TJUSD - Educational Disaster Zone

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Re: TJUSD - Educational Disaster Zone

Postby mrfish » Thu Dec 15, 2022 8:23 am

The school has plenty of money. It should easily have enough to send any student that wants to go to school in Ridgecrest there by bus. Whether the schools in Ridgecrest have room for more students, I don't know. But parents should have the right to ensure their children get a good education and they shouldn't be held hostage by a bunch of idiots running things in a small town in the middle of the desert. I'd be surprised if in all the schools in Ridgecrest there are as many uncredentialed teachers as there are in Trona. The name of this thread describes perfectly what's going on in Trona.
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Re: TJUSD - Educational Disaster Zone

Postby tronagirl » Sat Dec 17, 2022 6:57 am

This is from another thread, but it's worth reposting:
shotgunmary wrote:
twister wrote:Here's a little update on the teacher who hugs too much. This afternoon on FB a bunch of people had a few things to say about her and names were named, but I'll leave that out. The parents of some kids who attend the elementary shared their thoughts and much of it is based on reports from students who have observed this strange behavior going on at the school. They said that the lady who hugs too much basically stalks certain kids and goes out of her way to hug, squeeze, and poke them. She has a small group of favorites, but she seems to be particularly obsessed with a little blond boy. The students who have seen all this going on also said that they are quite sure that the superintendent is a perv since he allows this stuff to go on. A few concerns about COVID were mentioned, but mostly people seemed surprised that a teacher was allowed to hug kids in such an intimate manner and that the superintendent not only allows it, but seems to get off on it!

Obviously this lady cares more about her own perverted gratification than the health, safety, and welfare of the children at the school! She should be tarred and feathered and run out of town on a rail! There's no place for a person like this in any kind of situation involving children. The thought that she was given a leadership position at the school despite her complete lack of qualifications indicates to me that there is something totally dysfunctional going on at the school. The county needs to come in and kick the clowns and their comrades out!

There are rumors regarding this person that are quite troubling. I've heard the name of the little blond boy and I won't repeat it, but the rumors are specific enough to seem credible. I have two friends who moved out of Trona primarily to keep their children safe from this kind of predatory behavior which is being overlooked by the idiot in charge and the halfwits on the school board.
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Re: TJUSD - Educational Disaster Zone

Postby panamint_patty » Fri Dec 23, 2022 1:47 pm

mrfish wrote:The school has plenty of money. It should easily have enough to send any student that wants to go to school in Ridgecrest there by bus. Whether the schools in Ridgecrest have room for more students, I don't know. But parents should have the right to ensure their children get a good education and they shouldn't be held hostage by a bunch of idiots running things in a small town in the middle of the desert. I'd be surprised if in all the schools in Ridgecrest there are as many uncredentialed teachers as there are in Trona. The name of this thread describes perfectly what's going on in Trona.

It's my understanding that the district has at least $10M in its cash reserves. That number could be significantly higher, but at the very minimum there's $10M. The school board doesn't like that fact to be widely shared since they want to have full control over how that money gets spent, but it's reasonable to say that the public should have more say in how the money is spent and buses to take students to Ridgecrest would be a good way to spend the money. Every child deserves to have the best education possible and with somewhere over 33% of the teaching staff in Trona being uncredentialed, I'd say that sending students to Ridgecrest would be an excellent way of putting that money to good use!
Why do low-income schools have more uncredentialed teachers?
Good question! Seems like a problem that should be solved, not ignored!
https://edsource.org/podcast/why-do-low-income-schools-have-more-uncredentialed-teachers
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Re: TJUSD - Educational Disaster Zone

Postby twister » Thu Dec 29, 2022 5:51 am

If the school has plenty of money, then it ought to be put to work to improve the education of all the students attending the school. Obviously, a very large portion of the staff is unqualified, under-qualified, inexperienced, and/or ineffective, and so it makes sense to make arrangements for students to have the option of attending a school which can deliver a quality education. Providing transportation to Ridgecrest for those who wish to have a quality educational experience not only makes sense, but it seems like the ethical thing to do under these circumstances. I've heard that the school board wants to build a new high school, but that's obviously a waste of money. If they can't even find qualified teachers to teach, then what's the point of having a new facility!
:smack:
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Re: TJUSD - Educational Disaster Zone

Postby tronagirl » Sun Jan 01, 2023 6:21 am

We definitely need school choice: Darla Romfo
Parents should file a lawsuit against the school in Trona to force it to pay for free busing to Ridgecrest. The school thinks parents have no choice and so they are making no attempt to hire qualified teachers. There are no do-overs in your child's education!
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Re: TJUSD - Educational Disaster Zone

Postby shadylady » Fri Jan 06, 2023 6:53 am

I've read over posts in this thread and a couple other threads and I will summarize some of the obvious problems with TJUSD:
1) The superintendent is not very smart. Although the guy has a PhD, it appears that he was awarded it in order to fulfill a quota. Nothing he has done while working for the district has shown the least indication of intelligence.
2) The superintendent is afraid of confrontation. He realizes that there are lots of people pissed off about the state of the school and so he avoids public events (such as sports events) in order to avoid being yelled at. His feewings are very delicate.
3) The superintendent is vindictive. The guy abuses his position to get back at people who challenge him in the slightest way conceivable.
4) The K-12 coordinator is unqualified. She does not have a valid teaching credential and she is not very smart. Many teachers consider her the least qualified person on the staff and the fact that she was made the K-12 coordinator indicates a serious lack of judgement on the part of the school board.
5) Four highly qualified teachers either retired or took jobs elsewhere as of June 2022 and it appears that they were sick and tired of working for unintelligent leadership. (Two other highly qualified teachers left during the previous year.)
6) Currently many classes have uncredentialed teachers and these teachers are struggling to provide instruction to students. The district has made no effort to retain or recruit qualified teachers.
7) As a result many parents are angry about the poor education being provided for their children by the school district and would like the district to pay for transportation to Ridgecrest where their children can be enrolled in classrooms run by qualified teachers.
8) The guy who was principle last year was canned for no apparent reason other than that the current superintendent was intimidated by him. The former principal is now a teacher. Most people on the staff and in the town are baffled as to why the superintendent was retained while the former principal was fired.
9) There is an interesting financial scandal unfolding involving three family members (a guy on the school board, a financial officer for the district, and the head of the maintenance department) which reminds many people of the scandal which happened many years ago at the local credit union, which no longer exists in Trona.
10) The school board insists on building a new high school which will cost millions of dollars despite the fact that it makes more sense to bus kids to Ridgecrest. A better education for less money seems like the responsible thing to do. Instead the school board wants to bring back the good old days in order to make their selfish fantasies into an expensive and wasteful reality.
If I missed anything let me know! There's a lot to cover!
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Re: TJUSD - Educational Disaster Zone

Postby deathvalleyjake » Fri Jan 06, 2023 1:54 pm

shadylady: I'll summarize your summary:
1-3: The superintendent lacks leadership skills. Basically, he's a pussy.
4: The K-12 coordinator is a ditz and was appointed to the position because the school board likes her.
5-7: Intelligent people have left the district since smart people don't like being told what to do by stupid people. Parents have started to notice this.
8: The former principal didn't kiss the school board's ass hard enough, but he's still around and potentially dangerous.
9: Nepotism and corruption go hand in hand. Nuff said.
10: Rather than doing what's best for the students of the school, the school board is all about reliving the past.
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Re: TJUSD - Educational Disaster Zone

Postby wabbit » Thu Jan 19, 2023 6:54 am

tronagirl wrote:
twister wrote:
Coyote wrote:Curious how many parents in Trona are being notified that their child is in a classroom with an unqualified teacher. Sierra Sands just sent out these notices which are required by law.

Do the notices go out to just the parents of kids who are in classrooms with unqualified teachers or do all parents get a list of all the teachers who are unqualified? What I've heard is that the teachers for FIRST, SECOND, FOURTH, and FIFTH grades are currently unqualified. Also the K-12 Coordinator is not fully credentialed. I've heard some vague claims about teachers at the high school, but it sounds like over half of the teachers at the elementary are not qualified and some of them are far from qualified.

So the info I have is that the two teachers who retired were hired during the 1980s. Both were fed up with Dr. Airhead and the moronic school board is what I was told. The second grade teacher (who not only had a credential to teach elementary school, but also had a reading specialist certification) took a job with Sierra Sands and the fifth grade teacher took a job with the charter school in Ridgecrest. It would be in the best interest of students to commute to Ridgecrest if at all possible. A bus should be provided for those who would like to do so. It's criminal what the idiots in charge have done to the schools in Trona during the past couple years!

The school district should have offered bonuses to retain highly qualified teachers or maybe a substantial raise. Allowing students to be taught by unqualified individuals is ridiculous. Someone told me that the second grade teacher actually has a teaching credential, but you'd never guess it based on how she runs her classroom. They say she's struggling and loses it fairly often with the kids. If you can't handle second graders, then you've gotta be a pretty pathetic teacher and that's what I've heard about that lady.
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Re: TJUSD - Educational Disaster Zone

Postby panamint_patty » Sat Jan 21, 2023 6:57 pm

Check The Facts (Drama Queen of the Year)
Visiting with some teacher friends who work over in Ridgecrest one of them brought up this video. Someone suggested that the superintendent here in Trona is a lot like Joe Biden and the K-12 coordinator is a lot like AOC. Apparently there's a lot of gossip about the situation in Trona and people are aware how the proprietor of this website left the district as the result of harassment by the superintendent and the school board. This video is pretty funny, unless you're a fan of AOC, Biden, and other prominent democrats. Biden is portrayed as a cross-dresser who identifies as a six-year-old girl and AOC is referred to as an airhead and a drama queen in the suggested video included at the end of this video. One of the teachers who has met the K-12 coordinator said that the comparison to AOC as portrayed in the song is spot on. One of the non-teachers at our little get together said she'd quit her job if she had a boss as stupid as the superintendent in Trona. There was a lot of joking, but in reality it's sad that Trona is in such sad shape.
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Re: TJUSD - Educational Disaster Zone

Postby sandman » Thu Jan 26, 2023 5:53 am

twister wrote:If the school has plenty of money, then it ought to be put to work to improve the education of all the students attending the school. Obviously, a very large portion of the staff is unqualified, under-qualified, inexperienced, and/or ineffective, and so it makes sense to make arrangements for students to have the option of attending a school which can deliver a quality education. Providing transportation to Ridgecrest for those who wish to have a quality educational experience not only makes sense, but it seems like the ethical thing to do under these circumstances. I've heard that the school board wants to build a new high school, but that's obviously a waste of money. If they can't even find qualified teachers to teach, then what's the point of having a new facility!
:smack:

There are simple solutions to problems and there are unnecessarily complicated ways of dealing the bad situations. You're right that it makes sense to just bus students to Ridgecrest. This is especially true at the high school, but if the school can't find qualified teachers for the lower grades, then maybe those kids should be bused also.
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