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The following stories have received the most reader comments during the last 7 days.
- Will terrorists be given Miranda warnings? (72)
- President Obama's first year (67)
- Lodi Unified School District president issues warning to speakers over cuts (64)
- Local business leaders say tourism, Costco, Home Depot may play roles in city's future (60)
- Islamic symbol in mosaic — what is all the fuss? (49)
- Writer comments on Neely column (42)
- The Home Depot hopes to join Costco at Reynolds Ranch (41)
- Many reject the politics of 'no' (40)
- Police: Train victim was a Lodi teen (31)
- Time to shed the convenient sham of 'Don't ask, don't tell' policy (31)
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Facing technology, time constraints, most Lodi Unified schools don't present Obama's speech
Few local parents appeared to protest President Obama's speech to local students Tuesday, partly because it could not be shown inside some classrooms due to outdated technology.
Although the speech was free of a political message and was aimed mainly at encouraging children to stay in school, some administrators across the country boycotted on-campus broadcasts and parents sent e-mails encouraging their peers to keep students home.
Lynette Elia, whose fourthand second-grade sons watched the speech at Marengo Ranch Elementary School in Galt, never thought once about excusing her children.
"It's perfectly appropriate and positive," she said of a U.S. president addressing students.
The three planned to discuss what they thought of it later Tuesday evening.
At that campus, 23 of the school's teachers showed the speech. Among those, four of the approximately 460 students' parents sent notes to have them opt-out of the event, according to Principal Terry Metzger.
She added that absences were no different than any other day.
Attendance figures for Lodi Unified School District were unavailable.
Administrators there left the decision to broadcast it up to each site, but many simply do not have the available technology, according to Superintendent Cathy Nichols-Washer.
At Larson Elementary School, for example, there are no TVs, nor is there enough Internet bandwidth to show live events on the computer system, Principal Cheryl Nilmeyer said.
The district ran into a similar issue when schools wanted to show Obama's inauguration speech.
A week beforehand, faculty tried to organize school-wide assemblies, but couldn't find a projector powerful enough to project a bright enough image enough onto the large screen unless all of the lights were turned off.
Staff then tried to work with teachers to watch the event over the Internet, but it proved difficult given the bandwidth the district subscribes to. There is no cable or digital TV service on most campuses.
Finally, some teachers decided to set up TVs with "rabbit ear" antenna in their classrooms.
On Tuesday, the schedule was the issue at both high schools in Galt. Since the speech's 9 a.m. start time fell while students were transitioning between classes, administrators made other plans.
At Galt High School, Principal Charles Howell was going to record the speech and replay it during Friday's GTV time, typically set aside for a special video bulletin of what is going on at the school.
Teacher Alex Bauer, who discovered the scheduling constraints over the weekend, also planned to tape it and show it during class today. He found it difficult to set up curriculum to show at least part of it live, especially when first period would need to watch it taped the next day anyway, he said.
Galt elementary administrators sent a districtwide voice mail to parents last Friday letting them know how it would handle the live speech. Parents who did not want their students to view the speech were encouraged to write a note, and an alternative activity would be provided if a classroom is participating, according to Superintendent Karen Schauer.
Contact reporter Jennifer Bonnett at jenniferb@lodinews.com.
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Bob Hussein Loblaw wrote on Sep 16, 2009 11:25 AM:
Lodian wrote on Sep 15, 2009 10:31 PM:
Lodian wrote on Sep 15, 2009 10:30 PM:
"-Get off my back BITCH! You're really becoming an irritant. Your pathetic little rants are becoming old and tiresome. Why don't you just leave these bloggs and maybe your ilk will go too. You must be quite miserable to have to disrupt every blog with your
childish antics. Go away BITCH!!!!!!!!"
How embarrassing for you, Brian. "
Bob Hussein Loblaw wrote on Sep 14, 2009 1:55 PM:
Lodian wrote on Sep 14, 2009 12:42 PM:
Lodian wrote on Sep 13, 2009 4:09 PM:
. "
Lodian wrote on Sep 13, 2009 4:07 PM:
. "
Lodian wrote on Sep 13, 2009 3:41 PM:
Lodian wrote on Sep 13, 2009 3:38 PM:
Giovanina: Your ignorance on this topic is astounding! MS Word does not write the paper for you. Learning to use the computer and technology early in a child's education is quite beneficial. I suppose you'd like them to wait till they are in college to learn how to write a paper using the computer. Your poor kids will be at a great disadvantage in the world, and in their education, if you do not embrace technology.
And how weird is it that you are complaining about the use of a computer/technology while you are using the computer to post comments online. Yep, you're making great use of technology. lol! "
Lodian wrote on Sep 13, 2009 3:29 PM:
Giovanina: Plagiarism is not the fault of the computer/technology. "
Lodian wrote on Sep 13, 2009 3:24 PM:
To Lodian: Easy they go home and play WII, Xbox, etc. Not getting their work done.
---------------------
To Giovanina: Allowing a child to play video games is the parents choice and not the fault of technology itself, like you seem to think. Distractions can come in many forms. A board game, a bicycle or playing outside in the sunshine can all be distractions if allowed by the parents when homework is to be done. Stop blaming technology for your lack of parenting skills, control of your children and your bad choices. "
Bob Hussein Loblaw wrote on Sep 13, 2009 11:13 AM:
and the internet that fills his day and he can thank people for unknowingly contributing
to his insanity that is really unavoidable what ever one says."
Okay, now here is an example of someone who should turn off the computer and learn to compose a sentence.
How embarassing. How Bryan. "
Brian wrote on Sep 13, 2009 8:37 AM:
and the internet that fills his day and he can thank people for unknowingly contributing
to his insanity that is really unavoidable what ever one says. "
Brian wrote on Sep 13, 2009 8:28 AM:
The thought of Giovanina having an anti-computer stance never occured to me.
Are you against kids learning how to spell and put sentences together without having to rely on a computer?
There was a time not too long ago where there was only one computer in the whole school and kids got along just fine. Not that I AM against computers. "
Bob Hussein Loblaw wrote on Sep 11, 2009 9:30 PM:
Clueless.... "
Giovanina wrote on Sep 11, 2009 7:05 PM:
Books you buy once, and they last years without electricity, batteries, mice, keyboards, etc. and anything else that can be broken. Teachers don't even have their own budget to keep buying paper. How will you come up with all this money and pay the electric bill for this type of upgrade? How about you agree to pay a 60% tax increase to do it?
So typical of people to say look at this new gimmick, and that new gimmick w/o looking at the full consequences of your gimmicky actions. lol "
Giovanina wrote on Sep 11, 2009 7:00 PM:
They can plagarize off the internet, putting paragraphs together that don't make sense.
Your just allowing them to take the easy road, will call it the lazy I can't spell unless I use spellchecker, road, faster.
PC's can be of great use by the older grades but the basics have to be there. I would want my students to know how to write a paper, not have MS Word write it for them. They can type it when it is written. "
Giovanina wrote on Sep 11, 2009 6:54 PM:
Giovanina: You've got to be kidding me! How does technology keep kids from learning to read, write and do math? "
Easy they go home and play WII, Xbox, etc. Not getting their work done.
I can stand in front of grocery store cash register and it takes longer to get done than the push button registers from the old Thifty's stores of the past. And if the power goes out, look out the cashier can't count change.
If students can't get basic skills like reading from a book, or doing math problems out of a book, it may be more entertaining for them on the PC but I have yet to see a study that showed the growth. Until you can balance yourself, you can't ride a bike.
In inner city schools, kids ideas of using the PC is pulling off keys. It is an attitude of the student more than the playthings in the class. "
sooziesdad wrote on Sep 10, 2009 1:28 AM:
Lodian wrote on Sep 10, 2009 12:04 AM:
dogbark wrote on Sep 9, 2009 11:00 PM:
Ya trick 'em.
Put it on a Kindle. "
dogbark wrote on Sep 9, 2009 10:57 PM:
oh wait,
they hired a replacement. "
Lodian wrote on Sep 9, 2009 10:09 PM:
Here it seems that Giovanina is telling us that technology is all a big gimmick! lol! Is this technology stuff just gonna fade away soon, Giovanina? "
Lodian wrote on Sep 9, 2009 10:05 PM:
Giovanina: You've got to be kidding me! How does technology keep kids from learning to read, write and do math? "
jeff wrote on Sep 9, 2009 8:25 PM:
Bob Hussein Loblaw wrote on Sep 9, 2009 8:13 PM:
When are students totally focused and engaged at school? When they are working on computers. Any teacher blogging here will probably agree with this.
Students today are technology natives, i.e. born into a computer world. We adults, on the other hand, are technology immigrants, still influenced by a low-tech past. Giovanina, your attitude on this subject is a perfect example of this limited thinking. Get with the times Gio and LUSD! "
jeff wrote on Sep 9, 2009 6:22 PM:
Adolescents have grown to think by direct and random access. Why should we continue to teach by sequential access? "
Giovanina wrote on Sep 9, 2009 6:11 PM:
" Actually mark, I think it's an understatement. Other districts have things like basic cable, SMART Boards, reliable servers, etc. Have YOU been to other districts to see for yourself? I have. If you just go to Sacramento and visit any school, you may not be so satisfied with what LUSD offers. The 21st Century classroom is driven by technology. Film strips and ditto machines don't count.
Well BOB students work their technology just fine while away from school, which keeps them from learning to read, write, and do math. Those would be real skills for the 21st century world. Gimmicks don't make a smart kid. I don't recall a student saying that he got the answer because he used a smart board, although a lot of students learn nothing from plagarizing the internet. "
Bob Hussein Loblaw wrote on Sep 9, 2009 1:16 PM:
Bob Hussein Loblaw wrote on Sep 9, 2009 1:15 PM:
Rabbit ears? Are you serious? That is truly pathetic. "
mark wrote on Sep 9, 2009 1:00 PM:
Whoa Nellie! wrote on Sep 9, 2009 12:53 PM:
Gator wrote on Sep 9, 2009 12:32 PM:
Bob Hussein Loblaw wrote on Sep 9, 2009 12:28 PM:
davidd wrote on Sep 9, 2009 8:07 AM:
It's also archived online.
Sure it's great to see it live, but it can still be valuable as pre-recorded. "
Comments on this story are now closed.