Education/Indoctrination

My Take on the San Antonio Area Shooting

Very sad day yesterday, at this moment we know of 19 children and 2 adults who are deceased. I believe it was reported two police officers were injured responding. It takes a very sick human to shoot up an elementary school, but let’s just ignore all those facts and go straight to the left wing’s response to this.

My mother had the Clinton News Network on as I arrived at their house and predictably, they fired up the official democrat response to the story. They wheeled out “political panel” David Axelrod and another democrat hack. Of course, Anderson Cooper made no mention of Axelrod being Obama’s former campaign manager, that’s immaterial. Axelrod proceeded to run-off every democrat talking point they use in regard to mass shootings, gun control, far right state, etc. Cooper of course never intervened as he was likely told this is the narrative democrats need to win. They highlighted it was in a minority community and in republican red Texas. Cooper never mentioned the shooter was Hispanic, because that doesn’t fit the narrative. Calling Axelrod a political commentator and Cooper a journalist is an oxymoron and likely the reason exists no one watches them.

It gets better from the democrats.

Congressman Ruben Gallego of Arizona thought it would be a good idea to take to Twitter to rip Ted Cruz. Yup he called Ted a baby killer, yet Gallego will abort any fetus at any time. Gallego then ripped Darrell Issa and went after fellow democrat Krysten Sinema. Congressman Gallego needs a lot of help; he is a deranged human who lacks any self-awareness. The carnage was not even known, and this human decided to fire up Twitter. By the way congressman saying “we are sending prayers” is a self-aware thing to do.

My take is the following on this.

First of all, this never should happen, especially at a school. This issue now has our children becoming pawns in a game of political football. First isn’t it refreshing the same people calling to defund the police now suddenly want guns off the streets and cops in classrooms? Actually, rephrase, they want people who legally own guns to turn them in. So, when in case of emergency, we call 911 and wait until they get around to responding? Maybe we should refund the police? Sorry the good cops already left for more friendly pastures.

Social media is a large part of the issue, kids now do not have friends, they have “friends;” folks they have never met and hardly interact with except via looking at each-other’s tweets, Instagram, or the like. We no longer have a human connection. We have created hot take machines who do not need to show/reveal their true identity. People can bully one another with zero consequences.

Politics are a bigger cause. We need to turn the temperature down about 40,000 degrees. This idea of news shows being politics 24/7 is destroying our very core. Neither side is willing to give an inch on a single issue, if you move slightly or flinch, you will be primaried. Also rid us of the 2-year election cycle, this makes it so issues must be addressed. Also stop doxing people! Giving out addresses of political types or judges in against everything this country is supposed to stand for! It is no true wonder politics is filled with scum of the earth types.

Video games. It used to be you were the police or friendly army shooting at the criminals or the bad army. Now the tables are flipped, Grand Theft Auto and other games make it so being a criminal is cool. With a goal to kill as many police as you can. The lifestyle is glorified. Ban these types of games. They are not needed and serve no purpose.

We need family again. Most are born to single parent households. The father chose to walk away, and mothers have chosen the opposite route; shielding the baby daddy from any responsibility and not allowing him to see his son. Caring is not a bad thing, having a lover (mom) and a teacher (dad) is the best way to move forward.

Quit the self-blame/victim culture. Your life isn’t bad because of _____ we need to make comments about how this is the greatest country on earth and if you get your lazy a** up and work you can do quite well for yourself. We have now become a group who blames everyone else.

Quit bailing out family/criminals. If you are arrested hold their a** in jail for a bit. We bail them out, or release and they commit more or worse crimes. Toughen the crime laws, not weaken, do not end cash bail.

Additionally, please answer me this. We give criminals 3 squares and a cot, as well as protection while in the joint, no one blinks an eye. Yet if you have major mental health issues there is nowhere for you to go, so you go out on the street. Maybe we should allocate money for these hospitals as opposed to homeless tents? Most of the time the mentally ill live out there with zero help.

We need to understand you have the right to bear arms in this country. No one I know responsible carries themselves like Rambo. The criminals and mentally challenged are the problem. Notice at the recent shooting in downtown Sacramento, the criminals all had gang ties and illegally modified guns. Focus on the word illegally. Taking innocent people’s guns away is cruel and not right.

We also must rethink security at schools. Ask yourself why we don’t have mass shootings at a courthouse or government building?

The Chief

Chancellor of CSU System Resigns in Disgrace

Joseph Castro (photo above) was the Chancellor of the California State University system until yesterday when he made the “biggest decision of his life….to resign.” He was under investigation for mishandling sexual assault and workplace intimidation claims of a colleague. Castro was in his first year as chancellor after being promoted from President of CSU Fresno. While at CSU Fresno he was a dumpster fire to say the least, check out this report….

Castro was personally aware of at least seven complaints against Frank Lamas, the head of campus student affairs at Fresno State. The complaints against Lamas, at least 12 in all, detailed a pattern in which the senior administrator “stared at women’s breasts, touched women inappropriately, made sexist remarks, and berated, belittled, and retaliated against employees,” ,” USA TODAY reported. Those complaints began soon after Lamas was hired and spanned the six years he was on the job.
Cal State chancellor resigns under fire over how he handled sexual harassment complaints

Not one, two or a third complaint, 12. That my friends is a pattern, a really bad one. Castro and Frank Lamas were obviously close, check out this bombshell…

Despite knowledge of the allegations, Castro still recommended Lamas for an achievement award and later — rather than firing or calling for his resignation — paid him $260,000 and full retirement benefits to leave his post. The settlement forbade Lamas from ever working again at the Cal State system, but promised him a letter of recommendation if he wanted to work at a different college.

I understand the idea of paying someone off to avoid litigation, but the idea of a letter of rec? That just seems like allowing a predator to continue elsewhere. To our non-California readers, this is quite common in our education system at the high school level. There is even a word for it…passing the trash. Castro in his bio claims he graduated from Cal Berkeley and Stanford, he is obviously not dumb, but how could he be so tone deaf in the #metoo era?

That same day Castro and Lillian Kimbell, who heads the Cal State board of trustees, both said that they welcomed an independent investigation into how Castro handled the assault charges against Lamas. Castro partially defended his actions at Fresno State: “While I followed CSU policy and took the steps to ensure this individual could never work on a CSU campus, I recognize that certain aspects of the process should have been handled better.”
Castro further explained his rationale for offering Lamas a letter of recommendation in an “open letter” he shared with Cal State students and staff that night. “In hindsight, while my motives were to expedite Dr. Lamas’ permanent removal from the CSU, I regret agreeing to this aspect of the settlement, knowing that it caused additional pain,” Castro wrote.

So, in the eyes of Mr. Chancellor paying someone off is the best way to expedite a dismissal? Well, I guess when it’s the people’s money not yours that’s the way it works. I take back what I say about Castro being smart, he is just a dumb bureaucrat who would be on unemployment if it weren’t for government work. Only in government is incompetence allowed.

Consternation continued to flow. Students had gathered protesting Castro’s handling of the sexual assault claims. The Visalia Times-Delta posted an editorial urging the university’s board to fire Castro. The systemwide academic faculty union sought an independent investigation, calling the USA Today report “disturbing.” The faculty senate at Fresno State also expressed dismay over Castro’s time at Fresno through a vote of no-confidence.

At this point the cake was baked, Castro needed to resign. A career of incompetence. All Castro needed to do was turn over the reports to a Title 9 officer. Trust me on this the UC and CSU system is chock full of bureaucrats holding the title Chief of ___, but unlike me they have real jobs, for me it’s just a fancy name. Castro could have called a legal counsel; I am sure again numerous were at his beck and call. Could have gone to the trustees on the board, or even the governor, attorney general…. heck the damn city council of Fresno. But nope, he hid a sexual deviant and predator for reasons unknown.

Truth be told, the toughest decision Castro had to make was covering for Lamas, and he instead made it over and over and over again. The #metoo movement may not be one you agree with, but if you think you can escape unscathed your mistaken. Castro had a ton going for him, and he threw it all away. He is a loser, and a coward. He spoke about how he disagreed with the decision of the board and their investigation…. why didn’t he dig in and fight? Instead, he didn’t, like any other coward he cut and ran. He talked about how resigning was a tough choice, really it wasn’t. Cowards like him do it all the time, they would rather run away then face the music.

The last aspect of this commentary from me is this. God Bless, State of California quit hiring people based on their skin color or “being the first.” This Castro moron was in way over his head, the job was too big for him. But he checked a box and in California that is all that mattered. Quite a few highly qualified folks likely applied, and Castro was selected based on his skin color. Go ahead try to call me a racist, I call it like I see it. Castro had these issues at CSU Fresno, and they finally bubbled up a year later? Nice job Castro…. now make an easy decision, stop covering up sexual assault, and why the hell are you helping out a low life like Lamas?

Good riddance.

The Chief

The CA Teachers Union: The Real Bully on Campus

Bloggers note: obviously there are good teachers out there, this does not apply to them, I’m directing this at the real life pond scum who have failed our young people for now second school year.

Folks I want to share a statement made by Comrad Gavin Newsom yesterday regarding the re-opening of schools. This taken directly from KCRA 3, an affiliate of MSNBC mind you, look for the emphasis I place on one word.

All California schools should reopen when the new academic year begins next fall, though his guidelines remain merely an expectation rather than a mandate.
Facing political pressure and a recall effort, Newsom has said he plans to lift most of California’s coronavirus restrictions June 15 as part of reopening the state to business-as-usual. Earlier this month, he made a similar pronouncement, but many districts and teachers remain reluctant.
‘Reimagine the school year’: Newsom pushes reopening as many California districts resist

The word is “should”, as in optional, not required. Again, note he will be re-opening most of California mid-June, Disney is already in stages of full re-opening, movie theaters are operational, but not schools. Mid-June also is smack in the middle of summer; thus, schools are typically not open. If they are, only those who are looking to get ahead, earn AP college credits, or failed a class are required to attend. Many students are falling behind, some even hopelessly behind. Virtual meetings work for work meetings, clubs, and certain social gatherings, may have merit but not school.

I have to hand it to our governor. He and his ilk, along with anti-Trumpers, 90-day guys, and cable watchers, successfully scared everyone into thinking this virus would wipe us all out; well except for the “essential workers, required to show up at an office like me” apparently this virus hop scotches over me. As a result, teachers have decided to milk the clock as long as they could, even while certain other sectors re-opened. Please answer, how I am safer at a home improvement store or at a mall than a child would be at school?

You may ask what I know about the latter? I know this much, the UPS guy who delivers to our office told me he dropped off an entire truck load of PPE, think plexiglass, shields, masks, bleach, wipes, etc. at a local elementary school. Nary a single box has moved or been open for over a month. Your tax dollars hard at work my friends! A local charter school group in our hometown still thinks the CDC claims 6 feet is safe in schools, that is false, they now say 3 feet. Fear not, the charter school system will not adhere to the new guidelines until the EGUSD board tells them too. Mind you these teachers are not union, and the administration rails against EGUSD constantly. I guess politics really do make strange bedfellows!

Additionally, the vaccine was made available to this charter school’s teachers 2 months ago, only 5 teachers showed up, the remainder staged a “sick-out” or claimed religious exemptions. To the latter group, I know of zero Middle Eastern folks teaching there, and the Pope has claimed only the Johnson and Johnson shot violates Catholic beliefs. It is non-sense. To the former, I always hear you are sacrificing monetarily to have a career teaching our youth…maybe try doing it? I heard a statement “when the going gets tough, the tough get going.” For some reason you all think that means hit the beach for spring break?

In closing I will say this, you are lucky you own this state. Gavin can’t attack you or he is toast, he knows it, your union leaders know it. Teachers work about 185 days a year. They start work after most folks are already at their jobs, and then go home far earlier than others begin their trek home each afternoon. The term last in, first out used to be a bad stigma, but you teachers live it daily. You avoid the vaccine not for any reason other than you do not wish to work. You half a**ed it all year for the same reasons. No longer keeping track of truancy or people ditching class, because, well I guess the administration told you not too. A school year has come and gone, and you have not had to teach in front of your full class. Fear not the bonuses will flow, and all will be well after you all celebrate graduation. Congrats on a job well done.

I never wish to hear about your trials and tribulations, or having a tough job ever again. You all quit on the students you are supposed to help. Just remember this next time you are temped to complain how rough your job is. You forced the young people to work at the grocer, or the fast-food places so you could grab a bite while you were home hiding in place and refusing to work.

Chief

Why Low Test Scores Are Good for California Schools

Yep, after over a year of Covid shutdowns, California’s public schools are making preparations for standardized testing. The results are supposed to determine funding levels from the federal government. This year’s tests will be given to students with less security measures in place than Lori Loughlin’s daughters taking an SAT test. Most California students taking these tests will be unsupervised by anyone.

In a recent meeting of Elk Grove teachers discussing the topic, the following was announced to all in attendance.

“Whatever kind of shitshow it turns out to be, don’t sweat it and just move on. Relax, give it, and move on. Don’t stress your kids out or yourself out over it. It’s just another hoop we need to jump through for the federal government.”

Translation: this year’s testing results are gonna be a train wreck.

The test results are in on California’s children …

Some more conscientious teachers that I know, were concerned about such a comment. They know the test scores will be lower and think that’s bad because the quality of education over the last year has been abysmal. Some teachers really care that children have been harmed by the Covid restrictions.

My response was something like this:

Yes, the children have suffered due to the panic and isolation thrust upon them. They are suffering mentally and emotionally. It’s not natural for children to grow up without others to play with. They probably are being warped in their development.

But no worries. The good news is that the worse the test scores, the more money the teacher’s unions can get out of California taxpayers. I’m sure Gavin and our legislature will do much “for the children”. It really won’t help children recover from Covid—how do you give restitution to a kid for stealing a year of their already short youth—but the politicians will get facetime on camera saying that redistributing your wealth proved how much we care.

Yet another example of not letting a good crisis go to waste.

Bandwidth Apocalypse

In discussions with my wife, the subject of Internet availability came up in the context of “Distance Learning.” In our local school district, tens of thousands of kids will all simultaneously be logging on to their respective Zoom classroom sessions at 8:00 AM on August 13th.

My wife is grateful to be attempting this from home because her school lacks the capacity for teachers to reliably replay YouTube videos, let alone for twenty something teachers to sustain connections to 24 plus children each, all with live video feeds.

Oh, I forgot to mention that over the summer, a plan was put forward that all teachers must live broadcast to their children from their respective classrooms each day. The teacher’s union mercifully killed the idea.

Let’s look at the bandwidth requirements for August 13 and beyond. Much cable and television content as well as streaming in delivered via the Internet. Also, many people are working from home and not their offices. This work is predicated on Internet availability. Now the district here in Elk Grove, and sometime in August every other school in California, will be simultaneously logged in as well.

Much of the Internet is provided by traditional telephone lines or coax cable and not fiber optic lines. Providers such as Comcast have limits as to how much they can push through an old-fashioned strand of copper. Yes, they have figured a way to do this with channels to give short bursts of higher speed based on demand but wow! They just might be sitting on a throttling nightmare or worse. Frontier Communications is shoddier than Comcast and happens to serve many schools as well as customers in more rural or older parts of town. They’re a mess on a good day but I think this will go bad for them too.

Folks Zoom and/or local Internet providers can’t handle the load of teacher training during summertime. People at home didn’t have the bandwidth to support it. Many Zoom meetings for the purpose of training teachers were asking participants to turn off their cameras because the connection kept lagging, and nobody could hear the presentation. Teachers don’t have the luxury of telling students to turn off their cameras. Without being able to see them, how will the teacher be able to gauge comprehension and know when students have a question, etc.

I think my wife is on to something. This distance learning idea may collapse under the weight of too much demand on existing infrastructure. Can you imagine the masses hiding out from Covid-19 without Internet? Gavin would not be able to suppress the masses without the bread and circuses of entertainment provided by the Internet to pacify them.

I know some people think this possibility is far fetched but consider this, again giving credit to my wife; when we did “Distance Learning” during the spring, there were no set times or duration of time required to be online with the children. Furthermore, much if the instruction was via prerecorded video that could be viewed on demand. In other words, instruction was ad hoc in nature. Now the bureaucrats want everything structured and in lockstep order. We have set schedules—all at the same time—and set hours of performance. In other words, ad hoc has been sacrificed for regimentation and uniformity.

Folks, it will be fun to watch but if the wife is right then I may have trouble posting a blog with a told ya so as a topic.

PS: For the sake of the above discussion, we are assuming that Google Classroom and other educational platforms will not be the bottleneck during live instruction.

Sacramento Teachers Screw-over Working Families

By: Chief

Yes, you read that correctly. You are not dreaming but this could be construed as one. (OK, a nightmare is more like it.) Sacramento County Office of Education (SCOE) decided today that none of the public schools (elementary to high school) can open for in person learning this fall. The teachers polled their members and the response was “overwhelming” that they did not wish to re-open for in person learning, thus distance learning it is. I figure this also includes no sports or athletic clubs for the fall either, as it makes no sense to have in person sports or band while banning in person classes.

What does this mean for sports? I doubt football or any other fall sports happen. The number of mandatory practices required prior to games being played is certainly not happening. This doesn’t bode well for fall sports being rescheduled for play in the spring either. Football games in 90-degree heat on field turf anyone? Just might be a thing of the past.

What does this mean for parents? Well I guess unless their children are junior high or high school aged, you’re doing “take your child to work day” for at least an entire semester. I am not quite sure how this will work as most jobs do not allow for 100% supervision. Take my job for example. I guess they could set up in the breakroom (it would be an invasion of space of my colleagues) and junior could fire up the laptop. Another problem, what happens at 3:00 or so when his school day is over? I am not off until 5. Most children under the age of 17 have the attention span of a gnat, which would make the last 2 hours of my day hell on wheels. What about internet access? At my work some sites (mostly viewed by high school age folks) are blocked, so that won’t help either. What about folks who do not work a desk job like me…. some people work jobs where children are not allowed, or worse it is unsafe for them. I guess they get left at home with little to no supervision. Sadly, some children will never notice the difference as public schools statewide lost track of about 20 percent of their kids once distance learning began last spring.

Oh, instead of putting the burden on parents to educate their children, the Legislature has already mandated that during distance learning, teachers must have live contact with every child on their rolls every day. Surely nothing could go wrong with adult teachers calling your minor children on the telephone when you are not home.

What does this mean for the child? Well long and short of it is zero in person school for nearly an entire calendar year. As you may recall, we shut schools down in March. Young children, especially those in elementary school, need to interact with other human beings, classmates, teachers, etc. in a face-to-face environment. Additionally, when in school, the curriculum provided things in the classroom for students to physically learn, are parents going to be expected to buy those same materials while junior “distance learns?” Folks over 60 who think the millennials and Gen X are bad…. you haven’t seen nothin’ yet. Wait ‘til these broken, dysfunctional, and unnecessarily traumatized children are voting age!

What does this mean for school support staff? If you’re administration then its probably business as usual, maybe a little more paperwork, and zero accountability. For the cafeteria staff, the hot lunch and meal program is still going full bore, so report to work regardless of your thoughts on this. Athletic department staff may be cleaning out their lockers for a while. Custodial and maintenance staff will continue to work as normal. If anyone is interested, the AC units and lights will be left on as usual, wouldn’t want anything to appear out of routine! What about yard duty, counselors, resource teachers, etc.? Some districts like Elk Grove may carry the deadweight but look for Sac City to dump extra baggage as they try to stay afloat.

What about the teachers? They won. They get to keep teaching from the comfort of their homes with full pay and benefits, and zero accountability. They are required to keep attendance records, but frankly don’t expect them to go one iota above and beyond. Sounds like the SAT and ACT are likely going away, and while we are at it, I figure we will take this opportunity to remove all standardized testing prior to the end of the school year. Think this group feels any of your pain? Think again, the teachers in this state are the most self-serving group of people I have ever heard of. The CTA (teachers union) owns this state and all the elected from both parties. Ask a Democrat elected, cross the CTA you will get humiliated in your next re-election run.

Sadly, fellow readers, the teacher’s union has become a microcosm of everything wrong with our country today. Teachers don’t have to teach in person but folks at grocers, Wally World, meat packing plants, and a host of other essential jobs must report to work or else. On the other hand, this merry band of entitled folks can decide to opt-out? Sorry you signed up to be a teacher. If you want the benefits, short workday, quite a few days off, summers off, extra time at Christmas, Spring Break, Thanksgiving, you need to show up to work in the classroom. Maybe if we withhold their salary, their attitude would change. You know, like what would happen to any of us who work in the real world?

I thought it was their job to think about the children. Sadly, there is only one bully on school property and it’s the teacher’s union.

The Chief

PS Hey parents, don’t forget to document your children’s P.E. (physical education) minutes each day so your district can continue to be fully funded. This is the only mandated curriculum in the state of California that must be documented by each school district. Thanks to Governor Arnold.

Americans v Their Government

Americans want to go back to work but their government won’t let them; especially, here in California. Those that think that magic fairies will sprinkle pixie dust on everything, and we will open again in a week or two are in desperate need of recreational pot or something else. Trust me, any shelter in place order that lasts for more than four weeks requires more than the immediate attention of a doctor.

If you want more proof that barring a revolt of the people—which I think has begun—we will still be cowering in fear at the end of the year, here’s another clue for those that have the eyes to see.

The Los Rios Community College District will be moving to a fully online fall schedule due to novel coronavirus concerns, school officials said Monday in a message to staff and students.
Sacramento County college district to move fall classes online

Also, the sage Dr. Fauci poured cold water on the idea of school resuming in the fall. His comments came when questioned by Senator Rand Paul, the only Senator confirmed to have had Corona virus.

Following up on Paul’s question about reopening schools come fall, Fauci said that there is still much that researchers don’t know about the novel coronavirus and the country should not be “cavalier” in reopening institutions too quickly.
“We don’t know everything about this virus … especially when it comes to children,” Fauci said. “We ought to be careful and not cavalier.”
Rand Paul dings Fauci during testimony, tells him ‘you are not the end all’

I know of other schools looking to continue either distance learning only or a hybrid system of part brick and mortar classes and virtual learning. They can see the likelihood of resuming traditional school fading more every week.

Ok, let’s review some other context clues that our elites plan for this to go on for many more months.

Last month, in Los Angeles, the County Supervisors announces that they will not allow any professional sporting events to be done in front of a live audience including NFL Football games.

Also, last month, KOVR TV reported that shelter in place will run thru at least October.

All county fairs and the State Fair are cancelled, again a decision made last month. The last of the county fairs were scheduled for the end of August.

Last week, Governor Newsom decreed that all elections statewide will be conducted by mail-in ballots. Were our voter rolls clean this might not be such a big deal but since we have at least 1.5 million more people registered than we have adult humans in this state that are eligible to vote, it’s promoting a criminal enterprise to make such a declaration. This declaration presupposes that Covid-19 will be here and require people to be protected from it, meaning part if not all the population will still be sheltering in place in November.

Recently, tech companies like Microsoft have stated that all employees will be working from home for at least the next five months or longer. Facebook and Google have decreed that their employees will work from home until early 2021. Twitter has said employees can work from home indefinitely.

Microsoft said that, in the face of the COVID-19 crisis, employees can work from home till October, Facebook and Google went one better and set a deadline no early than 2021, and today Twitter confirmed that employees can work from home as long as they want…
Twitter one-ups Facebook and Google, say employees can work from home indefinitely

Thus the “good” liberal companies in Silicon Valley are aligned with the power elites that are planning for a prolonged siege of the country and its economy. For now, they are allies of Newsom but somehow, I don’t think Hollywood is nearly as willing to follow suit.

Newsom repeats that we will not undo this situation until we have a vaccine, and everybody has been inoculated. There is more certainty that there will never be a vaccine than one will be available in a few months. The fact is that few viruses ever have a vaccine developed for them. Lest you doubt me, try this: Where is the common cold vaccine? Where is the AIDS vaccine? We know that as of two months ago, Covid-19 had 30 different strains and more seem to be in the wild now than then. Also, remember my caution that the vaccine may be just as dangerous as the disease it claims to cure.

The metrics established by the Governor will keep all population centers far from the threshold needed for any meaningful reduction in restrictions. This will go on for months not days or weeks.

Those who think they will find themselves in church anytime soon are dreaming. When services are finally allowed, the meeting size will be limited to 50 people per service and like in Tennessee where Bibles, prayer books, hymnals, bulletins will be banned along with offerings and Communion.

The truth is that many private schools and church congregations will never meet again. I know of several churches and private schools in my county that are on the verge of insolvency. I know of one such institution that is over a million dollars in the hole as a result of the current panic. The fact is that people quit writing checks when they don’t have a job or have their hours are severely cut.

The government has failed us, the faith community is impotent, and that leaves only the people themselves to rise-up and go to work while those waiting for permission cower in their homes as life passes them by.

Willie Brown is correct, if everybody goes back to work, they will flood the zone so much that government will be unable to pull anybody’s license. Piecemeal loses but workers and business owners can act much more swiftly to take back their lives.

Better asking for forgiveness than permission is one economic lesson of life with Covid-19.

EG Schools Might Be Back…Sort Of

After being closed for a good six or seven weeks, the Elk Grove Unified School District is hoping to roll-out another four or five weeks of instruction for this school year. Seems like it took a while to greenlight the concept (this is the third week since the shutdown) and now they are giving teachers an additional month to figure out how to implement the details. The goal is to have the district “go live” with online instruction for the last week of April with all instruction terminating by the end of May. All schedules year round to traditional are included in this new and truncated calendar.

Please note my son’s private school went live (K – 12) with full blown instruction in all classes on their third day following a shutdown. Ditto for many other public-school districts. Why Elk Grove is taking their ever lovin’ sweet time is a mystery. Why they need another month now that they have a plan of action is ridiculous.

Meanwhile, teachers have been given the green light to make suggestions to parents for online resources (which is good) but teachers are still forbidden to continue with any new material for their children (which is bad). I guess the lowest common denominator governs not just the student’s but the teacher’s instruction as well. Sad.

I’m left with many concerns and questions besides the ones I’ve already mentioned. Will the grades count? If so, will they be weighted the same? What about teachers that don’t even know how to check email? (This is not a rhetorical question because a bunch of teachers get stumped when asked to press the “Any Key.”) What about AP classes or special ed classes? Both extremes pose challenges. What if Johnny or his folks want the district to supply the computing device and/or internet access?

The District’s correspondence makes it clear that their relationship with the union comes before the children. No surprise to me. Had they let their principals take the lead, instruction would be happening for most children, but education is a top-down world. This experiment in “Distance Learning” will result in an uneven quality of education; limited by the abilities of the teachers. Hopefully it will encourage a few to either retire or up their tech skills.

Anyway, it looks like my pronouncement of no more school this year, may be proven wrong. Let’s just see what happens. Whether it can be called distance daycare, or entertainment, or education may be in the eye of the beholder.

Corona Virus Triggers Unnecessary Panic

Folks, parts of our cable television watching society are stocking up on antibacterial soap and toilet paper and looking for fallout shelter plans on eBay while the rest of us have purposed just to live our lives. I’m in the latter category.

So, on the first day of a stupid government school shutdown in my community, I’m going on record with a claim that Corona triggers unnecessary panic? Heck yeh! But the market is down 2K just today. So what?

Here’s a few thoughts on the unforced error of cancelling all classes this week in the Elk Grove School District.

In the Saturday release, the Elk Grove School Superintendent claimed he was moving Spring Break to this week, sorry, not happening. Look for the regularly scheduled Spring Break to happen next month in the second week of April. Both parents and teachers are taking off that week regardless of what was claimed in the press release issued on Saturday—much of which was a lie debunked by the Sacramento Bee which I will get to shortly.

You see, many parents scheduled time-off from work just to coordinate with the District’s schedule, buying airline tickets, making hotel reservations, and such long ago. These people will be out the money if they don’t go now. Also, there is that pesky union contract with the District’s teachers stating that the second week in April is the time off for those on both Traditional and Modified Traditional schedules. A reasonable suggestion that I heard from a teacher in the District was that Spring Break will happen as scheduled and a few extra days will be tacked onto the end of the school year. We’ll see if that prediction pans out.

As I’m writing this, a claim has surfaced that one child in the District tested positive. If that’s true, then please tell me what is the metric that children will ever be allowed to return to school? By being arbitrary, this Superintendent has opened a can of worms that he may never get back in the bottle. Just by being in school a child might give an illness to another, this is reality. If this is his metric, how can he ever risk that classes convene again?

The grilling given to the Elk Grove Superintendent by the Sacramento Bee’s Marcos Bretón is priceless.

More shocking. Saturday’s announcement, with such widespread implications, including the possibility of triggering public anxiety and panic, was rolled out with little or no coordination between the county’s public health department or key elected officials in Sacramento, even though a letter to parents Saturday said “this complex decision involved close collaboration and coordination with our Board of Trustees, labor groups, the Sacramento County Office of Education and the Sacramento County Public Health Department.”
If county health officials were communicating with the Elk Grove district all along then that message didn’t get out to county elected officials.
They were all caught flat-footed: Sacramento County Supervisor Phil Serna, the chair of the board this year, learned about the Elk Grove announcement when word of the district closure caused his phone to “blow up.”
Serna was at a campaign event for a colleague in the Arden Arcade area Saturday afternoon when he learned. With him was Sacramento Democratic state Sen. Richard Pan, a doctor, who has spent weeks trying to calm public fears about the coronavirus. With them was Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg and Assemblyman Kevin McCarty, D-Sacramento.
All of them learned at the same time and without warning.
Closing Elk Grove schools gives a shocking lesson in how not to handle the coronavirus

Serna, Pan, Steinberg and McCarty all huddled together after learning about the Elk Grove announcement from The Bee. Together, they have planned a 1 p.m. news conference on Sunday at the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors offices at 700 H St.
The first question that should be answered there must be this: How could the largest school district in Northern California announce it was shutting its doors in a complete vacuum of information and leadership?

Why is a serious step such as closing a school district trotted out via letter to Elk Grove parents as if the contents of the letter referred to a bake sale and not an issue with serious health and policy implications?
And here is another question: Why would EGUSD, apparently with the OK of county health officials, shut down the entire district when such a drastic step is not recommended by state health officials? By late Saturday, the California Department of Public Health released its guidelines for schools, colleges and large public events to protect against the spread of COVID-19.
Nowhere in those recommendations do state officials call for the closure of a district without a single student or staff member testing positive for COVID-19. And up until now, there hasn’t been an EGUSD student or staff member who has tested positive. State health officials only contemplate closing an entire district if there have been students, teachers or staff members who have tested positive at multiple schools in a district.

But entities such as EGUSD can’t simply act without consideration for how the decision will affect a general public already jittery about the coronavirus.
As Steinberg said, Sacramento County must have a coordinated message. They need protocols. Stories of this import cannot simply be dropped like a stink bomb in the dark.

But maybe if it hadn’t been made in such a vacuum someone could have helped the Elk Grove educators make this call in a way that didn’t seem premature and haphazard.

Panic is what happens when a health crisis is mismanaged and when people who should be in the loop are not. This is not the way it should be done.

Marcus is right on this issue. (As always, I’ve quoted him extensively because this article will soon find its way behind McClatchy’s pay firewall.) Marcus, “stink bomb” is a much politer term than the ones I’m thinking of right now.

Since this opinion piece was posted, the high school boys’ basketball game is rumored to get an exemption, while the high school prom last Saturday night was killed five hours before it was scheduled to begin; off district property I might add.

Perhaps educators should try staying in their lane and let public health officials do their job. That might actually be refreshing. A coordinated response is needed not arbitrary nonsense. Panicking and then telling others that you didn’t is disingenuous and harmful; especially when your actions affect thousands of people and millions of dollars. Elk Grove’s Superintendent needs to be fired, but it won’t happen until summer just so he and the District can save face.

Folks, the Corona virus fears will blow over and the stock market will recover. These issues are just distractions to keep folks on the 24-hour news channels employed. Both of these issues will be in the country’s rearview mirror before long and they’ll go on to some other story while we that live in Elk Grove deal with the aftermath of this out of control bureaucrat.

Elk Grove Schools Cry “Wolf”

At noon today, Saturday, March 7, 2020, the Elk Grove School District informed teachers that due to fears of the Corona Virus, all classes in the entire District are cancelled the week of March 9.

Lest you think that was enough, Monday has now been declared as “Spring Break.” The District says there is nothing to fear. Really? So way are classes cancelled? Why, in the middle of a weekend, did you move Spring Break up one month?

Here’s the publicly released letter to parents.

Oh, rumor mill amongst teachers is that Sacramento Unified has also done likewise.

Ok, so one family might test positive and the whole county is on indefinite lockdown. Please note in the above letter, they reserve the right to cancel classes indefinitely. Again, this is not Ebola. Somebody is watching way too much cable news.