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Monday was the start of a new school week for thousands of students returning to government and private schools after a long summer break.
As of June this year there were 2,687 students enrolled in government primary schools, including 310 reception students. There were 2,364 students enrolled in government secondary schools. At Lighthouse School, the country's school for special needs students, 60 are enrolled in primary and 49 in secondary. According to the Education Department, enrollment for the new school year is still in process.
When schools opened on Thursday, Aug. 24, children familiarized themselves with new teachers and new classrooms.
As classes got under way Monday morning at Bodden Town Primary, Principal June Elliott continues to lead the school. She challenged all students to be at a satisfactory level by the end of the year, to work hard, and to speak with teachers and get their support with anything they do not understand.
Ms. Elliott also welcomes four new teachers for the new school year: Ashley Osbourne; Keisha Morrison; Eleanor Graham; and new PE teacher Kerry-Ann Jones. She said the school will continue to focus on positive behavior and intervention programs, looking at how children behave in different parts of the school. The school is also continuing the after-school program run by the YMCA. This year, 270 students attend Bodden Town Primary School.
George Town Primary School school started the new school year with a new principal, Sharon Campbell-Danvers, and deputy principal, Danielle Duran. Ms. Campbell-Danvers takes over the reign from retiring principal Marie Martin.
The teachers are motivated, energized and ready to go," said Ms. Campbell-Danvers.
"As an institution we believe in the mantra that every child can learn, so as a team we will be working together to raise expectations, to highlight effort, and [to] work with the parents and the community to build on the positive foundation that has been laid by the previous administrators," the principal added.
The school will be continuing with many of the programs in place, and looking at getting parents more involved in the lives of their children. The school intends to implement a leadership program for the students.
"One of the things we are looking into is creating a science department where children can develop a love for science, which may help propel many of them in that career field," the principal said.
The school is also carrying out the final touches on its drama center. "That will be a department we will be using to raise standards in the institution and develop students talents and skills," the Ms. Campbell-Danvers said.
Close to 300 children attend George Town Primary School.
Students at West Bay's Sir John A. Cumber Primary School were asked to continue to give their best efforts and be on their best behavior by Principal Paul Samuel.
The school of over 500, the largest government primary school, starts the new school year with two deputy principals, Leonora Mendoza-Hydes and Jessica Jackson.
"It will be an exciting year, students and staff are enthusiastic and we are looking forward to a good year," said Ms. Mendoza-Hydes.
North Side's Edna Moyle Primary school welcomes newly qualified Caymanian teacher, Kelcy Huggins and some new support staff.
The small school of 86 students is entering the new year with most of its programs already in place, said Principal Marcia Rennie.
She is looking forward to students continuing "Steps to Success," a positive behavior system they have in place, the take-home reading program and the back to school night.
"I am encouraging them to do their best they year and to be on their best behavior," she said.
Led by Principal Allison Greaves, East End Primary School welcomes several new support staff and counselors for the new school term. She said they will continue to focus on literacy and numeracy. The watchword that students are following this year is "perseverance." Each month the students at the school make a new word their focus.
Presently, 95 students attend East End Primary.
Cayman Brac Creek and Spot Bay Primary School started the year with the same staff except for one addition to the Response to Intervention program, said principal Claudette Lazzari. An additional literacy program has also been added to get some students up to par. Also for the first time, the school is starting a reading recovery program and special training for staff carrying on the program. There will also be back to school nights, beginning Tuesday for the 44 infants schooled at the Creek location and Thursdays for the 34 juniors schooled in Spot Bay.
The school is continuing with many of the programs that are already in place.
Prospect Primary School also had one long-time teacher retire over the summer holidays. Cerrone Glasgow had been at Prospect Primary since the school first opened. Principal Matthew Reid said he was sad to report that she was leaving. The school is also looking to fill the gap of Coach Mark O'Sullivan, who was a volunteer of the football club. Teacher Shawn Harris joined as a new member of staff. Orientation was held last week and a back to school session is planned this week, for parents to meet with teachers and to hear what's on the curriculum for this year.
Close to 350 students attend the Prospect primary.
In Cayman, it is compulsory for all children from the ages five to 16 to attend school or be home-schooled. All students entering government or private schools in the Cayman Islands for the first time are required to undergo a health screening. The Education Department mandates that these screenings must be completed before the new school year begins, in September.
Caymanian students do not pay school fees to attend government schools.
Support local journalism. Subscribe to the all-access pass for the Cayman Compass.


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Crystal Bar Soap
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Regular price $18.00
Lather your skin in this fluffy whipped lavender body butter to transport your energy to the ultimate state of relaxation. The lavender oil soothes and heals the skin, restores the body, and allows for deep slumber. The energy from the embedded Amethyst crystal helps relax your state of mind, brings peace, and absorbs any negative energy. Use this after a shower or bath before bed to relax your body.
Please allow 10 minutes for the oil to absorb into the skin before climbing into bed. Sweet Dreams.
- no animal testing
- 100% vegan
- sustainably made
Ingredients: Shea Butter, Lavender Essential Oil, Mica, Arrowroot Powder and Biodegradable Glitter

subset: commoncrawl


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MC Rehabilitation and Wellness offers drug testing in Fort St. John. We are here to help you make the workplace a safer place for all employees. Drug tests will all be performed under strict confidentiality. To ensure reliability of tests, these will be administered by an experienced DOT certified drug technician.
- On Call is available after business hours of 8AM to 4:30PM. Call the office 250.787.0780 and City Answering will pick up and redirect you to the on call technician. (Post Incident Only)
- For all other testing between 8am to 4:30pm: Call the office at 250.787.0780.


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Posted on September 27, 2019
Trending: Partnering with the private sector for environmental protection
Tirana, 28 July 1998: Temperature 32 degrees
Tirana 28 July 2019: 39 degrees
In Albania this summer, extreme heat waves were almost unbearable for people. There are less fish in the sea, and with the erosion of the shoreline, citizens of a local beach recently claimed that their land "has been eaten by the sea".
Albania will be one of the most affected countries in Europe by climate change.
It is not a big contributor to global warming: hydropower-generated electricity and the lack of heavy industry means the country is a low-carbon economy. But the country is committed to further reduce the carbon dioxide emissions by 11.5 percent, in its contribution to the Paris Agreement.
For many years, UNDP has been assisting Albania to assess its contribution to climate change, plan accordingly to mitigate the impact from different economic sectors, and design measures to adapt to current and expected climate changes. Public awareness is a key component to that.
So we have actively been seeking new partnerships for development causes. Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will require public and private sectors to work together, and work at a bigger scale. In this context, we are working with Tirana Bank to promote the protection of the environment and help Albania achieve some of its environment-related goals.
Together, we co-designed the "All around the Earth" campaign, tackling two key environmental protection issues: climate change and recycling. The campaign put citizens' role in the environment protection upfront, alerting the public about the gravity and urgency climate change threats. It called on them to act urgently to safeguard nature, and gave people concrete daily actions they could take.
One ad (above) provided climate change data such as rising temperatures and the effects on environment and people. It propsed actions such as switching to energy-efficient lightbulbs and energy star products, thermally insulating their homes and investing in solar panels and thermostats.
The other (below) showed data on how recycling can help protect the environment. Recycling paper conserves natural resources, saves energy, and reduces greenhouse gas emissions and pollution. The ad encouraged people to recycle at school, home and workplaces, bring their lunch in reusable containers and reduce paper consumption.
Both the bank and UNDP shared the campaign across their social media platforms. The bank also purchased airtime on the most popular online news portals, which posted our social media banners and ads, maximizing public outreach. Our partnership enabled us to reach more citizens with this urgent call.
Having learned about the SDGs and understood the key role that the private sector can play, Tirana Bank joined us to amplify the message.
The bank also realized that sustainable solutions and operations would be good for the bank itself, would reduce costs, and would help tackle the climate crisis.
A partnership for public awareness? Not only
But this partnership is unique in that it's not just to raise public awareness. While they already had an extensive Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Programme addressing social and environmental concerns, now Tirana Bank is undertaking several actions to change their daily business operations.
They are investing in making their 35 central and all local offices across the country energy efficient by installing solar panels for hot water (benefiting from Albania's 275 sunny days/year), switch to energy-saving light bulbs, improving the recycling process and recycling more paper.
Although it seems impossible for a bank to go paperless, they are taking concrete steps to reduce how much paper is used or wasted. Employees are encouraged to edit and finalize all documents digitally, print only on recycled paper and on both sides when feasible, send international communication through email or via their internal intranet, and switch to online billing.
The Bank is also embarking on programs to support the private sector and citizens invest in energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies to mitigate climate change. It has conveyed a sense of urgency to their 500 employees and engages them in volunteer programs to clean our beaches and coastal areas. They understand that this is good for business, the environment and the people.
When you enter Tirana Bank offices, you see posters reminding their employees and 6,500 daily customers to protect the environment. And our two ads are continuously aired on their bank monitors.
Private companies do want to be associated with the SDGs once they know and understand it. We have to bring companies together to talk about them through forums, conferences and one-on-one meetings. But we also have to encourage them to make changes to be more sustainable within their own walls.
Despite the existence of mounting literature underlying the economic argument for achieving the SDGs, many companies are struggling to articulate the business case within their operations. Presenting SDG principles and values as future business opportunities that will enable companies to grow and contribute to development priorities is key.
As Albania and the world feel the devastating impacts of climate change, one should stop and think: How can we remedy this before it's too late? Partnerships are vital, especially in moving corporations from combatting climate change as a CSR initiative to integrating sustainability into their own operations.


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A simple wish: free up time for patient care
By Niclas Skyttberg, Physician Executive*
Friday, 01 February, 2019
There was a saying when I went through medical training: "We have never spent more money on healthcare and health has never been better. The problem is the unclear causality." Following the eighteen years since then, Australia has increased current expenditure on health from approximately 7–10% of Gross National Product (GNP), Sweden from around 7–11%, the UK from around 6–10%, and the United States from around 12–17%.
In 1960, Baumol and Bowen made this very prediction when they described what happens in sectors that fail to improve productivity. Recent advances in medicine give us access to advanced technology with higher cost, but this has not been accompanied by lower needs in staffing. Ultimately, it will contribute to healthcare costs consistently increasing to a higher fraction of GNP. The overall effect is that while we seem to get more for less in high-productivity industries, we tend to feel that we overpay for the same or even less in healthcare.
Another way to explain why productivity has not increased is that healthcare is intrinsically labour intensive. We provide value by meeting our patients, by giving them time to talk, listen and reflect, and by treating them one at a time. However, according to some studies only 40–60% of physician time is used for direct patient work, while the remainder is largely dedicated to administrative tasks.
Innovation in the administrative part of healthcare is likely to be one of the lowest-hanging fruits in productivity. Luckily it is an area which is quite possible to automate, which provides opportunities to take away some of the recurring, and frankly boring manual tasks.
While studying vital sign documentation, I found that five out of nine hospitals document vital signs on paper. I also observed that it is likely that no emergency department in northern Europe automatically transfers the measurements from a device to the Electronic Health Record. I would be surprised if it were any different in Australia. When measuring the workload associated with vital sign documentation, this task was found to be both time consuming and extremely frustrating to the staff. They felt stuck in the past century. To a large extent, they are right, because most devices today come with great capabilities that enable communication of patient data in standardised information formats.
A lot of resources are also spent on reporting to quality control, either in-house or to national quality registries. The quality registries in northern Europe are well kept and cover many aspects of healthcare. However, it tends to be a burden for clinical staff: many reports still need to be done manually, and clinical competence is needed to compile and convert unstructured information into structured data. I am sure there are similar issues in Australia.
With a shared information platform, however, where data can be normalised and mapped to standardised concepts, interoperability would improve. Increasing the amount of standardised information together with tools that can handle unstructured data, like natural language processing (NLP), will be the way forward in automation of quality reporting. This would save a lot of resources and it could contribute to quality benchmarking across the health system.
These reductions in unnecessary manual administration are so close, we can almost touch them. In fact, so close they should already be here. It would propel us further on the productivity path if we let the machines do what they do best, while enabling clinical staff to spend more time with patients.
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The first round saw 30 entries over fellow Irishman Alan Wade's course, with 14 horse-and-rider combinations eventually advancing to the short course. The spectators cheered from the stands, enjoying the top-quality show jumping during the Kentucky Horse Park's 14th annual Hats Off Day.
|Shane Sweetnam and Cobolt
Kelly and Andrea O'Brien's Kingdom were among the first to turn in a clear round, securing their place in the jump-off early on in the class.
"Kingdom has come such a long way," Kelly said. "He jumped his first grand prix in April in Aiken, and he has moved up slowly. He has been unbelievable, and this is the biggest venue he as competed at, especially with the crowds and the night class. He showed so much potential, and he is getting better and better."
Sweetnam and the Blue Buckle Group LLC's Cobolt jumped their clear effort shortly after, and later Sweetnam followed up with another jump-off-qualifying round aboard Main Road, owned by Sweet Oak Farm and Seabrook LLC.
"Cobolt is a lot of fun to ride," Sweetnam said. "It's taken me a little while to figure out the buttons, but we seem to have figured it out in the last couple months. He's been very consistent, so I'm very happy with him. He's a really quick horse, and he jumped really well here the other night."
|Christina Kelly and Kingdom
"I was very happy with him," Kelly said. "I was going into this hopeful that he was going to jump well. My strategy was just to go double clear, but he was jumping so well I figured I could push him a bit to go faster. The track rode fantastic; I love Alan Wade's courses."
Sweetnam entered the ring on Cobolt shortly after, taking his turns even tighter and using his smaller horse's agility to its full potential to shave an impressive two seconds off of Kelly's leading time, finishing the course in a mere 43.882 seconds to take over the top spot.
"Christina was really fast," Sweetnam said. "I know she was really quick everywhere, but Christina's horse is a big-strided horse, and I think my fellow may just be a bit niftier and quicker through the corners. He's definitely more competitive that way; he's bouncy, you can turn quicker, and he gets his eye on the jumps. I think he was excellent in the jump-off. He likes going fast; he's a bit like his dad [Cyklon 1083], so it's great that Cobolt is winning, too."
During his career with Cyklon 1083, Sweetnam has experienced a lot of success. At 10 years old, Cobolt is one of Cyklon's oldest sons and is following in his father's footsteps. Sweetnam got the ride on the gelding in January, and has since won the $130,000 Ariat Grand Prix CSI3* at Tryon, among other successes at the 1.50m level.
|Shane Sweetnam and Main Road
The final rider to return to the ring, it was clear that Sweetnam would be taking home the blue ribbon, but it was a question of whether he could beat his earlier time on his next mount, Main Road. Despite coming close with their clear effort, Sweetnam and Main Road's time of 46.444 seconds would earn them the third-place ribbon.
"Main Road is only an 8-year-old," Sweetnam explained. "He's had a bit of success already this summer, and he's coming along all the time. He was pretty quick tonight, and I think if I had to, I could have been quicker, but I would have taken more risks. I was already happy with his round, and he did exactly what I wanted to do. He can be very, very quick, and I think he'll have other days where he'll win, too."
Sweetnam concluded, "I love Kentucky, and we always have success here. It's our home for the summer, so that makes it nicer. I also want to thank my sponsors, between Lisa Lourie, the Buckle Up Group, the Gilbertsons and Paul Tracey; I'm just lucky to have such great owners. I've been very lucky this year to have these horses."
|Shane Sweetnam accepts Cobolt's blue ribbon aboard Main Road
Also going double clear, Adrienne Sternlicht and Starlight Farms 1 LLC's Toulago tripped the timers in 49.442 seconds to take home fourth place. Trailing very closely behind, Juan Ortiz and the Synchronicity Group's D'ulien Van De Smeets ended up in fifth place with their time of 49.842 seconds. Despite having the second-fastest time at 44.372 seconds, Venezuela's Pablo Barrios and A S D Farfala rounded out the top six after catching an unfortunate four faults for having a rail down.
For more information about the Kentucky Horse Shows please visit www.kentuckyhorseshows.com.
1. Cobalt/Shane Sweetnam/IRL/80.525/43.882
2. Kingdom/Christina Kelly/IRL/83.223/45.474
3. Main Road/Shane Sweetnam/IRL/82.355/46.444
4. Toulago/Adrienne Sternlicht/USA/83.177/49.442
5. D'Ulian Van De Smeets/Juan Ortiz/VEN/82.464/49.842
6. A S D Farfala/Pablo Barrios/VEN/80.614/4/44.372
7. Shiver/Liza Finsness/USA/83.191/4/51.660
8. Tahiti Island/Rebecca Conway/USA/83.717/4/52.367
9. Warinde B/Lauren Hester/USA/77.589/8/46.582
10. Bugatti/Juan Andres Rodriguez/GUA/83.015/8/48.372
11. Wisconsin 111/Ansgar Holtgers/GER/84.337
12. Quabelle/Blythe Marano/USA/84.091
|Emma Kurtz and Frederick
|Emma Kurtz and Dominik
|Brett Burlington and Due West


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References: Wine, Urban Planning, Freight GHG's
The energy and carbon intensity of wine distribution: A study of logistical options for delivering wine to consumers by Susan Cholette & Kumar Venkat in Journal of Cleaner Production, Volume 17, Issue 16, November 2009, Pages 1401-1413. (pdf of the paper).
If you buy wine you might have noticed that some wineries have begun using plastic bottles to cut freight costs along with emissions. This paper takes a close look at the wine delivery supply chain from the energy-use and emissions perspective. The methodology is fairly straightforward and the scenarios considered seem to be well grounded in reality. One of the co-authors (Venkat) is from a company called CleanMetrics whose motto is "the science of measuring and improving sustainability". CleanMetrics also has a blog entitled "Green Metrics, Clean Metrics"; carbon footprinting seems to be a frequent topic.
(Speaking of wine and O.R., there was a nice article in Interfaces a couple of years ago about using a mixed IP to match small wineries with distributors. The testimonial at the end from the small vintner was compelling. Also, there was a brief mention of using O.R. to optimize wine grape growing in a recent OR/MS Today rountable piece featuring (SE CT neighbor) Applied Math Inc.)
A Mass Transportation Model for the Optimal Planning of an Urban Region, by Giuseppe Buttazzo and Filippo Santambrogio in SIAM Review, Volume 51, Issue 3, pp. 593-610 (2009).
What we would call the decision variables are probability measures describing how inhabitants and services are distributed. The objective is a cost function of the aforementioned variables with terms for transportation costs from residential to service areas, population density and service concentration. It is a fairly theoretical paper, with admittedly limited applicability. It was in the "SIGEST" section of the journal, which "highlights a recent paper from one of SIAM's eleven specialized research journals, chosen on the basis of exceptional interest to the entire SIAM community and revised and condensed as needed for greater accessibility."
An integer programming model for minimizing greenhouse gas emissions in intermodal freight transport by Bauer, J., Bektas, T. and Crainic, T.G., in Journal of the Operational Research Society, advance online publication 23 September 2009; doi: 10.1057/jors.2009.102
A piece of the abstract:
Traditional planning methods for scheduling a service network usually focus on minimizing travel or time-related costs of transport. This paper breaks away from such an approach by first addressing the issue of incorporating environment-related costs (greenhouse gases, to be specific) into freight transportation planning…
So that is a different prioritization and definitely a reflection of the times. Computational results and a potential application are presented.


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If it was "your time" (Lochte Targets Phelps: "This Is My Time"), you'd have won the relay for us after Phelps handed you a full second lead. Sincerely, USA
You are browsing archives for
Month: July 2012
Ryan Lochte Blessed by Paul Wall
Never Seen A Real Olympic Moment?
This is for the Ye Shiwen haterz. …dug at those difficult questions that come when a human being does something we assumed was out of reach. "The rebuttals came hard and swift. USA Swimming released a statement distancing the organization from Leonard. An International Olympic Committee spokesman noted Ye passed her drug test after the […]
Season Finale Workaholics Tonight 10:30
"Funky Butt-Loving" Clip from Workaholics
Workaholics took a page out of the Rookie of the Year Playbook for this one.
Immortal Technique – Crossing the Boundary
France Vs. United States – Hello Olympic Style Ball
The United States was desperate enough – heaving 25 3's and making 8. The bench was 1-11 while the starters were an impressive 7/14. Meanwhile, France lost by 27. How? Despite a similar field goal percentage (39.4%) to the USA's 43.1%, they went 2-22 from downtown. That's right: 2-22. Starters 0-10. Can you say clown […]
Now It's a Dream… "Snarf on the Beat?"
I'm pretty sure that's what's said at the opening!
Is This Real? "WE WIZARDS"
The Wizards – WORKAHOLICS GUYS
Workaholics Get More: Comedy Central,Funny Videos,Funny TV Shows
Belinda Carlisle – Heaven Is A Place On Earth
The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy) – Simon & Garfunkel
Gina G – Ooh Aah… Just A Little Bit (1996)
Heard this on 95.7 today…
Super Bass – Cover by @KarminMusic Feat. Questlove
Karmin – Brokenhearted
I saw this live in Grand Rapids at party in the park http://www.1045snx.com/pages/2012-party-in-the-park/
Olympic Opening Ceremony… and We're Underway!
K-Ci & JoJo
Year of Lochte?
Ryan Lochte took gold, as 2004 & 2008 Gold Winner Michael Phelps didn't even make the podium, placing 4th. The event was the 400 individual medley (IM), and Lochte's time of 4:05:18 beats Phelps' world record by 00:00:07.


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It's my fun Halloween card with Candy Corn paper a Fun digital stamp from Bugaboo stamps. Colored in with pencils . Fall is here.
******** Entered on these October challenges **********
What a fun card,
Thanks for playing along at MAWTT,
Hugz Tinz
What a darling card, Lisa, and perfect for our Fall Colors challenge! Your candy corn looks yummy! Thanks for sharing your crafty project at the Moving Along With the Times Challenge Blog, and for supporting us. We hope you will visit again.
{Creative Smiles - my little crafting world}


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It may sound like a fairy tale, but it's all too true – healthy sleep helps you to lose weight. That doesn't mean you stop going to the gym, but it does shed light on the importance of a good night's sleep. After all, you've got to have the energy and stamina to go to the gym, not to mention to work and all the household errands.
If you're serious about staying in great shape or losing a few of those unwanted pounds, then make sleep a priority, not an afterthought.
Research proves it
Studies show that sleep-deprived people eat hundreds more calories simply because they're awake longer. But that's not the only reason. Sleep affects levels of hunger-regulating hormones, so if you're getting by on too little sleep, you're causing your body to crave even more food that it needs.