Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community - View Single Post - CBE to trim 200-250 jobs

Yasa · 04-21-2011, 08:46 AM

I changed the title to reflect more of the truth (thanks Ken.) I think my overall frustration with it is due in part to one of my good friends on the road to being a teacher. Her parents are also teachers in the system so I hear a lot of positive, and a lot of negative things. I've heard teachers, good teachers, grief and complain about the CBE. When I was in highschool (I also went to Scarlett, Pylon,) our best gym teacher was fired because of budget cuts and he was the newest teacher. I know people don't have high views regarding gym teachers, but this guy was great. A lot of the students looked up to him, he never discriminated and always encouraged kids to participate. Small anecdotes, but it's where my bitter taste originates from.

I don't like the idea of new teachers being let go because CBE budgeted poorly. I realize now, that it likely won't be 200 teachers, but that doesn't make it much better.

Off topic
As for the Smartboards, I completely understand and agree that they're not unnecessary, but they're also not a be-all to learning. I know, and appreciate that many schools did fundraising to get them, but many schools didn't. The problem there lies with the fact that plenty of teachers don't use them. This is because the CBE provides little to no training on them, and not everyone is tech-savvy. In addition; the repair costs are unreal. Speakers would fail daily, projectors would fail, the SE-9 control (the part that enables the touch screen) constantly were fried, the pen trays would give out in a matter of weeks. New models are constantly released which would fix past mistakes and create new ones. Once it breaks, teachers give up on them. The height adjustable mobile smartboards were terrible, and until about 2 months ago had a problem where the mounting bracket that held the arm and projector was too weak and started to fall down. Not to mention, these projectors would become unaligned within days. Too much money for such a terrible product. I know all these details because I installed many of these smartboards.

Again, I agree they can be a great tool; but for what the schools and school board paid for them...they could have put that money for better things.

04-21-2011, 08:46 AM	#43
Yasa First Line Centre Join Date: Aug 2009 Exp:	I changed the title to reflect more of the truth (thanks Ken.) I think my overall frustration with it is due in part to one of my good friends on the road to being a teacher. Her parents are also teachers in the system so I hear a lot of positive, and a lot of negative things. I've heard teachers, good teachers, grief and complain about the CBE. When I was in highschool (I also went to Scarlett, Pylon,) our best gym teacher was fired because of budget cuts and he was the newest teacher. I know people don't have high views regarding gym teachers, but this guy was great. A lot of the students looked up to him, he never discriminated and always encouraged kids to participate. Small anecdotes, but it's where my bitter taste originates from. I don't like the idea of new teachers being let go because CBE budgeted poorly. I realize now, that it likely won't be 200 teachers, but that doesn't make it much better. Off topic As for the Smartboards, I completely understand and agree that they're not unnecessary, but they're also not a be-all to learning. I know, and appreciate that many schools did fundraising to get them, but many schools didn't. The problem there lies with the fact that plenty of teachers don't use them. This is because the CBE provides little to no training on them, and not everyone is tech-savvy. In addition; the repair costs are unreal. Speakers would fail daily, projectors would fail, the SE-9 control (the part that enables the touch screen) constantly were fried, the pen trays would give out in a matter of weeks. New models are constantly released which would fix past mistakes and create new ones. Once it breaks, teachers give up on them. The height adjustable mobile smartboards were terrible, and until about 2 months ago had a problem where the mounting bracket that held the arm and projector was too weak and started to fall down. Not to mention, these projectors would become unaligned within days. Too much money for such a terrible product. I know all these details because I installed many of these smartboards. Again, I agree they can be a great tool; but for what the schools and school board paid for them...they could have put that money for better things.