Every 15 Minutes – My Favorate Images.

Every 15 Minutes – My Favorate Images.

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April 17, 2008 one of our local high schools decided to put on a simulation called Every 15 Minutes. I was asked to volunteer to take photographs for the Placentia Neighborhood Watch. It was quite an elaborate production. Here is just a partial list of participants:

The purpose of the simulation was to drive home the fact that many of the students that viewed the simulation had a chance of dying because of drinking alcohol and driving a vehicle.

A faculty member was made up to be the Grim Reaper and was sent to classrooms to collect students that were picked to simulate a student dying every 15 minutes. A gong sound was played over the public address system for the whole campus to hear. When I accompanied the Grim Reaper to my first classroom, to take pictures, a whole number of students were crying, quite emotional. A faculty member accompanies the Grim Reaper and while in the classroom reads a biography of the student picked to become dead. The student walks out with the Grim Reaper and sent to the faculty lounge where white face paint is applied. They go back to class but are instructed to not talk to anyone, walking dead.

Two automobiles that were previously in a crash were towed to the front of the campus, in the middle of the street. Students that were made up to have suffered injuries and death were put into the cars. Junior and senior students were sent out of the campus grounds to view the “crash”. A smoke bomb was set off on the far side of the vehicles. Fire and police rolled up with sirens. A public address system provided to the crowd what the student actor who survived the crash said and bystanders responding.
Grim Reaper and fire fighters.

The fire fighters had to cut off the top of the car to extricate a “dead” body, actually a student actor.

Fire fighters & Grim Reaper by accident

That body was placed on a gurney and then placed in a hearse and driven away. In the image below we see firefighters kneeling beside the dead body.

Fire fighters kneel next to gurney

In a few minutes a plastic tarp goes over the body and then placed in a hearse and driven away.

I was mightily impressed with the crash site simulation. As I scanned the crowd of student faces, I could see that they were mesmerized with this effort.

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When one covers an event like this, the likelihood that you will come up with an image that impresses you is directly related to the number of images you take. Out of 214 images, I only thought a handful were exceptional.

 

 

Updated: March 7, 2019 when it was discovered that the web site for Placentia Neighborhood Watch was taken down by the city.  I removed that link.  The Placentia city police department link had to be changed also.
Possible Money Saving Solution For California Budget Problem. (Opinion)

Possible Money Saving Solution For California Budget Problem. (Opinion)

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Opinion

California State is/will suffer a budget short fall that will impact all our state education institutions at all levels, from kindergarten to college for quite some time. We hear of teachers at our grade, middle and high schools possibly not getting renewed contracts. This is expected to impact our state education product, which means there is likelihood that our children will not get the best education in the future. At the college level we have seen tuition rates that have outpaced inflation and possibly placing college level of education out of reach for a lot of young people. At one state college the budget short fall is expected to be about $15,000,000.

At the college level we hear very little as to how they plan to meet this crisis. Colleges and universities have seemed to always function with little or no oversight from the sovereign power base. If we leave the decisions for the possible budget cuts to the institutional leaders, they just might formulate solutions that protect their own positions and cut out the front line workers that actually create and deliver the product, the faculty.

Here are some ideas for cutting colleges and universities expenditures.

1. Do away with all offices of Dean on all state campuses or drastically limit this allegedly superfluous level of management. This level of bureaucracy came out of the Catholic Church model of putting a super priest in charge of a quantity of lower priests. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dean_%28education%29 ) Here are the reasons for this cost savings:

a. Looking at numerous web sites that publish the duties of college deans, it becomes apparent that the role of dean, most broadly speaking, is that of facilitating and promotion. Their function appears to be somewhat removed from the core mission of teaching which is the point being made in this recommendation. When times are tough, it makes sense to cut the extraneous – not what is most important, that being the instruction. Instruction is the product not administrator’s ego’s.

b. The alleged inflation within the deans offices of even more administrators called associate, assistant deans, and directors, bloats non core functionality and seems to eat up resources of space, salaries and parking that arguably should be directed toward improving the overall instruction process and delivery.

c. Support staff “needed” to work for these middle managers populates these offices “unnecessarily” thus robbing other department offices of needed support staff. One example is at Cal Poly Pomona College of Engineering allegedly has five or six support staff working in the deans office while a department of Civil Engineering that serves forty faculty has only one secretary. One can only guess that the powerful might take care of their needs first when they are asked for budget cutting proposals.

2. Limit vice presidents to a more realistic number per campus. I propose that any state university or college be allowed only one vice president for each 10,000 students. Why is it that most countries that have a president and vice president as their political leaders can do with one vice president?
3. It is understandable to rely on a bureaucracy top down model coming from past historical practice, namely the Catholic Church. It evolved that way. This model comes from the middle ages. On the one hand the model works and history seems to support that conclusion. Such a system seems to work for a lot of military model businesses. But, education is expected to be innovative, cutting edge, collaborative and intelligent. Why not modify the model a bit and rid a whole class of managers that, one can argue, bloat the system for little gain.
4. Why not examine the possibility that each campus have an executive, a provost, that runs the day to day business and let the figure head president do the promotion, the glad handing community events? The provost meets with each department head instead of some umbrella VP and dean.

I propose that deans, associate deans and assistant deans all go back to teaching. They most probably will make their old salary, which will be a bit of a financial loss. This should help out the teaching load. A college and university dean’s office that has support staff can move these individuals into department offices thus offering help to the two most important customers: teachers and students.

Who owns the state colleges and universities? You do. If you pay taxes, you are the sovereign owner of each campus. These institutions have been operating in a convenient secrecy of being remote and removed from public scrutiny. There is a parent teacher association for each public school until we reach the public colleges and universities. Why? Once again it has evolved this way. Let us start to reevaluate the higher education process and see if we need all those middle managers that allegedly suck up high pay, staff and resources.

Management Problem Allegedly Persists To The Level Of Incompetence?

Management Problem Allegedly Persists To The Level Of Incompetence?

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This blog ran a series of articles delving into an internal problem at a state university.  We were made aware of this problem late fall of 07 and began putting up articles a few months later in an attempt to pressure the university to take action.  It took a while but the university did come around (we are not sure why) and apparently resolved the issue.  The article that once appeared here has been taken down because we think it no longer serves the purpose it was intended.

City Of Angels at CSUF

City Of Angels at CSUF

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CSUF Play
City Of Angels
4-11-08

There are two aspects to any play, the play itself and what the theatrical group does with it. I found both to be stellar. The play was clever, contrived, funny, suggestive, naughty, and a bit too long. The implementation by the CSUF theater group was so impressive that it should either be offered for the next six months in place so the rest of Orange County and LA County can partake in this jewel or take the production on the road. I think the cast and crew have reached a level that just might be “off Broadway” level of quality.

A bit of personal background can explain how I judged this play. I have put on a bit of weight. My waist has grown a bit to make my current slacks fit a bit too tight. Our family joined another family for dinner before going to this show. I was going to have a light dinner so I would be comfortable for the show. I did not follow my intensions. When in the theater I was a bit uncomfortable. My point is this. I forgot how tight my pants were throughout the show.

When attending a play it is nice to be surprised with pleasant aspects. Quite a few delights showed themselves in the show. First was the staging. The use of props, moving set pieces, lighting and sound all worked together in a clever way. Second was a very clever script, which must have been both a challenge and a delight for the director to orchestrate. Third was the way the director blocked the action, moved the sets in and out and across the stage. Fourth was the way the curtains created screen wipes, cutting and revealing parts of the stage, very clever and it worked perfectly. Fifth was the acting. The actors really were able to put themselves into the story so convincingly. Sixth was the singing, not perfect, but impressive.

This show should be offered, to the public, for a long run.

Financial Aid Problems At A California State University

Financial Aid Problems At A California State University

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We received a private communication from a family that allegedly a series of mistakes were made for the deposit of scholarship money into their son’s account. The family counted at least six mistakes made over a six month period: “Wrong check numbers, wrong names, wrong amounts…”. If your student receives scholarship money, you might want to do what this family did. “He has his own checking account and a CD just for scholarships”.

Another problem came to light. It took the intervention of the parents to resolve the lost scholarship money. Every college and university wants the student to begin to act like an adult and try to resolve any institution issue without relying on anyone else. This student did just that beginning in August of 2007. This blog received this family communication in March 2008. The student claimed no one would deal with his problem for over six months! The student told his parents “what a difference in how you are treated when your parents show up with you”. Could it be that colleges and universities find it convenient to deal with timid young student populations rather than mothers and fathers?

CSUF NCAA Title Game Allegedly Ignored By Local Restaurant(s).

CSUF NCAA Title Game Allegedly Ignored By Local Restaurant(s).

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My daughter’s soccer practice ended at 7:30 pm Thursday, March 20th, the same night that Cal State Fullerton was to play in the NCAA tournament. The last time the CSUF basketball team played in the NCAA tournament was 30 years ago. I had graduated from that school and worked as a staff member for over 30 years and thus tied to that campus. I wanted to see that game. It was televised by KDOC. Just days previous I received the following e-mail:

Calling All Titans!

Cal State Fullerton Men’s Basketball team is a No. 14 seed and will face No. 3-seeded Wisconsin on Thursday night at approximately 6:30 p.m. Pacific Time from the Qwest Center in Omaha, Nebraska. The contest will be televised locally on KDOC-TV (please check your local listings for channel information).
For Titans in Omaha
The CSUF Alumni Association is hosting a pre-game reception at inPlay from 4:00 – 5:30 p.m. Titan fans can enjoy complimentary food and non-alcoholic beverages. There will also be a non-hosted bar. inPlay is located a few blocks from the Qwest Center at 1502 Cuming Street, Omaha, NE, 68102, 402-991-7400. www.inplayusa.com <http://www.inplayusa.com/>
For Titans on Campus
Titans living near campus are invited back for a game watch gathering at the Titan Student Union. Four big screens, comfortable seating, snacks and soft drinks will help make this game one to remember! http://asi.fullerton.edu/tsu/ <http://asi.fullerton.edu/tsu/>
For Local Titans
A game watch is scheduled for 6 p.m. at Brian’s Beer and Billiards located in the Albertson’s shopping center on the corner of Yorba Linda Blvd and Placentia. Brian’s Beer and Billiards is an official Titan Athletic corporate sponsor and will be airing the game on their five plasma screen TV’s. Patrons must be 21 years of age or older with proper identification.
For more information, please contact the Alumni Relations office at (714) 278-2586.

My daughter was all tuckered out from practicing soccer and wanted to stay home. My son, 18 years old, wanted to go to Claim Jumper for dinner. We could not go to Brians because of the age restriction. I called Claim Jumper and was assured that the CSUF basketball game was showing on two TV sets in the bar. I was told that there were empty tables in the bar. We arrived and took a table with clear view of a TV showing the CSUF game. Within 5 minutes the someone behind the bar changed the channels to the TV we were watching. I walked over and asked that that the CSUF game be put up. He said he was looking for the game. I told him that it was showing on the TV set, to go back to the channel that was up before. When I got back to my table, we found that both TV sets were switched to UCLA basketball. I asked a buss boy to have a TV set put to the CSUF game but my request was ignored. For the rest of the evening I did a slow burn.

  • Why is it that any restaurant, just a few miles from a local school campus, allegedly fail to support the local team?
  • Why is it that that any restaurant would fail to be sensitive to local sport fan interests?
  • Why is NOT Claim Jumper in Brea “an official Titan Athletic corporate sponsor”?

Maybe school and college alumni should favor businesses that support their schools. My next visit to a restaurant will be to Brians’ Beer and Billards.

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I was called by a Shannon Powers, Assistant Director of Guest Services. She was a lot of fun to talk to and she sincerely apologized for our experience at the Claim Jumper in Brea. She recommend to management that their restaurant, in Brea, form a partnership with CSUF. She said she would send a written letter to me. I was pleased with her call and her apology.

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I received a very nice letter, dated April 14, 2008, from Shannon Powers, Assistant Director of Guest Services. In the letter, she again apologized for our experience. She went on to add the following:

“I also want you to know that I appreciate your suggestion for a partnership between CSUF and our restaurant. I spoke to Steve Rezner, our director of Marketing, and Larry Bill, our director of Community Relations, about your idea. (Both) were enthusiastic about partnering with CSUF and will be contacting Mel Franks to start talks about exploring the possibilities.”