Jena In The News Again

[MJS]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22423056/

Supposedly this fire was not race related, although it does not say who set the fire. Additionally, it seems like it was a bit much just to get rid of grade records.

Thoughts?

 

[Kacey]

It seems unlikely, somehow, that the 2 events are unrelated.

Also, speaking as a teacher - grades are kept on computers, and, in my district at least, the school server upgrades to the district server regularly; burning the school down would not destroy all of the copies of grades or of discipline records, which are kept on the same computer program.

 

[MJS]

It seems unlikely, somehow, that the 2 events are unrelated.

I was thinking the same thing. I mean, there is usually some sort of motive behind criminal acts, and if I had to wager a guess, I'd say this was race related. I'd guess that people are trying to play it off as not being racial, in hopes to avoid more tension, similar to the other incident that happened there.

Also, speaking as a teacher - grades are kept on computers, and, in my district at least, the school server upgrades to the district server regularly; burning the school down would not destroy all of the copies of grades or of discipline records, which are kept on the same computer program.

Agreed. Now, I have never been to Jena, but unless they're living in the stone age, then I'd also have to agree with your above comment, with the grades being on computer, not on paper locked in a cabinet.

 

[FearlessFreep]

I'd guess that people are trying to play it off as not being racial, in hopes to avoid more tension, similar to the other incident that happened there.

I heard someone of local authority (sheriff?) awhile back talking about the situation and his point was that there wasn't a racial component to the events until the national media descended into town and made it a racial issue by misrepresenting a lot of what had happened

 

[MJS]

I'd guess that people are trying to play it off as not being racial, in hopes to avoid more tension, similar to the other incident that happened there.

I heard someone of local authority (sheriff?) awhile back talking about the situation and his point was that there wasn't a racial component to the events until the national media descended into town and made it a racial issue by misrepresenting a lot of what had happened

You know, that very well may be the case, as we all know how the media distorts things to their advantage.

 

[Rich Parsons]

It seems unlikely, somehow, that the 2 events are unrelated.

Also, speaking as a teacher - grades are kept on computers, and, in my district at least, the school server upgrades to the district server regularly; burning the school down would not destroy all of the copies of grades or of discipline records, which are kept on the same computer program.

In 1984 the HS I went too, had the grades stored in multiple locations.

1) Instructors were required to maintain a copy either at the school or at home. It could be paper or on electronic media.

2) A hard copy stored for a year (* at least some times two *) at the school.

3) The computer system that printed out the grades had multiple locations as well.
3a) The schools computer system (* but this was in another admin building for the school admins *)
3b) The electronic back up stored at an offsite location. (* This site also stored other schools as well. *)
3c) The service that printed the grades also had a copy. (* Store electronically for a couple of years to make sure there were no mistakes *)

At the time computers were not the main stream and so they also kept hard copies offsite in long term locations, such as a doc-u-store type place.


Being the type who liked to understand how things worked. I tried to figure out how hard it was to actually change a grade. Not that I needed too, just to think about it. I was at an off-site class which also was the location of the place that stored the back-ups as well. This site had lots of computers and large plexaglass type walls. On one main frame cabinet was hanging a clip board with each school's name and id and password visable to anyone walking by. The problem was that I was told there were seven copies of the grades. Above you will count 6 unless you count the instructors personal copy as two or the actual copy given/sent to the students. Once I figured out how to do it, I then made a comment to an instructor about the security issue of the clip board.

So, while I understand trying to get into a system, and or trying to just see how it works, I do not nor have I ever supported the idea of destruction. I had access via other people and or myself to all copies I could find. But, never once did I think about destroying them or changing them for myself or others. I also would not have thought of burning a school down.

I guess this is a long winded rant about understanding people being curious about how things work but not being destructive.