types that leave an entire car length distance in front of their car at a stop light line.

I cannot count how many times I see people speed up to cut in front of me and then exit to the right, even though it would have been far easier for them to pull behind me and exit, not even costing them time. I think most people think it’s a damned video game.

[Rhett]

I’ve noticed more bee swarms that I’ve encountered while driving our local highways (5, 805, 52, 56 in my case). I read that they’ve rebounded somewhat from the mysterious colony collapse, but there probably are other factors that have attracted them to the area.

[Rhett]

[quote=AN]
How did you see that? I didn’t know you can go and see the kids during class time. Did the unmotivated kids get back to business? Does it work? Or do they end up just leaving the school?

Also, what do you mean by textbook Montessori?[/quote]

If you are touring MBMA, they do not stop what they are doing or put on any special show – it’s business as usual. We were on a tour a few years back and in fact we felt the environment was too subdued for our daughter; sort of ironic we ended up at the elementary program there (and probably would have been better served *had* we chosen to be on the K side at MBMA).

Did it work? Yes. Within a few minutes, the girl got back to business. Textbook Montessori? There are plenty of books/pamphlets that explain the Montessori philosophy and how they go about doing things – probably can find some online as well.

[Rhett]

Are you talking preschool (which I think you are) or grade school?

I’ve seen the way they deal with the unmotivated kids at AN’s preschool. The teachers ignore them until they get back to business. It reminded me of Star Trek, when the Klingons turn their back on a Klingon that has dishonored their race. 🙂

[It’s pretty much textbook Montessori, I think]

[Rhett]

A day late and perhaps a dollar short, but more often than not the swarm in your backyard is simply resting, and will move on within a day.

[Rhett]

[quote=ocrenter]How did the school lose 50 students in 3 years? Essentially 1/8 of the student body disappeared within 3 years? We’re they busing kids in before, now they are not any more?

API is just another way to look at demographics. Somehow within the last 3 years the demographics changed. Either a bunch of apartments are now asigned to another school, or they stopped busing in kids, hats my best guess.[/quote]

The boundaries around here have not changed in a decade. Doyle’s predominant demographic is children of UCSD graduate students, post doctorates, and staff renting in the area. I.e. kids from educated families with little money (thus a high qualification for reduced price lunches).

At some point in time, I discovered a way to obtain spreadsheets of very detailed enrollment statistics for any school in San Diego Unified. Doyle’s reduction in students was almost entirely due to accepting fewer choice (transfer) students. In Doyle’s defense, they were simply too damned big – over 900 students at their peak. Many grade schools in San Diego Unified are not even half that size.

[Rhett]

Be very careful when comparing API scores. Though there might be a lot of validity in the reasons already given for the differing API scores – number of English learners, students with disabilities, etc. (though in the case of Scripps Ranch, the school with the highest test score had the most reported English learners – hmmm…).

Related to this, the 2011 API scores just came out.

http://dq.cde.ca.gov/dataquest/Acnt2012/2011Base_Co.aspx?cYear=&cSelect=37,SAN,DIEGO

[Rhett]

[quote=UCGal]
You have to look at more than just the paper ratings when looking at schools. Especially if your child is exceptional in any way at all. If there are special needs (of any kind – GATE/Seminar, ADHD, whatever… anything at all non-typical) you need to look at what each school provides to serve those needs.

Ok – off my high horse.[/quote]

No need to get off your high horse – that’s useful. Holmes is what I meant by the good school. But really, I wasn’t talking about grade schools – I was talking middle and high school, and I’ve heard a lot of anecdotal stories that go along with the test scores. Do you plan on sending your kids to Madison when the time comes?

bearishgurl: have not yet bought, and Clairemont is still in the game.

[Rhett]

[quote=lifeisgood]
No, I use a stroller frequently. I just think that you are not the person that I was talking about. You know as well as I do that you can get good value for many items that cost much less than the brand name merchandise that is the norm in many uppity cities around the country. You can even get those brand name BOB’s and others on craigs list and other online auctions for much cheaper that are barely used. My main point is that I don’t think that parents are as thrifty as they should be. It’s everyones choice as to how much it costs to raise children. I just believe we can do it for less and get the same result.[/quote]

I am in full agreement with that; I just think you didn’t pick the best example with the stroller.

On the other hand, if Tulsa is ahead of us on that list, it is a head scratcher.

[Rhett]

Save for one grade school, the public schools in Clairemont range from average to awful. Save for one person, everybody I’ve met that owns in Clairemont either sends their kids to private school or ends up choicing their kids into a UC school (since the aging demographics there have twice as much capacity in south UC than students that live there).

This is why Mira Mesa might be a lot more attractive to some people.

[Rhett]

[quote=lifeisgood]Why not save that cost for tuition to a college? Isn’t that the diploma that counts anyways?[/quote]

College prices have gotten out of whack (you can find about 50 threads here that discuss that). If you saved what the projected college costs would be, you’d be living a rather spartan lifestyle if you weren’t clearing 250 grand (in San Diego). Not worth doing, in my opinion.

[Rhett]

I get what you’re saying, and if I knew then what I knew now, I’d buy a lot more hand-me-downs, but the stroller is a bad example. We used a stroller every day, at least a half hour if not an hour a day, for almost the first three years of our daughter’s life. We started out with a Graco set (with a matching infant car seat), but quickly saw the value in a Peg Perego. We also got a good umbrella stroller (a MacLaren), because we needed something that was easily foldable yet durable. Total cost of both at the time – maybe around $350? Worth twice that much in my opinion.

This may sound like a picky point, but it’s not. At some point, you get a lot of value out of certain items, and it isn’t worth skimping. I’d cite an infinite amount of toys and games that never got used more than once or twice (or in some cases, never were used at all) as much bigger wastes than a stroller.

Let me guess – you pretty much drive everywhere so the stroller is not used that much?

[Rhett]

[quote=outtamojo]That school ranked #8 in La Jolla has a 100% participation rate also, but with a 32% pass rate.[/quote]

That school in La Jolla is the Preuss School, a charter school that is run by UC San Diego. For the most part, they only accept students from economically disadvantaged families, in which none of the parents graduated from a 4-year college. One of their requirements is that the students take at least one (or maybe it’s two) AP test.

Their 100% taking rate is predefined. They know they will have a lower pass rate. I’m not sure what San Marcos is doing, but it sure sounds to me like it’s being run somewhat like a charter.

Also, 100% AP rate implies something else: they moved all the special education kids over to Mission Hills. That’s another good way to get your test scores to go up.

[Rhett]

[quote=sdduuuude]Go to Best Bytes in the ‘hood south of University.

If they are still around.
[/quote]

Are you serious? You honestly think that a Best Buy practically adjacent to UCSD, one that is less than 2 years old, would not be around?

[shakes head]

[Rhett]

[quote=flu]http://www.stuffedanimalsforemergencies.org/[/quote]

Thanks. I found them when doing an online hunt a while back. Unfortunately, the nearest chapter is Long Beach. A few years ago, the Marines were taking gently used stuff animals, but they stopped doing that.

[Author]

Posts