Education thread

[Vrede too]

Opinion
Why Did U.N.C. Give Millions to a Neo-Confederate Group?
The University of North Carolina’s settlement over a controversial statue is a subsidy for white nationalism.

University of North Carolina Gives ‘Silent Sam’ Statue to Confederate Group
The move was part of a settlement with a group that had sued over the fate of the statue, which was toppled in 2018. The group plans to make the statue available to the public.
Nov. 27, 2019

Legal Settlement Will Keep Confederate Statue Off UNC Campus
The University of North Carolina announced Wednesday that a torn-down Confederate monument won’t return to campus under a legal agreement that hands over the “Silent Sam” statue to a group of Confederate descendants.
Nov. 27, 2019

The UNC System Office webform
https://www.northcarolina.edu/content/contact-us
I chose the “Front Desk” option, but there are other probably apt ones.

Re: Why Did U.N.C. Give Millions to a Neo-Confederate Group?
The University of North Carolina’s settlement over a controversial statue is a subsidy for white nationalism.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/03/opin ... t-sam.html

I am outraged that the University of North Carolina Board of Governors is subsidizing white supremacy and its pitiful participation trophy with my money.

Would you also subsidize pedophiles and meth labs not to come on campus?

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised given the University of North Carolina’s years-long refusal to study its own abominable history with slavery. Seems that the Board of Governors is nostalgic for slavery, treason and the KKK.

Shame on you.

(Vrede too)
Hendersonville, NC 28793

Was there a document giving ownership to the Confederate group?

Real estate law, in every state where I have some familiarity, states, "if you leave your shit on someone's property for over a hundred years without having no kinda document saying you gotta give it back when you want it. It ain't yours no more.

Was there anything binding or did UNC just see an opportunity to fund hate and racism?

You nailed it!

Judge voids deal giving UNC statue to Confederate group

A judge has thrown out a settlement by the University of North Carolina’s governing board that gave a Confederate heritage group a toppled statue, along with money to preserve it.

Judge Allen Baddour ruled Wednesday in Orange County court that the Sons of Confederate Veterans didn’t have standing to bring the lawsuit that led to the hastily arranged deal that gave them possession of the statue known as Silent Sam, along with $2.5 million to maintain it. He vacated the settlement and also dismissed the underlying lawsuit brought by the SCV....

[Vrede too]

Tell Congress: Fund Our Future with the Rebuild America’s Schools Act

[Vrede too]

GOP-controlled Senate rejects DeVos rule restricting aid for defrauded students

The headline is misleading. Dems rejected the DeVos rule restricting aid for defrauded students. Most Repugs supported it 42 to 10 to 1. Still, it's amazing that Moscow Mitch even let it come to a vote, but that's a sign of how awful DeVos is.

[billy.pilgrim]

Homesculn brought to you by the guy who proudly proclaimed on national tv that he hasn't washed his hands in 10 years because he can't see germs and who famously struck a high school band member with an ax.

I normally don't click on fox clips but this headline kept nagging at me. I didn't make it all the way through, but did get 3 minutes.

These people are fucking nuts.

https://video.foxnews.com/v/6145405492001#sp=show-clips

[Vrede too]

Homesculn brought to you by the guy who proudly proclaimed on national tv that he hasn't washed his hands in 10 years because he can't see germs and who famously struck a high school band member with an ax.

I normally don't click on fox clips but this headline kept nagging at me. I didn't make it all the way through, but did get 3 minutes.

These people are fucking nuts.

https://video.foxnews.com/v/6145405492001#sp=show-clips

Those poor kids.


Take action now to ensure that ALL children, regardless of their background, have access to the food, education, and other resources they need during this pandemic.

[O Really]

"San Diego Unified will provide student meals at designated schools throughout the city, offer learning opportunities, and compensate district employees during the closures...

"The California Department of Education received a special waiver from the United States Department of Agriculture to continue to provide meals to students during a coronavirus-related closure.

The district will offer meals and produce at drive-thru/walk-up distribution centers at designated schools throughout the city. Meals will be packaged, along with fruits and vegetables provided by Feeding San Diego and the San Diego Food Bank.

Children will need to be present to receive meals, and each child 18 years or younger can take one lunch and one breakfast for the next day. All food will be packed to consume off site. Meal distribution times for all locations will be from 11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m."

(BTW, the schools will now not re-open this school year.)

[billy.pilgrim]

Homesculn brought to you by the guy who proudly proclaimed on national tv that he hasn't washed his hands in 10 years because he can't see germs and who famously struck a high school band member with an ax.

I normally don't click on fox clips but this headline kept nagging at me. I didn't make it all the way through, but did get 3 minutes.

These people are fucking nuts.

https://video.foxnews.com/v/6145405492001#sp=show-clips

Those poor kids.


Take action now to ensure that ALL children, regardless of their background, have access to the food, education, and other resources they need during this pandemic.

Shouldn't someone ask him about his recent statement on fox when he said that germs don't exist because he can't see them and that he hasn't washed his hands in over 10 years?

[Vrede too]

"San Diego Unified will provide student meals at designated schools throughout the city, offer learning opportunities, and compensate district employees during the closures...

"The California Department of Education received a special waiver from the United States Department of Agriculture to continue to provide meals to students during a coronavirus-related closure.

The district will offer meals and produce at drive-thru/walk-up distribution centers at designated schools throughout the city. Meals will be packaged, along with fruits and vegetables provided by Feeding San Diego and the San Diego Food Bank.

Children will need to be present to receive meals, and each child 18 years or younger can take one lunch and one breakfast for the next day. All food will be packed to consume off site. Meal distribution times for all locations will be from 11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m."

(BTW, the schools will now not re-open this school year.)

Kudos for San Diego Unified, but that sounds kinda inefficient, and perhaps dangerous if it cause daily lines, especially since many of those kids will have to be transported or at least accompanied by an adult. Maybe kids should be able to get a week's worth of food at a time, and/or ration cards should be issued allowing one person to collect food for more than one child, even knowing that this will make some fraud more likely.

[O Really]

They may have modified the process since it originally started, but I think it was drive-through, not having everybody standing in a line-up. That itself might have been a problem for some. Anyway, they're making a good effort. LA school system is spending $100mil or so to make sure all students can engage in remote learning and get fed. Meanwhile, Seattle school board - Seattle - is kinda wringing its hands and whining.

LA
“We face the largest adaptive challenge for large urban public education systems in a generation. Pick your metaphor: This is the moon shot, the Manhattan Project, the Normandy landing, and the Marshall Plan, and the clock is ticking.”

So Los Angeles announced an “unprecedented commitment” of $100 million in emergency funding to get all students who need them both devices and internet access for continuing their educations online this year.

Seattle

Seattle Public Schools “won’t transition to online learning,” Superintendent Denise Juneau tweeted last week. “2 things — not all students have access to internet and technology AND educators can’t just switch to online teaching overnight — it’s a specialized approach.”

“There’s just no way a district this large can do that,” Juneau said in an interview with Time magazine.

For Juneau— whose Seattle Public School district serves more than 53,000 students, about 30% of whom are eligible for free and reduced price meals—online learning was never an option, “even though we live in the high-tech center of the country.”

“We cannot, in equitable terms, provide online learning for our students across the city, because we still have a lot of students who don’t have access to internet at home, may not have a computer,” she says. “There’s just no way a district this large can do that.”

Los Angeles has 10 times as many students, with nearly triple the rate that are low-income (80% of LA’s students qualify for free-lunch programs versus 28% in Seattle).

[Vrede too]

Looks like Seattle doesn't have or won't commit the resources to "get all students who need them both devices and internet access for continuing their educations online this year."

I hope they figure it out. We're not just talking about the calendar school year, but also the whole Summer and possibly into the Fall that can be used for remote learning.

They may have modified the process since it originally started, but I think it was drive-through, not having everybody standing in a line-up.

Ah, perhaps not dangerous then. Still inefficient.

That itself might have been a problem for some....

True, less so in LA than many cities, though.

[O Really]

I'm thinking it's possible one positive outcome from this mess could be a greater acceptance on remote learning and workplace participation overall. I continue to be aghast seeing little and medium sized kids trudging along with backpacks weighing as much as they do. I don't know what they're carrying, but if it's heavy books, then there's surely a better way.

[Vrede too]

I'm thinking it's possible one positive outcome from this mess could be a greater acceptance on remote learning and workplace participation overall. I continue to be aghast seeing little and medium sized kids trudging along with backpacks weighing as much as they do. I don't know what they're carrying, but if it's heavy books, then there's surely a better way.

Maybe an effective movement for affordable universal broadband, and even take-home tablets. That said, I would want it to be an adjunct to school socialization and classroom cooperation, not a replacement for them.

[O Really]

I'm thinking it's possible one positive outcome from this mess could be a greater acceptance on remote learning and workplace participation overall. I continue to be aghast seeing little and medium sized kids trudging along with backpacks weighing as much as they do. I don't know what they're carrying, but if it's heavy books, then there's surely a better way.

Maybe an effective movement for affordable universal broadband, and even take-home tablets. That said, I would want it to be an adjunct to school socialization and classroom cooperation, not a replacement for them.

I have very little recent direct experience in primary education, but it seems school administrations are still trying to fit everybody into the same ricky-ticky boxes. A little flexibility in learning practices, places, and methods would probably be a good thing.

Thanks to Pete Seegar

Little boxes on the hillside
Little boxes made of ticky tacky
Little boxes
Little boxes
Little boxes all the same
There's a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same

And the people in the houses all went to the university
And they all get put in boxes, little boxes all the same
And there's doctors and there's lawyers
And business executives
And they all get put in boxes, and they all come out the same
And they all play on the golf course and drink their martini dry
And they all have pretty children and the children go to school
And the children go to summer camp
And then to the university
And they all get put in boxes, and they all come out the same
And the boys go into business and marry and raise a family
And they all get put in boxes, little boxes all the same

There's a green one, and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same

[O Really]

Thanks - I didn't know Pete didn't write it. Good song, and still apropos.

[O Really]

Thanks - I didn't know Pete didn't write it. Good song, and still apropos.

The song as a Big Deal in San Francisco when I grew up there in the 60's.

Me? I wanted to move out of the city into a little box on a hillside.

Columbia, MD, - close to where Vrede and I lived back then - was designed specifically to be NOT a traditional subdivision of ticky-tacky boxes. Whether it was partially inspired by the song or not I don't know, but certainly by the sentiment expressed.

[neoplacebo]

I've always liked windows that span a corner like that house on the corner has.

[O Really]

Segment on local news tonight (although don't know where the story actually originated) about a big program to instruct teachers in the use of technology necessary for the upcoming "distance learning." Since I don't usually pay close attention to TV news, I glossed over the idea and thought "that's nice." And then I saw they were instructing them in stuff like PowerPoint, group conferencing, and other skills most everybody else has been using for year. PowerPoint! Kids have used PowerPoint for (maybe) decades for science projects, class presentations, yada. So the question popped into mind, WTF haven't these schools been using various distant learning tools and tech all along as at least part of their overall curriculum? I read that little Transylvania County is completely distance-ready, to the point that they can eliminate snow days and such. And some big California county is telling teachers how to use PowerPoint? All in all they're just bricks in the wall...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YR5ApYxkU-U
(long version - very good vid)

[Vrede too]

Segment on local news tonight (although don't know where the story actually originated) about a big program to instruct teachers in the use of technology necessary for the upcoming "distance learning." Since I don't usually pay close attention to TV news, I glossed over the idea and thought "that's nice." And then I saw they were instructing them in stuff like PowerPoint, group conferencing, and other skills most everybody else has been using for year. PowerPoint! Kids have used PowerPoint for (maybe) decades for science projects, class presentations, yada. So the question popped into mind, WTF haven't these schools been using various distant learning tools and tech all along as at least part of their overall curriculum? I read that little Transylvania County is completely distance-ready, to the point that they can eliminate snow days and such. And some big California county is telling teachers how to use PowerPoint? All in all they're just bricks in the wall...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YR5ApYxkU-U
(long version - very good vid)

I doubt that it was over PowerPoint, but my computer prof brother mentioned that there are adjustments to be made and a bit of a learning curve, enough so that the profs are giving each other tips. He didn't really go into any more detail than that. I directed him to a couple of webinars that I got emails about from a teachers' union and an advocacy group, but I got the feeling when he thanked me that he didn't think he'd need them.

[O Really]

Sure there are differences in being a participant and being a meeting (class) leader, and differences in making a presentation vs. conducting a class for 30-something people, many/most maybe knowing more tech than you. I just got the impression, perhaps incorrectly, that this particular system was giving what seemed to be remedial instruction.

[Vrede too]

Sure there are differences in being a participant and being a meeting (class) leader, and differences in making a presentation vs. conducting a class for 30-something people, many/most maybe knowing more tech than you. I just got the impression, perhaps incorrectly, that this particular system was giving what seemed to be remedial instruction.

Idk enough to agree or disagree with you. I was just sharing the very little bit that my brother mentioned since it is relevant.

Fwiw, given my age and profession I have never put together a PowerPoint.