TJUSD Board Meeting - December 12, 2013

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TJUSD Board Meeting - December 12, 2013

Postby blackturtle.us » Thu Dec 12, 2013 8:14 pm

The board meeting went one hour and eighteen minutes tonight and lots of interesting information was presented. Other than a couple parents and students who were present during the early part of the meeting, all in attendance were either staff or board members. The following are the highlights of the meeting as I saw them:

1) The Parent Project - Ruth Soto presented information about a parenting class which will be offered by the district. The course will focus on raising difficult and out-of-control children and will be twelve weeks long. More specifically, topics will include family conflict, poor school attendance, drug use, violent behavior, teen suicide, as well as other issues. A book called "Changing Destructive Adolescent Behavior" will be used with the course, which is described as a skill-building program for parents designed to help them to develop parenting skills. During a promotional video for the parenting class, a parent who had been through the course described it as "swimming lessons for parents who are drowning." For more information on this course, contact the school district.

2) Common Core State Standards (CCSS) - Superintendent David Olney talked at some length about the new standards. He provided an overview of the organization of the standards, talked about anchor standards for various subjects, and showed how they provide a clear and consistent focus throughout the K-12 curriculum. He presented examples pertaining to reading, writing, speaking/listening, language arts, and mathematics, comparing specific standards between grade levels to show how instruction should progress year to year throughout students' K-12 experience. Regarding mathematics he talked about a shift towards "integrated math" and said he would talk more on this topic in an upcoming board meeting. Mr. Olney also went over steps being taken by the district to implement CCSS. Additionally he mentioned that Google Drive will be used to help teachers to collaborate and work to implement the new standards.

3) Community, Collaboration, Capacity for the TJUSD - Mr. Olney presented his goals for the district. His goals fell into the following categories: 1) Productive relationship with board, 2) Accelerated instructional achievement, 3) Public trust and confidence, 4) Organizational effectiveness and efficiency, and 5) Facilities and infrastructure.

4) Following Mr. Olney's presentations, Diana Garrison (Board President) acknowledged the work done by the staff to implement CCSS and asked the superintendent to share with the staff her appreciation for their effort.

5) A vote of 2 yeas, 1 nay, and 2 abstains was taken regarding a proposal to hire a named individual to fill a custodial position. No discussion occurred in the public portion of the meeting and so there was no explanation provided regarding this vote.

6) Dawn McMillen (Business Manager) presented information on a recent actuarial study regarding the district's financial status. One item discussed was retiree health care liability. The current projected cost is $1.8M. The actuarial study showed that district already has enough money set aside to cover these costs. Another item covered in the report was lower than expected ADA during the 2012-2013 school year. Ms. McMillen explained that this was due to a particularly severe flu outbreak, but that the district is taking steps to increase attendance, mostly through the use of incentives.

7) Local Control Accountability Plan - Finally Mr. Olney talked some about recent changes in the way that school districts in California are being funded. He cautioned that the restructuring might make it appear that there is more money in the general fund due to the elimination of various categorical funds, but that the district is still responsible for funding programs as before.

NEXT MEETING: January 9, 2014
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Re: TJUSD Board Meeting - December 12, 2013

Postby tronagirl » Fri Dec 13, 2013 8:57 am

The Parent Project sounds like a great idea. I know several people with kids who are out of control and these are people who should know better, but they give into the kids all the time. Parents need to be in charge and kids need to know their place. Any other way and there's going to be trouble! Parents need to step up and just do their job, plain and simple.
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Re: TJUSD Board Meeting - December 12, 2013

Postby wildrose » Sat Dec 14, 2013 7:48 am

blackturtle.us wrote:1) The Parent Project - Ruth Soto presented information about a parenting class which will be offered by the district. The course will focus on raising difficult and out-of-control children and will be twelve weeks long. More specifically, topics will include family conflict, poor school attendance, drug use, violent behavior, teen suicide, as well as other issues. A book called "Changing Destructive Adolescent Behavior" will be used with the course, which is described as a skill-building program for parents designed to help them to develop parenting skills. During a promotional video for the parenting class, a parent who had been through the course described it as "swimming lessons for parents who are drowning." For more information on this course, contact the school district.

Sounds like a great opportunity for parents who have difficult children. Kids who don't take advantage of the opportunity to learn at school lose out on other opportunities in life. By allowing children to behave poorly and not try their hardest while at school, parents cheat their children out of future happiness.
tronagirl wrote:The Parent Project sounds like a great idea. I know several people with kids who are out of control and these are people who should know better, but they give into the kids all the time. Parents need to be in charge and kids need to know their place. Any other way and there's going to be trouble! Parents need to step up and just do their job, plain and simple.

Being a parent is not an easy job and unfortunately many people become parents who are not ready to raise a child. Any male-female pair of fertile idiots can make a baby, but that has little to do with whether or not they are ready to care for and nurture that baby. However, it's always good to learn new skills and so a class like this can give parents of difficult children a chance to change their parenting strategies and help their child.
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Re: TJUSD Board Meeting - December 12, 2013

Postby pcslim » Sun Dec 15, 2013 7:38 am

Boy Meets Girl, Boy Kisses Girl, Boy Accused Of Sexual Harassment :wtf:
What kind of idiot would make a big deal over a 6-year-old doing something like this? This kind of over-reaction could potentially have devastating effects on a young kid, but in this case it looks like the situation is being turned around and the stupid administrator responsible for this stunt is going to be dragged through the mud and hopefully he'll lose his job since someone who would suspend a kid for sexual harassment over an incident like this should NOT be allowed to work with children!
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Re: TJUSD Board Meeting - December 12, 2013

Postby panamint_patty » Mon Dec 16, 2013 8:37 am

re Sexual Harassment: I'm going to play Devil's advocate and suggest that maybe the administrator had no choice other than to suspend the kid because of the way the rules were written for his school. It could be that he consulted a lawyer and the lawyer advised him as to what he was required to do. If the kid in the video weren't so cute people probably would be a lot less sympathetic and so in order to be fair to everyone the rules had to be followed to the letter. Having said all that I think most administrators would have had the common sense to let this one go, but common sense does not always prevail!
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Re: TJUSD Board Meeting - December 12, 2013

Postby shadylady » Sat Dec 21, 2013 9:05 am

Panamint_Patty: I doubt that the rules were specific enough for the administrator to have no choice. He made a judgment call and it was a stupid judgment call. People like that should not be allowed near kids. There has to be some common sense applied to situations like this and as far as I'm concerned this situation is impossible to explain away!
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Re: TJUSD Board Meeting - December 12, 2013

Postby wildrose » Tue Dec 24, 2013 9:19 am

Las Flores teacher: Common Core does not fit all
I have several friends who are retired teachers and I know a few people who are still in the profession and everything I've heard about the Common Core has been positive. At least everyone seems to agree that it is an improvement over the old No Child Left Behind requirements. The biggest complaint that people had about NCLB was that it put too much emphasis on testing. The Common Core is supposed to reduce the reliance on standardized testing, but the person who is featured in this article seems to think differently. She doesn't seem to really know much about the Common Core, but the Daily Insufficient wrote the article using her as the only source of information. No fact-checking. No opinions offered by people who actually know what they are talking about. The whole article is just focused around the opinion of one poorly-informed person.
:upset:
New nationwide educational standards are rapidly approaching full implementation in the classroom. The new standards, called Common Core, will raise the bar for academic achievement, but according to one educator on the front lines as a fourth grade teacher, the new standards are also causing undue stress and anxiety on the kids. The need to score well on these tests is also becoming a drag on curriculum and kids are getting bored and losing interest.

LINK: http://www.ridgecrestca.com/article/20131218/NEWS/131219726/0/SEARCH
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Re: TJUSD Board Meeting - December 12, 2013

Postby CactusHugger » Wed Dec 25, 2013 7:58 am

wildrose: Well, that's why they're called the Daily Insufficient! Normally in an article like this the reporter would talk to several people and sort out the information into an informative article. It doesn't make a lot of sense to write an article based on the opinions of a single classroom teacher. The school district in Ridgecrest has got to have 30 or 40 people who know far more about this topic and so why does the reporter dedicate an article to the views of just one teacher? Just because she presents a different take on the topic, doesn't necessarily make her opinions newsworthy, or does it?
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Re: TJUSD Board Meeting - December 12, 2013

Postby mrgreen » Wed Dec 25, 2013 1:54 pm

CactusHugger wrote:wildrose: Well, that's why they're called the Daily Insufficient! Normally in an article like this the reporter would talk to several people and sort out the information into an informative article. It doesn't make a lot of sense to write an article based on the opinions of a single classroom teacher. The school district in Ridgecrest has got to have 30 or 40 people who know far more about this topic and so why does the reporter dedicate an article to the views of just one teacher? Just because she presents a different take on the topic, doesn't necessarily make her opinions newsworthy, or does it?

It's pretty predictable what the so-called experts are going to say on this topic. They're experts because they support the changes (otherwise they wouldn't have invested much time in it) and since they work for an organization dedicated to implementing this Common Core stuff, they're not going to say anything negative. So, it's a waste of time to talk to people from the school district and it makes a lot of sense to provide a platform for someone who is a critic of the changes so she can express her opinions. The problem here is that if she is inaccurate in her assessment of the Common Core that she becomes a strawman (or straw-woman) and inadvertently winds up indirectly lending support to the changes. I doubt that the reporter thought very deeply about the situation and he probably just decided to write the story in hopes that it would rub some people the wrong way and stir up controversy and thus attract the attention of lots of potential readers.
:roll2:
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Re: TJUSD Board Meeting - December 12, 2013

Postby wildrose » Sat Dec 28, 2013 9:09 am

Sierra Sands Schools release annual blueprints
This may be one of the best articles I've ever seen in the Daily Independent. It may not be earth-shattering news, but it's good solid reporting. It provides essential information and it does so in a clear and concise manner. The process through which schools go to demonstrate to the state that they are attempting to improve the education provided to students is interesting to know about and should be of interest to anyone who has a child enrolled in public schools here in California.
School site personnel and School Site Councils have been meeting this fall to analyze data, update instructional program priorities, and revise Single Plans for Student Achievement. A major component in Single Plans is setting annual growth targets using STAR results. Since the state is in transition and state testing has been suspended this year, schools will not have data to determine annual growth or set annual targets.

LINK: http://www.ridgecrestca.com/article/20131226/NEWS/131229893
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