MM: How Decatur Monitors Questionable Enrollment, Chattahoochee Development, and Zzzz
Decatur Metro | May 22, 2015 | 9:45 am- City Schools of Decatur uses private investigators to sniff out fishy enrollments [Decaturish]
- Could the Chattahoochee River become Atlanta’s waterfront? [CL]
- Cycle to the Arts Festival and Receive Free Valet Parking [Be Active Decatur]
- Georgia transportation bond funds going to bridge projects [ABC]
- Atlanta is 9th “most cultured” U.S. city according to [Travel + Leisure]
- How to fall asleep [NYT]
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia
The sleeping article is interesting. I know when I can’t sleep it’s usually because I’m thinking about work, so instead I shift to thinking about our downstairs. I take a tour of the art and assorted junk on our shelves. In my mind’s eye I picture all of these things. Starting at the kitchen sink where I stuck three tiny flower water colors I work my way around the room and really spend time concentrating on each one. Next is my wife’s prized Blue Dog, then the plants and glass vase, then my cigar boxes, on to a small sculpture, some candles, family photograph, and finally a painting by Martin Laborde that has so much black in it I usually don’t make it to the second room before I’m sound asleep.
Whenever I can’t sleep I just think about Keith F’s detailed comment about his kitchen junk and WHAM! I’m out cold.
Glad to help, and now I know I’m not paranoid. I told my wife we had a stalker.
I like the sleep article, too. Mostly because it summoned a memory of my Dad. He said that in order to fall asleep he would mentally replay his last eighteen holes of golf.
I don’t golf so I do the financial planning that would be required if I won the lottery. Simultaneously pleasant and boring.
$900 this school year to investigate school enrollment cheaters? Doesn’t sound like much.
I felt the same way. $900? Not a lot of PI time (or anything time) for that. Everything sounded like they investigate anecdotal information that is staring them in the face — nothing systematic. I have been randomly audited and I really do not think it would take much to fool it.
It should be possible to use consumer data from the credit bureaus and other online sources and data-mine an entire enrollment database to come up with the likelihood that a reported address is the parent’s residence. These kind of data analysis techniques are used in many other areas in both industry analytics and research
Obviously lives are complicated and situations like divorced or separated parents would require human attention.
Heck, if nobody is doing this I want to start a company – there must be a market. What would the city schools pay for each verified fraud case found? Here’s an example: http://www.verifyresidence.com/
Interesting article about the Chattahoochee. Off topic, but yesterday I did some hiking near the Hooch (following one of the trails from “Hiking Atlanta’s Hidden Forests”, a book I can’t recommend highly enough if you want to try some urban hiking). Hiked the East Palisades trail off Mt. Paran Rd, and I was amazed at the remarkable views of the river. There’s also an impressive bamboo grove and lots of mountain laurel, neither of which are very common in this area.
Indeed, a cool spot. Keep an eye out for big daddy cottonmouths though. I saw the biggest I’ve ever seen along that trail…
Island Ford is really nice as well. Great trails, cool caves, wading into rapids and if you can find it, a rope swing.
Saw two cottonmouths yesterday, one of them quite large. Also saw a pretty blue snake, about 3 feet long, that I couldn’t identify. And I saw at least 3 young women on the trail in shorts and sandals. Braver than I am!
Highly unlikely they were water moccasins north of Atlanta on the Hooch.
http://www.parcplace.org/images/stories/pdfs/cmflier.pdf
Moccasins may not “naturally occur” in the northern half of the state, but they live there. I will never forget the time a moccasin ended up in my canoe, and I was about 20 miles north of that trial. And I have seen one at the hooch in Gwinnett.
Next time you need to check your canoeing companion’s carry on.