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the administrators down at the administration building, the bus drivers, the bus mechanics etc, the compliance officers, the fund raisers, HR people etc.

My local school district, Fairfax County Public Schools has some interesting stats;

see http://www.fcps.edu/fs/budget/documents/approved/2010/ApprovedBudget10.pdf

there are 13,744 teachers

there are 8,393 NON TEACHING POSITIONS.

likewise

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columns/BarbaraHollingsworth/Fairfax_School_Boards_Gateway_drug_101909.html

The school board recently wanted to spend 130 million (with 73 million on a spa facility and cafeteria for administrators) on a new administration building when students are studying in trailers. It would have also consolidated a number of school based positions forcing those positions to have to travel to/from the schools.

My local school district, Fairfax County Virgina, has a budget in excess of $2.2 billion out of which only $84 million is federal funds (makes you wonder why they care so much about NCLB since its 7% of funding).

see http://www.fcps.edu/fs/budget/documents/approved/2010/ApprovedBudget10.pdf

there are 13,744 teachers

there are 8,393 NON TEACHING POSITIONS.

likewise

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columns/BarbaraHollingsworth/Fairfax_School_Boards_Gateway_drug_101909.html

The school board recently wanted to spend 130 million (with 73 million on a spa facility and cafeteria for administrators) on a new administration building when students are studying in trailers. It would have also consolidated a number of school based positions focring those positions to have to travel to/from the schools.

Oakton High school is in Fairfax county. All schools in the county strongly request students to sign the Fairfax County Student Rights and Responsiblities.

9 years ago I refused to sign this document (though I no longer recall why). This resulted in a weeks worth of lunch time sessions in either my counsler's office or the school security guard's. During this time we discussed my objections and they continually encouraged me to sign. Afterwards the issue was quietly dropped.

For whatever reasons they wanted me to sign this then, this school years version makes no provisions assigning copyright of student's works to the school system. And this was the only thing we were requested to sign.

RTFA, my entire posting, or any of the several postings that have made the same point:

McLean High School is a public school, operated by Fairfax County Public Schools.

If these students were registered/enrolled at a university or even a private school, it would be different. But, these students are being compelled to assign IP rights to a third party by a school operated by a government agency. And truancy law requires these students to attend school.

RTFA, my entire posting, or any of the several postings that have made the same point:

McLean High School is a public school, operated by Fairfax County Public Schools.

If these students were registered/enrolled at a university or even a private school, it would be different. But, these students are being compelled to assign IP rights to a third party by a school operated by a government agency. And truancy law requires these students to attend school.

Correct! My fiancee teaches at an elementary school in Reston, VA that has a "Spanish immersion" program. Students at every grade level have classes given in Spanish for half of the day.

"but I can say confidently that public education in my country sucks."

You can? Really? Have you BEEN to every public school in America? I'm a product of FCPS and I can definately say they don't suck. It's one of the best school systems around. People come from many countries around the world to take a look at TJHSST, the local magnet school. Obviously some school systems in America don't suck if people from many diverse countries want to take a look at how we do things around here...

Fairfax County Public Schools just recently began to implement it...

At least, that's according to an article in the school paper at TJHSST, a Virginia Governor's School run by FCPS.

Meh, you TJ nerds.

I go to Robinson (not all that far away from TJ) and we're at a .edu address now... in fact, the whole county's at a .edu.

^+^

Actually, my school has quite a few smart boards. They are gradually integrating them into every class. I use one in Calculus, Computer Science, and Networking while others use them in some English, Science, and Social Studies classes also. The things aren't cheap, and the projectors cost even more (the light bulbs start at $400) but the ability to post notes from class online at a site ironically known as blackboard is a nice little extra. In the long run, they're fairly unnecessary, but nice. Our school just likes to show off (wireless network and such).