Its been awhile...

Wow! Going back to work teaching really can get in the way of maintaining a blog. With all of the upcoming budget cuts and other public school matters like NCLB, one does not really have time to muse about the state of California.

One observation though... the next several generations of children here in California will not be in a position to do much as they will be tested to death and then they will not be able to find any work when they come out of high school because most of the NCLB tests don't have anything to do with the real world... just factoids that might be used on a TV trivia program. I think that is one of the basic flaws of NCLB; it does not reflect what is needed in the real world. It reflects what some people think is needed in the real world. No "scientific" educational research has been done to see if the end results that NCLB is supposed to give us will actually be useful in doing a job. Speaking of "scientific" research, of the 6 major studies sponsored by the Bush administration, 4 showed no effect and two showed minor effects. Hummm. Could it be that there is a real problem with assuming that everyone is capable of 100% in school?

L-8-ter

School has started

Today is opening day for many California schools. It will be interesting to see how all of the High stakes mandates hold up during this period of economic turmoil. Public schools are being maxed out because parents can't afford private education. This could be a very interesting year for public education.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Hummmm

It turns out that the county is going to make a habit of not depositing paycheck monies on the weekend. They are doing this, it appears, so they can accrue interest whenever they can. The problem is that once a notice of transfer has been mailed, they have to have the money actually transfered. If not then they have to pay interest to cover the funds not deposited. Check CA labor law. Teachers in Rialto did not get their paychecks until Tuesday! If this keeps up, there will be a royal labor dispute and will put management in a very weak position for any concessions they may try and get during the next round of labor negotiations.

The Plot Thickens...

Sources have confided to me that ALL educators in San Bernardino County were not paid on the first. All of them. The reason? The county did not release any funds. Why did they do that? No one is talking at the moment. That is really odd. I have in hand the statement of electronic fund transfer postmarked July 31, 2009. This statement has the date of issue printed on it which reads August 1, 2009. Although it is not a warrant and is non-negotiable, it still is a notice of an action that was supposed to have taken place. Actions like this will erode what little trust employees have in a system that just RIFFed several hundred teachers and others. It should be noted that some districts have rehired many of their RIFFed employees, but when things like this paycheck action happen, confidence in the leadership at all levels of the administration from the local school site, local school district and to the county and state level will wane. This is not what needs to happen during economic hard times. Transparency should be the watchword at all levels. Unfortunately, this appears not to be the case. Sadly, it will be the students who will be effected in the long run, and they are the future of this state. They will be the ones who will be paying for older Californians retirement, if there will be such a thing as retirement in the future. Grim, real grim.

This really SUCKS

RUSD or it might be San Bernardino County Schools, has not paid anyone as of this Saturday AM. Monies are supposed to be deposited in accounts by 8 AM on the first of each month. As of 10 AM nothing has been deposited. This is the last paycheck for the previous contract so why has the money not been deposited? Why have they not notified people? They have the ability to do this via district e-mail. This is a serious breach of good faith, and is not very conducive to harmonious labor relations which are so needed in times like this. What are they thinking??? On another note, San Bernardino county employees were shocked yesterday when they found their paychecks had been reduced by 20%. That is a really big hit. Here comes the depression... finally hitting home big time.