TJUSD School Board Meeting - April 11, 2013

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TJUSD School Board Meeting - April 11, 2013

Postby blackturtle.us » Thu Apr 11, 2013 7:49 pm

There were not many people at the meeting tonight and although it started fifteen minutes late, it was still relatively short. Here are the agenda items which I thought were particularly important.

1. During board member comments Trisha Funke shared information regarding some upcoming events sponsored by TronaCare. Five abandoned house demolitions are planned in the near future, with three or four more following in a month. Also there is a clean up scheduled for this Saturday (April 13). On top of that a couple properties will be taken down by hand late in May. If my count is correct, a total of ten or eleven abandoned houses will be dispensed with during the next couple months.

2. Superintendent's Report - David Olney discussed a number of issues:
a. FCMAT reviewed Food Services and made positive comments regarding the cafeteria. However, some recommendations are expected in the forthcoming official report. During discussion of this item several comments were made about federally imposed restrictions and requirements regarding food selection and nutrition. For instance, the federal government is banning white bread and white pasta and mandating that fruit and vegetable quotas be met. Board members agreed that it is difficult for the cafeteria to offer inexpensive, palatable food and to meet these requirements. The name of Michelle Obama was mentioned at least once during this discussion.
b. VERIZON - School bandwidth to be increased to 100 Mbs (upload and download speed) effective July 1st, 2013. New wiring is being installed to facilitate this boost in speed and this wiring can handle up to 1 Gbs if the district decides to pay extra for that much bandwidth. During discussion of this item there were questions about Digital 395 and Olney explained that the current upgrade has nothing to do with Digital 395, but that he is looking into the possibility of taking advantage of Digital 395 if that becomes possible at some point.
c. Strategic Plan for District / Governor's Proposed Budget 2013-14 - Olney talked at length about changes to school funding proposed by Governor Brown. The presentation was well-organized and detailed. The governor is proposing quite a few changes and Olney listed off quite a few acronyms in the process of explaining these changes. One acronym which came up several times was LCFF (Local Control Funding Formula). Tom Hopper also shared information on how these changes may impact ROP (Regional Occupational Program) or CTE (Career Technology Education).

3. Public Comments - Lana McCullar stated that she has talked to several students who are dropping out of the high school and transferring to Opportunities For Learning in Ridgecrest. She hopes that the district is looking into ways of retaining students at the high school. A few people mentioned in regards to this topic that Opportunities For Learning may become a charter school at some point in the future, or at least that there is a rumor floating around to that effect.

4. Certificated Staff Negotiations - It was announced that negotiations between the Trona Teachers Association (TTA) and TJUSD have begun and that the topics to be discussed include Health and Welfare, Compensation, Teachers Evaluations, Teacher Hours, and Leaves.

Next Regular Board Meeting: Thursday, May 9, 2013 at 6 p.m.
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Re: TJUSD School Board Meeting - April 11, 2013

Postby wildrose » Fri Apr 12, 2013 8:11 am

blackturtle.us wrote:1. During board member comments Trisha Funke shared information regarding some upcoming events sponsored by TronaCare. Five abandoned house demolitions are planned in the near future, with three or four more following in a month. Also there is a clean up scheduled for this Saturday (April 13). On top of that a couple properties will be taken down by hand late in May. If my count is correct, a total of ten or eleven abandoned houses will be dispensed with during the next couple months.

Here's a link to Trona Care. They don't update their website very often, but there is some info posted there about upcoming events.
LINK: http://www.tronacare.com/
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Re: TJUSD School Board Meeting - April 11, 2013

Postby desertrat » Sat Apr 13, 2013 8:39 am

blackturtle.us wrote: VERIZON - School bandwidth to be increased to 100 Mbs (upload and download speed) effective July 1st, 2013. New wiring is being installed to facilitate this boost in speed and this wiring can handle up to 1 Gbs if the district decides to pay extra for that much bandwidth. During discussion of this item there were questions about Digital 395 and Olney explained that the current upgrade has nothing to do with Digital 395, but that he is looking into the possibility of taking advantage of Digital 395 if that becomes possible at some point.

That's some awesome bandwidth there! I wish I could get that at my house! (For a reasonable price of course.)
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Re: TJUSD School Board Meeting - April 11, 2013

Postby MojaveMike » Sat Apr 13, 2013 12:59 pm

desertrat wrote:
blackturtle.us wrote: VERIZON - School bandwidth to be increased to 100 Mbs (upload and download speed) effective July 1st, 2013. New wiring is being installed to facilitate this boost in speed and this wiring can handle up to 1 Gbs if the district decides to pay extra for that much bandwidth. During discussion of this item there were questions about Digital 395 and Olney explained that the current upgrade has nothing to do with Digital 395, but that he is looking into the possibility of taking advantage of Digital 395 if that becomes possible at some point.

That's some awesome bandwidth there! I wish I could get that at my house! (For a reasonable price of course.)
:pac:

If the school can get that kind of throughput, then new equipment must have been installed which means that everyone in town should be able to upgrade to high speed internet. Anyone have any info on whether or not faster internet is now available in town to private residences? I've been stuck at 3 Mbs for a couple years now!
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Re: TJUSD School Board Meeting - April 11, 2013

Postby surfsteve » Sun Apr 14, 2013 5:33 am

I am supposed to be getting 8mbs. I checked the speed yesterday and it was only about 6 though.
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Re: TJUSD School Board Meeting - April 11, 2013

Postby wildrose » Mon Apr 15, 2013 6:56 am

Teacher Quits - 'Legislators Sold Children Out'
Some of the examples shared by these two commentators are pretty lame, but the general discussion is good just the same. This is a good example of how someone can have a good grasp of the general concepts (standardized testing is bad), but not really understand the specifics underlying that premise.
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Re: TJUSD School Board Meeting - April 11, 2013

Postby surfsteve » Mon Apr 15, 2013 10:47 am

TYT is against standardized tests but for the wrong reasons. Students should be encouraged to specialize. Not all be standardized into a one fits all mold. Especially considering the wide range of specialized skills needed in today's job market. The guy gives a great example of how he became interested in math as soon as it became relevant and interesting to him but then completely looses my respect when he fails to grasp the basic concept of abstract logic. Perhaps I am expecting too much from a political group that pretends to be a news show.
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Re: TJUSD School Board Meeting - April 11, 2013

Postby CrustyOldFart » Mon Apr 15, 2013 2:24 pm

surfsteve wrote:TYT is against standardized tests but for the wrong reasons. Students should be encouraged to specialize. Not all be standardized into a one fits all mold. Especially considering the wide range of specialized skills needed in today's job market. The guy gives a great example of how he became interested in math as soon as it became relevant and interesting to him but then completely looses my respect when he fails to grasp the basic concept of abstract logic. Perhaps I am expecting too much from a political group that pretends to be a news show.

TYT definitely have a progressive liberal agenda, but they don't promote that agenda nearly as hard as Fox promotes their version of some kind of conservative agenda. There are very few, if any, straight news organizations in existence at this time and so it's necessary to take pretty much everything you hear with a large grain of salt. I also have to agree with what you say about the fella's inability to grasp basic abstract logic. Too many commentators nowadays express themselves emotionally in a way that connects with people in the audience who need that kind of fluff to the detriment of strong analysis and a thorough examination of the facts.
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Re: TJUSD School Board Meeting - April 11, 2013

Postby cactuspete » Fri Apr 19, 2013 4:24 pm

No one thinks it’s going to happen at their school — until it does
Despite all the hype about shootings at school, they are actually incredibly rare. In fact, kids are safer at school than anywhere else according to this article.
School is still the safest place:
Approximately 300,000 Americans are injured each year by guns.
Approximately 30,000 Americans are killed each year by guns.
Approximately 3,000 children/youth are killed each year by guns.
Approximately 15 to 30 students are killed in school or on school grounds each year by guns. The number has been steadily declining over the past decade.
In other words, although children spend more than half of their waking hours at school, school deaths account for about 1/2 of 1% of gun-related children deaths in America.

LINK: http://www.cta.org/en/Professional-Development/Publications/2013/02/February-2013/Taft.aspx
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Re: TJUSD School Board Meeting - April 11, 2013

Postby wildrose » Mon Apr 22, 2013 10:43 am

Occupy The Department of Education
The key point here is that corporate involvement in public education is undermining the effectiveness of public education. Corporate influence on bureaucrats has resulted in educational policy which works to further corporate goals: First make it appear that public education is ineffective and then allow corporations to take over control of more and more school systems. It's a recipe for corporate profiteering at the expense of children throughout the country and it's a recipe for disaster!
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