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<DIV>I don’t think Dixie has a school. Those kids go to Elk City....So
what about Elk City? Same concerns. It will be very interesting to
see which schools get the first wave of computers. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Sue </DIV>
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<DIV style="font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A title=thansen@moscow.com
href="mailto:thansen@moscow.com">Tom Hansen</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, December 14, 2011 9:30 AM</DIV>
<DIV><B>To:</B> <A title=suehovey@moscow.com
href="mailto:suehovey@moscow.com">Sue Hovey</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Cc:</B> <A title=vision2020@moscow.com
href="mailto:vision2020@moscow.com">Moscow Vision 2020</A> ; <A
title=cpenni@gmail.com href="mailto:cpenni@gmail.com">Penni Cyr</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Subject:</B> Re: [Vision2020] Task force tweaks education
reform</DIV></DIV></DIV>
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<DIV>And how about those schools located in extremely rural venues . . . like
Dixie whose city hall is listed not with a street address, but with a six-digit
grid? What happens when their laptops "crash" or their software becomes
infected with a virus?<BR><BR>
<DIV>Seeya round town, Moscow.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Tom Hansen</DIV>
<DIV>Moscow, Idaho</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>"If not us, who?</DIV>
<DIV>If not now, when?"</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>- Unknown</DIV></DIV>
<DIV><BR>On Dec 14, 2011, at 9:19 AM, "Sue Hovey" <<A
href="mailto:suehovey@moscow.com">suehovey@moscow.com</A>>
wrote:<BR><BR></DIV>
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<DIV>Interesting. Wonder if John Goedde has now invested in online
education stocks. The Luna Bill gave him access to teachers on the first
day of school so he could push his insurance business. With the laptops he and
his cronies can place their ads on the desktop for students and their
parents. That’s exactly what happened when for-profit education vendors
provided Channel 1 cable TV access for classrooms. The contract requires
teachers show the opening advertisements. Of course, there’s nothing
forcing students to pay attention, but the ads were kid focused and catchy. I
suppose they still are. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Tripling professional development requirements for teachers—who’s paying
that bill? Teachers themselves? Already tight district budgets?</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Of course computers for kids and professional development for teachers
are not bad ideas, just costly, and that money will come from already
reduced dollars which used to go to local budgets for salaries, school busses,
professional development, technology, special education. The Luna Laws mandate
a progressive drop in educational funding to local districts. There is
no plan to infuse additional money into education to pay for all this. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>A decade or more ago Indiana policy makers began giving all school
children computers, but they started in the early grades and planned to work
their way up. I don’t know all the reasons they ended the plan, but cost
was a significant factor, and they had some pretty big grants for the initial
funding. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Sue H. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
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<DIV style="font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A title=thansen@moscow.com
href="mailto:thansen@moscow.com">Tom Hansen</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, December 14, 2011 6:31 AM</DIV>
<DIV><B>To:</B> <A title=vision2020@moscow.com
href="mailto:vision2020@moscow.com">Moscow Vision 2020</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Cc:</B> <A title=cpenni@gmail.com href="mailto:cpenni@gmail.com">Penni
Cyr</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Subject:</B> [Vision2020] Task force tweaks education
reform</DIV></DIV></DIV>
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<DIV>Courtesy of today's (December 14, 2011) Spokesman-Review.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
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<H1
style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; LINE-HEIGHT: 1.2; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px; OVERFLOW-X: visible !important; OVERFLOW-Y: visible !important; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px; OUTLINE-COLOR: ; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; OUTLINE-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; FONT-FAMILY: arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; CLEAR: both; FONT-SIZE: 28px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; FONT-WEIGHT: bold; PADDING-TOP: 0px; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial">Task
force tweaks education reform</H1>
<H5
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class=subhead>Idaho’s Luna hails efforts; high schoolers to get
laptops</H5></SPAN>
<P
style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px; OVERFLOW-X: visible !important; OVERFLOW-Y: visible !important; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; MARGIN: 0px 0px 21px; OUTLINE-COLOR: ; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; OUTLINE-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; FONT-FAMILY: arial, sans-serif; BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 16px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial">BOISE
– After six months of study, a statewide task force Tuesday called for buying
all Idaho high school students laptops rather than tablets, phasing them in
school-by-school rather than grade-by-grade, and sharply upping the state’s
investment in on-the-job teacher training to accompany the new technology
push.</P>
<P
style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px; OVERFLOW-X: visible !important; OVERFLOW-Y: visible !important; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; MARGIN: 0px 0px 21px; OUTLINE-COLOR: ; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; OUTLINE-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; FONT-FAMILY: arial, sans-serif; BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 16px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial">“The
work that has been done here is historic,” said state schools Superintendent
Tom Luna, who chaired the task force charged with figuring out how to
implement the technology boosts in his Students Come First school reform
program, which lawmakers approved last year. “We all had the same goal, and
that is to assure that we’re preparing our students for the 21st century world
that they’ll live in.”</P>
<P
style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px; OVERFLOW-X: visible !important; OVERFLOW-Y: visible !important; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; MARGIN: 0px 0px 21px; OUTLINE-COLOR: ; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; OUTLINE-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; FONT-FAMILY: arial, sans-serif; BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 16px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial">The
controversial reform program is up for a referendum vote in November, which
could repeal it. But Luna said the task force’s work has given him confidence
the reforms will survive the vote.</P>
<P
style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px; OVERFLOW-X: visible !important; OVERFLOW-Y: visible !important; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; MARGIN: 0px 0px 21px; OUTLINE-COLOR: ; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; OUTLINE-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; FONT-FAMILY: arial, sans-serif; BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 16px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial">“Not
every student has had access to the same technology, the same types of
information and learning opportunities. We’ve accomplished that through
Students Come First,” he said. “Just as this committee came to that
realization, I think the more people see these laws being implemented and the
positive effect they have, that come November of 2012, I’m very confident the
voters of Idaho will say this is the path we need to stay on.”</P>
<P
style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px; OVERFLOW-X: visible !important; OVERFLOW-Y: visible !important; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; MARGIN: 0px 0px 21px; OUTLINE-COLOR: ; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; OUTLINE-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; FONT-FAMILY: arial, sans-serif; BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 16px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial">The
2012 Idaho Legislature convenes on Jan. 9; Luna said he’ll present the task
force’s 47 recommendations, which range from requiring face-to-face parent
training before students would be allowed to take their new laptops home, to
more than tripling professional development hours for teachers within the
school calendar.</P>
<P
style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px; OVERFLOW-X: visible !important; OVERFLOW-Y: visible !important; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; MARGIN: 0px 0px 21px; OUTLINE-COLOR: ; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; OUTLINE-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; FONT-FAMILY: arial, sans-serif; BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 16px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial">Over
the past six months, the task force heard numerous presentations, took trips
to visit schools in other states that have enacted programs supplying one
computer to each student, and met numerous times both as a full, 38-member
panel and in subcommittees.</P>
<P
style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px; OVERFLOW-X: visible !important; OVERFLOW-Y: visible !important; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; MARGIN: 0px 0px 21px; OUTLINE-COLOR: ; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; OUTLINE-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; FONT-FAMILY: arial, sans-serif; BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 16px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial">With
the change in phasing in the laptop computers, Idaho will need to adjust its
new graduation requirement that students, starting with the class of 2016,
complete two online classes to graduate from high school, said Senate
Education Chairman John Goedde, R-Coeur d’Alene.</P>
<P
style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px; OVERFLOW-X: visible !important; OVERFLOW-Y: visible !important; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; MARGIN: 0px 0px 21px; OUTLINE-COLOR: ; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; OUTLINE-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; FONT-FAMILY: arial, sans-serif; BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 16px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial">“I
don’t think, legally, you can make the requirement and only provide some of
the students with the devices, you’re denying them equal access,” said Goedde,
who sits on the technology task force. “My thought would be that we stagger
the graduation requirement to match the deployment of the computers.”</P>
<DIV>------------------------------</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><image.jpeg><BR><BR>
<DIV>Seeya round town, Moscow.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Tom Hansen</DIV>
<DIV>Moscow, Idaho</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>"If not us, who?</DIV>
<DIV>If not now, when?"</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>- Unknown</DIV></DIV>
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