TJUSD Board Meeting - July 21, 2014

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

TJUSD Board Meeting - July 21, 2014

Postby blackturtle.us » Tue Jul 22, 2014 10:07 am

Besides members of the board and school employees, one member of the general public (a parent with children attending school here) attended this meeting.

1) Volunteer Recognition - Mr. Olney recognized those who had volunteered time to the district during the 2013 - 2014 school year. Punch and cookies were served.

2) Summer Projects - Mr. Olney read an extensive list of projects being completed this summer. Here are just three items that were listed: disposal of 3 pallets of e-waste, bleachers serviced, cafeteria electrical repairs.

3) Facility Plan - Mr. Olney discussed a facility assessment project in which an architectural firm is inspecting the campuses and making recommendations for maintenance tasks. The items on this list will be prioritized and sequenced so that the district can efficiently use funds to address facility issues. Most major projects require approval of a state agency and the approval process takes at least six months, usually longer, and so most projects will not be completed right away, but Mr. Olney advised the board regarding facility issues and asked for them to give him the go-ahead on the assessment project. They did.

4) Demolition of Old Elementary - This is a very expensive project which involves removal of 45,000 sq ft of building space. Everything, including slabs, will be removed to a depth of 24 inches. Utilities will be capped, items will be salvaged/recycled as per state regulations, asbestos will be dealt with safely, the area will be graded, etc. Total Project Cost estimated at between $857k and $1.3M. The board discussed this issue for a few minutes and decided to move forward with this project despite the expense for a number of reasons, but liability issues were a particular concern since the cost of a lawsuit could be much higher than the cost of just dealing with the problem.

5) Employment - A new HSO secretary and a new HS science teacher were approved. Also a person was approved to work as Interim Food Service Manager during the prolonged absence of the current manager.

6) Tentative 2-year contract agreement with Certificated union was approved.

7) The following extra duty positions were approved for the 2014 - 2015 school year: athletic director, varsity VB coach, 7/8 VB coach, cheer coach, mathletes coach, yearbook adviser, elementary student council advisor, 6th grade science camp coordinator, and secondary science fair director.

8) Math textbook adoption approved.

NEXT REGULAR MEETING: Thursday, August 14, 2014
User avatar
blackturtle.us
Cantankerous Mule
 
Posts: 280
Joined: Fri Sep 28, 2012 12:20 pm
Location: Turtle Town

Re: TJUSD Board Meeting - July 21, 2014

Postby surfsteve » Wed Jul 23, 2014 6:53 am

A million dollars sounds like a lot of money to demolish a 45,000 foot school. Why can't they just sell it ?
Make Trona great again!
surfsteve
Prehistoric Fossil
 
Posts: 2339
Joined: Tue Oct 02, 2012 9:57 am
Location: everywhere

Re: TJUSD Board Meeting - July 21, 2014

Postby CoolChick » Wed Jul 23, 2014 7:42 am

surfsteve wrote:A million dollars sounds like a lot of money to demolish a 45,000 foot school. Why can't they just sell it ?

I think they're talking about the southeast corner of the campus. It hasn't been used in years and it's literally falling apart. It's a real safety hazard and I don't think anyone wants to buy buildings with walls full of asbestos. They probably couldn't give it away!
User avatar
CoolChick
Cantankerous Mule
 
Posts: 323
Joined: Wed Mar 20, 2013 11:09 am
Location: The Chicken Ranch

Re: TJUSD Board Meeting - July 21, 2014

Postby surfsteve » Wed Jul 23, 2014 8:06 am

Sounds like I'm in the wrong business! I wonder what it takes to become certified for asbestos.
Make Trona great again!
surfsteve
Prehistoric Fossil
 
Posts: 2339
Joined: Tue Oct 02, 2012 9:57 am
Location: everywhere

Re: TJUSD Board Meeting - July 21, 2014

Postby wildrose » Thu Jul 24, 2014 7:09 am

blackturtle.us wrote:4) Demolition of Old Elementary - This is a very expensive project which involves removal of 45,000 sq ft of building space. Everything, including slabs, will be removed to a depth of 24 inches. Utilities will be capped, items will be salvaged/recycled as per state regulations, asbestos will be dealt with safely, the area will be graded, etc. Total Project Cost estimated at between $857k and $1.3M. The board discussed this issue for a few minutes and decided to move forward with this project despite the expense for a number of reasons, but liability issues were a particular concern since the cost of a lawsuit could be much higher than the cost of just dealing with the problem.

Lawsuits seem to run this country nowadays. It's probably best to get rid of the dilapidated buildings for a number of reasons, but an injury would only occur if there was someone playing around in an area where they weren't even supposed to be in the first place. Seems to be that personal responsibility is the issue here and apparently people aren't expected to be responsible enough to use common sense and avoid injury by not doing stupid things!
User avatar
wildrose
Prehistoric Fossil
 
Posts: 1398
Joined: Mon Oct 01, 2012 10:41 pm
Location: middle of nowhere

Re: TJUSD Board Meeting - July 21, 2014

Postby cactuspete » Thu Jul 24, 2014 8:05 am

Mission Statement
I worked as an engineer for the government and I have friends who work(ed) as educators and in other professions and the one thing we all have in common are meetings in which we get bombarded with stupid cliches such as those listed in this song. (For instance, paradigm shift, best practices, next generation, core competencies, etc.) If you hear one of these cliches your BS detector should go off. Professionals should never be subjected to such empty verbiage. It's a waste of time, but often leaders like to go through the motions of being leaders and so they subject us to this swill! It's good to be retired!
User avatar
cactuspete
Prehistoric Fossil
 
Posts: 1277
Joined: Mon Oct 01, 2012 11:14 am
Location: The Boonies

Re: TJUSD Board Meeting - July 21, 2014

Postby wildrose » Sat Jul 26, 2014 6:54 am

Why Are Black Preschoolers Being Suspended Far More Than Their White Classmates?
Cenk and the other people on this panel provide the typical liberal interpretation: It's all the teacher's fault, they treat kids from different races differently. In fact, Cenk goes so far as to insist that people who don't agree with this line of thinking are racist. Yet, if one takes the time to read the article that is being discussed and to look into this topic in an intellectually honest manner, it becomes clear that black children do behave differently than white children and that they are more likely to hit, spit, etc. than white children. Thus the difference in suspension rates is completely justified by the difference in behavior. Rather than the weak rationalization that the teachers are subconsciously racist, it is the case that the children do behave differently. The reason for these differences could be genetic, epigenetic, or a matter of the way black parents treat their offspring. Here's a comment someone left to this video:
This is primarily because of the unfortunate statistic that African-American parents are much more likely to use corporal punishment (and use it more often, and more severely) on their children, even on children less than one year old. Children learn far more by modelling the examples of the adults around them than they do from what they are told. Hitting children makes the children far more likely to hit others. It also leads to lower IQs and poorer impulse control in general.

The panel does discuss the observation that black children appear to be older than white children of the same age, but dismiss this as an insignificant observation, except they do attempt to link it to a perception of culpability. This seems like a rather elaborate way of avoiding the true issue, but that's how liberals deal with data they don't like. The fact is that black children reach puberty at a much earlier age on average than white children. This would certainly be a genetic difference and if this genetic difference exists, then obviously other genetic differences are very likely to exist.

I'm tired of the liberal knee-jerk reaction to this problem. Liberals always want to blame the teachers and absolutely refuse to admit that there could possible be genetic differences between the races which account for differences in behavior. They get angry anytime someone makes this suggestion and call people who are intellectually honest about this topic racists. It's almost like some kind of religious dogma. The funny thing is that most teachers tend to be liberals and buy into this way of thinking. It's almost like a self-hate type of attitude. Part of the reason that education systems don't improve in this country is because we are stuck in this liberal dogma, this politically correct way of thinking. You can't improve a situation unless you truly understand a situation and stubbornly denying that there are differences between the races as pertains to behavior is equivalent to a refusal to understand the true nature of the problem.
User avatar
wildrose
Prehistoric Fossil
 
Posts: 1398
Joined: Mon Oct 01, 2012 10:41 pm
Location: middle of nowhere

Re: TJUSD Board Meeting - July 21, 2014

Postby sandman » Sat Jul 26, 2014 9:27 am

Thanks for the thoughtful post WildRose!
:whack02:
Unconscious racism my ass! Liberals are just as bad as conservatives when it comes to denying facts that they don't like. The TYT gang loves to criticize conservatives for refuting facts about global warming. Well, here they are doing basically the same thing about race. Rather than accept the fact that black kids behave differently from white kids and look into why that might be, they try to blame the victims of all the bad behavior, namely, the teachers, who have to deal with all the issues surrounding the situation. Both conservatives and liberals have a tendency to fall into the trap of political correctness. Of course, the different groups have their own brand of political correctness, but they are both guilty of preferring to believe what they want to believe rather than dealing with the cold, hard facts. The facts don't give a darn what you WANT to believe, they are what they are!
:soap:
User avatar
sandman
Backcountry Hiker
 
Posts: 746
Joined: Tue Oct 02, 2012 1:31 pm
Location: NEVER NEVER LAND

Re: TJUSD Board Meeting - July 21, 2014

Postby surfsteve » Sat Jul 26, 2014 9:49 am

The differences between races are manufactured by culture and the media. There is also an alarming rate at which the ratio of culture to media influence is exploding in the favor of the media, which is controlled by a very small oligarchy.

I just watched the video. Cenk is a total retard. He claims that 3 year olds haven't had a chance to have learned that behavior and indirectly suggests it is the fault of the teacher. Some parents program their children in the womb, by reading to them and teaching them math. Contrast this, with a child programmed in an environment of violence and drugs. By the time the children are three years old the difference will be like night and day. Rap music, is engineered to induce this kind of behavior in blacks. We have quotas for hiring minorities in jobs. There are no quotas when it comes to rap music. Only Eminem.
Make Trona great again!
surfsteve
Prehistoric Fossil
 
Posts: 2339
Joined: Tue Oct 02, 2012 9:57 am
Location: everywhere

Re: TJUSD Board Meeting - July 21, 2014

Postby cactuspete » Sat Jul 26, 2014 10:21 am

The problem is that if the liberals admit that there are genetic differences (or even early childhood environment differences) between races, then the whole idea of desegregation goes down the drain and into the sewer. They worked really hard to force the country to accept desegregation and there's no way they'll ever admit that desegregation might have been a bad idea! No matter what the facts say, they'll say otherwise. It's a matter of pride at this point!
:smack:
User avatar
cactuspete
Prehistoric Fossil
 
Posts: 1277
Joined: Mon Oct 01, 2012 11:14 am
Location: The Boonies

Next

Return to Local News

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 66 guests

cron