Tag: Schools/Education

Schedule mixup at San Juan

How bad is this San Juan scheduling mix-up? Actually, that’s not a rhetorical question, I still have no idea how this actually happened. The CBS13 story is very vague:

Some principals told students they could come for a shorter day while other students were taking the exit exams but in essence they needed to be there the whole day for the state required classroom minutes to count.

And those shortened days off added up to 4 whole school days at Encina? Wow. I can imagine being pretty pissed if I were a San Juan parent right now. After all, as we all know, all the schools really have to do is babysit the kids for a predetermined amount of time. I kid the everybody…

But seriously, the exit exams are not a new thing, and neither is the “required minutes of instruction” thing. How could things get this bad? Could nobody remember what they did during exit testing last year? Anybody else got a question?

CSU Strike Update

Just a quick note to let you all know that the labor dispute at the California State Universities has been all but settled with negociations to be finalized over the next few weeks.

The deal gives all CSU faculty guaranteed base salary increases of 20.7% over four years (retroactive to July 2006) and step salary increases of up to 2.65% each year. In addition, it assigns $28 million to fund two new merit-based programs that will provide raises for senior and junior faculty. As part of the deal, faculty would receive an extra 1% raise for each of the last three years of the contract, contingent on additional state budget funds for the university system.

A labor dispute is still brewing, however, over at the University of California over equitable pay for janitors and other maintenance staff.

Me check e-mail? That’s unpossible

The Bee reports today about teachers, specifically a few at Del Oro High School, using the ‘net in the classroom.

Dylan Holcomb’s 10th-grade English students shouted the names of Shakespeare’s plays as they identified them while watching a YouTube clip of “Jeopardy!”

Earlier, Holcomb used Google Earth to show his Del Oro High School students the distance between Venice and Cyprus, where the play “Othello” is set, and had them calculate the distance.

If you haven’t read it in a while, it’s hard to remember how difficult it is to understanding the deep themes running through “Othello” without knowing precisely how far it is from Venice to Cyprus.

Continue reading “Me check e-mail? That’s unpossible”

Fabulous!

Today is the second annual Queer Youth Advocacy Day at the State Capitol.  “Representatives from the more than 600 Gay Student Alliances (which are at 45% of public high schools), and other youth under the age of 24, are meeting in Sacramento to lobby for Senate Bill 777 (Kuehl).”  This bill will standardize the anti-discrimination policies in all schools receiving public funds to give all students equal protection from harassment, bullying and discrimination.

The students attended a lobbying training at the Crest Theater before meeting with legislators this afternoon.  A handful of protesters were on hand to inform the youth than they were sinners, but were scared off by the inclement weather (maybe God was trying to tell them something about tolerance, loving thy neighbor, and casting the first stone).

Continue reading “Fabulous!”

“Character education is like, the foundation”

The Bee today reports on several area schools that are taking part in local non-profit group Center for Youth Citizenship’s “Free to Learn” program, that helps little students build traits like “caring, giving and service; justice and fairness; leadership, initiative and teamwork; respect; responsibility; and trustworthiness.”

“Character education is, like, the foundation of my classroom,” said Carly Davenport, who teaches fourth grade at Prairie [Elementary, in Elk Grove].

That is like, a really noble goal. (I kid the Carly Davenport. I am a horrible impromptu public speaker.)

In the abstract, I suppose it is good that educators are concerned with building those skills. What sorts of content do they cover to achieve those goals? Continue reading ““Character education is like, the foundation””

“Students Against Malaria”

I had forgotten I took this shot weekend before last at the Davis Farmer’s Market. Word on the street is this group gets into it frequently with the “Students FOR Malaria”…

"Students Against Malaria"

But I kid the kids. Riffing on this last night my wife and I realized there aren’t very many better options… Student Fighting Malaria sounds good at first until you realize it also sounds like they have malaria. Students For the Eradication of Malaria is precise but wordy.

So if you just tell yourself that it’s against in the sense of “in hostility to” and not in the sense of “disapproving of,” it probably is your best bet. It just sounds and looks funny.

Calif. Study: MySpace.com Linked To Poor Grades

CBS13 reports that a Fresno State professor, clearly possessed of superhuman intellect, has completed what must have been thousands of hours of painstaking research and concluded that MySpace.com accounts can be linked to poor grades among high school students.

Hey Daniel, I smell a big lawsuit in your future!!! Think of your good friends at The Sac Rag when your ship comes in. These t-shirts are literally not moving themselves.

Yo mamma walks into a bar

News10.com reports that a local elementary school principal has banned the telling of “yo mamma” jokes on campus.

We see good kids just sitting there going back and forth with each other and I’m like what are you doing? Oh, we saw it on TV and were just doing ‘Yo Momma’ jokes, don’t worry about it.

And he was like, “what are you doing?” and they were like, “nothing, just telling jokes” and he was like “oh, no you’re not” and they were like…

When the kids get in trouble, when the kids get in fights and the cyber-bullying starts and they tell me specifically that they were doing ‘yo momma’ jokes, then yes it changes their behavior…

Cyber-bullying? At any rate, I’m not sure what to think of this. Will a ban on certain types of jokes really control behavior? I can just see this spawning a new line of jokes whereby the kids find a loophole in the rules and get there digs in. Maybe something like “Yo Daddy” or “Yo Cousin”.

Yo cousin so stupid it takes her two hours to watch 60 minutes

Doesn’t quite have the ring to it, I know, but stick with it kids, it’ll catch on.

This reminds me…I’ve been meaning to bring back, “that’s what she said”. Who is with me?

Sac City Unified background check fails students

Disciplinary action has been taken against Vernon Proctor, an assistant principal in charge of discipline at Hiram Johnson High School, after he was arrested Friday on suspicion of being under the influence of narcotics, according to the Sac Bee. This story goes beyond the irony of the disciplinarian being disciplined. Sure, you say, if he has a drug problem he should not be in the classroom.

Proctor — who had taken Friday off from work — was placed on paid administrative [leave] (sic) when he arrived on campus Monday morning

A slap on the wrist. Well, I suppose if it was just one incident, I can understand giving him the benefit of the doubt. He has worked for Sac City Unified for a number of years, teaching at Burbank and New Technology High before taking this administrative job with Johnson. I’m sure he is historically the kind of man who deserves to be in a position of authority with our kids and this is just a fall from grace…
Continue reading “Sac City Unified background check fails students”