The Chatterbox | September 21

Leading today is a storm of opinion surrounding the phone call every parent dreads, which usually goes something like this: "Hello, this is Billy's teacher. I'm calling to discuss his inappropriate language." So what do you do if your kid drops the f-bomb at school?

• Andrea Peyser of the New York Post recently slammed one Manhattan mother's handling of the situation, citing her affluent background as a cause for bad parenting and not-so-tight grip on reality. Alternatively Salon.com offers this perspective on the tricky topic of children and cursing. "There's a difference between profanity and the truly profane," argues staff writer Mary Elizabeth Williams.

File under: "Not-so-subliminal messages"

• The ball is in your court, parents. The Trib reports that CPS has launched a website—appropriately located at www.cps.edu/longerday—to collect input on the proposed stretch from bell-to-bell in 2012. Front-and-center on the new site (in large text with a frame around it) is a link titled “The Five Biggest Misconceptions About the Longer School Day.” But seriously CPS, tell us what you really think.

• Providing even more evidence in the already-won case for frequent hand-washing, a California researcher finds the vaccine that protects children against whooping cough, or pertussis, becomes less effective over time, leaving middle-school age children at higher risk for the disease. The study comes in the wake of an outbreak of whooping cough in Marin County California last year.

• Wal-mart opened its first "neighborhood market" concept store in the Loop today, and employees are totally juiced.

• Finally, Slate.com offers this look at the structure of a day at a Scientology-influenced school, where sculpture and Suri Cruise are a big deal.