Archive - 2008

CRISTINA TRAPANI-SCOTT
cristina@tecumsehherald.com

Students are busy at the LISD Tech Center, and it’s easier to peek in
and see just how busy in the newly renovated halls of the main
building. Large windows line the hallways giving a direct view into the
rooms, which are anything but traditional. Through one window culinary
students dressed in white chef uniforms are busy mixing and sautéing
while students in the electrical engineering class are working amid
robotic arms and the portable wind turbine. Still more students are
busily working at new computer terminals tearing apart and rebuilding
networks.

LISD Tech Center Principal Ryan Rowe and Lenawee Intermediate School
District Community Relations Coordinator Ann Hinsdale-Knisel have
proudly taken local administrators on the tour of the facility, which
has systematically seen improvements throughout the past few years.
This summer, however, the LISD essentially gutted the main building,
making improvements on the hallways and labs such as the hospitality
careers lab as well as adding an area for biochemistry study. The
renovations not only include state-of-the art equipment for classrooms
but the hallways now have display cases showing the work students are
doing in such Tech Center classes as Graphic Imaging Technology. There
also are monitors imbedded throughout the corridors that display the
work students are doing with the latest digital technology. “Before we
didn’t have a place to demonstrate the work being done by students,”
said Rowe. “Students now aren’t just doing 3D and 2D projects anymore.”
In fact, every video on display in the halls of the Tech Center were
produced by students.

Top Ten Reasons
People Give for NOT Showing up at Riverbend’s Christmas Eve Service…

10.  The “Holy Tribe”
voted me off the island last year!

9.  I already have a MOTHER
to nag me about my life!

8.  My irrelevant rant
quota is already filled by talk radio! 
Thanks!

7.   I am tired of the
Pastor body checking me in the pie line at the pot luck suppers!

6.  It is SOOOOO dull!!!!!

5.  I meet enough weirdos
on “MySpace”!

4.  If I am going to
get hit up for money… I at least want to get my windshield cleaned!

3.  Too many rules… I
never know what to do with my coffee when the music starts!

2.  Did I mention it
is dull and irrelevant?!?

1.  I had to take a “Slow
Old Music” appreciation class at 8am in college and I have never fully
recovered!

The Christmas holiday is fast approaching, and I didn't escape the season without attending the annual elementary holiday program in Britton. The reason I mention it and mean to reflect on it now is that from this point on I will no longer be obligated to attend one, not in its entirety anyway. I may have to snap a photo for the newspaper at one next year, but I won't have to sit through the whole thing. I've reached a milestone. I've watched my youngest in her final elementary holiday music program.

Just as my son was the star of the Nutcracker production last year, my daughter had a part as an elf in this year's production of Elfis, a cute little play about an elf that resembles The King—and even sings like him, only an octave or so higher. 

My daughter made a cute, if not sassy, little elf. She's no stranger to the stage. She was the baby kangaroo in Seussical the Musical a few years back and drew on that experience to put a lot of emotion into her lines. It's true. I have it on video tape.

One nice thing about this year's performance—the last I'll have to be at ever if I didn't mention it before—is that it was surprisingly short. Not that I couldn't watch my kids on stage for hours, it's just that by evening time I'm spent. Add the hustle and bustle of prep for performance and you might as well just throw me under a table. 

I didn't get this information firsthand. I read it in another publication, but I figured I'd share that information with anyone who came across this blog. According to the report, the surgery had been scheduled for a long time, and Walberg was one of 26 other House members who didn't vote on the package.

The Herald staff sends best wishes to Mr. Walberg for a speedy recovery. 

By DEB WUETHRICH

The Tecumseh School Board voted 6-1 to enter into a contract with Foresite Design, Inc. from Berkley for professional design and construction management services for a new athletic complex to be located at Tecumseh High School. Foresite president, Bruce Lemons, was present at Monday night’s meeting to show renderings of the proposed facilities and to answer board members’ questions about the project.

Board member Jason Sines voted no on the project, stating that while the presentation was “excellent and knowledgeable,” he maintained his stance that the board was moving in one direction when there were other options that might have been considered.
“This is a two-part contract for professional services and also for construction management of the project,” Bill Wright, Director of Business and Finance, told the board. “By approving this you will be approving up to $140,175 for various services that Bruce will directly or indirectly coordinate.” He said the bidding process for construction work would come later.

Adopted earlier this year, a revised school code now mandates that school districts must seek site plan approval from the Superintendent of Public Instruction before beginning any major construction or remodeling project. The Superintendent of Public Instruction has delegated the site plan review process to the Michigan Department of labor and Economic Growth’s Bureau of Construction Codes. This is one of the areas where Foresite Design will provide expertise. Lemons, formerly from Hudson, is a well-known expert in the field of sports complex design and a founding member of the Synthetic Turf Council, a national organization based in Atlanta, Georgia.