I had two fairly lengthy blog posts about individually unique items all set to publish. One would be geared towards running and hydration, the other towards education in a way. Now I think you are going to get several small snippets of this and that, all of which may become full blown blog posts in the future. Consider yourself warned.

Biogenesis

No, I am not a Yankees fan. No, I do not care what Alex Rodriguez does or doesn’t do. I do care – as will come up again later – that people play by the rules. If the rules say you cannot utilize certain substances, do not do it. If the rules say you should let the governing body investigate, let them. And, most importantly, when said governing body says you have to sit out for X number of games, buck up and do it like all the rest of the people.

Local School Boards and Open Meeting Laws

I looked over my local school board’s agenda this morning for this Thursday’s meeting. No, I am not a member of said board – at least not any longer. I did not run for re-election in May. Much to my dismay, a simply item like an employee requesting leave, was put on the agenda in a manner in which to not allow identification of said employee. My problem is consistency. As recently as June when I was still a board member, when an employee requested a leave of absence in writing, that employee was noted on the agenda. The reason for the leave was not noted just the request. I do not believe the general public needs to know the reason for an employee’s leave. I do believe the general public needs to know that a particular employee has requested leave. My theory goes back to consistency. When an employee receives tenure, receives a raise for additional education or for faithful service, when an employee is laid off or retires or resigns, the employee’s name is on the agenda. What makes a leave of absence different?

Further, I remember back when states used Social Security numbers as the number on your driver’s license. NYS never did this but I live 5 miles from the PA border and went to college out of state. Eventually, the Social Security Administration put an end to that practice. How does the NYS Teachers’ Retirement System feel about a teacher’s number in that system being used for other purposes? Can the name that is associated with said number be FOILed? Is that a possible issue with identity theft?

NCAA, Student-Athletes and Money

I ask you to refer back to something I wrote under Biogenesis. You play by the rules. Everyone plays by the same rules. Now, the NCAA makes the rules and enforces the rules when it comes to student-athletes. Do I think the rules are fair? Probably not. Do I think that a student-athlete should take the rules into his/her own hands? Definitely not. The rules are there. Universities have compliance officers, full-time employees that make sure that athletes and the university itself complies with the rules. Everyone is suppose to play under these rules so until the rules change, student-athletes are stuck with the rules as they are.

Twitter, Facebook and Students/Student-Athletes

Social media is becoming an ingrained part of our society. More and more schools – both elementary, middle or junior high, high school and colleges and universities are attempting to do more with less resources. To do more with less, most turn to free methods of communicating with students and student-athletes. Should a coach restrict athletes from using social media? No. This would put limits, in many cases, on the classes students could take. What is a coach to do? A coach, or a teacher for that matter, needs to pattern what acceptable use of social media is for his/her charges. An adult needs to explain the pros and cons to posting items – from status updates to photos – on social media. Students, and in my mind particularly student-athletes – who travel and may miss more classes than the average student, need to be able to utilize various platforms of social media and need to be able to do so with integrity.