Sunday 6/1 Parade of Circles – another blog with pictures South Buffalo even thought it is a part of Buffalo has it’s own Chamber of Commerce. http://www.southbuffalochamber.org/ Every year they have the Parade of Circles down my street. http://www.southbuffalochamber.org/?q=node/159

Many years ago this guy Olmstead designed some parkways for Buffalo. The biggest part of the design is the circles – called roundabouts by some. These are the stupidest things ever designed. If you are a fan of the moron known as Olmstead please go away. Anyway; this year the kid’s school had a float in the parade. They also had the band for the first time. Jimmy is in the band so he was behind the float. Philip was picked to be on the float. So Lisa walked along as a volunteer with water. I took a bunch of pictures for the school at the beginning and while they were setting up. Then when the parade started I ran (ok fast walk whatever) the mile home.

At this point any one that hates the old boy network way of running the government should either skip to the pictures or remember I’m only reporting what I heard and did not stay to listen to any more of the stupidity. So, I catch up to the part of the parade with the government officials. The mayor and a bunch or city and county reps were there with him. In South Buffalo the old boy network is very strong; you are expected to follow the party line and do what you are told by those in charge. When the officials near one group of old boy voters they started yelling jokes to each other. One official yells back what’s with the pink shirt; the Gay Pride parade is next week. I saw in today’s (6/8) paper that the Gay Pride parade was today. Amazing that the politician while insulting a friend and mocking an entire group of people could have the presence of mind to know his calendar. I would bet that the same politician that disparaged gays last week is in that very parade this week. Back to the parade; it wasn’t that bad but it was short. There was a small carnival at the end but we didn’t go. We bar-bee-qued in the back yard. No pictures of that.

I'm partially back to normal after the first week of work at the new job.  So here is 1 update on what's going on around here.

This week was picture day for the 8th graders.  A special group picture was taken for some reason.  I expect it will be in some kind of memory book or some such nonsense.  Any way after the picture there was an 8th grade social  where the kids got to hang out in the cafeteria.*  It was a half day of school so they didn't have a lot of time there all dressed up.  But they did have time to get pictures.  This is Jimmy and Krystal.  His ex.  I know I never got that close to an ex.& 

Either way it's a nice picture her friend took for her. 

After the social the leaders in training group had an afternoon at Cheesie Charlie's.^  So in 6 weeks or so 8th grade is done for the oldest.

* I almost put breakroom down.  Weird how the name changes when you start working

& Not that I'd want to

^ Family Guy reference

Back in 7th grade Jimmy did a newscast for Engliss class.

This the elementary school I graduated 8th grade from. I was at Corpus Christi from K to 6th. That was 1982 when Christi's closed. The first closing of Buffalo's Catholic schools.

EAST SIDE

St. Stanislaus School to be closed — a victim of declining enrollment

Updated: 02/09/08 7:07 AM

St. Stanislaus School on Wilson Street on Buffalo’s East Side will close in June, Bishop Edward U. Kmiec announced Friday evening.

The school, which has pupils in kindergarten through eighth grade, has seen enrollment drop to 75 pupils, only 11 of them members of the parish. The school had a peak enrollment of 1,400 in 1888.

St. Stanislaus School opened in 1881 and has been staffed by the Felician Sisters for its entire 127- year history.

Parents and faculty were told of the closing at meetings on Friday.

For several years the school has had a marketing effort to increase enrollment, but it was not enough to save it and the recommendation to close was made by Bishop Edward M. Grosz, pastor of St. Stanislaus Parish.

St. Stanislaus School has been operating with a significant budget deficit, supported by a $250,000 annual parish subsidy.

The school has nine full-time teachers and two part-timers plus a principal, vice principal/teacher and administrative assistant. They will be considered for vacancies at other diocesan schools, officials said.

The diocese said it will work with parents to help students transfer to other nearby diocesan schools.

Grosz said negotiations are under way about how the building will be used.

“I am confident that we will soon be able to make an announcement regarding the future operation of the building,” he said. “We are looking at an option that will benefit the local community and will be a positive addition to the neighborhood development that is already under way.”

McHugh Construction has purchased vacant land near the church in the Broadway-Fillmore area and is developing St. Stanislaus Gardens. Initially, 30 affordable homes will be constructed, with long-term plans calling for as many as 200 homes.

Carol Kostyniak, secretary for Catholic education in the diocese, said a task force will be created to study the educational, religious and social services needs of the central city. In addition to diocesan officials, it will include representatives from D’Youville College, the BISON Fund, Catholic Charities, and the Foundation of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Buffalo and the Diocese of Buffalo.

“This is a wonderful opportunity to understand the diverse needs of this community and to move forward in a positive and collaborative effort to provide the necessary services,” she said.

citydesk@buffnews.com

Stuff from November.

It was the bomb.

Well ok it wasn’t a bomb but the school was locked down anyway. HA.

The boy’s school had a bomb threat and went into lock down on a Monday. No bomb was found but they kept the place locked down anyway. The next day the school gets another call. Gain no bomb but police from at least 5 agencies were at the school dragging some kids off the bus in cuffs.

On Monday the police got the phone records and found that the call came from a cell phone. The call was made that morning from inside the school. They got the name of the owner of the phone and did voice analysis on the little girl. They got her story. One of the older boys asked to borrow her phone for a minute Monday morning. On Tuesday they expected the call and waited for them. Turns out it was 3 boys working together on the calls. They were taken away and haven’t been back. There was a small article in the paper but the kids couldn’t be named because of age. Trouble is this is an elementary school and the kids were 15 and in 7^th grade. I could not imagine being 15 in 7^th grade. They would get out of High School at 20. I doubt they will make it that far though.

Jimmy has a band concert at school today so I took the day off.  We found out on Wenesday that next week Friday  is another Christmas show for the younger grades.  Of course it's too late to get the day off.  Philip is in the younger grades.  The school knew about the separate shows but deided to only tell the parents about one untill the last minute.  I can't call in sick nect week because I have vacation time scheduled the following Monday.  If I call in I don't get holiday pay for Christmas.  I gotta hand it to the school for really screwing over parents.  They bitch that parents don't take an interest in what the children do at school, then they make sure working parents don't have enough time to make arrangements to do anything. 

After the show we are going shopping to fill up the fridge before the next storm hits and get ready for Christmas.

Here's a review of the weekend.

Saturday Philip had his Reading Rocks ceremony. The mayor of Buffalo has a summer reading program. You read 7 books and do a quick summary that gets sent to the mayors office. All participants get invited to the ceremony. We thought it would be a quick run in get a certificate and then leave. We get to the convention center, check in and get the certificate. We are told to go upsatirs. Upstairs is 250 tables and over 100 volunteers directing people. You get a free shirt, book (Treasure Island for Philip) pencils, note pad, game, and bookbag. We also get tickets to the Chineese auction and door prize. Philip won a $10 gift card to kaybe toys.

Other prizes were 55 bikes donated by #55 of the Buffalo Bills, 10 $50 bank accounts, 10 Ipods, and a ton of other things. The 1st prize was a $500 multi game set from ESPN. The grand prize was a $1250 college scholarship.

Only 900 kids in the city participated. There are over 40,000 eligible students.

Sunday we went to another open house to help Jimmy pick a high school. The Catholic schools go all out.

This video was shown at the school for one of their clubs. It's also used to promote how much technology the school has.