vijokins's Blog

Last Friday Douglas High School Played Las Vegas High at home and even though Douglas lost, it wasn't by much. Douglas started the night with a 14 point lead, but ultimately lost the game to the number one high school football team in the state - 41 to 35 Las Vegas. The Record Courier reported the game with the headline "Football: Wildcats hang on in Wild Season-Opener." The Nevada Appeal reported the same exact story with the headline "Douglas Loses a Shutout." What the hell is that about, Carson City? Is the rivalry between Carson High and Douglas High really that important that the local newspaper has to take a shot below the belt? Plus, it was not a shutout - Douglas scored 35 points! A shutout happens when a team scores nothing, and that is clearly not the case here. That was rude and uncalled for Nevada Appeal - these kids train hard and play with everything they've got with a passion for the game and that is no different from any other kid at any other high school. Douglas went out there and kicked butt. Sure they made mistakes and hopefully they can learn from them and go forward, as every team does. In the end they did a damn good job playing the number one team in the state and they should have been kudoed instead of slapped in the face. It is sad when a newspaper editor (or whoever wrote the headline) has to go on the attack and take a cheap shot at a high school football team. I would hope that the Douglas newspaper would never stoop so low and show more class to report the news - correctly and fairly.

I went to Arby's in Minden last Friday and encountered the worst woman working the counter! I had brought my two sons, my niece and my in-laws in for a quick lunch before getting back to birthday party preparations. My son can be pretty hyper, but this day he was calm compared to his normal self - I was really pleased with him. As soon as we walked in the woman barked at us if it was "for here or to go?" She was huffing at Sam running around the dividing wall - I say running but more like a fast walk (nothing high speed). He was done before I could say anything about it, so I just ignored it. Then the woman behind the counter, obviously annoyed with us for taking so much time to decide, told my mother-in-law to tell the children to stop playing with the line divider things. My mother-in-law asked my niece and son to stop and they complied. I stepped up to order but before I could the rude woman was too bothered with my niece touching the line divider to take my order as said, "Could you tell her to stop that?" I took a deep breath because I was losing patience with this woman's attitude. I told my niece to please stop and she did. I tried to order quickly but it was when my son picked up the cheap cardboard sign sitting next to the cash register to show me he wanted a juice box with his kids meal that sent the woman over the edge! Her eyes grew large as if he had just picked up something priceless and sucked in her breath to show her annoyance in the situation as she reached over and grabbed it out of his hands. I had it and took my sons and niece and left! My in-laws didn't seem to understand as they had missed everything I was dealing with because they were looking and talking about the menu. I never did call in a complaint because I was so mad I didn't want to sound like a nut job myself, and then after I returned home I had forgotten all about it while getting ready for the birthday party. Rude people should not be in customer service - the respect for the paying customer is widely forgotten. Watch out if you go to the Arby's in Minden.

The Douglas County School District doesn't feel it's important to pay the handicapped aides and sign language interpreters enough money to live off of. You always hear about teachers not making enough money for what they do, but for the aides it's even worse. The sad amount of money for the hard work they do isn't enough to pay rent or bills. Most of the handicapped aides and interpreters can only afford to keep their jobs because they have a second income, either from a spouse or a second job. The School District just hired a new interpreter, a single mother. She was forced to back out as soon as they told her the small amount of money she'd be making per year. I don't know exact numbers, but taken as a yearly salary it's awfully close to minimum wage.

There is a handicapped aide who has recently divorced and has to frantically find another job to support herself and her children. She is looking for a better-paying job, and the rumors are that if she leaves she wouldn't be replaced, leaving the Special Education department short-handed. There's a hard-of-hearing child without an interpreter simply because people cannot afford to work for the school district. It's true that the aides and interpreters don't have a Master's degree in teaching, but they work just as hard. The schools are extremely understaffed and there are dozens and dozens of kids that need extra help. The school district views these people as non important. I'd like to see some of the school administrators come down to the bottom and do these jobs for a week. When someone tried to take a stand for more money, the district shot that person down without even giving a reason, just a simple “no”.

Trying to talk to anyone at the district office is pointless and they are extremely rude to top it off. Like they are saying, “Who the hell are you?” It's just sad that the school district cannot say “Wait a second. These are human beings who have to live too. They do a job each and every day that most people wouldn't do and yet we treat them like crap.” These people are such an important part of each and every day at school. Teachers would have chaos in the classroom with the ADD, ADHD and autistic children running amok. The deaf and hard of hearing kids would be lost in space without a clear clue about what they need to do. The school would be chaos without the aides to reign it in.

There is no point, except out of the goodness and kindness of their own hearts, to have these jobs. It for sure doesn't pay off financially. There is little reason for these good people to do what they do, and then to be treated as nobodies by the district...It's just wrong! Something needs to be done - now! The Douglas County School District sure isn't going to do anything. And I'm sure Douglas isn't alone, I'm sure all school districts are the same - this change needs to happen all over the US! We need to care about our special education children too.