5th Period
I like my classes, but 5th Period of my current Junior Year of High School takes the cake. My teacher is a pretty laid back guy, and easy to relate to. But, it gets better. Like, for instance what transpired today..
So, we had a pretty chill lesson, only about 20 minutes of our 50 minute period, and after we finished our 1 page of notes, our teacher said we had the rest of the period to do pretty much whatever we wanted. So of course, everyone’s psyched, and pretty soon there’s a couple of kids kicking back in the corner talking, other studious kids reading books or doing homework, the foreign student watching a movie on his laptop, a game of Uno going on, my teacher and another student engaged in an intense Tetris battle on their calculators..pure bliss. Sure our noise level was probably louder than needed, so there were times we had to tone it down a little, but for the most part, it was an amazing way to spend the last period of the day, at least for most people (including me).
Of course, with every tale, there is a twist. And while all us teenagers and middle aged male were enjoying ourselves, one of the students, who had just come back from the restroom, was looking really freaked out, and said quite frightenedly “Everyone put everything away! The Principal and the Superintendent are coming!!” Holy shizzzzz. Everyone just went berserk. It was pretty intense. All of a sudden, chairs were being pushed back into normal positions behind desks, a letterman’s jacket was shoved on top of the Uno cards to hide the evidence, laptops hidden away from sight, calculator battles hurriedly halted. And just as the Principal and Superintendent were opening the door to our classroom, my teacher managed to zip from the back of the class to the front, we’d opened our books to keep up the pretense that learning was taking place, and everything looked semi-normal. My teacher then proceeded to make nice talk with the Principal and Superintendent, and we continued to pretend. Finally, they left, and as soon as the door closed, our teacher went “YES!” and everybody cheered. High fives all around. We had successfully duped the Principal and Superintendent. Most definitely one of the highlights of my Junior Year. And that is why my 5th period is amazing.
10 Things I’d Do Right Now as a Superintendent
gettingsmart.comI can’t say I agree with all of these, especially since there seems to be a tremendous misunderstanding of what elearning is and how it should work, but here’s one thing from the list:
- Plan for the shift to personal digital learning in three phases over the next 3-5 years. You need six coordinated plans considering content and instruction, assessment and data, devices and broadband, staffing and professional development, fiscal impact, and communications. Ask the planning team to start by reading The Rise of Blended Learning.
Fresno Co Superintendent to take $219,000 pay cut
abclocal.go.comFresno County Schools Superintendent Larry Powell said he’s “retiring” for one day in August, and then, will be hired back at a significantly reduced salary.
Powell is serving his second term in office. He’ll go from making roughly $250,000 to just $31,000.
Powell says he’s financially secure and will be able to afford health insurance through his wife. The cost cutting move is intended to save the school districts hundreds of thousands of dollars over the next three years.
“This takes about $830,000 and sets it aside. And so if we face mid-year cuts I can have the money ready to go and it doesn’t affect our employees,” said Powell.
Powell’s term ends in 2015 and he claims more than a dozen other teachers and administrators have taken the same deal.
Powell will ultimately have final say as to where the funds are spent. His new deal will go into effect September first.
Dr. Sheldon Berman named Eugene, Oregon superintendent
Ousted JCPS superintendent Dr. Sheldon Berman was named the next superintendent for Lane County in Eugene, Oregon by a unanimous vote by the school board Wednesday night. The job comes only after three months since the JCPS school board voted 5-2 not to renew Dr. Berman’s contract, which was set to expire in June of 2011. Berman sought out the job while fulfilling the remainder of his JCPS contract and beat out 2 other finalists in the final stages of the selection process.
“Dr. Berman is a visionary educational leader and has engaged both staff and community members in moving schools forward through difficult conditions,” Eugene school board chairman Craig Smith said in a prepared statement. “We believe he is an excellent fit for Eugene.”
The district has about 16,500 students and a budget of $140 million, while Jefferson County has about 100,000 students and a $1 billion dollar budget.
Dr. Berman’s decision to pursue a new job was met with resentment. “I feel like as if he didn’t do nearly as great of job as he had promised us from the beginning. Anyone that can’t do a good job for the students and teachers and decides to cop-out by leaving can go,” Timothy Nwachukwu, a student a duPont Manual High School, said.
SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT TO GOVERNOR: PLEASE MAKE MY SCHOOL A PRISON
Scott McLeod on May 24, 2011, 12:36 PM
A school superintendent in Michigan has written a public letter to the editor asking Governor Rick Snyder if his school can become a prison instead. The full text is below. What do you think?
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Dear Governor Snyder,
In these tough economic times, schools are hurting. And yes, everyone in Michigan is hurting right now financially, but why aren’t we protecting schools? Schools are the one place on Earth that people look to to “fix” what is wrong with society by educating our youth and preparing them to take on the issues that society has created.
One solution I believe we must do is take a look at our corrections system in Michigan. We rank nationally at the top in the number of people we incarcerate. We also spend the most money per prisoner annually than any other state in the union. Now, I like to be at the top of lists, but this is one ranking that I don’t believe Michigan wants to be on top of.
Consider the life of a Michigan prisoner. They get three square meals a day. Access to free health care. Internet. Cable television. Access to a library. A weight room. Computer lab. They can earn a degree. A roof over their heads. Clothing. Everything we just listed we DO NOT provide to our school children.
This is why I’m proposing to make my school a prison. The State of Michigan spends annually somewhere between $30,000 and $40,000 per prisoner, yet we are struggling to provide schools with $7,000 per student. I guess we need to treat our students like they are prisoners, with equal funding. Please give my students three meals a day. Please give my children access to free health care. Please provide my school district Internet access and computers. Please put books in my library. Please give my students a weight room so we can be big and strong. We provide all of these things to prisoners because they have constitutional rights. What about the rights of youth, our future?!
Please provide for my students in my school district the same way we provide for a prisoner. It’s the least we can do to prepare our students for the future…by giving our schools the resources necessary to keep our students OUT of prison.
Respectfully submitted,
Nathan Bootz, Superintendent, Ithaca Public Schools
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