#walter foley appreciation

[accidental-spice]

Best of Walter Foley, part five: Enoch's Ghost

Four pages into the first chapter, and he's already made a pun

Gosh I love these three

Him stepping in front of Karen to protect her when there's danger

And when he dives to catch her

"A term of endearment?"

*sobbing*

GOSH I love him

I love how worried he is about Ashley, and how hard he tries to show her God's love

He really is just. The Luis from Antman of Dragons In Our Midst, huh?

Walter and Gabriel team-up my beloved

Walter being protective of Karen my beloved

*something about the vibes of how Ashley knows exactly what Walter's plan is because they know each other so well*

*snickers* ahhhhhh, Walter. This is why we love you

The very last scene. Just ALL of it. Makes me cry

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[friendrat]

For anyone who hasn't heard it, here's the entirety of the infamous Walter Foley fish joke!

So one day, a fish flopped up on the seventh green, and he saw four golfers getting ready to putt. He said to one of them, "I'll bet you I can make that putt." So the fish tried to grab the putter, but the golfer snatched him up and hung him from the golf bag, glad to have dinner for the night and a funny story to tell when he got home. After a while, though, the fish started drying out and cried pitifully, "I'm drying! I'm drying!" The golfer felt bad for the fish and tossed him back in the pond. "Why did you let him go?" one of the other golfers asked. The first golfer shrugged his shoulders and replied, "I decided I have bigger fish to dry."

(@kanerallels @accidental-spice @fairytale-lights @taleweaver-ramblings because I know you will appreciate this, and because I don't know if you have heard the whole joke)

[taleweaver-ramblings]

Walter Foley for the character ask game?

Oh, storms yes.

looks: somewhat attractive | eh? | not really my type | pretty | handsome? | beautiful | stud | gorgeous | SWEET LORD MERCY

(Note on this one: I don't really have a good idea from the text of what Walter looks like — if we go off the book cover of Enoch's Ghost, he's more "eh" — not bad-looking, but not someone who makes you look twice. That said, I do picture him as a bit better-looking than that, and it's entirely probable that he ended up pretty handsome by the end of Oracles of Fire.)

can you relate to this character on a personal level?: no | not really | somewhat | yes | they are me

would you date/be friends with this character in real life if they were real?: total bros | friends | best friends | date | become their steady boyfriend/ girlfriend | neither | i don’t kno

Necessary caveat: this answer is taking place in an AU where I'm not breaking up an established ship, specifically not one of my favorite DiOM ships.

Anyway. I would definitely be friends with Walter — we'd get along well, and we have enough in common to bond. (We also would have a mutual appreciation of puns, which I feel like might drive others a little crazy, but y'know. It's fine.) I wanted to put best friends in there, because I do think we could get pretty close, but I'm not fool enough to think that my friendship with him would beat out Billy's friendship with him. On the romantic front — storms yes, as long as ages matched up, I would get together with Walter. And I think that, because of the fact that we'd be starting from a similar frame of how we view the world, some of the hangups I'd have with other characters wouldn't be as much of an issue.

Send me a character to rate (and distract me from how much money I've had to spend on car stuff)!

[pattylittledistance]

Don’t mind me, just doing the lord’s work, spreading joy, you know how it is

[ash96clifford]

A couple more from the Five4Five Fest livestream

[emilyblame]

@ASITISofficial

go wish @iancoulsonmedia a happy birthday because he is the only reason we look good on the internet. thanks for sticking by us for the past 7 years. we love you 🖤

[sunflowerinc]

Open Letter to As It Is

after listening to Denial: Reimagined for the first time, can I just say

how in the ever loving fuck did you make an already perfect album EVEN MORE PERFECT?!?!?!?! the instrumentals sound heavenly and patty’s voice is simply angelic, it nearly brought me to tears. each song is incredibly unique and so frickin beautiful-not to mention extremely calming as well. I felt completely at peace the entire time I was listening, as if I was in a trance. I just closed my eyes and let myself drift away, getting lost in the music with no desire whatsoever to return. this ep is one of my favorite things in the universe now, and I’m honestly not prepared for the ones to follow. my tiny emo heart can’t handle this much beauty, y’all are gonna kill me but I’m 100% okay with it.

[permxnence]

Gonna do a lil cringey post about the boys because they keep me happy! I first discovered Patty’s youtube channel in 2012 and being the lil emo 13year old i was his covers were so great and i fell completely in love with them and he seemed like such a genuine person so from that i subscribed! From becoming a lil Patty follower i found out about As It Is from him and hearing their stuff from two track leading up to blenheim place they stood out to me and holy shit they’ve taken over my life ever since! I’m hoping to make this year the 20th time seeing them live because i’m so close!! I have so much love for them, their music still makes me happy and i get the same excitment and joy from seeing them live now from when i first saw them live in 2014! If my love for them hasn’t died in 5years of knowing them then i don’t think it ever will and the 6years of knowing about Patty he still seems the most genuine amazing guy and i’m so proud of him, i’m so proud of them all for getting this far and watching As It Is grow it just makes me so happy😌 I just felt the need to do this because when i’m sad i always seem to still play them to give me that happy feeling and i appreciate them for that! So thank you boys💕

[starhour]

I finally got to meet Patty after 4+ long years, as well as Ben, Foley, and Ali!!! ❤❤❤

[magichcuse]

((Assortment of headcanons:

Alroy has never seen The L.ion K.ing in one full sitting. The first time he watched it, the stampede scene made him upset and Johnny had to stop the movie. After that, even when Alroy is older, he skips that part of the movie. Johnny doesn't really like that part either, though he keeps that to himself- he's relieved that he can skip it.

Even though Franklin has been surrounded by magical people for most of his life, raising a magical child was something he couldn't really have prepared for. Luckily, he has plenty of magic users in his life to get advice from, but there are things he knows he probably won't understand about Breanna and her school life. The prestige and bloodlines thing is especially out of his area of expertise, not even knowing much about his own biological relatives until Breanna begged to let her use a DNA testing kit.

Franklin eventually towers over Johnny, yet he still treats Johnny like he did when he was younger (very timid and respectful, calls him Mr. Foley, etc.). Johnny finds this amusing yet a little concerning- he wants to be seen on equal grounds as Franklin, being unconcerned with formalities.

Even though Johnny is fairly good at singing, lullabies made him feel nervous because he didn't really know any good ones. He usually made them up on the fly, sometimes singing about nothing and being thankful his kids aren't old enough to realize how bad the lullabies were from a lyrical perspective. Luckily, he learns some decent ones by the time his kids become more aware of the world around them so he isn’t singing about blenders and ceiling fans anymore.

Breanna ADORED Conall as a lil duckling-gosling. She'd follow "Puppy" around and even curled up against him to use him as a pillow/stuffed animal of sorts. When she's older, she still likes being in his company to a lesser extent. On bad days, she'd spend a good moment just petting him and sometimes venting to him until her mom needed him for something.

Nettie is almost a completely different person when she's around Hal. She's not abrasive towards him and feels more comfortable around him. His awkwardness ironically makes her feel less awkward.

On the other side of things, Hal is very comfortable around Nettie and tries to be a good role model for her. He loves getting to be an older brother figure to her and supports her engineering endeavors (and feels grateful that she's willing to take a break whenever he wants to spend time with her).

Marion and Hal bond over their awkwardness. They never get too close, but they feel comfortable around each other at least.

Emil, despite being preoccupied with school and work at the time, remembers more about Jewel when she was younger than Azula does. He has the age advantage, being eleven by the time she was hatched while Azula was eight. Still, Azula was too focused on herself to really get to know Jewel outside of begrudgingly spending time with her while her mom and brother were away. Emil put in more effort to learn about his youngest sister and took the opportunity to spend quality time with her whenever he had the time (not to mention, he took on a parental role for her and allowed her to wake him up whenever she needed him even if it inconvenienced him). While Azula can only give general information and sprinkle in a "you were kind of annoying", Emil knows plenty of stories about Jewel's younger years (even when she was just an egg) and can talk about all of the phases she had. Jewel isn't sure whether she appreciates this or feels embarrassed about it. He's the same way about Azula to a lesser extent, which Azula is a little less grateful about. Emil is pretty much a family encyclopedia- too bad he lets everyone else talk over him and doesn't chime into conversations until Jasper urges him to because he "doesn't have anything interesting to say".

Emil built dollhouses for his sisters sometimes. Jewel is lucky enough to grow up when Emil is capable of building more elaborate, better built dollhouses while Azula outgrew dolls by the time he was at that skill level and envies Jewel despite her mother buying her some pretty nice dollhouses.

Jewel sometimes used/uses Emil's old clothes as pajamas/lounge outfits. He sometimes pokes fun at it when he gets to see Jewel wearing his old clothes, which she's a good sport about.

Walter receives pretty much every momento/photograph his parents had of him when they leave because they don't want any trace of him in their lives. It's mostly just stuff from his early childhood and some of it he can't even look at because of the clown phase he had (his parents traumatized him out of this phase and he's still terrified of them). It feels bittersweet to look through it, especially without his parents there to reminisce with him (not like they would have done it anyway). Patrick likes looking through the momentos/pictures with Walter though and he even tries to guess/make up stories to go along with them, which makes Walter laugh.

Walter kind of gets into photography without realizing it. He starts out with his siblings, Evelynn, Dedrick, and occasionally himself. Then he takes pictures of things he finds interesting (lots of dogs, some nice landscapes, a few mythical creatures here and there, etc.) Eventually, he starts taking pictures just whenever he wants to capture a moment- mainly cute moments with/amongst the Daskalakis clan. He doesn't consider himself a photographer by any means, but enjoys photography nonetheless and tries to share these photos with Theo to try to get his approval. Walter doesn't know this, but his spur of the moment pictures have more in common with Theo's than he thinks and they're pretty good in their own right. He believes that Theo thinks his pictures look like utter garbage and he feels inferior to him, but shares the pictures anyway because he's holding out hope for even the smallest scrap of approval. Just a vague semblance of a smile is all it'd take for Walter to feel like he won.))

[accidental-spice]

Best of Walter Foley, part two: The Candlestone

Walter continues to pretend not to know about Bonnie or Billy's secrets (without once lying to ANYONE) out of respect to their privacy

That said

He is Not Subtle, but also kinda stealthily telling Bonnie that he thinks her wings are awesome

Him being a supportive best friend

His Arlo Hatfield impression

*hears Bonnie crying* *goes and gets Billy so they can check on her* *also doesn't invade her privacy*

His spot on ability to bail out of a conversation whenever there's something they need to talk about that they can't tell him yet

THE SICK DUCK JOKE

Walter's all, CALLED IT

Have I mentioned I love how supportive of his friends Walter is? Cheering Billy on, encouraging him to show them his fire breathing, celebrating when he pulls out Excalibur... the list goes on

His love for food

Like, same, Walter. Food is awesome

*gets STABBED while trying to help Billy*

*literally chases down a car and almost gets hit trying to save Billy*

I love this part SO MUCH 🤣🤣🤣

That part where he asks Karen if she wants to get away from Dr. Conner gives me FEELS

*smashes a glass enclosure with a sword*

I love how, when Ashley tells them her mom was a dragon, Walter's immediately all, Cool, now I'm friends with three dragons! He INSTANTLY claims Ashley as a friend, and I love it

*makes puns about getting rid of Devin*

He tries to take a full tray of food instead of a plate. This kid is my LITERAL favorite

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[simonconsultancypage]

Automotive Industry Forum Preview: As the Auto Industry Transforms, It Grapples with Issues of Cybersecurity, IP & Connectivity

By guest author Gregg Wirth of the Legal Executive Institute.

The American automotive industry in no longer making your father’s Oldsmobile — not by a long shot.

Today, pushed by evolving consumer behaviors, transformative technologies, and global market pressures, the automobile industry has entered a new industrial revolution where ingenuity and opportunity coalesce, and the tools of the trade include adaptive cruise control, autonomous vehicles, and nanocellulose and cellular V2X technologies.

On October 4, the Thomson Reuters Legal Executive Institute will present a summit — Concordant Crossroads: Regulation and Innovation in the Automotive Industry — on the influential forces shaping commerce and compliance across all corridors of one of the world’s fastest growing business sectors. The afternoon event will be held at Thomson Reuters’ New York offices at 3 Times Square.

Steve Hilfinger, a partner with Foley & Lardner and co-chair of the event, said the growing interest in what’s happening with automotive and other mobility technology has attracted the attention of many industry players, software companies, connectivity developers, and other groups.

Hilfinger will moderate a panel at the event to discuss evolving trends in the industry, with fellow Foley partners Pavan Agarwal and Christopher Swift; Kimberly Y. Chainey, associate general counsel in Global M&A, Strategy and Innovation at Avis Budget Group; and Ellen Clark, managing director at Greenwich Capital Group.

The panel will examine several industry trends, such as the global M&A environment and industry-wide joint ventures, as legacy and nascent players jockey for position in the automotive industry of the future, while at the same time, Hilfinger stresses, striving for profitability, sustainability and growth in today’s market while bracing for the next down cycle.

“All these players have sort of common goals right now,” Hilfinger says. “They want to acquire technology, they want to acquire talent, and they want to be part of the group that sets the industry standards that will be commercially adopted.” They fear, he adds, being on the wrong side of history or technology.

That means, he explains, these parties are going to look at ways to share costs and develop talent because there’s a major cost element to developing the kind of technology that the automotive industry is going to need going forward, leading to different models to share costs and utilize talent.

“In some cases, it’s straight M&A transactions, or you’re seeing a lot more companies deploying corporate venture capital, either through their own departments or with separate funds, to invest in this new technology,” Hilfinger explains, adding that you’re even seeing joint-development activity and collaborations across industries and among players at different tiers of the automotive supply chain. “Having [original equipment manufacturers] OEMs and suppliers involved together is definitely different than the traditional supply-chain contracting structure that historically has permeated the automotive space.”

Concurrent with the avid interest and rapid technological development in the automotive industry, especially around the development of autonomous vehicles, concern has grown around issues of security, data protection, and IP, as well as government regulation and compliance with what could potentially be fleets of driverless cars and trucks on our roads in the not-too-distant future.

Two other panels at the event will deal deftly with these issues. In the first, event co-chair Neal Walters, a partner and practice leader in the Product Liability & Mass Tort Group at Ballard Spahr, will lead a panel looking into the legal issues surrounding autonomous vehicles, including regulatory scrutiny, liability considerations, and class action litigation concerns. Panelists include Thomas Branigan, managing partner at Bowman and Brook; Bryan Casey, CodeX fellow at the Stanford Law School; Nandi Chhabra, legal counsel and market development manager at Peloton Technology; and Christopher H. Grigorian, partner at Foley & Lardner.

In the following panel, Philip N. Yannella, partner and co-practice leader in the Privacy & Data Security Group, and practice leader in the E-Discovery & Data Management Group at Ballard Spahr, will lead a panel discussion of the cybersecurity and data privacy issues inherent in tomorrow’s hyper-connected cars. Yannella, also event co-chair, is joined by panelists Ryan Bowers, counsel in Global Privacy & Cybersecurity with General Motors; Jennifer A. Dukarski, shareholder at Butzel Long; James Mostofi, global head of business development at American International Group; and Michael Shapland, senior counsel in Transactions & Compliance at Nissan Group of North America.

Taken as a whole, Hilfinger says the event goes far to address the essential three liability and regulatory questions that really need to be explored — cybersecurity and data privacy, IP and compliance issues, and industry collaborations.

Hilfinger says that while many practitioners have a working understanding of these issues, this event will allow for a deep drill-down on these topics. “Event attendees should walk away with a little more appreciation and a little more depth of understanding of these critical issues,” he says, adding that this will be especially important if attendees have clients that are either in this space or maybe impacted by these issues.

“Attendees will be able to make more connections and take away ideas about how these issues might impact their own client’s product development strategies or how all this fits into their client’s business plan,” he says. “Hopefully, it’ll help them be better counselors to either their own company if they’re in-house or with their own clients if they’re outside.”

Automotive Industry Forum Preview: As the Auto Industry Transforms, It Grapples with Issues of Cybersecurity, IP & Connectivity published first on http://simonconsultancypage.tumblr.com/

[migrately]

Automotive Industry Forum Preview: As the Auto Industry Transforms, It Grapples with Issues of Cybersecurity, IP & Connectivity

By guest author Gregg Wirth of the Legal Executive Institute.

The American automotive industry in no longer making your father’s Oldsmobile — not by a long shot.

Today, pushed by evolving consumer behaviors, transformative technologies, and global market pressures, the automobile industry has entered a new industrial revolution where ingenuity and opportunity coalesce, and the tools of the trade include adaptive cruise control, autonomous vehicles, and nanocellulose and cellular V2X technologies.

On October 4, the Thomson Reuters Legal Executive Institute will present a summit — Concordant Crossroads: Regulation and Innovation in the Automotive Industry — on the influential forces shaping commerce and compliance across all corridors of one of the world’s fastest growing business sectors. The afternoon event will be held at Thomson Reuters’ New York offices at 3 Times Square.

Steve Hilfinger, a partner with Foley & Lardner and co-chair of the event, said the growing interest in what’s happening with automotive and other mobility technology has attracted the attention of many industry players, software companies, connectivity developers, and other groups.

Hilfinger will moderate a panel at the event to discuss evolving trends in the industry, with fellow Foley partners Pavan Agarwal and Christopher Swift; Kimberly Y. Chainey, associate general counsel in Global M&A, Strategy and Innovation at Avis Budget Group; and Ellen Clark, managing director at Greenwich Capital Group.

The panel will examine several industry trends, such as the global M&A environment and industry-wide joint ventures, as legacy and nascent players jockey for position in the automotive industry of the future, while at the same time, Hilfinger stresses, striving for profitability, sustainability and growth in today’s market while bracing for the next down cycle.

“All these players have sort of common goals right now,” Hilfinger says. “They want to acquire technology, they want to acquire talent, and they want to be part of the group that sets the industry standards that will be commercially adopted.” They fear, he adds, being on the wrong side of history or technology.

That means, he explains, these parties are going to look at ways to share costs and develop talent because there’s a major cost element to developing the kind of technology that the automotive industry is going to need going forward, leading to different models to share costs and utilize talent.

“In some cases, it’s straight M&A transactions, or you’re seeing a lot more companies deploying corporate venture capital, either through their own departments or with separate funds, to invest in this new technology,” Hilfinger explains, adding that you’re even seeing joint-development activity and collaborations across industries and among players at different tiers of the automotive supply chain. “Having [original equipment manufacturers] OEMs and suppliers involved together is definitely different than the traditional supply-chain contracting structure that historically has permeated the automotive space.”

Concurrent with the avid interest and rapid technological development in the automotive industry, especially around the development of autonomous vehicles, concern has grown around issues of security, data protection, and IP, as well as government regulation and compliance with what could potentially be fleets of driverless cars and trucks on our roads in the not-too-distant future.

Two other panels at the event will deal deftly with these issues. In the first, event co-chair Neal Walters, a partner and practice leader in the Product Liability & Mass Tort Group at Ballard Spahr, will lead a panel looking into the legal issues surrounding autonomous vehicles, including regulatory scrutiny, liability considerations, and class action litigation concerns. Panelists include Thomas Branigan, managing partner at Bowman and Brook; Bryan Casey, CodeX fellow at the Stanford Law School; Nandi Chhabra, legal counsel and market development manager at Peloton Technology; and Christopher H. Grigorian, partner at Foley & Lardner.

In the following panel, Philip N. Yannella, partner and co-practice leader in the Privacy & Data Security Group, and practice leader in the E-Discovery & Data Management Group at Ballard Spahr, will lead a panel discussion of the cybersecurity and data privacy issues inherent in tomorrow’s hyper-connected cars. Yannella, also event co-chair, is joined by panelists Ryan Bowers, counsel in Global Privacy & Cybersecurity with General Motors; Jennifer A. Dukarski, shareholder at Butzel Long; James Mostofi, global head of business development at American International Group; and Michael Shapland, senior counsel in Transactions & Compliance at Nissan Group of North America.

Taken as a whole, Hilfinger says the event goes far to address the essential three liability and regulatory questions that really need to be explored — cybersecurity and data privacy, IP and compliance issues, and industry collaborations.

Hilfinger says that while many practitioners have a working understanding of these issues, this event will allow for a deep drill-down on these topics. “Event attendees should walk away with a little more appreciation and a little more depth of understanding of these critical issues,” he says, adding that this will be especially important if attendees have clients that are either in this space or maybe impacted by these issues.

“Attendees will be able to make more connections and take away ideas about how these issues might impact their own client’s product development strategies or how all this fits into their client’s business plan,” he says. “Hopefully, it’ll help them be better counselors to either their own company if they’re in-house or with their own clients if they’re outside.”

Automotive Industry Forum Preview: As the Auto Industry Transforms, It Grapples with Issues of Cybersecurity, IP & Connectivity published first on https://medium.com/@888MigrationServices

[area2newsviews]

A QUEST FOR EXCELLENCE

1ST QUARTER 2017 PROGRESS REPORT

The first quarter of 2017 has been particularly eventful in our school district, let alone in our country. One of the more challenging themes that has surfaced is concern: about new immigration policies, the potential policy direction of the new Secretary of Education, state funding projections and the well being of our families.

What follows are several highlights from the past quarter, as well as some looks ahead at our next challenges and opportunities:

On February 9, 2017, SJUSD passed RESOLUTION NUMBER 2017-02-09-01 reaffirming support for families who are concerned about the threat of deportation. The resolution states that: 

The district will not collect information regarding students' and families immigration status when the District or any of the District's school sites receives a request for information that implicates individual privacy rights (including with respect to immigration status and religion) 

The District will not release information regarding immigration status or related matters contained in pupil records to federal agencies or other authorities enforcing immigration laws without the permission of the student's parent or guardian or pursuant to a judicial warrant, subpoena, court order, or as otherwise required by law. 

Any request for access to a school site from ICE and/or CBP be immediately forwarded to the Superintendent for review. 

The District will designate a contact person at each school site for any student seeking information, help, or support regarding students' and families' immigration status. 

The District will ensure that all child welfare and attendance counselors, all student support counselors, and the crisis support team is prepared and available to support students seeking information, help, or support regarding students' and families' immigration status. 

The District will work closely with other local government agencies and community groups on immigration issues to ensure that all students and families, including those that are undocumented, have access to accurate information and support.

A District Town Hall Meeting held on Feb 13 at Gunderson High School attracted more than 200 parents, students and community stakeholders to offer input on the district's 2017-18 LCAP. Several topics including improvement in special education services; attention to gifted/advanced students; homework amounts; desire for turf fields at middle schools and upgraded aquatics at Leland & Gunderson; teacher and principal evaluation process; and a better understanding of bond, parcel tax expenditures were covered. I was impressed with the quality of the questions and the seriousness of purpose of those who attended the meeting. Staff stayed long after the formal program ended, answering individual questions. These issues along with others will be considered in moving forward with the 2017 LCAP and the next iteration of the strategic plan.

Last month's flood impacted a number of district families and resulted in some damage at Olinder Elementary School. The flood occurred during the February break and custodians and maintenance workers from throughout the district descended on Olinder and worked around the clock to ensure that school was able to reopen on the first day following the break. I am so appreciative of our dedicated, skilled employees who made the seemingly impossible happen! 

San Jose Unified and San Jose-Evergreen Community College District have entered into a College and Career Access Pathways Partnership Agreement (CCAP Agreement) to offer and/or expand dual enrollment opportunities for SJUSD students. Each year, the colleges will work with SJUSD high schools to identify the college courses that will be offered at high school sites during the school day. The total cost of books and instructional materials for these courses will be borne by SJUSD.

Measure Y passed . . . so now what? The purpose of Measure Y was to secure funds to use for the specific purpose of attracting and retaining high performing teachers and school site staff members. Here is a recap of the details and next steps:

Measure y passed with 67.12% of the vote

At $72 per parcel, the district should receive $5 million annually for 8 years

Senior citizens and those with disabilities may file for exemptions from the tax (process to be finalized during the summer)

An independent citizen's oversight committee will be established in the Fall of 2017 to ensure annual accountability for the money received through the tax 

SJUSD will file with the county controller for assessment of the funds July, 2017. 

The first funds will be apportioned to the district in January of 2018. 

Finally, in my continued commitment to engagement and transparency, what follows is my assessment of the developments in the 5 areas that defined my "Quest for Excellence" in my 2014 campaign for this office.

PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT

More than 200 volunteers from Kaiser Permanente descended on  Walter L. Bachrodt Elementary School on Martin Luther King, Jr's birthday to paint, clean and enhance the campus. Among the day's projects was the makeover of the staff lounge - new furniture, a sofa and other amenities assembled and set up for teachers to enjoy a comfortable respite and work space during and after school.

Lincoln High School's Future Visions Mentor Program received Project Cornerstone's Caring Community Award.

SJUSD was the proud host of Mayor Sam Liccardo's second State of the City address. Board President Pam Foley, Gunderson High School Principal Kelli Knapp and Gunderson ASB (associated student body) President Arya Kamal took the opportunity to speak about some of the exciting work being done in our school district.

I spoke at the SHPNA neighborhood association annual meeting to share updates about the school district. I would be glad to do this for other neighborhood associations - JUST ASK!

SCHOOL LINKED SERVICES

Post-Election Resources for Immigrant Families

Preparing for Immigration Enforcement

SJUSD Immigration Resources

Flood Resources

San Jose City and partners resource guide

CHARTER AND NEIGHBORHOOD SCHOOL COLLABORATION

Groups continue to reach out to us with plans to start new schools within the SJUSD boundaries. We received a petition for a new middle school at our most recent board meeting. If approved, it will be the 3rd charter middle school in the district (in addition to DCP and ACE). District enrollment is currently declining in our downtown schools, primarily as a result of the cost of housing. Families that are dis-enrolling their students often request that students' records be transferred to schools in Tracey, Truckee and other cities more than 60 miles from San Jose. All neighborhood and charter middle schools in SJUSD are currently under-enrolled and this trend is expected to continue, at least for the next couple of years. Some challenging times lie ahead and I encourage community members to come to board meetings and share your experiences and thoughts on this and other topics!

STUDENT SAFETY

The physical and emotional safety of all of our students, as well as all of the adults, on our campuses is of paramount importance. Particularly in light of the current political climate, we need to be particularly vigilant in guarding against speech or action that could be described as motivated by prejudice, bias or discrimination against any group of people. I encourage staff members, parents and students to speak up if they feel unsafe or targeted for any reason. Almost all of us are feeling vulnerable and need to have one another's backs.

Check out SJUSDs dedicated Immigration Services page

See here for important Teen Dating Violence resources

Kids of all ages are swiping and scrolling, totally transfixed by screens of all sizes. Welcome to the new frontier of parenting. If you have questions on how to take control of, or at least keep up with, the technology in your kids' lives, check out Common Sense Media.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Our teachers and school site administrators and personnel often are called on to do so much more than the jobs for which they are trained. Recently, some school districts have passed resolutions recommending that all school site personnel become trained in immigration policy and become advisors on how to address encounters with Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. Our district opted instead to identify a single point person on each campus who would be responsible for obtaining updated information and providing resources for parents and students that request it. This policy means that we don't expend time and resources (1) updating thousands of employees on law and policy that seem to be frequently changing, (2) risk that a well meaning employee may inadvertently disseminate inaccurate or out of date information, or (3) take valuable classroom minutes from teachers and students who want to focus on classroom learning and social-emotional support.

BEYOND THE BOARDROOM

Many of my personal efforts serve to inform my role as a trustee, build relationships, and think strategically about how best to improve outcomes for all SJUSD students. I am actively participating in a number of projects related to education policy and social justice:

I co authored a Mercury News OpEd: County needs to help kids whose moms are in jail  with retired Judge Len Edwards about the need for more progressive policies to address the needs of parents and children when mothers are incarcerated.

I was recently part of a an action oriented summit on the topic of college readiness convened by Ash Kalra,  Evan Low and San Jose State University with representatives from East Side Union High School District, Campbell Union High School District, and SJUSD. In 2015 San José Unified School District began offering the SAT test to all juniors without cost during the regular school day and (no-cost-to-student) test prep is being piloted at Lincoln High School. This is one way we are improving college readiness in our high schools, but there are still several areas to address. Read more about it here.

I joined other educators and advocates in Sacramento to hear from California Chief Justice Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye, as well as U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, on the state of the Civics Education Initiative which seeks to promote the inclusion of civics education in our K-12 curriculum. Civics includes the study of how government works, the nature of civil discourse, and development of skills needed to differentiate sources of news as fact, opinion, misinformation or outright falsehood. I have written  several posts on this topic and am working with Santa Clara County leaders to bring this initiative to our local community.

I spoke at a panel on domestic violence about current education efforts in our district and others around teen dating violence. While some schools contract with service providers to provide information on this topic, many avoid the issue directly.  

I joined with my fellow  Rotarians to build bookshelves with parents & kids at Empire Gardens as part of a partnership we have to provide books to students every month. The purpose of the bookshelf build was both to engage families and to demonstrate that books are special and deserve a designated, attractive space in the home.

I participated in a Billy DeFrank roundtable discussion with transgender youth and allies around issues they are facing both in and out of school.

I created a Social Justice video with some of my former students in order to illustrate the value of including this type of learning as part of the school day curriculum. The development of ethical, compassionate communities where people take responsibility for one another's well being and understand that when the most vulnerable community members are supported, everyone thrives, begins with the education of our children.

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Best of Walter Foley, part one: Raising Dragons

The hamburger incident, or as Billy calls it, the "hot dog, hamburger, baked beans, coleslaw, potato chips incident."

Him biking all the way to Billy's house (at LEAST a mile) to make sure he's safe

How he left the event (that was obviously very important to him) with barely a second thought to help Billy

(Okay this one isn't Walter, but I completely forgot that his dad stayed with Professor Hamilton's sick wife so that the Prof could be at his daughters wedding. Like. Clearly being super classy husband material runs in the Foley family!!)

That bit where he's tearing up and praying for Billy to be okay

"Good night, Sir Devin." *bashes Devin in the face with a tree branch*

The fact he figures out Billy and Bonnie's secrets, and not only doesn't bring it up, doesn't tell on them, he ACTIVELY COVERS FOR THEM

SEVERAL TIMES

Next

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Best of Walter Foley part three: Circles of Seven

His friendship with Karen

Him offering to carry Ashley's bags in and out of the airport

THE FISH JOKE MY BELOVED

I just love this scene!!!!

Yes I do quote this scene every chance I get why do you ask

I love how from the point where the random old dude kinda reminds Walter why he's there onwards, he noticeably goes out of his way to help Ashley, and the others, but particularly Ashley

The scene where they start arguing and he realizes it's the cloaks influence!!!!

When he gets emotional and starts tearing up over loosing Bonnie, and how he insists on going to help Billy

WHEN HE SAVES ASHLEY'S LIFE

FEELS EVERY TIME

He KILLS ME 🤣🤣🤣

*charges a dragon*

Gosh I love him

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