back to school

Laying the groundwork for a successful future should be reason enough for children to go to school — but for some districts with poor attendance rates, they’ve had to sweeten the pot.

Somehow another summer has flown by and the kiddos are headed back to school again. Sure, that means vacations are over, the house will be empty and days at the pool are numbered. But what it also means is that it’s time to shop for supplies.

Shopping online can incredibly convenient, but should you do it for basic school supplies? That depends on what’s more important to you: time or money.

The days get a bit shorter and the night air gets crisper. High school football is right around the corner! Here is a look at the schedule for teams across the Mohawk Valley:

Vintage lunch boxes.  Remember when lunch boxes were designed to protect your lunch from a nuclear holocaust?

In an effort to curb rising child obesity rates, many states across the US have limited the unhealthy foods that kids can buy at school — and new evidence shows it could be paying off.

With amateur boozehounds, junkies and derelicts of all shapes and sizes now flocking to makeshift dormitory brothels on the campuses of some of the finest facilities of higher education across the United States, we thought the time was right to unleash the list of the 2012 top party schools in America.

As the summer winds down you’re counting down the days to freedom. Admit it — you can’t wait for your kids to go back to school.

When I was a younger lad, I had my fears of high school and my first day as a freshman.

The two-and-a-half-month summer vacation that kids get was a mid-19th century compromise between rural school districts, which had children who needed to help out on the family farm, and urban districts, which often dealt with extreme heat in the summer.

As back to school approaches, many of our kids will be entering junior high or high school this year. I remember my junior high years at Conkling School in Utica, then off to UFA (Utica Free Academy). In both cases, it was intimidating. The first thing I did in high school was to  get involved as my homeroom representative in the Student Council. I looked forward to those Friday afternoon meetings

I still remember when a classmate brought in pine-cones for show and tell and preceded to tell her classmates that they are editable. I felt so bad for her as the kids laughed and laughed. Kids can be so cruel. And maybe she was right because some produce a sweet sap ... Read More ...