Reasonable Assurance…

In an effort to make obvious my displeasure with current school district procedures, I composed the following letter of complaint yesterday:

(The names have been altered or omitted to preserve anonymity)

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Dear Mr. Superintendent and/or Mr. HR Director

My name is Mr. Homework and I’ve been employed as a “Certificated Substitute Teacher” working in Your School District these last six years.

Each year, following school closure for the summer, the school district has sent me the usual letter of “Notification of Reasonable Assurance” letting me know that I have “reasonable assurance of returning to work” in the same capacity next year as an “Emergency 30-Day Substitute Teacher”.

When I contacted the district office at the close of the previous school year, I asked if there were any changes I should know about for the coming year. I was told everything was the same. As a result I sent in my yearly renewal for the district required state credential document.

The reason for this communication is to express my dismay and disappointment in the unfair discrimination in access to this year’s substituting assignments list.

I did know that numerous teachers had been let go at the end of the previous year and many (all?) had been added to the available substitute rolls. I have no complaint.

I assumed that they would be listed as higher priority in the callout list for new assignments. I have no complaint.

What I DO have an issue with is being entirely locked out of the automated assignment system without being told. (…I had to call the office to find out why the system “wasn’t working” when I logged in.)

Yet…even that might have been acceptable if the teachers I had worked for previously still had the ability to ask for me by name. I had to hear 2nd hand that pre-arranged assignments are longer allowed.

This is a big change from previous years and should have been disclosed long before the first day of the new school year. The letter of “reasonable assurance” should have been a “maybe but not likely” letter.

For an organization that purports to teach the values of equality, non-discrimination and fairness, I find that actions speak louder than words and the absence of words (not being told before hand) speaks even louder.

Knowing what I do now, I probably would have not renewed my credential this year. But since I have, I believe a $57 fee reimbursement from the district would not be unreasonable.

Failing that, how about letting each of us 2nd tier substitutes have immediate access to the assignment system to work at least one subbing assignment so we can recoup the cost of our credential renewal before locking us out for the rest of the year. I don’t think that would be an unreasonable corrective course of action.

I would appreciate a timely reply to this correspondence.

Sincerely disappointed,

---Mr. Homework

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I didn’t immediately send it. I thought I’d wait a day then re-read it to see if I wanted to make any last minute changes after I had time to contemplate the matter further.

Last night I got class assignment requests for Wednesday and Thursday and a 5:30am call this morning to work today. It seems things have changed since last week.

What a waste of a good temper tantrum….

I’m Sure You Understand…

This is the first day of the new school year. A lot of changes occurred over the summer since the close of the previous school year. The district replaced the old “SubFinder” substitute assignment system with the "SmartFindExpress" system.

The old “SubFinder” was telephone access only. I could call the system for an available assignment any time of the day or night. Alternatively, the system would call with an automated request if an assignment was available.

If I declined the assignment, the system went to the next name on the list until it found a “taker”. If there were no takers, it simply looped back around to the top of the list and tried again. The list, presumably, was ordered from high to low by some desirability or seniority scale, and would keep calling even AFTER the start of the school day, attempting to fill the position until canceled by the school. The system, though a bit outdated, worked fine.

Over the summer, the district installed the new “SmartFindExpress” system and encouraged us to check it out and get familiar using it. It has both phone and web access to display, presumably, all upcoming assignments for the week, month. The phone access operates, presumably, the same way its predecessor did.

I say “presumably” because the “list of available assignments” feature disappeared from both the phone and web access menus a few days before the start of school.

I called the district office to inquire when the substitute assignment system would start showing available assignments. The substitute coordinator informed me that the system up and running and showed no problems. When I asked about the unavailability of assignments list menu, the answer was disappointing.

Due to budget cuts, the district layoff of several teachers over the summer placed them on the substitute teacher rolls, which was ok with me. I assumed that they would be placed on the top of the list of all available substitute teachers to call.

What I didn’t expect was there are now TWO lists: the fired teachers (FT) list and the list for the rest of us. Only the FT’s have access to all available substitute assignments. The rest of us won’t be called until all available FT’s have had a chance to accept ot decline the assignment up to and until the morning of the assignment. That’s presumably when they’ll activate the second tier list to service the late morning “leftovers”.

“It’s only fair. I’m sure you understand…” was the last comment from the “Substitute Coordinator” at the district office before I hung up on her.

What I understand is that I’ll probably be working a lot fewer days this year. I’ll have to wait and see if renewing my yearly state credential was worth the cost.

Too soon to tell…

Daily Show - The Race Card

 ...don't leave home without it.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Race Card Is Maxed Out
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

Frazil Ice??

Not snow, not ice...it's "Frazil Ice" in Yosemite Park

Fungus Among Us…

Have you heard those radio ads for getting rid of toenail fungus with laser treatments? I have and the prospects of a painless solution to a problem I’ve had for the last few years sounded great.

The fungus of the big toe hasn’t responded to liberal applications of Lamisil, Lotrimin or numerous acidic lotions that promise to restore my extremity digit to healthful looking status. I’ll spare you any photographic grossness of the ugly toe, so just take my word for it. It’s bad.

The only drawback is the wallet draining cost. One thousand bucks ($100/per toe) is no small bet. That’s approximately a one month paycheck of substitute teaching gamble on this working.

Anyway, the other morning there was this ad on the radio about laser treatment of toenail fungus for only $500 for ALL TEN TOES ($50/toe) from an outfit called “ShinyToes” here in town. I called for an appointment.

The GPS unit guided me to the address of the medical clinic, as it announced “Arriving on right”!

I’m looking for a medical clinic like looking building but all I see is a block of old Victorian homes in this neighborhood. I circled the block, while “Mindy” (our GPS) made recalculating announcements until I parked at her indicated address destination.

The address was a Bed & Breakfast Inn according to the sign on the building.

I climbed the steps and rang the bell. I told the guy who answered the door that I might have the wrong address but I was looking for ShinyToes? The doc verified that I was at the right address, this was the wellness clinic and that they just hadn’t gotten around to changing the sign on the door yet.

My BS intuition meter ratchets up to “1” but…

The guy explains that he, Mr. “S”, is the director of this particular “wellness clinic” as attested to by the framed degree in on his desk issued by the Harvard Medical School of Boston Mass. It indicates a successful completion of 1.0 unit in some field (I forget the actual wording as I was focused on the “1.0 units”) of “Wellness Training”

BS meter ratchets up to “2” but…

After explaining what the treatment is, the cost and answers my questions about how many patients he’s successfully treated, I hand over my HSA card for a $500 charge. We move to the treatment room, which I later found out was the dining room of the mansion, where the initial exam is to take place.

It’s there that I meet the laser technician, Ms “P” that is to do the actual “lasering”.

“This will have to be a gloveless session as we don’t have any more gloves”, Mr. “S” explains to Ms “P”. “I need to go out for more gloves”, Mr. "P" states as he exits the room.

BS meter skips “3” and goes right to “4” but…

Ms. P activates the laser unit and starts working on toes left to right. Working carefully using only the laser pen tip to touch the toenails, she instructs me in the common sense precautions about common showers at the gym and tub showers at home.

Nuke the floor with Clorox before use when possible and wear flip-flops when not.

As she progresses from toe to toe, I don’t feel anything. No heat, no burning sensation, no smoke or sizzling. If fact I can’t even see the laser light on the toenail!

BS meter at “5” but…

I mention that fact to Ms. P and she demonstrates that there actually is red light coming from the end of the pen by shining it on my pant leg. It’s appears to be of less intensity than the laser pointer we have at home to drive the cats nuts chasing around the house.

BS meter at “6”….

They said I should see improvement in about four months when the nail has had time to grow out (or fall off) enough to tell any difference, but I’m doubtful.

But, I pretty much had the same BS opinion of those urban witch doctors (also known as chiropractors) until I had one work on and fix my screwed up back a few years ago so we’ll see.

…I’ll report my final “BS meter” setting about 4-5 months from now.

UPDATE: March 16, 2011…
It didn't work. Toe looks the same but at least not worse. Applying the post operative "Tree Tea" oils daily whitened the nail but did nothing to get rid of the fungus. At $12/oz for something that smells suspiciously like paint thinner, I'm pulling the plug on this waste of time and $$...

UPDATE: July 14, 2011

San Jose: Spa owner accused of practicing medicine without a license

By Mark Gomez

mgomez@mercurynews.com

"...A San Jose spa owner who owns several Shiny Toes shops in the Bay Area is facing felony charges after investigators seized evidence from his office and charged him with injuring a 4-year-old child during laser treatment.

Cary Silberman, 52, was arrested Monday by investigators from the Medical Board of California and was charged by the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office with two felonies, including practicing medicine without a license and grand theft by fraud, and one misdemeanor count of child endangerment."

UPDATE: June 23, 2012
Fake San Jose foot doctor convicted of 19 felonies
By Eric Kurhi

ekurhi@mercurynews.com

"...Silberman was convicted on the remaining 19 counts. He was acquitted on the misdemeanor child endangerment charge, which stemmed from using laser therapy on a 4-year-old."

In the Search for Equality, Common Sense is Abandoned...

Via: The Washington Examiner
By: Byron York
Chief Political Correspondent
August 3, 2010

"...Last year, the schools -- among them Princeton, Arizona State and Case Western Reserve -- wanted to know if e-book readers would be more convenient and less costly than traditional textbooks. The environmentally conscious educators also wanted to reduce the huge amount of paper students use to print files from their laptops.

It seemed like a promising idea until the universities got a letter from the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, now under an aggressive new chief, Thomas Perez, telling them they were under investigation for possible violations of the Americans With Disabilities Act.

From its introduction in 2007, the Kindle has drawn criticism from the National Federation of the Blind and other activist groups. While the Kindle's text-to-speech feature could read a book aloud, its menu functions required sight to operate. "If you could get a sighted person to fire up the device and start reading the book to you, that's fine," says Chris Danielsen, a spokesman for the federation. "But other than that, there was really no way to use it."

..."

Then by the same reasoning, shouldn't schools stop using dry erase white boards and electronic SmartBoards in the classroom?

--and--

"...Now, Perez is at work on a far bigger project, one that could eventually declare the Internet a "public accommodation" under the ADA. That could result in a raft of new Justice Department regulations for disabled access..."

Read the whole story at the Washington Examiner: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/Why-did-feds-claim-Kindle-violates-civil-rights_-1006723-99801389.html#ixzz0vaAC8I4O

We need to send a message to Washington! Come April/15, I think I'll enclose a tea bag with my tax returns.