School Changes

[pepelect]

Hey now, i am under 50 and i count change quite well!   In fact i usually have the total of my order already added up including tax and give them a 20 and when they push that 20.00 in the register buttons, and open the drawer, i mess em up and give them the change too so they wig out when the total doesn't match what is on their screen.

That screws up the drawer count when you put more or less money in the register than what the ticket says.  We have real issues with some employees and age has nothing to do with counting back change.  We have 17 year olds that can do it in their sleep and others lets say closer to retirement than to highschool graduation that really struggle. 

One thing that you can really screw up on is learning to peck.  There is a proper way to keyboard.  Watching the keys while you use them really slows down production.  If you learn how to type and not teach your self one stroke at a time you can increase your speed until you peak.  Bad habits are very hard to break and some peckers are really fast .   

The problem with education with out computers is not the computers but the technology.  If you don't teach the technology you will always be behind everyone else.  Voice recognition, biometrics and other input sources are going to dominate the near future.  The next generation of hardware always dictates the next generation of software. 

[srkruzich]

That screws up the drawer count when you put more or less money in the register than what the ticket says.  We have real issues with some employees and age has nothing to do with counting back change.  We have 17 year olds that can do it in their sleep and others lets say closer to retirement than to highschool graduation that really struggle.  

shouldn't screw up any drawer count if you give someone 20.35 for a 15.35 bill.  Just give a 5 back and your drawer is covered.

One thing that you can really screw up on is learning to peck.  There is a proper way to keyboard.  Watching the keys while you use them really slows down production.  If you learn how to type and not teach your self one stroke at a time you can increase your speed until you peak.  Bad habits are very hard to break and some peckers are really fast .  

Well thats not computers, thats typing.  Typing class or as they call it today keyboarding, is useful but not essential.  Usually it is offered in the 9th grades.  

The problem with education with out computers is not the computers but the technology.  If you don't teach the technology you will always be behind everyone else.  Voice recognition, biometrics and other input sources are going to dominate the near future.  The next generation of hardware always dictates the next generation of software.  

Well even if  you train them on todays technology, its already 6 months out of date.  You can buy the latest greatest computer with all the bells and whistles available today, and it will be obsolete in 6 months.  Software though isn't that fast.  So what if it is 32 bit or 64 bit.  You have basically 2 lines of software, microsloth and unix.  

Biometrics are kool toys, but they will change fast as most biometrics can be defeated.  Only a couple are tough to defeat now and that will change as computer technology increases i power and speed.
We've had voice recognition software since the 80's and it hasn't changed that much. What has changed is the sound processors that Texas Instruments used for it.  

The fields that kids today need to concentrate on preparing for are communications not computer fields. As more data is transmitted daily the bandwidth used has to be increased.   Right now i think the private sector is trying to get online a OC192 bandwidth which is 10GB per sec bandwidth, but the military is working on OC388 i think which should be around 1 tbps bandwidth.  

But you wont' get that kind of training or education from any school.  Most of that knowlege is aquired from school of hard knocks and trial and error.

Right now around here the communications companies aren't using wire their using these cell towers for transmission lines with microwave transmission.

You know it would be kool to be able to teach this to kids in highschool but not possible.  The equipment alone would make that 5.5mil bond issue look like chump change

[Jo McDonald]

To all of us that needs more information on the bond issue-------In this week's Prairie Star there is a very well written view about this,
written by Wanda Mills of Moline.  The letter is a letter to the editor.  If you don't subscribe to the paper, buy one at one of the business
that have them to sell.  Wanda served many years on the school board of USD 282, and her letter is very enlightening.

[sixdogsmom]

There is also a full page ad from the supporting side of the bond issue. They have sunk a pile of money into this campaign, hoping to purchase some votes. 

[jprxmkt]

It's not "buying votes." It's helping to support a local newspaper which is a great asset to this community and we are lucky to have and it's about educating everyone so everyone knows exactly what they are voting on.

[flo]

read the letter to the editor, read the full page ad, got a postcard in the mail yesterday, a two page information mailing a few days ago, and also read the post on the bulletin board at Swinging Bridge Cafe last nite. Getting a lot of info both pro and con and both sides have valid points.

[pepelect]

How do you purchase something that is not for sale?  

How many piles of  money will it cost to continue as we have done in the past?

I have read all the articles  in the paper and I missed the part about how doing nothing helps teach kids.   If the bond fails we will never have to deal with it again?  How is operating three different campus going to work without the budget to do so?  Where can we save enough money with only even two?

How does voting no keep the school system doors open? Our taxes are going to go up with a no vote.    The only thing you will accomplish is you will make it extremely difficult for your local school board to deal with ever lowering your tax burden. How much were your taxes 20 years ago?   Write down what your taxes were two years ago.  Write down what your taxes were last year.  Write down what your taxes are going to be this year.  Tell me which direction the numbers are going.    Talk to me about this subject in 15 years.

[Lookatmeknow!!]

Well, I have decided along time ago that I was voting YES!!  But if it doesn't pass, I am really worried.  Because I really feel that the state will step in, and it won't be pretty.  I am kind of pig headed, and I won't send my kids anywhere else, plain and simple.  I will homeschool them.  Hopefully I won't have to do that, but that is what I will do.

Yes, the letters and information was all good with pros and cons, I do agree on that.  But what options do any other people have?  I haven't seen one put up here that even comes close to helping the problem.  I feel that if you raise my taxes to support the school, which new school or not it will happen, I want to see it benefit the students.  Not put on countless repairs that the list is just to long to list.  And no one has even mentioned the portable buildings, which is to my understanding is option B if bond fails.  Won't taxes be raised to buy them?  Wouldn't everyone out there rather see a new building than these portables?

[L Hendricks]

I would like to address the amount of taxes the commercial businesses will pay when the bond passes.  This was brought to my attention by Mark Cookson, owner of Cookson's, who asked me the pro side of the bond issue, since he had heard the con side.  I called our county appraiser to find out what commercial businesses in Elk County are valued at (from the county perspective not market value).  Most businesses on Main st Howard are $30,000.  Batson's is $40,000.  Main St. Moline would be less.  Two of the newest addition to the community would be Zimmerman - $328,000 and Mills Feed $101,000.  Point of this - Cookson's True Value's property taxes with regards to the bond issue will go up $131.63 annually - Mark was under the impression it would be $3000!.  Mills Feed will go up $438.00 (or $1.20/day).  The "PIGEON INN" flyer going around has examples using $451,250 and $1,255,000 for commercial property (WRONG COUNTY)

If people do not trust the information put out by the Public information committee which was approved by the Bond Consultation (Piper Jaffray), here is the formula to figure how much the 17.55 mill (which is the mill increase from the $5,550,000 bond issue) will increase a commercial property or a residential property.

COMMERCIAL - Take the county appraised value x the commercial assessment rate (25%) x the mill levy (17.55)
For example - Batson's - $40,000 x .25 x .01755 =$175.50 ANNUALLY

RESIDENTIAL - take the county appraised value x the residential assessment rate (11.5%) x the mill levy (17.55)
For example - Joe Blow's house $36,360 x .115 x .01755 = $73.38 ANNUALLY

$36000 is close to the average of home values in Elk County.  Very few people are in homes appraised more than $75,000.  Also people who live in low income housing - DO NOT PAY PROPERTY TAX.

[Lookatmeknow!!]

Thanks Liz!!!