Batman/Bruce Wayne?

I suddenly realized that I've never seen Ernie Ray and his cat Missy at the same time. Is E.R. a changeling, shifting to cat form so that I'll scratch him behind the ears? Is he using his powers only to facilitate feline felicity, or is he also a superhero? The superhero thing might explain why he's currently wearing only boxers and knee pads.

No, seriously, my gay Nazi roommate is in the garage (with his "friend" Cletus) wearing boxers and knee pads. I understand that it's a hot day, and he's working under his car, but I'd at least put on a pair of shorts. But hey, that's just me.

Anyway, I've been working on a demographic essay about the school district where I'm working, and there's some interesting stuff. For one thing, the district has grown 150% in the past 8 years, almost tripling its local tax revenue. They opened a new high school a few years ago to handle all the new students. Both schools struggled to meet Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) in the first year, largely because of poor performance in the Black and Hispanic subgroups. The following year, the school boundaries were redrawn with the following result:

1/3 of the black and Hispanic students at the old high school were sent to the new one. As a result, these populations are no longer large enough to require score reporting, so the old school gets good grades regardless of the performance of the minority students. The new school, however, failed to meet AYP this year.

Were the districts gerrymandered so that at least one school would meet its federal progress requirements? This has huge social implications. Especially in a fast-growing family community like this, property value is closely linked to school performance. Property values around the old school can continue to grow, as property values around the new school drop. Over time, the town could split into the wealthy (and white) area and the low-income (minority) area. The status quo of social stratification would be maintained.

Could this town really be so sinister?