TJUSD August Board Meetings 2019

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TJUSD August Board Meetings 2019

Postby blackturtle.us » Fri Aug 02, 2019 9:53 am

Emergency Board Meeting - August 1st, 2019
Far more community members than usual showed up to this board meeting. Before the board voted on three items on the agenda, the public was allowed to make comments and ask questions. First the three decisions and then the most interesting questions and comments:

1) First day of school will be September 3rd. (APPROVED 5-0) Staff will start work on August 13th and will use the time to move to new classrooms and get things set up. Plus there will be some training.
2) Move high school to elementary site. (APPROVED 5-0) All elementary grades (except possibly sixth grade) will be moved to the B-wing and grades 7-12 (and possibly 6th) will be housed in the A-wing.
3) K-6 Assistant hired. (APPROVED 4-1)
------
QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS:
1) Separation of elementary and high school students - This concern was raised by several community members in various forms. The plan is to have an actual fence built to separate the A-wing and the B-wing so that upper grades do not interact with lower grades. However, some sharing of facilities located in each wing will be required, but it will be highly controlled. Upper grades need to use the cafeteria (B-wing) and lower grades need to use the library (A-wing). Administrators assured those at the meeting that at no time would upper grades be using the same restrooms as lower grades.
2) Food/Cafeteria - At this time the district does not have a functional kitchen. Food will be brought in from outside source. Possibly food will be prepared in town or possibly food will be prepared in Ridgecrest. Options currently being considered.
3) Student Parking - Various solutions discussed for student parking. One possibility will be to utilize the pool parking lot.
4) Office Locations - At this time it looks like the high school will use the elementary office and that the elementary will use room B-1.
5) Daily Schedule - Bus pick up times and bell schedule will be more or less the same as last year with minimal alterations.
6) Shortened School Year - District applying for waiver to allow for late start without need to go later into June.
NEXT MEETING: August 7th
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Re: TJUSD August Board Meetings 2019

Postby ergot » Fri Aug 02, 2019 7:44 pm

There's an extremely obvious solution to this problem. Just send the high school students to Ridgecrest until repairs are completed. It's the most cost effective solution and the kids will get a better education as a result. If I were a parent I'd pull my kid out in a heartbeat. Eighteen year olds don't need to be at the same facility as five year olds. Fencing doesn't solve the problem!

And what the hell is the school doing HIRING someone in this situation. I'd like to shake the hand of the one board member with enough brains to just say NO!
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Re: TJUSD August Board Meetings 2019

Postby CrustyOldFart » Sat Aug 03, 2019 6:13 am

ergot: Both points that you make are solid. It's a waste of money to fix up the high school and the best thing you can do is send the students to Ridgecrest where they can get a solid education. Hiring a new person at this point was just about the stupidest thing that could have been done. A total waste of money, but I guess those in charge of the school like throwing money away.
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Re: TJUSD August Board Meetings 2019

Postby wildrose » Sat Aug 03, 2019 4:07 pm

CrustyOldFart wrote:ergot: Both points that you make are solid. It's a waste of money to fix up the high school and the best thing you can do is send the students to Ridgecrest where they can get a solid education. Hiring a new person at this point was just about the stupidest thing that could have been done. A total waste of money, but I guess those in charge of the school like throwing money away.

Life can come at you fast and I think the people making decisions for the school district are overloaded and have already made a number of poor decisions or at least that's the scuttlebutt amongst people who would know. Not to make excuses for them or to be overly critical either, but sometimes people rise to the occasion, but more often than not they don't.
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Re: TJUSD August Board Meetings 2019

Postby BoraxBill » Sat Aug 03, 2019 9:37 pm

Just got through talking to some friends about the high school situation and they say it's a classic bait and switch scam. The admins promise that the consolidation of k-12 at the elementary site is only temporary, but that's just a deception to get the public to allow them to make the move according to the people I was chatting with. I'd say there's a pretty good chance that my friends are correct. The gym might still be used, but it doesn't appear to be the case that there are serious plans to actually repair the rest of the high school facilities. At some point in the near future they'll claim that they encountered something that makes it impossible to proceed with repairs. Plan on the consolidation being permanent.
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Re: TJUSD August Board Meetings 2019

Postby MojaveMike » Sun Aug 04, 2019 6:21 am

wildrose wrote:
CrustyOldFart wrote:ergot: Both points that you make are solid. It's a waste of money to fix up the high school and the best thing you can do is send the students to Ridgecrest where they can get a solid education. Hiring a new person at this point was just about the stupidest thing that could have been done. A total waste of money, but I guess those in charge of the school like throwing money away.

Life can come at you fast and I think the people making decisions for the school district are overloaded and have already made a number of poor decisions or at least that's the scuttlebutt amongst people who would know. Not to make excuses for them or to be overly critical either, but sometimes people rise to the occasion, but more often than not they don't.

Rising to the occasion is definitely the exception and not the rule. Most people are pretty ineffective at dealing with difficult situations. They may put in a lot of effort and work hard and all that, but in the end the outcome is pretty mediocre. It's called being mortal and is to be expected.
BoraxBill wrote:Just got through talking to some friends about the high school situation and they say it's a classic bait and switch scam. The admins promise that the consolidation of k-12 at the elementary site is only temporary, but that's just a deception to get the public to allow them to make the move according to the people I was chatting with. I'd say there's a pretty good chance that my friends are correct. The gym might still be used, but it doesn't appear to be the case that there are serious plans to actually repair the rest of the high school facilities. At some point in the near future they'll claim that they encountered something that makes it impossible to proceed with repairs. Plan on the consolidation being permanent.

That's a classic tactic used by leaders in many organizations and it's necessary to lead people down a path with the least amount of resistance. It's dishonest. In fact, it's an outright lie, but it makes the job of being a leader a lot easier. No matter how blatant the lies may be, there are always suck ups in any organization who will pat the dishonest leader on the back and tell the lying leader what a great job he or she is doing.
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Re: TJUSD August Board Meetings 2019

Postby dzrtdwg » Sun Aug 04, 2019 7:01 am

MojaveMike: It sounds like you're saying that the typical leader is a lying sack of shit. :poop:
URBAN DICTIONARY wrote:LYING SACK OF SHIT - one who habitually and effortlessly utters falsehoods in a most blatant and profane manner, all the while maintaining a lackadaisical appearance of ingenuousness

Come to think of it, that pretty much sums up the essence of most people in leadership positions that I've dealt with. I've come across a few honest ones, but maybe at a ratio of about one out of twenty at best.
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Re: TJUSD August Board Meetings 2019

Postby shotgunmary » Sun Aug 04, 2019 2:34 pm

So.... I did a little checking around with people and some of this is speculation and some this may be some kind of leak, but apparently the move to the elementary is planned to be permanent and the public relations campaign comes in two phases. First (the bait), persuade the public to move the high school to the elementary school in the first place. Second (the switch), a couple months down the road come up with an excuse to stay. In other words, it's a classic bait and switch scam as previously suggested. The bait has been taken and the excuse to justify the switch is the sewage system according to my sources, although there are other possible excuses that could be cooked up easily enough, its just that the sewage system has already been mentioned publicly. Expect the announcement to come some time during September or October. It could come earlier or later, but the timing is not terribly critical. The problem is that the long term prognosis for the district is not good and it looks like this dishonesty will not go unnoticed by the public and the situation will gradually deteriorate until the high school is closed permanently. A good faith solution would have been to keep the high school open and make repairs while kids attended the old facility. They and the public would have seen gradual progress and a restoration of the high school. It's too late now since apparently the board has made up its mind. Put another way, all we can do now is sit back and watch the drama unfold and play out.
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Re: TJUSD August Board Meetings 2019

Postby panamint_patty » Sun Aug 04, 2019 7:47 pm

dzrtdwg wrote:MojaveMike: It sounds like you're saying that the typical leader is a lying sack of shit. :poop:
URBAN DICTIONARY wrote:LYING SACK OF SHIT - one who habitually and effortlessly utters falsehoods in a most blatant and profane manner, all the while maintaining a lackadaisical appearance of ingenuousness

Come to think of it, that pretty much sums up the essence of most people in leadership positions that I've dealt with. I've come across a few honest ones, but maybe at a ratio of about one out of twenty at best.

Not to belabor the obvious, but the top two administrators for the school district live in Ridgecrest, which clearly demonstrates their lack of commitment to Trona. They just want their $$$$ and they've got things locked up just the way they want them. My understanding is that they are simultaneously the highest paid and most worthless admins in the history of the school district, although I can't back that up with data. It's just what people are saying.
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Re: TJUSD August Board Meetings 2019

Postby wildrose » Sun Aug 04, 2019 9:21 pm

panamint_patty: That's a little harsh, especially considering that most of the teachers working at the school also live in Ridgecrest. Would it be better if they all lived in Trona? Definitely, but those days are long gone. There are a lot of compromises being made and it's hard to get used to constantly deteriorating conditions. The earthquakes just sped up the process and made a not so great situation even worse. But being negative about things isn't going to make things better. There's still reason to think that things will improve or stabilize or at least not get any worse! Hopefully?!!
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