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Re: Pay to Work? ( Republicans Gone Crazy )
My response to the Aesoponline survey was about the same as yours. Ridiculous.
1. Fact is, you can do similar things to what they propose, right now, without paying them a cent. Download one of the Macro Recorders; log into Aesop and get to the (repeated) search for assignment button. Use the Macro to record a click on that button; then set it to re-run that action at regular intervals. You'll have to keep your eye on the screen from time to time, unless you can figure out how to get an audible signal whenever the screen changes. (I've been working on that part.)
For myself, I run Linux, and I wrote a C program to periodically click my mouse electronically by means of a line that I hot wired from the parallel port to the mouse itself. I use it all the time, and it gives me a good edge, though I need the audio to tell me to check the screen.
2. I think the reason that the pay is better in L.A. is that UTLA actually represents substitutes in that district. El Monte City pays us $115 a day, but the local (EMETA) doesn't seem to have much interest in representing us. Doesn't make sense to me, since some (I don't know how many) subs are (like me) retired from the district, or otherwise former members of the local. And if there ever is a job action, both the union and the individual subs may need the protection of union membership from pressure to cross picket lines.
I blame this situation on a lack of vision on the part of the union, not on the Republicans.
3. I see big time trouble coming up with the state's budet deficit. I agree with the legislative analyst that the governor's proposed across-the-board cuts are not the way to go. What is needed is targeted cuts, and one of the targets should be commercial web-applications for which local districts are paying an arm and a leg. Aesop is only one of these (check out Accelerated Reader for another good example).
These are legitimate programs which fill a need, but they are also programs that could readily by provided by the State Department of Education's technology people, who seem to give us nothing but hype (and more surveys). Local districts are paying an enormous amount on these programs. (Look up Accelerated Reader's parent corporation on the NYSE and see their earnings. I think the corporate name is something like Renaissance Learning.) Our respective state departments of education (or better yet the Feds) should provide these services to local districts at no cost.
My response to the Aesoponline survey was about the same as yours. Ridiculous.
1. Fact is, you can do similar things to what they propose, right now, without paying them a cent. Download one of the Macro Recorders; log into Aesop and get to the (repeated) search for assignment button. Use the Macro to record a click on that button; then set it to re-run that action at regular intervals. You'll have to keep your eye on the screen from time to time, unless you can figure out how to get an audible signal whenever the screen changes. (I've been working on that part.)
For myself, I run Linux, and I wrote a C program to periodically click my mouse electronically by means of a line that I hot wired from the parallel port to the mouse itself. I use it all the time, and it gives me a good edge, though I need the audio to tell me to check the screen.
2. I think the reason that the pay is better in L.A. is that UTLA actually represents substitutes in that district. El Monte City pays us $115 a day, but the local (EMETA) doesn't seem to have much interest in representing us. Doesn't make sense to me, since some (I don't know how many) subs are (like me) retired from the district, or otherwise former members of the local. And if there ever is a job action, both the union and the individual subs may need the protection of union membership from pressure to cross picket lines.
I blame this situation on a lack of vision on the part of the union, not on the Republicans.
3. I see big time trouble coming up with the state's budet deficit. I agree with the legislative analyst that the governor's proposed across-the-board cuts are not the way to go. What is needed is targeted cuts, and one of the targets should be commercial web-applications for which local districts are paying an arm and a leg. Aesop is only one of these (check out Accelerated Reader for another good example).
These are legitimate programs which fill a need, but they are also programs that could readily by provided by the State Department of Education's technology people, who seem to give us nothing but hype (and more surveys). Local districts are paying an enormous amount on these programs. (Look up Accelerated Reader's parent corporation on the NYSE and see their earnings. I think the corporate name is something like Renaissance Learning.) Our respective state departments of education (or better yet the Feds) should provide these services to local districts at no cost.
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