Thomas Education

How to best track staff absences? Schools generally have elaborate processes to track student absences and lateness.  In fact, our Student Information System (Rediker) began as a computerized method for tracking attendance, then expanded to gradebook and report cards, etc. Tracking staff absence is an after-thought in many schools, especially when starting up. What is the purpose of tracking faculty absences (and lateness): Payroll office needs confirmation of workdays and sickdays, to properly track contract fulfillment and adjust salary accordingly; Principals need to plan substitution schedules, and counsel staff regarding any issues; Colleagues need to adjust collaboration plans (with both teachers and other classrooms); Community members aid others who are sick or bereaving; Social groups want to know about members of the group, particularly that they are fulfilling their obligations to the group; Parents want to know when their child’s teacher is abs...

Google announces that in Gmail they are now automatically converting addresses and phone numbers into clickable links.  I am not happy about this; in my experience, such automatic links cause more trouble than they are worth.  However, I understand that it looks sexy and makes people feel that the computer is providing service.  I submitted this comment to the GoogleCloud discussion board: I think this should be an optional setting (perhaps turned on by default, with a checkbox to allow the admin to turn it off, analogous to the recently-introduced   QuickAccess   function). Setting default actions for phone and e-mail are not terribly obvious in the Mac OS, and some organizations allow or encourage members to use different VOIP or mail apps, particularly in an international setting like mine. For example, Apple really wants everyone to use Apple Mail.  But AppleMail connects with gmail via imap, which does not actually delete messages -- our users...