What Rockford women are doing
What Rockford women need to know
Preschool, paras and pop
I have a few things on my mind on a Monday morning, so I can tie them together under the theme, "What are you willing to give up?"
1. I hear that the Harlem School Board is considering major changes tonight, including cuts to paraprofessionals and preschool. As someone whose child has benefited from both, I'm not pleased. And while most people are familiar with preschool and why early childhood education is important, fewer people know what paras do. Even I had to ask my daughter last night what her para's name is. These classroom assistants often do invisible work. I'd like to learn more about their work and why their pay is on the low end.
2. I've given up soda (mostly), more driven by cost than Lent. If I'm only drinking caffeine-free, sugar-free soda, why not just drink water?
I keep hearing lately that diet soda is worse for you than regualr soda. I have yet to find an authoritative source on that one.
This story basically says aspartame is safe; other stories say the same of all artificial sweeteners. If you Google, you'll find anything, including a study that says there's fecal matter in fountain pop. Reasons I've heard against diet soda include high sodium and carbonation levels, but I'm just not buying it.
On a related note, I find it interesting that Rockford School District wants to cut soda for kids but not teacher lounges: Not really leading by example.
Jennie Pollock is the editor of RockfordWoman.com.
