Dear business community, ever wonder how you can help Milwaukee's kids do better in school? Here's a story for you.

According to the folks at Wisconsin Vision, which conducted school vision screenings recently with volunteers from Prevent Blindness Wisconsin, at least one out of every four MPS students tested had a vision problem. That number is in line with national statistics, according to Darren Horndasch, president and CEO of Wisconsin Vision.

"Numerous studies show the poorer the school population, the more children need glasses," said Horndasch. "According to the Journal of School Health, children living in low income urban environments have twice the normal rate of vision problems."

More than 500 students at Clarke Street and Gwen T. Jackson Early Childhood and Elementary Schools were recently tested.

This week, Wisconsin Vision and Prevent Blindness are stepping up to give about 100 kids free follow-up care and glasses. Wisconsin Vision is donating lenses, frames and fabrications valued at more than $200 per pair. That's what I call supporting your public schools and Milwaukee's young people.

When testing was done at Clarke Street in April, 45 kids got free glasses, including eight that were found to be legally blind without the glasses.

The program has since expanded to Gwen T. Jackson, which recently lost its nurse to budget cuts.

"Fewer school nurses makes the most important work of follow-up post screening very difficult," said Dr. M. Kathleen Murphy, MPS' health services coordinator.

"Unfortunately, if there is not a school nurse in the building, typically vision screenings do not occur at the school," adds Barbara Armstrong, executive director Prevent Blindness.

"Left undetected and uncorrected, vision problems can interfere with reading and other visual skills critical to academic success as 80 percent of a child's learning is related to sight. Children need healthy vision to be successful in school."

Wisconsin Vision will return to t…

For the fifth straight year, October is Dining Month on OnMilwaukee.com, presented by Concordia University. All month, we're stuffed with restaurant reviews, delectable features, chef profiles and unique articles on everything food, as well as the winners of our "Best of Dining 2011."

While dining month comes to a close today at OnMilwaukee, our coverage of Milwaukee area food continues, of course, with regular contributions from Damien Jaques and Lori Fredrich adding to the scoops, news, features and reviews written by myself and fellow staffers here, especially Molly Snyder.

You can expect me to rant more about fish fry and pizza and we'll keep dishing up the goodness, but here's where I ask you what you hope to see in the future in our dining section.

It can be a story idea – like, "hey, review my favorite place" – or it can be a feature – "the chef at my favorite place is a genius" – or it can be a series. Or it can be something more game-changing.

Of course, you can tell us how much we suck, too. That's your prerogative and your fellow readers often don't hesitate to do just that. But, I'm really hoping you'll share your insights, your wisdom and your experiences.

So, order up, Milwaukee. Come and get your opportunity to help us plate up some dining love in Brew City.

You know The 5 Card Studs, be it from a club gig, a wedding, a festival or some other event. Milwaukee's premier cover band is a spectacle that is not to be missed.

Usually, when you see The Studs, the band is the evening's sole entertainment. But that's not the case this weekend, when the Studs not only share the stage, but alternate sets with Radio Radio on Saturday, Nov. 5.

Radio Radio opens the evening extravaganza at the Bay View Brew Haus at 9:30. A set by The 5 Card Studs follow and when that's done, they start the thing all over again.

As an added value, bring $10 and you can buy the new "The 5 Card Studs Live at Scotty's" CD.

Admission to the gig is $8. That's a mere $4 per band, and an even bigger bargain at $2 per set.

The North American Montessori Teachers' Association hosts a double-themed conference in Milwaukee at the Hyatt Regency this weekend.

In addition to discussing "Strengthening the Montessori Culture in the Public and Private Sectors," the conference, which runs from Thursday through Sunday, will also look at "The Essential Montessori Mathematics."

The conference arrives here at the perfect time.

First, because this Friday – formerly a day for the state-wide teachers' conference, which has been canceled – is a professional development day for educators. That means a number of teachers from Milwaukee's public Montessoris like Craig, Fernwood, Lloyd Barbee, MacDowell, Kosciuszko and Maryland Avenue (there are also district Montessori charters like Highland Community School and Montessori IB High School) will be available to attend.

Milwaukee also has a Montessori training institute, a range of private Montessori schools and this year Wauwatosa opened its first public Montessori program.

It's also good timing because there is a big push to implement a new district-wide math and science curriculum this year in MPS, so math is on a lot of people's minds in the district.

"The conference is on math and that is important in that it is an area that our schools need to improve upon," says Craig Montessori principal Phil Dosmann, who has been heavily involved in the MPS Montessori community for decades. Dosmann's wife and two daughters also teach in the district's public Montessori schools.

"While our outcomes at eighth grade are very good, we need to address math instruction at the lower grades. In light of the district's comprehensive math and science plan this is a good time to have this conference. There are national AMI trainers who are presenting, so they can give a general theoretical approach to how the Montessori student learns and internalizes mathematical concepts."

Schools will send some teachers to the conference, while other educators will take p…