|
DanvilleDelivery.com
Emergency
Government
Schools
Medical Services
Faith
Dining
Marketplace
Recreation
Recycling
Senior Services
Community Webs
Everything Else
Archive
|
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Why Real Media?
Because my ISP provides me with 100g of space and unlimited bandwidth for $4.95/month,
my ISP offers Real Streaming, and, in my opinion, streamed Real Media provides a better
experience than progressively downloaded alternatives at this time.
That said, I provide links to the media, so feel free to open files with the player of your choice
or download the files for local playback. Also, I am updating the pages to support multiple players
and browsers. If you have Real, the media will load in Real, if you have Windows Media, the
page will load with that player. Flash and Quicktime will come later.
Why post tax information?
Who pays taxes and what we spend the money on is what politics is all about. No matter the expenditure,
no matter the tax, there are stakeholders. Stakeholders are the people who benefit from the expenditure
and the people who pay for it. I believe understanding the stakeholders is an important tool in deciding what
expenditure is worth funding.
Posting tax information helps us understand the people paying for expenditures. In New Hampshire, most
spending is funded with property tax. This is supposed to be progressive since wealthy property owners and
business people subsidize services to those who do not own property. It's important to understand that there
are loopholes that help people avoid paying their share...
- some people don't pay their taxes
- some people receive discounts due to their age
- some people receive discounts for other reasons (veteran, blind)
- some people receive abatements
- some people receive discounts due to current use classification
Whether we should give a discount to a veteran or a senior citizen (regardless of means) or someone who agrees
not to develop their vast holdings is something we have to decide as a community. BUT it's something that should
be a matter of public record and accessible to all. If someone got an abatement, maybe you are eligible for the same
discount. If someone advocating for spending does not pay his fair share of taxes, you have a right to know.
Why post employee, vendor, office holder information?
Who pays taxes and what we spend the money on is what politics is all about. No matter the expenditure,
no matter the tax, there are stakeholders. Stakeholders are the people who benefit from the expenditure
and the people who pay for it. I believe understanding the stakeholders is an important tool in deciding what
expenditure is worth funding.
Posting vendor/employee information helps us understand the people benefiting from expenditures. If the people
benefiting from an expenditure also happen to be decision makers or related to decision makers, that information
should be a matter of public record and accessible to all. If the head of the budget committee breaks a
tie on a vote for spending that benefits his wife, that doesn't mean he acted improperly, but we should all know what
happened so we can decide for ourselves.
If committee members are vendors to the town and their family members are employees and/or vendors to the town,
that does not mean they used their influence to the benefit of their friends and family. BUT it's something that should
be a matter of public record and accessible to all.
Why don't you provide a link to [insert web page]?
Because I don't want to. This page is, first and foremost, for me and people like me. I've collected
links to sites I frequent or have a tough time locating. I think most people will find these links useful.
I consider all requests to add links. I'll add a link if I think it will be of general interest, if I like the site,
or if you pay me (it's a .com site, you know). I won't promote goods and services that I wouldn't use and
I won't link to anything I find offensive.
Could you put a snippet from [insert web page] in the gossip area?
The snippets in the gossip area directly or indirectly pertain to Danville, New Hampshire or the
Timberlane School District. Send me your candidates, but understand that I am not interested in
your town's politics or your school's programs unless the discussion can be related to my town or
school.
Why are you attacking [insert ineffective institution here]?
I don't attack anything. If you are unhappy with anything posted on this web site, let me know. Give me
permission to post your comments, and I'll post a snippet of your comment (with a link to the entire text of
the note) and my response to the web site.
Will you create a web site like this for my town/cause?
Not for free. It takes a lot of time and effort to maintain a web site like this. If you would like to 'leverage' my
work, that is fine by me. If you have questions or need help solving a problem, I'll help. If you need someone
to create and maintain a web site for you, there are cheaper resources with better skills. If you REALLY want me
to create and maintain a web site for you, send me an email. If SLA and cost are reasonable, I'll consider your
offer.
What is your definition of lost teaching time?
This was only asked by one person, and was actually rhetorical and phrased, "who are you to say what is
lost teaching time," but in the hours immediately before and after I received the email, DanvilleDelivery.com
received a flurry of hits from orion.timberlanehs.com, so I'm going to answer this question...
Lost teaching time is time when my kids are in the custody of the school but are not being taught things I pay TRSD
to teach them. I don't claim to be an authority on education, but here are some examples of things I would not pay
someone to watch my kid do...
- Any assembly to promote or celebrate fund raising is lost time
- Danville Elementary had an assembly to show kids how to do yo yo tricks
- The Middle School had an assembly that featured a hypnotist
- Any field trip to an amusement park is lost time
- Any field trip not accompanied by an assignment is lost time
- Any delayed opening is lost time (take the day off and make it up)
- Any day before a holiday or vacation is lost time
- A TRMS teacher told me her kids play cards the last week of school because grades are closed
- Any time in September spent reviewing is lost time
- Any Teacher Development Day (early dismissal) is lost time
- Any time a teacher is out and does not leave a plan for the substitute is lost time
- Toasting marshmellows in a solar oven is lost time
- Looking for sticks that resemble rifles is lost time
- Marching on the school grounds -- except for the band -- is lost time
- Ground breaking ceremonies are lost time
- Silent sustained reading is lost time
- ChannelOne is lost time
- Advisory is lost time
If you cross all these days off the 180 day calendar, you will find our kids are only actually learning for ~140 days
each year. That's 1/4 of a year lost teaching time. I'm not saying that we should not do any of these things, but if
there is not enough time to teach our kids enough so that they can achieve AYP, we need to increase the time they
are being taught -- so, let's cancel the fund raising celebration, or yo yo demonstration and teach these kids.
If we recover 1/2 this lost time and use it to do amazing things, we can improve our kids education without changing the
curriculum, staff, administration, or budget.
So let's see if we can recover a little of this lost time -- for the children. Maybe our enrichment staff can create a physics
questionaire for Canobie Lake Park or a history QnA for Sturbridge? Maybe we can combine assemblies with development
days to halve the lost teaching days? Maybe we can do development while the kids are on class trips? Maybe we don't
need ten development days? Maybe our kids shouldn't be fundraising at all?
Here's some low hanging fruit -- late starts due to weather. In this day of two income households and long commutes,
waiting for a late start will likely result in a day out of work. Instead of sending the busses out in bad weather, close the school
and make up the day. We'll save on utilities and add a couple days of learning to the school year. Nobody wants to be in
school in July, but who cares where you spend a rainy week in April? Let's use that week to make up weather related lost time.
|
|
I ran into your site last weekend
"I ran into your site last weekend and thought it was just another offshoot of SpeakoutDanville.org. I should apologize, you must be insulted! Of course you can post a link and I'll change my Politically Correct Danville link to DanvilleDelivery right now. Now I know Danville is supposed to be the fastest growing town in Rockingham county, but three websites, that's fantastic."
Dennis Herrick Plaistow NH Town Crier
Another Danville Web Site
"Nothing original and no new information...just one person's [opinion]."
"I find the site very informative and I like the layout. "
"I think it is a good website...I particularly like seeing news articles relating to Danville...I look forward to seeing MORE MENUS!"
"At first glance...I didn't think I would be visiting that website very often if at all. Looking it over again today, I find that I like the setup and the easy access of news and other commentaries that I didn't see the first time around. Yes, I will be visiting DD often. Nice job, Len."
more
|
Watch town meetings on your ipod! 