Pursue this offer to speak with Dr. Jacobs

[Guy Nickerson]

I managed to get a sanitized message posted on Whipsnet today about the odd "letter of reassurance" that Dr. Jacobs sent home with physics students on Friday.  I noted that Dr. Jacobs ended the letter by requesting parents with questions or concerns about the abrupt faculty change to contact him, and I encouraged every parent with questions or concerns to take Dr. Jacobs up on his offer.  My wife and I plan to do so, and I hope that you do, too.

 

If his offer proves to be genuine and we all take advantage of it, Dr. Jacobs could be a very busy man.  On the other hand, if making contact with Dr. Jacobs on this topic proves to be problematic, well, that would also be good for us to know.  Thanks.

[Greg Clark]

 

From: Gregory Clark [mailto:greg.a....@gmail.com]
Sent: Sunday, September 11, 2011 11:43 PM
To: Parley...@slc.k12.ut.us
Cc: amanda.t...@slcschools.org; alama....@slcschools.org; do...@mdxperts.com; rosemar...@gmail.com; heather...@xmission.com; laurel...@slcschools.org; kristi...@slcschools.org; mckell....@slcschools.org
Subject: Clarification or correction of your statement regarding teaching experience for Mr. Arce-Larreta

 

To:       West High School Principal Parley Jacobs

Date:   11 September 2011

Re:       Clarification or correction of your statement regarding teaching experience for Mr. Arce-Larreta

Cc:       Superintendent Withers; Board of Education

 

Principal Jacobs,

 

I am writing to request that you provide timely and appropriate clarifications or corrections regarding Mr. Arce-Larreta's reported positions and teaching experience at Weber State and the University of Utah.

 

The recent and past communications present serious discrepancies that must be resolved.

 

These discrepancies exist not only between your statements and the information provided by others, but also between your own statements themselves.  

 

Specifically, please indicate explicitly:

1)      Whether your statement that Mr. Arce-Larretta "has been an adjunct professor at Weber State and the University of Utah" is correct, or instead is incorrect, as has been claimed;

2)      The actual titles of the positions that Mr. Arce-Larretta  has held at Weber State and the University of Utah, respectively;

3)      The dates that he held those positions at each institution; and

4)      The courses he taught in each of those capacities.

 

Below I remind you of the past information provided, and note the discrepancies therein:

 

1)      Your official statement of August 26, posted on the West High whipsnet site.

 

Therein, you stated that Mr. Arce-Larreta (spelling corrected here) "has been an adjunct professor at Weber State and the University of Utah."  A reasonable reader of your statement might further infer, potentially incorrectly that Mr. Arce-Larreta may have taught university-level courses in those positions.

 

2)      Whipsnet posting and University of Utah website.

 

A subsequent posting on whipsnet (Aug 27) indicates that your official statement did not seem accurate.  To my knowledge, you have not yet responded to this issue.

 

As previously noted, the University of Utah website http://faculty.utah.edu/u0076538-CARLOS_ENRIQUE_ARCE-LARRETA/teaching/index.hml lists Mr. Arce-Larreta as "Associate Instructor, Academic Outreach Contin Ed, University of Utah", not adjunct professor, as you had indicated.  This website further indicates that Mr. Arce-Larreta was teaching one-week summer (2011) courses to preteens and teens.  The Youth Education Summerscool catalog http://continue.utah.edu/dl/youth.pdf indicates that none of these courses is in Physics.

 

There is, of course, a considerable difference between teaching one-week, non-physics courses to pre-teens and teens, and teaching University-level courses or high-school advanced Physics courses.

 

But also, of course, web information is not necessarily accurate or complete.

 

3)      Your letter of Sep 9, 2011, regarding Physics at West High

 

Your Sep 9 letter, distributed widely and posted on whipsnet, omits your previous claim that Mr. Arce-Larreta "has been an adjunct professor at Weber State and the University of Utah."  Notably, however, it does not indicate whether your previous claim was incorrect. 

 

The questions naturally arise:

a)      Was your previous claim that Mr. Arce-Larreta "has been an adjunct professor at Weber State and the University of Utah" correct?  Or was it incorrect?

b)      If your previous, still-posted claim was incorrect, then why did you simply omit that claim in your Sep 9 letter, rather than taking the opportunity to correct it in a timely and appropriate manner?

c)       If your previous, still-posted claim was incorrect, who is responsible for the distribution of this misinformation? 

 

Students, teachers, parents, and citizens have the right to expect and receive timely and appropriate information on this issue, and on other issues.  Release of misinformation damages credibility.

 

I thank you in advance for providing the specific information being requested as a matter of factual public record. 

 

Sincerely,

 

Gregory A. Clark

 

 

[Huaying Silcox]

I have been trying to send Mr. McGuire a thank you email about IB/AP website for 3 times since last night. I have never seen that it went through. Does anyone knows who is controlling this group's email?

Thanks!

Diane

[Gunseli Berik]

Hi Diane, 

I started the West Parents for McGuire group but do not have control over the emails. I have a hard time emailing from the google group as well,  so I send them via my regular email account. Perhaps others can suggest a more user friendly way of sending messages from the google group site?

Gunseli 

[Ania Kubica]

I send them from my regular e-mail as a reply to the group and have had no problems. My posts appear almost immediately.

 

Ania

 

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[Huaying Silcox]

Ania and Gunseli,

I do not have problem with all of my emails to this group except the thank you email to Mr. McGuire.

I have tried one more time after I received your email. I still have not seen it showed up. Here is the

email.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Mr. McGuire,
 
Thank you for opening up the IB physics Website. We appreciate your devotion to the West High IB/AP physics students.
You are a bright sharing star among Utah teachers. Please do not let the politics cloud your life. We always support you.
 
Thanks!


Diane

 

---

From: kris_ann...@juno.com
Date: Mon, 12 Sep 2011 17:10:22 +0000

[Huaying Silcox]

I see my email. I am not sure why that email to Mr. McGuire was a problem. Please do not worry. I think
that Mr. McGuire can see the message from me here.

Thanks!

Diane

---

From: we.s...@hotmail.com
To: west-parents...@googlegroups.com
Subject: RE: Who is controlling this group's email?
Date: Mon, 12 Sep 2011 12:01:04 -0600