This article makes me sick, and sad, and horrified, and pissed off all at once.  Basically, a woman left her 2 daughters with "a friend of a friend" overnight, and he molested them.  Who the FUCK leaves their KIDS with some (creepy-looking) man for the NIGHT!? When you don’t KNOW THEM!?

This one makes me wistful for what middle schools CAN be, and should be.  This is a well regarded school in the middle-schol circles, because they do support middle school philosophy and they believe in kids and they have a supportive administration that doesn’t see middle schoolers as a group of problems that can be solved by making them sit quietly in alphabetical order at lunch. Seriously.

"White said he has
no plans to seek a superintendent’s position in the future. "I love the
kids," he said. "I need to have contact with them. Middle school kids
are unpredictable, but they are sure to show their emotions. They are
so alive."

White said he will be less worried about chewing gum
in study hall and perfect test scores than he will about "building a
foundation for the children to live a good life.""

See, that’s what middle school is ABOUT. My principal doesn’t believe that, at all. AT ALL. The gum and test scores are his big worries, not the actual KIDS themselves. So fucking sad.

And finally, I saw this on FirstClass as a message from Campus Safety, and it made sense despite it’s weird forwardy-sounding-ness, so I thought I’d pass it on. Can’t hurt to add it to the phone book, no?

ICE allows police or paramedics to be able to contact a designated relative / next of kin in an emergency situation.

Almost everyone carries cellphones now, and with " ICE "  emergency
workers would know immediately who to contact and what number to ring.
The person may even know of their medical history.

By adopting the ICE advice, your mobile will help the rescue services
quickly contact a friend or relative which could be vital in a life or
death situation. It only takes a few seconds to do, and it could easily
help save your life.  Why not put ICE in your phone now ?  Simply
select a new contact in your phone book, enter the word ICE and the
number of the person you wish to be contacted.