This morning's Ithaca Journal reports on the evening youth programs at Cassavant Elementary in McLean held each Tuesday and Thursday night. Tutoring and time in the gym give kids academic help, exercise, and social times. There's also a picture of students playing basketball in the gym.
Tompkins-Cortland Community College "was named top digital community college for 2005 earlier this month by the Center for Digital Education and the American Association of Community Colleges." The award is in the "small rural schools" class. The Journal's editorial says:
Why care?
Well, if you're paying taxes in Tompkins or Cortland counties, or are a state income tax victim, then your tax dollars are helping to foot the bill for TC3. Like most folks, it's not paying taxes that causes the greatest agony, it's paying taxes and feeling like your money is being wasted that really hurts. Awards such as the one Haynes picked up Monday from the national organization of his peers says a lot about how the folks at TC3 are spending our cash.
Also, if you live, work and raise a family in this land known for its love of higher education, the odds are pretty good that TC3 will be the higher education institution most likely to directly touch your life. The college offers 34 degree paths to more than 3,000 full- and part-time students every year, the vast bulk of them local people who live and work in our neighborhoods. With a proven track record of sending successful students on to careers or four-year institutions -- including its well-known neighbors Cornell University and Ithaca College -- TC3 is a proven asset to us all.
So hats off to Haynes, Director of Information Technology Marty Christofferson, Associate Dean for Instructional Technology and Learning Resources Bill Demo, and everyone else at TC3 who helped put our community college among the very best in the nation in this and many categories.
Cathy Wakeman's Dryden Town Talk column visits Boy Scout Troop 24's fundraising lasagna dinner. She also notes a "Healthy Children in Literature and Arts" program, which will be held from 3:30pm to 4:30pm on April 20th at the the Dryden Village Hall (map).
On the opinion page, Jennifer Semo of Freeville writes to share her suspicions of people filing for bankruptcy and suggest that too much is paid out for food stamps.
Finally, in news that potentially makes it easier to collect news for this site, the state legislature passed laws putting more teeth in New York's Freedom of Information Law, and Governor Pataki sounds like he'll likely sign it. In sadder Albany news, it looks like we're back to three men in a room deciding what the state budget will really look like (New York Times - registration required).
Update: I forgot to mention this story on the Ithaca schools raising their tax levy 4.32% and not yet deciding on middle school redistricting.
Posted by simon at April 13, 2005 8:11 AM in Ithaca Journal , McLean , New York State , TC3 , politics (national) , schools (Dryden) , tech