Senior Dad Briefing Room

A Senior Dad Briefing Room Brief. Mel Levine and Stan goldberg chat about trust. 6:17 minutes

Edward Zigler is Director Emeritus of the Edward Zigler Center in Child Development and Social Policy at Yale University. He was the youngest member of the planning committee for head start and later served as its director. Recently he has been a member of President Obama’s childhood transition team. Ed speaks to us about the past and the future. We talk about the persistent economic education gap, about charter schools, preschools, early childhood education, and developing integrated educational communities. Arguably there are a few educators in America as well qualified as Edward Zigler to help us chart the direction of American education for the future.

The Sustainable Chef Throughout his life Bryant Terry has tried many different diet plans. As a Chef he has explored cuisine from varied corners of the United States. Nationally known, he has participated in sustainable garden projects on both coasts and he has appeared in a featured article in the Sunday New York Times Magazine. Now a Berkeley resident, he has spoken at Alice Water’s and Ann Cooper’s school food project. In this conversation we chat about his new book “The Vegan Soul Kitchen” as well as his cooking roots, growing organic produce at home, school food, sustainable gardening, buying local food from farmers markets and what spices to use to enliven a meal.

Mel Levine speaks about individualized education plans for all.

If your child has allergies, it is important to have the child’s school engaged as a good- health partner. When starting a new school, the time to get acquainted with the school is the springtime before. Ellie Goldberg shares with us in a Senior Dad Brief that lasts 10 minutes 50 seconds. “How to prepare for a new school year for a child with allergies.”

California ballot proposition 1D is confusing. The copy that describes it sounds like this is a boon to early childhood education yet some of the most respected leaders in early childhood education are lining up and speaking out to vote ‘No’. I asked Kadija Johnston, a long time educator and administrator in the field, to help me understand prop 1D. Many people in our community who are committed to preschool education-for-all are volunteering time at local phone banks. Those of you who are so inclined can contact Paula at the following email address to schedule a time. Schmidlinp@yahoo.com

Distracted— this is a very popular word and it describes what is happening to many people in our modern world. We look at our children and see that they can't focus and we wonder whether this is caused by some medical condition or by the way we live. Commercials, technical devices, music and popular entertainment pull us in several directions. Are these the root causes of the distraction of our society? Maggie Jackson, the columnist for the Boston Globe has written a book called "Distracted". She explores this phenomena and discusses the coming dark age caused by distraction. Maggie joins me to discuss her book and explores the lives we live. Rarely will you find such an interesting and entertaining person as Maggie Jackson. It is easy to see why she has such a loyal following at the Boston Globe. Maggie Jackson—Distracted.

The Superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District has placed the districts failing schools up for grabs. Not only has the superintendent made schools available to be taken over by the usual suspects but the superintendent has also put in a “parent trigger”. Bill Ring, Director of TransParent®, talks to me about what's happening in Los Angeles. 12:40 minutes audio. Take my schools please!

Sara Bennett co-authored “The Case Against Homework” with Nancy Kalish. Both have been guests on my show in the past. On this show I share with Sara some of my homework wins and losses and she shares with us what the last 3 years running stophomework.com was like.

John C. Dvorak is an internationally renowned technology reporter and analyst. John joins us to tell us if you can expect your paper textbooks to be replaced by digital ones shortly. A Senior Dad Brief 10:41 minutes.

Be prepared for the flu season and the possibility of school closings. How parents and teachers can keep children learning and minimize the problems of school and work disruptions. With Ellie Goldberg www.healthy-Kids.info Nationally know advocate for students with chronic health conditions. Sponsored by Parents For Public Schools San FranciscoFor additional information about public school issues for parents, please contact Parents For Public Schools at www.PPSSF.org

The state of special education. This report covers special education , due process, inclusion, parent communities, and trust. Colin Ong-Dean, researcher and author of Distinguishing Disability: Parents, Privilege, and Special Education, has investigated special education and due process. Two of our panelists have children in special education. Both have fought to get the services their children justly deserved. Katy Franklin has not engaged in litigation but she effectively points out her child’s legal rights. Robin Hansen has fought the system through due process hearings and eventually won the services her children needed. This report gives you real-life instances of the conditions within our schools and special education. Some of it will make you laugh, some of it will get you angry, and some of it will make you cry. But this is a day-to-day situation of over 5,000 families every day in San Francisco, and millions around the country.

The Spark Program identifies at-risk middle-school students who need to be motivated by the relevancy of school and matches them with people in industry that are employed in the student’s “dream job”.  The student then becomes an intern at that profession for one semester going to the job after school hours. Chris Balme, Co-Founder and Executive Director, shares the genesis of Spark and what they are doing to reduce dropouts.  What type of job does a child want?

We are what we eat. We are facing a national epidemic of childhood obesity, hypertension, and high cholesterol from our bad eating habits. Dr Alan Greene, author of “Feeding Baby Green” joins me in a Skype video-visit to talk about teaching children to love great food by starting them early. Since Alan is a Pediatrician we also discuss the health and education related issues of the Autism epidemic and other health related issues.

I want to be happy. I want my kid to be happy. Sound familiar? Most of us want this but getting there is something else. How do we get our kids to expect to be happy? Christine Carter the author of “Raising Happiness” joins me in a Skype video visit to chat about how we can promote happiness in our children’s lives and our own.