The Tech Guy

Dear Members of the South Amboy Board of Education,

My name is Wendy Saiff. I am the President of the Highland Park Board of Education.

I’m writing to you about an important opportunity for all of us to let our Governor and our Legislators know how strongly we support public education.

Like your school district, Highland Park has worked hard over the past few years to contain expenses while maintaining a quality public school education for the children of our community. But this year, Governor Christie’s proposed cuts in state aid to schools made this balancing act almost impossible.
During the budget process this year, many Highland Park community members were frustrated by the Governor’s proposed cuts and asked what they could do to make their voices heard. They felt that taking $820 million away from schools, on top of the midyear cuts in state aid, was draconian and that all of our schools, and our children, would suffer. They wanted to let our Legislators know that we are counting on them to do what’s right for all of our children.

A statewide rally on May 22 in Trenton offers all of us the opportunity to be heard. The goal of the event, “Standing Up, Standing Together: A Rally to Protect NJ’s Families and Communities,” is to convince the State Legislature to restore funding to education and social services. Rally organizers are working feverishly to bring tens of thousands of people to Trenton to protest cuts that will hurt students, working families, seniors and others.

The Highland Park Board of Education has decided to endorse the May 22 Rally, which is being sponsored by community groups such as NJ Citizen Action, the Greater New Brunswick NAACP, NJ Working Families Alliance, NJEA, CWA, Garden State Equality, Better Choices Budget Coalition, Our Children/Our Schools, and others. Please consider having your School Board join us in endorsing this rally.

In addition to endorsing, helping to organize participation from your school district is key. There will be buses going to Trenton on Saturday, May 22, from every county in NJ. Please let interested parents and community members know. Use the links below to endorse the rally, sign up to participate or call or e-mail for more information.

I invite you to also contact me if I can be of assistance.

Thank you,
Wendy Saiff
President, Highland Park Board of Education

Community Organizations: You can Endorse the Rally by clicking here.

RSVP Online at http://www.njcitizenaction.org/ and/or for more information, contact Adam Sherman at may22rally@njcitzenaction.org or at 732-246-4772 ext. 22.

Distribute the Rally Flyer: Click here to print it out

Join the Event on Facebook: Click here

Michael J. Elson Announcement Board of Education, education, New Jersey, Public education, Public school, Rally, Trenton

Our Websense Internet filter was recently upgraded, and as a result you might notice some changes in the content.  Please be patient as we work out the filtering process.  If you have the immediate need for access to a site that is blocked, please click here for details.

As always, if you have any questions, please email Michael.

Michael J. Elson Announcement Content Filtering, Filter, Upgrade, Websense

Image by manitou

Attention Middle High School Teachers!  In an effort to be more green and save some trees, we have moved the Lab Usage Forms to an online form located here:

http://shortlinks.sapublicschools.com/labuse

Please complete a form for each period you use the lab within one day.  We have done away with the seating chart, so keep track of who sits where on your own.  If you have any questions, please email Michael.

Michael J. Elson Announcement, General lab use, labs, MHS

Google Moderator makes it easy to gather and prioritize questions or opinions on any topic from a group of people.

Please take a moment to participate in the following: “What is your most pressing question about technology in our district?”

You need to have a Google Apps account to use this feature. You will need to sign in with your sapublicschools.com account after you click the above link.

If you are interested in an account, please fill out the form here.

Keeping group discussions or Q&A sessions focused on important topics can be difficult. Google Moderator will help keep things on track by allowing users to both suggest questions and vote on others’ questions.

Everyone has a chance to propose questions and the questions are collected in one place. Users can individually vote up or down on the questions they feel strongly about. Questions can then be addressed in popularity order, providing the best chance to answer the questions that the audience cares the most about.

It is flexible enough to be suitable for anything from a lecture to a team meeting or as a research tool to gather popularity-ranked feedback.

Michael J. Elson Announcement Google, Google Apps, Google Moderator

Be sure to stop by the District Tech Blog for the latest posting.

And don’t forget to stop back often to get the latest in tech news, not just for the District, but the world.

Michael J. Elson Announcement blog, Computer Chronicles, tech

The South Amboy School District has the following openings for the 2009-2010 school year. Rate of pay will be as per negotiated agreement between the South Amboy Board of Education & the South Amboy Education Association:

HOMEWORK CLUB ADVISORS
Monday-Thursday
Club begins 5 minutes after the end of the school day
Grades 1-3 —— ½ hour
Grades 4-6 —— 1 hour
Grades 7-8 ——- 45 minutes

Send letter of intent by Wednesday, May 27, 2009 to:

Robert N. Sheedy, Superintendent of Schools, South Amboy Public Schools, 240 John Street, South Amboy, NJ 08879 or Fax to (732) 727-0730.

Appointment is at the discretion of the South Amboy Board of Education. If and when appointment is made, appropriate staff and will be notified.

EOE AA Employer

Michael J. Elson Announcement employment

Throughout the week you might see a program running on your computer entitled “Symantec Endpoint Protection”.  This is an upgrade to the district anti-virus software that I am installing on your computers. 

Don’t worry or panic, just let it install.  It might also ask you to restart your computer.  Please restart when you have a chance.

If you have any questions or concerns, please email.

Michael J. Elson Announcement