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Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Big Education Ape: 5-10-11 AM Teachers in Handcuffs Edition

Big Education Ape: Ed News Now

Big Education Ape: Ed News Now


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nypost.com - Read it and sweep. A Brooklyn charter school's finances are in such disarray that it axed 20 staffers mid-year and teachers have been left to sweep hallways and vacuum classrooms because of a custo...

leoniehaimson
educationgadfly.net - At first blush, it would appear that former Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings and Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels have a lot in common. Both served as cabinet members in the George W. Bush A...

DianeRavitch
washingtonpost.com - --This was written by John Ewing, president of Math for America, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving mathematics education in U.S. public high schools by recruiting, training and retain...

fklonsky
eiaonline.com - Of course it was inevitable that the National Education Association would endorse President Obama for reelection. Who else? But the timing caused some overinterpretation and I’ve been answering que...

coopmike48
michaelklonsky.blogspot.com - Leading mathematician debunks use of VAM The L.A. Times is once again publishing the names of every teacher in the district next to a concocted "value-added score." The reputations and careers o...

mikeklonsky

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coopmike48 Wrong Kind of Accountability? - Inside Higher Ed - http://goo.gl/COKyG2 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite

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coopmike48 ‘Simpsons’ actress stirs up Springfield with schools program linked to Scientology - Chicago Sun-Times -http://goo.gl/ZpRvOabout 1 minute ago · reply · retweet · favorite

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coopmike48 Calif. teachers protest budget at state Capitol - Forbes.com -http://goo.gl/tZJAq7 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite

#edu Read this paper49 MORE ARTICLES
bigeducationape.blogspot.com - Prosecuting the librarians « InterACTProsecuting the librariansby Martha InfanteFor those of you who hold libraries dear to your heart, please read and share what is happening to L.A.’s school libr...

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bigeducationape.blogspot.com - Superintendent threatens principal for offering teacher tenure « JD2718Superintendent threatens principal for offering teacher tenureby jd2718Absurd? Ridiculous? Yes. But true.The story that follow...

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bigeducationape.blogspot.com - What I Would Say To A Group of Promising Educators of Color | The Jose VilsonWhat I Would Say To A Group of Promising Educators of Colorby JoseYoung KRS-OneI had the privilege last Friday of attend...

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Media11

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Education153 MORE ARTICLES
washingtonpost.com - [Updated with details and link to Deasey letter to the Times.] It’s deja vu all over again with the Los Angeles Times and its value-added scores that supposedly tell us how effective are the teache...

mikeklonsky
blogs.edweek.org - With the debate over standardized testing increasingly focused on using the results to evaluate teachers, it's easy to forget about the SAT. How students in China are gaming the grandfather of all ...

tbfurman
pittsburghlive.com - A new analysis suggests the state could cut the number of teachers, increase student-teacher ratios and ease education's financial crunch without seriously damaging academic performance. A cost-ben...

leoniehaimson
Politics24 MORE ARTICLES
history.com - On this day in 1869, the presidents of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads meet in Promontory, Utah, and drive a ceremonial last spike into a rail line that connects their railroads. Th...

coopmike48
teamsternation.blogspot.com - Teamsters Denounce Florida Legislature Plan to Privatize Prisons IBT ...With the passage of this bill, correctional officers at facilities in 18 counties in the state will face an uncertain futu...

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democraticunderground.com - Source: CNNWashington (CNN) -- President Barack Obama heads to El Paso, Texas, on Tuesday to give a speech on the need for comprehensive immigration reform -- a perennial hot-button political issue...

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Art & Entertainment18 MORE ARTICLES
nytimes.com - Kate Swift, a writer and editor who in two groundbreaking books — “Words and Women” and “The Handbook of Nonsexist Writing” — brought attention to the sexual discrimination embedded in ordinary Eng...

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blog.angryasianman.com - What the hell happened here? This disturbing video of multiple New York police officers taking down an elderly Chinese man has been making the rounds. It all apparently went down over the weekend a...

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bigeducationape.blogspot.com - Here Are Some Good Posts On School Reform | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...Here Are Some Good Posts On School Reform Here’s today’s “round-up” of good school reform-related posts: Are Publi...

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Living13 MORE ARTICLES
hispanicallyspeakingnews.com - President Barack Obama alights in El Paso, Texas, today to present his vision of an immigration system that meets the economic and security needs of our nation in the 21st century. The president’s ...

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hispanicallyspeakingnews.com - Published at 1:27 am, May 10, 2011 Photo Credits: Rights of Immigrants Being Deported The American Immigration Council’s Legal Action Center (LAC) cautiously applauds last week’s decision of the Bo...

coopmike48
boston.com - OKLAHOMA CITY—Legislation to prohibit the officers of education associations from participating in the Oklahoma Teacher's Retirement System has been signed into law by Gov. Mary Fallin.The bill by ...

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Business9 MORE ARTICLES
democraticunderground.com - Source: The Cap TimesFeds turn Walker down on passenger rail funding requestMIKE IVEY | The Capital Times | mivey@madison.com | (53) Comments | Posted: Monday, May 9, 2011 3:30 pmWisconsin has been...

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baycitizen.org - The eco-metropolis planned for Treasure Island could be a good financial deal for the city and the developers. But it all depends on taxes generated by the island’s future residents and businesses...

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baycitizen.org - San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi is collecting voter signatures to place his renewed attempt at pension reform on the November ballot. Last fall, Adachi's Proposition B was the subject of ...

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Stories8 MORE ARTICLES
bluecheddar.wordpress.com - by Maggie Ginsburg-SchultzI’m tugging out a portion of a much longer, very good article by author Maggie Ginsburg-Schutz with Madison Magazine. In this excerpt, the setting is Tomahawk at Wolff’s L...

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beinglatino.wordpress.com - by Brian Cockman Think about the word fingerprint, and what usually comes to mind is a crime scene swarming with police who are “dusting for prints,” or identification safety programs to keep child...

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blog.angryasianman.com - New York Magazine's current cover story, Paper Tigers by Wesley Yang, is the latest incendiary article to fire up the internets. To be honest, I've only skimmed through it, because I don't really h...

coopmike48
#parents Read this paper1
bigeducationape.blogspot.com - State of EmergencyYour help is urgently needed to defeat three CTA-opposed bills that attack teachers directly. The bills will hurt students, as well. The three measures are set in the Senate Educa...

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NJ Spotlight | Growing Tensions Over Charter Schools

NJ Spotlight | Growing Tensions Over Charter Schools

Growing Tensions Over Charter Schools
Lawmakers and local residents want to know why they can't have a greater say about charter schools hosted by their communities

print | |
By John Mooney, May 10 in Education |2 Comments
Acting Commissioner of Education Chris Cerf

How much should local school districts have a say about the presence of charter schools in their midst?

It was a topic that dominated the Senate budget hearing yesterday, where acting Education Commissioner Chris Cerf testified as to the growing tensions that have surfaced -- especially in suburban communities -- over the new schools.

To him, it was unequivocal that local districts and their voters not have a direct say in the alternative schools, which operate under state charter.

"If it were up to local municipalities, it would essentially kill charter schools," Cerf said.

Those tensions were very much in evidence yesterday, as Democratic leaders quizzed Cerf on where charters are needed and where they are mostly causing resentment. Residents of Milburn at a meeting last night could speak to the latter, with some asking why in a time of tight budgets they should be paying for two charter schools proposed for their students.

"There is a fair amount of tension about this in a place like Millburn," superintendent James Crisfield

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60 arrested in state Capitol rally protesting school budget cuts » Ventura County Star

60 arrested in state Capitol rally protesting school budget cuts » Ventura County Star
Jennifer Raeder, a second grade teacher at Sunnyside Elementary school in San Francisco, who has already received a pink slip, joined more than 200 other teachers and supporters in a demonstration against proposed budget cuts to education in Sacramento, Calif., Monday, May 9, 2011. Teachers from across the state began gathering Monday for a weeklong series of protests over the threat of deep budget cuts to public education and are calling on lawmakers to extend temporary increase to the sales, personal income and vehicle taxes that will expire June 30.

RICH PEDRONCELLI / AP

Jennifer Raeder, a second grade teacher at Sunnyside Elementary school in San Francisco, who has already received a pink slip, joined more than 200 other teachers and supporters in a demonstration against proposed budget cuts to education in Sacramento, Calif., Monday, May 9, 2011. Teachers from across the state began gathering Monday for a weeklong series of protests over the threat of deep budget cuts to public education and are calling on lawmakers to extend temporary increase to the sales, personal income and vehicle taxes that will expire June 30.

SACRAMENTO — More than 60 protesters were arrested Monday evening at the state Capitol after they refused to break up a peaceful demonstration in the Rotunda after the building's scheduled 6 p.m. closure.

The arrests marked the end of the first day of a week of budget protests being staged simultaneously by education groups led by the California Teachers Association and a coalition of peace and social justice groups that included top officials of the state Peace and Freedom Party.

Those arrested were mostly college-age protesters from the San Francisco Bay area, but also included about a dozen schoolteachers, including the president of the Oakland Education Association, the union that represents 2,700 teachers in the Oakland Unified



Read more: http://www.vcstar.com/news/2011/may/09/hundreds-rally-in-sacramento-in-support-of-tax/#ixzz1Lx3VKRTs
- vcstar.com
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Here Are Some Good Posts On School Reform | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

Here Are Some Good Posts On School Reform | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...
Here Are Some Good Posts On School Reform Here’s today’s “round-up” of good school reform-related posts: Are Public Schools Supermarkets? is by Walt Gardner at Education Week. I’m adding it to The Best Posts & Articles Explaining Why Schools Should Not Be Run Like Businesses. Says Who? Lots ...
“Science On The Simpsons” “Science On The Simpsons” is a collection of video clips from The Simpsons television series that could be used by science teachers. They’re downloadable, but not set-up to stream on the web. I’m adding it to The Best Places To Find Theatrical Movies ...
Do Your Students Live In A “Food Desert”? I’m going to start off this post by quoting The Sacramento Bee: *One aspect of Michelle Obama’s fight against obesity is an initiative to eliminate so-called “food deserts” in urban and rural areas across the country. A food desert is a low income ...
The Five Best Articles I’ve Written About Education In addition to the thousands of posts I’ve written in this blog over the past four years and my three books, I’ve also written about sixty articles for different publications. You can access all of them here, but I thought readers might find it ...
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What a D.C. teacher told the chancellor about testing - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post

What a D.C. teacher told the chancellor about testing - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post
What a D.C. teacher told the chancellor about testing This was written by a teacher in a Title 1 school in D.C. public schools and sent to Acting Chancellor Kaya Henderson’s Teachers Cabinet and to key members of the D.C. Public Schools administrative office. The teacher asked that I not use her name to ...
How high school should really end -- *My guest is George Wood, principal of Federal Hocking High School in Stewart, Ohio, and executive director of the non-profit Forum for Education and Democracy, a collaboration of educators from around the country. He will also serve as ...
James Comer tells his own learning story James Comer, a professor of child psychiatry at the Yale University School of Medicine’s Child Study Center, is a world-renowned educator. He founded the Comer School Development Program which promotes the collaboration of parents, educators and ...
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California at a crossroads: my generation’s future hangs in balance | Thoughts on Public Education

California at a crossroads: my generation’s future hangs in balance | Thoughts on Public Education
Remaking remedial education - by Kathryn Baron Dr. Katie Hern’s college students were discussing Bruce Alexander’s morphine-addicted rodents in his Rat Park experiment on a recent Wednesday morning. “It usually just comes down to the dopamine depletion hypothesis,” said student Michael Fleming, ...
California at a crossroads: my generation’s future hangs in balance - by Miriam Hernandez Today I’m traveling to Sacramento, along with hundreds of student and parent leaders from across California, to deliver an urgent but simple message to the State Legislature and the Governor: It’s time to upgrade California’s education system. We’re ...
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U.S. schools chief backs off on publication of teacher ratings | California Watch

U.S. schools chief backs off on publication of teacher ratings | California Watch

U.S. schools chief backs off on publication of teacher ratings

by Louis Freedberg

usembassylondon/Flickr

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has tempered his initial enthusiasm for publishing teacher effectiveness ratings based on test scores.

Last summer, after the Los Angeles Times published "value added" ratings of 6,000 elementary school teachers on a scale ranging from "least effective" to "most effective," Duncan applauded the paper for its action.

"What's there to hide?" Duncan said, as reported in an article headlined "U.S. schools chief endorses release of teacher data."

"In education, we've been scared to talk about success," he was quoted as saying.

But since then, he has gone out of his way to say that teacher effectiveness ratings should be based on far more

Senators want audit of school construction oversight failures

by Corey G. Johnson

***Deanne Fitzmaurice/California Watch

Key members of the state Senate have asked for an audit of the office that oversees public school construction in response to a recent California Watch investigation that found systemic failures in the way earthquake safety laws are enforced.

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, Senate Majority Leader Ellen Corbett, Alan Lowenthal, Loni Hancock, Julia Brownley and Michael Rubio are asking the Joint Legislative Audit Committee to launch an investigation of the Division of the State Architect, according to an April 25 letter.

The four-page letter, sent to audit committee chairman Ricardo Luna, asks for a two-part probe of the state architect's office focusing first on potential safety threats and next on the way the division carries out its work.

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School Tech Connect: A Certain Lack of Controversy

School Tech Connect: A Certain Lack of Controversy

A Certain Lack of Controversy

by effacethefacade@yahoo.com (Tim)
National-Louis hosted another colloquy last night on Navy Pier. Luminaries included the great Deb Meier, Bill Ayers, Sonia Nieto, and Harold Levey. There were a number of other educators on stage, including Elizabeth Kirby, the principal of Kenwood Academy High School here in Chicago, and Ky Adderley, who who founded and runs a KIPP charter school in Brooklyn. There were a couple of young teachers on the stage as well.

One hates to be critical, but I'm pronouncing the evening a bust. The big controversial statements were left sitting on the table, leaving what I believe to be a false sense of kumbaya. Either that, or I'm reading the whole thing incorrectly and there is indeed a sense of kumbaya among people with very different approaches to public education. I'm going to have to think about it for a day. I think Mike Klonsky summed it up best when he stood up at the end of the event and listed a few of the atrocities that are actually happening in the name of reform and then lamented how someone like Arne Duncan wasn't there to defend those things.

It may very well be that most of the people working on education right now are largely in agreement about what's
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California Teacher Association's Occupying the Wrong Offices | California Progress Report

California Teacher Association's Occupying the Wrong Offices | California Progress Report

California Teacher Association's Occupying the Wrong Offices

by megan

By Robert Cruickshank
Calitics

It's a headline sure to stir the hearts of progressives, education activists, and Californians who are just plain sick and tired of watching their public schools driven to collapse by the Republicans: the California Teachers Association is going to mount a "Wisconsin-style occupation" of the state capitol in Sacramento.

Only problem: it won't accomplish a thing.

Here's what The Nation has to say about it:

Following the Wisconsin tradition of meaningful protest, the California Teachers Association is planning a weeklong "State of Emergency" campaign designed to focus on budget cuts in schools and the need to avoid further reductions to spending.

read more


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Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: The 'value-added' debacle

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: The 'value-added' debacle

The 'value-added' debacle

by Mike Klonsky
Leading mathematician debunks use of VAM

The L.A. Times is once again publishing the names of every teacher in the district next to a concocted "value-added score." The reputations and careers of thousands of teachers hang in the balance with the Times' use of a bogus formula they claim can distinguish good teachers from bad ones, who should get "merit pay"and who should lose their jobs.

In a scene out of the theater of the absurd, even Supt. John Deasy and other district leaders are protesting the Times' release of this data, claiming the district is using a different, competing formula from the one used by the Times. Here's Deasy' formula:
y = Xβ + Zv + ε where β is a p-by-1 vector of fixed effects; X is an n-by-p matrix; v is a q-by-1 vector of random effects; Z is an n-by-q matrix; E(v) = 0, Var(v) = G; E(ε) = 0, Var(ε) = R; Cov(v,ε) = 0. V
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Senator Leland Yee stands in solidarity with California educators « State of Emergency

Senator Leland Yee stands in solidarity with California educators « State of Emergency
Simi Area Educators Press Lawmaker to Protect Schools Dozens of educators (including bagpipe players and a drummer) from Conejo Valley, Moorpark, Las Virgenes, and Simi Valley gathered outside California Senator Tony Strickland’s (R) Simi Valley office Monday to push Strickland to oppose an all cuts ...
Senator Leland Yee stands in solidarity with California educators [image: State Senator Leland Yee]Senator Leland Yee made this statement after Monday’s sit-in at the State Capitol: “Over the past several budgets, I proudly stood with our teachers and students against all cuts to public education and I proudly ...
Assembly Minority Leader’s district office gets a visit from educators Educators were stationed outside the Assembly Minority Leader's office wearing shirts saying “I don't want to be a layoff!” Members of the Visalia Unified Teachers Association demonstrated outside the office of Assembly Minority Leader Connie Conway ...
State of Emergency: Monday Posted in Video
Teacher shares why she’s taking action Posted in Video
Week of Action State Capitol Kick-off Posted in Video
Orange County Education Coalition members deliver “no all cuts budget” message to Assemblyman Chris Norby’s Fullerton office OC Education Coalition members demonstrate outside Assemblyman Chris Norby's Fullerton office. More than 300 Orange County Education Coalition members delivered their message to approve tax extensions and protect public education from further ...

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Tell Bloomberg, “No cuts!” « Fred Klonsky's blog

Tell Bloomberg, “No cuts!” « Fred Klonsky's blog

Tell Bloomberg, “No cuts!”

by Fred Klonsky

From Leonie Haimson:

The mayor announced his proposed budget on Friday. It is a horror show. It would lead to the elimination of over 6,000 teaching positions, while leaving the central and mid-level bureaucracy intact and continuing to increase spending on private consultants and contracts.

It is a budget that puts kids LAST; and would cause the sharpest increases in class size in at least 30 years. I have blogged about this here and here, and here is a NY1 clip about the

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Daily Kos: Read Roger Cohen today - please

Daily Kos: Read Roger Cohen today - please

Read Roger Cohen today - please

by rss@dailykos.com (teacherken)

his New York Times column is titled The Force of the Deed and it is, imo, masterful. Consider the opening paragraphs:

NEW YORK — Watching the talk shows, thinking about the tumultuous last American decade, reflecting on the death of Osama bin Laden, I feel grateful for many things but not least this: the invisibility of the heroes.

For once it is the deed itself that speaks. The deed, so often lost in this age of celebrities and reality shows and Donald Trump’s monumental ego, stands unadorned. In its daring, its professionalism and its effectiveness, the deed is there, making words look cheap.

I understand that not all who read it will agree with his conclusions. I don't expect that. I don't think Cohen does.

He is, again in imo, on point when he says that for the commandos on the read, which he numbers at 79 - which would have been sufficient to fight their way out with a captured Bin Laden if necessary - "secrecy is their

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The F-word of Ed Reform — and its unholy alliance with right-wing union-busting | Seattle Education

The F-word of Ed Reform — and its unholy alliance with right-wing union-busting | Seattle Education

The F-word of Ed Reform — and its unholy alliance with right-wing union-busting

by seattleducation2011

________________________________________________

“There is a word for this kind of anti-democratic collaboration between business and government, but we haven’t used it much since the 1940s: fascism.” – Diane Ravitch

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Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker

Union-busting has traditionally been considered the blood sport of right-wing corporatists. But Democrats,

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NYC Public School Parents: Letter to the Board of Regents about the need for parent input in the search for a new Commissioner

NYC Public School Parents: Letter to the Board of Regents about the need for parent input in the search for a new Commissioner

Letter to the Board of Regents about the need for parent input in the search for a new Commissioner

by Leonie Haimson
Public school parents, the most important stakeholders of our educational system, have been completely left out of the discussion when it comes to policy making at the state level. We believe that for the sake of our children, this must change, and that the search for new Education Commissioner is the time to begin. See letter below sent today to the NYS Board of Regents, along with more than one hundred parent leaders and organizations that signed on in support. A pdf of the letter with the full set of signers is here.

May 8, 2011

Dear New York State Board of Regents:
We, the undersigned parent and community leaders, urge that there be an open and transparent search for the
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Prosecuting the librarians « InterACT

Prosecuting the librarians « InterACT

Prosecuting the librarians

by Martha Infante

For those of you who hold libraries dear to your heart, please read and share what is happening to L.A.’s school librarians as they fight in court to prove they are teachers.

The post below is written by a school librarian who has spent the last two days in court fighting for her job.

“In the basement of the California Mart building in downtown Los Angeles, one can find a series of bright, cavernous rooms buzzing with the sound of the fluorescent panels that hang from a ceiling of exposed ducts and wiring. In the back of one of these rooms sits three long tables decorated with black table skirts along with

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