Saturday, August 1, 2009

We have a new Batman!

It was a long summer of waiting but it's official....Our old Robin is our new Batman, um BatWOman???

We've actually been back to work over a week now. Teacher training started on July 22. The kids came for registration day Wednesday. We have a million kindergarten kids this year. Well, not actually a million but it may was well be. As of yesterday afternoon, we have 219 kids registered for kindergarten. I guess I also need to mention that we have 8 kindergarten teachers. Do the math and, well, YIKES!

Luckily, Robin can also do math and we had a little faculty meeting before we left yesterday. She's moving a 2nd grade teacher to kindergarten and we are getting not one, but TWO new teachers. So we'll have 11 kindy teachers this year. We'll all still be at 20 or 21 students but that's much better than 30. Thanks, Robin!!!!

Adoptive Parent Survey

I got an email asking me to post info on this survey. It's for parents who have adopted children from the foster care system. I got the email a week or two ago but didn't want to post the link until I had taken the survey. I just did and it was painless.

Rather then try to summarize the info for you, I'll just copy and paste the email. If you are so inclined and qualify, please take the survey. It never hurts to help someone else out. She is one of us, after all. I'm sure she will appreciate all responses.

"Hello. I am a foster and adoptive parent in Charleston, Illinois and am also a graduate student in Family & Consumer Science at Eastern Illinois University. I am currently working on a thesis examining post-adoption birthparent contact in families that adopted through the foster care system. I am trying to recruit a national sample for my thesis survey and am trying to reach as many adoptive parents as I can. I have started contacting adoption related blog owners to get some help spreading the word about my survey. It appears that your blog would attract the people I am looking for to take my survey. Would you consider writing a short post on your blog about my survey? I have included sample language below. Feel free to contact me at this email with any questions. If you have suggestions for other ways to reach adoptive parents in your area, that would also be helpful! :) I would also appreciate it if you would take a minute to take the survey yourself if you meet the guidelines. Thank you so much for your help!Michelle Roberts

If you adopted an unrelated child from foster care, your input is needed for a survey on post adoption birthparent contact. Michelle Roberts, a foster and adoptive parent herself, is doing a graduate thesis on post adoption contact in foster care adoptions. Even if you have had no contact with your child's birthparents, your input is valuable to the study. The online survey takes less than 10 minutes to complete and contains no identifying information. As a special thank you, you will be entered into a drawing for a chance to win a $100 gift certificate to the store of your choice. Please take a moment to help with this study. Go to www.AdoptionStudy.org for the online survey or contact Michelle at meroberts2@eiu.edu if you would prefer to have a paper survey mailed to you. Your help is greatly appreciated!"