Landon Morgan is raising awareness about type 1 Diabetes

About three years ago, Landon Morgan of Corral de Tierra was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. Previously known as juvenile diabetes, it's usually diagnosed in young people and it's caused by the body's inability to produce insulin.

Landon's mom, Stephanie Morgan, produced this video describing her son's illness. He has to check his insulin eight to 10 times a day, and could die if he's not watchful. But Landon's a champ, Mama Morgan says, and he does not object to the frequent pricking of his skin.

In honor of his son, Morgan's promoting "Claws for a Cause," an annual lobster dinner/dance/auction to help raise awareness and money for a cure. All proceeds from the event go to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, and last year, the event raised over $10,000.

"My son will never outgrow this," Stephanie Morgan writes. "He can't eat a magic diet or exercise more to reverse it. He will be insulin dependent for the rest of his life. That is the reason for Claws for a Cause- to being awareness to our area and help be part of funding research for a cure."

Like most third graders in Monterey County, Landon started school a couple of weeks ago. Unlike many of them, his mom was praying everything would run smoothly for him. This is what she wrote about the occasion on her Facebook page.

"The day after tomorrow Landon starts third grade. I'm so happy for him. But do you know it's not like sending my other son off to school. I have to meet with his teacher before school starts so that I can teach her about him checking his blood sugar, go over a schedule of when he needs to check himself, teach her about what a "high" and a "low" are and how to treat them, teach her how to use a glucagon shot to save his life, and hope that every paper I copied and placed in a folder for her to reference makes sense and doesn't scare her off . I'll drop him off on Wednesday in his cool new clothes and the excitement on his face of being a third grader, and I will pray. Pray that it goes well, pray that the excitement of the day doesn't mess with his numbers too much, pray that nobody makes fun of him, and pray that everything I keep trying to teach him will keep him safe. I will pray..."

"Claws for a Cause" will take place at 6 pm. Friday, Sept. 6,  the Amaral Barn, 23616 Parker Rd., Salinas. For more information, call Stephanie Morgan at 601-5721 or email her at stephmorgan48@gmail.com

A new documentary on teachers is coming our way

Davis Guggenheim, of Waiting for 'Superman,''s fame, is back in the education beat. This time, he follows four teachers and their heroic work trying to educate our next generation.

You can read more about it here. The movie will air on CBS at 6 p.m. Friday Sept. 6.

Maybe this time we can have a viewing party? What say you?

Getting 'slammed' by a Monterey Peninsula College supporter

A gentle reader took me to task for "slamming" Monterey Peninsula College in a story I wrote about its proposed $2.5 million budget cut. You can find the story here, but here's the gist of it: The college has been flagged by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges because of its finances,  citing its declining enrollment, and excessive salaries/benefits packages.

The reader first challenged me for distorting the words of the ACCJC, saying the "excessive declining in enrollment" was my interpretation.

So there's no shadow of a doubt of what the ACCJC said in its letter, here it is, for your reading pleasure. And my apologies, I should have posted it up sooner.

 The gentle reader goes on to say that declining enrollment at MPC is due to many, complicated factors -- hinting that I should have expounded on those. True enough, I'm aware of the complications, and I plan to address those in a future article.

I'll take it a bit further. The decline in enrollment is not just at MPC, but nationwide. According to a report released by the US Census Bureau, college enrollment nationwide in 2012 plunged by half a million (467,000) from one year earlier. This decline, which includes both graduate and undergraduate enrollment, follows a period of substantial growth ─ 3.2 million ─ between 2006 and 2011.

The decline was driven by older students, those 25 and older. Their enrollment fell by 419,000, while the enrollment of younger students declined by 48,000.

Those among you who know MPC well know its student body has a significant percentage of "life long learners" or older students. Since the decline was seen most sharply among the older population, it only follows that MPC was significantly affected.

Now, the question is, how will MPC tackle this challenge? Stay tuned.