by Dennis Myers
Premature Panic
The Nevada Education Department says under existing law, school days happen only in school buildings.
The Sacramento Bee ran a story headlined “Gas is getting more and more expensive. California lawmakers demand an investigation.” The story, like most news coverage of gas prices, explores possible reasons for price levels, like “lack of competition in the refinery market.” What such stories do not explore is the notion that gas is not expensive. In Zimbabwe, the government shut down the internet to impede communication and organizing of protests against gas prices there—$13 a gallon. In Portugul, Norway, Denmark, Greece, Italy and the Netherlands gas is over $7 a gallon. In France, Switzerland, Slovakia, Germany, Britain, Finland and Belgium, the price is over $6. In both Canada and Mexico, it is over $4. Then there’s that nickel increase in the price of a postage stamp, which CBS and many others reported this way: “Largest Stamp Price Increase In Postal Service History Goes Into Effect Sunday.” This means mailing a letter now costs 55 cents— compared to $1.14 in France, 84 cents in Germany, 72 cents in Japan.
PHOTO/DENNIS MYERS
muddled reid article Posted The Huffington Post claimed on Feb. 8 that Nevada’s Harry Reid chastised Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar for mistreating her staff when he was Senate Democratic leader. The headline on the piece mentioned Reid, followed by a reference to a leaked campaign document in the subhead, suggesting there was documentation for the claim. But the subhead referenced a different issue, and the article never spelled out specifically what—if anything—Reid told Klobuchar in what the story said was a verbal exchange. The article quoted a Reid spokesperson saying Reid does not remember such a discussion. Reid called Klobuchar “one of the most brilliant, hardest-working members of the Senate.” Reid “spoke to her privately and told her to change her behavior, multiple sources have confirmed to HuffPost,” the article reported.
levi re-enters market After 30 years, Levi Strauss & Co. has decided to return to a publicly traded market. The troubled corporation filed papers on Feb. 13 for an initial public offering of $100 million. That is just a placeholder amount. The corporation has not revealed a price range or amount it seeks to raise. The product for which the corporation is best known, riveted pants made of dungaree material, was invented by Reno tailor Jacob Davis in 18701871. Levi Strauss later provided the funding to file patent papers, after which Davis and Strauss partnered on production of the product. The corporation went public in 1971, then was taken private again 14 years later. It will use a listing of “LEVI” on the New York Stock Exchange.
–Dennis Myers
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RN&R
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02.21.19
Policy distance Snow days were once so simple on Friday, Feb. 16, the Washoe county School District called a “Digital Day” just 11 days after parents reacted strongly against the concept. It appears that when the district backed off on Feb. 5, a considerable number of parents thought the entire concept was being dropped in favor of a return to traditional snow days. The parents weren’t the only ones. Some news reports said that Digital Days had ended, as with this KOH report: “The just-canceled program the district says was dropped over parent complaints, actually was ended after a January 4th memo from the outgoing Nevada Superintendent of Instruction.” Actually the district dropped Digital Days regions, not Digital Days, and the district website still reads, “In lieu of snow days this year, the school district is mandating online classroom days.” This is what the district said in its Feb. 5 statement: “The Washoe County School District prides itself on being responsive to our students, families, staff
members, and our community. We teach our students to listen and learn, and we strive always to model that behavior in all of our work. We are continually refining our processes and striving to improve our service to our families, and we appreciate their partnership and feedback. In the past, our District heard complaints from families and staff members who opposed a ‘one size fits all’ approach to weather-related delays and Digital School Days, due to the fact that weather conditions can differ greatly in the 6,300 square miles in which our students and families live and employees work. As a result of these complaints, we created and implemented a regional approach to designating Digital School Days and two-hour delays. We did so because we sincerely believed that this approach would alleviate their concerns and counter their criticisms. We acknowledge that the system does not meet the needs of students, families, and staff members in a District of our size once we implemented the system for the first
time today. Because we are a continuous learning and listening organization, we have reassessed the situation and decided to immediately return to the original District-wide approach of implementing Digital School Days or two-hour delays. In the future, we will use the notification system to which our students, families, and staff members are accustomed to declare District-wide weather-related changes in schedules.” Digital Days are snow days during which schools try to continue the learning process by interacting with homebound children from a distance. The situation was not improved by the shifting stance of state officials. The Nevada Department of Education condoned the use of Digital Days in Washoe County in a letter dated June 13, 2017, according to the school district. But then it followed up with a memo last month that questioned the legality of the Washoe policy. The Nevada Department of Education claims it told the Washoe district that its plan for Digital Days does not comply with state law. The district replied that NDE approved the county plan last June. However, NDE seems to draw a distinction between “distance education” and Digital Days. The term Digital Days was devised by the school district as a supposedly clearer term for distance education. The use of two different terms for the same policy probably fostered confusion. NDE also said Washoe Digital Days will not count as school days, which seemed to defeat the whole purpose of having them. The Digital Days policy seems like one that would have worked in the 1950s, when families could function on a single income and one parent remained home in the daytime. But in 2019, with both parents working in most households, school children on snow days may not get to school, but parents are still expected to get to work. Will students at home alone make themselves do the assigned work? In addition, parents were not bewitched by the idea that educators can now reach inside the home and decide how students will spend their time. “If my daughter is at home, she’s not at school, and that breaks that
