A special edition of Schools News Around the Blogosphere: Bad Behavior
Also a special shout out to the Long Hill Observer blog. Recent entries include:
What is the problem with open and transparent government?
I Asked The Board; No Response Yet
Apathy This one was a goodie!
How Do We Hold Them Accountable?
Wow...sounds just like home!
Ga. county struggles as school crisis drags on
Fort Mill Times, May 31, 2008
A February report from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools blamed the district's woes on a "fatally flawed" school board and accused it of bickering, acting on behalf of special interests, meddling in the schools and making derogatory comments to school administrators during meetings.
Taxpayers won't have to pay for new Clayton diplomas
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 05/31/08
A national company has offered to waive the charges to print 3,000 new diplomas for Clayton County students, saving taxpayers about $80,000. Clayton's new schools superintendent, John Thompson, had ordered new diplomas printed after he learned the old ones bore the name of former Superintendent Gloria Duncan and the signature of former school board Chairwoman Ericka Davis, who resigned in April.
Palm Beach County teachers found to have questionable content on Facebook profiles
South Florida Sun-Sentinel June 1, 2008
Join Facebook and type in "Palm Beach County School District." Up popped more than 200 names, many of them local teachers sharing personal information. A kindergarten teacher had a page with links to photos of herself drinking and having her bottom spanked by a friend. An elementary school music teacher had a page sprinkled with profanity about his former administrators. A special-education teacher had a page that revealed he is "super horny" and an "A++" in bed.
'Loose at best, criminal at worst'
Toronto Sun, June 1, 2008
Toronto's Catholic School Board trustees still owe taxpayers for thousands of dollars worth of questionable expenses, a Sunday Sun review of board documents dating back to 2003 shows.
Sunday, June 1, 2008
More information on Beaver County merger
Here's a link to the Center Area School District webpage on the merger with Monaca
Fight for your child
From the BCCT this morning. Here's a letter about the Emperor's attempts to illegally obtain special education student information.
Has anyone ever asked the Emperor why he needs to be so confrontational and divisive? Whenever there's an easier way out, he seems to instinctively choose the course of action that requires the most work, the most angst, and the greatest amount of scorched earth. These are not highly prized qualities.
A second article reports on a merger between two Beaver County districts.
The last article is about a one-man campaign to stop teacher strikes. There's one line from the article that is very revealing" "School board President Gregory Lucidi said that Campbell’s approach can be forceful, but effective."
Imagine what could be accomplished in Morrisville if YOU got involved.
Fight for your child
The Morrisville school board wants to cut spending on special education. This
certainly caught my attention.
I have a special needs child in the district. I have been hearing about how the school board president wanted to get the names, addresses and amount of money spent on each child in the district. I heard that he was told at a school board meeting how he cannot take away programs to help our children. This is the law.
Now he wants to cut spending. Exactly where does this put the needs of the child?
I have spoken to many parents from other districts who have horror stories about their children’s education. I have always been proud to say that Morrisville has given my son the resources he needs and because of this he has made amazing progress.
To all parents of special needs children: Get out the booklet that you get at your IEP meetings and this will show you the legal rights of your child. Then if the board tries to take away our children’s rights to be educated, this booklet will give us the information to fight for our children.
Board President Hellmann is a CPA but does he understand anything about educating the special needs child? Obviously not.
Debra Hutchinson Morrisville
------------------------------------------------------------
Ed. secretary: Districts’ merger should be model
MONACA, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania Education Secretary Gerald Zahorchak says he hopes the looming merger of two struggling Beaver County school districts will lead to similar deals between other districts.
The Center Area School Board is scheduled to vote June 12 on a resolution that would seal the district’s merger with the neighboring Monaca School District.
“It’s historic,” Zahorchak said. “School districts all around the state are talking about this. There are probably eight or 10 different pairs in the talking stages.”
Center and Monaca decided to merge because their shrinking student populations had led to concerns about wasted building space and the inability to offer anything more than basic programs. Specialized courses are harder to justify when few students are available to take them.
The districts expect to save $1.5 million annually and have been promised $500,000 from the state to cover one-time costs associated with the merger.
The real benefits, however, may be reaped by other districts that should consider merging for the same reasons, but have been putting it off, said Zahorchak and Tom Gentzel, executive director of the Pennsylvania School Boards Association.
“Parents and taxpayers need real, specific examples and answers as to how things will work,” Gentzel said. “If we get one or two of these that work well, it will certainly make it easier for others.”
Pennsylvania has 501 school districts and 211 have fewer than 2,000 students.
------------------------------------------------------------
Strikebuster
Dad declares war on teachers union
Lower Makefield’s Simon Campbell models himself after Margaret Thatcher and is leading the drive to ban teacher strikes in Pennsylvania.
By MANASEE WAGH
In 1950s England, Simon Campbell’s electrician grandfather publicly ripped up his union card. In the same decade, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher dissolved the power of trade unions in the United Kingdom. Campbell, who grew up in northwest England and is now a resident of Lower Makefield, said his grandfather was making a public statement against strikes. “He wanted to go to work and provide for his family. When the strike happened, he was one of the few to cross the picket line,’’ Campbell said. Now Campbell, 40, is taking a page from his grandfather’s book and going one step further: Over the past three years, he’s raised a grassroots movement to pass legislation making teacher strikes illegal in Pennsylvania. As a father of three elementary school children in Pennsbury, he said he was appalled by the 21-day teacher strike in 2005 and blamed “the power of the union” for disrupting the school year.
Three years after Campbell started protesting union rules and teacher strikes in Pennsbury, he has become a controversial figure in the local community.
In early April, Campbell linked to a list of teacher salaries on StopTeacherStrikes.org, the volunteer organization he started after the 2005 strike. Pennsbury teachers union leaders downplayed the publicity he generated, saying that the information already was publicly available.
Campbell is guardedly optimistic about Senate interest in the future, and as for interest from Gov. Ed Rendell, Campbell thinks it could go either way.
“You never know with Rendell. He’s made some noises on the issue. Of course he’s taken a truckload of money from teachers unions. But you never know.”
While Campbell was not the first to make salaries public or claim that teachers are paid too much, he did stir up the issue.
“We are doing this to galvanize the public,” he said.
He hopes the public will eventually pressure the state Legislature into passing the Strike-Free Education Act, House Bill 1369. It would make Pennsylvania the 38th state to make teacher strikes illegal. Campbell contributed ideas for the bill, which chief sponsor and author state Rep. Todd Rock, R-Franklin, unveiled in early June 2007.
Rep. Dave Steil, R-31, who supports the bill, said Campbell is the only one “on the forefront” of the push for anti-strike legislation.
“He’s had the temerity to follow through. It’s a real uphill battle in this state,” said Steil. “Ultimately legislation passes when there is a massive groundswell of public support.”
In February, Tim Allwein, assistant executive director of the state school boards association, said he thought it would take at least five more years for public pressure to mount high enough to change state law.
The bill is under consideration in the House labor relations committee and has 28 co-sponsors. Still, Campbell doesn’t anticipate a vote anytime soon — he believes that Robert Belfanti, the committee chairman, would be antagonistic to the bill because his campaigns have been funded in part by union money.
CARRYING THE MESSAGE
Campbell travels two to three times a month to connect with others about StopTeacherStrikes.
“I get invited to speak to other groups, and I network with other taxpayer groups. Activity happens through networking and talking to others,” he said.
Juggling his work, his volunteer activities with StopTeacherStrikes.com and being a parent of three young children, doesn’t leave him much time for hobbies, said Campbell.
“Mostly when I get down time, I like to read, travel and spend time with family and friends. I used to play a lot of squash but hurt my back so I can’t anymore.”
In the mornings, he’s an independent futures trader who works out of his simply appointed home office, with its sunny yellow walls, beige curtains and cream and wood furniture. The rest of the day he usually devotes to his cause and taking care of his three daughters, who attend Quarry Hill Elementary. He met his American wife at the University of Hull when she attended a year of college in England. She is an executive search consultant.
When the strike happened, Campbell said his family was “horrified.” Prior to settling in the U.S., the family had lived in Switzerland, where his eldest had attended two years of public school in a system that didn’t allow teachers to strike.
“The contrast was quite stark,” he said. “It is unconscionable and immoral to me that innocent children can be pushed out of school.”
But what pressed Campbell to action was what happened on the final day of the strike.
“As sure as I stand here, the war is not over, but the battle is done,” Nyla Houser, then union president, told about 600 striking teachers that day. At the time, some teachers believed that she was trying to keep up their spirits and stand in solidarity with them.
For Campbell, her words comparing the situation to a “battle” incensed him and were the trigger for rousing public opposition to teacher strikes and union rules, he said. It pushed him over the line from angry parent to activist.
“Had she not said those words, I might not have been inspired to StopTeacherStrikes,” said Campbell.
Whenever Campbell talks about his mission, his speech gets more heightened as he gets wound up. The volume increases, the eyes frown and the nostrils flare in a tidal wave of fervor for his cause. If there is one thing Simon Campbell is not, it is hesitant. And he’s not afraid to voice his opinions, even if it means being politically incorrect.
As an invited speaker at the Pennsylvania Leadership Conference in April, Campbell described unions as “Teletubbies” and the Pennsylvania School Boards Association as “Pretty Silly Blindingly Awful.” Later, Campbell explained the analogy.
“Teletubbies are kids’ characters, strange creatures that jump up and down making incoherent noises. But I’m being flippant. My sense of humor is an acquired taste.”
He went on to say at StopTeacherStrikes, “we don’t care about political correctness; we just cause a lot of trouble for the teachers union.”
Campbell tends to stir up emotions among those who agree and disagree with him. Many community members say they enjoy what he stands for but privately dislike his aggressive style.
House Bill 1369 co-sponsor Steil can appreciate Campbell’s confrontational methods.
“He once said to me confrontation works. We disagreed somewhat and we probably still do,” said Steil. But he added that Campbell’s brand of strong action keeps public attention focused on the issues.
In his children’s own school district, Campbell’s work to keep the public’s attention includes speaking up during the public comment portion of Pennsbury school board meetings.
School board President Gregory Lucidi said that Campbell’s approach can be forceful, but effective.
“He is doing a good job raising public awareness about teacher strikes and is getting a very positive response from members of the public. He has a very aggressive style, maybe too aggressive for some people’s taste, but he is effective,” said Lucidi, who has worked with Campbell to promote House Bill 1369. He believes Campbell’s input on the bill has garnered statewide attention.
‘I’LL DESTROY YOU’
Some local critics say that Campbell goes beyond strongly preaching his views.
Ronald Smith, a Lower Makefield supervisor and criminal defense lawyer, said he dislikes his behavior.
“I’m of the opinion that he’s nothing but a cancer. Although some of his positions may be laudable, he attempts to present his position by confrontation, intimidation and disparaging remarks to all those who may disagree with him,” Smith said. “They’re afraid to say this but I’m not afraid. If you don’t agree with Campbell, you are his archenemy. His position is — if you don’t agree with me, I’ll destroy you.”
Smith has accused Campbell of creating a rift between teachers and the school board. As a result, Smith says he’s worried that Pennsbury teacher contract renegotiations next year will be more difficult.
Campbell is quick to point out that he’s not against teachers.
“We’re anti-strike, not antiteacher. All my kids’ teachers are great.” He blames the unions for a number of ills in the district and state.
What vexes Campbell about unions, he said, is that non-union members have to pay a union fee in Pennsbury.
“There’s a difference between what a union member pays and what a non-union member pays, but why should they be forced to pay anything? It’s coercion. They’re like captive passengers.”
George Miller, president of Pennsbury’s teachers union, countered that the fees contribute to the cost of collective bargaining and contract management.
“No one is forced to join the union under any circumstances,” he said. However, he did not return phone calls and e-mails asking for further explanation.
Campbell also blames unions for contributing dues money toward political action.
“They shouldn’t be collecting money for private organizations to give for political actions. This money can pay for lobbying, political action committees, and be used to directly influence elections.”
Union leaders said that the money is used for more innocuous reasons. It goes toward petitioning for political actions that would benefit students, like paying representatives to petition for reforms on its behalf. Because teachers can’t go to Harrisburg and Washington, D.C., said a union leader, political leaders have to take action for them on concerns like No Child Left Behind.
As far as strikes go, Wythe Keever, spokesman for the state education association, said they evolved out of a feeling of helplessness in the late ’60s. At that time, Keever said, teacher salaries were low and public employees didn’t have collective bargaining rights.
He said growing advocacy at the state level led to the use of strikes as a bargaining chip.
“Striking is the only leverage that teachers have when bargaining fails to produce what they consider to be fair settlement. The general feeling is that strikes should be a last resort, but a legal last resort.”
WHERE DO LEGISLATORS STAND?
Campbell recently put a survey for state representatives on his StopTeacherStrikes Web site.
It asks whether they support strike-free legislation and union practices like taking a fee from all teachers, whether they are part of the union or not.
Campbell said he wants the public to know where legislators stand. He said StopTeacherStrikes is “all about educating the public, trying to get people to look at the big picture.”
He looks to his grandfather’s example when confronted with opposition.
“It wasn’t that he was teaching me to be anti-union but that I should stand up for what I believe in.”
Campbell said his role model is the former prime minister of the United Kingdom,
“In the 1980s, Margaret Thatcher liberated the UK from the stranglehold of corrupting union power and socialism. She was a conviction politician. People either loved her or they hated her. I loved her.”
Has anyone ever asked the Emperor why he needs to be so confrontational and divisive? Whenever there's an easier way out, he seems to instinctively choose the course of action that requires the most work, the most angst, and the greatest amount of scorched earth. These are not highly prized qualities.
A second article reports on a merger between two Beaver County districts.
The last article is about a one-man campaign to stop teacher strikes. There's one line from the article that is very revealing" "School board President Gregory Lucidi said that Campbell’s approach can be forceful, but effective."
Imagine what could be accomplished in Morrisville if YOU got involved.
Fight for your child
The Morrisville school board wants to cut spending on special education. This
certainly caught my attention.
I have a special needs child in the district. I have been hearing about how the school board president wanted to get the names, addresses and amount of money spent on each child in the district. I heard that he was told at a school board meeting how he cannot take away programs to help our children. This is the law.
Now he wants to cut spending. Exactly where does this put the needs of the child?
I have spoken to many parents from other districts who have horror stories about their children’s education. I have always been proud to say that Morrisville has given my son the resources he needs and because of this he has made amazing progress.
To all parents of special needs children: Get out the booklet that you get at your IEP meetings and this will show you the legal rights of your child. Then if the board tries to take away our children’s rights to be educated, this booklet will give us the information to fight for our children.
Board President Hellmann is a CPA but does he understand anything about educating the special needs child? Obviously not.
Debra Hutchinson Morrisville
------------------------------------------------------------
Ed. secretary: Districts’ merger should be model
MONACA, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania Education Secretary Gerald Zahorchak says he hopes the looming merger of two struggling Beaver County school districts will lead to similar deals between other districts.
The Center Area School Board is scheduled to vote June 12 on a resolution that would seal the district’s merger with the neighboring Monaca School District.
“It’s historic,” Zahorchak said. “School districts all around the state are talking about this. There are probably eight or 10 different pairs in the talking stages.”
Center and Monaca decided to merge because their shrinking student populations had led to concerns about wasted building space and the inability to offer anything more than basic programs. Specialized courses are harder to justify when few students are available to take them.
The districts expect to save $1.5 million annually and have been promised $500,000 from the state to cover one-time costs associated with the merger.
The real benefits, however, may be reaped by other districts that should consider merging for the same reasons, but have been putting it off, said Zahorchak and Tom Gentzel, executive director of the Pennsylvania School Boards Association.
“Parents and taxpayers need real, specific examples and answers as to how things will work,” Gentzel said. “If we get one or two of these that work well, it will certainly make it easier for others.”
Pennsylvania has 501 school districts and 211 have fewer than 2,000 students.
------------------------------------------------------------
Strikebuster
Dad declares war on teachers union
Lower Makefield’s Simon Campbell models himself after Margaret Thatcher and is leading the drive to ban teacher strikes in Pennsylvania.
By MANASEE WAGH
In 1950s England, Simon Campbell’s electrician grandfather publicly ripped up his union card. In the same decade, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher dissolved the power of trade unions in the United Kingdom. Campbell, who grew up in northwest England and is now a resident of Lower Makefield, said his grandfather was making a public statement against strikes. “He wanted to go to work and provide for his family. When the strike happened, he was one of the few to cross the picket line,’’ Campbell said. Now Campbell, 40, is taking a page from his grandfather’s book and going one step further: Over the past three years, he’s raised a grassroots movement to pass legislation making teacher strikes illegal in Pennsylvania. As a father of three elementary school children in Pennsbury, he said he was appalled by the 21-day teacher strike in 2005 and blamed “the power of the union” for disrupting the school year.
Three years after Campbell started protesting union rules and teacher strikes in Pennsbury, he has become a controversial figure in the local community.
In early April, Campbell linked to a list of teacher salaries on StopTeacherStrikes.org, the volunteer organization he started after the 2005 strike. Pennsbury teachers union leaders downplayed the publicity he generated, saying that the information already was publicly available.
Campbell is guardedly optimistic about Senate interest in the future, and as for interest from Gov. Ed Rendell, Campbell thinks it could go either way.
“You never know with Rendell. He’s made some noises on the issue. Of course he’s taken a truckload of money from teachers unions. But you never know.”
While Campbell was not the first to make salaries public or claim that teachers are paid too much, he did stir up the issue.
“We are doing this to galvanize the public,” he said.
He hopes the public will eventually pressure the state Legislature into passing the Strike-Free Education Act, House Bill 1369. It would make Pennsylvania the 38th state to make teacher strikes illegal. Campbell contributed ideas for the bill, which chief sponsor and author state Rep. Todd Rock, R-Franklin, unveiled in early June 2007.
Rep. Dave Steil, R-31, who supports the bill, said Campbell is the only one “on the forefront” of the push for anti-strike legislation.
“He’s had the temerity to follow through. It’s a real uphill battle in this state,” said Steil. “Ultimately legislation passes when there is a massive groundswell of public support.”
In February, Tim Allwein, assistant executive director of the state school boards association, said he thought it would take at least five more years for public pressure to mount high enough to change state law.
The bill is under consideration in the House labor relations committee and has 28 co-sponsors. Still, Campbell doesn’t anticipate a vote anytime soon — he believes that Robert Belfanti, the committee chairman, would be antagonistic to the bill because his campaigns have been funded in part by union money.
CARRYING THE MESSAGE
Campbell travels two to three times a month to connect with others about StopTeacherStrikes.
“I get invited to speak to other groups, and I network with other taxpayer groups. Activity happens through networking and talking to others,” he said.
Juggling his work, his volunteer activities with StopTeacherStrikes.com and being a parent of three young children, doesn’t leave him much time for hobbies, said Campbell.
“Mostly when I get down time, I like to read, travel and spend time with family and friends. I used to play a lot of squash but hurt my back so I can’t anymore.”
In the mornings, he’s an independent futures trader who works out of his simply appointed home office, with its sunny yellow walls, beige curtains and cream and wood furniture. The rest of the day he usually devotes to his cause and taking care of his three daughters, who attend Quarry Hill Elementary. He met his American wife at the University of Hull when she attended a year of college in England. She is an executive search consultant.
When the strike happened, Campbell said his family was “horrified.” Prior to settling in the U.S., the family had lived in Switzerland, where his eldest had attended two years of public school in a system that didn’t allow teachers to strike.
“The contrast was quite stark,” he said. “It is unconscionable and immoral to me that innocent children can be pushed out of school.”
But what pressed Campbell to action was what happened on the final day of the strike.
“As sure as I stand here, the war is not over, but the battle is done,” Nyla Houser, then union president, told about 600 striking teachers that day. At the time, some teachers believed that she was trying to keep up their spirits and stand in solidarity with them.
For Campbell, her words comparing the situation to a “battle” incensed him and were the trigger for rousing public opposition to teacher strikes and union rules, he said. It pushed him over the line from angry parent to activist.
“Had she not said those words, I might not have been inspired to StopTeacherStrikes,” said Campbell.
Whenever Campbell talks about his mission, his speech gets more heightened as he gets wound up. The volume increases, the eyes frown and the nostrils flare in a tidal wave of fervor for his cause. If there is one thing Simon Campbell is not, it is hesitant. And he’s not afraid to voice his opinions, even if it means being politically incorrect.
As an invited speaker at the Pennsylvania Leadership Conference in April, Campbell described unions as “Teletubbies” and the Pennsylvania School Boards Association as “Pretty Silly Blindingly Awful.” Later, Campbell explained the analogy.
“Teletubbies are kids’ characters, strange creatures that jump up and down making incoherent noises. But I’m being flippant. My sense of humor is an acquired taste.”
He went on to say at StopTeacherStrikes, “we don’t care about political correctness; we just cause a lot of trouble for the teachers union.”
Campbell tends to stir up emotions among those who agree and disagree with him. Many community members say they enjoy what he stands for but privately dislike his aggressive style.
House Bill 1369 co-sponsor Steil can appreciate Campbell’s confrontational methods.
“He once said to me confrontation works. We disagreed somewhat and we probably still do,” said Steil. But he added that Campbell’s brand of strong action keeps public attention focused on the issues.
In his children’s own school district, Campbell’s work to keep the public’s attention includes speaking up during the public comment portion of Pennsbury school board meetings.
School board President Gregory Lucidi said that Campbell’s approach can be forceful, but effective.
“He is doing a good job raising public awareness about teacher strikes and is getting a very positive response from members of the public. He has a very aggressive style, maybe too aggressive for some people’s taste, but he is effective,” said Lucidi, who has worked with Campbell to promote House Bill 1369. He believes Campbell’s input on the bill has garnered statewide attention.
‘I’LL DESTROY YOU’
Some local critics say that Campbell goes beyond strongly preaching his views.
Ronald Smith, a Lower Makefield supervisor and criminal defense lawyer, said he dislikes his behavior.
“I’m of the opinion that he’s nothing but a cancer. Although some of his positions may be laudable, he attempts to present his position by confrontation, intimidation and disparaging remarks to all those who may disagree with him,” Smith said. “They’re afraid to say this but I’m not afraid. If you don’t agree with Campbell, you are his archenemy. His position is — if you don’t agree with me, I’ll destroy you.”
Smith has accused Campbell of creating a rift between teachers and the school board. As a result, Smith says he’s worried that Pennsbury teacher contract renegotiations next year will be more difficult.
Campbell is quick to point out that he’s not against teachers.
“We’re anti-strike, not antiteacher. All my kids’ teachers are great.” He blames the unions for a number of ills in the district and state.
What vexes Campbell about unions, he said, is that non-union members have to pay a union fee in Pennsbury.
“There’s a difference between what a union member pays and what a non-union member pays, but why should they be forced to pay anything? It’s coercion. They’re like captive passengers.”
George Miller, president of Pennsbury’s teachers union, countered that the fees contribute to the cost of collective bargaining and contract management.
“No one is forced to join the union under any circumstances,” he said. However, he did not return phone calls and e-mails asking for further explanation.
Campbell also blames unions for contributing dues money toward political action.
“They shouldn’t be collecting money for private organizations to give for political actions. This money can pay for lobbying, political action committees, and be used to directly influence elections.”
Union leaders said that the money is used for more innocuous reasons. It goes toward petitioning for political actions that would benefit students, like paying representatives to petition for reforms on its behalf. Because teachers can’t go to Harrisburg and Washington, D.C., said a union leader, political leaders have to take action for them on concerns like No Child Left Behind.
As far as strikes go, Wythe Keever, spokesman for the state education association, said they evolved out of a feeling of helplessness in the late ’60s. At that time, Keever said, teacher salaries were low and public employees didn’t have collective bargaining rights.
He said growing advocacy at the state level led to the use of strikes as a bargaining chip.
“Striking is the only leverage that teachers have when bargaining fails to produce what they consider to be fair settlement. The general feeling is that strikes should be a last resort, but a legal last resort.”
WHERE DO LEGISLATORS STAND?
Campbell recently put a survey for state representatives on his StopTeacherStrikes Web site.
It asks whether they support strike-free legislation and union practices like taking a fee from all teachers, whether they are part of the union or not.
Campbell said he wants the public to know where legislators stand. He said StopTeacherStrikes is “all about educating the public, trying to get people to look at the big picture.”
He looks to his grandfather’s example when confronted with opposition.
“It wasn’t that he was teaching me to be anti-union but that I should stand up for what I believe in.”
Campbell said his role model is the former prime minister of the United Kingdom,
“In the 1980s, Margaret Thatcher liberated the UK from the stranglehold of corrupting union power and socialism. She was a conviction politician. People either loved her or they hated her. I loved her.”
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