Providing Opportunities through getting the word spread far and wide about our progress

Jacket lets parents keep track of kids By KATE SCHUMAN, Associated Press WriterLONDON - Parents may worry less about losing their child - and the kid's expensive coat - with a new piece of winter wear that includes a global positioning tracker. The jackets, released this week by the British clothing company Bladerunner, have a GPS tracking device in the lining. The device can track the jacket anywhere in the world, within 43 square feet. "The jacket is not something that was released due to people losing their kids," said Adrian Davis, a partner at Bladerunner. "It was originally made for mountain climbers, skiers and snowboarders." Davis said the company decided to make a children's version of the jacket aimed at parents concerned about their children's safety. Using Google Earth maps, users can watch the jacket wearer move. The movements are updated every 10 seconds. But they don't need to be online to find out where the person is. Users can also receive alerts to their e-mail or cell phone when the jacket leaves the boundary, meaning parents could potentially receive alerts whenever their children skipped school, left the neighborhood or went to their boyfriend's house - so long as the child was wearing the jacket. Bladerunner, which designed the jacket and commissioned Asset Monitoring Solutions to craft the tracking device, made headlines in the spring when they released slash-resistant clothing for children, aimed at those worried about increasing knife crime in London. The new jacket is also equipped with the slash-resistant lining. The tracking device uses a rechargeable battery that can last for about 18 hours. A children's tracking jacket costs $500, plus $20 a month for the tracking technology. An adult jacket costs $700. All rights reserved. This copyrighted material may not be published, broadcast or redistributed in any manner. © Copyright 2007, The News & Observer Publishing Company A subsidiary of The McClatchy Company

Below is an article that has been written by Suzie Smith for the Alabama Education Association monthly newspaper periodical. I wanted to share the good news about what is going on in our class!

It came off my email .... Richard below is the story. Please let me know if I got anything wrong. Ihave used several pictures that I took with the names of students and also one from the picnic and one with the student in a canoe. Again, Is it ok touse the photos and names of the students? I used photos of Geoffrey, Ashley,Austin, and Jessica. Let me know. Good Luck! Suzie Smith Special education teacher wants more for students Jefferson County Education Association member Richard Reynolds is on a mission, one that he hopes will garner the necessary funds to transform hisclassroom into one that better meets the needs of the special educationstudents at Clay-Chalkville High School.This is Reynolds¹ first year at the school and he has been very busy, along with the paraprofessionals assigned to his classroom, making sure that his students are ³experiencing new horizons.² He began the year by taking the 11 students in his class, who have a wide range of special needs, on fieldtrips to learn aquatic safety at Camp Coleman and canoeing at Oak Mountain State Park.Though Reynolds is proud that he could take his students outside the classroom, he really wants to offer them more opportunities in the classroom to learn life skills. He has great ideas, but no funds to make his classroom suitable to offer life skills training and this is his mission.His classroom now features a couch and rug that he brought from home tooffer his students a cozy place to read. But he wants to rejuvenate his classroom to include a kitchen area with a sink, stove, refrigerator,microwave, dishwasher, and a washer and dryer.He also wants an assistive-technology computer center including softwarethat can pinpoint the specific needs of each student while tailoring each lesson to a particular student¹s learning style.His plans also include a wheelchair compatible work area in the classroom for art projects. ³Even though we have a small number of students, the severity of their disabilities, the wide range of their reading levels, and their different learning styles would be much better served with the assistive-computer technology,² Reynolds said.To reach his goal for his classroom, Reynolds has embarked on a constant and steady plan of pursuing every grant he hears about that might help in his quest to raise $18,000 to make the changes in the classroom.³A student might enter my classroom around age 14 and stay in my room until age 21 before they must leave the school,² said Reynolds. ³During that time they need to learn their phonics, writing, and math, but if these years are to be beneficial they must also be accompanied by life skills such as cooking, cleaning, washing clothes, and personal finance. That¹s why I am on a quest to secure grants to transform the classroom into a place that offers centers for students to learn life skills in addition to their academic work,² Reynolds said.According to Reynolds, ³These students need to experience a practical application daily through the living skills kitchen center where they can make the needed strides to hopefully become somewhat independent when they leave this school. We will not truly be able to measure effectiveness until after the students have transitioned to life after the school years and see how successful they are in becoming independent and working.²So far this year Reynolds has applied for more than 15 grants from a variety of organizations and other grant funding sources including a proposal that he sent to the producers of Extreme Makeover Home Edition. He anxiously checks his mail every day. If you have a place that you know of that works with the community to fund projects through grants or donations please let me know. Many times a business or corporation where a person works will give special consideration to a grant proposal because of an employee's family involvement. Also many offerings of assistance are never told to the public and are only known by the workers of an establishment. I am willing to write and apply for the needed financial assistance to gain technology, instructional materials and other items but to provide the opportunities that these students need we must be aggressive in seeking out funding sources. With your help we can form a team that allows us to make great strides this school year for this class of students! I believe people run marathons every day of their lives in one way or another, and we need to remember to give ourselves the finishers' medals we deserve." Zoe Koplowitz,author and marathon competitor

Grants make opportunities possible!

Doing more of what doesn't work won't make it work any better. -Charles Givens

Doing more of the same thing and expecting different results has been given as a definition for insanity! If we are going to provide more than hollow words for the children and adolescents of today then we must attempt to think of different ways and try different methods to allow the opportunities to be present for every child to have the best chance possible to reach their full potential.

One way that many are scared away from is looking for Grants and other financial resources to make opportunities possible. One of the top sites that most foundations and corporate funding sources will recommend is the Foundation Center at:

http://foundationcenter.org.

Some of the current items listed at the Foundation Center are:

1) Target Foundation Accepting Grant Applications for Minneapolis

2) Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation Seeks Research Proposals Targeting Fronto-Temporal Dementia

3) Retirement Research Foundation Accepting Grant Applications for General Program

4) Do Something Offering Weekly Grants for Young Social Entrepreneurs

5) National Gardening Association Invites Entries for the Youth Garden Grants Program 6) Open Society Institute Seeks Letters of Inquiry for Sentencing & Incarceration Alternatives

7) Brown Rudnick Charitable Foundation Unveils New Grant Program Designed to Help Inner-City Educators

8) Entries Sought for MetLife Foundation Community College Excellence Award

9) Greening Initiative Grants Program to Fund Programs in Maryland's Urban Communities

10) Sidney Hillman Foundation Journalism Awards to Honor Social Justice Work

11) American Lung Association and National Sleep Foundation Launch Fellowship Award

12) American Health Assistance Foundation Invites Letters of Intent for Macular Degeneration Research

13) American Management Association and Leader to Leader Institute Announce New Scholarship Program for Nonprofit Leaders

14) Entries Invited for Peter F. Drucker Award for Nonprofit Innovation

15) Public Welfare Foundation Announces Special Initiative on Paid Sick Days

You are encouraged to go to the site and see all of the resources available so that anyone can successfully find the financial resources to assist with providing any type of opportunity in the community, the church, the school, tutoring, after school programs, sports, etc. Most of these grants require effort but not the massive amount of time and paperwork that a Federal Grant would require. Before you dismiss the thought give it a try... What could you do or what would you do if there were no barriers? If money is one of the barriers that keep you from some of your ideas find an answer here at this web site and cross one more excuse off for any inaction on your part!

Let me know what has been your results with pursuing grants and any other resources for funding that you have used!

If you don't know where you are going, you will probably end up somewhere else.

-Laurence J. Peter