10. January 2009 by Mr. Andoscia.

Here are some elements I’m probably going to add to the social problems class to make it more realistic and inclusive.

1.  No Confidence/Recall Vote: About half way through the class I, as mayor, will offer an opportunity to recall the City Council.  If the decisions of the city council are disappointing groups will have the opportunity to throw the bums out!

2.  Concerned Citizens: Concerned citizens will either contact groups directly or through the blog with their concerns about social problem issues in Andosciaville. This will add a personal touch to the the class.

3.  Consequences for Decisions: When the council makes a decision I will research the consequences of that decision based on research for how those decisions work in other areas.  I may consult other experts for help in this.  Through the semester I will present those consequences to the class and the impacts on Andosciaville. You may find that your decisions created more social problems that need to be dealt with.  This means that groups and council members will have to do their research before presenting a proposal or creating a policy.

4. The budget that you create this semester will be used by the next class for the sake of continuity.  Right now the budget is rather simple. The elements you add will be continued into the next semester. So be careful what you hand down to your future generations.

This class is a work in progress.  As we go along offer ideas for ways to make the class better and more interesting.

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10. January 2009 by Mr. Andoscia.

I’ve had some folks asking me to clarify exactly what we are doing in Social Problems.  I figured it would be best to just describe how I see the next three classes going.  Remember, this is the vanguard class in this format, so I may be changing things as the class evolves.

But as it stands, this is how I see things working out.

This wee, each group will be responsible for two things. Usually they will only be responsible for one thing.

First, the groups must nominate a person in their group for City Council. I have exempted some groups from doing this based on contingency, and those groups already know who they are.

Second, the groups are going to communicate and/or meet during this week to put together a budget proposal.  Remember, Andosciaville is over budget, so either something needs to be cut or new ways of generating revenue must be added.  At the same time, each group has a special interest that they are trying to promote, so they may want to try to add some things to the budget that they are interested in seeing.

The person nominated for the Council will not be responsible for working on the budget. He/she will only be responsible for putting together their campaign to convince voters to vote for them. They should treat this just like any standard American election.  The groups nominated them with the assumption that they will serve the group’s interest, but the councilperson does not have to do that.  The Councilperson will only be graded and responsible for the decisions made by the council, not for how well they represent their groups.

Next week we will have the campaign.  Campaign speeches should be about five minutes or so long.  There will be a question and answer period and we will hold the election. Once the election is held the council will take their seats in front of the class.  That’s when each of the groups will present their budget proposals to the council (on which I am the Mayor, by the way).  There will be a debate time and the council will take what the groups had to say into account.

In the last half hour of class, or so, I will present the next social problem, I believe it is crime.  I will give a short lecture about social problems approaches and then everyone will be off.

So the next week the groups will be responsible for coming up with proposals for dealing with crime in Andosciaville. They will communicate throughout the week, and/or meet, and reach a consensus about the issue.

The city council will be dealing with old business.  They will be making a policy for balancing the budget. They can take what the groups had to say into account…or not.  They will not be graded on whether they make everyone happy, only what they propose.

The next class, the city council will present their budget policy to the class.  Their votes will be public record.  They do not have to come up with a consensus, only a majority vote creates the policy.  If there is someone in the minority who would like to present a minority opinion, they may do so, but it has no bearing on policy…it does however, tell the voters where you stand.

I’m thinking about instituting democratic recalls and no-confidence votes in ensuing classes to hold the council accountable for their votes. I’ve not yet decided how to do that.

There will be a brief discussion of the new policy and the possible consequences, then we will move on to new business. The groups will present their proposals for dealing with crime. These proposals may alter the budgets, so they may want to come up with ways to make money, cut something, or prove that their project will not impact the budget.  There will be debate and the matter will be left to the council.  I will introduce the next problem and away you go.

The council will then come up with policy for dealing with crime and the groups will create proposals for the next issue…and so on and so forth.

I hope that clarifies the matter for everyone.

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