Town Council Meeting

The Town Council Meeting will be held tonight at the Council Chambers and will be streamed live over this site, www.downtownmaine.tv/dexter, the Town website, and TheDailyMe.com. Feel free to watch if you can't make it in person.

Taking the plunge

I wanted everyone to know that I finally took the plunge and bought my own domain name in order to have complete control of my own website. I actually hope to turn it into a money maker with adds and a few other things. It will take a few days before it is up and running but when it is, the site is www.downtownmaine.tv/dexter. Be sure to check it out. I hope you will enjoy it.

The goal behind this new site is to provide a common place for businesses, churches, and other groups of interested parties to post information for others to easily find. If you would like to become a contributor please email me dgiles2@yahoo.com.

Elections are finally over

First of all, let me congratulate the winners of the Dexter Town Council race, Roger Brawn and David Clukey, and also thank those who took the time to vote for me or the candidate of their choice. This being my first race for office, I can only use it as a learning experience that I can build upon in the future. For those who do not know the actual results, here they are.

• Roger Brawn - 810 votes or 24%
  
• David Clukey - 792 votes or 23%
  
• David Giles - 649 votes or 19%
  
• Peter Haskell - 634 votes or 19%
  
• Ella Munday - 526 votes or 15%
  

Just in case anyone was wondering; yes I do plan on staying involved in the local community and hope to push for changes that will help Dexter and the local economy. I have said it many times before, and I will continue to say it; Dexter is a great place with many untapped resources. There is absolutely no reason why unemployment, welfare, and high school drop out rates should be as high as they are. But the only way those numbers will change is for the residents of Dexter to demand change. I do believe that the sheer amount of people running for office and the number of people who voted demonstrates that people are tired of the same old approach to local government and are demanding that those in office live up to their oath and obligations. Once again, congratulations to Roger and David.

For those who enjoy the live casting of different events, I hope to create a more "consistent" schedule. I am also thinking of using it as a way of having residents express their concern about local and state concerns. This would be similar to newspapers that ask people a particular question and put your picture and response in the the opinion page. Let me know what you think by writing a comment.

If you missed it.

For those who missed the 'Meet the Candidates" forum at the Universalist church last Friday, you can still watch it. At the moment, I have the town council candidates portion of the video linked to the above video. Simply click the play button to watch it. If you want to watch the State Legislature candidates, Doug Thomas and Tammy Lockhart, simply click on the menu button (on the above video screen), and click on 'Go to Video Page'. After that you can choose which video to watch.

I want to dedicate some of this blog to the "controversy" that surrounds the boat launch. This is one of the areas I spoke about at the candidates forum and wanted to make sure those who watched the video understand why I support the boat launch being in it's present location (or one very close by).

For those who are not up to speed on the controversy, here is what I have been able to gather for information. The State has agreed to; completely restore the present picnic area, fix the erosion that has pretty much decimated the present boat launch, put in a new up-to-date boat launch, and then give the entire thing to the Town of Dexter. You might be asking yourself "What is the State going to charge Dexter?". The answer is NOTHING!!! The State is willing to pay the entire bill and then GIVE it to the Town. The next question you are probably asking yourself is "Well what's the problem?". Well, some members of the Utility District seems to think that a boat launch that close to the Town water supply intake (approximately 700 feet) presents a danger of water contamination and therefore have been fighting it for the past couple years. Here is where I have questions and after reading them you will quickly realize what side of the controversy I am on. The water intake is a couple hundred feet from the bridge. In the summer time, boats travel under the bridge and by that intake all day long and there has never been an issue with contamination. In fact, if you look at how boat owners have to use the small boat launch by the closed campground and then have to travel under the bridge directly by the water intake, the chances for water contamination is increased.

The sad part of it is that the Utility District has yet to explain any scientific evidence that shows the increased possibility of contamination that a new boat launch would present. On the contrary, the Maine Department of Conservation said during the mediation meeting, that having a new boat launch 700 feet away from the intake would present no increased chances of contamination. At the chance of alienating myself from members of the Utility District, I have to say this. I think the Department of Conservation is much more in tune as to what does and does not present a chance of contamination.

So what does this all mean to Dexter? Well, the Town is looking at a new location some 9000 feet away from the intake. The only problem with this, is that it is on the opposite side of the lake and nobody besides the residents of the lake will really know that it exists. In our present economic situation, I cannot see how this is encouraging people to come to Dexter and spend money. Also, it may end up costing the Town money depending on how much it costs to purchase the lot needed to put in the boat launch.

My personal view is that we should open the campground to some capacity, have the State put in a new boat launch in it's present location, and focus on getting people visit Dexter and spend money. There are many small businesses in that area that would prosper from this happening, PJ's bait shop. TJ's resteraunt, Nessi's, and Lakeshore Lunch are a few. A boat launch on the opposite side of the lake will serve little to no purpose in encouraging economic growth.

I would highly encourage each of you to contact the Utility District Trustees and express your concern. Each member's contact information can be found at www.dextermaine.org/committees.html. I would also encourage people to take a more active role in the local community. Many of the problems we have in Dexter is the lack of involvement from all but a few people when it comes to serving on committees and attending meetings. If there was a better selection of candidates for these committees, Dexter would be in a much better position. That is note a "slam" to everyone who serves on the committees. Some of them serve with Dexter's best interest at heart and they do a very good job. It is only a way of me expressing my frustration of too many people serving on committees that end up hurting the local economy and in the end hurting Dexter.

Live from Dexter!!! Up next? watch events that have already been streamed.

WE DID!!!! The live cast stream of both the Career Exploratory and the Town Council meeting was a huge success. For those who did not know, the Town Council was streamed over this blog web site, the Town website, and TheDailyMe.com. Many thanks goes out to Judy Craig Wilbur for all the help and support in getting this project off the ground. The only draw back was problems with the sound. I think this problem has been resolved with a purchase of a wireless mic system that I can integrate with my laptop.

A comment was left on my last blog about viewers having the ability to visit a library of previously recorded events. I am working on a couple different options to help meet that request. IF we can pull it off, viewers will have two options for viewing previously recorded events. The first will be to watch them online. Simply click on the menu in the bottom right area that plays the video, then click on view show page. The second option will involve individuals visiting the Abbott Memorial Library and signing out a DVD of the event from the media section. I have not officially approached the library with this idea, but will see what I can do. Keep in mind that neither option is presently up and running at this time. The online options will most likely be available first, as it will be the easiest for me to implement.

Just a reminder that the "Meet the Candidates Night" will be at the Universalist church in Dexter, this Friday, October 17, at 6:30 PM. I encourage all of you to come and meet those who want to represent you at the local and State level. I am also looking for people who would like to help me run the cameras during some events. If you like working with video, sound, or pictures, and would like to learn how to help make this video streaming a bigger success, please contact me.

Live Streaming Dexter Events

I mentioned in one of my previous posts, that one of the reasons why I want to run for Town Council is to help bring Dexter into the modern age when it comes to technology. I also said that I wanted to help make our local government more open and transparent. One such was is to use live streaming to broadcast events around town. In todays technology centered economy, this would be a great way of disseminating information to those, who because of time constraints or prior engagements, cannot make the meetings in person. For those who do not know what live streaming is, it is simply having live video being broadcast over the Internet.

I have decided to incorporate this form of media into my blog, and hope to stream different events from around Dexter. You can see the schedule of planned events that I hope to stream on the right side of the screen and the video itself is shown on the left. Simply push the play button at the time of the scheduled events and viola. the video will start streaming. It is the ultimate is reality TV.

At the moment, I am planning on streaming the Meet the Candidates night on October 16, and with any luck I will stream the Career Exploratory day at the Tech Center on October 9. I encourage you all to mark your calender and tune into these events. If these work out the way I think they will, I hope to have other local events streamed on a regular basis. For those of you who miss the live events, I hope to have a schedule where I can replay them at a later time. Either way, you the taxpayer, remain more informed and have something to base your opinion on when deciding on who to vote for.

If you have an event that you would like to see streamed, simply record it and drop me an email. I will not promise that all requests will be streamed, but I will do my best to work it into the schedule.

Tune in for future developments!!

Online Learning: Bringing Dexter Out Of The Dark Ages

I found this story online the other day and wanted to pass it on for others to ponder over.

Florida starts virtual school mandate

A new state law will require public schools to offer fully online avenues for education.

BY LAURA GREEN

The Palm Beach Post

Starting next school year, the first generation of Florida students can earn a diploma from their public schools entirely online, without ever setting foot in a classroom from kindergarten through 12th grade.

A new state law requires districts to create their own full-time virtual schools, collaborate with other districts or contract with providers approved by the state.

The law is believed to be the most wide-ranging virtual mandate in the nation.

''The rest of the country will be watching to see how it goes,'' said Julie Young, president and chief executive officer of Florida Virtual School and a board member of the North American Council for Online Learning.

By August, school superintendents must settle everything from how to provide the needed technology to how to engage squirmy kindergartners who lack the attention span to sit at a computer for hours.

PRESENT OPTIONS

The state already funds two online schools catering to students in kindergarten through eighth grade as well as the Florida Virtual School, which offers middle and high school courses.

During the 2007-08 school year, more than 57,000 students took at least one Florida Virtual School course. But very few committed to an all-online experience.

The new law is expected to bring Web-based education to many more students and increase the number who take all of their classes in a virtual world.

But the law provides only a vague reference to providing computers and Internet access to students ''when appropriate.'' Each district can decide what that means, raising concerns that the program may not benefit students whose families cannot afford home computers and reliable Internet access.

DIFFICULT LOGISTICS

In Palm Beach County, district officials said it would be too expensive to provide computers to all virtual students to use at home. Administrators have proposed opening school computer labs.

Shemifhar Freytes is one of Palm Beach County's few full-time online students, finishing her senior year at Palm Beach Gardens High School without entering a brick-and-mortar classroom.

A night owl who does some of her best work at 2 a.m., she likes the flexibility of Florida Virtual School.

''You don't have to be stuck in one lesson that you perfectly understand because the rest of the class doesn't get it,'' Freytes said.

She also likes the variety of ways in which lessons can be taught online.

In her Advanced Placement government class, Freytes attended a Web seminar about constitutional amendments. Students logged on at a set time and viewed slides of photos and text that the teacher created on the right side of the screen and chatted via instant message on the left side.

`NEW WORLD'

''This is a new world, and children have different learning modalities,'' said Debra Johnson, principal of what will become Palm Beach County's virtual school. 'We need to be preparing ourselves for not only the future, but we need to be addressing students' needs now and providing different opportunities.''

This school year, the district is starting with 12 county students in kindergarten through eighth grade who are registered for online school through a state program.

Administrators will interview the students, their parents and teachers to learn what works and what doesn't as the county crafts its program.

FINANCIAL BOON?

At first blush, the law appears to be a boon for school districts that will get to pocket student funding without having to build schools to house them. But districts must still pay teachers, revamp their curriculum for the online world and buy new technology. They also can pay a private company to do that for them.

The law cites several companies approved by the state, which some view as a back-door invitation to for-profit companies to get a foothold in public schools.

''I can't see how [districts] would make money with it,'' said Bill Thomas, director of educational technology for the Southern Regional Education Board, which serves 16 states from Delaware to Texas. ``The only thing I've heard is the frustration from superintendents about the requirements to implement it.''

In Palm Beach County, Johnson said the district likely will buy online curriculum but oversee its own school, run with county teachers. Virtual students must meet state standards and take the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test.

Susan Patrick, president of the North American Council for Online Learning, said it would be a mistake for all 67 Florida counties to create virtual schools from scratch.

''There's a lot of planning money to reinvent the wheel that may not be necessary,'' Patrick said.

Angela Specketer, principal of the Minnesota Virtual Academy, knows what Florida districts are facing.

In 2002, her school district launched its full-time virtual program. It bought the curriculum from a proven virtual education vendor, but there still was a lot to learn. That included grappling with how different it is to teach a high school junior and a first-grader online.

LEARNING CURVE

''Whereas a high schooler can be very independent -- they can have a conversation or work on the computer or phone -- with an elementary student, you need to bridge that gap,'' she said.

Specketer sends plastic tubs full of books and teaching materials to the homes of elementary school students. Only 20 percent of the curriculum is taught online, and parents must commit to walking their children through the rest of their lessons.

''Not every parent wants to be engaged at that level,'' Specketer said.

For some, she said, virtual education can rekindle their love of learning.

''It has more to do with whether this is a good way for [each] student to learn. To me, I look at online learning not as something that's going to be the savior of education,'' she said. ``This is one alternative.''