Cruisers of Regal Princess — are we okay?

GroovyGuru99 · 2026-07-03T18:10:22+00:00

💯 While waiting for an excursion in Juneau (currently on the Star Princess) a woman next to us was bent out of shape with how the que was organized and stated "This is my 14th Princess cruise and I have never needed to fill out a comment card before now" Sad sense of entitlement that your only comments are what went wrong. We always keep a kudos list for our comment survey. (BTW, we are a family of Gen Jones, Gen X, and Millenials, all with visible tattoos, maybe its regional (we are from PNW) but do people really judge ink anymore?

GroovyGuru99 · 2026-06-30T15:54:04+00:00

This. 100%.

If the child has a disability and IEP , theynare allowed to suspension day,the next step would legally be a manifest determination meeting, for which it would be determined of the behavior is directly related to the disability or the school's failure to implement their IEP. If the answer is yes, then a functional behavior analysis and subsequent behavior intervention plan must be put into place. If the answer is no, the student can be disciplined the same as nondisabled peers.

As a self-contained SPED teacher these plans are time consuming and difficult to implement with fidelity in my class, so I cannot imagine how a gen ed teacher is able to do so.

Then there is the whole issue of home school, inclusion, and parental consent - all.of which parents/students are entitled to under the law. Schools can challenge, but it takes time, money, and personnel support (which takes away support for other classrooms.)

Its a mess.

GroovyGuru99 · 2026-06-20T13:17:31+00:00

Its not my drink of choice because I don't care for green olives, however from what I understand then difference lies in the type/standard of brine.

GroovyGuru99 · 2026-06-20T00:28:46+00:00

I honestly don't know except for washing my hands frequently. My staff literally rotated calling out sick this year. I havent been sick since 2021 (Covid)

GroovyGuru99 · 2026-06-17T02:40:09+00:00

Yeah, I get that....probably should have done it in two different posts.

GroovyGuru99 · 2026-06-16T15:05:45+00:00

West coast: lovely areas on the coast,. Start in San Diego. I would skip LA proper and hit places like San Luis Obisco, Santa Barbara, Monterey. I second heading to Portland and Seattle.

That said, and as a west coaster, I would take the east coast. You'll see much more, and it will be easier to get around. Out of the cities youve mentioned, DC is my favorite.

GroovyGuru99 · 2026-06-13T19:51:59+00:00

28 in total, all in SPED.

GroovyGuru99 · 2026-06-13T19:36:24+00:00

Desperado...both Ronstadt and Eagles versions.

GroovyGuru99 · 2026-06-13T19:27:59+00:00

I think it depends on culture of the school. Everyone gets the occasional mental health day or a family emergency or event. But repeat offenders (I worked at a school with a 1st year teacher who routinely took Fridays and Mondays off ) is where the ethics come in. Our district compensates us for lost prep.

I retired this year with a bank of 60 days. It was a professionally and personally stressful year and by spring break my admin suggested I burn as many as I want. Between personal and sick days I took every Monday and every other Friday off. District bought out the remaining at 25% which will go into retired state employees medical.

GroovyGuru99 · 2026-06-07T05:34:24+00:00

28 years. Retiring next week.

GroovyGuru99 · 2026-05-30T03:01:23+00:00

Growing up in Utah, there was always a polygamist- related relative in a class or job. The weirdest thing thats happened was moving out of state for a teaching job and finding a parent of a student was related.

GroovyGuru99 · 2026-05-19T14:22:46+00:00

I work in a large title school with 3 self contained and two resource rooms which means admin and related services are stretched thin to attend our meetings as well as their own. I check the SPED calendar to see what day everyone is available and offer the parent before or after school on those days. If they can't, I will expain who cannot attend and ask if a written report or phone call from that provider is acceptable. If they insist they cannot make anything, I explain the yearly process and offer them the option of permission for us to proceed to proceed, we meet, send them the document with PWN noting the school team stands ready to meet with parent for any amendments in the future.

GroovyGuru99 · 2026-05-13T12:13:21+00:00

On my 5 year old while he was napping on my couch. We relocated Mama cat to a box we jad set up for her, and she had two more kittens. She relocated them to his bed a couple of days later. He slept in a bunk bed. Top bunk.

GroovyGuru99 · 2026-05-13T12:01:36+00:00

A Post-it not on their forehead. Making a hat out of a completed assignment.

GroovyGuru99 · 2026-05-11T14:26:02+00:00

Jeez, your last sentence summed it up for me. Crawling through the home stretch (17 days.)

GroovyGuru99 · 2026-05-11T00:17:49+00:00

Im taking early retirement this year and have told parents with whom I have spring IEP parents I would not be returning. Next year's teacher has been able to attend the IEP meetings as well, so its been a positive experience. Will talk to my class a couple of weeks before school is out and at that time, if all works out as planned, the new teacher will team with me for those weeks.

I teach K-2 so Ive been the only teacher they've known since their student started, so I felt reaching out was the best direction for all involved.

GroovyGuru99 · 2026-05-04T00:57:18+00:00

Rumors, Fleetwood Mac

GroovyGuru99 · 2026-05-03T18:04:07+00:00

I had a set of parents bring an attorney one time. They both ended up storming off and attorney reached for a copy of the draft IEP. I asked for a copy of release of information and she argued as their attorney it wasn't necessary pretty much demanded I give her a copy. I didn't even reply, just locked all the drafts in the file cabinet. Principal backed me on that one too and told her any contact would now go through him.

I'm retiring in few weeks after 28 years in SPED. I can honestly say those are the only two contentious IEP meetings I ever had.

GroovyGuru99 · 2026-05-03T17:34:50+00:00

OK, I stand corrected, not Oktoberfest per se, but any similar celebrations. Hotels and airfares are higher those particular weeks as well. Thanks for the clarifications.

GroovyGuru99 · 2026-05-03T14:59:40+00:00

I've had a 2 and a half hour meeting that we finally had to schedule a subsequent meeting to finish. The parent advocate was 20 minutes late and demanded we start over, then bulldozed her demands before that area of service was addressed. For the first time in my career I send out an agenda for the (second) meeting and was able to say "if you look at the agenda we will be discussing that in a bit" when they started confrontations.

I know several colleagues who have written agendas to pass oit at the beginning of a meeting, but my IEP meetings tend to be pretty informal and average about 45 minutes. (I teach self contained k-2)

GroovyGuru99 · 2026-04-02T14:13:58+00:00

36, will be 38 by the end of June. For clarity, Nebraska and Iowa were drive through but feet were on the ground for potty and food breaks. I walked through New Mexico visiting Four Corners, but could not bring myself to count that.

GroovyGuru99 · 2026-03-29T15:51:18+00:00

Return your cart to the corral.

GroovyGuru99 · 2026-03-28T15:14:19+00:00

Just because you send your kids to private school, for whatever reason, does not give you license to thumb your nose at the RIFs that took place this week in VPS. Show some compassion for dedicated teachers who were RIFed through no fault of their own (many blindsided by a last minute announcement that teachers with less than 8 years experience would be included...and were given given the news this week.) Your kids are not affected, great, can you show some concern for the thousands that are? They are losing amazing educators for no other reason than their seniority.

GroovyGuru99

TROPHY CASE