Comments on: A grim budget exercise for Oakland principals

By: Ms. McLaughlin

Ms. McLaughlin — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 07:57:41 +0000

But SkylineSenior, why?

I’m in no position to have any opinion on the IPad situation at Skyline. But you have every right to voice YOUR opinions.

It cheers me up and makes me proud to see a student on the Education blog, speaking your mind and involving yourself in our community. No idea why you want these particular posts deleted, but I hope it doesn’t mean we won’t hear from you again if there’s something on your mind.

Enjoy your weekend.

By: SkylineHighSchoolSenior

SkylineHighSchoolSenior — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 03:18:07 +0000

Hey Katy Murphy,
Can you please delete my last post with the quote? and this one after that?

Thanks!

By: Marie

Marie — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 22:22:15 +0000

I meant to say Kapner (I think thats her name)?

By: Marie

Marie — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 22:20:52 +0000

Wow. How ridiculous. So much for Site based budgeting right? Look what they do. I can guarantee you, that by the end of the year, ipads will go missing! I was working at a school years back that got digital cameras, and after a year, 85% were gone.

This should come as no surprise in public schools though (those who have worked in them know), waste has always been and theft has always been around.

By the way, way off topic……I was at the board meeting last night and must say its a shame how this bam group manupulates children! I saw the paner lady in the young girls ear telling her what to say, and then she speaks at the podium about teaching kids critical thinking skills?

OEA shoulkd be leary of having people like this on their board! Its a shame!

By: theyellowdart

theyellowdart — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 19:13:36 +0000

I have a source VERY VERY CLOSE to the author of the iPad article, and he never heard a response from the administration.

By: Katy Murphy

Katy Murphy — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 04:09:35 +0000

Thanks for the link. Did the administration ever respond to the story, or explain the expenditure further? (I missed the piece when it came out last month, but I’m now an Oracle subscriber.)

By: SkylineHighSchoolSenior

SkylineHighSchoolSenior — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 03:57:22 +0000

Apparently the vice principals at Skyline’s administration still had money to buy iPads!

Source: http://www.skylineoracle.com/opinion/2010/12/13/ipads-or-iproblems/

By: Yet Another Oakland Teacher

Yet Another Oakland Teacher — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 00:40:18 +0000

15% reduction is probably going to take many schools to bare bones – class room teachers only, no support staff, and classes full to contract maxes, even if it takes multiple combos to do it. We have discussed it at our school and are preparing for the worst, and hoping that, once again, it will not be necessary to cut that much. It is quite disillusioning.

By: Cranky Teacher

Cranky Teacher — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 18:32:25 +0000

I am really confused about something else: Rumors that Title I money is not coming this year from the feds. How could that be? Or maybe it was all just spent in advance at my school to cover previous cuts, so when it arrives it will be already gone…

I will say this: The many different “buckets” of money and how they are managed and apportioned is a huge source of consternation and mistrust within the system. Teachers feel they can’t get basics yet some parts of the system always seem to have monies for reform initiatives, or outside consultants.

It is true that having a whiteboard, a heater, or a field trip (with buses!) is not going to fundamentally transform a school. But it is hard for folks to take the draining battle to just secure such basics when they see cycles of pricy reform abandoned midstream for the next magic bullet curriculum, organizational structure or professional development program…

Then again, everybody has a different perspective on priorities, and mine is from toward the bottom and on the side. Every program is somebody’s baby and has great evidence to support its value. Too bad we are fighting over scraps.

And certainly downtown has made some real cuts, too. For example, the New Teacher Support budget was cut 70% to basically 1-2 people. Guess you don’t need new teacher support, which is the program to get teachers to a Full Credential, when all we seem to hire is Teach for America kids who get TFA mentoring and/or will quit Oakland before their prelim credential expires!

This can be a confusing job, but some days my goal seems simple: Don’t quit.