Author Archives: Netmom

Tuesday, continued

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My little group of four (two eighth graders, two sixth graders) just completed their finalists’ interview with the judges for their entry in the Cyberspace Pursuits competition; I think we’re in luck, and they were prepared for the kinds of questions that were asked.

All technical.  Like, “what’s the most important thing to remember in building a web page?”  W.P. knew the answer: “remember to close your tags.”

I know I don’t have the patience to be a real teacher, but the feeling I get from these youngsters mastering something that most adults can’t do is extremely gratifying.  I’ve learned a few things myself through this experience, like you can’t judge immediately who’s soaking it up and who isn’t.  The quietest kids may well have absorbed the material better than anyone else.

Tomorrow morning — the awards ceremony — seems like a hundred years away.

TSA State Conference – Tuesday

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Transportation Challenge Delta's CarDay 2 has been busy for Delta, completing her Electrical Apps practical in the morning, followed by Transportation Challenge, where she got to see if her little car would make it all the way up the ramp (the last part is a 45-degree angle).

It’s a pretty clever little car, with tracks instead of wheels, and staples coming through the tracks like studded snow tires of old. She didn’t make it all the way to the top, but as of the last one we watched, only one did. However, after flipping backward on the steepest part of the ramp, Delta’s car landed rightside up and kept moving up the ramp. I don’t know if that gets extra points, but the crowd liked it.

For now, she’s taking a bit of a breather before her team takes on the Cyberspace interview this afternoon. I’d post a link, but I’m not sure if we’re allowed to since the event will be entered into the national competition as well.

TSA State Conference – Monday

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Yesterday, we boarded the big yellow cheesewagon bound for Chattanooga — official home of the 2007 Tennessee Technology Students Association State Conference.

It is a highly competitive event; kids spend months in preparation.

Last night there were several written exams given, with only the finalists going on to compete for the trophies. Delta, my youngest, made the final cut in the electrical applications elimination round, along with her friend Woo — giving Robertsville Middle School two of the ten finalist spots statewide.

Beta gave her campaign speech this morning before a crowd of about 800 middle and high school students (she’s running for state secretary); most 16 year-olds would be terrified. If she was, I couldn’t tell. That bodes well for her performance in the prepared and extemporaneous speech events, I hope.

Beta and Woo are two of the team of four I’ve coached in Cyberspace this year; I hope they do as well in that interview tomorrow as they’ve performed in the other events thus far.

Be proud of these kids, Oak Ridge: they make us all look good.

Weekend Weary

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The Tennessee Technology Students’ Association annual conference begins tomorrow, and two of my girls are off to compete. Beta’s events are prepared speech, extemporaneous speaking, and chapter team (essentially, a parliamentary procedure competition). She took first and third in the speaking events at regionals a couple of weeks ago.

Delta is signed up for electrical applications, transportation challenge, and cyberspace pursuit (website design). None of those were included in the regional events, so this is her big chance.

The latter of those events — cyberspace — is one in which I have a particular interest, since I’ve been coaching the Robertsville team in the event. On Thursday, I learned that they qualified as finalists in the state competition. On Tuesday evening, four of the kids on the team will undergo an interview with the judges, and on Wednesday, we’ll learn whether they’ve placed at the state level.

Delta is now the proud owner of her very own multimeter, a necessity for the electrical apps event. There are also a couple of new pint-sized business suits, a new dress, new non slip shoes, and other necessary accoutrements for the suitcase (the dress code is rather upgraded from usual school attire).

Beta decided to run for state office this year, and unfortunately, hasn’t gotten around to putting together her campaign materials. I confess that she’d asked me to help, but she hasn’t been home enough (or I haven’t) to really communicate some essentials (campaign theme? colors?). Today was crunch time, and of course she was assigned to driving school all day — penance for her traffic citation back in December, issued for following too closely (while stopped at a traffic light — she was trying to read a bumper sticker).

That left me stuck with ironing her logo onto four campaign t-shirts, then printing up a boatload of lapel stickers and business cards… all while persuading Delta to pack her suitcase.

I’m still not packed. We leave tomorrow morning. I feel like I need a work week to recover from this weekend… and now the washing machine is acting up.

Disclosure Update

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In a post earlier today, I wrote that Raj Jain, one of the vocal critics of the Crestpointe proposal, is employed in some fashion by Oliver Smith Realty, the Knoxville firm that has listed for sale several parcels surrounding Home Depot and National Fitness.

Ellen Smith commented in the previous thread that Raj does not work for Oliver Smith, but has his own company, InteliSim Inc. LLC.

However, upon double-checking my information, I learned that someone named Raj Jain (and matching the physical description of the gentleman who introduced himself to me on Monday) had presented himself as representing Oliver Smith Realty in a meeting with City staff, where the discussion centered on some mini-warehouses and storage facilities proposed by Jain for one of the parcels that Oliver Smith Realty has listed.

It is entirely plausible, therefore, that he is not an employee of Oliver Smith, but it certainly appears that there is an existing business relationship of the nature where he would claim to represent the company before City staff.

The proposal has not come before the Planning Commission, but what is proposed or planned for that property isn’t the point of this thread.  The purpose of this discussion is to determine whether Raj’s motive in pushing for a referendum, and for defeat of the proposed bond issue for Crestpointe, is really one of squeezing out competition rather than looking out for the financial health of the community.

And yes, there is more than one Raj Jain (the most common reference in a Google search is a computer science professor at Washington University in St. Louis); that’s why I asked my source if the physical description I gave matched the fellow linked to Oliver Smith Realty.

Thus, there appears to be some truth worth pursuing in this story.

Survey Debate

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The initial post about the survey has generated significant discussion; although it seems very straightforward, Raj seems convinced that the questions should be interpreted differently.

survey question 9

The following questions (10 and 11) are not limited to those who responded “yes” to question 9 — those who indicated that they do most of their non-grocery shopping outside Oak Ridge; it includes people like me, who do most of our shopping in Oak Ridge, but invariably have to go elsewhere for some things that simply cannot be purchased here.

10. “Do you think the proposed shopping center would help Oak Ridge retain more of your shopping that is currently being done in other areas?”

11. “How often do you travel to Knox Co. to go shopping: every day, a few times a week, twice a week, once a week, or less often?”

Even people like me who do MOST of their shopping here might have a valid opinion about whether the proposed center would retain more of their business — in my case, it absolutely would.  Even people like me who do most of their shopping here could provide an answer; in my case, the response to question 11 would be “less often.”

My only doubt about the survey is now knowing that Raj’s house was called twice (because he has several land lines), while mine was not called.

Look, I don’t have any gripe with people who have a different opinion about the project than I do, but I do have a problem with folks trying to mislead others with charts and graphs and obfuscation.  One of the most common difficulties people encounter with math is making something more complex than it really is.  If someone asks you, “what’s half of two-thirds?” you don’t need to find a common denominator, cross multiply, or anything like that; it’s as simple as “what’s half of two?”

Half of two-thirds is one-third, plain and simple, just like half of two is one.

I’d love to know what the survey would have said after people attended the several informational meetings that occurred following the survey, but there simply wasn’t time to wait.  One thing the survey does tell us is that the more information people have about the return on investment, the more likely they are to be in favor of it.

Nashville Skyline

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Nashville SkylineThe picture’s a little fuzzy, but that’s what it really looked like to me, since I hadn’t had my first cup of coffee yet when I snapped it.

Actually, it’s a good reflection of the last couple of days. There seems to be a real sense among legislators that some part of the tobacco tax will pass, that some improvements will be made to education funding… just no consensus that the Governor’s proposal will pass as written.

One thought conveyed by someone well-credentialed in his knowledge and influence of fiscal policy was that some part of the tobacco tax will pass — maybe 20 cents, maybe a little more. I asked what would be cut from the Governor’s proposed education funding improvements, and he thought that the funds could be found from cutting other discretionary items, other than education.

I’m comfortable with that.

Of course, there are the usual bills we’ve seen before: elected superintendents, forcing a conversion to the TACIR system-level BEP model, requiring this our that instruction, various things about charter schools… I’ll cover those as they come up.

Time to head home now; I’ll cover it more later.

Survey Sez:

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The survey sponsored by the League of Women Voters is in.

  • About a third of respondents report doing their non-grocery shopping outside Oak Ridge;
  • Nearly 40% of respondents report traveling to Knox County at least once a week to shop;
  • More than half believe that the new shopping center would allow them to do more shopping locally;
  • Under the condition that City funds committed to the project would be repaid through future tax revenues, respondents are more likely to view the proposal favorably, but remain sharply divided on using City funds to support site development for the shopping center.
  • Under the condition that future tax revenues from the shopping center would assist the local schools, respondents are much more likely to support the proposed C8ty assistance to the project, but still about a third of respondents remain opposed to the idea.
  • Older persons and males are more likely to oppose the City’s financial involvement in the shopping center project.

But, who does the majority of the shopping? Younger people and women, perhaps?

To the question, “if the revenue produced by the shopping center would provide new money for the Oak Ridge Schools, Anderson County Schools, and Clinton City Schools, should the City agree to this request (for $10.5M in City financial assistance), the weighted response was 52% in favor.

Without question, the results are far from the decisive and positive as I had hoped.

Courtesy of the League of Women Voters, you can read the whole thing for yourself.

Comptroller’s BEP Report

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An AP article in the News-Sentinel a couple of days ago entitled, Officials: BEP Formula Unfair begins:

The state comptroller and a key Democratic lawmaker say Tennessee’s school funding formula is so unfair to city schools that the entire program needs to be remodeled.

Specifically, the first conclusion listed in the Comptroller’s Executive Summary reads,

The BEP does not adequately fund the state’s urban districts in part because it understates the cost of educating at-risk students and English language learners. These deficiencies of the BEP force some districts to raise substantially more local funds for education.
On average statewide, the BEP generates 75 percent of the state and local revenue contribution. However, the formula generates substantially less state and local revenue for the four urban districts in the state. In 2005, state revenues comprised less than 40 percent of total revenues for the four urban districts, with Davidson County receiving a mere 27.55 percent of total revenue from the state. In addition, the BEP understates the costs to educate at-risk and English language learning students. Administrative and legislative action in 2006 increased the enhanced funding to recognize 38.5 percent of at-risk students and reduced the ratio of ELL students to instructors and translators. The increases, however, still fall short of BEP Review Committee recommendations.  [Get the report]

The urban districts receive less than 40% of their funding from the State.

Oak Ridge receives only 37.34% of it’s funding from the State, putting us in the same situation as the urban districts — but without the large tax bases that they enjoy.

There’s good reason to work together, if only the urban districts could back away from the TACIR plan and look for something mutually agreeable.  Maybe tomorrow’s “Day on the Hill” will be a starting point.