Revisiting an Old Saw: The Boondoggle of Educational Bureaucracies

It is that time of the year again, yes, it is pink slip mailing time and the angst is a'flowing fast and wild these days. For those that may not know, I work in large educational bureaucracy in northern California. I've been laid off every year I've been here and then re-hired, in some fashion or another, later on each year.

The system is, in a word, broken. In more words, it is based off nothing beyond seniority. This makes sense since the people who wrote the CBA's were the most senior ones and wanted the most security. But the system does a massive disservice to our customers who just happen to be children.

Welcome to the Party, Vermont

On this day, a mere 217 years ago, Vermont became the 14th state, narrowly choosing the USA over a more compact union with Quebec to the north. Which is fine by me, Quebags (as we grew up calling them) can't drive faster than 15 miles an hour for some reason.

And why would I care about Vermont becoming the 14th state? Because its where I grew up and still love quite alot. But I don't particularly care for the 16 month long winters (yes, I know the reality isn't quite so dreary and Vermont summers are awesome but.....) so I moved west to Santa Cruz back in the mid-90's and have only looked back because I miss my family.

Plus today is Vermont's primary so that's kind of cool too even if no one really cares in the bigger picture of Ohio and Texas making their marks today too.