Update: this post about local politics, with an optimistic final sentence, was published before the morning and afternoon events in Washington. It has always been true – and always will be true – that what harms the country harms the city; what stains the nation stains the city. Every moment of opposition to Trump and…
Education
Coronavirus, Education, School District
Whitewater School Board Meeting, 12.21.20: 5 Points
by JOHN ADAMS •
Monday night’s school board open session saw, among other items, a unanimous decision to maintain the existing close contacts and quarantine guidance, goals presentations from four administrators, a district administrator report predominantly on the results of parents’ and students’ survey preferences and class selection for the next semester, and discussion whether to have school board…
Coronavirus, Education, School District
Whitewater School Board Meeting, 11.23.20: 6 Points
by JOHN ADAMS •
Monday night’s school board meeting saw a majority of the board adopt a mostly virtual instructional model, to run through 1.17.21 (with exceptions for students 4K, early childhood, and perhaps other vulnerable populations). The full agenda for the meeting is available. (Items 9A, 12A, and 15F were omitted from the agenda by consent.) Updated afternoon of…
Coronavirus, Education, Laws/Regulations, School District
Whitewater School Board Meeting, 9.28.20: 6 Points
by JOHN ADAMS •
Monday night saw something close to a conventional school board meeting for Whitewater – the routine oversight of a small school district, even during a pandemic. We will one day have meetings that are even closer to routine (yet with the challenges of poverty and malaise to be addressed). The full agenda for the meeting…
Coronavirus, Education, Laws/Regulations, Public Health, School District
Whitewater School Board Meeting, 9.23.20: 5 Points
by JOHN ADAMS •
The particular path of the pandemic – involving in Whitewater countless thousands of daily interactions between people – is understandably difficult to predict. Nine days after deciding unanimously to resume face-to-face instruction beginning 9.28.20, Whitewater’s school board decided to begin face-to-face instruction on 9.28.20 only for elementary school students, with a hybrid model of instruction…
Education, University
David Leonhardt on the ‘College Money Crisis’ — Bret Devereaux on ‘The Corner That State Universities Have Backed Themselves Into’
by JOHN ADAMS •
Well worth reading in full — In his Thursday morning newsletter, David Leonhardt of the New York Times writes of The College Money Crisis: The coronavirus has caused severe budget problems for American higher education. But many colleges’ financial troubles are much larger than the virus. They have been building for years and stem, above all,…
Coronavirus, Education, Laws/Regulations, Public Health, School District
Whitewater School Board Meeting, 9.14.20: 5 Points
by JOHN ADAMS •
Updated 9.16.20 with meeting video. At last night’s meeting of the Whitewater Unified School District’s board, the board voted unanimously to offer a choice of either face-to-face or virtual instruction beginning September 28th and continuing through the semester (absent any alterations in the event of significant COVID-19 infections). Parents received, last night, an email requesting…
Coronavirus, Education, Justice, Law, Laws/Regulations, Public Health, School District
Whitewater School Board Meeting, 8.24.20: 5 Points
by JOHN ADAMS •
At last night’s meeting of the Whitewater Unified School District’s board, the board heard, among other items, a report on summer school, a report on the district’s use of seclusion and restraint, approved unanimously a new metric the district will use to determine its next instructional plan beginning September 28th, and held a budget hearing.…
Coronavirus, Education, Public Health, School District
Whitewater School Board Meeting, 8.17.20: 5 Points
by JOHN ADAMS •
At last night’s meeting of the Whitewater Unified School District’s board, the board heard (and approved on a 6-0 vote) the online platform for students choosing the virtual instruction and required staffing. (Video, 43:50.) Some students have chosen a purely virtual format, and much of the board discussion was about an all-virtual provider. The district…
Coronavirus, Education, Public Health, School District
Whitewater School Board Meeting, 8.10.20: 9 Points
by JOHN ADAMS •
At last night’s meeting of the Whitewater Unified School District’s board, the board heard presentations from a consulting epidemiologist and also a former Jefferson County school administrator who now works with Jefferson County. After comment & discussion, the board voted 6-1 to extend the September 1-11 teaching format through 9.25, with the present expectation of…
City, Coronavirus, Education, Open Government, Public Health, School District
Whitewater School Board Meeting, 8.3.20: 6 Points
by JOHN ADAMS •
At last night’s meeting of the Whitewater Unified School District’s board, the board heard a presentation from the district about fall instruction for the first two weeks of school, and the metrics the district is considering when deciding schools’ status after those initial weeks. The meeting was informational only, so the board took no action.…
Conspiracy Theories, Culture, Disinformation, Education, Social Media
Facebook Discussions as Displays of Ignorance, Fallacies, and Marginal Literacy
by JOHN ADAMS •
In communities in the Whitewater area, assorted Facebook pages (particularly) are a significant means of messaging about politics, culture, etc. Too often, these messages are evidence of ignorance, fallacies, and are poorly written (to the point of only marginal literacy). Over time, as these rural communities have suffered relative economic decline, they have also experienced a…
City, Coronavirus, Education, Open Government, Public Health, School District
The Whitewater School Board’s Decision on Early Fall Instruction: 4 Points
by JOHN ADAMS •
Updates, afternoon of 7.28.20: (1) I’ve added a recording of the 7.27.20 meeting. The best record is a recording. (2) A reader emailed to ask where I stand on recent pandemic-related public actions. On masks, I supported the city’s ordinance (to take effect 8.1) as an unfortunate necessity to preserve safe mobility in the marketplace.…
Conspiracy Theories, Coronavirus, Culture, Disinformation, Education, Free Markets, Public Health
The Price of Ignorance is Widely Paid
by JOHN ADAMS •
As nationwide chains take sensible measures to require masks, ordinary workers at those chains find themselves the underserving recipients of abuse. Kelli Weill reports Walmart Workers Are Terrified of Enforcing Mask Rules: Even in a time of record unemployment, some of Dan’s colleagues at an Indiana Walmart have walked off the job. They aren’t quitting over…