The week ahead: the natives are getting restless.

Some random thoughts for a Sunday night:

Things are starting to pick up a little speed this week. Tomorrow the District's new teachers will begin their three-day orientation process at the Ed Center. Board members will meet them over coffee and such before their program begins. I always think how exciting it must be to begin teaching in Ridgewood. The mood is always so upbeat and positive. Great way to start my week! (I can't remember how many new teachers will be starting tomorrow...I'll report back with that info later.)

Work on the athletic fields will get back underway tomorrow and I'll be interested to see how the under-construction fields look after today's ridiculous amount of rain. I drove by late tonight and Stevens appeared to be free of standing water. (It was dark, so visibility wasn't great.) The Stadium field was a big lake earlier in the evening, and still had quite a bit of water all around the perimeter by 11 p.m. Of course, we've known all along that there will continue to be flooding at the fields. Flooding is inevitable. What's important -- and what's supposed to be improved -- is the drainage after the floods. So...tomorrow will be interesting.

Also this week, I'll be accompanying my daughter back to New Hampshire to help her move in for her senior year at UNH. Pretty speechless on that one -- cannot believe she is a senior. And she submitted her application for Graduate School today...if she gets accepted into the program, she'll be able to get her Master's in 2012 and begin teaching. She still wants to be a teacher, but the future looks a little scary to students currently in teacher education programs. I just tell her to keep her head down and work hard on becoming the best teacher she can be...the economics and politics and such will work themselves out (I hope) while she's studying. I've also told her to keep an open mind...she may want to start her teaching career somewhere other than New Jersey.

Interesting story in the New York Times today about "redshirting" kindergartners. Redshirting is the practice of starting kids later so that they will be among the older children in their class, throughout their entire K-12 education. I've heard of some super sports-minded parents doing this now and then (honestly, how do you know your son will want to play football 10 years from now?), but apparently now it is becoming much more common with girls and boys. Read the full article here.

Have a great week!