Monday, July 7, 2014

Ackman and Atkins team up to sell Allergan on eBay?

Betsy Atkins, supporter of activist
investors, and eBay jump-starter.
On July 7, 2014, Bill Ackman nominated Betsy Atkins to join Allergan's Board of Directors.  Everyone knows, of course, that all of Ackman's nominees have been chosen for their ability to prep Allergan for an "Ackman-advantage" sale.  As it turns out, Ackman's choice of Betsy Atkins is especially interesting--given her venture capital relationship to eBay, the internet sales giant.

If Atkins joins the Board...will we soon be seeing Allergan on eBay?  Stranger things have happened.  Maybe this is Ackman's idea of cutting hostile takeover costs.  Sneak in, bid low, and have Atkins close the bid before Allergan's shareholders--or the SEC--know what hit them.  (Sound familiar?)

Ridiculous?  Sure.  But if an Air Force fighter jet can be sold on eBay, why not Allergan?  You have to admit, Ackman has been thinking waaay outside the box, lately.





Source:  https://investor.shareholder.com/nasdaqomx/CorpGovDirectorsConf/speakers.cfm#25297

Source: "Bring it on" by Robert McGarvey, 2008, http://www.corporatesecretary.com/articles/case-studies/11678/bring-it/


Introducing "Ackman the Alien"

Bill Ackman Readies the Valeant Space Modulator


Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Robinson Elementary Alert! SVUSD Closes Grade Database Before Critical Scores Are Entered

In conversation with a Robinson Elementary School teacher today, I learned some very troubling news.  The database that receives individual assignment scores and crunches them into final grades, was shut down on Sunday night.

So... What's the big deal?  According to a prominent teacher with decades of experience, staff are normally allowed until "after school is out" to finish grading assignments and essays, and then adjust the grades.  This year, however, teachers with hundreds of papers left to grade, were simply out of luck...never mind the students.

What if your child was gunning for the honor roll?  Maybe he or she had, say, an 88 or 89% in Social Studies as of the 15th of June, and was waiting for the grading of 4 or 5 awesome assignments (with high point counts) to shoot that overall grade into an A?  Tough luck.

As it happens, the teacher I spoke to said she had several kids "shooting for the honor roll," who will never make it thanks to the database shutdown.

An example database entry, below, shows a real Robinson Elementary School 3rd grader's Social Studies scores filed with SVUSD, as of June 24 (today).  As you can see, the last time it was updated was on June 15, and several assignments have not had their scores recorded.  The missing grades are also not highlighted in red, which would be the standard symbol for "the teacher never received it from the student to begin with." If this were the case, the grade would be entered as a 0.  There are other subjects in the database, like Health and Technology, that simply have no scores at all.

According to the total at the bottom, the overall grade is an 88.82%--a B.  But what if those missing assignments were as awesome as the student hoped?  Then his or her score would be in the 90's and an A...definitely the difference between a spot on the honor roll podium...or not.

Is it just me, or does this seem like there could be quite a few students learning a terrible lesson this year?   Work hard and turn in your work...but don't expect it to count?


 1 View Details Landform MapSummativeAssignments
10 / 10
100.00%Yes
  2 View Details Santa Ana MountainsSummativeAssignments
10 / 10
100.00%Yes
  3 View Details The Lands of Orange CountySummativeAssignments
74 / 100
74.00%Yes
  4 View Details Native Americans of Orange CountySummativeAssignments
    / 100
No
  5 View Details Juaneno LifeSummativeAssignments
    / 10
No
  6 View Details Juaneno Person ProjectSummativeAssignments
    / 100
No
  7 View Details Juaneno BasketSummativeAssignments
10 / 10
100.00%Yes
  8 View Details Explorers MapSummativeAssignments
9 / 10
90.00%Yes
  9 View Details OC SealSummativeAssignments
9 / 10
90.00%Yes
  10 View Details PB p.21-23SummativeAssignments
86 / 100
86.00%Yes
  11 View Details PB p.24SummativeAssignments
90 / 100
90.00%Yes
  12 View Details PB p.25SummativeAssignments
90 / 100
90.00%Yes
  13 View Details PB p.26SummativeAssignments
    / 100
No
  14 View Details PB p.27SummativeAssignments
100 / 100
100.00%Yes
  15 View Details PB p.28-29SummativeAssignments
87 / 100
87.00%Yes
  16 View Details PB p.39SummativeAssignments
100 / 100
100.00%IncompleteYes
  17 View Details PB p.40-41SummativeAssignments
80 / 100
80.00%Yes
CategoryPerc of
Grade
PointsMaxPerc
Assignments100.00%755.0085088.82%
Total88.82%
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