Retirement...

I don’t know about you but this is the time of the year I start a self-evaluation about myself. I suppose this may be a result of many years of having worked with a state agency that was obsessed with high expectations.

Luckily, I’ve always felt good about myself when I looked back at the year. Being retired concerned me because I did not want to become complacent and idle and so I jumped into a number of activities hoping to still make a difference. So for a while I muddled in community advocacy and area politics but was disillusioned when our issues got lumped into one collective complaint and conveniently labeled a senior citizen’s issue. These were ceremoniously cast aside with promises of more senior recreation, free meals and periodic medical screenings.

Well this led to solitary walks through beautiful parks, contemplating a more meaningful existence.

And so here I am, still walking and thinking.

Embracing technology..please

This is just a short commentary fueled by what I saw at my five-year-old nephew’s elementary school (Kuentz Elementary School). Recently I attended a school performance where my little nephew danced along with other kiddos, all this as part of the school’s opening in Helotes, Texas.

The placed was packed to capacity forcing me to sit at the back of the room. The event went on without a hitch and without any self-aggrandizement on the part of the school administration. The event was simply a recognition of the schools opening and a promise to parents that much would be expected of their 82 teachers assigned to Kuentz. By the way, the district received 1,800 applications for these 82 positions.

Along with the advanced notices sent to parents about the upcoming event, parents were also told that the ceremony would be seen through live streaming on the Internet. And yes it was. Being a high tech junkie, I walked over to the school staff running the live steam and asked questions. I learned that the school like other elementary schools in the area use live steams for school announcements and to communicate with parents in this time of cybertechnics.

Sitting there my thoughts drifted to Eagle Pass and I asked myself why none of that was possible in our own schools. But perhaps it was being done and I just didn’t know it. If its being done, its quite a well kept secret because I have not found any links that give the rest of us access to school events (live-streamed).

So the ever present “what if” question formed and I asked, “What if our schools in Eagle Pass could embrace cybertechnics and match what is being done at my 5 year old nephew’s elementary school?”