Early Years Expo Looking for Vendors

From Harford County Government:

Vendors Needed for the Early Years Expo
The Harford County Department of Community Services Local Management Board, in collaboration with the Early Childhood Roundtable, is seeking vendors for The Early Years Expo, an early childhood resource fair to be held on Saturday, April 9, 2011 from 9:00am to 1:00pm at Abingdon Elementary School, 399 Singer Road in Abingdon.
The Early Years Expo is for local families with children ages birth to five years to learn about a wealth of early childhood related opportunities that exist in Harford County. The Department of Community Services Local Management Board believes in educating families about community resources and making the lineage between valuable services and the families they exist to serve. The better connected that families are to community resources, the more likely children will be provided with the building blocks of early childhood development.
Vendor Registration is due by March 18. Click here for the Vendor Registration Form. Vendors will be given the option of purchasing a table and ad space in the event program (see Vendor Registration Form for details). Event sponsorship opportunities are also available.
For more information, contact 410-638- 3166.

What's the Agenda?

We are proud supporters of Abingdon Elementary PTA here at TAA. The PTA sponsors lots of activities for students and supports teachers and classes throughout the year. Fundraising is more difficult than it has been in previous years because of the struggling economy. But the PTA has our full support because it all goes back to our children's school.
Imagine our surprise yesterday when we received a fundraising packet for a Laps for Learning program from the Greater Edgewood Education Foundation. This had my student's name on it, grade, and looked "official." In fact, it caused quite a bit of confusion from parents who thought it was a PTA fundraiser, as the PTA is going to have its own Laps for Learning in the fall.
There are two problems with this in our opinion. One is that this rather vague organization is asking for money through the school, even though it is not directly affiliated through the school but rather "Edgewood feeder schools."
The bigger issue is that the president of the organization is an on-the-record opponent of the elected school board. Everyone is allowed to have political views, obviously. The problem that we have is that she spoke against this issue identifying herself as the president of the GEEF, not as a mother of an HCPS student, concerned citizen, etc. She used her title in the organization, which, follow us, makes it a lobbying organization. Not to mention that the chairman of the group is Mark Wolkow, who has been working overtime against an elected school board.
So why are our children asked to raise money for a lobbying organization?
I know at some schools PTAs are lobbying organizations, and that the PTA on a national level definitely is. But Abingdon's PTA focuses on the needs of the children/teachers, not a political agenda. Which is why it irks us here at TAA that some of the tight fundraising dollars will be siphoned to this organization.

Odds and Ends

Just got the kids' backpacks filled with their notebooks, tissues, washable markers, etc. We here at TAA are also trying to get organized, but have been unable to coordinate our thoughts in a cohesive manner. So here are some random thoughts/happening from the last week.

**Welcome to new blogger Around Harford County. Thanks also for the link to us at TAA!

**There was an armed robbery last week in the townhouses right across from the Constant Branch Pool last week. That's correct. An armed robbery which closely followed the assault on the woman who was walking her dog the previous week.

**Every time we see Mark Wolkow referred to as having children "who attended Edgewood schools" we want to scream. When did they graduate? Were they at Edgewood Middle School when the math score was a FAILING 39 last year? No. And as far as we are concerned, the Edgewood Community Alliance is part of the problem. If they would get ANGRY that these students are getting an unequal education, maybe someone would notice. Instead they keep up with the rah rah everything is fine.

**Abingdon Elementary School's open house for students is this Friday from 5 to 7 p.m. This gives the students a chance to see their new classrooms before school starts on Monday.

**Just received an e-mail from Zillow saying that home prices in Abingdon dropped 8%in the second quarter of '08 compared to '07. Nationally, home prices decreased 9.9%.

**Thanks to the unknown woman/good samaritan who saved a turtle from certain death on Tollgate Road near Crisfield Drive this a.m. Thanks!

Class Lists Posted

Abingdon Elementary School posted its class lists for 2008-09 yesterday. The bus schedules are also up. It's all on the front door.

Back to School Shopping

Here at TAA we've completed our back to school shopping. Last week the Abingdon Target was devoid of any school supply lists for Abingdon Elementary. Many other schools were there, but not AES. This might have changed since then.
If you didn't get one at the end of last year, you can find it by clicking here.
Don't forget to vote in our back-to-school poll. You've got just a short time left!

And We're Back

We at TAA apologize for taking an unexpected break from the blog. Thanks to our loyal reader(s) who asked what we were doing and asked us to write.
The break resulted from happy occasions (hurrah to a certain Edgewood High School graduate wandering around OC this week) and sad (a small victim of a 5th disease outbreak at Abingdon Elementary -- and yes -- you can have a high fever with it!)
We can't write much today, as TAA's full-time job is preventing it in part because TAA is finding it difficult working with "off-shored" new colleagues with a completely opposite schedule (you know, they're on Indian time).
We do have enough time to give a shout-out to Edgewood graduates and a nice graduation ceremony.
Also, congratulations to all the Harford Ballet Company for excellent performances on Saturday/Sunday, especially Shana O'Brian who choreographed a new piece to "Rhapsody in Blue." Really exciting to watch.
And special praise goes to TAA's own "bluebird" who performed outstandingly while having 5th disease. (She wasn't contagious! Don't worry!)
Don't forget the upcoming meeting at 6 p.m. Thursday at the Ramada Conference Center to discuss the Constant Friendship zoning. We are hoping to attend, but because all of our plans in the last week have changed, we can't make any promises.
There also are some new comments on the Plumtree post. It looks like there are actually at least 3 parcels being discussed. Check it out.