The Globe today highlights little Ellie Brogan, whose birth defect might have consigned her to a liver transplant without a new treatment at Children's Hospital - IV doses of fish oil. You can follow her progress on her parents' Short Gut News blog.

I'm with Meredith on this one: Rather than forcing schools to waste time weighing all the kids and sending nag notes home to parents of kids who don't measure up, maybe the state should worrying about ensuring kids actually have well-balanced meals and physical activity during the day.

Just sign me,

Parent of a kid who goes to a school without a gym, where the promised regular trips to a nearby park have turned into once-a-semester field trips fro the upper grades.

Report from the Boston Foundation would seem to indicate these schools do better than the competing "pilot" schools in Boston. So Michael Jonas wonders:

Exactly what will it take for state leaders to raise the cap on Massachusetts charter schools, which have thousands of students on waiting lists clamoring for a chance to escape the mediocre classrooms that define too many of the state's urban district systems? ...

Susan Senator reports that she and her son Nat will be on the "Today" show sometime between 7 and 9 a.m.:

... They are doing a piece on autism and the family, in light of the Jett Travolta tragedy. They wanted to explore the idea of shame and autism, and they were asking me about that, and going public, etc. I hope they handle it sensitively.

The Globe reports Boston Police are looking at laying off up to 200 officers.

And the city's looking at cutting several hundred teaching jobs. Principals have already been told to expect 5-15% budget cuts.

The good news is violence is still nowhere near the levels of the crack-fueled early 1990s. The bad news, according to this report by Northeastern's James Fox and Mark Swatt, is that violence among this group is on the increase, even as violent crime in Boston in general is going down.

Between 2001 and 2007, the homicide rate among blacks in Boston, aged 14-24, increased from 36 to 64, or 78%, compared to a decrease among the comparable white group from 15 to 9, they report. Across Massachusetts, the homicide rate among blacks, 14-24, increased 98% (the homicide rate among comparable whites also increased, but by 17%, so that more young blacks now die violently in Massachusetts than young whites, even though they make up a much smaller percentage of the population).

The Globe has analysis and comments.

Just in case you miss the robo-calls from the superintendent's office and your kid's principal, BPS also provides a cancellation RSS feed.

Via My Charlestown.

FYI

In anticipation of dangerous icy conditions after an over night freeze, city officials have canceled all Boston public schools for Monday. Because of the upcoming holiday school will be closed on Tuesday as well – opening schools for one day would be a waste of city resources. Students will return to classes after the winter break on January 5th.

Geeky Mamma reports on bad news and good news out of a School Committee meeting earlier this week.

The bad news is that principals across the city are being told to expect budget cuts between 5 and 10% for the coming school year (principals were supposed to be getting those budgets today).

The good news is that the School Committee this week increased the number of schools you can put on your school-lottery wait list from two to three. If you're not faced with this issue, Geeky Mama's description will only make you shake your head, but it gives parents a bit more leeway in their strategic lottery planning.

Carol Johnson just robo-called us.

Kidlet is very upset because her class was supposed to have its Christmas party.