Your regularly scheduled coyote warning

"Spring is denning season for coyotes." Per GA's DNR, coyotes breed in late winter/early spring and that means the parents must be more active in order to secure meals for their hungry brood. The young will be weaned in 5-8 weeks. And sure enough, we are starting to hear reports of coyotes in the area, with a recent MANA email alerting to sightings in the Laurel Ridge/Shetland neighborhoods.

The Economist finds coyote's urban conquest tendencies worth of notice and shares findings from a Chicago urban coyote study:

"In Chicago, the Cook County Coyote Project has been trying to understand how the species is conquering the metropolis. Part of the answer is that the coyote is clever, extremely adaptable and reproduces quickly. They are opportunistic eaters and will eagerly consume rabbits, rats, Canada geese, fruit, insects and family pets. They may also be filling an empty niche for a top predator that was once filled by wolves.

Scientists on the project are also trying to investigate how the urban animals differ from their rural cousins. For example, the city slickers have smaller territories, live at higher densities and live for longer than their rustic cousins. Such discoveries suggest that the coyote is probably thriving in American cities rather than clinging on at its edges."

Random fact: Coyotes more active as barometric pressure rises (i.e., after storm fronts).

Governor to announce new DeKalb Board of Education members today

The AJC reports that

The governor plans to name the six replacements Wednesday, about a week after a nominating panel began poring through more than 400 applicants. Deal will choose from a list of 63 semi-finalists that includes former lawmakers, education experts and community leaders. ... A five-member nominating panel has been working since last week to vet the tide of candidates who put their names in, as the suspension has left the board all but paralyzed. The three remaining board members, who weren’t in office during the accreditation crisis, are too few for a legal quorum. Read the rest @ AJC

Update: new board members announced and their credentials.

Druid Hills Charter Cluster

As mentioned previously here and on the MANA Neighbors Facebook page, representatives from the 7 schools within the Druid Hills cluster are looking into the possibility of converting the cluster to a charter cluster.

It is still very early in the effort, but meetings are taking place on a regular basis and are completely open to the public. The next meeting will take place at Briar Vista Elementary School on Tuesday, March 19th at 6:30 pm. All meeting times and minutes are available on the newly launched Druid Hills Charter Cluster website:

https://sites.google.com/site/druidhillscc/

The Facebook page is also still active and posting updates:

http://www.facebook.com/DruidHillsCharterCluster

The effort is seeking any and all interested parties to participate on working committees to determine how the charter might be shaped - there are six working committees that are tackling issues surrounding educational programming, assessment methods/goals/objectives, waivers & fiscal feasibility, school operations, parent/community involvement & governance structure, and cluster rationale. Ideally, each committee will have up to 25 folks helping to evaluate, research and guide the development of the proposed charter.

If you're interested in seeing how this is shaping up, attend a meeting and learn more!

Keeping up with DeKalb School System news

The AJC has created an index page for DeKalb School System articles. Here are some of the more recent items:

When news affects a family choice [March 9] 

Governor reveals names of candidates for DeKalb school board vacancies [March 7]

For ongoing discussions and reactions, also see

Getting Schooled (Maureen Downey's AJC blog) 

Parents for DeKalb Schools (Facebook)

Also reporting on recent developments:

Crossroad News

The DCSS website announces that the March 11 BOE meeting is cancelled and now features a Superintendent's corner statement.

International Woman's Day at ICS [March 8]

Click to enlarge.

Annually on March 8th, thousands of events are held throughout the world to inspire women and celebrate achievements. A global web of rich and diverse local activity connects women from all around the world ranging from political rallies, business conferences, government activities and networking events through to local women's craft markets, theatric performances, fashion parades and more. We are joining in with this celebration, this year the women of I.C.S. will be treated as the queens we are. We are asking that all woman as well as female students wear all purple as a sign of 'Royalty' for the day.

Marching towards spring

The usual suspects: clockwise from top left we have
flowering quince, star magnolia, forsythia, and cherry.

Around Medlock, March brings daffodils, forsythias, spring magnolias and quinces. It's been cold enough that most people are still in winter mode but we will soon see more daytime highs in the 60's, which can trigger a sudden urge to head over to Intown Ace Hardware and buy seeds and plants.

Our official last frost date is listed by various sources as anywhere from  March 24 to April 10 while NOAA calls the odds for March 26 - April 18. 

Below is some historical data to add perspective.

NOAA's data for last frost dates for our zipcode, 1880-2010. Click to enlarge or view full size.
UGA expands on the above to say the last frost dates were "none" for 2011, February 20 for 2012, and March 2, 2013. Note those late frost in 2000 and 2007...

Eager gardeners do well to focus on soil temperatures, as explained in this website:

"Planting too early, before the soil has had time to warm up, can lead to seed rot, slowed germination, poor growth and disease. For example, cucumber seeds usually take less than a week to germinate in a soil of 70 degrees F. They could take two weeks at 60 degrees F. Tomato transplants need a soil temperature above 60 degrees F for growth. Setting pepper plants out before the soil temperature is 70 degrees F could stunt their growth for the entire growing season."

The above website also lists ideal soil temperatures for common crops as follows:

"60 F - tomatoes, cucumbers, snap beans 

65 F - sweet corn, lima beans, mustard greens 

70 F - peppers, watermelons, squash, southern peas 

75 F - okra, cantaloupe, sweet potatoes"

For a map of daily soil temperatures (currently in the mid-40's), see UGA's Georgia Weather website.

And now that you know what you shouldn't be doing, check out Walter Reeve's monthly calendar to get a sense of what garden tasks are OK for March. For instance, it is time to start tomato seedlings indoors and plant roses (BigLots had a bunch for $3.50; caveat emptor).

If gardening is not your thing, there's no dearth of chores to consider during the month of March.

Coming up: daylight savings on March 10, and spring on March 20.

International Community School lottery [March 8]

Applications for the ICS lottery for school year 2013-14 are due Friday, March 8th. The lottery will take place on March 14.

The  application form and other materials required to participate in the lottery are listed on the right margin of ICS admissions page.

The lottery will take place on March 14th at 4 pm in the cafetorium.