Saturday, December 27, 2014

Slow Saturday Special: Longer School Day For Boston Students

I've been putting in some long days here.

Teachers’ union, schools agree to add learning time, Walsh says

Teachers would be paid a $4,464 annual stipend for their extra hours of work, 40 more minutes each day. 

Yeah, increasing the time in school is the answer. More time for ESL classes.

Boston parents applaud proposal to add time to school day

Longer school day deal is a win for Walsh, students

Will that include an extra meal?

"Plymouth school employees’ pay mistakenly withdrawn" by Melissa Hanson, Globe Correspondent  December 27, 2014

Employees of Plymouth Public Schools who are paid via direct deposit were surprised Friday morning when funds were mistakenly withdrawn from their accounts rather than deposited, a school official said. 

That's another way of getting your money, I suppose. Mistake, huh?

Around 8:30 a.m., Superintendent Gary E. Maestas began contacting employees to alert them to the problem, which he said was caused by a user error. He was unsure exactly how many employees were affected.

By Friday evening, some employees’ banks had reversed the error. It was expected that all funds would be replaced by Monday.

Were they on a white horse?

“The silver lining to all of this is that a lot of our employees’ banks have been very responsive,” said Maestas, who was also affected by the error.

Everybody's heroes!

--more--"

RelatedSchool chain agrees to pay Mass. $3.75m to settle claims

At least you kids will have new textbooks to look at:

"Flush with cash two years after filing for bankruptcy, Boston book publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt on Friday hinted at growth plans that could include acquisitions of other companies. “HMH is actively evaluating a number of potential opportunities, including organic growth initiatives and acquisitions, to enhance its already strong performance and provide further value to shareholders,” the company said in a statement. Houghton issued the statement a day after one of its major investors submitted a letter to the board of directors calling for the book publisher to return more of its “mountain of excess liquidity” to shareholders. The company has advised shareholders it expects to have between $675 million and $725 million cash on hand at the end of the year."

Who reads books anymore?

"Police in a Vermont town are thanking a college student in Canada for alerting them via Facebook about a local woman who posted a message about taking an overdose of prescription medication. Police in Bristol got the message from the student in Montreal on Wednesday night. The student, a former resident of nearby Monkton, stated concern for the woman. The student did not have access to Vermont 911 and did not know where the woman lived, so she messaged police. Bristol police finally found an address for the woman in Colchester. They contacted police there, who conducted a welfare check and said the woman was intoxicated. Police took her to a crisis center for evaluation (AP)."

Don't fergit to bring an apple for the teechur.