Scout Camp - Jordan School District Board Meeting
Another week has come and gone since my last confession... Oh wait... That's not the way to start this...
One problem with this is that I don't remember all that went on during the week. It was mostly a boring week I guess.
The first thing I can think of that happened would be Friday evening. I had gone to work for the whole day, and then got home and finished packing up for the Winter Camp at Camp Tracy with the Scouts. We had four adult leaders and seven scouts. The drive isn't too bad from our home. When we arrived, I saw Scotts truck lose the trailer when he went over a big bump. Thank goodness it was ice because it didn't ruin the trailer at all. We set up our camp on the West end of Tracy. It was fairly close to the tubing hill.
I went in and registered the scouts that we had brought and then we had some dinner. It was a cheeseburger. Nothing fancy here! The scouts did some tubing and rifle shooting. I even got in a turn with a .22. After all of that, we went to the lodge for the campfire. After the campfire and them moving the tables back into place, I was able to set up my cot in the lodge. I got the permission to do that because of my Cpap machine. I was glad they allow for something like that. I did have to put in my ear plugs because the kids who are the leaders at this camp like to stay up until the wee hours of the morning. They just have to ignore the guy in the corner (me) with his elephant nose as he sleeps.
Morning came and I got up before most of the camp because some people come in to get the breakfast ready. There is some clanging around. I wandered around camp for a bit. I also went to see if I could see a geocache. In this case, I'm going to use the excuse that I couldn't find it because of all the snow. Although that may be flimsy since I have not found one yet.
I went to where our group was camping and got the boys to clean up their gear and get a fire started so some of the guys could cook their breakfast. I went up with the boys and we had something that resembled scrambled eggs with sausage and some cereal. I sat down by a boy who had stumps for arms. It was interesting watching him do everything with those stumps. There was another boy up there that had no legs and stumps for arms with deformed hands on the end. I wondered how he got along up there.
On that day there was wood carving, shooting, tubing, watching boys shoot off their rockets and so forth. This year I did not go tubing like I had the previous year. Overall, the camp was fun. We got all cleaned up and headed home after a lunch of corn dogs. Once home, I did some relaxing and a few minor chores.
Of course, Sunday was spent at church. We did go over to the in-laws for dinner. I got into what I called a discussion with Rod on Religion vs. Science. Others didn't see it as a discussion but as an argument. I was in a little bit of trouble for my part in that as he is older and I probably shouldn't have done it. The thing is, some of the things he spouts are things that I don't want my kids thinking that his way is the only way to think. I want them to be able to see more than one side and make decisions for themselves. However, if nobody else sees it the same way as me, I must change.
Not much went on Monday. Tuesday evening, after dinner, I went to the Jordan School District Board meeting. It was an important meeting because people wanted to talk to them about their decision to lay off 500 people in the district including 250 teachers. This will raise the class sizes up by four individuals. The Jordan School District has a deficit of 30 million. There is an equalization bill to try and go to the Canyons district (who we split from) and try to make us equal per student money. Before the split they each had $1600. Now, Jordan District has $1200 and Canyons has $2200 (they claim it's only $1900). Well, we don't think that's fair, especially since we didn't get to be in on the split. At any case that will only take care of about $8 million dollars. That House Bill (HB292) was only mentioned and talked about briefly.
Well, this meeting was interesting. First of all it was held in the office building. That only allows 250 people to be seated in the auditorium. I'm guessing that about 750 showed up. People were all over in the room and out in the halls. They couldn't start the meeting without getting the fire marshal there. The fire marshal showed up at around 8:00. They told all that didn't have a chair to leave. I had a chair, so I got to stay. Some teachers gave up their chairs so parents could stay. Some others tried to stay and were told that if they weren't gone in 10 minutes the meeting would be canceled. They left. I think this was planned by Barry Newbold (the superintendent). I really think he didn't want a lot of people there. I heard (and I realize this could be wrong) that he was offered the use of Riverton High and refused it. But, they knew beforehand that plenty of people would be there.
They opened the meeting by immediately going to Patron comments. There were a couple of people (maybe three) who were against taxes being raised at all. Most of the rest of the crowd thought it would be OK to raise our taxes by about $56 for every $100,000 of property per year. There was one older lady (77) who a cop came over to try to control her behavior. I thought he looked quite the bully. She was one of the people who was against the taxes that we were talking about. He came over to her a couple of times.
It got a little bit rowdy at time but not out of control. Some of the students you could hear outside chanting for quite a bit of the meeting since they were booted out. Some people left and then they would let others come back in. I had told one person from my ward that I would read a little bit of what she wrote. That never came about, but we got the information out to be at the State Capitol tomorrow afternoon to help get HB292 passed through the education committee. I really think that it should pass because it will stop other districts from splitting because they know that their east side has more businesses than the west side and a better tax base.
At the end of the meeting I was talking to an educator and we brought up the few who were against it including that older lady. She came out. I was defending her right to speak her mind even if we didn't want to agree with her. I went over and told her that I appreciated her being there and expressing her unpopular opinion. She mentioned some other things that I didn't agree with (like the teachers needed to take a pay cut) and I disagreed with her in an agreeable manner. We talked a little bit about it is a great country where we can disagree and still be agreeable. She gave me a hug and thanked me (I still don't know for what completely, though I suppose I was the only person that was friendly to her there. She got in her purse and wanted to give me something. She could not find it, so she went to her shirt and pulled off a pin. She gave me this pin saying that she gives these out all the time and had more in her car. It was a guardian angel pin. She gave me another hug and said that God loves you. I told her you too. We parted. I don't know her name, but what a sweet old lady with an opinion. It's a late night because of all the people who had comments.
I only hope that the Board members will have listened to what we had to say and act accordingly.
One problem with this is that I don't remember all that went on during the week. It was mostly a boring week I guess.
The first thing I can think of that happened would be Friday evening. I had gone to work for the whole day, and then got home and finished packing up for the Winter Camp at Camp Tracy with the Scouts. We had four adult leaders and seven scouts. The drive isn't too bad from our home. When we arrived, I saw Scotts truck lose the trailer when he went over a big bump. Thank goodness it was ice because it didn't ruin the trailer at all. We set up our camp on the West end of Tracy. It was fairly close to the tubing hill.
I went in and registered the scouts that we had brought and then we had some dinner. It was a cheeseburger. Nothing fancy here! The scouts did some tubing and rifle shooting. I even got in a turn with a .22. After all of that, we went to the lodge for the campfire. After the campfire and them moving the tables back into place, I was able to set up my cot in the lodge. I got the permission to do that because of my Cpap machine. I was glad they allow for something like that. I did have to put in my ear plugs because the kids who are the leaders at this camp like to stay up until the wee hours of the morning. They just have to ignore the guy in the corner (me) with his elephant nose as he sleeps.
Morning came and I got up before most of the camp because some people come in to get the breakfast ready. There is some clanging around. I wandered around camp for a bit. I also went to see if I could see a geocache. In this case, I'm going to use the excuse that I couldn't find it because of all the snow. Although that may be flimsy since I have not found one yet.
I went to where our group was camping and got the boys to clean up their gear and get a fire started so some of the guys could cook their breakfast. I went up with the boys and we had something that resembled scrambled eggs with sausage and some cereal. I sat down by a boy who had stumps for arms. It was interesting watching him do everything with those stumps. There was another boy up there that had no legs and stumps for arms with deformed hands on the end. I wondered how he got along up there.
On that day there was wood carving, shooting, tubing, watching boys shoot off their rockets and so forth. This year I did not go tubing like I had the previous year. Overall, the camp was fun. We got all cleaned up and headed home after a lunch of corn dogs. Once home, I did some relaxing and a few minor chores.
Of course, Sunday was spent at church. We did go over to the in-laws for dinner. I got into what I called a discussion with Rod on Religion vs. Science. Others didn't see it as a discussion but as an argument. I was in a little bit of trouble for my part in that as he is older and I probably shouldn't have done it. The thing is, some of the things he spouts are things that I don't want my kids thinking that his way is the only way to think. I want them to be able to see more than one side and make decisions for themselves. However, if nobody else sees it the same way as me, I must change.
Not much went on Monday. Tuesday evening, after dinner, I went to the Jordan School District Board meeting. It was an important meeting because people wanted to talk to them about their decision to lay off 500 people in the district including 250 teachers. This will raise the class sizes up by four individuals. The Jordan School District has a deficit of 30 million. There is an equalization bill to try and go to the Canyons district (who we split from) and try to make us equal per student money. Before the split they each had $1600. Now, Jordan District has $1200 and Canyons has $2200 (they claim it's only $1900). Well, we don't think that's fair, especially since we didn't get to be in on the split. At any case that will only take care of about $8 million dollars. That House Bill (HB292) was only mentioned and talked about briefly.
Well, this meeting was interesting. First of all it was held in the office building. That only allows 250 people to be seated in the auditorium. I'm guessing that about 750 showed up. People were all over in the room and out in the halls. They couldn't start the meeting without getting the fire marshal there. The fire marshal showed up at around 8:00. They told all that didn't have a chair to leave. I had a chair, so I got to stay. Some teachers gave up their chairs so parents could stay. Some others tried to stay and were told that if they weren't gone in 10 minutes the meeting would be canceled. They left. I think this was planned by Barry Newbold (the superintendent). I really think he didn't want a lot of people there. I heard (and I realize this could be wrong) that he was offered the use of Riverton High and refused it. But, they knew beforehand that plenty of people would be there.
They opened the meeting by immediately going to Patron comments. There were a couple of people (maybe three) who were against taxes being raised at all. Most of the rest of the crowd thought it would be OK to raise our taxes by about $56 for every $100,000 of property per year. There was one older lady (77) who a cop came over to try to control her behavior. I thought he looked quite the bully. She was one of the people who was against the taxes that we were talking about. He came over to her a couple of times.
It got a little bit rowdy at time but not out of control. Some of the students you could hear outside chanting for quite a bit of the meeting since they were booted out. Some people left and then they would let others come back in. I had told one person from my ward that I would read a little bit of what she wrote. That never came about, but we got the information out to be at the State Capitol tomorrow afternoon to help get HB292 passed through the education committee. I really think that it should pass because it will stop other districts from splitting because they know that their east side has more businesses than the west side and a better tax base.
At the end of the meeting I was talking to an educator and we brought up the few who were against it including that older lady. She came out. I was defending her right to speak her mind even if we didn't want to agree with her. I went over and told her that I appreciated her being there and expressing her unpopular opinion. She mentioned some other things that I didn't agree with (like the teachers needed to take a pay cut) and I disagreed with her in an agreeable manner. We talked a little bit about it is a great country where we can disagree and still be agreeable. She gave me a hug and thanked me (I still don't know for what completely, though I suppose I was the only person that was friendly to her there. She got in her purse and wanted to give me something. She could not find it, so she went to her shirt and pulled off a pin. She gave me this pin saying that she gives these out all the time and had more in her car. It was a guardian angel pin. She gave me another hug and said that God loves you. I told her you too. We parted. I don't know her name, but what a sweet old lady with an opinion. It's a late night because of all the people who had comments.
I only hope that the Board members will have listened to what we had to say and act accordingly.
posted by Craig's Blog at 11:47 PM
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