Is teaming up with Old Navy a hive five for NYC public schools?

New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg launched a task force this summer to combat chronic absenteeism in public schools.  According to statistics provided by the city, “over 40 percent of children in the juvenile justice system have been chronically absent,” and “absenteeism rates are highest in low-income communities.”  Additionally, research shows that three out of four students who are chronically absent in the sixth grade never graduate from high school.  New York City Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly stresses that curbing truancy and chronic absenteeism is a matter of public safety.  He says, “When children and teens are truant during school hours, they are more likely to be the victims of and commit crimes.  The risk of drug use, gang activity, and criminal behavior increases significantly when students are on the street instead of in the classroom.”

It’s inarguable that students belong in school, but how far should we go to encourage kids not to cut class?  The Task Force on Truancy and Chronic Absenteeism teamed up with affordable retail favorite Old Navy to award the 300 students with the best and most improved attendance from the 25 participating schools with a $50 gift card, along with a surprise winter coat and visit from Mets shortstop, Jose Reyes.
 
While I appreciate Old Navy’s interest in students receiving a quality education, it hardly seems like $15,000 worth of free clothes is going to save at-risk youth.  That $15,000 could probably have been better spent elsewhere: on books, technology or staff training.  But why donate books to a school when you can get 300 hip, urban teenage models to wear your clothes on the streets of New York for free? Continue reading »

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Salon‘s Sarah Hepola writes in “The Surprise Spanx Makeout Session” about the Catch-22 of so-called “shapewear,” a product so necessary yet hideous that I summarize it thusly: it only works if you can’t see it.

Hepola’s story of her control top undergarment and the panic that ensued when a gentleman caller’s hand started creeping ever nearer toward them reminded me of my own Spanx anxiety (Spanx-iety?).

I’m a married woman with kids, but I, too, was recently in the position of having the hand of a man who I had only just met come within inches of the Spanx. Continue reading »

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