Some random thoughts as I begin a three day weekend...

I want to see The Day After Tomorrowfor myself, just for the entertainment value.

I read the a couple of reviews of the new Fox movie today, and both Roger Ebert and USA Today critic Mike Clark panned it severely except for it's special effects. And the film has sparked a political debate over the question of global warming and the government's enviromental policy.

Everybody...step back and...take a deep breath. IT'S ONLY A MOVIE! It is not meant to be a diatribe on major issues of the day, only a two-plus hour bit of entertainment. Certainly, we have serious concerns about the enviroment. This administration has failed miserably in the area of protecting our resources. But let's keep those discussions where they belong...in the political and policy arenas. The Day After Tomorrow should be looked at simply for what it is...a fictional dramatic work of entertainment value only in the eyes of the viewer.

And it has not been a grand year for the Polk County School District. It has seen several school administrators either fired or investigated for putting their hands where they didn't belong...either in the school or organizational tills or under student's clothes. Just this week, the dean of discipline at the school district's alternative school for students with discipline problems was arrested and charged with having a sexual relationship with a girl that began when she was 11. And an investigation against a high school band director has been closed by the Sheriff's Office as the alleged victim has dropped the case, according to the Lakeland Ledger. The school district and the state department of education's Office of Professional Practices Services will continue it's own investigations.

It also seems that now Superintendent Jim Thornhill's term is about to end, he is busy letting principals know their contracts are not being renewed. And on top of it all, the five schools in Lake Wales have formed their own charter school district, the first attempt to do so in Florida since the idea of charter schools was established. The very idea circumvents the law mandating one school district for each county statewide, thus spreading the tax base as equally as possible countywide and making equal school resources available throughout a county instead of centered in one city or area.

With a new superintendent set to take over soon, she's got a lot of work ahead.