PERISOCOPE – With the advance of technology, The Valley Patriot is now using a cell phone application called Periscope to do live video interviews online. On Election Day, we were able to get out to Lawrence and Methuen to interview the candidates and some of their supporters. As soon as we got LIVE on the […]
By: Amy Berard – November, 2015 1. How often is the SpEd (Special Education) teacher in the inclusion classroom? At an IEP meeting, parents will be notified if their child is in an inclusion class. A class is labeled as an inclusion class when a SpEd teacher is pushing in to provide extra support for […]
By: Jeff Katz – November, 2015 For those of us with children of a certain age, we hear on a fairly regular basis about what is going right and what is going wrong with our schools. Sometimes, the observations are spot on and on some occasions they could not possibly be more wrong. Of course, […]
By: Al Kaprielian – November 2015 With summer over and fall here, we now look ahead to the winter. In this month’s article, I am going to talk about winter storms and how Meteorologists forecast them. Winter storms can bring snow, sleet, and freezing rain. There is a difference between sleet (ice pellets) and freezing […]
By: Dani Langevin – November, 2015 A study conducted by the America Federation of Teachers in 2013 revealed that U.S. students spent as much as thirty days taking practice tests and/or learning test-taking strategies. Considering how much rhetorical energy is spent by politicians and school administrators about time on learning, how is the time dedicated […]
By Christine Morabito – November 2015 “Killer Tomatoes” was a cute name for a really silly horror flick. When the term is applied to genetically modified organisms, things get even more absurd. Ditto, the names, “Frankenfoods” and “Terminator Seeds,” which unfairly depict one of the greatest advancements in agricultural history. Unfortunately, these scary words are effective, […]
As I turned 30 Years old this past August, the Kansas City Royals won their first World Series title in 30 Years as the Greater Boston Sports Collectors Club is having their 30th annual autograph signing in Wilmington from Nov. 06-Nov. 08. As there will be roughly 53 past and present athletes combined […]
ANDOVER- Shortly after delivering remarks at the annual Veteran’s Day ceremony in neighboring North Andover, Andover resident Oscar Camargo will announce his candidacy for the 18th Essex’s State Representative seat. Camargo, a 15-year US Army veteran, will express his intentions to prospective voters on November 11th at 2:30PM in front of Andover’s Old Town Hall. Running […]
By: Peter Larocque – Oct. 2015 I have been pondering and considering the many issues that have made headlines that as a Christian I find myself at times at odds with. My purpose here in this column is not to pass judgment on anyone but to offer as a Christian a different approach to handling […]
By: Cheryl Hajjar – Oct. 2015 Healing after a divorce is a long process and never easy but it begins with you. Children can emotionally heal from a divorce if you can stabilize yourself first. One of the worst things you can do is let your children see your pure emotions as you recover from […]
By: Ana Debernardo – Oct., 2015 On my first day of high school, I remember imagining graduation day and realizing it would be eons before a then new, freshman inmate would become a liberated senior who had paid her dues. I now sit writing this article in my senior bioethics class with all of my […]
By: Al Kaprielian – Oct. 2015 Our warm weather of September is now just a memory. Boston saw its first heat wave in September since 1983. A heat wave is defined as three or more consecutive days when the temperature reaches 90 degrees or higher. An upper level ridge of HIGH PRESSURE was responsible for […]
By: Jeff Katz – Oct. 2015 “It is clear Ahmed’s teachers failed him” said White House Press Secretary Josh Ernest when he was questioned about a fourteen year old student in Irving, Texas. No, Mister Spokesflack the failure here came on the part of those who thought the real story would never be revealed. There’s […]
By: Joe D’Amore – Oct. 2105 If cities and towns define extreme poverty and homelessness as a public-health issue, the public-policy responses will be quite different than what we are used to today. Consider that in all cases a homeless person, or someone who lives in extreme poverty, is marginal in most, if not all, […]
By: Rep. Linda Dean Campbell October, 2015 The Baker Administration has placed our DCF under new executive leadership that is deeply committed to effecting very necessary improvements in our State’s child protection systems. As a member of the House Committee on Ways and Means, I can tell you that the Legislature is highly supportive […]