Assignment Desk's blog

Editor: Municipal Code Wiki

Assignment Desk — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 16:20:55 +0000

The municipal code is online on the City web site but is a format that make it hard to access. It is not clear the code is updated in a timely manner. This would not be like Wikipedia where anyone could edit it, Only a select group, run by the editor of this part of Talk of the Sound, would have access to edit the site.

The first part of this job is to copy and paste the online version of the code into the Wiki software which is probably a day long effort.

Once that is done, the editor would make edits to the Code based on a resolution passed by the City Council. This means reading the minutes after each board meeting and making edits as needed. In my review of past minutes there are sometimes NO changes, sometimes one or two or three. It is unusual to see much more than that.

Forum moderator

Assignment Desk — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 16:19:15 +0000

the software we use for the site has a "forum" module. some folks prefer the discussion forum model for community talk. If you like forums and would be interested to become the moderator of such a forum we would enable this feature and put you in change of it.

Editor Wanted - Tag Sales

Assignment Desk — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 16:11:49 +0000

Tag Sale Editor would initially collect announcement of tag sales from various sources - direct solicitation, taking down information from posted signs, readers reporting sales information, craigslist and other sources. The information would be put into a list to be published every Thursday night. There is a way to make a Google map based on this information and the editor would be taught how to do this - it is not that hard once a person has been taught how. The idea is that readers could come to the site each weekend and get a list of all the tag sales in New Rochelle along with a map displaying the location of each sale so they could plan their trip to visit sales of interest to them. Over time, hopefully, the list would become popular and more and more people would contact the editor directly via email with information about their tag sale so that the job would evolve over time into simply collecting emails and putting into the list/google map.

Education - school budget per child by school

Assignment Desk — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 16:08:22 +0000

Expenditure per child is measured by dividing total budget number by number of students. Is there a way to look at budget BY SCHOOL? Come up with a budget per pupil by school? What about gifts to the school (parents, PTA, community?). Do the schools report out gifts to the school? If you take the average per pupil and the gifts per pupil by school you would get variance. What about the actual value of the school itself - property, facilities, etc. Is there an "insured value"?

Hypothesis - kids at Davis get more money than kids at Columbus when you factor in gifts

Should direct gifts to a specific school be prohibited? Set up a common fund for such gifts?

Education - analyze middle school test results

Assignment Desk — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 16:07:36 +0000

Analyze results for 2006 for ALMS and IYMS, there were twice as many kids in ALMS getting a 4 on the test

Education - what does "highly qualified" teacher actually mean?

Assignment Desk — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 16:05:35 +0000

teachers are either highly qualified (bachelors degree + teaching certificate in the area they teach) or have no teaching certificate at all; How many teachers have a bachelors degree but no teaching certificate, or bachelors degree but teaching certifi cate in some other area. Also, how many teachers have master's degrees? How many teachers are currently enrolled in a program to earn a master's degree? What is length of time between getting bachelors degree and getting masters for those who are either getting it or working towards it?

Sunshine Reporter: cover Board of Education meetings

Assignment Desk — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 17:29:06 +0000

Looking for someone to cover Board of Ed meetings - record, report, take pictures, etc. May want to have a team of people for this role.

Sunshine Reporter: cover Planning and Zoning meetings

Assignment Desk — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 17:27:49 +0000

Looking for someone to cover these meetings -report, record, take pictures, etc. We might want a team to share this responsibility.

Sunshine Reporter: cover City Council meetings

Assignment Desk — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 17:26:32 +0000

Looking for a person to attend, record, take notes, take pictures of all City Council meetings. We might want a team to rotate responsibilities.

Photo Assignment: Notable Signs in New Rochelle

Assignment Desk — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 17:24:33 +0000

Take photos of the most interesting signs around New Rochelle - the Telerama sign on North Avenue, Regal Cinemas sign at New Roc City, etc.

We need you help - Contributors Wanted!

Assignment Desk — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 17:20:43 +0000

This is a community site which means its YOUR site. We are in the process of adding new content to the site each week but we could use your help.

We need editors. If there is particular section of the site that sparks you interest - or you would like to recommend a new section - contact us and we can get your started.

We need content. Our editors are looking for contributors to work on the following stories. Have your own idea for a story? Drop us a line.

We need web site monitors There are some great web sites online from sources that we want to include in Talk of the Sound but they are a little klunky or not set up with current technology like RSS. So, we monitor their content each week and if they add new material we copy it to our site manually (where permitted by law) or link/summarize as appropriate. If you don't have time to be an editor and don't think of yourself as a writer, this is a great way to get involved with Talk of the Sound.

Labor Day Weekend DWI Checkpoints

Assignment Desk — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 17:15:53 +0000

provide information on Federal program to pay for overtime to local police, get information from NRPD, interview NRPD spokesperson, talk about where the check points are typically set up, need to also check registration, seat belts, cell phone, etc.