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From the WCPO article linked above: Serve 182 days? That wording makes it sound like a prison sentence. Of course, I imagine some kids would equate it to such...

Obviously it should be quality over quantity. I, too, am a licensed teacher of special education. This is going to be long so I'm spoiler-tagging it. If you're interested in the inside view, expand. Imagine being a teacher. "Those who can, do; those who can't, teach."

I haven't been in secondary school for more than 40 years now. Back then, we had tracking. Using the California Achievement Test, we were grouped prior to high school into academic (college bound), standard (everyone not in the other two groups), and general (those destined for blue collar jobs or vocational training). The classes were different, the requirements to graduate were different, and teachers had great latitude to teach what and how they saw fit. We did fine. Then the PC police showed up and determined ALL the children were above average.....

I'm talking about how students are taught to the test, primarily. I really feel like students are taught "nice to know" information rather than "need to know" information. I high school graduate knows how to diagram a sentence but doesn't learn how to file taxes. They can tell you about the themes of Beowulf but now how to prevent ruining their credit history before the age of 25. College is even worse. WAY too many gen ed classes that have nothing to do with your field of study. Of course, you have to pay for each class so it works well in their favor. For the record, I think the elimination of classes such as art and music is a travesty. Those sorts of disciplines improve skills in reading and math. They enrich society in ways that other things can not. Maybe it's a society thing rather than the responsibility of the schools, but I really feel as though too many people are misplaced in what they are doing. People mistake what they perceive as "easy" for themselves having talent. It's all too often that a person who is a poet should really have been a brick layer - or even worse, a brick layer who should have been a poet. My mom is a second grade teacher. The strategy of her entire school (essentially) is lesson - seat work - lesson - seat work, etc. Simply put, she has an hour to kill for each lesson. When the lesson is done you can't simply go on to the next lesson the same day. It would be an overload. There certainly is a value in reinforcing what is taught through seat work, but I truly believe that if they added hours to the school day it would just be more of this - without the added value. I really believe that teachers should get days off like anybody else. I'm not saying they shouldn't. But let's be frank - when a sub comes into a classroom, more often than not they are given instructions to give an assignment to the class they the students must do on their own. They're often not qualified to teach the lessons. So the students are either left with an assignment that they could have done at home (sacrificing valuable interactive classroom time) or left with more seat work. When I'm talking about review time, I'm talking about relearning what you had learned the previous day/month/or even year. I'm totally in favor of the teachers having a planning period. I just think that, although there is a great deal of value in review, it happens entirely too often. I, more so than most my age, will preach the value of education. I think that teachers are incredibly underpaid and undervalued for what they do. I really just think that adding more classroom time isn't the solution. It's going to be more of the same. They need to worry about the quality of education over the quantity of hours. How can they teach things in a way that opens new doors rather than being regurgitated in an essay. Teachers, more than anyone else, can tell you how things can be improved. They know more than anyone what works and what doesn't. They key to this is investing the time and money into the experience. Use technology to your advantage, talk about current events and how they relate to your history lesson, etc. Teachers are some of the most brilliant showmen I have ever seen and if you just give then the resources to mold their students then they can make a real difference. Slapping another hour on the school day and calling it a job well done is not the answer.

No offense, but that may be the worst statement I have ever read from you. What sort of useless stuff are you speaking of? I mean schools have already gotten rid of shop classes, most schools are getting rid of theater and/or music. Heck, art in most places is enough to just have 1 or 2 classes in your academic career. Not to mention that the state legislature has ruled what has to be done in the classroom. Bell work/seat work may seem useless but its part of the grading scale the state uses. Teachers have subs for a slew of reasons, professional development, sickness, mental health days, etc. Review periods are usually offered by teachers as a courtesy and most times they are offered as an opportunity for a student to clear up any mis-information.

As both a member of this site and a licensed educator, this may be the most interesting topic I have come across on this site in quite some time.

Education starts at birth, period. Parents need to start teaching kids from the moment they escape the womb.

Education is so difficult. There are so many problems and so few agreeable solutions. As we run it today, education is an outdated and outmoded model that makes some pretty heinous and seemingly arbitrary assumptions (for example, that all children of age X should be able to perform similarly to one another, or that education should be mandatory for every child through age 16). Funds are cut as expectations rise. Ridiculous federal programs have lead to a practical witch hunt wherein teachers are blamed, children are medicated for an inability to sit for countless hours (well, duh) and all the while class numbers rise and school days grow longer. We're in a bad spot with it. Not sure where the answer lies, because a lot of separate things would need separately reversed. And given politics, what's best for the children of the United States and our future is unlikely to be enough to instigate that change. I was formally educated to educate formally with a degree and teaching license for K-12 education. I bypassed the classroom entirely and went right into informal ed, and am finding myself much happier; learning more, and maybe teaching more. Odd, that.

I've had Time Warp stuck in my head all day. My daughter was very embarassed at my attempts to sing and dance everytime we heard it yesterday while walking around. I promised myself I wasn't going to turn into "that mom" when my mom used to sing to the muzak at the grocery store when I was a kid, but something went wrong when I got old.

As an educator let me say this. There are no day requirements, it is a min number of hours that is required.

Longer school years do not equate to better test results, especially when most of the time students are studying for those highly flawed standardized tests and are highly unprepared for life beyond high school, particularly those going into college. There are sooooo many students in college today who really, really don't belong there. Also, I hope the addition of a month+ of days is over a period of time and not all at once. You'll have teachers woefully unprepared for the extended time teaching and students struggling to keep their minds engaged for such a large portion of any given calendar year. And for goodness sake, let kids have time to be kids. I feel this thread is in the wrong section. Sure it affects parks, but there are much, much bigger issues with this than how it affects amusement parks.

Had not planned at all to go to Kings Island today, but decided at about 11 am, that I would go for it! Arrived at the park at about 1. The weather forecast didn't lie, this was a spectacular day to visit the park. I renewed my pass for next year, and received my first-ever Fast Lane Pass! After using it for the day, I can't imagine going without one, which I will, because it would be pretty expensive to buy one every visit! I would like to take this opportunity to talk about Banshee. I can't believe how much I like this ride. If you've read my posts in the past years, you know how much I appreciate all of the historical aspects of the park. While I still definitely do, I think I could now spend every visit doing nothing but riding Banshee. I love the queue, the ride, and even the gift shop. I wasn't really all that enthused when this ride was announced and was being built, not sure why, just wasn't. I have to say now that riding Banshee turns me into a 10 year old kid. It has completely renewed my interest in riding roller coasters. Banshee's Fast Lane line was the place to be yesterday. Many of the other rides FL lines were getting fairly long, some of which I chose not to wait in. Banshee's FL line was a virtual walk-on all day long. I rode it 6 times in a row, and total of 8 times for the day. I actually tried Diamondback a couple times yesterday thanks to the FL pass, as I haven't rode it in a few years. I'm sorry, but it just doesn't hold a candle to Banshee, in my humble opinion. Another neat thing yesterday was checking out the doggie event. There was even someone with a dog in the Gold Pass purchasing line. As someone who loves dogs, I thought this looked like a really nice event. If my drive wasn't as long as it is, I would have loved to have taken my dogs. I'm glad I got to go this late in the season so it won't be quite so long until my first 2015 visit! I'll let the pics do the rest of the talking. Enjoy! Arrived!: Have they had this date on here all of this month?? Wish they could go into this much detail for a Christmas themed event: See you in the spring, Kings Island!

Yes, if that happend then my collection of Kings Island maps will be useless.Or worth a lot.

Funny these have all been major discussion points and case studies for the marketing classes I teach. Textbooks don't even write material this perfect.

Jane Street is more or less the main road in the commercial area of Vaughan. As far as I know, it is the only entrance to the park. You have one lane that turns in to the lot itself, which branches out to several lanes to get you to the tolls. You're basically already in the lot when you get to the tolls, which is a difference from the layout of Kings Island's lot. Otherwise, the lot itself is very similar to the one at KI, it runs the length of the park from North to South, with the entrance to the park in the center. There is a pick-up/drop-off area on Jane Street directly across from the park entrance. With the exception of the placement of the parking tolls, the lot is structured very similarly to the Kings Island lot. Rutherford Road is about a block south of the park's actual entrance. So I would assume this means the south side of the lot. If this did actually occur near the intersection of Jane Street and Rutherford Road, then that would place the occurrence well off of the park's property.

An amusing (?) thought: If Terp had to work for one or the other, where would he last longer: working for Dick Kinzel or for Ed Hart? The mind boggles.

I beg to differ. The problem is NOT the PR people, but rather the client. Mr. Hart, being the part showman/part tycoon-tyrant that he is, is getting the EXACT PR he wants. Note many of the missteps and zany statements have been his, or those of his crony/pal/co-investor attorney friend Glasscock. If the PR people were not doing exactly what Mr. Hart expects and demands, he'd dismiss them in a heartbeat. They are doing an excellent job of doing exactly what he wants. With Mr. Hart, if you are not a sniveling, bowing, yes-person toady, you won't last long.

^^ The weirdest part is that PR can be done right pretty simply. That's not to say people in PR don't work hard and can't make a HUGE difference because they can and do. But having normal, average, fine PR is not nearly as hard as Kentucky Kingdom is making it. They're creating mountains out of molehills so to speak. No comment is an acceptable answer in some situations where Kentucky Kingdom has, inexplicably, insisted on commenting. See that early close where they apologized for closing due to weather, publicly stating on their Facebook page that they should've stayed open but there had been miscommunications and fumbles among managers. "Whoops!" Come back next time! they said. It won't happen again! Where a comment has been necessitated, Kentucky Kingdom has given two or three as they go through various levels of rewriting and reposting, all in the public eye! Speedos and security guards, breastfeeding, ADA compliance, Drop Towers, untrained employees, miscommunications among management, "Whoops!," water park rafts, September closure, failing to meet expected attendance, $5 admission (kind of), "no comment, but..." On and on. Each of those topics and Kentucky Kingdom's "response" could fuel a week of discussion in an introductory PR class. And that's to say nothing of the political and tax discussions leading up to the park's financing and continuing to this day and on to next fall.

http://www.wcpo.com/news/education/kearney-ohio-school-year-bill-ohio-senators-proposed-legislation-could-add-38-days-to-school-year What would this mean for seasonal places that rely on high school workers for three months out of the year, and to these same destinations that would see their peak season drastically reduced.

I have been to Kings Island many times before, but sadly my friend hasnt, but for the past month him and I have saved enough money to buy him an admission ticket. So I was wondering if it was cheaper to buy food in the park or to go to the store and buy food for the park. We want to do this so we wont have to leave the park. Since my friend hasnt been to an amusement park before, I wonder if I should introcduce him to some flat rides first or go extreme and go on something think Diamondback or The Banshee. I am curious what his reactions will be, so this will be good. I cant wait for this weekend!

Six Flags America was virtually empty, I am told.... And just think, if they didn't have a local amusement park, those youths might be out vandalizing cars and stealing. GYK, cross-threading, cross-parking.

And now I want to ride Banshee with no lights from the lighting package on. EDIT: Before I get pointed out for this, I mean at night.

Well, as long as they get their money, I doubt.....oh.....wait.

Serve 182 days? That wording makes it sound like a prison sentence. Because it was.

The portion sizes are way too big, if you ask me, but then again, I no longer have the appetite of a growing teenage boy.

1,210 − 1,001 = 209 / 5.5 = 38 days, assuming that 1) all schools are doing the absolute minimum number of hours per year currently (which, as I demonstrated, is not true), and 2) all schools are doing the minimum number of hours per day of 5.5 (also not true).

My parents are both teachers, and their school district already attends for about an hour per day over the minimum. I think my dad said that it totals to something like 23 extra days, but that might be wrong. My point is here is that in some school districts this proposed change might not be as drastic, in terms of scheduling, as you might think.

honestly, it all depends on what kind of person they are, what kind of forces they can handle. I can't handle anything that rotates a ton, so a simple flat like The Monster is out for me. Your friend may just want to jump into the biggest ride KI has, or the newest, or they may want to ease into things with a quick trip on Adventure Express or The Racer. there are a bunch of ways you can go about it, show some POVs to your friend, show them a park map, explain which rides have long lines, which ones have quick ones, etc.... and let them guide you to the answer.

I see the value in education and all, but let's be honest: if they cut out the useless stuff, seat work, throw away days when the teachers have a sub, and unnecessary review periods the kids would only have to go for about two months per year.

A couple of things.... One this is a band aid approach more than anything. Instead of talking about things that would help more students (parent information and participation for one) this seems to be an "easy" fix that would not work in the long run, at least the way schools are organized now. For example, Germany has 240 school days but they also have tracks in place for students. A certain percentage tests and goes into the college track, the work force track, etc. Imagine at 8th grade being tested and placed in a track for the rest of your school life. Conversely, we have students who we put through the riggers of HS education when they should be learning a trade. Looking at school days only is not the precedent you want to set. Not to mention the school year is based on hours, not days. The proposal looks at an increase of 209 hours for HS kids. Most schools are in session for a little less than 180 days. That means we are looking at either an increase of the school day by a little bit over an hour or a longer school day of less than an hour and the potential to add 1-5 more days. If it does pass, I would guess that it would barely affect the school year and businesses....

I agree Gator, Fantasmic is one of our favorite nighttime shows and Illuminations is just ok, nothing more. And yes December we will still get to see the Frozen Sing Along show.

I've just never liked Fantasmic. It's a good show, sure, but compared to the other shows across the Disney properties, especially other shows across Walt Disney World alone... While I, on the other hand, absolutely love Fantasmic and can't understand all the love that so many people give to Illuminations, which in my opinion is the worst nighttime show at WDW. Different strokes... I wasn't aware that AI had already closed. The Gatorettes will be heartbroken because they thought they would have one more chance to see it when we go down in December, but with how much they love Frozen, that heartbreak won't last too long since that's what replaced it.

I went with a group of friends a few weeks ago, one of whom is super afraid of clowns, even normal happy ones. Everyone in the group except her knew the theme of Carnevil, so we were sceming about it the whole night and managed to distract her until we were inside. Once we got in she freaked out and every clown in there targeted her for obvious reasons. She was screamming hysterically and running around trying to hide the whole way through. We were all laughing so hard we were practically in tears when we came out. Luckily she was a good sport about it and was laughing at her self too after the fact. Best time I had at Haunt by far!

The two Eds--Hart and Glasscock? Both seem to enjoy hearing themselves talk.

my wife last year said "No" to the gold pass. I bought mine in May of this year. cost about $120 bucks. My wife ended up going to KI a few times this summer so we bought her a pass that was the regular pass in June for about 130ish. I think I ended up going to KI about 15 times this year. Got food each time with my food season pass. Each meal ended up costing me about $6 not counting the drink. I even was able to share with my son without getting yelled at (he's 18 months). Not to mention the free Dinosaur's Alive (which to a 1 year old is about the greatest thing on Earth), the random doughnuts and juice celebrations for Gold Passes. This year, KI has made me a season pass holder for a good another couple of years.

Just last weekend, my friend and I were walking past the Reds restaurant. I saw something moving in the bushes. It was completely camouflaged. I knew there would be a scare actor there, but when he popped out I still jumped a mile in the air and screamed. It turns out, it was an eight year old kid who was actually wearing a camouflage jacket just messing around. He got a kick out of my reaction.

Don't forget this! [picture removed] AAAAAHHHHHH!!!! MY EYES!!!

Don't forget this!

Well, it IS the same Ed Hart who runs a park in Louisville who thought putting in another drop ride was an excellent idea....

$5. Good throughout the park. Really shouldn't be in mazes. See: http://www.KICentral.com/forums/index.php/topic/30307-for-this-who-dont-want-to-be-scared/

The way the article reads, it seems like it was simply trying to give a general sense of the parking lot's location within the city. The Sun is the worst newspaper in Toronto, though, so bad writing and ambiguity don't surprise me.

^ Unless, of course, it turns out that the alleged attacker's life was in danger from these people and he or she was acting in self defense. We just don't have all the facts yet. There are so many different scenarios that all seem equally likely. I'm sure local law enforcement will do everything in their power to uncover the facts, but as it is right now, we know almost nothing for sure, and speculation isn't prudent. On a lighter note, I love the word "prudent" and like to find ways to inject it into conversation.

Wild One and Roar are both excellent coasters, I doubt I will ride them again. I have the added excuse of distance.

There's a much different scale there shark, a stolen car stereo vs. a man losing his life. If you're being facetious, my mistake. As far as my take on the situation goes, I don't know how responsible or not responsible the park is at this point. We don't know if this person engaged the attacker or was a bystander or anything. I think that the PR statement was in poor taste and an example of C.Y.A. at an inappropriate time. It's almost like they don't realize the seriousness of this. The details are not out yet. Sometimes it's best not to speculate as you can catch "foot in mouth disease" quite easily. Ultimately, if something happens on your property you have to consider that you may be held at least somewhat responsible.

I really feel like Killmart was retooled since the beginning of The Haunt. It is a lot better and they seemed to have added a lot more scare actors. It is a big improvement from the opening weekends of The Haunt. Now they really need to retool Delta Delta Die for next year or get a new theme that is better in my opinion.

Uh... did he just insinuate that Canada's Wonderland can't control and isn't responsible for controlling what goes on in Canada's Wonderland's parking lot? Isn't the whole point of park security to prevent things that "could happen anywhere" from happening wherever they are? Does Wonderland not patrol their parking lots the way Kings Island does?

This was a hard choice as it's kind of a toss up for me between Slaughterhouse and Madame Fatale's. Both are excellent but I went with Slaughterhouse. The skeleton key room was the best at it so that kind of puts it over the top a bit for me for the win.

I don't know about that. I've heard that World of Color is superior, but I don't think anyone leaves Fantasmic feeling cheated.

I just have a weird vibe about all this. It's almost like they are spouting all of this information and their intentions intentionally knowing that it's bad PR for the park.

You walk in and a roof shingle hits you in the head, you ask for medical bills paid, you find yourself having to pay KK 300k for spreading bad rumors..... Man not sure how this could go any worse. So far we know that 2 people got hurt because they may have been given the wrong raft. One of those people states he just wants medical bills paid. But Ed Hart says he has an unmentioned friend who says they are just trying to make a quick buck. Also he said they weighed too much and should have known better.... Imagine if the Superman Tower incident would have happened on his watch.... We are saying it's not our fault because you kicked your legs out..... When the cable broke at CP who paid those medical bills?