When I was a child, I used to look through the Sears Christmas Wish Book for ideas of what I wanted for Christmas. Then one year, I hit upon the idea of creating my own Wish Book. Misha's Christmas Wish Book consisted of pieces of paper stapled into a book(let). Onto the paper I would glue pictures of things that I had cut out of the Sears Christmas Wish Book (and later, other publications.)
Once I went away to college, Misha's Christmas and Birthday Wish Book became even more important, and I would mail it to my family members each December. Until last year, my family would receive an e-mail with an attached document showing photos of the desired items (usually DVDs) and recommendations as to where they could be purchased most cheaply.
The thing is, the cheapest place to buy DVDs is from Amazon, or another web-based company. But my mother isn't going to be able to figure out how to create an account at Deep Discount, much less order something. If I tell her I want Fawlty Towers: The Complete Series, she will go to a record store in the mall and pay at least double what I could get it for on-line.
So this year, when I saw all of the amazing Black Friday deals the the WB Shop was offering on season box sets that I had been keeping my eye on for the last few years, I came upon the solution. I bought them myself. The Adventures of Superman: The Complete Fifth & Sixth Seasons cost me $10.00 with free shipping at the WB Shop. It is selling at HMV right now for $39.99!
I put all of my purchases into a box, each with a Post-it indicating the price, and dubbed it Misha's Christmas and Birthday Wish Box. I then engaged a Wish Box administrator, whose job it is to contact my family via telephone, describe the contents of the Wish Box, and find out if they would like to purchase any of these items for me for Christmas or my imminent birthday. The administrator will bring the items to my family when we go to visit them this Christmas, and will collect the appropriate amount of money and put it in the box for me to retrieve some time in the new year.
I get what I want. I don't get what I don't want. And my family saves 75% on my gifts. Everybody wins. Although my wife was heard to say, about her Wish Box Administrator duties, "I feel like the Grinch's dog."
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Monday, December 19, 2011
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Two Missing Doctor Who Episodes Found!
Two episodes of Doctor Who, thought to have been destroyed since 1978, have been returned to the BBC.
The episodes are Airlock the third part of the four part William Hartnell story Galaxy 4, and Part Two of the four part Patrick Troughton story: The Underwater Menace, of which one other episode exists.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/dw/news/bulletin_111211_01/Missing_Episodes_Recovered
The question fans are asking is, "When can I see these episodes?"
Some are calling for them to be aired on television. This is a mistake, in my opinion. When Tomb of the Cybermen was found in the early ninties, the new episodes were included in the syndication package being sold to North America. By the time the VHS came out, it had already aired and sales were dismal.
The biggest asset these episodes have is that they have not been seen by anyone. They need to be released on DVD simultaneously worldwide.
Since we know that the BBC is testing the waters of animating missing episodes with the already announced The Reign of Terror having its two missing episodes animated, this is a perfect time to test how willing fans are to purchase animations of stories that are less well regarded, like The Underwater Menace. Animating the two missing episodes of The Underwater Menace will give a great comparison to the success of The Reign of Terror, the existing four parts of which have previously been released on VHS.
If the sales indicate that the lost episode has truly increased sales of the release, then the same should be done for Galaxy 4, of which only 1/3 of an episode existed previously.
As of now, there is only one other animation on the schedule, and it is likely either the missing fourth episode of the four part The Tenth Planet, or the two missing episodes from the six part The Ice Warriors, neither of which has yet had a DVD release.
Hopefully sales will be good enough that further animations are deemed viable. The next likely targets being those stories already released on DVD with pieces missing: The Crusade (two of four missing), The Moonbase (two of four missing).
It may be too much to hope that these types of releases will sell well enough to be able to recoup the cost of animating more than two episodes per release, but if so, the following stories remain to be released in this way:
The Celestial Toymaker (3 of 4 missing)
The Myth Makers (4 of 4 missing)
The Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Eve (4 of 4 missing)
The Savages (4 of 4 missing)
The Smugglers (4 of 4 missing)
The Highlanders (4 of 4 missing)
The Macra Terror (4 of 4 missing)
The Faceless Ones (4 of 6 missing)
The Abominable Snowmen (5 of 6 missing)
The Enemy of the World (5 of 6 missing)
The Web of Fear (5 of 6 missing)
The Space Pirates (5 of 6 missing)
Power of the Daleks (6 of 6 missing)
The Evil of the Daleks (6 of 7 missing)
Fury From the Deep (6 of 6 missing)
Marco Polo (7 of 7 missing)
The Daleks' Master Plan (10 of 13 missing)
The episodes are Airlock the third part of the four part William Hartnell story Galaxy 4, and Part Two of the four part Patrick Troughton story: The Underwater Menace, of which one other episode exists.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/dw/news/bulletin_111211_01/Missing_Episodes_Recovered
The question fans are asking is, "When can I see these episodes?"
Some are calling for them to be aired on television. This is a mistake, in my opinion. When Tomb of the Cybermen was found in the early ninties, the new episodes were included in the syndication package being sold to North America. By the time the VHS came out, it had already aired and sales were dismal.
The biggest asset these episodes have is that they have not been seen by anyone. They need to be released on DVD simultaneously worldwide.
Since we know that the BBC is testing the waters of animating missing episodes with the already announced The Reign of Terror having its two missing episodes animated, this is a perfect time to test how willing fans are to purchase animations of stories that are less well regarded, like The Underwater Menace. Animating the two missing episodes of The Underwater Menace will give a great comparison to the success of The Reign of Terror, the existing four parts of which have previously been released on VHS.
If the sales indicate that the lost episode has truly increased sales of the release, then the same should be done for Galaxy 4, of which only 1/3 of an episode existed previously.
As of now, there is only one other animation on the schedule, and it is likely either the missing fourth episode of the four part The Tenth Planet, or the two missing episodes from the six part The Ice Warriors, neither of which has yet had a DVD release.
Hopefully sales will be good enough that further animations are deemed viable. The next likely targets being those stories already released on DVD with pieces missing: The Crusade (two of four missing), The Moonbase (two of four missing).
It may be too much to hope that these types of releases will sell well enough to be able to recoup the cost of animating more than two episodes per release, but if so, the following stories remain to be released in this way:
The Celestial Toymaker (3 of 4 missing)
The Myth Makers (4 of 4 missing)
The Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Eve (4 of 4 missing)
The Savages (4 of 4 missing)
The Smugglers (4 of 4 missing)
The Highlanders (4 of 4 missing)
The Macra Terror (4 of 4 missing)
The Faceless Ones (4 of 6 missing)
The Abominable Snowmen (5 of 6 missing)
The Enemy of the World (5 of 6 missing)
The Web of Fear (5 of 6 missing)
The Space Pirates (5 of 6 missing)
Power of the Daleks (6 of 6 missing)
The Evil of the Daleks (6 of 7 missing)
Fury From the Deep (6 of 6 missing)
Marco Polo (7 of 7 missing)
The Daleks' Master Plan (10 of 13 missing)
Sunday, December 11, 2011
#6 Money is NOT Green.
The last time we purchased a car, we looked at the Echo, and, wanting to do our part to keep Canada's carbon emissions down, checked out the Prius as well.
The Prius was about $25,000 more than the Echo. The Prius, a hybrid capable of using gasoline and electricity, was being marketed as a Green car, and, I suspected, being sold for much more than its value as a result.
My previous car was barely drive-able after eight years and we had to pour money into it to get it to its tenth birthday. So with an optimistic lifespan of ten years, did it make sense to spend the extra $25,000 for a Prius?
Doing some quick calculations, it didn't seem like the money we would be saving much money on gasoline would exceed the difference in price between the two vehicles.
However, looking at the reduced emissions from burning less gasoline, even factoring in the coal BC burns to generate electricity, it looked like a Prius is a greener choice than an Echo. The only thing you have to do to be Green is pay more money.
The thing is, money is not Green.
That $25,000 price difference represents a LOT of carbon (and other pollution). In the worst case scenarion, at minimum wage, it takes a person two years to earn that much money.
During those two years they make 500 trips to work and 500 trips back from work. If I remember my days working at minimum wage, those trips are probably being made in a car that barely passes Air Care.
During those two years, the worker purchases food, clothing, shelter and heat, and adds to the environment all of the carbon associated with those purchases.
For financial reasons we went with the Echo, but based on the massive price difference, I am sure we did the right thing environmentally as well.
With a large purchase, like that of a car, it is easy to see how much pollution was generated to create $25,000. But of course every cent has some amount of pollution associated with its making its way into your pocket.
And therefore, every time I pay for something, I am contributing to the pollution of the planet.
Every time I OVERPAY for something, I am polluting the planet for no good reason.
Every time I choose to purchase a more expensive item, I have to think about whether or not I are getting as much extra value for the item as the amount of pollution that has already been put into the environment by the extra money I would have to pay.
I always remember: Money is Not Green. Now if only people spending taxpayer money would remember that as well. But that's for another article.
The Prius was about $25,000 more than the Echo. The Prius, a hybrid capable of using gasoline and electricity, was being marketed as a Green car, and, I suspected, being sold for much more than its value as a result.
My previous car was barely drive-able after eight years and we had to pour money into it to get it to its tenth birthday. So with an optimistic lifespan of ten years, did it make sense to spend the extra $25,000 for a Prius?
Doing some quick calculations, it didn't seem like the money we would be saving much money on gasoline would exceed the difference in price between the two vehicles.
However, looking at the reduced emissions from burning less gasoline, even factoring in the coal BC burns to generate electricity, it looked like a Prius is a greener choice than an Echo. The only thing you have to do to be Green is pay more money.
The thing is, money is not Green.
That $25,000 price difference represents a LOT of carbon (and other pollution). In the worst case scenarion, at minimum wage, it takes a person two years to earn that much money.
During those two years they make 500 trips to work and 500 trips back from work. If I remember my days working at minimum wage, those trips are probably being made in a car that barely passes Air Care.
During those two years, the worker purchases food, clothing, shelter and heat, and adds to the environment all of the carbon associated with those purchases.
For financial reasons we went with the Echo, but based on the massive price difference, I am sure we did the right thing environmentally as well.
With a large purchase, like that of a car, it is easy to see how much pollution was generated to create $25,000. But of course every cent has some amount of pollution associated with its making its way into your pocket.
And therefore, every time I pay for something, I am contributing to the pollution of the planet.
Every time I OVERPAY for something, I am polluting the planet for no good reason.
Every time I choose to purchase a more expensive item, I have to think about whether or not I are getting as much extra value for the item as the amount of pollution that has already been put into the environment by the extra money I would have to pay.
I always remember: Money is Not Green. Now if only people spending taxpayer money would remember that as well. But that's for another article.
Monday, November 28, 2011
#4 Prepaying for Gas in Canada?
February 5, 2008
I filled up with gas the other day,
and was surprised to see a new sign at the pump, informing me that as
of February 1, 2008, it would be the law in BC that all gas must be
paid for in advance of pumping. The Esso Company-created sign also
noted that if I paid with a Debit Card or a Quick-Pass, I could avoid
having to go into the store to prepay.
Naturally I found this somewhat confusing, since, on the face of it, they seemed to be telling me that I could no longer pay at the pump with my Credit Card.
Looking at the pump itself, though, I quickly saw that Credit Cards would still work at the pumps just as well as Debit Cards or a Quick-Pass.
Why Esso chose to invite its customers to use the dummy-targeted Debit Cards, rather than the uber-intelligent Credit Card is a question that I will dwell on at another time.
While pumping my gas, I re-read the sign and realized that this must be the result of a death a few years ago of a gas-station attendant who tried to stop a thief from driving off without paying for gas.
I nodded internally, giving my unspoken validation to the government’s passing of this logical law. This would protect innocent, minimum-wage-earning high school students from the murderous rage of the average gas thief.
The thing is, in the past, whenever I had seen a sign that informed me that I had to pre-pay for gas, I had always thought one thing, “What a horrible country. Thank God I live in Canada where we don’t have terrible signs like this..”
Oh, I did eventually see one like it in Canada, at the Esso at the corner of Oak and King Edward, but I took some very small consolation in the fact that the requirement to pre-pay was only in effect in the night-time.
On a side note, this particular Esso station also has a camera trained right at the door, and a buzzer under the clerk’s counter that he must push to allow you into the store. I can only assume that this particular Esso location has experienced a statistically unexpected number of robberies in the past.
So what is the difference between the signs on the pumps in LA and the new signs that have been put up in BC? The ones in LA mean to me that man has given up on his fellow man, and will no longer trust a complete stranger with forty dollars worth of gasoline. The signs in BC re-affirm my faith in the government to watch out for its citizens and protect the innocents of our society from the evildoers that spring up from time to time out of the genetic pool.
November 28, 2011
Naturally I found this somewhat confusing, since, on the face of it, they seemed to be telling me that I could no longer pay at the pump with my Credit Card.
Looking at the pump itself, though, I quickly saw that Credit Cards would still work at the pumps just as well as Debit Cards or a Quick-Pass.
Why Esso chose to invite its customers to use the dummy-targeted Debit Cards, rather than the uber-intelligent Credit Card is a question that I will dwell on at another time.
While pumping my gas, I re-read the sign and realized that this must be the result of a death a few years ago of a gas-station attendant who tried to stop a thief from driving off without paying for gas.
I nodded internally, giving my unspoken validation to the government’s passing of this logical law. This would protect innocent, minimum-wage-earning high school students from the murderous rage of the average gas thief.
The thing is, in the past, whenever I had seen a sign that informed me that I had to pre-pay for gas, I had always thought one thing, “What a horrible country. Thank God I live in Canada where we don’t have terrible signs like this..”
Oh, I did eventually see one like it in Canada, at the Esso at the corner of Oak and King Edward, but I took some very small consolation in the fact that the requirement to pre-pay was only in effect in the night-time.
On a side note, this particular Esso station also has a camera trained right at the door, and a buzzer under the clerk’s counter that he must push to allow you into the store. I can only assume that this particular Esso location has experienced a statistically unexpected number of robberies in the past.
So what is the difference between the signs on the pumps in LA and the new signs that have been put up in BC? The ones in LA mean to me that man has given up on his fellow man, and will no longer trust a complete stranger with forty dollars worth of gasoline. The signs in BC re-affirm my faith in the government to watch out for its citizens and protect the innocents of our society from the evildoers that spring up from time to time out of the genetic pool.
November 28, 2011
Addendum:
It's nearly four years on as I am finally posting this, and the killer was briefly on the loose last week.
http://www.vancouversun.com/Pratt+arrested/5750018/story.html
Faith in government's ability to do the right thing now being re-examined on a daily basis.
It's nearly four years on as I am finally posting this, and the killer was briefly on the loose last week.
http://www.vancouversun.com/Pratt+arrested/5750018/story.html
Faith in government's ability to do the right thing now being re-examined on a daily basis.
Sunday, November 20, 2011
#5 The Thing Is... Back!
Having just completed my unsuccessful
bid to be elected School Trustee, I found myself with a Blog that I
had set up specifically for the purposes of promoting my views on the
issues for the election.
Now that the election is over, this
Blog will continue as a forum for me to write brief essays on topics
that interest me. I hope these essays will be of interest or some
amusement to at least a small number of people.
The thing is, I've already done this
once before. Back in the mid-nineties, I decided that maybe I could
write a weekly column in a newspaper or something. So, to build up a
portfolio in case the opportunity to have a weekly column ever
presented itself, I began to write little pieces about whatever
topic I felt enough interest in at the time.
And then my hard drive crashed. It
started with a Trojan Horse that wiped the boot sector. And then I
bought Norton Disk Doctor, which claimed to be specifically for
compressed drives. Well, not for compressed DOS 6.22 drives
apparently, because after I ran that the drive was completely
corrupted.
Sitting on a shelf in my office is a
100MB hard drive that has been waiting pathetically for fifteen years
to be resurrected by some magic wizard with a de-Nortonizer and a
re-boot-sectorizer.
Even at the time, I did not mourn for
the loss of my recently completed CD database, basically an Excel
spreadsheet with several tabs, one of which listed all of my CDs and
another of which listed all of the songs on those CDs.
However there are four files on that
drive that I would like to see recovered.
One is my write-up of an amazing
conversation I had with Anthony Ainley at Visions '93.
The other three are those first three
'columns' that I wrote at the time, the topics of which I haven't a
clue.
The name of that column was, “The
Thing Is” (possibly with an exclamation point or ellipses, but I
don't know). And that is why the title on this Blog entry is not #1 The Thing Is... Back! Perhaps one day #1-#3 will be brought back into
existence. First I'll need to re-install the 100MB hard drive into my
486/33, last known to be running Windows 3.1.
And what about The Thing Is #4? I
found it unexpectedly on my hard drive while saving a copy of today's
post. I had forgotten all about it, and apparently I wrote it in
2008. It may give the best example of what #1-#3 would have been
like. I will post it next time. And coming soon, I will write about
my election bid.
I doubt I will be posting daily, like You Are Dumb does, but I will strive for a weekly update.
Reader comments are welcome, but will
be moderated ruthlessly and spitefully.
November 21, 2011
Vancouver 2011 School Trustee Election Results
I'd like to thank everyone who voted for me and supported me during my election bid.
Congratulations to all of the successful candidates.
http://vancouver.ca/electionResults2011/index.htm#60
Updated November 23 after the recount. Unfortunately, they did not find an extra 41,416 votes for me.
ORIGINAL ELECTION NIGHT COUNT
Congratulations to all of the successful candidates.
http://vancouver.ca/electionResults2011/index.htm#60
Updated November 23 after the recount. Unfortunately, they did not find an extra 41,416 votes for me.
| School Trustee (9 to be elected) | ||
|---|---|---|
|
Voting Divisions Reporting : 136 / 136 Ballots Cast/Registered Voters : 145485 /425348 Results as of: 19:37:26 | ||
| Candidate | Elector Organization | Votes |
 BACCHUS, Patti | Vision Vancouver | 72027 |
| LOMBARDI, Mike | Vision Vancouver | 65413 |
| CLEMENT, Ken | Vision Vancouver | 61993 |
| PAYNE, Cherie | Vision Vancouver | 61876 |
| DENIKE, Ken | NPA | 59310 |
| WONG, Allan | COPE | 57902 |
| WYNEN, Rob | Vision Vancouver | 56763 |
| WOO, Sophia | NPA | 55889 |
| BALLANTYNE, Fraser | NPA | 55714 |
| ROBERTSON, Stacy | NPA | 54273 |
| GIESBRECHT, Gwen | COPE | 52470 |
| BOUEY, Jane | COPE | 52026 |
| BLAKEY, Al | COPE | 51964 |
| SHARMA, Sandy | NPA | 49842 |
| BOUTIN, Louise | Green Party of Vancouver | 34477 |
| HARVEY, Lily | - | 20313 |
| LAUENSTEIN, Misha | - | 14297 |
| STARK, Robert Allan | - | 13391 |
| NGUYEN, Bang | - | 12903 |
| HASKELL, Peter Raymond | - | 11915 |
ORIGINAL ELECTION NIGHT COUNT
| Candidate | Elector Organization | Votes |
| BACCHUS, Patti | Vision Vancouver | 72025 |
| LOMBARDI, Mike | Vision Vancouver | 65411 |
| CLEMENT, Ken | Vision Vancouver | 61994 |
| PAYNE, Cherie | Vision Vancouver | 61874 |
| DENIKE, Ken | NPA | 59310 |
| WONG, Allan | COPE | 57902 |
| WYNEN, Rob | Vision Vancouver | 56763 |
| WOO, Sophia | NPA | 55890 |
| BALLANTYNE, Fraser | NPA | 55713 |
| ROBERTSON, Stacy | NPA | 54275 |
| GIESBRECHT, Gwen | COPE | 52470 |
| BOUEY, Jane | COPE | 52026 |
| BLAKEY, Al | COPE | 51963 |
| SHARMA, Sandy | NPA | 49843 |
| BOUTIN, Louise | Green Party of Vancouver | 34477 |
| HARVEY, Lily | - | 20314 |
| LAUENSTEIN, Misha | - | 14297 |
| STARK, Robert Allan | - | 13391 |
| NGUYEN, Bang | - | 12903 |
| HASKELL, Peter Raymond | - | 11915 |
Misha Lauenstein - 2011 Candidate for School Trustee
- I am running as an independent to provide an alternative to the candidates associated with Vancouver's party system.
- I have a Bachelor of Arts in Computer Science from Simon Fraser University and have lived in Metro Vancouver for twenty-five years.
- I spent four years as an IT Supervisor at the Vancouver Board of Education (VBE) and have sat on several condo boards over the last decade.
- While completing the VBE's Leadership Development Program, I worked closely with teachers and other employees from throughout School District 39 and gained insight into the challenges facing our students and educators today. Twenty-first century learning requires full access to technology and sufficient ongoing funding for infrastructure implementation and upgrades.
- As student enrolment continues to drop, underpopulated schools should be closed, allowing operating costs to be redirected towards students, and seismic upgrading to focus on the remaining schools.
- The Board must not use public money to fund projects and programs that are outside of its mandate.
Monday, November 14, 2011
Provincial Funding
The chief source of revenue for School District 39 is Provincial Government funding.
Ninety-two percent of the budget goes to cover labour costs. The Provincial Government is responsible for negotiating the agreements with the various labour groups. In the past, contracts have included annual cost of living increases, and therefore an annual increase in the School Board's budget for labour, benefits, pension and medical premiums.
However, the amount of money allocated by the Provincial Government to pay for the labour item in the VSB budget has not included these increases. The funding for these budget items has remained the same year after year.
This meant that the only way to pay the District's employees was to divert money from other parts of the budget, ultimately reducing the service provided to our students.
The Provincial Government is underhandedly cutting student services without having to openly state their intention to do so, by outwardly under-funding Carbon Offsets and Teacher Salaries, knowing full well that the Board must take money from somewhere else to pay for these mandatory costs.
We must get a commitment from the Provincial Government to fund all costs that are mandated by the government itself, such as the labour increases, CPP, EI, WCB, extended health, MSP, the Carbon Offsets that the Board is required by law to purchase and related reporting costs, and the recently implemented British Columbia enterprise Student Information System (BCeSIS).
Ninety-two percent of the budget goes to cover labour costs. The Provincial Government is responsible for negotiating the agreements with the various labour groups. In the past, contracts have included annual cost of living increases, and therefore an annual increase in the School Board's budget for labour, benefits, pension and medical premiums.
However, the amount of money allocated by the Provincial Government to pay for the labour item in the VSB budget has not included these increases. The funding for these budget items has remained the same year after year.
This meant that the only way to pay the District's employees was to divert money from other parts of the budget, ultimately reducing the service provided to our students.
The Provincial Government is underhandedly cutting student services without having to openly state their intention to do so, by outwardly under-funding Carbon Offsets and Teacher Salaries, knowing full well that the Board must take money from somewhere else to pay for these mandatory costs.
We must get a commitment from the Provincial Government to fund all costs that are mandated by the government itself, such as the labour increases, CPP, EI, WCB, extended health, MSP, the Carbon Offsets that the Board is required by law to purchase and related reporting costs, and the recently implemented British Columbia enterprise Student Information System (BCeSIS).
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Information Technology
During my time in the IT department at the VSB, I witnessed the challenges of providing and servicing a modern network of equipment and software for 109 schools.
Unfortunately, modern technology does not fall easily into one of the age-old accounting categories of fixed assets or supplies. Whereas fixed assets are expensive but designed to last for decades, and supplies are relatively cheap and designed to be used up in a short time, IT infrastructure is both expensive and destined to become obsolete within a few short years.
When software becomes outdated it must be upgraded or risk becoming incompatible with newer applications or targeted by malevolent attacks. Older hardware becomes too slow to run the newer software and must be upgraded as well, and the networks to which all of these computers are connected must be able to expand constantly to deal with a greater number of users, more data being transferred and the ever present risks of hackers and viruses.
We must ensure that the recent IT upgrade projects implemented at the schools will continue and that the funds are available to upgrade this equipment when it can no longer meet the needs of our students. This includes maintaining sufficient IT staff to install and maintain these systems.
Without a sustainable plan to continually improve and replace IT infrastructure, the spectre of students being forced to use outdated computer labs will constantly loom on the horizon.
In 2011, students are more and more likely to bring their own devices into the classroom and expect to be able to use them to facilitate their studies.
We must find ways to allow them to integrate these tools that they already use in their daily lives with the IT infrastructure provided by the School District.
Unfortunately, modern technology does not fall easily into one of the age-old accounting categories of fixed assets or supplies. Whereas fixed assets are expensive but designed to last for decades, and supplies are relatively cheap and designed to be used up in a short time, IT infrastructure is both expensive and destined to become obsolete within a few short years.
When software becomes outdated it must be upgraded or risk becoming incompatible with newer applications or targeted by malevolent attacks. Older hardware becomes too slow to run the newer software and must be upgraded as well, and the networks to which all of these computers are connected must be able to expand constantly to deal with a greater number of users, more data being transferred and the ever present risks of hackers and viruses.
We must ensure that the recent IT upgrade projects implemented at the schools will continue and that the funds are available to upgrade this equipment when it can no longer meet the needs of our students. This includes maintaining sufficient IT staff to install and maintain these systems.
Without a sustainable plan to continually improve and replace IT infrastructure, the spectre of students being forced to use outdated computer labs will constantly loom on the horizon.
In 2011, students are more and more likely to bring their own devices into the classroom and expect to be able to use them to facilitate their studies.
We must find ways to allow them to integrate these tools that they already use in their daily lives with the IT infrastructure provided by the School District.
School Closures
In 2011, School District 39 has lost another 700 students, the equivalent of one elementary school.
As this pattern continues, more and more of our 109 schools are operating to support a fraction of their total capacity.
Measures to generate additional revenues from these schools are only masking the problem: the overhead of running an entire school is being put in place to educate a fraction of a school.
Inevitably, a school will need to be closed.
With 109 schools strategically located throughout the city, most schools are within walking distance of a neighbouring school.
Students, staff and programs can all be shifted to another school, and money saved by deferring the seismic upgrading project of a closed school can be used to upgrade a school that is actually full of children.
Of course there will be hardships and annoyances for the students, parents and staff of a closed school. It will mean a greater distance for some students to walk to their new school. Friends and teachers may end up at different schools. Change is an inevitable fact of life. When a student finishes Elementary School, they will have to leave their old school and move to a new Secondary School. When a family moves, the children have to move to a new school.
Students changing schools is a regular occurrence, and avoiding change should not be a reason to spend taxpayers money to keep open an underpopulated school.
As this pattern continues, more and more of our 109 schools are operating to support a fraction of their total capacity.
Measures to generate additional revenues from these schools are only masking the problem: the overhead of running an entire school is being put in place to educate a fraction of a school.
Inevitably, a school will need to be closed.
With 109 schools strategically located throughout the city, most schools are within walking distance of a neighbouring school.
Students, staff and programs can all be shifted to another school, and money saved by deferring the seismic upgrading project of a closed school can be used to upgrade a school that is actually full of children.
Of course there will be hardships and annoyances for the students, parents and staff of a closed school. It will mean a greater distance for some students to walk to their new school. Friends and teachers may end up at different schools. Change is an inevitable fact of life. When a student finishes Elementary School, they will have to leave their old school and move to a new Secondary School. When a family moves, the children have to move to a new school.
Students changing schools is a regular occurrence, and avoiding change should not be a reason to spend taxpayers money to keep open an underpopulated school.
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