By AV Coordinator on 10/19/2009 7:32 AM

Check out this morning's Washington Post for a description of the looming budget crisis in the school system for fiscal year 2011.  I thought last year was pretty bad; I think we were facing $80M in cuts, but at $176M, the budget deficit is much worse, and likely to significantly affect the quality of education in Fairfax County next year, and maybe for many more years to come.  Among the items that most concerns me, as a parent raising a bilingual child, is the impact that these budget cuts might have upon the Immersion programs being offered in the county.

Stay on top of the latest budget news by visiting the FCPS Budget website.  Although the actual budget will not be released until January, it is important to begin contacting your local school board member and county supervisor to let them know about which programs are important to you--and also which ones you can live without.  They have a lot of tough decisions ahead of them, and need input from the community to figure out where to make the cuts.

By AV Coordinator on 10/5/2009 6:05 AM

I am sad to announce the Mercedes Sosa, a beloved Argentinian folk singer and political activist, died over the weekend at the age of 74.  So great has been her cultural impact, that the the Argentinian government decreed three days of national mourning.  She has been known as the "Voice of Latin America" and the "Voice of the Voiceless", often commenting on the political turmoil and its victims.

Indeed the "government qualified Mercedes Sosa as 'an unquestionable icon of Argentine music', adding that she 'was always in favor of social compromise', a 'true giver', showing 'intellectual honesty' and 'a fierce defender of human rights and fair causes'."  (Buenos Aires Herald)

Mercedes Sosa was one of the early protest singers in her region, a pivotal force in what came to be known as the Nuevo Cancionero movement.  If you are not familiar with Mercedes Sosa's work, check out her rendition of Gracias a La Vida, one of the most moving interpretations of the poem by Chilean poet Violeta Parra or the Read More »