Social Science

Peoria AZ News & Tips

November 3, 2012 By Administrator

I’ve lived in Peoria for quite some time, and it’s a wonderful community. Always has been. It came into its own under the leadership of Mayor John Keegan, and from that time on has skyrocketed, but carefully. Peoria is a class act. I’ve used a number of its services and the employees and managment are excellent.

More Upper Education Coming to Peoria
Residents recently learned that the city of Peoria has entered into exclusive negotiating agreements with Huntington University and The College of St. Scholastica to explore the establishment of their respective programs as part of a university consortium in Peoria. The schools are looking to offer complementary undergraduate and graduate degrees in nursing, occupational therapy, physical therapy, exercise science, and digital media as well as a variety of other programs that are in line with Peoria’s 2010 Higher Education Feasibility Study, and Economic Development Implementation Strategy (EDIS).

Exciting news. Training in the medical field is needed, and often the waiting list is too long.

And another university is coming to Peoria: Trine University. Trine will open a branch campus near Thunderbird Rd and 83rd Ave by 2013. Trine is a private, non-denominational institution that grants associate, bachelor’s, and master’s degrees in more than 35 programs on campus, online, and at regional education centers.

Peoria Now Newsletter
Just got the Peoria Now newsletter for November, and it has some good tips for staying safe during the holiday shopping season. Here are the tips:

Don’t carry more than absolutely necessary in a purse.
Be alert and walk with a purpose. The bad guys seek distracted, inattentive shoppers. If possible, shop with a friend. There is safety in numbers.
Carry a cell phone and be prepared to call the police in case of an emergency.
Thieves often scout food courts. Don’t leave unattended handbags, gifts, etc.
Don’t leave valuables, packages, and recent purchases in plain sight in the vehicle.
Pay attention to surroundings and if uncomfortable go back to the store or mall and ask to be escorted to your vehicle by security.
Park vehicles in a well-lit area. Have keys ready and look over your car as you approach to make sure everything is okay.

Find more great newsletters here.

Randy Howe sworn in to Arizona Court of Appeals

October 2, 2012 By Administrator

Last Thursday I had the honor of being present at the Arizona court of Appeals Division One Investiture of Randall M. Howe.

I’ve known Randy for years as a fellow board member of Arizona Center for Disability Law, and he was president at the time he was given this honor. The ceremony was held at the Disability Empowerment Center. The center itself is remarkable, and well worth visiting. The ceremony was wonderful: emotionally moving, and (for me) educational.

After the ceremony, we went to the reception in the Virginia G. Piper Sports and Fitness Center. We were in one-half of the entire gymnasium, which is a work of art. The entire facility is breathtaking. When I think of people like Virginia Piper and Nina Pulliam who gave so generously to support the community in so many different ways, I stand in awe of them.

But I digress. Seeing a person of the caliber of Randy Howe sworn in to the Court of Appeals is a moment I will always treasure. We as citizens are blessed to have Randy Howe on the bench.

Long battle for an equal education pays off

June 10, 2012 By Administrator

Guest post by Debbie Lurie

My fifteen-year-old son has been on an academic program in Israel since January 29, 2012. He returned home in early June 2012. He completed the second half of tenth grade in Jerusalem on the TRY program. He received accolades for his helpfulness and kindness to those in need.

How did he get to this place in his life? In first grade, in Hebrew Day School, where I taught English, both his Hebrew and English teachers came to me on the same day (unknown to each other) and told me that they wondered why such a bright child couldn’t write.

Two school districts fought over who would NOT have to test my child, as the school was in one district and we lived in another. We forced testing by one district who stated he had no issues. We forced testing by the other district who stated he needed help with a lisp and help with fine motor skills (including handwriting).

The second district indicated they would not help him until third grade, giving us numerous excuses. We went to our community services school, for which we pay taxes, and they claimed they could not help as an outpatient. I know numerous people in our exact position who received many services. We could get none.

Our neurologist told us that if we waited until third grade to deal with the lisp, it would be permanent. We paid out-of-pocket for someone to come to our house to work with our son. The expense was worth it.

The speech therapist was wonderful and our child has no lisp. We also paid an OT to come to the house to work with him. His scissor and other fine motor skills improved, and his handwriting became just legible, which was a big improvement.

After navigating the so-called system, on the advice of my son’s psychiatrist who treated his ADD, we paid a lawyer $10,000 merely to get a 504 for my son. It cost another $10,000 to get irrefutable testing done to obtain the 504.

The Hebrew Day School teachers were not agreeable to the suggestions to help my son, so we pulled him from the school after fifth grade. He’d been bullied and treated poorly. It is a shame: I worked at the school and the education was good – as long as the child fit the mold. (I pray I am a different type of teacher, as I try to teach to each child’s learning style.)

Some teachers in public school worked with the 504. Many said my son was lazy. He has ADD, Executive Function Disorder, dyspraxia , and dysgraphia. It was no surprise when the district psychiatrist told us he had an anxiety issue!

In seventh grade, the district came to us and told us my son needed an IEP! We had told them that $20,000 ago. Even with the IEP, some teachers did not follow the accommodations. “He just has to work harder.” “He has to pay attention.” “If we coddle him now, how will he learn to do the work for himself?” I was aghast when I heard these statements.

The problem was that my son is excellent verbally. He can answer most questions and speak an essay. But he cannot write it on paper! He is very social and popular. He is handsome and looks like a very normal child. I believe those reasons are why some teachers would not take the IEP seriously.

Those teachers who listened to our suggestions and learned about my son were amazingly successful. Those who forced him to sit and take notes (notes provided was an accommodation) saw failure. One fantastic science teacher would let my son be the one to get items and run errands to offices. He kept my child busy and the payoff was amazing. My son loved the teacher and the class and did quite well.

Now he’s in high school, and more teachers believe in his disabilities and the IEP. I meet with the guidance counselor and any teacher who does not honor the IEP, or who chastises my son for his disabilities. After one or two meetings, the teachers seem to catch on.

In junior high, I twice had him removed from classrooms. In both cases, he improved by at least two letter grades in less than a month.

A teacher can make the world of difference. Resource room is only valuable if the teacher is good. Otherwise, it is a waste of time. (In junior high resource, my son could not do homework and had to wait for the teacher to get to him to do anything except sit and read! It was a joke.)

In the beginning of this year – tenth grade – we found out he had a visual disability that affected his reading. It is no wonder he hated reading! He is using a computer program to help with that issue and it is helping. (I have no idea why no eye doctor or the school didn’t discover this.)

We suggested the software program, Dragon Naturally Speaking to our son numerous times before he agreed to try it. Once he felt it was his choice, he embraced the program. We are grateful it exists.

There is more, though I think the above gives a good idea of the difficulties one can face. So much for No Child Left Behind! My child was allowed to fall through the cracks. It is my full-time job to advocate for him. He is doing much better now.

I got myself on district and school committees and got to know the principal and other administrators. I made sure I was on committees that could make a difference and where I could explain what we went through, and try to prevent those difficulties for others. Our high school principal is a wonderful man who has many concerns with the current system. He tries his best to do well for the students within the parameters he must work.

The TRY group participated in a weeklong Gadna experience (Israeli army training) and my son earned the Most Excellent Soldier award out of 55 participants. One of his crowning moments was being chosen as Rosh (head) of the program’s big barbeque. He had never barbequed prior to this trip! On one call home, he told me he labeled the shelves on his closet. What an incredible step for him.

He scored over 100% on all sections of his Hebrew exam and earned A’s and B’s in his secular studies. His one C was in the Israel Core Course, as he did poorly on the midterm. It is interesting to note, that the ICC teacher is the only one who did not tackle concerns as they occurred (missed homework assignments) and felt my son was not motivated!

My son is thrilled with his grades! We are proud parents. Disabilities did not keep him from being independent, responsible, and faring for himself.

This program stressed that students had to have the ability to be independent as coddling was not an option (and they weren’t coddled). It was not always easy and we dealt with homesickness and his having to buck up at times; however, he shined and has become an incredibly confident and capable young man. He even gained twelve pound of muscle!

The educational system is flawed, and every parent must be watchful and advocate for their child. If we listened to the “system,” imagine where our child would be now.

The Little Fund That Could-Social Media for Social Change

August 5, 2011 By Administrator

Guest post by Jay Jaboneta

Last April 1, 2011, I wrote about concept of the Little Fund. It was a simple concept. I wanted to share the story of the Zamboanga Funds for Little Kids, a little project that started on Facebook among my friends. It was a story about kids who swim to school. And with the encouragement of Josiah Go and other friends, we launched a mini-fundraising campaign to buy them a boat – it later on turned out that we needed to build them a boat because it needed to be customized to the mangrove area. (You can read the whole story here).

And as I shared then, what started as a simple Facebook post (click to learn more about the Facebook story) and a campaign to build them a boat turned out to become a little movement in Zamboanga to help the entire village of Layag-Layag. Over the last four months, I have travelled to Zamboanga, to the village of Layag-Layag at least 4 times. The first time was last March 27 when we turned over the first ever Bagong Pag-asa (New Hope) yellow boat. It was a symbol of how social media tools can be harnessed for social good.

The second time was when I accompanied my good friend and soon-to-be popular film-maker, Luke Perez together with Tempest Films’ Zap Berenguer and Lester Castor, to shoot a video about our story. (See their photos here).

The third time was when I accompanied a team from Facebook, who also shot a video about the story of the Layag-Layag kids who swim to school.

The fourth time was to accompany a writer and photographer of a popular magazine who also wanted to feature our story.

Over these last 4 months, almost all the major news organizations have visited Zamboanga City particularly our little village of Layag-Layag namely: SkyCable Zamboanga, ABS-CBN, Al-Jazeera, and a host of other individuals and organizations. And with that we are truly grateful, it has allowed our group, The Zamboanga Funds for Little Kids, to continue helping the people of Layag-Layag.

It has allowed us together with Tzu Chi Foundation – Zamboanga, Rotary Club of Zamboanga, the city government of Zamboanga City and a host of other organizations to provide school supplies, plastic bottle bulbs, medical assistance, and scholarships to the students and people of Layag-Layag. We have also began to engage with the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) to evaluate whether they can help the seaweed farmers of Layag-Layag in improving their operations.

As of today, August 4, 2011, 12 scholars from Layag-Layag are enrolled in the Zamboanga City State College of Marine Science and Technology. Our story has brought confidence to the students of Layag-Layag. They are now in a better position to pursue their dreams for their families and they have gotten the attention they rightly deserve.

It is my belief our country does not lack the heroes it needs. We only need to empower them. There is Abs Mawadi, the boat-maker who waived his labor fees for the succeeding boats that we are building. There is Anton Lim, the veterinary doctor, who has fallen in love with Layag-Layag and continues to mobilize funds and people to help the community. There is Luke Perez, a good friend, who volunteered to create a short film out of our story. There is Winston Almendras who raised funds for his birthday so that we can buy the kids of Layag-Layag some school supplies. There are so many of them, it might fill this page, and lastly, our donors who continue to support us in our efforts.

The US trip

Last April 28, I flew to the US to share the story of the Zamboanga Funds for Little Kids to around 300 Filipino-Americans (you can watch my speech here), who were attending the first WeAreOneFilipino (WAOF) Summit in Las Vegas. It was a wonderful opportunity to bring our story to the US and share how Filipinos in the US can help communities back home.

On May 16, I also participated in a panel discussion about Facebook Groups in Facebook’s headquarters in Palo Alto, California (see the discussion here). It was another wonderful opportunity to share our story of Bayanihan in the age of Social Media.

How Zamboanga gave birth to Masbate

Upon my return from the US, another friend, Dr. Ofelia Sy from Legaspi City, Albay, shared to me another story, also about kids who swim to school in Monreal, Masbate. An employee of the regional office of the Department of Education shared to her about the plight of the kids in Sitio Mababoy, Brgy. Guinhadap, Monreal, Masbate and asked her if we could also do something about it like how we helped the community of Layag-Layag in Zamboanga City.

I thought about it for a few days because we are still helping Layag-Layag and I feared we might not be able to help the kids in Mababoy Island. Fortunately, a researcher from the show Brigada on GMA News TV called me and asked if we had another story of kids swimming to school. I shared with her the story about the kids in Mababoy. Within 2 days, they dispatched a team to Masbate and on June 13, 2011, we watched the kids of Mababoy on Brigada, who came to be called “Batang Lukso,” a documentary by JP Soriano.

After the show, so many well-meaning people including presidential sisters Bally Aquino-Cruz and Pinky Aquino-Abellada donated funds so that we can build the kids of Mababoy some little yellow boats. And again, as the case in Layag-Layag, the help and support poured in. People were donating time, resources and efforts to help the kids of Mababoy.

In just over a month’s time, we were able to build them around 20 little yellow boats (the boats were a lot smaller than the ones we built in Zamboanga), again nicknamed Bagong Pag-asa, and a makeshift school with 4 classrooms for multi-grade learning. The kids were all coming from different parts of the islands in the area that’s why we needed to build a lot of boats.

Masbate Funds for Little Kids

Because of this, the Masbate Funds for Little Kids was born.

Last July 27, 2011, I went to Legaspi City, Albay despite typhoon “Juaning” so that we can formally inaugurate and have the blessing of the boats and the makeshift school which was scheduled on July 28.

Upon arriving in Legaspi City, Dr. Ofel and her team from Pinoy Power Coalition Inc. – Bicol started to prepare the donated goods which were drinking water, blankets, clothes, school supplies and raincoats for the people of Mababoy.

It was another hour of land trip to Pilar, Sorsogon where we rode a pump-boat to Mababoy. I didn’t imagine that I would be experiencing roller-coaster waves that day. It was a moment of intense prayer. What was usually a one and a half hour boat trip became 3 hours. But we arrived safely in Mababoy.

Beautiful Mababoy Island

The island (or Sitio) of Mababoy is located in Brgy. Guinhadap in the Municipality of Monreal in Masbate. Upon arriving in the area, I couldn’t help but be amazed by the beauty of Mababoy island. Legend has it that there are so many wild pigs in the island when the first settlers came (baboy is Tagalog for pig).

We arrived pretty late, around 6:00PM already. We off-loaded our cargo (donated goods, others) to the island and I went to see some of the kids who used to swim to school. I saw 6 of them, mostly in elementary school. I could see the island where they need to swim to from afar. It didn’t seem that far but I think it was at least 500 meters. I wondered how they could swim that distance, little as they are.

After maybe an hour in the island, we transferred to a smaller boat and proceeded to another island where we were going to sleep the night.

The morning after was even better, when I woke up around 5:30AM, I immediately jumped out of bed and proceeded to the beach. It was a breath-taking view, with the sunrise on my left, I could see so many islands that dot the sea. And to my surprise, I could see baby sharks roaming around free near the bay. It was truly a wonderful island.

After swimming for 2 hours, we got ready to go to the island of Mababoy for the formal inauguration of the extension school.

We arrived shortly 30 minutes after and began the preparations. I got the chance to roam around as people were busy cooking and making some last minute improvements to the school area. This is when I got a sneak peek to what they were cooking for us that day, the last ‘baboy’ (pig) of Mababoy!

People from all over Masbate and Albay were starting to arrive – the priest who was to bless the school and boats, the schools division superintendent of Masbate Mr. Gilbert Sadsad, the schools area supervisor, representatives of the mayor of Monreal, other people from the local office of the Department of Education, and volunteers of Pinoy Power Coalition – Bicol.

Around 10:00AM, my good friend Anton Lim (who came all the way from Zamboanga City), Dr. Jullie Sy (the husband of Masbate Funds for Little Kids prime-mover Dr. Ofelia Sy), and members of the Albay Medical Society arrived. We started the program shortly after and the priest blessed the school and the boats. It was truly a momentous occasion for the village of Mababoy. I could see the excitement of the parents.

It was truly an inspiring day. After the inauguration in Mababoy, we went to Guinhadap Elementary School, which was were the kids of Mababoy used to go to school to, before their extension school was built. Dr. Jullie Sy also works with AGAPP Foundation wherein they build pre-schools. So he decided to check up on possible sites for pre-schools as well. After that, we went for another possible site in Togoron, Monreal, an hour away from Guinhadap.

The sea was calm on our way back to Pilar, Sorsogon that day. We arrived at the port safely around 7PM.

Ripple Effect

And so what started as a single Facebook post on October 30, 2010 became a force for social good in the country.

There are now two movements (Zamboanga Funds for Little Kids and Masbate Funds for Little Kids) born out of this simple idea, two little funds that could. And I hear of two more areas joining soon!

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