the_rck | (no subject)

I've somehow lost a few days in terms of checking things off of my to-do list. I have no idea where the time has gone (I can't blame snow days this time). I think I just kind of got overwhelmed again. I have a couple of things I need to do and a couple of things that I want to do, all of which will take a good bit of mental oomph, and I can't seem to pick one and do it.

Possibly it's just having had to deal with Cordelia's concert last week. I tend to underestimate how much an event like that has taken out of me until after I'm past the recovery period.

Cordelia has another choir concert Saturday evening, so the beginning of next week may be shot, too, depending on how I cope.

I had three Ingress portal candidates approved in the last few days and four rejected. I'm not sure why two of those were rejected since they were part of the same nature trail as one of the ones that got approved and had the same sort of signage. I'm very puzzled at the idea of approving one and not the others. They were a decent distance apart, so it wasn't that.

The local high schools are doing standardized tests this week. Cordelia will be taking the PSAT tomorrow. She's a bit cranky about it because the scheduling isn't much fun. They aren't allowed water bottles, and the test is 4-5 hours (I'd have to look it up to see exactly). She'll be crankier next year, though, as the juniors have two days of testing rather than the one day that the freshmen and sophomores have.

Note: I haven't read anything here since some time on Sunday. I probably won't go back that far, so I'll have missed some things.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

The PSAT is 2 hours and 45 minutes, so not quite that bad.

The schedule the school sent us has testing run from 7:45 to 11:40 with two 5 minute breaks. The breaks will be in-room and not include access to food, water, or bathrooms.

They'll then wedge in lunch and 5 classes between 11:45 and 2:35. The 9th and 12th graders who rely on the school buses get to spend the time between arriving at school and 11:40 sitting on the floor in the gym. Kids that can get there on their own can just arrive after the testing period.

They must be including an enormous amount of time to pass out materials and give instructions.

The 9th and 12th graders who rely on the school buses get to spend the time between arriving at school and 11:40 sitting on the floor in the gym.

Why on earth is that?

My impression is that the testing company has Rules about not having people out and about in the vicinity of where the test is being administered. The gym has bathrooms and drinking fountains and doors that can be monitored. The cafeteria area is deliberately designed to be very open and would be impossible to police in the same way.

The district isn't going to run the high school pick up twice in one day, and this school is difficult to get to except by car. The city bus only goes by once every 30 minutes, and the school's on the wrong side of several traffic circle highway exits for safe walking. The school was built about 10 years ago, and I think they couldn't find an affordable site actually in town, so this is the worst school in terms of accessibility without a car. On the other side, the athletic fields are huge, and the school has safe water and air conditioning.