TJUSD Board Meeting - June 11, 2015

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TJUSD Board Meeting - June 11, 2015

Postby blackturtle.us » Thu Jun 11, 2015 7:37 pm

The meeting was about one and a half hours in length. Only school employees and board members were in attendance.

1) Interim Superintendent Approved - Jody Rummer was approved by the board to serve as interim superintendent beginning July 1, 2015.
2) Board Member Comments - Trisha Funke mentioned that a house on Cedar Street would be burnt down and the possibility that Trona Care would be dissolved.
3) Superintendent's Report - Mr. Olney talked about summer school, graduation, and the modernization plan for the HS. Architects are developing a plan and the idea is to implement the plan in phases over a period of a few years.
4) Public Hearing on Budget 2015-2016 and LCAP - Mr. Olney gave a presentation which lasted over a half hour in which he discussed financial issues and went over the updated Local Control Accountability Plan. Items of special interest: a) Enrollment is declining at a much less rapid rate than has been seen in recent years. b) Royalty income is uncertain. Currently the rate is 4% and that rate could change after October. It could go up to 6% when current legislation expires, it could go down to 2% if HR1992 passes, or other legislation could be proposed to leave it at 4%. c) Ending fund balance at about $9 million through 2016. d) The district is still deficit spending, but current income is quite good.
5) Personnel: Four certificated employees (teachers) hired. Several stipend positions approved. Position of HS Principal approved. (Previously HS Principal and Superintendent were a single position. Now they are separate positions.) Counselor work days increased and management salary schedule revised to provide a pay increase for those positions.
6) Memorandum of Understandings between the District and the TTA (teacher's union) and the TCEA (classified union) were approved.
7) Board Policies - Several board policies which were discussed during previous meetings were approved.
8) Special Board Meeting set for June 18 and next Regular Board Meeting is scheduled for July 9.
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Re: TJUSD Board Meeting - June 11, 2015

Postby desertrat » Fri Jun 12, 2015 6:49 am

Can a school that's part tech startup transform education?
Having highly skilled engineers on-site would be ideal. However, considering the shortage of highly skilled engineers, this school is almost certainly going to remain an exception. Nothing against teachers, but most teachers think creating PowerPoint slides counts as a meaningful use of technology, which it most definitely doesn't.
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Re: TJUSD Board Meeting - June 11, 2015

Postby wildrose » Fri Jun 12, 2015 7:20 am

Superintendent Rummer retires to a round of applause
This article provides some good info on Rummer's previous experience working as superintendent in Ridgecrest.
For a solid decade, Joanna “Jody” Rummer served as superintendent of schools at Sierra Sands Unified School District. She is the longest-serving superintendent in the history of the district. During that time, she has been able to keep the district in the black during one of the most challenging fiscal environments since the Great Depression.

LINK: http://www.news-ridgecrest.com/news/story.pl?id=0000002565
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Re: TJUSD Board Meeting - June 11, 2015

Postby wildrose » Fri Jun 12, 2015 7:25 am

Rummer loves kids and fosters relationships
Here's some info on how Rummer is connected to Trona.
Rummer’s humble beginnings start in Trona, where she grew up. She moved to Trona when she was 3 years old. Her father worked at the West End Plant and her mom was a waitress at the restaurant she’d later own and manage. She would eventually get her degree in zoology from Cal Poly Pomona, where she would go back later for her credentialing. She started subbing in Trona in 1979 and became a permanent teacher at the middle and high school in 1982, teaching life sciences and biology along with chemistry and physiology. She moved to Sierra Sands in 1986 as a teacher at Murray Middle School teaching all grades.

LINK: http://www.ridgecrestca.com/article/20140524/News/140529781
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Re: TJUSD Board Meeting - June 11, 2015

Postby blackturtle.us » Mon Jun 15, 2015 9:13 am

What is Code?
This is a really good (and somewhat lengthy) article which articulates reasons why it is important for non-coders to learn about coding. As we consider our K-12 Tech Benchmarks, I hope that we seriously consider infusing a liberal amount of coding into the mix. Although the article is mostly about professional level programming, Scratch (a language developed at MIT primarily for the purpose of teaching students in grades three and up how to code) is mentioned a couple times. This is mainly because Scratch was carefully designed by people at MIT to teach coding concepts. Unlike many online resources that claim to teach about coding, Scratch is not a superficial glance at coding, it actually involves students in creating projects which require real coding skills.

That being said, the article is a good read and is presented with a lot of wit and humor. Here's a snippet:
There are 11 million professional software developers on earth, according to the research firm IDC. (An additional 7 million are hobbyists.) That’s roughly the population of the greater Los Angeles metro area. Imagine all of L.A. programming. East Hollywood would be for Mac programmers, West L.A. for mobile, Beverly Hills for finance programmers, and all of Orange County for Windows. There are lots of other neighborhoods, too: There are people who write code for embedded computers smaller than your thumb. There are people who write the code that runs your TV. There are programmers for everything. They have different cultures, different tribal folklores, that they use to organize their working life.

At 38k words, the article is not what you'd call short, but it is more than worth the time it takes to read and I think it provides perspective as to why we should seriously incorporate coding skills into our K-12 curriculum.
LINK: http://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2015-paul-ford-what-is-code/
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Re: TJUSD Board Meeting - June 11, 2015

Postby a2z » Mon Jun 15, 2015 8:30 pm

blackturtle.us: Great post. I actually have seen that article posted on a couple forums frequented by computer geeks and it's gotten great reviews there. It looks interesting and I'll try to read it, but it's pretty long. In print it comes out to about 100 pages is what people say. But just like you, they say it's worth reading. So, I MIGHT get to it!
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Re: TJUSD Board Meeting - June 11, 2015

Postby wildrose » Wed Jun 17, 2015 8:51 am

What is Code?
I've kept up with the teaching profession since retiring and the one thing that critics keep pointing out is that the teaching profession as it exists in the public school setting is in danger of becoming irrelevant. A tiny minority of teachers are even aware of what technology is really all about and this article (or short book) basically covers the core of technology and so those involved in the teaching profession would be doing themselves and the public a huge service by taking the time to read it. As desertrat pointed out: "...most teachers think creating PowerPoint slides counts as a meaningful use of technology, which it most definitely doesn't." Failure to properly integrate coding skills into the curriculum will definitely put public schools at risk of becoming irrelevant, and continuing to provide students with only superficial technological training will certainly doom public schools to extinction.
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INFORMATION AGE

Postby pcslim » Thu Jun 18, 2015 10:19 am

Sometimes you hear the phrase INFORMATION AGE. It's true that the Information Age has begun, but most people haven't yet entered it. They are affected by it, but they are not participants. To become a participant you must first learn how to code. Otherwise, you're just a primitive left behind and without a clue.
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Re: TJUSD Board Meeting - June 11, 2015

Postby cactuspete » Tue Jun 23, 2015 8:29 am

Woman fired in act of retaliation by district
As it turns out there is no state requirement to keep deleted email and this woman, thinking that there was such a law, refused to follow directions given to her by district leaders. Although other districts do have policies to keep deleted email for various amounts of time, each district -- at this time anyways -- gets to decide whether or not to keep email. The right thing in this case would have been for this woman to follow the directions of district leaders and refusing to do so was insubordination and so firing her was justified, IMHO.
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Re: TJUSD Board Meeting - June 11, 2015

Postby surfsteve » Tue Jun 23, 2015 8:56 am

Coding is symbolism.

The woman in the video should have followed orders even though she thought it was illegal the way Hillary's staff did in which it actually was because all of the ones who did still have their jobs and the ones that didn't were fired or probably threatened with some sort of crime. When in Rome do as the Romans. Hell. Do you want another Watergate?
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