Comments

• On the article For $200,000, Which Home Would You Buy?

  Janet Dieter

  12:36 pm on Thursday, April 4, 2013

  St. Charles!

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• On the article Caption This! Look Who's Behind the Wheel

  Janet Dieter

  11:03 am on Thursday, February 7, 2013

  We'll go to the pet store right after I get my morning coffee!

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• On the article Bank Seeks Receiver in $28.5M Pheasant Run Foreclosure

  Janet Dieter

  8:47 am on Thursday, September 29, 2011

  Sounds like the lender is taking a hard line on this. Hope they can work things out.

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• On the article Increase in Coyote Sightings Prompts Advice from City of St. Charles

  Janet Dieter

  8:41 pm on Sunday, April 24, 2011

  We've seen coyotes a few times on 2nd Street near Viewpointe.

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• On the article Group Backing D303 Lawsuit Considers Options After Hearing in Federal Court

  Janet Dieter

  12:09 pm on Friday, April 15, 2011

  If the group struggling the most is low income, then doesn't it make sense to try to introduce them to a technology that they will need in the future and that they are the most likely to not have at home? And it's my understanding that starting with Kindergarten and thru 2nd grade that they will have access to laptops and iPads in the classroom. They will be able to utilize them for educational apps like letter tracing and Kindle type book programs for reading - among many other things. This will hopefully excite the kids (get to use technology) and they will learn more and faster. This will in turn increase the test scores when they reach the 3rd grade level. This plan is not for the 3rd - 5th grade kids only. And my understanding is that the ESL kids are currently being taught "seperately" to keep them up to date with the curriculum while being taught the English language. I agree that something needs to be done to get these kids speaking English well enough to be integrated into the other classrooms, but apparently they are not the reason for the failing schools in our district - low income is (I learned that from an earlier post from olive j). So hopefully getting more advanced tools into the teachers hands to use to help excite all of our kids about exceling at school will work! All of our schools are slated to fail over the course of the next few years. We have to do something. What other suggestions do those against this have? I haven't heard any.

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• On the article Group Backing D303 Lawsuit Considers Options After Hearing in Federal Court

  Janet Dieter

  6:35 am on Friday, April 15, 2011

  The iPads are used for teaching - not surfing the web. Check out the article about the school district in Maine: http://www.electronista.com/articles/11/04/08/teachers.saw.remarkable.progress.using.ipads/

  I've said before, I wish my children were still at Davis and could participate in this program. Maine is hoping to raise their literacy rate from 62 to 90 percent using technology. Giving our kids additional instruction (slightly longer days) cannot be bad. If your child is already exceling at Davis why would you think he/she will do any different with this change? Perhaps the problem is more social on the adult side. They will have the same teachers, continue being taught the same curriculum and have additional teachings (was it language arts and technology science? I forget now). It's sounding more like the parents are fighting who the mix of kids will be rather than finding a possible solution to our failing schools. If we can get all kids proficient in English (raise literacy rates) then the test scores will come up. Tests have to be given in English. It's not that the kids don't know the answers, they can't completely understand the question.

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• On the article Group Backing D303 Lawsuit Considers Options After Hearing in Federal Court

  Janet Dieter

  7:04 pm on Thursday, April 14, 2011

  Did anyone else read the article about the schools in Maine and their use of iPad tablets? It's been a huge success beginning at the kindergarten level. We have to accept change or ALL schools will fail. I'm getting kind of tired of the fighting and bickering. The school board didn't just come up with this plan overnight or on a whim. Let's march forward TOGETHER!

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• On the article Vote Coming Later This Week on Proposal for Richmond and Davis Elementary Schools; Parents Continue to Cite Issues with Plan

  Janet Dieter

  11:05 am on Tuesday, March 15, 2011

  As an ex Davis family (and current Thompson/East family) I wish my children could have had the opportunity to participate in a program such as this. Change is never easy, and I'm sure there will be bumps in the road as this is implemented, but how can additional focus on technology, foreign language and literacy be bad? Good luck Davis/Richmond families!! Enjoy being part of a new program. I get the feeling that this will be the new trend, and you get to be the first!!

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