TJUSD Board Meeting - January 08, 2015

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TJUSD Board Meeting - January 08, 2015

Postby blackturtle.us » Fri Jan 09, 2015 10:36 am

This meeting was well-attended by both community members and staff with approximately fifteen people sitting in the audience. It lasted slightly over an hour. The following are some of the highlights from my point of view:
1) Superintendent’s Report - Mr. Olney informed the board that the news about the state budget is positive and that according to the governor there will be an increase in funds to be allocated for education. He also updated the board regarding the installation of interactive projectors in all classrooms. Additionally, he reminded the board about the upcoming WASC visitation scheduled for early March.
2) Wendy Scott - Presented an overview of Elementary Tech Lab activities and provided the board with lots of samples of the types of work done by students in the lab. She also explained some advantages of working with Google Drive and educational applications provided by Google. Additionally, she discussed the importance of teaching coding skills to students and mentioned Scratch (scratch.mit.edu) and other resources which are available for this purpose. On top of that she provided examples of educational websites and mentioned some upcoming virtual fieldtrips.
3) Ruth Soto - Talked about the parent project and a continuing support group. Several parents who had participated in the program were present and a few of them talked positively about their experiences with the program.
4) Mark Goins - Updated the board regarding the “deconstruction” of the old elementary school buildings. He explained what was going on with tile abatement and why the project was falling a bit behind schedule. He also mentioned that an old clock dating back to the 1940s had been extracted from the office area of the old elementary and had been donated to the history house museum. Additionally, he mentioned that the gym roof repair project was out to bid.
5) Alan Tsubota - Requested that a board member volunteer to serve on the calendar committee to help set the schedule the 2015-2016 school year. Board Member Samantha MacLean volunteered to serve on the committee which will meet on the fifth of February.
6) Personnel - Diana Martin was approved as the new Cafeteria Manager. Also the daily hours for the Business Clerk position were increased to four.
7) Policies and Procedures - A first reading for four Board Policies and Administrative Regulations pertaining to Administrative and Supervisory Employees and Classified Management was conducted.
8) NEXT MEETING: Thursday, February 12, 2015
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Re: TJUSD Board Meeting - January 08, 2015

Postby tronagirl » Sat Jan 10, 2015 9:16 am

blackturtle.us wrote:4) Mark Goins - Updated the board regarding the “deconstruction” of the old elementary school buildings. He explained what was going on with tile abatement and why the project was falling a bit behind schedule. He also mentioned that an old clock dating back to the 1940s had been extracted from the office area of the old elementary and had been donated to the history house museum. Additionally, he mentioned that the gym roof repair project was out to bid.

It's better that they take their time and do it safely than to rush forward and risk allowing asbestos into the air, especially considering all the people who live and work near the "deconstruction" site.
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Re: TJUSD Board Meeting - January 08, 2015

Postby cactuspete » Sun Jan 11, 2015 7:43 am

Learn Physics With Angry Birds
There's a lot to learn from video games, especially if you look at the coding that goes into creating video games. It's nice to see that coding skills were at least mentioned at the most recent TJUSD Board Meeting:
blackturtle.us wrote:2) Wendy Scott - Presented an overview of Elementary Tech Lab activities and provided the board with lots of samples of the types of work done by students in the lab. She also explained some advantages of working with Google Drive and educational applications provided by Google. Additionally, she discussed the importance of teaching coding skills to students and mentioned Scratch (scratch.mit.edu) and other resources which are available for this purpose. On top of that she provided examples of educational websites and mentioned some upcoming virtual fieldtrips.

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Re: TJUSD Board Meeting - January 08, 2015

Postby texasranger » Sun Jan 11, 2015 9:41 am

Grammar Nazis
In my experience many teachers are grammar nazis. They care more about punctuation and spelling than about thinking. Small minds elevate the trivial and ignore the profound to convince themselves that they are superior to others. They should all do what the officer does at the end of this video.
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Re: Grammar Nazis

Postby wildrose » Wed Jan 14, 2015 7:58 am

texasranger: I confess that there are a few bad habits that I've observed over the years among my fellow teachers. Although they are hard-working by nature and put a lot of effort into doing excellent work on behalf of students, sometimes they do fall into the habit of being inappropriately picky when it comes to grammar. This can be particularly annoying when done in the wrong context, but there are times when their knowledge of grammar is put to good use.
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Re: Grammar Nazis

Postby cactuspete » Thu Jan 15, 2015 7:38 am

wildrose: Actually spelling nazis are at least as bad, if not worse, than grammar nazis. I remember the teachers when I was in elementary school back in the late 1950s making a big deal about spelling bees and treating the winners as if they were smarter than the other kids. If the truth be told in all my years working as an engineer I never meet another engineer who was a very good speller. In fact, despite the opinions of my elementary school teachers, I eventually realized that the ability to spell well does not correlate very highly with intelligence. I suspect that the same is true of grammar skills.
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Re: TJUSD Board Meeting - January 08, 2015

Postby twister » Fri Jan 16, 2015 6:07 pm

Teacher Tries To Teach Spanish With Very Inappropriate Movie
I can see why they want to fire her, but to waste time on a criminal trial seems like overkill to me!
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Re: TJUSD Board Meeting - January 08, 2015

Postby wildrose » Sun Jan 18, 2015 8:31 am

The Swedes have an unusual way of teaching kids about sex, don’t they?
We have a dysfunctional culture here in the USA when it comes to sex education. For that matter we have a lot of hangups when it comes to nudity. Not sure where we went wrong...
YouTube originally made this an “adult only” video before reversing themselves on that. Still, if they tried something like this on Sesame Street, the responsible party would probably be imprisoned. Gotta love those free lovin’ Swedes!

ARTICLE: http://dangerousminds.net/comments/the_swedes_have_an_unusual_way_of_teaching_kids_about_sex_dont_they
Original Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50mtASxdnow
VIDEO WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES:
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Re: TJUSD Board Meeting - January 08, 2015

Postby MojaveMike » Sun Jan 18, 2015 9:51 am

twister wrote:Teacher Tries To Teach Spanish With Very Inappropriate Movie
I can see why they want to fire her, but to waste time on a criminal trial seems like overkill to me!

I agree with you, but I think people would be a lot less sympathetic if it had been a male teacher who had shown the movie. For some reason women are given a lot more slack when it comes to this sort of thing. Men are automatically treated as if they are sexual psychopaths the minute they do something which is in the least bit sexually suggestive. It's a double standard to be sure and it has a huge impact on the way that men are treated when questionable situations arise.
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Re: TJUSD Board Meeting - January 08, 2015

Postby CactusHugger » Mon Jan 19, 2015 9:39 am

Exclusive School Promises the Best Bullies :thumb:
If you're gonna be bullied, at least at this school you'll be bullied by the best bullies!
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