Fwd: Re: [school-discuss] More Progress!

[mike eschman <meschman@etc-edu.com>]

clarification : the "we" who won the bid was a former employer.
that employer is not affiliated with etc ...

this, also is a disputed matter.

mike eschman, etc ...
http://www.etc-edu.com
"Not just an afterthought ...

----------  Forwarded Message  ----------

Subject: Re: [school-discuss] More Progress!
Date: Thu, 6 Feb 2003 10:06:02 -0600
From: mike eschman <meschman@etc-edu.com>
To: schoolforge-discuss@schoolforge.net

hello,

in the school districts around us, the school board members, the teacher's
union and the school management come from a group with common financial
goals.

They run for office every couple of years, and have to raise 10s to 100s of
thousands of dollars.  they own small businesses that do business with
vendors that sell to the school system.

these relationships have a measurable impact on financial and political
policy.

 at least one school board manager, a former school board member and a former
principal and, possibly a coach - not sure about coach - is rumored to have
considered running for the parish (i.e. couinty) governing board, who have
reached time limit expirrations of term limits.

 an attempt to redistrict is under way with organized court based opposition.

these political, social and business ties absloutely define the totality of
the budgetary process for the public school system.  There are simply no
other considerations.  Period.

how would you describe your situation, in political, social and business
terms?

what other models are available?

has anyone tried to transition from our situation into something else?

with what result?

in my home parish, about half the kids go to private school and half go to
public school.  the teacher's union is headed by a former principal with a
strong school board affiliation on other levels?  they share some common
interest.  this union has had to become increasingly agressive and opposing
as budgets have come into flux.

four your info, we won a bid and never executed because, well, who knows.


mike eschman, etc ...
http://www.etc-edu.com
"Not just an afterthought ...


On Thursday 06 February 2003 09:43 am, Leon Brooks wrote:
. On Thursday 06 February 2003 09:22 pm, Jim Anderson wrote:
. > I then said to her that this application is
. > absolutely free to use and deploy as she saw fit.  Her jaw just dropped
. > and her eyes popped out.  "Free!?"  "Yes, Lucy, free."
.
. Funny, isn't it? I gave a presentation on OSS to a local government
 advisory . committee, including on OpenOffice.org, but it seems the penny
 just hadn't . dropped, for some reason. All of the presentations were made
 on MS-PowerPoint . on a Win2k laptop. I mentioned, right at the end, that
 I'd built this one in . OpenOffice.org Impress and never checked it against
 Microsoft's software, . just SaveAs'ed it and here it was. And got a similar
 reaction: raised . eyebrows, blinking, sitting back in seat, turning to look
 at each other as if . I'd just grown a third eye. Just to make the point, I
 explained that the . backgrounder they had sitting in front of them, printed
 out from Word by the . office staff, had been written in OpenOffice.org
 Writer.
.
. I felt like - but did not - saying "HELLO? What have I been spouting on
 about . for the last half hour? IS ANYONE HOME?" Anyway, the committee's
 still . deliberating on that one, at least some of them positively, and they
 got . another serve from Harry McNally, about whom I hope you'll hear a lot
 more . soon. His missus, Jacqueline, is carrying a lot of weight for the
 OpenOffice . organisation, too. Harry focussed a lot on `unexpected' Linux
 benefits like . lowered risk. The local Microsoft rep was not pleased, can't
 imagine why. (-: .
. Cheers; Leon
.
.

--
(http://www.etc-edu.com ) Not just an afterthought ...

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-- 
(http://www.etc-edu.com ) Not just an afterthought ...