My first introduction to the internal politics and give-and-take of public education came through my mother. Until she was diagnosed with cancer last November she worked for about three decades for a board of education in New Jersey. Earlier this week, following a somewhat horrific episode, we learned that the cancer had moved to her brain. She soon slipped into a coma, and my family has been with her at her bedside ever since.

If you are a prayerful person, or even a wishful thinker, please pray/wish that she make it through the next few hours in as little pain as possible. No one deserves what she is going through.

I'll resume blogging when it feels right. There's no shortage of stuff out there that's worth posting, but my mind is obviously very far away right now.