TJUSD Board Meeting - September 16, 2014

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Re: TJUSD Board Meeting - September 16, 2014

Postby desertrat » Tue Sep 23, 2014 4:13 pm

Technology Improves And The Internet Expands But School Acceptable Use Policies Still Lock Students Out Of The Benefits
There's no doubt that schools have done a piss pour job of keeping up with technology. The utter lack of real computer training is abysmal. Somehow learning how to make PowerPoints, Excel Spreadsheets, and MSWord Documents pass as technology training in many high schools. It's really pathetic! And then there are the mindless Acceptable Use Policies (AUPs) that kids have to sign that sound like they were written by computer illiterate technophobes (who mistakenly believe that being able to use office software has something to do with technology education).
Several months back, the Los Angeles Unified School District shelled out $500 million on iPads for its students. Within a week of the first deployment, the schools were already repossessing the devices. Students found that the new tool was aggressively limited by school-installed software that turned the Information Superhighway into a dark tunnel that runs from the device to the school. So, they figured out how to circumvent the built-in "protections." And in doing so, lost access to the devices altogether.

However, this pathetic state of affairs is not entirely the fault of local administrators as one reader points out:
Federal CIPA (www.fcc.gov/guides/childrens-internet-protection-act) laws along with our litigious society have a major impact on the wording of educational APUs.

Some of the blame must also be given to mindless politicians who are more worried about protecting kids from "bad things" on the internet than about actually educating them!
LINK: https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140919/12311228582/technology-improves-internet-expands-school-acceptable-use-policies-still-lock-students-out-benefits.shtml
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Re: Acceptable Use Policies

Postby wildrose » Wed Sep 24, 2014 6:17 am

desertrat: The complaints shared in the TechDirt article remind me of a key difference between the culture of Finland and the culture here in the USA and why it might be next to impossible for us to ever create a truly effective educational system. I recall that Finland is seen as a trust-based society and here in the USA we live in what is called a compliance-based society. At the end of the TechDirt article the author writes about what he calls an Empowered Use Policy which inspires students to do great things instead of threatening them to keep them from doing bad things. Unfortunately, such an approach is not likely to work in our society.
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Re: TJUSD Board Meeting - September 16, 2014

Postby MojaveMike » Thu Sep 25, 2014 3:44 pm

School District Security Head Takes Call From NSA, Starts Secret Student Social Media Monitoring Program
A school claims that it started monitoring student social media after receiving a phone tip from the NSA concerning activities of at least one of its students. The problem is that the NSA would never do anything like that. They'd obviously deal with it themselves if they really saw a student as a threat. In any case, the school should concern itself ONLY with what students do at school and NEVER get involved in what kids do when they're not at school!
NSA did not acknowledge placing such a call. "The National Security Agency has no record that it passed any information to the Huntsville school district, and the description of what supposedly occurred is inconsistent with NSA's practices," said Vanee Vines, public affairs specialist with the NSA, on Monday.

LINK: https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140924/12231628625/school-district-security-head-takes-call-nsa-starts-secret-student-social-media-monitoring-program.shtml
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Re: TJUSD Board Meeting - September 16, 2014

Postby a2z » Thu Sep 25, 2014 7:03 pm

Your guide to high-paying STEM jobs
A little something for kids in school to keep in mind.
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Re: TJUSD Board Meeting - September 16, 2014

Postby panamint_patty » Fri Sep 26, 2014 6:58 pm

Mom Flips Out When Teacher Refuses To Serve Vagina Cookies To 2nd Graders
:wtf:
Sometimes real life IS stranger than fiction!
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Re: TJUSD Board Meeting - September 16, 2014

Postby tronagirl » Sat Sep 27, 2014 8:42 am

Mom Angry That Teacher Won't Serve Her Vagina Cookies to Second Graders
I know some crazy people here in Trona, but I don't know anyone who's crazy enough to insist that a teacher serve vagina cookies to second graders and then to complain about it when the teacher refuses.
This story isn't about feminine pride. It's about a parent who's knitting with one needle. I have three daughters and I hope they'll never be ashamed of their bodies and femininity. I also hope they'll never think that serving genital cakes to schoolchildren is an appropriate way to celebrate them.

LINK: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/erica-ford/mom-angry-that-teacher-wo_b_5882764.html
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Re: Vagina Cookies

Postby hungrybill » Tue Sep 30, 2014 6:29 am

I have to side with the mom who made the pretty VAGINA COOKIES on this one. I mean just think how insulted she must have felt! She went to all the trouble of preparing those delicious and delightful morsels and out of the goodness of her heart took them down to the school to share them with her daughter's class. How dare the teacher refuse to allow her to give her little presentation about the wonderful VAGINA! What kind of horrible person would not allow the kids to eat VAGINA COOKIES and learn all about about the VAGINA?!!
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Re: Vagina Cookies

Postby whiskeypete » Wed Oct 01, 2014 6:22 am

VAGINA COOKIES: They may taste good, but they're still in bad taste. It's not exactly going out on the limb to say that the lady who made the the vag cookies and wanted to share them with the kiddies in her daughter's class was whacked out. Hopefully the authorities don't decide to remove the daughter from the household because that would be an over-reaction, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if something along those lines winds up happening.
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Re: TJUSD Board Meeting - September 16, 2014

Postby shadylady » Thu Oct 02, 2014 6:50 pm

The Fault in Our Stars Banned in Schools
Book reconsideration committee? :up2:
It's hard to imagine why any reasonable person would ban this book!
:smack:
When asked how he felt about the news about his book being banned in Riverside, John Green wrote:
I guess I am both happy and sad. I am happy because apparently young people in Riverside, California will never witness or experience mortality since they won’t be reading my book, which is great for them. But I am also sad because I was really hoping I would be able to introduce the idea that human beings die to the children of Riverside, California and thereby crush their dreams of immortality.

LA TIMES: http://www.latimes.com/books/jacketcopy/la-et-jc-john-green-the-fault-in-our-stars-banned-riverside-20140929-story.html
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Re: TJUSD Board Meeting - September 16, 2014

Postby wildrose » Sat Oct 04, 2014 6:59 am

Banning Books Is Stupid ...And Still Happening in the U.S.
Apparently some people live in a bubble and they like it that way and want to force others to live in their bubble... of stupidity!
:sun:
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