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The board meeting lasted about an hour and fifteen minutes. A few community members were present, but mostly it was employees and board members at the meeting.

Board Member Comments:
1) Trona Care - Cemetery clean up planned for March 21st from 8-noon. Good for high school community service hours.
2) Problem regarding coach running clock during game when he should be meeting with his team in the lockerroom.
3) Athletic Uniforms - Should last longer. It should not be necessary to purchase new ones as often as has been the case in recent years.
4) Board would like to shake hands with student award winners at monthly meetings.
5) Comments regarding time-capsule.
6) Positive comment about event where HS students interviewed senior citizens.

TTA / TCEA Negotiations - Board and superintendent accepted “sunshine letters” and acknowledged that it is time to begin negotiations.

Superintendent’s Report:
1) Comments regarding time-capsule.
2) District office organizational chart.
3) Facilities - Constant progress regarding earthquake recovery. Even if not visibly apparent, things are getting done behind the scenes.

Math Curriculum:
1) Proposal to develop two pathways for math. One to help students to catch up to grade level and the other for students to progress normally. Currently students are mixed and this makes it hard to help low students and it slows progress of normal students.
2) Eliminate integrated math. Use more traditional curriculum which separates Algebra, Geometry, and Trig.
3) Recruit secondary math teacher. Currently only one math teacher at high school. Increased number of course offerings will require another instructor.

Maintenance:
1) Full site inspection report pending.
2) Soil samples - core penetration test last week - it will take four weeks to analyze and generate report.

Continuation School - Re-open previous continuation school which is already registered with the state. May open before end of current school year, but most likely beginning of next school year.

Public Comment - One individual addressed the board on the topic of coaching athletic teams.

Interim Superintendent and Interim Assistant Superintendent - Suzette Davis and Janet Maloney will share responsibilities of overseeing the district until the end of the school year. Their salaries are being covered by the county. The previous superintendent is on paid leave until the end of the school year. The district is paying the cost of that salary.

Coaches - HS Football, HS Volleyball, and 7/8 Volleyball coaches approved.

Budget Advisory Committee - The need for such a committee discussed. Possibly this might be unnecessary or redundant since many decisions are made by the LCAP committee. The need for a budget advisory committee will be considered and possibly discussed further at a future meeting.

District Safety Plan - Need to update current plan to bring into compliance with state law. Will be presented to the board when update complete.

SIA Contract - Company which helps district to stay in compliance with state and federal requirements. Performs an annual audit to help the district identify areas which are out of compliance and provides assistance and guidance on how to get into compliance.

BAD DEBT - Most school cafeterias spend more than they take in from designated funding sources. Money must be transferred from the general fund to cover this deficit. Board approval is necessary to perform this transaction. This is entirely normal, but necessary.

SURPLUS OLD CLASSROOM TEXTBOOKS - Board approved to designate old textbooks as surplus.

Community Park - Conference call with county officials took place on February 5th. Decision not to pursue property lease. No further explanation given.

NEXT MEETING: Thursday, March 12th.

Teacher Union: It's Time To Rethink Shooting Drills
Good intentions don't always yield good results. This is an excellent discussion of this particular topic and that's saying a lot since usually TYT doesn't do that great of a job when it comes to analyzing and providing commentary on social issues.

Some people just get overly enthusiastic and think doing something is better than doing nothing even when doing nothing is the better choice. I think some people are obsessive compulsive about things and the idea that doing nothing is sometimes the best course of action is something they can't wrap their minds around.

pcslim: Good point. Obsessive compulsive types have a hard time with lots of concepts in life. As for active shooter drills, they make no sense. There's no way to plan for random events. There are so many scenarios that could occur that it's better to just go with the flow. At best these drills are a waste of time and at worst they may traumatize children.

Good point about traumatizing children. There was a lot of talk about the trauma caused by the earthquakes. This active shooter drill stuff sounds worse to me. A couple basic, short videos should be more than enough. Just fulfill state requirements and leave it at that.

twister: Apparently some people have a hard time just leaving it at that. For them if something can be done then it should be done even if it would be better to do nothing. Some people act before they think and others think before they act.

Face it. A lot of people who become teachers are obsessive-compulsive. They just gotta do something and they want to make an impression and shape young minds and all that stuff. They're basically good people, but sometimes they just don't seem to understand when they are doing more harm than good.

That's the problem with a lot of people: They do more harm than good and they are deluded enough to not realize it.

Congressional medals have been given to people who have done more harm than good countless times. It's a common mistake and it often goes unnoticed. To err is human and when you f*** up royally you deserve an award for your contributions to humanity! Or at least that's how it seems. And then there are those cases where people who actually do something positive for humankind wind up in prison. Sometimes it seems that true justice is just a fantasy.

I suppose it would be possible to have so many drills that hardly anytime got spent on the usual school subjects. Is the point of school to learn stuff or to just have a drill for this and a drill for that all day long?