#it was in an office building and that building held grades k-12

[cartoonscientist]

you know you went to a school that was secretly for special needs kids if it wasn’t even named after a proper noun, just a vaguely inspirational word like Journey Communication Schools or Uplift Charter

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Julie Jargon

Published: Dec 16, 2023

Boys are struggling in middle school, stuck in an academic setting that they say rewards them for sitting still and taking notes—in other words, behaving more like girls. 

“It’s really hard sitting still for eight hours a day,” says Tyler Brausa, now 16. When he jumped from elementary school to middle school, the lack of recess and daily gym was a jolt. Tyler often got in trouble for talking out of turn and fidgeting at his desk. After school, he and his friends escaped into videogames—a realm where they have purpose and work together toward a shared goal.

School could compete with gaming if it felt more rewarding to boys, he says.

Some of them are. A number of all-boys middle schools—public, charter and private—have begun opening in recent years to meet boys’ needs. Inside the walls of these schools, boys get lots of hands-on learning, frequent breaks and plenty of movement. Some coed schools are also addressing the problem, dividing up boys and girls for certain classes. And they’re having success.

“Instead of making guys change the way we behave,” Tyler says, “maybe schools should change the way they’re structured.”

‘Bumping into things’

At the private, boys-only Field Middle School in the San Francisco Bay Area, which opened two years ago, students start some days sitting in a circle. The school’s 46 students, in grades six through eight, talk about what they’re grateful for and acknowledge mistakes they’ve made.

On other days, they begin by reviewing assignments, cleaning out backpacks and checking they have supplies such as sharpened pencils. Organization and time management don’t come easily to all adolescent boys, as I covered last week.

“Boys tend to learn by bumping into things,” says Jason Baeten, Field’s head of school. Dance classes held in the courtyard aren’t judged for grace and form. “That’s not always a metaphor—sometimes they’re too big for their bodies.”

At Field, 80% of the teachers are male. Overall numbers of male teachers in K-12 education have been falling nationwide, according to Richard Reeves, president of the nonpartisan nonprofit American Institute for Boys and Men. 

The administrators know how distracting technology can be to kids. Every morning the students turn in their phones and smartwatches to the front office for the day. They use iPads for some assignments in class but they aren’t in constant use.

Giving boys a chance to move around and work with their hands is a big focus at Field and other all-boys schools. The students get a 20-minute morning snack break, a 45-minute lunch period and PE three to five days a week. One classroom has standing desks.

The school has a class in which kids design products to solve problems or help people. One boy developed sugar-free recipes so his diabetic brother could enjoy dessert. The school also offers a build class; last year the boys built go-karts. On Mondays, the students cook lunch for each other and the staff. They regularly vacuum and sweep the classrooms.

‘Motivated by competition’

Field is too new to have high-school graduation success rates. But the Barack Obama Male Leadership Academy, a public all-boys school for grades six through 12, has proven results. The Dallas school, open since 2011, has a 91% graduation rate; the same percentage of students score proficient on reading, compared with the district average of 52%, according to U.S. News & World Report.

“The biggest reason our students do well is we have a committed staff. The brothers, as we call our students, know we care about them,” says Rashad Jackson, principal of the school, which has 541 boys. “It’s not just about A’s and B’s, we’re invested in their social-emotional well-being.”

The boys at the Obama Academy, as well as the students at Dallas’s two other public all-boys schools, have opportunities to get out their wiggles throughout the day. (The district also has three all-girls’ schools.)

At Dallas’s pre-K through-eighth-grade Solar Preparatory School for Boys, students rotate through a different learning station every 15 minutes because brain science shows boys need frequent movement, says principal Derek Thomas.

Timers buzz to indicate when students need to switch to the next task. 

“When you put a timer on something, it becomes a competition, and boys are motivated by competition,” he says. “If I tell them to work on organizing their binder and I give them two minutes, they’ll do it in one minute 30 seconds.”

‘The boys have voices’

These educators say middle-school boys feel freer to make and learn from mistakes when girls aren’t around.

That’s something administrators at Treasure Valley Classical Academy, a coed charter school in Fruitland, Idaho, also noticed. When middle-school boys and girls are together in PE class, the boys try to impress the girls, and the girls don’t participate as much, says school founder Stephen Lambert

The 580-student school, which serves kindergarten through 10th grade, began separating girls and boys in some PE classes two years ago. The girls became more engaged and competitive and the boys more focused, teachers said.

The school did the same for some music and art classes. When together, girls tend to out-sing the boys, Lambert says. “The boys’ voices are cracking and they’re embarrassed and self-conscious and they won’t sing,” he adds. “When you split them up, you realize the boys have voices and they want to make them heard.”

All students get plenty of time to move, with recess for all kids in kindergarten through eighth grade, and an extended hangout time after lunch for the high-school students.

Leonard Sax is a family doctor who has studied more than 500 schools over the past 20 years, and wrote several books on gender differences. He says that any school could replicate these approaches without being disruptive—or discriminatory.

“Schools can be friendly to boys without being unfriendly to girls,” he says.

==

Apparently, bludgeoning the maleness out of boys doesn't make them better students. Males and females are inherently different. Imagine that.

A program like this would never fly at many co-ed schools where activists masquerade as teachers. For reference, one of the Grievance Studies papers is called "The Progressive Stack: An Intersectional Feminist Approach to Pedagogy" and described thusly:

This is our most appalling paper, and it’s deeply concerning that how it is being treated at the highly respected journal Hypatia. It forwards that educators should discriminate by identity and calculate their students’ status in terms of privilege, favor the least privileged with more time, attention and positive feedback and penalize the most privileged by declining to hear their contributions, deriding their input, intentionally speaking over them, and making them sit on the floor in chains—framed as educational opportunities we termed “experiential reparations.” [..] The reviewers’ only concerns with these points so far have been that (1) we approach the topic with too much compassion for the students who are being subjected to this, and (2) we risk exploiting underprivileged students by burdening them with an expectation to teach about privilege. To correct for this, the reviewers urged us to make sure we avoid “recentering the needs of the privileged.” They asked us to incorporate Megan Boler’s approach called “pedagogy of discomfort” and Barbara Applebaum’s insistence that the privileged learn from this discomfort rather than being coddled or having their own experiences (suffering) “recentered.”

When scholarship around pedagogy - how things are taught - is organized around and motivated by cruelty, malevolence and spite, it seems unlikely that activist scolds will be in favor of sparing boys - even black boys - from an intersectional haranguing. If boys are allowed to be boys, what hateful, sexist harridan will get to shame and berate them into understanding that they'll never, ever have to experience being discriminated against based on their sex?

[bunnies-on-saturn]

You’re a good big brother

so i had a thought where like, AU (i guess?) where the brothers went to one of those K-12 schools. You know where they have all the grades in school, yeah I feel like they went to one of those. either to be closer together, for it to be convenient, so Lucifer can watch his brothers whatever it may be. By the way I’ve never been in one of those school so no idea how it works.

~Story Summary~:

Lucifer, while in class, gets called into the schools office to talk about Mammon behavior. Apparently he’s been getting in more fights. Lucifer is upset but maybe there’s more to the story than what the teachers know. He’s only doing it to protect his little brothers.

~Characters~:

Lucifer: possibly around the age of 15-17 (the oldest obviously)

Mammon: around 8-10 years old

Leviathan: around 5-6 years old

Asmodeus: 3-4 years old (the youngest. At least for now)

Lucifer sat in the middle of class listening to the teacher’s lecture. Well half listening, he was a good student who followed the rules and got good grades but he sat by the window so it was easy to get distracted. Currently the class was taking notes but he had already written down the information, so he was doodling in the corner of his paper. He was drawing his little brothers. They all went to the same school, but just different classes.

It was a K-12 school and each “level” as they called it was divided into different sections of the school. Each grade level had their own building in a way. Elementary kids got one side, middle schoolers another and high schoolers took the last building. They all shared one big field they shared for certain school events, but things like playground equipment, cafeterias, and etc where all in their own building. They did share a bus stop for all the kids however.

Every day Lucifer would take his brothers to the elementary building, being younger and all and; then go to the high school school building. Then after school he’d pick them up and they’d walk home together. They never took the bus, they liked the walk. Their house wasn’t far anyways. The room was quiet as the only few sounds where pencils writing as the teacher wrote more on the whiteboard. That was until foot steps could be heard walking out in the hallway.

There was a knock on the door causing everyone to look up. “Come in.” Lucifer’s teacher called. The door opened and it was the assistant principal of the elementary department. While yes it was a big school it had only one principal but each section had their own association principal. “Hi sorry to interrupt but we need Lucifer Lamentation to come to office please.” The lady said as she smiled at the teacher. Everyone looked over at Lucifer making an “oooo” sound causing Lucifer to get embarrassed and turn a bit red in the cheeks.

(I know that’s not their last name. I don’t even think they have a last name. I just took the name of the house and applied that as their last name.)

Lucifer turned away as he snarled a bit. The assistant principal walked over to him, “Please bring your stuff with you just in case.” She said. Now Lucifer was a bit worried. He didn’t seem in trouble. He hadn’t done anything so that possibly was ruled out. Did something happen concerning him? Did something happen to his little brothers? Lucifer packed up his things before meeting up with the assistant at the door.

���Lucifer you have the homework for tonight right?” His teacher called right as they where about to leave. “Yes sir.” Lucifer replied. His teacher smiled, “Good. Off you go then.” And with that they closed the door and left. The two walking down the empty hall, the sound of her high heels tapping the floor echoing through the hall. Lucifer fixed his backpack on his shoulder before speaking. “Did something happen?”

“Well.” She said. “Mammon has been getting into some arguments recently with some kids. Today however, Mammon got into a fist fight with one of the kids. So now he’s in the office and I wanted you to try and talk to him. He hasn’t respond to me and is getting quiet snappy. So I thought since you’re his older brother he’d listen to you more.” She explained. Lucifer stayed quiet. Mammon never told him about this. /Is mammon causing trouble again?/ Lucifer thought.

They walked all the way to the elementary building. The shift between the regular school building walls to the more childish area was a real change. Everything seemed so small. Taking a semi familiar rout he’s usually take to walk to and from buildings. Once there we walked to the office building to see Mammon sitting in a chair. His knees where to his chest and his head was sitting on top of them. He had a bandage on his knees, cheek, elbow, and nose. He had a small pout on his face. When he heard the door open he looked over to see his assistant principal and his brother. Seeing them made him turn away again.

The assistant principal walked in having Lucifer follow. The door shutting behind them. “As you can see I’ve had him wait in here while I came to get you. Please have a seat.” She said as she took a seat at her desk gesturing to the empty seat next to Mammon. Lucifer sat down glancing at Mammon. He was upset but also a bit worried. Why was Mammon getting into fights with other classmates? “So I’m sure you’re wondering what exactly happened.” She said looking at the two of them.

Lucifer turned away from Mammon and turned his attention to the lady nodding. “Well you see. While at recess Mammon and two other boys where fighting. Mammon threw the first punch and it escalated causing the teachers to have to step in and break them up." Mammon sank into his knees a bit. Still pouting. "Where are the other two?" Lucifer asked. "Currently in the nurse office. Mammon tried to fight them even in the office." She said. Lucifer kept quiet. His face had a look of confusion.

He couldn't believe what he was hearing. If anything he was more disappointed than angry. "Would you like to tell your brother what happened?" She now looked at Mammon who refused to look at her. He shook his head. She sighed. "Not even to your brother?" Lucifer looked at his younger brother and spoke softly, "Mammon do you just not want to talk? Or do you not want to talk because she's here?" He was quiet for a moment. “Cause she’s here…” he mumbled. Lucifer looked at the lady, “Can we have a moment alone please?”

She looked hesitant to say yes. Her face looked like she wanted to say no right away but was really debating. “Please he’s never gonna talk if he’s not comfortable. Can we go outside and talk? I promise to stay within the area.” Lucifer asked putting his hand on Mammon’s knee. She signed, “Yes go ahead. But please stay in the area.” “We will.” Lucifer said. “Come on Mammon.” Lucifer spoke as he got up from his chair. Mammon got up slowly and looked down as he followed Lucifer out of the room.

Lucifer let the door close behind them as they walked out into their play yard. It was empty since it was class time all the kids where inside learning. Lucifer walked to a shaded area having Mammon still looking down. Lucifer finally got a look at his face. His hair was scruffy and his face was a bit dirty. It looked like he had been crying a bit too. “So.” Lucifer said finally breaking the silence. “You got into a fight-“ “It wasn’t my fault!” Mammon yelled a bit. Lucifer was caught off guard with Mammon’s sudden loudness. He turned to him with a shocked look on his face.

Mammon was shaking a bit, his fist in a ball. “I-I was protecting Levi a-and Asmo. They where being mean to them!” Mammon shouted as he wiped his eyes. Lucifer gave a sympathetic look as he put his hand on his shoulder. “Mammon tell me what happened please.” Mammon turned to Lucifer’s direction before speaking again. “Well, it was recess time. And then Levi came up to me crying.” “Crying? Why was he crying?” Lucifer asked worryingly. “It’s cause some kids broke his Ruri-Chan figure. They smashed it.” Lucifer sighed. “I told him not to bring it with him.” He said under his breath. “And they kept pulling on Asmo’s hair and clothes. They even cut his hair a bit too! So I had to help!” Mammon said as tears came down his face.

~ earlier that day~

It was recess time and Mammon was playing with the random playground equipment that was lying around. Currently all the 3rd graders and kids under where playing. Mammon being a 3rd grader was having a good time playing with a ball he found. Occasionally checking on his brothers who where way more down the playground. Levi was in kindergarten and Asmo was in pre-kindergarten. But they played in the same area. He wanted to make sure his little brothers where having fun, and sometimes if they where alone he’d go over and play with them.

Mammon was bouncing the ball trying to see how high he could make it to. Sometimes looking over at the high school building where Lucifer was. Sometimes he wonders if he could see him while walking to class something. While on his fifth try of trying to make the ball go pass the roof he heard crying and felt a tug on his shirt sleeve. It distracted him from catching the ball making it slam hard into the floor, causing the crying to become louder. Just as Mammon was about to get mad he looked to see it was Levi crying.

“Levi what happened?!” He asked worryingly. “They-they-“ Levi couldn’t get a word out with how many tears kept coming down his face. “They broke Ruri-Chan!” Levi cried as he held up a smashed Ruri-Chan figure. Her face was broken, her arm had been snapped, and she was disconnected from her body. “And-and they pu-ushed m-m-e.” Mammon instantly became protective. “Who did this?” Levi pointed to some bigger kids who seemed to be Mammon’s age. “Come on Levi. Your big brothers got this.”

He took his younger brothers hand who was still crying, holding the broken Ruri-Chan close. When he got to the smaller kids section he saw that the kids Levi pointed out where cornering Asmo. There was three of them. Two blocking off his exists and tugging at his clothes, pushing him around while the other had scissors and pulled on his hair. Asmo was screaming and crying trying to push him away but being three he’s not very strong against third graders. “Come on its just a little it’s no big deal. Stop being a baby.” The boy with the scissors said as he snipped a bit of his hair.

Not a lot just a little. That was it for Mammon. He ran over and pushed the boy away causing the other two to let go or Asmo. “MamMam!” Asmo called as he cried. Levi went with Asmo as Mammon stood in front of them. “It’s okay guys. Your big brother is gonna save you two!” He shouts. “Some big brother you are.” One kid said. “THESE are your brothers?! They look pretty useless to me.” Another said. “Hey shut up!” Mammon yelled getting in their face a bit. “You shut up.” He pushed Mammon back causing him to stumble a bit but he managed to catch himself so he doesn’t fall on his brothers.

“Leave them alone! They haven’t even done anything to you.” Mammon pushed him back. The other two watching while Levi was holding Asmo. “They’re annoying.” “You’re annoying!” Mammon said back. “And ugly! And stupid!” “Says you! You’re the dumbest in the class. You should be here with them!” The kid punched Mammon right in the stomach. “Mammam! Mammon!” His brothers called. Mammon held onto his stomach for a bit, “Awe you gonna cry like your stupid brothers here?” “Don’t call them stupid!” Mammon screamed as he got on top of him and started to punch him.

The other two ran while Mammon and the other fought on the floor. Levi and Asmo staying back. That was until a teacher came over and yelled at the two as she broke up the fight. Managing to get Mammon off the young boy. “You two behave right now! Stop it!” She yelled. They eventually stopped and both had scratch marks and bruises all over. She called a teachers assistant who came over to take care of Asmo and Levi while the teacher took the two to the nurse.

“How did this happen?” The teacher asked sternly as she crossed her arms. She looked down at the two boys who sat in a chair in the office. The nurse was getting bandaids ready. “He started it!” Mammon said pointing at the kid. “No he did!” He pointed back. “Did not!” “Did too!” “Did not!” Mammon pushed the boy after he said that causing the teacher to pull him back and the nurse to move the kid aside. “MAMMON YOU’RE GOING TO THE PRINCIPALS OFFICE AFTER. Ms.Joy please patch up Mammon first so he can go to the office sooner. I don’t trust him here with him.” She told the nurse.

She nodded and fixed up Mammon while the teacher called the assistant principal using the office phone. Once he was done she came over and picked him up and took him to her office. Once there they started talking. “Mammon you know what my you’re here don’t you?” She sat at her desk with her hands together resting on the table. Mammon sat in the chair with his arms crossed and looked away. He was still upset and even more so that he was getting in trouble and the other kids weren’t. They hurt his brothers they deserved it.

“Mammon I don’t think I need to tell you what you did was extremely inappropriate. So please explain to me why you did what you did.” She stated. Mammon kept quiet bringing his feet up to his chest. “It wasn’t my fault.” He mumbled. “Well the teachers said you threw the first punch so you clearly had something to do with it.” She replied back looking at him a bit sternly. Mammon kept his head down. She tried asking again and again before sighing as she rubbed her temple. “Fine if you won’t answer I’ll go get your brother. Maybe you’ll listen to him instead.” She got up from her chair, “Do not leave this office.” Was what she told him before she left.

~Present Time~

Mammon finished telling the events of what happened today. He was crying now as he wiped at his eyes. Lucifer just held him close and rubbed his back in a circle like motion. “I tried but she didn’t believe me.” He mumbled into his chest. “I believe you Mammon. Thank you for protecting your little brothers. You did good.” Mammon looked up. “I did?” Lucifer smiled as he looked down at his younger brother. “Of course. I’m very proud of you.” Mammon turned red a bit as he looked away.

“Come now let’s go tell her what happened.” Lucifer said as he pulled away. Mammon looked hesitant before Lucifer put his hand on his shoulder. “It’s okay I’ll be here to help tell what happened.” Mammon nodded as they headed back to the office. The assistant principal waiting at her desk. “So are you finally ready to talk?” They took at seat and her desk nodding and repeated what Mammon told Lucifer to her. “I see. And you’re sure this is the truth.” She asked. “Yes!” Mammon cried. “Ask Levi and Asmo! They saw it all!”

“Levi wouldn’t lie. I’m not sure how much you’d get out of Asmo being so young but you should definitely ask them.” Lucifer interjected. She sighed again. “Right I will. Well thank you dear for your help. I’ll talk to them and others right away. Even if it was in self defense I still have to give some punishment. So Mammon you can’t play at recess for three days. If what you’re saying is true the three boys will get three weeks of no recess.” Mammon obviously wasn’t happy about it. He didn’t see the reason why he should be getting in trouble but three days was better than three weeks.

Mammon nodded. “Fine..” he uttered. “Good. Sorry to pull you out of class Lucifer you may go back. Same goes for you Mammon.” The two got up and left the office. “Alright then I’ll be heading back to class. I’ll see you after school today okay?” Lucifer said as he ruffled his hair. “Stay out of trouble.” Mammon whined pushing his hand away. “Luucciiii! I’m not a baby anymore.” Lucifer chuckled. “That may be so but you are my baby brother.” “Hey!” Lucifer laughed. “Okay okay. Go back to class now.” Mammon nodded. “Bye Luci!” He said as he ran back to class with a smile on his face.

Lucifer watched him until he was out of sight and turned away to walk back to his own class. And so the day went on like normal. Lucifer finished up his last class and as the bell rang he packed up his backpack and headed over to the elementary building. Lucifer walking through the crowded halls trying to avoid as many people as possible. All he could think about was his brothers. Is everything okay? Did she talk to them? Are Levi and Asmo hurt? Is Mammon doing okay? So many questions going through his mind.

He was so lost in thought he didn’t even realize Mammon was calling to him. “LUCII!!” Mammon called waving at him. Mammon, Levi, and Asmo where all in the same spot they’d be at everyday to be picked up by Lucifer. Lucifer looked up coming back into reality to see Mammon smiling at him. Asmo was hugging his leg while Mammon had his hand on his back. Levi was also doing the same expect he was slouching into Mammon. He was more focused on the plastic bag in his hands but Mammon still had his hand on his back.

Lucifer smiled softly. It was a cute sight even though he knew his brothers where upset it was nice to see them all together. Lucifer walked over looking at his younger brothers kneeling in front of them. Before he could even get a word out Levi and Asmo ran up to him and hugged him which caught both Lucifer and Mammon off guard. “LUCII!!” They cried. Well Asmo’s sounded more like “Wuci!” Then Luci. Lucifer smiled and hugged his little brothers close hearing them cry. “Hey buds. Are you okay? I heard what happened are you hurt?” He spoke softly as he tried to calm them.

“I-It was scawy!” Levi cried having Asmo nod. “I know it was and I’m sorry I wasn’t there. But Mammon was there right? He kept you safe.” Lucifer looked up at Mammon with a soft smile. Mammon blushed. “W-Well yeah! I’m supposed to! I’m their big brother!” Lucifer laughed a little as he kept holding them. They cried into his chest as he gave a sympathetic look. “Shh shhh it’s okay bud. Shh you’re okay now.” He kissed their heads as he spoke. “You guys are safe now right? It’s not gonna happen ever again I promise.”

Lucifer pulled them back a bit as he whipped their tears with his thumb. Lucifer ran his fingers through Asmo’s hair. “Well your hair doesn’t look too bad. It’s not very noticeable. Don’t worry Asmo you still look great.” Asmo looked up hopefully. “Weally?” “Really.” He ruffled his hair a little. He knew his brother really liked his looks. He was always a fan of dressing up and doing his hair. While he wasn’t the best with his hair being very young that was Lucifer’s job. But he really enjoyed dressing up.

“When we get home I promise we’ll put your hair into something really pretty sound good?” Lucifer spoke making Asmo nod and smile a bit. “Ya! wif a bow!” He tried to speak. Being so young he’s still developing speaking skill. Lucifer chuckled a little. “Yes with a bow.” Asmo wiped his face a bit before going back to Mammon putting his arms up. Asking to be picked up. Mammon bent down and picked him up placing on his hip best he could. Lucifer looked at Levi who still looked upset.

Pitifully looking at the plastic bag in his hands. Gently moving the broken pieces or the Ruri-Chan figure that where there. Lucifer put his hand on his cheek. “Levi are you okay? They broke Ruri didn’t they?” Levi nodded as silent tears fell. “I told you not to bring her to school she’s fragile.” Levi whined a bit covering his face. He was never good in these types of situations. “I know I’m sorry. I know that was your favorite one. How about this when we get home I’ll try my best to fix it okay? And if we can’t I’ll get you a new one.” Lucifer said gently.

“I promise as your big brother I’ll do whatever to make you happy. I’ll even let you watch her videos tonight even after bed time.” Levi perked up. “Really?” “Really bud.” Levi wiped his eyes with the back of his hands. “Kay..” Lucifer picked him up and set him on his hip. Levi put his head on his shoulder as he yawned. Mammon watched the whole time now Lucifer calmed his brothers down so easily. How he was so gentle with them. He wished he could do the same. Mammon held Asmo who was looking around the area.

“Come on let’s get going home.” He moved some of Leviathan hair out of his face as he adjusted him on his hip. Mammon looked at his older brother in awe. Lucifer caught a glimpse and asked, “What are you thinking about Mammon?” Mammon blushed a little. “Nothing…” he replied. “Come on tell me.” “Well it’s just..you’re so good them. A-and I wanna be good with them too! You made them so much calmer than I ever could.” Mammon pouted as he held Asmo close.

Lucifer smiled and put his hand on the back of Mammon’s head pulling him close and kissed it. “You’re a good big brother Mammon. You already where and you still are. You stood up for your little brothers and protected them. That’s all I could ever ask for. I don’t really like the idea of you getting into fights but if it’s for self defense and especially family it’s okay. I’m proud of you.” Lucifer praised him. Mammon’s blush grew as he kept his head down. “Y-y-you’re embarrassing!” Mammon managed to say.

“Yes but it’s the truth. And I’m sure your brothers feel the same way. Right you two?” Levi turned over to look at Mammon who was looking away. “Thank you Mammon for helping me.” He said causing Mammon to look up. “ ‘ank ou mammam!” Asmo cheered as he hugged his older brother. Mammon laughed a bit as he hugged Asmo back and ruffled Levi’s hair. “That’s what I’m here for.” And with that they walked home. A little late because of their conversation but it didn’t matter. Mammon was doing his homework while in the living room with his brothers.

Asmo was currently getting his hair done by Lucifer. Who was sitting on his lap while Lucifer was sitting on the couch. Upon further inspection he saw that Asmo was a bit scratched up on his arms. Probably from when those kids where holding him. They weren’t bad in fact most of them where markings more than scratches. But still he made a mental note to keep an eye on it. As promised Lucifer did put a bow in his hair. Two in fact both personally picked by Asmodeus himself. He was very happy with how it came out.

“ ‘ank ou Wuci!” Asmo smiled as Lucifer put him down. “Anytime Asmo.” By now Mammon was done with his homework so he was playing with Asmo. All while videos of Ruri-Chan played in the background. As promised Levi got to watch her and his eyes where practically glued to the screen. While they did that he took the plastic bag next to Levi’s backpack and held it in his hands. “I’ll be back Mammon I’m going upstairs real quick.” Lucifer called. “Kay!” Mammon replied.

Lucifer took it to his bedroom and tried his best to repair it. He knew this was Levi’s favorite thing in the whole world. It was a comfort item to him. The minute he had it he took it everywhere and if they had to leave somewhere he wouldn’t leave until he had her in his hand. Which lead to many tantrums but as long as she was there he was fine. Even helping him sleep in the worst of times. He took great pride in taking care of the figure. So Lucifer intended to do the same thing.

Eventually with the help of some magic he was able to bring it back good as new. Just like when he first got it. Lucifer held it gently and went to Levi’s room to look for the Ruri-Chan plushie he also cherished. He sleeps with it every night and even during long car rides. He takes it everywhere just like the figure. And If it’s not with him at all time he’ll cry his eyes out. But he still loves his little brother so whatever makes him happy he’s happy to provide it. Lucifer took it and went back downstairs seeing Asmo and Mammon playing together. Asmo trying to do Mammon’s hair with the many clips he had all very childish themes.

Lucifer smiled as they seemed to be laughing together. Mammon was also putting clips in Asmo’s hair so it was equal. Lucifer went over to Levi and tapped his shoulder getting his attention. “Levi I have a surprise for you.” Levi’s face lit up as he knew exactly what the surprise was. “Here. Good as new.” Lucifer handed him the more repaired figure making Levi smile ear to ear. I’m excitement and joy he flared his arms and kicked his feet a little smiling. It was the purest smile ever. Almost the same smile as when he got this toy on his birthday. Leviathan got up and hugged Lucifer tightly.

“Thank you big bro!!” He cheered. “You’re the best!” Lucifer hugged him back. “I’m glad to see you happy again but new rule. You can’t bring her to school anymore.” Levi pulled back with a distraught look on his face. “But..why?” “Levi she got broken today. I warned you about it already haven’t I? We don’t want her broken again do we?” Levi thought about it for a bit. And although he was right he still needed her. “But..but- I still need her! I wanna take her with me!” Levi whined. “I thought this was coming so here.” Lucifer pulled out the plushie seeing Levi stop his almost tantrum immediately.

“You can take her instead. Only if you promise not to get it dirty or ripped.” Levi held out his arms to hold it but Lucifer held it up from him making him whine more. “Promise first.” “I promise!” “Are you sure?” “Yes!” “You’re not just saying it are you?” “No!” Lucifer handed him the plushie and he gripped it with all his might. Snuggling with it. Lucifer laughed as he ruffled his hair. The night came and Lucifer made dinner for everyone and they ate like a happy family. The next day at school after Lucifer dropped them off he asked Mammon to point out which kids bullied them the other day.

When he did he walked over with a very creepy smile as he stood over them. “So I hear you’re the ones who bullied my brothers the other day. Is that true.” The fear on their face says it all. They started to back into the walls as he leaned into closer. “If I ever find out that you started trouble again with my brothers I will deal with you myself personally. You’d make a great hanging decoration on my fathers wall.” And with that he walked away with a satisfactory look on his face as hearing them shutter was like music to his ears. Did he just threaten some eight years olds? Yeah. Did he care? Not really. As long as they got the message he could care less and he carried on with the day as if nothing happened.

The end :)

I’m not too proud of this story but I’ll try and make better ones in the future

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Teaching Artist Institute: “Children at the Center”

Tuesday, August 27th to Wednesday, August 28th at the National Building Museum, the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities hosted a Teaching Artist Institute with co-hosts from the National Building Museum along with the DC Arts and Humanities Education Collaborative. There were 59 DC-based teaching artists who participated in a variety of sessions and workshops that were facilitated by 31 moderators, panelists, and staff volunteers. The “Children at the Center” Teaching Artist Institute focused on providing the opportunity for teaching artists to build skills and understanding in their field of teaching artistry.

TAI Resources: 

Informational Flyer

Session Descriptions

Schedules at a glance

Day One

Day Two

Personal Bio Descriptions of Facilitators, Moderators, and Panelists

Tuesday, August 27th Agenda

1:30pm - Registration & Welcome

2:15pm - Keynote Panel: Children at the Center

3:30pm - Coffee Break

4:00pm - Workshop Breakout Sessions 

5:30pm - Break - Journey to Shakespeare Theatre Company

6:00pm - Teaching Artist and Practitioner Speed Dating Networking Reception: Importance of Collective Impact, Hosted by DC Collaborative’s Any Given Child DC program and Shakespeare Theatre Company

Wednesday, August 28th Agenda

9:30am - Breakfast

10:00am - Keynote Panel: Program Design

11:15am - Morning Workshop Breakout Sessions

12:45pm - Lunch - Pecha Kucha Presentations

2:00pm - Afternoon Workshop Breakout Sessions

3:45pm - Keynote Panel: Assessment & Evaluation

4:45pm - Closure

Highlights: Tuesday, August 27th

Keynote Panel: Children at the Center

The TAI began with a Keynote Panel. The panel was titled “Children at the Center: Addressing the Full Humanity of Each Student.” Panelists shared how they addressed the needs of the individual students they serve and how they broadly shape their programming around the unique needs of the communities in which they work. The Panel was moderated by Erika Hawthorne from Arts Education Partnership/Education Commission of the States featuring panelists Mary Brown (Life Pieces to Masterpieces), Kahina Haynes (Dance Institute of Washington), Tara Libert (Free Minds Book Club & Writing Workshop), and Christie Walser (Project Create). 

Workshop A

Workshop A was facilitated by Jessica Valoris. Valoris is a DC-based multi-disciplinary artist who is a proud alum and Assistant Director of The Atlas Performing Arts Center’s City at Peace DC. The workshop was titled “Finding My Center: Devising Wellness in Community” and was targeted for teaching artists of teens and adults. This workshop focused on exploring holistic wellness practices that educators, artists, and young people can share to support one another.

Workshop B

Workshop B was facilitated by Lauren Wilson. Wilson oversees the Community Engagement team at the National Building Museum, which includes programming for teen and intergenerational audiences. Wilson’s workshop was titled “Co-Creating and Collaborating with Teens” which was directly targeted for teaching artists of teenagers. This workshop discussed strategies for sharing leadership and creativity with teens tailored to each participant’s individual work and practice. 

Workshop C

Workshop C was facilitated by Lindsey Vance. Vance is an artist, art therapist, licensed professional counselor, and educator. Vance’s workshop was titled “The Joy of Making Art: Intuitive Collage & Meaning Making” and was suitable for teaching artists of all ages. This session provided an understanding of the therapeutic power of visual arts through intuitive intelligence, experimentation, and narrative. 

Collective Impact: Speed Dating

The DC Collaborative and Any Given Child DC held a Collective Impact Speed Dating workshop for teaching artists! Participants listened to why they should be involved in the Collective Impact Any Given Child DC work and interacted with their peer practitioners. Thank you to our host, Shakespeare Theatre Company!

Highlights: Wednesday, August 28th

Keynote Panel: Program Design

Wednesday morning began with a Program Design panel titled “Positioning Everyone for Success.” The panel was moderated by David Markey who currently oversees arts education programming for the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities. Panelists included Kristen Anclien (Bridges PCS), Michelle Edwards (Live It Learn It), Peter Guttmacher (Consultant), and Mary Lambert (DCPS). This panel discussed important considerations to keep in mind in the design of in-school and out-of-school-time residencies. 

Workshop D

Workshop D was facilitated by Nikki Kaplan. Kaplan is the Associate Director of Education at Imagination Stage. Kaplan’s workshop was titled “Game Exchange! Tools of the Trade” and was suitable for teaching artists of all ages. In this workshop, participants exchanged classroom games, exercises, warm-ups, and technique/skill-building activities to add to their tool-kits. 

Workshop E

Workshop E was facilitated by nationally recognized master teaching artist Margot Greenlee. Greenlee’s workshop was titled “Dance and Theater Practice for Children of All Ages and Abilities” and was suitable for teaching artists of all ages. Participants learned collaborative methods that invite each child’s contribution, with special attention to supporting children with intellectual and developmental disabilities. 

Workshop F

Workshop F was facilitated by teaching artists Sylvia Zwi and Marcia Daft. Zwi holds the position of Dean and Director of Early Childhood Arts & Professional Development at Sitar Arts Center. Daft is the founder of Moving Through Math and Teaching the Music of Language. This workshop was titled “Spiral Up (It’s in the “How”)” and was targeted at teaching artists of early-elementary but was applicable to all ages. Participants were introduced to seeds of movement and music ideas to provoke a student-generated response in semi-improvisational processes. 

Workshop G

Workshop G was facilitated by teaching artist Imani Gonzalez. Gonzalez’s workshop was titled “Telling Your Story through the Blues” and was targeted for teaching artists of Grades 4-8. Participants explored the strategies that are aligned with Writer’s Workshop to engage in the composition blues songs that express thoughts, feelings, experiences, and then performed them. 

Workshop H

Workshop H was facilitated by Regie Cabico. Cabico is a poet and a spoken word pioneer having been the first openly queer and Asian American writer to win the Nuyorican Poets Cafe Grand Slam. Cabico’s workshop was titled “I’M BRAVE AS A MIGHTY OCEAN: INTRODUCTION TO SPOKEN WORD SLAM POETRY” and was designed for teaching artists of 6th grade and up, but could be modified for elementary school. Participants examined strategies to help students write through imagery and break down the components of slam poetry by demystifying the elements of a great slam poem through writing that addresses poetic devices. 

Workshop I

Workshop I was facilitated by professional teaching artist Karen O. Brown. Brown’s workshop was titled “Tricks Up Your Sleeve - for Every Teaching Artist” and was targeted for teachers of Pre-K 3 to High School. Teaching artists learned simple and effective techniques and processes to use with students. This included making handmade book structures (pictured above) and ways to use a variety of artistic expression to share strategies. 

Keynote Panel: Assessment and Evaluation

The Teaching Artist Institute closed with a final Keynote Panel discussing Assessment and Evaluation titled “What is Quality? Really?”. This panel was moderated by Kevin Cataldo who is the Manager of the Institute for Youth Development part of the Office of Out of School Time Grants and Youth Outcomes as well as Office of the Deputy Mayor for Education. Panelists included Karen Brown, Regie Cabico, and Imani Gonzalez. This panel discussed the role that teaching artists play in the process of evaluating the quality and impact of programming and how can assessment be used for good.  

Gratitude

At the Teaching Artist Institute: Children at the Center, attendees were not only able to gain experience and methods to bring back to their classroom but also learned strategies to better themselves as teaching artists. At this two-day event, the wide range of workshops, panels, facilitators, moderators, and panelists provided a variety of artistic fields for teaching artists to explore. 

The DC Arts and Humanities Education Collaborative would like to thank the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, the National Building Museum, Shakespeare Theatre Company, and all of our facilitators, moderators, panelists, and volunteers for making this Teaching Artist Institute as successful as it was. We hope to continue to host more institutes for teaching artists in the future! 

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Cybersecurity In this New Political Era

 President Biden begin his term in the midst of dramatic transitions happening across the world. This isn’t about the deficit or foreign policy or climate change. Advisors well versed in strategies related to those issues surround the President.

What needs to be addressed is the global transition to a digital economy. This change is affecting every aspect of our society, from how businesses generate profit to how individuals live their lives and interact socially. The digital economy and society combine technologies and services to unlock new value in the form of better quality of life and better business outcomes. It is affecting every economic sector, from manufacturing to healthcare to finance to energy. It is changing what people do for a living, how they spend their leisure time, and where and how they spend their money, get educated, and even raise their children. The reality is that we haven’t seen such a complete and dramatic change since at least the advent of the industrial revolution, and frankly, the speed of change is unprecedented in human history.

Along with this change comes increased risks. In the rush by individuals and organizations to adopt the new tools and technologies of the digital economy, IT Support Florence SC seems to have taken a back seat. In many cases, legacy security solutions are ill-equipped to address these new challenges. For example, according to Gartner, it is estimated that by 2018 25% of corporate data traffic will bypass perimeter security (up from 4% today) and flow directly from mobile devices to the cloud, and the need to prevent data breaches from public clouds will drive 20% of organizations to develop their own data security governance programs. And by 2020 more than 25% of identified enterprise attacks will involve IoT, though IoT will account for only 10% of IT security budgets. 

The historical challenge with government trying to address these issues is that the legislative process is purposefully designed to be slow, so any regulations tend to either be too generic to be enforceable, or so specific that they are quickly out of date. However, there are a number of areas that can be addressed to get out ahead of the new IT Services Florence SC challenges that could seriously disrupt the emerging digital economy. 

Call Now

1) Cybersecurity Advisory Council – Expand the role and function of the administration’s Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity to include more managed IT Services professionals and developers to enhance and promote industry-specific security standards and best practices, provide real-time guidance on how to respond to fast moving or consumer-facing issues, and establish accountability for failure to appropriately prepare for a cyberattack. 

In the physical world, a business has to meet certain standards, such as building codes or health inspections, in order to open a store for business. For standards and best practices, the current NIST cybersecurity framework and industry standards such as PCI-DSS are good starts. But the growth of smart devices, IoT networks, connected devices, big data, smart buildings and cities, and interconnected critical infrastructures continue to dramatically change our social and financial landscape, and have correspondingly expanded the risk facing our growing digital economy. Guidelines need to be expanded for these new industries and markets, business security certification processes need to be developed, and security training standards and incentives need to be implemented to close the growing computer security skills gap.

2) Accelerate Information Sharing - We won’t be able to respond fast enough to emerging threats without good threat intelligence. And that means information sharing between organizations responsible for our critical infrastructure. The Cybersecurity Act of 2015 established a framework for the sharing of information on cybersecurity threats and defensive measures among private sector entities and between the private sector and the government, and encourages the voluntary participation in informal bodies like ISAOs. But organizations still only share a fraction of the intelligence that is needed. 

Too many industries and organizations are still understandably skittish about sharing information. It’s time to establish governing bodies that can set information sharing standards for critical industries, and insist on auditing and certifications of compliance. 

3) Accountability – The risks imposed on consumers and the economy due to cybercrime is well understood. It is time for organizations to accept greater accountability for data breaches, especially those affecting consumers’ financial or personal data. The recent massive Mirai denial of service attack, largely based around vulnerable IoT devices, is a perfect example. Security professionals have been issuing warnings about the lax security standards for connected devices, and the dire consequences billions of such devices pose. Unfortunately, those industries building IP-enabled appliances and devices have generally failed to respond. Their development and manufacturing models often do not adequately account for risk, or the speed at which modern threats can escalate. But as a society, we simply cannot afford to let the cost of a security breach and associated fines simply be rolled into the cost of doing business. 

Accountability is fundamental, and is beginning to move upstream. For example, the SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE) now examines financial services institutions to ensure that governance and risk assessment measures are in place to mitigate cyber risk. And former SEC commissioner Luis Aguilar argued that corporate directors could be held personally liable for cyber breaches if they fail to ensure that appropriate cybersecurity is in place. Establishing stricter standards for accountability need to be considered. 

4) Business Incentives – To properly motivate organizations, financial incentives need to be established to encourage businesses to meet security standards. This could include requiring cyber insurance for a company that has been breached, and a path for reducing cyber insurance premiums based on meeting a series of established security standards. Publicly traded companies should also be required to clearly post penalties and progress towards compliance in quarterly and annual financial reports.

Another such approach would be to establish a business security rating that is shared publicly. A scaled rating system shared with consumers, based on an organization’s meeting security standards set by the cybersecurity advisory council, would motivate businesses to achieve certification, implement stronger security standards, and advertise them as a business differentiator. 

Security differentiation would be revenue generating, and inevitably create a safer environment for everyone. This same approach has been very successful in the automotive industry. The introduction of air bags, for example, not only drove the decisions of safety conscious buyers, but buyer behavior combined with compliance requirements motivated the entire industry to adopt these standards. Now there is a race to include more and better safety equipment, such as traction and stability control, cameras, accident avoidance systems, and environment monitoring technologies. And as a result, auto accident related deaths and injuries are at an all time low.

5) Public Awareness - Finally, we need to encourage risk-based situational awareness campaigns for companies and consumers. There have been massive public campaigns designed to encourage people to reduce risky behavior in other areas of national interest, such as warning of the risks of smoking, or texting and driving. And they work. We need something like this for cyberspace. 

We recommend funding a series of public awareness campaigns designed to raise consumer intelligence about cybersecurity. Raising the national profiles of October as National Cyber Security Awareness Month, would help, as would the commissioning and placement of a series of public service announcement ads on television, online, and in print. While security standards and strategies need to take into account that people have and will continue to engage in risky online behavior, developing awareness campaigns will improve security generally and make everyone’s job easier.

Next, establish local cybersecurity agencies and offerings along the lines of a health clinic, such as that provided to Federal agencies and critical infrastructure organizations by the Department of Homeland Security’s National Protection and Programs Directorate. Local versions of such an agency could offer educational programs and information, issue warning about threats and viruses, and provide reduced-cost services for businesses and users, such as security checkups, device “vaccinations,” and troubleshooting based on need.

And finally, the establishment of cybersecurity training in public school STEM/STEAM programs for every student in grades K-12. We need to raise a generation of technology-savvy citizens and consumers who understand the fundamental necessity of integrated and adaptive security built into the cyberworld that increasingly surrounds them and permeates every aspect of their lives.

This post originally appeared as a byline in The Huffington Post.

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EDUCATION

San Diego Unified board members, parents say district’s Phase One reopening is falling short

In late August, after five months of being closed, San Diego Unified made a big announcement: it would bring back its highest-need students to school for limited, in-person sessions with teachers in its “Phase One” of reopening.

Phase One, which began four weeks ago, was meant to be a solution for the most vulnerable students who are languishing academically and emotionally during distance learning.

But the district did not make Phase One participation mandatory for teachers.

Initially district leaders said about 12,000 students would qualify for Phase One sessions, which were only open to elementary grades.

On Tuesday, after weeks of asking the district for student participation numbers, parents learned that Phase One is serving 3,000 students — 3 percent of the district’s total enrollment and a quarter of the students officials said would qualify.

“It’s been very misleading, because initially my expectation was that a much larger population of students would be invited to campus to take part in Phase One,” said Emily Forgeron, parent of a Scripps Elementary first-grader with autism who is participating in Phase One.

“It’s disappointing. A lot of children are not receiving the help that they’re entitled to, and the district led us to believe that thousands of these children would be invited on-site for assistance.”

District schools have held about 6,000 Phase One appointments for high-need students, Superintendent Cindy Marten said Tuesday.

In an Oct. 27 press release, the district said 106 schools are hosting Phase One students.

According to reopening data the district was required to submit to the San Diego County Office of Education this week, 98 of its schools are hosting at least one student on campus for Phase One. One-third of those schools are serving fewer than 10 students in-person.

At least 22 other schools could be serving Phase One students, but are not, the data shows.

The majority of those 22 schools enroll mostly low-income students, according to state data for last school year. At nine of the schools, low-income students make up more than 80 percent of the student body.

Two of the closed schools, Whittier K-12 and Riley K-8, specifically serve students with disabilities.

The Phase One student totals have added fuel to the fire of parent frustrations that the district has not yet reopened for in-person instruction, while most other districts in the county have.

“There is no doubt that distance learning is failing many students,” said community member Emily Diaz in a public comment at Tuesday’s school board meeting.

A majority of San Diego Unified School Board members agree with parents that Phase One is not serving enough kids. At Tuesday’s board meeting, Trustees Sharon Whitehurst-Payne and John Lee Evans said they are disappointed with the small number of students being served.

“To say that we’ve been successful with 3,000 people on campus, 3,000 students, that’s really a small field test to me,” Whitehurst-Payne said. “We really need to push to get more students on campus and helping those students.”

Board Vice President Richard Barrera agreed with his colleagues in an interview Wednesday.

“Yeah, those numbers are not adequate, and it does mean there are students who should be receiving in-person services who aren’t yet,” Barrera said. “It’s gonna continue to be something we have to push, and we have to do better.”

It’s possible schools are not serving more Phase One students because some students were invited but declined to participate.

But officials and parents say the main reason is that Phase One is voluntary for teachers — a key part of the agreement reached with the teachers union before the district launched Phase One.

If no teacher at a school wanted to return to a campus, that school would not offer in-person support, even if its students need it. That has led to inequities within the district, with some students getting Phase One in-person learning while others with similar high-level needs being denied the opportunity, said Gabriela Torres, a senior staff attorney at Disability Rights California.

“They’re not getting equal access,” Torres said.

Several parents have criticized the voluntary aspect of Phase One, saying other essential workers — such as grocery store employees, first responders and public transit workers — have continued going to work throughout the pandemic, and teachers should too. Parents say education and socialization are essential for children.

But Barrera said if Phase One was not voluntary, the agreement with the teachers union would not have happened at all.

“Without the agreement, we wouldn’t have had any students coming in for in-person services,” Barrera said.

Kisha Borden, president of the San Diego Unified teachers union, said in an email that Phase One was meant to be small so that the district could reopen gradually and carefully, on the advice of UC San Diego experts.

Borden also said recent news about the county falling into the purple tier and the nationwide surge in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations will likely make teachers and families less willing to participate in Phase One.

Still, Barrera said, San Diego Unified is working on encouraging more teachers to come back to campus. For example, the district now allows teachers to bring their children to work, which could help teachers who had to stay home for child care reasons, Barrera said.

“The challenge is building confidence and working with teachers to encourage more teachers to come in and volunteer,” he said.

Borden said she hopes that increased countywide COVID-19 testing and the district’s new COVID-19 testing partnership with UC San Diego will help soothe educators’ fears.

On Tuesday the district approved a contract for up to $5 million for UC San Diego to provide regular COVID-19 testing every two weeks for all staff and students. District officials have not yet decided if the testing program, which will begin sometime during Phase One, will be mandatory for anyone.

“We hope that this new testing program, in addition to monitoring and the safety precautions already in place, will provide the additional assurance for the staff and families who may not have initially felt comfortable to participate in Phase One,” Borden said.

The district also has been negotiating with the union about expanding Phase One to include middle and high school students, as well as infants and toddlers, which would boost the number of students being served.

As soon as January, all San Diego Unified students could be able to return to school for hybrid learning.

But now that San Diego County has fallen into the most-restrictive, purple tier, that reopening could be delayed. San Diego Unified officials have said they will not reopen as long as the county is in the purple tier because that means the community levels of COVID-19 are high. *Article reposted from the UT by Kristen Taketa of November 13, 2020

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St. John Central Well Situated

It has been quite an inaugural year for St. John Central Academy for the building, its students and faculty, and the spirit of St. John Central High that still pervades the school. The Diocese of Steubenville handed the building over to a newly founded corporation comprised of St. John Central High School alumni.  This board immediately gained the support of past Fighting Irish alumni and has been successful in steering the school forward.  St. John Central Academy just completed year one of its 5-year plan and is showing signs of marked growth. “It’s been crazy,” said SJCA Advancement Director Johnetta Yaegel. “When we started, everything was coming down to the last minute because of how long it took to get the charter in place and then follow up with all the other requirements needed to open the school. “Everyone was prepared to move forward with the new school year and Mrs. (Selina) Brooks (principal) took everything to the top. Then, the coronavirus happened, and we were able to continue educating our students in expert fashion to complete the school year.” The Academy ended the school year with 103 students enrolled K-through-12, roughly the same amount the combined St. John Central High School/Grade School finished with its final year. Those numbers figure to increase in the coming years as programs expand and the Academy further establishes itself in the minds of the community as a viable educational option. “I think it’s safe to say the Valley needs to know we are here to stay,” said Yaegel, whose daughter will be a senior for the 2020-21 school year. “There are major changes coming at the school.” Yaegel admitted the Academy has exciting news, both in the short term and in long-term planning for the students, their families, and the community.

Coming soon

SJCA is in the process of planning a significant expansion of its chemistry lab with plans to invest $100,000 in equipment and technology.  The school’s biology lab has already been upgraded to a state of the art level. Dan Vitlip, the school’s renowned science teacher, is spearheading the design and planning of the lab. It will incorporate aspects of robotics, chemistry, and engineering. SDJCA is reaching out to alumni for support for Mr. Vitlip and his programs.  “Anyone who has had the opportunity to take his classes, understands their value, and will undoubtedly support his efforts to expand the programming for the sciences at SJCA,” Yaegal said. The school also plans to offer computer coding classes taught remotely by alumni who are Information Technology professionals for more in-depth exposure to these technical skills. In addition, the school is racing to give every instructor at SJCA the ability to teach remotely. Yaegel noted the ability for full remote learning will come in handy should another coronavirus wave hit or another similar situation requiring the school building to be closed for an extended period. It also increases the potential offerings available to both SJCA students and potentially others off-site. “We want every teacher in the whole school to have remote capability,” Yaegel said. “Our teachers will be able to go to work, even during a quarantine, and still be able to teach their kids how they normally would.” Yaegel briefly touched on the ability of home-schooled children to directly connect to a live instructor and participate “in the moment” with that instructor and classmates. Many parents of home-schooled students struggle with higher mathematics and sciences.  Home-schooled students will be offered the opportunity to participate in dissections with Mr. Vitlip, having their own specimens sent to their homes, and participate actively.

The E-Sports team members built their gaming rigs used for competition. Their setup is shown, along with iMacs further down in the school's upgraded computer lab.

E-Sports and Other Athletic Plans

The Academy’s E-Sports team, which plays competition-style PC video games remotely versus other schools, is a program taking off. SJCA students helped design the E-Sports station at the school along with helping to build the gaming rigs themselves. “The students built the computers themselves, under supervision,” Yaegel said. “You can compete against schools from anywhere and there isn’t a classification ranking system like those of the OVAC. If you can field a team and have the equipment, you can compete. “You can play people all over the country.” And that was the exact plan. The team built the equipment, practiced strategy, and was ready to go, and then the pandemic kept the team from playing because the lab was closed, and the students will wait to compete when the new school year starts. More traditional sports are being discussed as well. The Academy had planned an instructional soccer camp to be held at its facility. Coaches from both Wheeling University and West Liberty were to run the camp. It, too, was canceled. But the Academy is in talks of taking the necessary steps of getting a soccer program up and running. For the first few seasons, SJCA will need to practice and play its games on other schools’ or facilities’ fields. But that isn’t the long-term goal. “We eventually want to be playing on our own field,” Yaegel said. “We are working on trying to get together with plans for our own pool facility that also will include a soccer facility. “We were going to present ideas to the Belmont County Tourism Department with a presentation on March 20, but that got canceled.” The school is looking at adding a golf team this year. The return of boys’ basketball in coming years is also in the works.

A Pool You Say?

A home soccer field is a great addition, but there are many options to utilize in the interim for SJCA. But an indoor pool? Those locations Upper Ohio Valley-wise are at a premium. The facility’s demand would be immense, not just from a Fighting Irish swim team, but other area teams without a home pool, along with other local organizations. Obviously, it’s not an inexpensive prospect. So, when asked if this was more vision than plan, Yaegel responded. “We have some funding in place already and a lot of interest,” Yaegel said. “Our people in Belmont County don’t have an (indoor) facility for kids to practice swimming. It’s a vital part of school sports. We need a facility for our students and the students of the Valley.” There are a number of schools that have official teams without a home pool to practice in. Other schools have swimmers who compete individually. This provides an additional practice option and what would be the first in Belmont County for indoor use. “This would be for all the kids in the Ohio Valley who don’t have a place to practice,” Yaegel said. “Our kids need that. Bellaire needs that, something here to generate tax dollars for the city.” Yaegel noted another possible option to help with funding once the facility would be open is to offer up space for medical offices therapists. These medical professionals could set up a satellite office with the intention of performing aqua therapy for their patients. Any funding attributed to allowing the facility such use could help with upkeep and maintenance on the facility.

Speaking of Funding

Depending on where you live and what grade level your child is currently in, they may be eligible for a scholarship from the EdChoice program in Ohio. In short, if your child is a fourth grader at a county elementary school and if they attend a school listed on the EdChoice program site as being eligible, your child could attend SJCA at no cost to you. Locally, according the Ohio Department of Education, those districts and grade levels are: Belmont County—Bellaire (K-4, 9-12); Bridgeport (5-8, 9-12); Martins Ferry (5-8, 9-12); Shadyside (9-12); St. Clairsville (K-4) and Union Local (K-5, 9-12).Monroe County—Beallsville (K-6, 7-12); Monroe Central (9-12, K-8 at Woodsfield and Skyvue); River (9-12, K-8 at Powhatan)Jefferson County—Buckeye Local (K-6 at all three elementary schools, 9-12); Edison (9-12); Indian Creek (4-6, 9-12); and Steubenville (5-8). Yaegel noted that once the EdChoice scholarship is approved, the student can enroll at SJCA. From that point, the family need only renew the scholarship each year by the deadline. Eligibility does not change if the student’s home district improves or the student advances to a grade level where the home district is higher performing. Once they are eligible, they remain eligible until graduation, provided the scholarship is renewed on time. “Even if the district is no longer failing, once the student is enrolled, that voucher follows the student,” Yaegel said.

The SJCA building houses students from kindergarten through 12th grade. More than 100 students attended last year and that number figures to grow as parents learn more about the EdChoice scholarship opportunities, as well as what the school has to offer.

Open for All Students?

St. John is not picking and choose its students in order to keep its test scores higher, as some have suggested. If that was the case, enrollment never would have been an issue. The school will accept students that have an Individualized Education Program, that is not a disqualifier. But Yaegel noted there are some disabilities, whether those be physical or learning disabilities, that the public-school system is better equipped to accommodate. And if parents are inquiring about sending their child(ren) to St. John, the staff will be honest with their assessment. “We have students at our school on an IEP,” Yaegel said. “But if you are a student with a severe disability, we can’t accommodate that. We don’t have the structural resources and staff to handle severe disabilities.” “We are able to help those students who need extra attention, that extra study table after school. Our intervention specialist can go 1-on-1 with them and get them the help they need.” St. John is no longer affiliated with the Diocese of Steubenville and, as such, is not a Catholic school. But it is a non-denominational Christian school where religion may be taught and practiced For more information, call (740) 676-4932 or visit SJCA on its temporary website and fill out your information to be contacted at sjcacademy.net Read the full article

[xeford2020]

The Henry Ford Welcomes Korean Invention Program to Invention Convention Worldwide Initiative

Lee and Kendra in partnership with their signed Memoranda of Understanding.

The Henry Ford recently celebrated the one-year anniversary of its acquisition of The STEMIE Coalition, an alliance of youth invention, innovation, and entrepreneurship programs committed to teaching K-12 students the innovative mindset. The program has seen considerable success and continues to rapidly expand globally under a newly brand, Invention Convention Worldwide. This week, The Henry Ford welcomed its affiliated program leadership from as far away as Singapore and Ukraine and from across the U.S. to collaborate and share best practices to advance youth invention education worldwide. New to the community, and representing all K-12 students across the Republic of Korea, is the Korea Invention Promotion Association (KIPA), a relative analog to our U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) government agency’s educational and outreach activities. KIPA was established in 1994 to promote intellectual property rights – patents, trademarks, copyrights, and more – and expand patent management support for companies across South Korea. Today, KIPA is overseeing an audacious goal -- to train all students in Korea in the process of invention. The Republic of Korea is the first country in the world to legislate that all students in grades 4-12 receive annual training in the invention process. KIPA has created a wealth of content to support teachers across Korea, including classroom materials, training for teachers, and national events designed to excite, guide, and celebrate young inventors. The Henry Ford shares this mission – that within every child exists the potential to change the world. Under The Innovation Project and the Invention Convention Worldwide initiative, The Henry Ford is seeking to convene and collaborate with the world’s leading changemakers around invention education, and work to develop an innovative mindset in students everywhere.

Lee and Kendra enjoy an authentic Model-T ride through The Henry Ford’s Greenfield Village. KIPA and The Henry Ford Invention Convention Worldwide will collaborate to expand invention education across Korea, the U.S., and worldwide, working with the World IP Organization (WIPO). KIPA and The Henry Ford will take advantage of The Henry Ford’s extensive collection of stories and artifacts across 300 years of American Innovation – not to mention its curated lesson plans, teacher training, and digital media. They will similarly leverage KIPA’s own deep educator written, audio, video, and software content and tools in invention learning. Together, KIPA and The Henry Ford will build new and expanded pathways for young inventors, innovators, and entrepreneurs to build life-long skills and innovative mindsets.

Carol Kendra, Vice President of The Henry Ford, welcomed Du Seong Lee, Vice President of KIPA, along with Jimmy Han, Director and Danny Yoo, Section Manager, to The Henry Ford for a formal signing ceremony of the new partnership. Set against the backdrop of the world’s first research and development laboratory, the original renowned Menlo Labs of Thomas Edison, Lee and Kendra exchanged signatures, memoranda of understanding, and gifts to celebrate the occasion. The signing was held on the second floor of Edison’s lab where Edison first successfully created his first working light bulb, lighting up the world. Lee and his staff joined American school children in a viewing a demonstration of one of the original first 200 working phonograph devices.  As Global Director of the Invention Convention Worldwide program, I presented Lee with an actual recording from the historic phonograph.

The Henry Ford and KIPA will begin collaborations and planning starting in October in Korea on joint efforts.  The Henry Ford’s President and CEO Patricia Mooradian received the Korean delegation in her offices and invited KIPA to discuss how we might include young Korean inventors at our Invention Convention showcases and competitions globally, and to work together to cultivate each child’s skill sets to create solutions to our world’s most pressing problems. Among the potential areas for collaboration include application of The Henry Ford’s digital assets, including clips from its award-winning Innovation Nation and Did I mention Invention? television shows and digital artifact cards from its 26 million piece collection, to KIPAs extensive content for educators, and creating new artificial reality and gaming approaches to invention education. The Henry Ford’s Invention Convention Worldwide initiative is part of its Innovation Learning suite of learning resources, and today impacts more than 120,000 students across its affiliated network of partners. Danny Briere is Chief Entrepreneur Officer and Global Director, Invention Convention Worldwide, at The Henry Ford.

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[area2newsviews]

A Quest for Excellence

2ND QUARTER 2017 PROGRESS REPORT

Congratulations to all of our families, teachers, staff members and, especially, STUDENTS! on the successful completion of the 2016-17 school year. For the third consecutive year, I had the honor of shaking the hand of every graduating senior from Lincoln High School and every promoting 8th grader from Burnett and Hoover Middle Schools. Lots of smiles and lots of hand sanitizer were involved.

What follows are several highlights from the past quarter, as well as some looks ahead at our next challenges and opportunities:

LCAP: On June 22, the board approved the Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP) for the 2017-18 school year. The LCAP was reviewed and received input through a series of surveys, district committee meetings, public town hall presentations and leadership team conversations. The LCAP guides the spending of funds in pursuit of the objectives agreed upon through the foregoing process. Our focus will remain on

hiring, supporting and retaining high quality staff

improving student performance on the key performance measures:

3rd Grade Reading - all students at grade level

8th Grade Algebra - successful completion of course

Honors/IB/AP high school classes - more students successfully completing courses and passing advanced placement and international baccalaureate exams

Promoting healthy school climates and expanding communication and engagement efforts

Fiscal responsibility and efficient, effective, mission-driven spending

Demographic Study: Our board recently held a public study session to review the student population projections from 2017 - 2023 based on Fall 2016 data. The short version is that over the next several years, our district will see smaller incoming classes replacing larger graduating classes. 

Fall 2016 (actual) 30,283 TK - 12 students

Fall 2023 (projected) 26,739 TK - 12 students

Middle school population is expected to be reduced by 19%

High school population is expected to be reduced by 15%

Budget Update: Although funding has increased by nearly 11% over the past decade, the district expenses (predominantly related to pension benefits) have increased exponentially higher, resulting in overall decreased funding from ten years ago. The following table illuminates some of the major budget changes and helps to explain why fewer dollars are available to spend on students than a decade ago.

What does all of this mean? It means that our board is going to have to make some very tough decisions in the coming months and years: how can we reduce those expenses that aren't state mandated? How can we run more efficiently without sacrificing quality instruction or classroom experience?Community voices will be essential in making these decisions - please attend board meetings, share your thoughts and be a part of the process. We must do right by every single student.

Finally, in my continued commitment to engagement and transparency, what follows is my assessment of the developments in the 5 areas that defined my "Quest for Excellence" in my 2014 campaign for this office.

P.S. My Facebook is updated regularly and is the easiest way to stay current with Area 2 news!

PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT

HESTER SCHOOL UPDATE: I'm delighted to share that as of May 30, 2017 the construction and landscaping work at the Hester School campus was completed (other than the Kaboom! sponsored play structure). Since that time, we've seen an increase in the number of people bringing their children and pets to the field and, most excitingly, a crush of requests by local youth leagues to reserve the field for weekend soccer games! It is very gratifying to be able to expand the open space resources that are available to youth. Other details:

Total cost and source of funds: $3.2M, funded by State Bond Fund Reimbursements (Prop 1D from 2006) and Routine Maintenance

Number of parking spots at Hester available to Lenzen office staff: 78 (This includes the long, narrow lot along Lenzen and the smaller, rectangular lot off Pershing. There's a lit walkway along the edge of the property for access to the Pershing Lot from Lenzen.)

As a result of moving staff parking further from the Lenzen office, we've created 54 spots at Lenzen for visitors/Enrollment Center. All SJUSD family services are now consolidated under one roof!

CIVIC ENGAGEMENT WORKS and student (and other stakeholder) voices matter! Two years ago, our district began a process of creating all gender bathrooms at our high schools in response to the advocacy of a group of  Abraham Lincoln High School students. Last year, a student from Pioneer High School (San Jose, California) spoke before the board about our dress code regulations and advocated for a revised policy that is more gender neutral. At our last board meeting, a new policy was adopted: one that promotes a respectful environment but does not single out all GIRLS as being responsible for ensuring that all BOYS are not distracted. View the new policy here.

SCHOOL LINKED SERVICES

Summer means fun for many kids ... for others it brings a worry about replacing the meals our school district provides during the school year. The SCCOE is here to help! Find a location here

Resources for Immigrant Families

The ongoing challenge for families and employees to find affordable housing: As Bay Area population rises many longtime Californians move out (KTVU) Read more

CHARTER AND NEIGHBORHOOD SCHOOL COLLABORATION

I wrote a lengthy post on our board's recent denial of two charter petitions. A tremendous amount of conversation and commentary was generated around these decisions, including by many who hadn't read the petitions. When considering the approval of a new school, it is not sufficient to EITHER approve or deny the petition on the superficial level that "it is a charter school" -- it is important to approach each petition on its individual merits, to look closely at the demonstrated interest by eligible families, the quality of the educational model and the capacity of the leaders to deliver on their intentions. Read more here.

Superintendent Albarran, Deputy Superintendent McMahon, several school board trustees and charter school directors convened at the County Office of Education on June 20 to explore opportunities for meaningful collaboration between charter schools and traditional school districts. One of the points of discussion was around potential legislation to protect school districts from "over saturation" by charter schools and the importance of a County- or even region- wide approach.

STUDENT SAFETY

The physical and emotional safety of all of our students, as well as all of the adults, on our campuses is of paramount importance. Particularly in light of the current political climate, we need to be particularly vigilant in guarding against speech or action that could be described as motivated by prejudice, bias or discrimination against any group of people. I encourage staff members, parents and students to speak up if they feel unsafe or targeted for any reason. Almost all of us are feeling vulnerable and need to have one another's backs.

Check out SJUSDs dedicated Immigration Services page

See here for important Teen Dating Violence resources

Kids of all ages are swiping and scrolling, totally transfixed by screens of all sizes. Welcome to the new frontier of parenting. If you have questions on how to take control of, or at least keep up with, the technology in your kids' lives, check out Common Sense Media.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT...ins’t just for teachers!

This summer, 55 high school students from San José Unified will be placed in paid, hands-on internships with Silicon Valley companies in a variety of fields, from science and technology to building trades, retail and communications. This new program, developed out of a partnership with Strive San Jose, a program of The Silicon Valley Organization, and the work2future seeks to provide career exploration opportunities to our students while they earn money during the summer vacation.

BEYOND THE BOARDROOM

Many of my personal efforts serve to inform my role as a trustee, build relationships, and think strategically about how best to improve outcomes for all SJUSD students. I am actively participating in a number of projects related to education policy and social justice:

Santa Clara County Civics Education Initiative:  I am part of a leadership team that is convening 100 community leaders in education, public service and funding to talk about the importance of expanding civics education opportunities for our K-12 students and moving toward the development of one or more programs to serve this need. In my view, civics education must include the following 3 elements:

The study of how government works at every level, the responsibilities of city county, state and federal government, and the importance of building relationships in order to increase access.

The development of empathic skills leading to engagement in civil discourse: respectful conversation among people who disagree, not for the purpose of persuading another person to change her view but of understanding what circumstances, ideas and information led to the formation of that view.

An understanding of the world of information: how does one evaluate the validity or authenticity of information heard, seen, read or otherwise encountered.

Leadership San Jose Academy: In my role as Senior Director of Community Development for The Silicon Valley Organization, I am in the process of building a 9 session civic engagement program for high school juniors. The plan is to roll this out for SJUSD students for the 2017-18 school year. Participation will be by application and the program will meet Mon - Wed during the October, March and April school breaks. Stay tuned for the plan to become a reality; more information will be available at that time.

[pnwdoodlesreads]

OLYMPIA — Senate Republicans on Friday released a broad education-funding plan that would change how state K-12 teachers are paid and how schools are funded.

The proposal, which follows plans offered by Gov. Jay Inslee and Democratic lawmakers, is an attempt to satisfy the state Supreme Court’s long-simmering education-funding decision known as the McCleary order.

Under the Republican plan, the state would collect new, local property-tax levies for schools, which would be set at a uniform rate statewide and not be subject to voter approval. The state also would add $1.4 billion per two-year budget cycle to supplement education funding.

Read the GOP plan (PDF)

Key provisions of the plan (PDF)

Local districts could still raise additional money with voter approval, but the amount would be capped and could only pay for extras, not basic education.

Sen. John Braun, of Centralia, the chief GOP budget writer, said he intends to find the $1.4 billion in the budget without raising taxes.

“This is an enormous change in how we tax our citizens,” Braun said.

The plan includes a referendum clause, so voters would have to approve it.

Among other things, the proposal would get rid of the school-funding allocation model and move Washington to a per-student model for school funding.

Both the changes to the levy system and the per-student allocation model are generally based on the school-funding system used by Massachusetts, according to Braun.

Under the per-student funding model, at least $12,500 would be allocated for each student, Braun said. Additional money would be provided for low-income students, special-education students and others.

The proposal would boost beginning teacher pay to $45,000 from $35,700 annually, provide bonuses to top teachers and create a new housing allowance of up to $10,000 for teachers and staff in areas with a high cost of living.

The plan would dump the current teacher pay scale, allow school districts to reward teachers on performance and make it easier to fire them. It also would bar teachers from going on strike.

While Senate Democrats on Friday applauded the GOP for releasing a plan, they criticized the levy proposal, which they said would increase property taxes in the Seattle area in order to lower them elsewhere.

Under the GOP proposal, Seattle’s current public schools property-tax levy rate would rise to $1.80 per $1,000 of assessed value from the current rate of about $1.28 per $1,000, according to Braun.

Braun estimated that the average increase to Seattle homeowners would be $250 per year. “I would characterize that as a modest increase,” he added.

Taxpayers in the Lake Washington, Bellevue, Mercer Island and Bainbridge school districts, among others, could also expect property tax increases, according to data on current estimated levy-tax rates released in December by the Office of Financial Management.

Meanwhile, property taxes would go down for such districts as Kent, Renton, Federal Way and Tacoma, as well as less-populated areas of Washington, according to that data.

Sen. Reuven Carlyle, D-Seattle, described the plan as “passionately focused on reducing tax rates in certain parts of the state,” like rural areas.

Additionally, “I think on the finance side, there’s virtually no new money,” Carlyle said. “It’s a shell game. It doesn’t achieve the letter or the spirit of what McCleary is about.”

Other parts of the plan, like the move to a per-student funding model, could be “a legitimate policy option,” Carlyle added. “And I appreciate the substance of that.”

Repealing I-1351

The proposal also calls for repealing Initiative 1351, which voters approved in 2014 to reduce class sizes in all grades and boost school staff in everything from administration to maintenance.

In all, 1351 was expected to create roughly 25,000 new jobs. The Legislature voted in 2015 to keep only the class reductions in kindergarten through third grade and delay the rest, after lawmakers argued the state couldn’t afford the full implementation.

The proposal would also set academic goals for districts, and give charter-like freedoms to districts on target to meet them.

The Republican plan drew a wide range of reaction. A spokesman for the state’s largest teachers union was quick to criticize it, calling the proposal “a Trojan horse for imposing bad policies …”

“We urge the Senate and House to follow Inslee’s lead on K-12 funding and write a budget that puts students first, which is what teachers and education support professionals do every day,” said Rich Wood, spokesman for the Washington Education Association.

In a statement, state Schools Superintendent Chris Reykdal said the proposal shows “Republicans are serious about solving the funding problem and that it understands additional resources will be needed.”

Ben Rarick of the state Board of Education said in a statement that his organization, which has historically opposed levy plans that reduce some local funding, is still reviewing the plan. But, taken together, the GOP plan and the previously released proposal by Democratic lawmakers have elements “that we can build on in a compromise,” said Rarick, the board’s executive director.

The GOP plan comes as lawmakers and Inslee buckle down in an attempt to finally resolve the court’s 2012 McCleary order, which ruled that the state was underfunding K-12 public schools in violation of the state constitution.

The big unfinished piece of McCleary is figuring how the state will pay for teacher and school-worker salaries. The court ruled that the state must pay those salaries: Currently, school districts pick up a big part of the cost through local property-tax levies.

While lawmakers have poured billions of dollars into the K-12 system in recent years, the justices have not been satisfied with the rate of progress. The court in 2014 held the state in contempt for not moving fast enough on a full funding plan.

The justices upped the ante in 2015, slapping the state with $100,000-per-day fines, which remain in place. And the court has said there must be a full education-funding plan in place by Sept. 1, 2018, with that plan approved by the end of the current legislative session.

Third recent plan

With that deadline in mind, the Republican proposal is the third funding plan released in recent weeks.

The governor’s proposed 2017-19 state operating budget would add about $4.4 billion in revenue, most of it earmarked for education. About $2.75 billion of that — largely phased in during the second year — would provide for teacher and school-worker salaries to comply with McCleary.

To pay for it, the governor proposed taxes on carbon emissions and capital gains, and increasing part of the state business-and-occupation tax. Inslee also called for curtailing some state tax exemptions.

Along with the new tax revenue, Inslee’s plan would slash local property taxes for schools on three-fourths of the state’s households and businesses. No school districts would see a property-tax increase.

Under the governor’s plan, the state over two years would increase its minimum portion of a starting teacher’s salary to $54,587.

Democrats in the Legislature released their own plan earlier this month. It calls for funding teacher salaries and boosting starting salaries, reducing class sizes and giving relief to school districts that rely on local taxes to recruit and keep educators.

That proposal also lists a capital-gains tax and carbon pricing as potential sources of new revenue.

Sen. Andy Billig, D-Spokane, a member of the bipartisan Education Funding Task Force, which struggled to find agreement on a McCleary solution, said the GOP plan was a start.

“It is a positive move that they actually decided to put out a plan,” Billig said Friday afternoon. “Now that they put out a plan, finally we can start negotiating.”

 Staff reporters Paige Cornwell and Neal Morton contributed to this story, which also includes information from The Seattle Times archives. Joseph O’Sullivan: 360-236-8268 or

josullivan@seattletimes.com

. On Twitter

@OlympiaJoe

[heatherrdavis1]

ALERT! BITCOINs ETF is Confirmed & Coming Soon!!

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

Hello Folk. What is going on with the viewers across the two? I’m sure you know by now, but if not, my name is Tyler. Welcome to the channel that is more vocal than this little pooch stuck in a drive-through line. This is how lines work, Walter. You can’t just go to the front because you’re Walter Jeffrey. That’s not what it is. You know, you’re not even popular here in Austin, Texas, to be honest. You know our Hounddog. How? It’s time for Chico Krypto. If you didn’t know the real fun began yesterday, my friends, miners in the Bitcoin industry started to realize their profits were being slashed in half. The reward is now officially six point two five BTC per block, or just 900 new bitcoins per day or at current prices, over seventy-nine million dollars per day. Although over the weekend it was twelve point five BTC per block or eighteen hundred new bitcoins per day, or at current prices over one hundred and fifty-eight million dollars. So some miners out there are definitely feeling the pain. But when you check out the hash rate chart over the past seven days, it’s not a terrible miner purge. Yet as a hash rate dipped from one hundred and thirty-six million Tarah hashes to one hundred and twenty-five million hashes, a purge of just eight percent. And with the hash rate staying where it is with the network difficulty’s where it is up. Prices have to stay here or above for a significant majority of the miners to stay profitable. A ton of operations in the US, Europe and Australia are actually losing money at these current prices. But even with the dips into the seven K and high six K range operations in Eastern Europe, Russia and China even become unprofitable. But only if the hash rate and difficulty are around the same level. And this can be seen with pretty having break-even data with miners and certain electricity costs. If you are paying one cent per kilowatt-hour, you were extremely profitable. Pree having even when 25 percent goes to other costs like cooling as break-even was still under fifteen hundred dollars. But not too many places pay that cheap. Even in China now up to the seven percent kilowatt-hours where miners would break even or begin to lose money based on an additional cost. But now with having you have to realize that the costs have doubled for the BTC miners and those break evens have all been multiplied by two, which means prices for these operations have to increase or the miners will be subjected to Bitcoin prices below their break evens, which means they are then forced to sell not only all of the coins they mine on an ongoing basis, but they may also be forced to tap into their balance sheet reserves, causing additional selling pressure on top of their persistent ongoing sales. And you know, what that mining data showed was taken by coin chairs and investment and research company and their chief strategy officer Milton de Meir’s, who is a total babe, by the way, said this when referencing the firm’s observations of the mining industry. I think miners are looking to opportunistically offload some of their Bitcoin inventory to add operating capital to their balance sheet. We’ve been talking to a number of miners on coin shares, capital broker-dealer side. Are looking at raising capital to build out new facilities, to buy new machines and to extend their capacity, raise capital. That means selling more BTC than usual unless the price goes up. What could make the price go up? For the short to medium term? Well, the Federal Reserve said in a press release, New York Fed announced the start of certain secondary market corporate credit facility purchases on May 12. Yep. Yesterday, some crazy brand new thing the Fed and the Treasury Department conjured called the secondary market corporate credit facility s.M CCF went live. Of course, it was established because of the virus. But according to the Fed’s own documentation on what it does, the s.m CCF they purchase in the secondary market, corporate bonds issued by investment-grade U.S. companies or certain U.S. companies that were investment grade. As of March 22nd, two thousand glens. So the key here is they need to be investment-grade corporate bonds or ETF, which means A rating of triple B minus or above. No junk bonds. But there is a loophole or certain companies that were investment grade. As of March 22nd, 2020. So they can currently buy junk bonds as long as they were investment grade before the viral panic. Now, Bloomberg also covered the launch of this facility and they covered a certain ETF in their article, forty-four point six billion shares, ie box investment-grade corporate bond ETF rallied point eight percent after the market opened on Tuesday at twenty-one point three billion shares. Eyeborgs high yield a.k.a. junk corporate bond ETF climbed point five percent. Who is behind the icebox. Corporate ETF BlackRock. Financial is. And guess who is a key player in the response to this pandemic. BlackRock Financial is Bloomberg covered it last month. BlackRock. Becomes a key player in crisis response for Trump and the Fed. And in the article, BlackRock has a premiere role in helping Federal Reserve stabilize markets. The central bank has hired the firm to help manage its economic relief efforts, which the Fed admits from another press release of theirs about the s.m CCF on March 24th, 2020. The New York Fed retained BlackRock Financial Markets Advisory as a third party vendor to serve as the investment manager for this facility. Then Steedman Nugent again moves in. Let the world know too, and that they wouldn’t be making money off of them. Let’s listen in. Well, any of the people who are working with us have already agreed to work at very, very, very reduced rates, making sure that, you know, this is a special situation. So we’re not going to be paying big fees to any of these people and we’re gonna make sure there aren’t conflicts in any of the people we hire. And as I said, they’ll be full transparency. So the president is right. He’s asked me. I’m sorry. Go ahead, sir. Do you have names for any of those individuals who will be doing this? Would be the Federal Reserve has already announced that they’ve hired BlackRock. BlackRock is one of the largest asset managers in the world. BlackRock was involved in the financial crisis last time. Larry Fink has enormous experience. So that’s one of them that has been disclosed. And as we hire more people, we will fully disclose. OK. Snoots my news then. What is this from a detailed document about the facility? A fee structure for the SNCF is based on the value of corporate bonds and loans acquired and held by the facility. BlackRock will charge one an asset management fee and two program administration fees for setup and operation of the facility. So Stevie Boy, don’t be a CBS or we know BlackRock is going to make bank off of this and become even more powerful. You said it yourself. They helped in the 2008 financial crisis. The CEO, Larry Fink at the helm. It was called BlackRock Decade when Bloomberg in 2018 said how that crash forced a six-point three trillion dollar giant. Yet from this chart, we can see they managed just over a trillion in 2008. By 2017 was over six trillion. I wonder how much they manage in 2004? Well, from a corporate media release, assets under management of three hundred and twenty-one billion. Wow. Now, that is some real growth from three hundred twenty-one billion to today, over seven trillion in just 16 years. Now, if we want some perspective, what BlackRock manages is twenty-nine percent of the national debt of the United States of America. A debt clock shows just over twenty-five point one trillion. But tik-tok, tik-tok. It’s growing by that second, although who brought BlackRock on in 2008 to help with the financial crisis? Well, it was that George W. Bush presidency, as it was May 2008 when they got the call to fix Wall Street. But Obama took over in November of that year. How many times did the Obama White House and BlackRock exact mean? Well, according to BlackRock Transparency Project’s Web site, there were 98 meetings between Obama White House officials and BlackRock executives. Hundred and eighty-five meetings and phone calls between senior BlackRock executives and Treasury secretaries spanning the Bush and Obama administrations. And finally, Obama and Larry Fink CEO personally met 16 times. But what is weird, there is not a single picture of the two together can be found online. But we are doing it all over again with the Trump administration. Now, like for those who are still blindfolded and don’t see each administration from the Bushes to the Obamas to now that Trump’s all have the same damn goal and work with the same damn people. I feel sorry for you, Trump, and think our best friend. They like to play schoolboy push and shove. And now this facility has put us on a dark timeline. It was in 2008 dark. It was just hidden better because of Obama’s squeaky clean image. But now we have shifted to where the dark is clear as day by giving Blakroc full control of this debt buyout program. The Fed is further entwining the roles of government and private actors, and in doing so, it makes Blakroc even more systematically important to the financial system. Yet BlackRock is not subject to the regulatory scrutiny of even smaller financial institutions. All doom and gloom. I know. And I said there could possibly be demand from Bitcoin, from all of this. Remember? Well, back in July of last year, Larry Fink said this firm is evaluating cryptocurrencies. The article states chief executive Larry Fink on Monday said the world’s largest asset manager has assembled a working group to look at blockchain technology and cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin. But caution, he does not see massive investor demand. No demand. Then why just a few months later, in October, the head of your working group said this on a podcast. So we talked about how there was a lot of enthusiasm about crypto in 2008 with the initiation of the first and of Bitcoin if you will. A lot of excitement in 2015, 2016, and then now people kind of roll their eyes. It feels like flashing is a tired password. So where do you think we are in the hype cycle and where do you think it’s going? Even though blockchain and crypto are, you know, fundamentally distinct concepts that may ultimately have different endings, blocks and hype cycle is very much tracked Bitcoin’s cycles. And we’ve had three of those in its 10-year history, the first being from Inception basically through 2011 and the second peaking in late 2013, troughing in 2015. And then, of course, the third peaked in December of seventeen as over the last year and a half. That’s where this trough of disillusionment has really set in, where people have started to tire of the buzz and question whether this is going to be anything but just as is typical INJ or that classic Gartner hype cycle as that is happening on the ground, fundamentals are actually improving. So speed, privacy, security, scalability and real development is happening. And then going back to 2018, the head of your working group, Robby. He has been putting out work regarding Bitcoin and crypto. He co-authored this research paper in June of 2018, a fundamental valuation framework of crypto assets. As we can see from the BIOS, the authors are both connected to that ripple. Susan serves on the board of directors and Robby, he worked for them in the summer of twenty seventeen. And what I find funny from the report is even though they are a rip, had they give Bitcoin a better chance of succeeding, as we can see from Section three-point one model application estimating a fundamental value for BTC and X Arpey, they assign Bitcoin a success rate of 30 percent and a failure rate of 70 percent. End with X our P. We can see they assign success at twenty-five percent. Well, failure is seventy-five percent. They think BTC has a better chance. And what I love is their conclusion. We have demonstrated the practical application of the model on two leading crypto assets, BDC and SRP, and arrived at a fundamental value range day for BTC of thirteen thousand six hundred twenty-eight thousand one hundred four x Arpey of a dollar fifty-nine and eight dollars and twenty-three cents. This result, through calculated using imperfective early precise estimate, suggests that both BTC and ex Sarpy may have significant upside from the current price levels, despite the spectacular price appreciation in both currencies since early 2017. So some doubt Ripple Heads will say, Hey Robby, you work for a ribbed ball for US armour. It means BlackRock and the Fed are now going to be using them. No. As you can see, since they made that evaluation call in June of 2018, that tokens were at forty-five cents. They are now at 19, a one-year loss of nearly 60 percent. Bitcoin, it’s basically where it was actually a tad bit higher as it was below AKCA at the beginning of June in twenty-eighteen. Bitcoin has increased by 10 percent. You would think Robbie, an investor at heart, notices things like that. And here’s a little piece of information we need to come and put together. So we found out in March Brian Brooks, who was Coinbase is chief legal officer, was joining the Treasury Department, reuniting with his old one West friend, Manute Chin Katz, who has been advising Coinbase for the past 18 months. BlackRock and they began exploring a crypto ETF together back in June of twenty eighteen, which suspiciously came one month after Coinbase was the first fintech company to speak with U.S. regulators, the Treasury Department, about acquiring a federal banking license, which was unfortunately stopped by. Yeah. We covered this two weeks ago and the video proof that the dollar is going digital, which the Treasury Department specifically Brian Brooks, has held, Office of the Comptroller appealed, and we are still waiting on that decision. But in the meantime, they want to get things are all in for Bitcoin and crypto. Why do you think yesterday JP Morgan announced they are now providing their banking services to Jemini and Coinbase. So if you take the time to find and connect the pieces, they go right together, like IKEA furniture, no solid directions. But once it’s put together, you realize this is some good shiz net. Cheers. I’ll see you next time.

Via https://www.cryptosharks.net/alert-bitcoins-etf-confirmed-coming-soon/

source https://cryptosharks.weebly.com/blog/alert-bitcoins-etf-is-confirmed-coming-soon

[jeffrmayhugh]

ALERT! BITCOINs ETF is Confirmed & Coming Soon!!

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

Hello Folk. What is going on with the viewers across the two? I’m sure you know by now, but if not, my name is Tyler. Welcome to the channel that is more vocal than this little pooch stuck in a drive-through line. This is how lines work, Walter. You can’t just go to the front because you’re Walter Jeffrey. That’s not what it is. You know, you’re not even popular here in Austin, Texas, to be honest. You know our Hounddog. How? It’s time for Chico Krypto. If you didn’t know the real fun began yesterday, my friends, miners in the Bitcoin industry started to realize their profits were being slashed in half. The reward is now officially six point two five BTC per block, or just 900 new bitcoins per day or at current prices, over seventy-nine million dollars per day. Although over the weekend it was twelve point five BTC per block or eighteen hundred new bitcoins per day, or at current prices over one hundred and fifty-eight million dollars. So some miners out there are definitely feeling the pain. But when you check out the hash rate chart over the past seven days, it’s not a terrible miner purge. Yet as a hash rate dipped from one hundred and thirty-six million Tarah hashes to one hundred and twenty-five million hashes, a purge of just eight percent. And with the hash rate staying where it is with the network difficulty’s where it is up. Prices have to stay here or above for a significant majority of the miners to stay profitable. A ton of operations in the US, Europe and Australia are actually losing money at these current prices. But even with the dips into the seven K and high six K range operations in Eastern Europe, Russia and China even become unprofitable. But only if the hash rate and difficulty are around the same level. And this can be seen with pretty having break-even data with miners and certain electricity costs. If you are paying one cent per kilowatt-hour, you were extremely profitable. Pree having even when 25 percent goes to other costs like cooling as break-even was still under fifteen hundred dollars. But not too many places pay that cheap. Even in China now up to the seven percent kilowatt-hours where miners would break even or begin to lose money based on an additional cost. But now with having you have to realize that the costs have doubled for the BTC miners and those break evens have all been multiplied by two, which means prices for these operations have to increase or the miners will be subjected to Bitcoin prices below their break evens, which means they are then forced to sell not only all of the coins they mine on an ongoing basis, but they may also be forced to tap into their balance sheet reserves, causing additional selling pressure on top of their persistent ongoing sales. And you know, what that mining data showed was taken by coin chairs and investment and research company and their chief strategy officer Milton de Meir’s, who is a total babe, by the way, said this when referencing the firm’s observations of the mining industry. I think miners are looking to opportunistically offload some of their Bitcoin inventory to add operating capital to their balance sheet. We’ve been talking to a number of miners on coin shares, capital broker-dealer side. Are looking at raising capital to build out new facilities, to buy new machines and to extend their capacity, raise capital. That means selling more BTC than usual unless the price goes up. What could make the price go up? For the short to medium term? Well, the Federal Reserve said in a press release, New York Fed announced the start of certain secondary market corporate credit facility purchases on May 12. Yep. Yesterday, some crazy brand new thing the Fed and the Treasury Department conjured called the secondary market corporate credit facility s.M CCF went live. Of course, it was established because of the virus. But according to the Fed’s own documentation on what it does, the s.m CCF they purchase in the secondary market, corporate bonds issued by investment-grade U.S. companies or certain U.S. companies that were investment grade. As of March 22nd, two thousand glens. So the key here is they need to be investment-grade corporate bonds or ETF, which means A rating of triple B minus or above. No junk bonds. But there is a loophole or certain companies that were investment grade. As of March 22nd, 2020. So they can currently buy junk bonds as long as they were investment grade before the viral panic. Now, Bloomberg also covered the launch of this facility and they covered a certain ETF in their article, forty-four point six billion shares, ie box investment-grade corporate bond ETF rallied point eight percent after the market opened on Tuesday at twenty-one point three billion shares. Eyeborgs high yield a.k.a. junk corporate bond ETF climbed point five percent. Who is behind the icebox. Corporate ETF BlackRock. Financial is. And guess who is a key player in the response to this pandemic. BlackRock Financial is Bloomberg covered it last month. BlackRock. Becomes a key player in crisis response for Trump and the Fed. And in the article, BlackRock has a premiere role in helping Federal Reserve stabilize markets. The central bank has hired the firm to help manage its economic relief efforts, which the Fed admits from another press release of theirs about the s.m CCF on March 24th, 2020. The New York Fed retained BlackRock Financial Markets Advisory as a third party vendor to serve as the investment manager for this facility. Then Steedman Nugent again moves in. Let the world know too, and that they wouldn’t be making money off of them. Let’s listen in. Well, any of the people who are working with us have already agreed to work at very, very, very reduced rates, making sure that, you know, this is a special situation. So we’re not going to be paying big fees to any of these people and we’re gonna make sure there aren’t conflicts in any of the people we hire. And as I said, they’ll be full transparency. So the president is right. He’s asked me. I’m sorry. Go ahead, sir. Do you have names for any of those individuals who will be doing this? Would be the Federal Reserve has already announced that they’ve hired BlackRock. BlackRock is one of the largest asset managers in the world. BlackRock was involved in the financial crisis last time. Larry Fink has enormous experience. So that’s one of them that has been disclosed. And as we hire more people, we will fully disclose. OK. Snoots my news then. What is this from a detailed document about the facility? A fee structure for the SNCF is based on the value of corporate bonds and loans acquired and held by the facility. BlackRock will charge one an asset management fee and two program administration fees for setup and operation of the facility. So Stevie Boy, don’t be a CBS or we know BlackRock is going to make bank off of this and become even more powerful. You said it yourself. They helped in the 2008 financial crisis. The CEO, Larry Fink at the helm. It was called BlackRock Decade when Bloomberg in 2018 said how that crash forced a six-point three trillion dollar giant. Yet from this chart, we can see they managed just over a trillion in 2008. By 2017 was over six trillion. I wonder how much they manage in 2004? Well, from a corporate media release, assets under management of three hundred and twenty-one billion. Wow. Now, that is some real growth from three hundred twenty-one billion to today, over seven trillion in just 16 years. Now, if we want some perspective, what BlackRock manages is twenty-nine percent of the national debt of the United States of America. A debt clock shows just over twenty-five point one trillion. But tik-tok, tik-tok. It’s growing by that second, although who brought BlackRock on in 2008 to help with the financial crisis? Well, it was that George W. Bush presidency, as it was May 2008 when they got the call to fix Wall Street. But Obama took over in November of that year. How many times did the Obama White House and BlackRock exact mean? Well, according to BlackRock Transparency Project’s Web site, there were 98 meetings between Obama White House officials and BlackRock executives. Hundred and eighty-five meetings and phone calls between senior BlackRock executives and Treasury secretaries spanning the Bush and Obama administrations. And finally, Obama and Larry Fink CEO personally met 16 times. But what is weird, there is not a single picture of the two together can be found online. But we are doing it all over again with the Trump administration. Now, like for those who are still blindfolded and don’t see each administration from the Bushes to the Obamas to now that Trump’s all have the same damn goal and work with the same damn people. I feel sorry for you, Trump, and think our best friend. They like to play schoolboy push and shove. And now this facility has put us on a dark timeline. It was in 2008 dark. It was just hidden better because of Obama’s squeaky clean image. But now we have shifted to where the dark is clear as day by giving Blakroc full control of this debt buyout program. The Fed is further entwining the roles of government and private actors, and in doing so, it makes Blakroc even more systematically important to the financial system. Yet BlackRock is not subject to the regulatory scrutiny of even smaller financial institutions. All doom and gloom. I know. And I said there could possibly be demand from Bitcoin, from all of this. Remember? Well, back in July of last year, Larry Fink said this firm is evaluating cryptocurrencies. The article states chief executive Larry Fink on Monday said the world’s largest asset manager has assembled a working group to look at blockchain technology and cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin. But caution, he does not see massive investor demand. No demand. Then why just a few months later, in October, the head of your working group said this on a podcast. So we talked about how there was a lot of enthusiasm about crypto in 2008 with the initiation of the first and of Bitcoin if you will. A lot of excitement in 2015, 2016, and then now people kind of roll their eyes. It feels like flashing is a tired password. So where do you think we are in the hype cycle and where do you think it’s going? Even though blockchain and crypto are, you know, fundamentally distinct concepts that may ultimately have different endings, blocks and hype cycle is very much tracked Bitcoin’s cycles. And we’ve had three of those in its 10-year history, the first being from Inception basically through 2011 and the second peaking in late 2013, troughing in 2015. And then, of course, the third peaked in December of seventeen as over the last year and a half. That’s where this trough of disillusionment has really set in, where people have started to tire of the buzz and question whether this is going to be anything but just as is typical INJ or that classic Gartner hype cycle as that is happening on the ground, fundamentals are actually improving. So speed, privacy, security, scalability and real development is happening. And then going back to 2018, the head of your working group, Robby. He has been putting out work regarding Bitcoin and crypto. He co-authored this research paper in June of 2018, a fundamental valuation framework of crypto assets. As we can see from the BIOS, the authors are both connected to that ripple. Susan serves on the board of directors and Robby, he worked for them in the summer of twenty seventeen. And what I find funny from the report is even though they are a rip, had they give Bitcoin a better chance of succeeding, as we can see from Section three-point one model application estimating a fundamental value for BTC and X Arpey, they assign Bitcoin a success rate of 30 percent and a failure rate of 70 percent. End with X our P. We can see they assign success at twenty-five percent. Well, failure is seventy-five percent. They think BTC has a better chance. And what I love is their conclusion. We have demonstrated the practical application of the model on two leading crypto assets, BDC and SRP, and arrived at a fundamental value range day for BTC of thirteen thousand six hundred twenty-eight thousand one hundred four x Arpey of a dollar fifty-nine and eight dollars and twenty-three cents. This result, through calculated using imperfective early precise estimate, suggests that both BTC and ex Sarpy may have significant upside from the current price levels, despite the spectacular price appreciation in both currencies since early 2017. So some doubt Ripple Heads will say, Hey Robby, you work for a ribbed ball for US armour. It means BlackRock and the Fed are now going to be using them. No. As you can see, since they made that evaluation call in June of 2018, that tokens were at forty-five cents. They are now at 19, a one-year loss of nearly 60 percent. Bitcoin, it’s basically where it was actually a tad bit higher as it was below AKCA at the beginning of June in twenty-eighteen. Bitcoin has increased by 10 percent. You would think Robbie, an investor at heart, notices things like that. And here’s a little piece of information we need to come and put together. So we found out in March Brian Brooks, who was Coinbase is chief legal officer, was joining the Treasury Department, reuniting with his old one West friend, Manute Chin Katz, who has been advising Coinbase for the past 18 months. BlackRock and they began exploring a crypto ETF together back in June of twenty eighteen, which suspiciously came one month after Coinbase was the first fintech company to speak with U.S. regulators, the Treasury Department, about acquiring a federal banking license, which was unfortunately stopped by. Yeah. We covered this two weeks ago and the video proof that the dollar is going digital, which the Treasury Department specifically Brian Brooks, has held, Office of the Comptroller appealed, and we are still waiting on that decision. But in the meantime, they want to get things are all in for Bitcoin and crypto. Why do you think yesterday JP Morgan announced they are now providing their banking services to Jemini and Coinbase. So if you take the time to find and connect the pieces, they go right together, like IKEA furniture, no solid directions. But once it’s put together, you realize this is some good shiz net. Cheers. I’ll see you next time.

source https://www.cryptosharks.net/alert-bitcoins-etf-confirmed-coming-soon/ source https://cryptosharks1.tumblr.com/post/618352264671821824

[scottmapess]

ALERT! BITCOINs ETF is Confirmed & Coming Soon!!

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

Hello Folk. What is going on with the viewers across the two? I’m sure you know by now, but if not, my name is Tyler. Welcome to the channel that is more vocal than this little pooch stuck in a drive-through line. This is how lines work, Walter. You can’t just go to the front because you’re Walter Jeffrey. That’s not what it is. You know, you’re not even popular here in Austin, Texas, to be honest. You know our Hounddog. How? It’s time for Chico Krypto. If you didn’t know the real fun began yesterday, my friends, miners in the Bitcoin industry started to realize their profits were being slashed in half. The reward is now officially six point two five BTC per block, or just 900 new bitcoins per day or at current prices, over seventy-nine million dollars per day. Although over the weekend it was twelve point five BTC per block or eighteen hundred new bitcoins per day, or at current prices over one hundred and fifty-eight million dollars. So some miners out there are definitely feeling the pain. But when you check out the hash rate chart over the past seven days, it’s not a terrible miner purge. Yet as a hash rate dipped from one hundred and thirty-six million Tarah hashes to one hundred and twenty-five million hashes, a purge of just eight percent. And with the hash rate staying where it is with the network difficulty’s where it is up. Prices have to stay here or above for a significant majority of the miners to stay profitable. A ton of operations in the US, Europe and Australia are actually losing money at these current prices. But even with the dips into the seven K and high six K range operations in Eastern Europe, Russia and China even become unprofitable. But only if the hash rate and difficulty are around the same level. And this can be seen with pretty having break-even data with miners and certain electricity costs. If you are paying one cent per kilowatt-hour, you were extremely profitable. Pree having even when 25 percent goes to other costs like cooling as break-even was still under fifteen hundred dollars. But not too many places pay that cheap. Even in China now up to the seven percent kilowatt-hours where miners would break even or begin to lose money based on an additional cost. But now with having you have to realize that the costs have doubled for the BTC miners and those break evens have all been multiplied by two, which means prices for these operations have to increase or the miners will be subjected to Bitcoin prices below their break evens, which means they are then forced to sell not only all of the coins they mine on an ongoing basis, but they may also be forced to tap into their balance sheet reserves, causing additional selling pressure on top of their persistent ongoing sales. And you know, what that mining data showed was taken by coin chairs and investment and research company and their chief strategy officer Milton de Meir’s, who is a total babe, by the way, said this when referencing the firm’s observations of the mining industry. I think miners are looking to opportunistically offload some of their Bitcoin inventory to add operating capital to their balance sheet. We’ve been talking to a number of miners on coin shares, capital broker-dealer side. Are looking at raising capital to build out new facilities, to buy new machines and to extend their capacity, raise capital. That means selling more BTC than usual unless the price goes up. What could make the price go up? For the short to medium term? Well, the Federal Reserve said in a press release, New York Fed announced the start of certain secondary market corporate credit facility purchases on May 12. Yep. Yesterday, some crazy brand new thing the Fed and the Treasury Department conjured called the secondary market corporate credit facility s.M CCF went live. Of course, it was established because of the virus. But according to the Fed’s own documentation on what it does, the s.m CCF they purchase in the secondary market, corporate bonds issued by investment-grade U.S. companies or certain U.S. companies that were investment grade. As of March 22nd, two thousand glens. So the key here is they need to be investment-grade corporate bonds or ETF, which means A rating of triple B minus or above. No junk bonds. But there is a loophole or certain companies that were investment grade. As of March 22nd, 2020. So they can currently buy junk bonds as long as they were investment grade before the viral panic. Now, Bloomberg also covered the launch of this facility and they covered a certain ETF in their article, forty-four point six billion shares, ie box investment-grade corporate bond ETF rallied point eight percent after the market opened on Tuesday at twenty-one point three billion shares. Eyeborgs high yield a.k.a. junk corporate bond ETF climbed point five percent. Who is behind the icebox. Corporate ETF BlackRock. Financial is. And guess who is a key player in the response to this pandemic. BlackRock Financial is Bloomberg covered it last month. BlackRock. Becomes a key player in crisis response for Trump and the Fed. And in the article, BlackRock has a premiere role in helping Federal Reserve stabilize markets. The central bank has hired the firm to help manage its economic relief efforts, which the Fed admits from another press release of theirs about the s.m CCF on March 24th, 2020. The New York Fed retained BlackRock Financial Markets Advisory as a third party vendor to serve as the investment manager for this facility. Then Steedman Nugent again moves in. Let the world know too, and that they wouldn’t be making money off of them. Let’s listen in. Well, any of the people who are working with us have already agreed to work at very, very, very reduced rates, making sure that, you know, this is a special situation. So we’re not going to be paying big fees to any of these people and we’re gonna make sure there aren’t conflicts in any of the people we hire. And as I said, they’ll be full transparency. So the president is right. He’s asked me. I’m sorry. Go ahead, sir. Do you have names for any of those individuals who will be doing this? Would be the Federal Reserve has already announced that they’ve hired BlackRock. BlackRock is one of the largest asset managers in the world. BlackRock was involved in the financial crisis last time. Larry Fink has enormous experience. So that’s one of them that has been disclosed. And as we hire more people, we will fully disclose. OK. Snoots my news then. What is this from a detailed document about the facility? A fee structure for the SNCF is based on the value of corporate bonds and loans acquired and held by the facility. BlackRock will charge one an asset management fee and two program administration fees for setup and operation of the facility. So Stevie Boy, don’t be a CBS or we know BlackRock is going to make bank off of this and become even more powerful. You said it yourself. They helped in the 2008 financial crisis. The CEO, Larry Fink at the helm. It was called BlackRock Decade when Bloomberg in 2018 said how that crash forced a six-point three trillion dollar giant. Yet from this chart, we can see they managed just over a trillion in 2008. By 2017 was over six trillion. I wonder how much they manage in 2004? Well, from a corporate media release, assets under management of three hundred and twenty-one billion. Wow. Now, that is some real growth from three hundred twenty-one billion to today, over seven trillion in just 16 years. Now, if we want some perspective, what BlackRock manages is twenty-nine percent of the national debt of the United States of America. A debt clock shows just over twenty-five point one trillion. But tik-tok, tik-tok. It’s growing by that second, although who brought BlackRock on in 2008 to help with the financial crisis? Well, it was that George W. Bush presidency, as it was May 2008 when they got the call to fix Wall Street. But Obama took over in November of that year. How many times did the Obama White House and BlackRock exact mean? Well, according to BlackRock Transparency Project’s Web site, there were 98 meetings between Obama White House officials and BlackRock executives. Hundred and eighty-five meetings and phone calls between senior BlackRock executives and Treasury secretaries spanning the Bush and Obama administrations. And finally, Obama and Larry Fink CEO personally met 16 times. But what is weird, there is not a single picture of the two together can be found online. But we are doing it all over again with the Trump administration. Now, like for those who are still blindfolded and don’t see each administration from the Bushes to the Obamas to now that Trump’s all have the same damn goal and work with the same damn people. I feel sorry for you, Trump, and think our best friend. They like to play schoolboy push and shove. And now this facility has put us on a dark timeline. It was in 2008 dark. It was just hidden better because of Obama’s squeaky clean image. But now we have shifted to where the dark is clear as day by giving Blakroc full control of this debt buyout program. The Fed is further entwining the roles of government and private actors, and in doing so, it makes Blakroc even more systematically important to the financial system. Yet BlackRock is not subject to the regulatory scrutiny of even smaller financial institutions. All doom and gloom. I know. And I said there could possibly be demand from Bitcoin, from all of this. Remember? Well, back in July of last year, Larry Fink said this firm is evaluating cryptocurrencies. The article states chief executive Larry Fink on Monday said the world’s largest asset manager has assembled a working group to look at blockchain technology and cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin. But caution, he does not see massive investor demand. No demand. Then why just a few months later, in October, the head of your working group said this on a podcast. So we talked about how there was a lot of enthusiasm about crypto in 2008 with the initiation of the first and of Bitcoin if you will. A lot of excitement in 2015, 2016, and then now people kind of roll their eyes. It feels like flashing is a tired password. So where do you think we are in the hype cycle and where do you think it’s going? Even though blockchain and crypto are, you know, fundamentally distinct concepts that may ultimately have different endings, blocks and hype cycle is very much tracked Bitcoin’s cycles. And we’ve had three of those in its 10-year history, the first being from Inception basically through 2011 and the second peaking in late 2013, troughing in 2015. And then, of course, the third peaked in December of seventeen as over the last year and a half. That’s where this trough of disillusionment has really set in, where people have started to tire of the buzz and question whether this is going to be anything but just as is typical INJ or that classic Gartner hype cycle as that is happening on the ground, fundamentals are actually improving. So speed, privacy, security, scalability and real development is happening. And then going back to 2018, the head of your working group, Robby. He has been putting out work regarding Bitcoin and crypto. He co-authored this research paper in June of 2018, a fundamental valuation framework of crypto assets. As we can see from the BIOS, the authors are both connected to that ripple. Susan serves on the board of directors and Robby, he worked for them in the summer of twenty seventeen. And what I find funny from the report is even though they are a rip, had they give Bitcoin a better chance of succeeding, as we can see from Section three-point one model application estimating a fundamental value for BTC and X Arpey, they assign Bitcoin a success rate of 30 percent and a failure rate of 70 percent. End with X our P. We can see they assign success at twenty-five percent. Well, failure is seventy-five percent. They think BTC has a better chance. And what I love is their conclusion. We have demonstrated the practical application of the model on two leading crypto assets, BDC and SRP, and arrived at a fundamental value range day for BTC of thirteen thousand six hundred twenty-eight thousand one hundred four x Arpey of a dollar fifty-nine and eight dollars and twenty-three cents. This result, through calculated using imperfective early precise estimate, suggests that both BTC and ex Sarpy may have significant upside from the current price levels, despite the spectacular price appreciation in both currencies since early 2017. So some doubt Ripple Heads will say, Hey Robby, you work for a ribbed ball for US armour. It means BlackRock and the Fed are now going to be using them. No. As you can see, since they made that evaluation call in June of 2018, that tokens were at forty-five cents. They are now at 19, a one-year loss of nearly 60 percent. Bitcoin, it’s basically where it was actually a tad bit higher as it was below AKCA at the beginning of June in twenty-eighteen. Bitcoin has increased by 10 percent. You would think Robbie, an investor at heart, notices things like that. And here’s a little piece of information we need to come and put together. So we found out in March Brian Brooks, who was Coinbase is chief legal officer, was joining the Treasury Department, reuniting with his old one West friend, Manute Chin Katz, who has been advising Coinbase for the past 18 months. BlackRock and they began exploring a crypto ETF together back in June of twenty eighteen, which suspiciously came one month after Coinbase was the first fintech company to speak with U.S. regulators, the Treasury Department, about acquiring a federal banking license, which was unfortunately stopped by. Yeah. We covered this two weeks ago and the video proof that the dollar is going digital, which the Treasury Department specifically Brian Brooks, has held, Office of the Comptroller appealed, and we are still waiting on that decision. But in the meantime, they want to get things are all in for Bitcoin and crypto. Why do you think yesterday JP Morgan announced they are now providing their banking services to Jemini and Coinbase. So if you take the time to find and connect the pieces, they go right together, like IKEA furniture, no solid directions. But once it’s put together, you realize this is some good shiz net. Cheers. I’ll see you next time.

source https://www.cryptosharks.net/alert-bitcoins-etf-confirmed-coming-soon/ source https://cryptosharks1.blogspot.com/2020/05/alert-bitcoins-etf-is-confirmed-coming.html

[cryptosharks1]

ALERT! BITCOINs ETF is Confirmed & Coming Soon!!

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

Hello Folk. What is going on with the viewers across the two? I’m sure you know by now, but if not, my name is Tyler. Welcome to the channel that is more vocal than this little pooch stuck in a drive-through line. This is how lines work, Walter. You can’t just go to the front because you’re Walter Jeffrey. That’s not what it is. You know, you’re not even popular here in Austin, Texas, to be honest. You know our Hounddog. How? It’s time for Chico Krypto. If you didn’t know the real fun began yesterday, my friends, miners in the Bitcoin industry started to realize their profits were being slashed in half. The reward is now officially six point two five BTC per block, or just 900 new bitcoins per day or at current prices, over seventy-nine million dollars per day. Although over the weekend it was twelve point five BTC per block or eighteen hundred new bitcoins per day, or at current prices over one hundred and fifty-eight million dollars. So some miners out there are definitely feeling the pain. But when you check out the hash rate chart over the past seven days, it’s not a terrible miner purge. Yet as a hash rate dipped from one hundred and thirty-six million Tarah hashes to one hundred and twenty-five million hashes, a purge of just eight percent. And with the hash rate staying where it is with the network difficulty’s where it is up. Prices have to stay here or above for a significant majority of the miners to stay profitable. A ton of operations in the US, Europe and Australia are actually losing money at these current prices. But even with the dips into the seven K and high six K range operations in Eastern Europe, Russia and China even become unprofitable. But only if the hash rate and difficulty are around the same level. And this can be seen with pretty having break-even data with miners and certain electricity costs. If you are paying one cent per kilowatt-hour, you were extremely profitable. Pree having even when 25 percent goes to other costs like cooling as break-even was still under fifteen hundred dollars. But not too many places pay that cheap. Even in China now up to the seven percent kilowatt-hours where miners would break even or begin to lose money based on an additional cost. But now with having you have to realize that the costs have doubled for the BTC miners and those break evens have all been multiplied by two, which means prices for these operations have to increase or the miners will be subjected to Bitcoin prices below their break evens, which means they are then forced to sell not only all of the coins they mine on an ongoing basis, but they may also be forced to tap into their balance sheet reserves, causing additional selling pressure on top of their persistent ongoing sales. And you know, what that mining data showed was taken by coin chairs and investment and research company and their chief strategy officer Milton de Meir’s, who is a total babe, by the way, said this when referencing the firm’s observations of the mining industry. I think miners are looking to opportunistically offload some of their Bitcoin inventory to add operating capital to their balance sheet. We’ve been talking to a number of miners on coin shares, capital broker-dealer side. Are looking at raising capital to build out new facilities, to buy new machines and to extend their capacity, raise capital. That means selling more BTC than usual unless the price goes up. What could make the price go up? For the short to medium term? Well, the Federal Reserve said in a press release, New York Fed announced the start of certain secondary market corporate credit facility purchases on May 12. Yep. Yesterday, some crazy brand new thing the Fed and the Treasury Department conjured called the secondary market corporate credit facility s.M CCF went live. Of course, it was established because of the virus. But according to the Fed’s own documentation on what it does, the s.m CCF they purchase in the secondary market, corporate bonds issued by investment-grade U.S. companies or certain U.S. companies that were investment grade. As of March 22nd, two thousand glens. So the key here is they need to be investment-grade corporate bonds or ETF, which means A rating of triple B minus or above. No junk bonds. But there is a loophole or certain companies that were investment grade. As of March 22nd, 2020. So they can currently buy junk bonds as long as they were investment grade before the viral panic. Now, Bloomberg also covered the launch of this facility and they covered a certain ETF in their article, forty-four point six billion shares, ie box investment-grade corporate bond ETF rallied point eight percent after the market opened on Tuesday at twenty-one point three billion shares. Eyeborgs high yield a.k.a. junk corporate bond ETF climbed point five percent. Who is behind the icebox. Corporate ETF BlackRock. Financial is. And guess who is a key player in the response to this pandemic. BlackRock Financial is Bloomberg covered it last month. BlackRock. Becomes a key player in crisis response for Trump and the Fed. And in the article, BlackRock has a premiere role in helping Federal Reserve stabilize markets. The central bank has hired the firm to help manage its economic relief efforts, which the Fed admits from another press release of theirs about the s.m CCF on March 24th, 2020. The New York Fed retained BlackRock Financial Markets Advisory as a third party vendor to serve as the investment manager for this facility. Then Steedman Nugent again moves in. Let the world know too, and that they wouldn’t be making money off of them. Let’s listen in. Well, any of the people who are working with us have already agreed to work at very, very, very reduced rates, making sure that, you know, this is a special situation. So we’re not going to be paying big fees to any of these people and we’re gonna make sure there aren’t conflicts in any of the people we hire. And as I said, they’ll be full transparency. So the president is right. He’s asked me. I’m sorry. Go ahead, sir. Do you have names for any of those individuals who will be doing this? Would be the Federal Reserve has already announced that they’ve hired BlackRock. BlackRock is one of the largest asset managers in the world. BlackRock was involved in the financial crisis last time. Larry Fink has enormous experience. So that’s one of them that has been disclosed. And as we hire more people, we will fully disclose. OK. Snoots my news then. What is this from a detailed document about the facility? A fee structure for the SNCF is based on the value of corporate bonds and loans acquired and held by the facility. BlackRock will charge one an asset management fee and two program administration fees for setup and operation of the facility. So Stevie Boy, don’t be a CBS or we know BlackRock is going to make bank off of this and become even more powerful. You said it yourself. They helped in the 2008 financial crisis. The CEO, Larry Fink at the helm. It was called BlackRock Decade when Bloomberg in 2018 said how that crash forced a six-point three trillion dollar giant. Yet from this chart, we can see they managed just over a trillion in 2008. By 2017 was over six trillion. I wonder how much they manage in 2004? Well, from a corporate media release, assets under management of three hundred and twenty-one billion. Wow. Now, that is some real growth from three hundred twenty-one billion to today, over seven trillion in just 16 years. Now, if we want some perspective, what BlackRock manages is twenty-nine percent of the national debt of the United States of America. A debt clock shows just over twenty-five point one trillion. But tik-tok, tik-tok. It’s growing by that second, although who brought BlackRock on in 2008 to help with the financial crisis? Well, it was that George W. Bush presidency, as it was May 2008 when they got the call to fix Wall Street. But Obama took over in November of that year. How many times did the Obama White House and BlackRock exact mean? Well, according to BlackRock Transparency Project’s Web site, there were 98 meetings between Obama White House officials and BlackRock executives. Hundred and eighty-five meetings and phone calls between senior BlackRock executives and Treasury secretaries spanning the Bush and Obama administrations. And finally, Obama and Larry Fink CEO personally met 16 times. But what is weird, there is not a single picture of the two together can be found online. But we are doing it all over again with the Trump administration. Now, like for those who are still blindfolded and don’t see each administration from the Bushes to the Obamas to now that Trump’s all have the same damn goal and work with the same damn people. I feel sorry for you, Trump, and think our best friend. They like to play schoolboy push and shove. And now this facility has put us on a dark timeline. It was in 2008 dark. It was just hidden better because of Obama’s squeaky clean image. But now we have shifted to where the dark is clear as day by giving Blakroc full control of this debt buyout program. The Fed is further entwining the roles of government and private actors, and in doing so, it makes Blakroc even more systematically important to the financial system. Yet BlackRock is not subject to the regulatory scrutiny of even smaller financial institutions. All doom and gloom. I know. And I said there could possibly be demand from Bitcoin, from all of this. Remember? Well, back in July of last year, Larry Fink said this firm is evaluating cryptocurrencies. The article states chief executive Larry Fink on Monday said the world’s largest asset manager has assembled a working group to look at blockchain technology and cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin. But caution, he does not see massive investor demand. No demand. Then why just a few months later, in October, the head of your working group said this on a podcast. So we talked about how there was a lot of enthusiasm about crypto in 2008 with the initiation of the first and of Bitcoin if you will. A lot of excitement in 2015, 2016, and then now people kind of roll their eyes. It feels like flashing is a tired password. So where do you think we are in the hype cycle and where do you think it’s going? Even though blockchain and crypto are, you know, fundamentally distinct concepts that may ultimately have different endings, blocks and hype cycle is very much tracked Bitcoin’s cycles. And we’ve had three of those in its 10-year history, the first being from Inception basically through 2011 and the second peaking in late 2013, troughing in 2015. And then, of course, the third peaked in December of seventeen as over the last year and a half. That’s where this trough of disillusionment has really set in, where people have started to tire of the buzz and question whether this is going to be anything but just as is typical INJ or that classic Gartner hype cycle as that is happening on the ground, fundamentals are actually improving. So speed, privacy, security, scalability and real development is happening. And then going back to 2018, the head of your working group, Robby. He has been putting out work regarding Bitcoin and crypto. He co-authored this research paper in June of 2018, a fundamental valuation framework of crypto assets. As we can see from the BIOS, the authors are both connected to that ripple. Susan serves on the board of directors and Robby, he worked for them in the summer of twenty seventeen. And what I find funny from the report is even though they are a rip, had they give Bitcoin a better chance of succeeding, as we can see from Section three-point one model application estimating a fundamental value for BTC and X Arpey, they assign Bitcoin a success rate of 30 percent and a failure rate of 70 percent. End with X our P. We can see they assign success at twenty-five percent. Well, failure is seventy-five percent. They think BTC has a better chance. And what I love is their conclusion. We have demonstrated the practical application of the model on two leading crypto assets, BDC and SRP, and arrived at a fundamental value range day for BTC of thirteen thousand six hundred twenty-eight thousand one hundred four x Arpey of a dollar fifty-nine and eight dollars and twenty-three cents. This result, through calculated using imperfective early precise estimate, suggests that both BTC and ex Sarpy may have significant upside from the current price levels, despite the spectacular price appreciation in both currencies since early 2017. So some doubt Ripple Heads will say, Hey Robby, you work for a ribbed ball for US armour. It means BlackRock and the Fed are now going to be using them. No. As you can see, since they made that evaluation call in June of 2018, that tokens were at forty-five cents. They are now at 19, a one-year loss of nearly 60 percent. Bitcoin, it’s basically where it was actually a tad bit higher as it was below AKCA at the beginning of June in twenty-eighteen. Bitcoin has increased by 10 percent. You would think Robbie, an investor at heart, notices things like that. And here’s a little piece of information we need to come and put together. So we found out in March Brian Brooks, who was Coinbase is chief legal officer, was joining the Treasury Department, reuniting with his old one West friend, Manute Chin Katz, who has been advising Coinbase for the past 18 months. BlackRock and they began exploring a crypto ETF together back in June of twenty eighteen, which suspiciously came one month after Coinbase was the first fintech company to speak with U.S. regulators, the Treasury Department, about acquiring a federal banking license, which was unfortunately stopped by. Yeah. We covered this two weeks ago and the video proof that the dollar is going digital, which the Treasury Department specifically Brian Brooks, has held, Office of the Comptroller appealed, and we are still waiting on that decision. But in the meantime, they want to get things are all in for Bitcoin and crypto. Why do you think yesterday JP Morgan announced they are now providing their banking services to Jemini and Coinbase. So if you take the time to find and connect the pieces, they go right together, like IKEA furniture, no solid directions. But once it’s put together, you realize this is some good shiz net. Cheers. I’ll see you next time.

source https://www.cryptosharks.net/alert-bitcoins-etf-confirmed-coming-soon/

[evnoweb]

How teachers address cell phones in class

I teach online grad school classes in how to integrate tech into education. One topic I always ask students is how they manage cell phone usage in their classes. Protocols for these mobile devices have little in common today with how they were addressed a decade ago.

In 2009, a National Center for Education Statistics survey  showed that about 90% of schools prohibited cell phones during school hours. Now, in 2019, that’s dropped to about a third.

Schools that do allow cell phone usage struggle with best practices. For example, most students have them but not all students. What do you do about personal devices that circumvent the school security to access the Internet? How do you apply a different set of rules for in-class and outside-of-class?

Before I get into solutions, let’s discuss the pros and cons of using cell phones in class.

Pros

In many schools, Internet access is spotty, undependable, and a challenge to manage. More schools than you’d expect still struggle with the robustness of their infrastructure. Too often, school digital devices can’t connect, or can’t connect in the volume required to run a class. Cell phones fix that. I often hear anecdotal stories of how student personal devices are allowed in class to make up this shortfall in the school’s infrastructure.

Another common reason is that cell phones are simply easier to use. When students want to do quick research on a topic, look up a word, run a calculation, or review a concept, they can hop on a cell phone much faster than logging into a Chromebook or laptop. Because mobile devices are faster, it satisfies student curiosity and builds their passion to be lifelong learners.

Third, high school students are preparing for their future. Whether that’s college or career, it will include cell phones. Why not show students the right way to use these devices while they’re still listening?

Fourth, and probably the first reason parents come up with, is that cell phones provide contact in case of emergency. The most visible example of this was the Parkland School Shooting in February, 2019. Students not only called 911 but were able to reassure parents via messaging and phone calls that they were OK. And this works both ways. Parents, too, can reach out to tell their child they’ll be late picking them up or that they forgot a book. Calling or messaging a child on a family cell phone is much faster than going through the school office.

Fifth, students want to use digital tools. Studies show that 88% of teenagers between 13-17 have cell phones (or access to one) and 66% of middle schoolers. They already nimbly use them to facilitate their lives and want to do the same for their learning. Encouraging user-friendly education starts with the tools kids enjoy.

Finally, cell phones have become a small version of a computer be it a laptop, Chromebook, or iPad (especially an iPad). Where they used to be primarily to make phone calls, now they are great for research, fact-checking, sharing, collaborating, quick study sessions, and more. Mobile phones can do pretty much everything a computer can via apps and Internet access. Schools with BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) programs find a noticeable percentage of students bring mobile phones as their device. And why not? There’s very little the teacher would require that they can’t do on a mobile phone.

Cons

The most closely-held reason for not allowing cell phones in class is that they open the door to cheating. In fact, according to a survey from Common Sense Media:

…35% of students say they use cell phones to cheat.

Even if the school’s cell phone policy allows use during class but not during tests (as it is with the Department of Education in New York), how do you manage that? Students are experts with thumbing in an answer faster than most adults can blink, and they do it one-handed, below the desk, and when the teacher isn’t looking. It’s like a cookie with a warning. Who’s going to listen?

Another popular reason for avoiding cell phones is they’re distracting. Studies show that students spend 20% of their in-class time texting, emailing, and checking social media. The French government actually banned cell phone use in French schools for grades kindergarten-9th. Many argue that cell phones are no more distracting than the Internet but because the device is so much smaller than even iPads, they’re easier to hide.

Third, cell phones aren’t secure, private, or G-rated. If they aren’t run through the school’s system (which most aren’t), user profiles depend upon the student’s family attitudes and beliefs. To manage those through the school would be daunting. Or worse. No one I’ve talked to has a good solution for that but I’ll be checking comments. I hope you can educate me!

Fourth, students who interact with their phone screens aren’t socializing with classmates. That’s a problem. The school experience isn’t just about cerebral learning. It’s also about developing social skills that help students throughout their life. Good manners, effective communication, and being considerate of others can’t be learned in front of a cell phone.

Fifth — and arguably, the most important — is cyberbullying. Schools with cyberbully problems find they decrease when cell phone usage during school hours is controlled. It’s much easier to cyberbully when the target is somewhere on the Internet rather than standing in front of you. A survey of 500 American teens found that forty-two percent of heavy cellphone users have engaged in negative or inappropriate activity on their phones. A school environment open to cyberbullying is not conducive to learning.

Lastly, there’s the problem of equity. All students don’t have cell phones. How do you handle these children if the lesson plan requires a cell as a backchannel or quick assessment tool?

Solutions

The problem of cell phones isn’t new. Many schools that tried to ban them are now lifting that ban (like New York City did in 2015) opting instead to allow schools to establish policies that work for their unique student group. If you’re going to allow cell phone usage:

Establish Expectations. Tell students the rules and why. Insist all students and parents agree to the rules (either verbally or in writing). Do be sure they realize a wide variety of technology is part of your class. Cell phones are simply one piece of that.

Walk Around the Classroom to verify behavior. President Ronald Reagan famously said, “Trust but verify.” He wasn’t talking about cell phone usage in class but it applies here just as much as it does for international relations.

Institute consequences — and follow them. Make it clear what will happen if students don’t follow policies and then be sure to do it!

Knowing all of this, how do teachers address cell phone usage in their classrooms? Here are some of the solutions my students (mostly high school teachers in grad school) tried:

Take all cell phones from students at the beginning of class.

Take only those cell phones that are misused.

Implement a badge system where students earn the right to use a cell phone in class.

Allow universal usage until actions result in the loss of privileges. This can be done as a group rather than on an individual basis.

Students voluntarily keep their cell phone in their backpack until class is over.

Students can bring cell phones to school but they must stay in lockers during classes.

If a student abuses cell phone policies, the teacher (or principal) calls his/her parents on Facetime and asks them to reprimand the student.

***

Replace “cell phone” with “Internet” and you have an old question already asked and answered. ISTE (the International Society for Technology in Education), the gold standard for technology in education, affirmed back then that it’s better to teach kids to use the Internet safely than to forbid it. Common Sense Media, one of the most popular online sources for tech-in-ed guidance, says, “Have a plan not a ban.” That makes a lot of sense to me. What do you think?

— published first on TeachHUB

More on cell phone usage

Faculty Focus –– cell phone solutions

Is technology outpacing you?

Jacqui Murray has been teaching K-18 technology for 30 years. She is the editor/author of over a hundred tech ed resources including a K-12 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-8 Digital Citizenship curriculum. She is an adjunct professor in tech ed, Master Teacher, webmaster for four blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice, CSTA presentation reviewer, freelance journalist on tech ed topics, contributor to��NEA Today and author of two tech thrillers. You can find her resources at Structured Learning.

How teachers address cell phones in class published first on https://medium.com/@DigitalDLCourse

[corpasa]

How teachers address cell phones in class

I teach online grad school classes in how to integrate tech into education. One topic I always ask students is how they manage cell phone usage in their classes. Protocols for these mobile devices have little in common today with how they were addressed a decade ago.

In 2009, a National Center for Education Statistics survey  showed that about 90% of schools prohibited cell phones during school hours. Now, in 2019, that’s dropped to about a third.

Schools that do allow cell phone usage struggle with best practices. For example, most students have them but not all students. What do you do about personal devices that circumvent the school security to access the Internet? How do you apply a different set of rules for in-class and outside-of-class?

Before I get into solutions, let’s discuss the pros and cons of using cell phones in class.

Pros

In many schools, Internet access is spotty, undependable, and a challenge to manage. More schools than you’d expect still struggle with the robustness of their infrastructure. Too often, school digital devices can’t connect, or can’t connect in the volume required to run a class. Cell phones fix that. I often hear anecdotal stories of how student personal devices are allowed in class to make up this shortfall in the school’s infrastructure.

Another common reason is that cell phones are simply easier to use. When students want to do quick research on a topic, look up a word, run a calculation, or review a concept, they can hop on a cell phone much faster than logging into a Chromebook or laptop. Because mobile devices are faster, it satisfies student curiosity and builds their passion to be lifelong learners.

Third, high school students are preparing for their future. Whether that’s college or career, it will include cell phones. Why not show students the right way to use these devices while they’re still listening?

Fourth, and probably the first reason parents come up with, is that cell phones provide contact in case of emergency. The most visible example of this was the Parkland School Shooting in February, 2019. Students not only called 911 but were able to reassure parents via messaging and phone calls that they were OK. And this works both ways. Parents, too, can reach out to tell their child they’ll be late picking them up or that they forgot a book. Calling or messaging a child on a family cell phone is much faster than going through the school office.

Fifth, students want to use digital tools. Studies show that 88% of teenagers between 13-17 have cell phones (or access to one) and 66% of middle schoolers. They already nimbly use them to facilitate their lives and want to do the same for their learning. Encouraging user-friendly education starts with the tools kids enjoy.

Finally, cell phones have become a small version of a computer be it a laptop, Chromebook, or iPad (especially an iPad). Where they used to be primarily to make phone calls, now they are great for research, fact-checking, sharing, collaborating, quick study sessions, and more. Mobile phones can do pretty much everything a computer can via apps and Internet access. Schools with BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) programs find a noticeable percentage of students bring mobile phones as their device. And why not? There’s very little the teacher would require that they can’t do on a mobile phone.

Cons

The most closely-held reason for not allowing cell phones in class is that they open the door to cheating. In fact, according to a survey from Common Sense Media:

…35% of students say they use cell phones to cheat.

Even if the school’s cell phone policy allows use during class but not during tests (as it is with the Department of Education in New York), how do you manage that? Students are experts with thumbing in an answer faster than most adults can blink, and they do it one-handed, below the desk, and when the teacher isn’t looking. It’s like a cookie with a warning. Who’s going to listen?

Another popular reason for avoiding cell phones is they’re distracting. Studies show that students spend 20% of their in-class time texting, emailing, and checking social media. The French government actually banned cell phone use in French schools for grades kindergarten-9th. Many argue that cell phones are no more distracting than the Internet but because the device is so much smaller than even iPads, they’re easier to hide.

Third, cell phones aren’t secure, private, or G-rated. If they aren’t run through the school’s system (which most aren’t), user profiles depend upon the student’s family attitudes and beliefs. To manage those through the school would be daunting. Or worse. No one I’ve talked to has a good solution for that but I’ll be checking comments. I hope you can educate me!

Fourth, students who interact with their phone screens aren’t socializing with classmates. That’s a problem. The school experience isn’t just about cerebral learning. It’s also about developing social skills that help students throughout their life. Good manners, effective communication, and being considerate of others can’t be learned in front of a cell phone.

Fifth — and arguably, the most important — is cyberbullying. Schools with cyberbully problems find they decrease when cell phone usage during school hours is controlled. It’s much easier to cyberbully when the target is somewhere on the Internet rather than standing in front of you. A survey of 500 American teens found that forty-two percent of heavy cellphone users have engaged in negative or inappropriate activity on their phones. A school environment open to cyberbullying is not conducive to learning.

Lastly, there’s the problem of equity. All students don’t have cell phones. How do you handle these children if the lesson plan requires a cell as a backchannel or quick assessment tool?

Solutions

The problem of cell phones isn’t new. Many schools that tried to ban them are now lifting that ban (like New York City did in 2015) opting instead to allow schools to establish policies that work for their unique student group. If you’re going to allow cell phone usage:

Establish Expectations. Tell students the rules and why. Insist all students and parents agree to the rules (either verbally or in writing). Do be sure they realize a wide variety of technology is part of your class. Cell phones are simply one piece of that.

Walk Around the Classroom to verify behavior. President Ronald Reagan famously said, “Trust but verify.” He wasn’t talking about cell phone usage in class but it applies here just as much as it does for international relations.

Institute consequences — and follow them. Make it clear what will happen if students don’t follow policies and then be sure to do it!

Knowing all of this, how do teachers address cell phone usage in their classrooms? Here are some of the solutions my students (mostly high school teachers in grad school) tried:

Take all cell phones from students at the beginning of class.

Take only those cell phones that are misused.

Implement a badge system where students earn the right to use a cell phone in class.

Allow universal usage until actions result in the loss of privileges. This can be done as a group rather than on an individual basis.

Students voluntarily keep their cell phone in their backpack until class is over.

Students can bring cell phones to school but they must stay in lockers during classes.

If a student abuses cell phone policies, the teacher (or principal) calls his/her parents on Facetime and asks them to reprimand the student.

***

Replace “cell phone” with “Internet” and you have an old question already asked and answered. ISTE (the International Society for Technology in Education), the gold standard for technology in education, affirmed back then that it’s better to teach kids to use the Internet safely than to forbid it. Common Sense Media, one of the most popular online sources for tech-in-ed guidance, says, “Have a plan not a ban.” That makes a lot of sense to me. What do you think?

— published first on TeachHUB

More on cell phone usage

Faculty Focus –– cell phone solutions

Is technology outpacing you?

Jacqui Murray has been teaching K-18 technology for 30 years. She is the editor/author of over a hundred tech ed resources including a K-12 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-8 Digital Citizenship curriculum. She is an adjunct professor in tech ed, Master Teacher, webmaster for four blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice, CSTA presentation reviewer, freelance journalist on tech ed topics, contributor to NEA Today and author of two tech thrillers. You can find her resources at Structured Learning.

How teachers address cell phones in class published first on https://medium.com/@DLBusinessNow