[lug] BVSD Windows vs Mac craziness

[Rob Nagler]

Bear Giles writes:
> ... and nobody will touch "career-death" struggling students.

That's not true.  One of the reasons for my involvement in the schools
is that the teachers do care, and will work with students who are
struggling.

The program with BVSD is that it is a large organization with no
accountability *within* the organization.  This is why this 3A issue
is extremly important to all of us.  Our money is being wasted.  It's
up to us to get involved as experts, and make it clear at the board
meeting that the bureaucrats are not doing their job properly. The
board isn't micromanaging.  They are too busy for that.

The board's responsibility is to make sure the bureaucrats are
following procedures.  The bureaucrats failed to solicit bids from
Apple, Novell/SuSe, Redhat, or IBM/Linux.  They relied on "MGT America
(mgtamer.com) to give them input on Linux.  MGT is a Windows
consultant, and one with a broken website at that (surprise!), which
likely means they don't actually do anything, and sub-out everything.

The bureaucrats also failed to enlist local talent who were begging to
help them.  They did this out of fear.  I don't exactly know what
their fears are, but it's clear they are afraid to ask knowledgable
parents to get involved.  The result of this decision will be
horrendous for the district in terms of cost and disruption.  Just
like the implementation of Infinite Campus has been a disaster.  The
board needs to make it clear that this is unacceptable, and that the
entire decision process be revisted.

Parents and voters from this group need to go to the board meeting on
Tue and speak out with *calm* clear facts about why Linux is a viable
solution that should have been seriously considered, when it wasn't.

Rob

P.S. I read an interesting book lately about the relationship between
     grades/pay and perfomance: http://tinyurl.com/acs3m