Comments by Ken Johnson
June 11, 2006
Barry, Good Question: … “Why is anyone promoting a $40,000,000 bypass…?” You asked this question a couple of times without an answer – this time, I’ll try to suggest an answer. I received a copy of the CCF proposal by email with the subject: “Wavecrest II”. I thought it was a ‘May Day’ joke. In a “Mr. Gardner voted No before he voted Yes” moment back on 13Oct05 Mr. Gardner said of the new school “if it isn’t funded – it isn’t a project!” So why doesn’t he apply…
June 09, 2006
Mr. Gardner, Foothill appears to be a no. How about starting with your own School Board -- School Bussing certainly then should be NEXT in consideration on the table by your logic! We know that WILL help reduce traffic congestion! You are a voting member of the School Board. You can actually make a difference there. You don’t appear to want to support that as an option as I heard it last night at the School Board meeting. Did I not hear you correctly during the meeting proceedings? Ken Johnson
June 26, 2006
Matt Berman, I attended good schools – maybe that is understated. My first experience with government required tests was at age 12-13 – without test prep. My school felt that prep was unnecessary, if they had done a good job in teaching. Apparently the school’s arrogance was correctly placed because my entire class was at the top end of scoring. And good / great schools still exist today, who consider the government mandated tests as a minor annoyance, while they continue their real task of…
June 19, 2006
Matt Berman, Hmmm, teachers “are unionized like the teamsters, and their contracts are not much different”. Did you check to see if the Teamsters were offended by your statement – Teamsters accept that their performance IS measurable! Seriously, I probably would have agreed to your personal feelings on standardized testing and measuring teacher competency – then I encountered CUSD. From my personal experience, Accountability standards represent a minor distraction for good schools but a necessity…
June 18, 2006
Matt Berman Actually, we do have "a valid method of determining comparative teaching ability" or more precisely, teacher effectiveness. The required STAR end-of-year testing measures how much of the State required grade level material was mastered. STAR provides an option of reporting by teacher. It is also possible to extract the prior year results for each of the teacher’s students. It is then possible [as a simplified example] to determine the average range of improvement attributable to…
June 17, 2006
Jonathan, I had also noted the trend as categories of votes were counted. Wavecrest II and bussing decisions; along with the ‘bizarre dance of the four majority’ of the School Board on 13Oct05 regarding approving the new middle school site; was the campaign against Measure S. The School Board did an effective job of grasping defeat from the jaws of victory! It would be interesting to compare the survey results from last September to today. I suspect the School Board negatives are considerably…
June 09, 2006
Must See TV – MCTV - CUSD - 7PM Monday 12 June See our esteemed School Board President, Ms Jolanda Schreurs, muse about Another NEW Additional School BOND Tax – as if already squandering $15 Million of the original $35 Million Bond, because of the 10-year delay at Cunha, wasn’t enough! I still can’t believe I heard that one right – some one out there still on cable, please tape this one for me – I’ll bring the popcorn! I think her argument went something like this: can’t get a Parcel…
June 08, 2006
Brian Ginna,
I’ll let the rest of your errors slide, but I don't have a “personal dislike” of Charlie. ‘Hell, he's the only one up there that doesn't have an accent’: maybe you have to of lived in the South to understand that one.
Ken
June 08, 2006
First, I would like to compliment Ms. Cindy Epps and those who worked on the ‘Yes on Measure S’ campaign. The problem was not with their efforts, but with the client – the CUSD School Board. I had quipped to an acquaintance that I was toying with running a full-page ad of a picture of Jolanda Schreurs and Dwight Wilson, Charles Gardner and Ken Jones in the corners – with the caption “would you trust her with a $9 million slush fund?” I decided against it, as Ambassador Joe Kennedy quipped…
June 03, 2006
Cindy, Thanks for your response. The reason I suggested that Barry do an article, is that neither of us has the authority to say what Superintendent Bayless “WILL” do. With all due respect, you lack authority to commit CUSD to a procedure unless I missed an item on a prior board agenda. Only Superintendent Bayless or the school board at a previous meeting can commit the district to what he “WILL” do. It is the district’s problem of ‘not ready for prime time’ again by missing the boilerplate…
June 01, 2006
Brian Ginna, “Hostage” –an interesting word choice. Aren’t people free to choose to send a check of any amount to CUSD right at this moment or at any time? My post offered an ‘Alternative Parcel Tax Measure’. The voter is free to ‘Vote No On Measure S” and mail a check to CUSD on the way back from the polling location, if they feel the 5 month delay is critical. The question: is Measure S worthy of compelling your neighbour to send a check? That is what a parcel tax does! We apparently…
June 01, 2006
I apologize for taking so long to publish the ‘Alternative Parcel Tax Measure’. It is on CUSD.Info now.
You can vote for Measure S OR the Alternative Parcel Tax Measure in November. But we can’t have both! Please Vote NO on Measure S.
Restore School Bussing, Accountability and really improve our schools.
On 6-6-6 Just Say No! To the School Board! No on S!
http://cusd.info/
Ken Johnson
May 23, 2006
Sam, Yes, you have to remember to send your Senior Citizen Exemption on time in each and every year! You also have to provide personal information that could facilitate identity theft -- sort of dangerous in a school area with no guarantee of security of your personal provided information. The CUSD school board was aware of the problem – just disinterested in doing anything to solve the problems! Another anomaly, if your wife is under 65, and God forbid you die, your widow will loose your senior…
May 26, 2006
Linda, Thank you. Sorry, no formal ‘No on S’ signs. Try: On 6-6-6 Just Say No! To Evil School Board! No on S! Print it up on your printer in 72pt Arial. That might engender conversation, which they have ardently avoided. I found it interesting that at the last CUSD Bored [intentional spelling] meeting; they were pushing “Yes on S” signs on attendees. There were only three members of the public (me, the MCTV cameraman and Cindy Epps), the rest were CUSD employees. Your problem with the Review…
May 25, 2006
’Environmentalist -- not the blameless sainted school board -- responsible for 10 year delay of new school.’ Or so half of the Review’s endorsement of Measure S would have us believe. I sent Clay Lambert, Review Editor, a thank you note for picking at that old scab – it might just be the hitch that will make Measure S lose. The Review: “shrinking state funding” – if the reader has any other source of information, they know the opposite is true, with billions added earlier this year…
May 19, 2006
Barry,
Is the Review still being published? I looked for it printed on yellow paper, but I couldn't find it!
Eric Rice is missed. He understood the difference between journalism and propaganda.
Ken Johnson
May 12, 2006
Leonard,
Thank you for the heads up. I am sorry you are Comcasted; I and many others will be enjoying it in HDTV 1080i OTA or on DirectTV. There is no technical reason you shouldn't be able to do the same on <argh> cable. Go scream at them!
See: https://coastsider.com/comments/1389_0_1_0_C/
Ken
June 06, 2006
It is Election Day:
A personal message to those voting No On Measure S:
Vote Early and Vote Often!
It IS for the children!
Ken Johnson - out
June 06, 2006
Ray, You partially answered one of your own questions for me: “the busing issue which has absolutely nothing to do with the objectives of measure S”. Or to re-phrase it: Measure S excludes bussing and children’s safety. As to another of your questions: I am sorry, but I don’t have the time to teach or tutor math or statistics any longer, you will have to enroll in a few University courses. “I really wonder what your underlying agenda might be.” Mine is straightforward: see CUSD START…
June 05, 2006
“Abandon hope all ye who enter here” should appear above all main doors of CUSD and Rodin’s La Porte de l'Enfer (The Gates of Hell) for the entrance of a new intermediate school if it is ever built somewhere. You can go to Stanford University to see it and if your child has taken an art class involving sculpture at CUSD and they did not drag you there; give CUSD an “F” in Art. It has the best museum and examples of the casting process west of The Musée Rodin in Paris with the benefit of…
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