TJUSD Board Meeting - March 11, 2015

News pertaining directly to Trona, Death Valley, the northern Mojave Desert, Inyo County, and adjacent areas.

Re: TJUSD Board Meeting - March 11, 2015

Postby tronagirl » Sun Apr 12, 2015 6:44 am

School Bus Seat Belt Safety Questioned After Crash Tests
Lots of crash test dummies in this news clip. I'm not convinced that seat belts are a good idea for full-sized school buses, but I get the impression that this idea is being pushed by companies that would make money as the result of a federal mandate requiring seat belts on school buses. Just think how much money would be made if seat belts were required on school buses NATIONWIDE. That's a lot of belts and the profits would soar for companies that supply seat belts as a result.
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Re: TJUSD Board Meeting - March 11, 2015

Postby shadylady » Sun Apr 12, 2015 12:41 pm

Kid Dressed Up As '50 Shades of Grey' For School And Got In Trouble
The kid was just wearing a suit in order to participate in a book celebration event. Why do teachers and administrators at some schools do exactly the opposite of what intelligent people would do? They hold an event to ENCOURAGE and they actually wind up DISCOURAGING! Why bother if all you're going to do is f**k things up?!!
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Re: 50 Shades of Grey

Postby tronagirl » Mon Apr 13, 2015 6:12 am

shadylady: The kid is too cute! He's lucky to have a mom with such a good sense of humor. It's too bad that the school staff couldn't just go along with it! I know probably some people on the staff thought it was funny and would have let the kid participate, but apparently the wrong people were put in charge of that event!
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Re: TJUSD Board Meeting - March 11, 2015

Postby CactusHugger » Tue Apr 14, 2015 7:28 pm

Teen Changes Wallpaper On Teacher's Computer; Gets Charged With A Felony By Sheriff's Office
Here's the basic story:
The Pasco County Sheriff's Office has charged Domanik Green, an eighth-grader at Paul R. Smith Middle School, with an offense against a computer system and unauthorized access, a felony. Sheriff Chris Nocco said Thursday that Green logged onto the school's network on March 31 using an administrative-level password without permission. He then changed the background image on a teacher's computer to one showing two men kissing.

Obviously it's going way too far to charge a kid with a felony over something as petty as this and you can read the article for more, but a couple of the comments are quite good. First there's this one, which takes the ideas presented in the article to their logical conclusion:
Well, they only got him arrested because he could have accessed tests. Since the whole previous incident involved webcams, he should be glad he did not get booked for child pornography charges. After all, he had access to a webcam and a child, and it likely can be proven that he had undressed the child (namely himself) on previous occasions. These days, it is probably easiest to arrest people for being in the U.S.A., and if one takes a look at incarceration rates, it seems not too far from what is actually happening. Maybe just put a fence around the entire country, not just the Mexican border, and put everybody on probation.

And then there's this one which provides a pretty good theory as to why these sorts of things happen:
This is how it works.

If you follow policy then you are not held responsible for the outcome.

If you used discretion, even if it was in good faith (e.g. rational, compassionate or proportionate to the circumstances) then you are held responsible for the outcome, even if the outcome had nothing to do with the decision you made.

In this case, held responsible can be anything from being publicly censured to fired to sued directly by parents or even imprisoned.

So people follow policy because if they have to choose between some other guy's kid or their own ass, they're going to cover their own ass. Every. Single. Time.
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Re: TJUSD Board Meeting - March 11, 2015

Postby a2z » Wed Apr 22, 2015 7:31 pm

LA School District's iPad Farce Reaches Nadir As Officials Demand Refunds From Apple, Answer Questions From The SEC
By now most people are aware that Los Angeles Unified School District messed up big time when they attempted to provide iPads for all their students, but...
Apple may be in the headline and leading paragraph, but district officials seem more irritated with software provider Pearson. Under the terms of the agreement, Pearson was allowed to half-ass its way through the first year, providing only "partial curriculum." It was expected to be at least as prepared as the students by the beginning of the following school year. It wasn't, despite receiving $200 per iPad in licensing fees.

So the problem isn't so much with the Apple product as the educational software provider. A tech coordinator left this comment to the article:
As a technology coordinator for multiple school districts over the years, I can tell you what a joke pearson is. Currently, we are unable to test in Minnesota due to problems with pearson not being able to keep their servers running. The state of MN just shut them down and told them they were not allowed to continue unless they straighten up their act. If I had a choice I would never work with them again. They even force schools to run caching servers because they cant handle the draw on their systems.

Yet another commenter had this to say:
For years, I've been baffled at how teachers could be always complaining how underpaid they are while states and Feds pour money by the ship-load into education. Now, finally, the first real indication where that money is going.

Conclusion: Tons of public money gets wasted on bogus products produced by companies that make educational software and curricular materials.
Solution: Should be obvious! :smack:
LINK:
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20150417/13225130702/la-school-districts-ipad-farce-reaches-nadir-as-officials-demand-refunds-apple-answer-questions-sec.shtml
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Re: TJUSD Board Meeting - March 11, 2015

Postby recluse » Wed Apr 29, 2015 7:28 pm

Coaches Make A Lot More Money Than Teachers In This State :smack:
No surprise here. Last I heard Alabama had the worst public school system in the country. Priorities matter.
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Re: Football Coach Salary

Postby wildrose » Thu Apr 30, 2015 7:28 am

recluse: I'll just come right out and say it. The school board members who approved the deal to pay the coach that much are a bunch of morons. The idea of paying a high school football coach that much is beyond ridiculous. Parents of students who attend this school should file a class action lawsuit against the district demanding that the situation be rectified IMMEDIATELY!
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Re: TJUSD Board Meeting - March 11, 2015

Postby CoolChick » Thu May 07, 2015 7:48 pm

Cheerleader selections at Serra High School upsets some parents :roll2:
Sounds like a little high school drama! :nopity:
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Re: Cheerleader Drama

Postby twister » Fri May 08, 2015 6:54 am

I'm so glad that I'm no longer in high school. The drama was just too much to endure. Looking back it was all over trivial stuff, but when you're in the middle of the drama it all seems soooooo important!
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Re: TJUSD Board Meeting - March 11, 2015

Postby wildrose » Sat May 09, 2015 6:31 am

Stephen Colbert Gifts $800k to Teachers
Giving the money directly to teachers to fund classroom projects is by far the most effective way to fund education. Get the bureaucrats, politicians, and greedy corporations out of the funding chain and amazing things can happen.
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