TJUSD Board Meeting - April 12, 2018

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

TJUSD Board Meeting - April 12, 2018

Postby blackturtle.us » Sat Apr 14, 2018 10:45 am

This meeting lasted about one and a half hours. There was a fair number of people present at the beginning of the meeting, but very few people stayed all the way to the end of the meeting.

MEETING HIGHLIGHTS:
1) A student representative updated the board on various high school activities. Board members shared a few items including info about an upcoming "Cornhole Tournament", a bike rodeo, and a senior center 55-inch TV raffle.
2) TTA Report - A teacher shared with the board regarding a recent Computer Using Educators (CUE) conference she attended (and which the district paid for). She had a visual presentation prepared and provided info about lots of educational technology gadgets and software for use in the classroom including robotics, 3D printing, coding activities, and virtual reality simulations. Some of the items were quite expensive, but many were completely affordable.
3) Superintendent Report - The superintendent reported to the board about upcoming interviews for new teachers, new lighting being installed throughout the district, increasing campus security, a threat assessment to be conducted by county sheriffs, an active shooter presentation, and a building structure report. As most people know, the high school is very old and there are concerns about the stability of the buildings. For instance, the gymnasium floor slants and one end appears to be slowly sinking due to its proximity to the dry (on the surface) lake. [EXTRA INFO: The local chemical plant pumps fluid in and out of the dry lake and this activity seems to have resulted in damage to the foundations of many buildings at the high school.]
4) Charter School Report - A representative from California STEAM San Bernardino gave a report to the board. CA STEAM is a charter school sponsored by TJUSD. The representative talked about the types of students served by his organization, enrollment growth over the last couple years, a bit about his teaching staff, and about payments being made to TJUSD as part of the sponsorship deal. He also talked about expansions planned for the future and a petition to get TJUSD to sponsor these expansions. The superintendent responded by explaining to the board that the petition will be thoroughly vetted and that they will have a chance to decide on whether or not to sponsor the expansions at a future meeting.
5) High School Principal - Announced to the board a successful WASC three-year one-day revisit recently completed. This means that for the next three years the high school is officially accredited. The longest term given is a six year term with a one-day revisit at the halfway point. That revisit was recently completed. The high school principal also talked about the need to bring up math scores at the high school and proposed increasing the requirement of two years of math courses to three years as a solution to the problem.
6) Several items approved including employment of lifeguards, substitute teacher, senior trip itinerary, etc. One item pertaining to financial matters was tabled until next month.
NEXT REGULAR MEETING: May 10
User avatar
blackturtle.us
Cantankerous Mule
 
Posts: 279
Joined: Fri Sep 28, 2012 12:20 pm
Location: Turtle Town

Re: TJUSD Board Meeting - April 12, 2018

Postby wildrose » Sat Apr 14, 2018 11:48 am

Teachers fired after caught verbally abusing autistic boy on tape
The comments made in the presence of the child are not inappropriate. The other comment was made in private and is therefore irrelevant. Private schools can do whatever they want to since they are not accountable to the law in the same way that public schools are held accountable. The evidence presented in this video does not support firing the teacher or the aide. However, it does support a lawsuit against the parent as the parent clearly and without any question violated the law. In fact, criminal charges could be filed against the parent in this case.
User avatar
wildrose
Prehistoric Fossil
 
Posts: 1396
Joined: Mon Oct 01, 2012 10:41 pm
Location: middle of nowhere

Re: Inappropriate Comments?

Postby MojaveMike » Mon Apr 16, 2018 8:33 am

wildrose: Seems like a big deal over nothing. The educators were blunt, but not actually rude to the boy and I agree that what they said outside of the presence of the boy is irrelevant. The mother should be arrested and the educators should also file a lawsuit against her. I'd also releave her of custody of the boy since it's obvious that she was using the kid to gain online notoriety. Pathetic!
User avatar
MojaveMike
Prehistoric Fossil
 
Posts: 1142
Joined: Mon Oct 01, 2012 3:51 pm
Location: Middle of Nowhere

Re: Inappropriate Comments?

Postby panamint_patty » Tue Apr 17, 2018 8:46 am

Parents say way worse things all the time. Even the best parents treat their own kids worse and say worse things about their kids quite frequently. None of that is anything close to any kind of abuse. So, why would teachers be punished for what is fairly normal treatment of children? It's hard to even construe what the teachers said in the presence of the child as anything more than stern. And what was said away from the child is tame compared to the kinds of things parents say about their own kids and their friends' kids all the time. The wire-tapping part of the situation is a huge problem and that's really the only part of the story that is of any real interest.
User avatar
panamint_patty
Prehistoric Fossil
 
Posts: 1203
Joined: Mon Oct 01, 2012 1:23 pm
Location: T-Town

Re: TJUSD Board Meeting - April 12, 2018

Postby cactuspete » Tue Apr 17, 2018 5:24 pm

blackturtle.us wrote:5) High School Principal - Announced to the board a successful WASC three-year one-day revisit recently completed. This means that for the next three years the high school is officially accredited. The longest term given is a six year term with a one-day revisit at the halfway point. That revisit was recently completed. The high school principal also talked about the need to bring up math scores at the high school and proposed increasing the requirement of two years of math courses to three years as a solution to the problem.

Math is required only two out of four years? That's ridiculous. Students should be required to take math all four years! Graduation requirements have been lowered way too much already. We don't expect nearly enough out of kids these days.
User avatar
cactuspete
Prehistoric Fossil
 
Posts: 1277
Joined: Mon Oct 01, 2012 11:14 am
Location: The Boonies

Re: High School Math

Postby desertrat » Thu Apr 19, 2018 8:40 am

cactuspete: Two years? What kind of job can you be prepared to do with only two years of high school math? How can you be prepared for college without two years of algebra, a year of geometry, and a year of trigonometry? Calculus can wait until college, but to graduate students without at least three years of math is beyond crazy. It's insane and lowers the value of a high school credential!
User avatar
desertrat
Prehistoric Fossil
 
Posts: 1256
Joined: Tue Oct 02, 2012 7:22 am
Location: BFE

Re: High School Math

Postby pcslim » Fri Apr 20, 2018 8:19 am

Burger flippers don't need a lot of math. There are lots of menial jobs that require little or no education. Of course, nearly all those jobs can be filled by robots and so it might not be a bad idea to take as much math and science during high school as possible!
User avatar
pcslim
Lonesome Miner
 
Posts: 543
Joined: Tue Oct 02, 2012 8:24 pm
Location: Exact coordinates unknown

Re: TJUSD Board Meeting - April 12, 2018

Postby panamint_patty » Fri Apr 20, 2018 8:30 pm

Fifth graders could face charges after kidnapping hoax
Seriously not funny!
User avatar
panamint_patty
Prehistoric Fossil
 
Posts: 1203
Joined: Mon Oct 01, 2012 1:23 pm
Location: T-Town

Re: TJUSD Board Meeting - April 12, 2018

Postby twister » Sat Apr 21, 2018 6:30 am

Students Walk Out In Memory Of Columbine Victims
I haven't heard if students at local schools participated in this event or not? Anyone know what happened in Ridgecrest, Trona, Lone Pine, California City, etc.?
User avatar
twister
Backcountry Hiker
 
Posts: 771
Joined: Tue Aug 05, 2014 1:21 pm
Location: John 3:8

Re: TJUSD Board Meeting - April 12, 2018

Postby panamint_patty » Sat Apr 21, 2018 7:54 am

Seven students arrested following violent assault captured on video
Violent felons should be put away for life no matter what their age! (Okay! I'll back off that slightly and say that kids that weigh less than 100 pounds should be an exception to that rule. I'd go with age as the criteria, but anyone who weighs more than 100 pounds needs to know how to control their aggression.)
User avatar
panamint_patty
Prehistoric Fossil
 
Posts: 1203
Joined: Mon Oct 01, 2012 1:23 pm
Location: T-Town

Next

Return to Local News

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 63 guests