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The PTC accepted WUHSD’s notification at a meeting on Friday, where PTC employees spoke about what could happen if the school district exited the seven-district co-op.
PTC representatives and a union spokesman did not respond to requests for comment on how many jobs could be affected.
WUHSD’s potential departure from PTC partly is the result of the death of Paul Lee, a 19-year-old special needs student from the district who overheated when he was left on a PTC bus in September 2015.
After his death, Lee’s family sued the school district and the PTC. The family won a $23.5 million settlement, which PTC paid. This past August, the co-op sued Whittier Union to recoup some of those costs.
In a phone interview on Tuesday, WUHSD superintendent Martin Plourde said that while he can’t speak to “all of the other effects that happen because of a Whittier Union decision … it’s probably in the school districts’ best interest” to consider withdrawing from the PTC.
Hinchingbrooke Hospital has become the first to be taken over by a private firm. The Telegraph's Andrew Porter believes it won't be the last.
The warning lights will have been flashing in the Department of Health over today’s announcement that failing Hinchingbrooke hospital is to become the first to be run by a private company.
The length of time – more than a year - that the Treasury has taken to sign off the deal, which sees Circle Healthcare parachuted into the Cambridgeshire hospital, reflects concern at the highest level.
Ministers will strenuously deny, but are acutely sensitive to, the charge that this is nothing other than privatisation of the NHS.
The unions, Labour and nervous Liberal Democrats, will claim that this is the thin end of the wedge. A familiar left-right battleground is drawn.
Department of Health sources were last night talking about “management franchises” rather than privatisation. That is unlikely to assuage anyone other than those who already argue that the NHS needs more, not less, private sector involvement.
But in the interests of the taxpayer a failing hospital with a £40 million deficit needs to be tackled.
David Cameron and Mr Lansley have to find cash, not least because by surrendering to the Lib Dems over the Health and Social Care Bill, promised savings are diminished.
But these moves come at what cost politically?
At a time when some Labour MPs privately despair about their electoral chances under Ed Miliband, they have to grasp at positives. The economy at the moment is one, and the NHS, potentially, another.
Mr Cameron has handled the Coalition’s health policy disastrously. He allowed Mr Lansley to embark on his radical shake-up of the NHS believing during a honeymoon period of office he would be cut some slack. He was badly mistaken.
Many Tory MPs will welcome today’s move and argue that it is right to cast aside failing and wasteful management regimes and install private firms which, while maintaining high standards of patient care, can get to grips with a public sector culture that has failed.
They will urge Mr Lansley to bold and say that Hinchingbrooke, while the first hospital to be handed over to a private firm, it will not be the last.
It appears Meghan Markle's life in Toronto, Canada, perfectly encapsulates her down-to-earth sensibilities.
The 35-year-old American actress -- who's been thrust into the spotlight ever since Prince Harry went public with their relationship last month -- lives in Toronto, where her show, Suits, is filmed. Meghan has a home in Annex, a hip neighborhood with modest homes, which Harry has visited on more than one occasion. The ...
A source tells ET that the couple stayed indoors and never left her home during Harry's most recent stay. And despite Harry's royal status, the source describes the visit as "low-key."
"When Harry was in town it wasn't too crazy. There were maybe five paparazzi on the house, but they were discrete," the source notes. "There was additional security on the street, but even that wasn't too intrusive. It was pretty low key. Meghan and Harry never left the home. They just stayed indoors -- and that was be...
"It's a quiet street, very residential," a neighbor also tells ET about Meghan's Toronto digs. "It's a safe neighborhood."
Meghan also appears to be pretty low-key when it comes to her everyday life. The avid cook has been spotted walking to nearby Loblaws grocery store -- Meghan memorably carried bags from Whole Foods to Kensington Palace when she visited Harry in London in November -- where she didn't call any attention to her appearance...
"She wasn't wearing makeup or had her hair done, just bundled up like everyone else," a Loblaws employee tells ET about one sighting of Meghan after the news broke of her relationship with Harry. "She walked home."
Aside from grocery shopping, the actress' regular routine includes yoga. Meghan frequently attends classes at a cozy studio in Toronto, which isn't as flashy and modern as other more high-end yoga studios.
"She goes to yoga often and seems to enjoy it," an eyewitness tells ET. "She's always smiling and happy when she leaves."
Still, Meghan isn't just a homebody -- she does enjoy her nights out with friends. Meghan's been photographed at the Four Seasons Hotel in the swankier neighborhood of Yorkville, and has been known to frequent members-only club, Soho House.
An industry source notes that Meghan has friends in high places in Canada.
"She's very gracious and has substance, but she isn't someone who wanted to just fly under the radar," the source says of Meghan. "She's best friends with Jessica Mulroney [the wife Ben Mulroney, the son of former prime minister Brian Mulroney], so she's already sort of aligned herself with Canadian royalty."
Earlier this week, Meghan and Jessica, a fashion stylist, were photographed shopping together in Toronto while bundled up for the snow.
Jessica also Instagrammed a cute pic of Meghan dancing with Jessica's daughter, Isabel, earlier this week. "LADIES NIGHT @meghanmarkle teaching one of her favorite little ladies to tap dance. Quite the weekend fête!" Jessica wrote.
Meanwhile, it appears Harry and Meghan's relationship is only heating up. On Wednesday, the couple was photographed out together for the first time, taking in the Christmas lights and a theater performance in central London.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Photographed Together in London for the First Time!
A European cup involving English clubs and under new management may go ahead next season, says BBC rugby union correspondent Ian Robertson.
The Heineken Cup replacement would be run by the Six Nations Committee instead of European Rugby Cup (ERC).
As such, BT Sport would be free to take over as broadcaster, ERC having sold its broadcasting rights to Sky.
The Rugby Football Union is leading the discussions and only the French federation is disputing the new plan.
England's top clubs, in the form of umbrella body Premiership Rugby, insist they will not play in any competition organised by ERC, which runs the Heineken Cup and second-tier Amlin Challenge Cup.
That stance saw them apparently isolated in Europe, until the latest developments.
Disagreements about the Heineken Cup's qualification criteria, voting structure, income distribution and future television rights are behind the row.
Bernadette Peters in "Follies" at the Kennedy Center. Photo by Joan Marcus, image courtesy the Kennedy Center.
Washington theatergoers have been trained to value intimate, small-scale productions that focus on voices and lyrical content rather than spectacle. In recent years, no one has been a better salesman of small than Signature Theatre artistic director Eric Schaeffer. But it’s the very same Schaeffer who brings us this su...
Follies is Stephen Sondheim’s paean to Flo Ziegfeld, the Broadway legend who created elaborate productions in the 1920s and ’30s. It’s the story of a reunion of former follies girls, including Sally and Phyllis, who married their stage-door swains and lived not-so-happily ever after.
One guy gets a star turn, too. Danny Burstein (Buddy) has two terrific songs in Act II and he slams both home.
This is Sondheim at his best—with the complicated melodies and clever lyrics that speak to real emotions. No clichés need apply.
Eric Schaeffer gets credit for a fabulous show. Sometimes bigger is better, no matter what they say in Shirlington.
“Follies” is at the at Kennedy Center through June 19. Tickets ($45 to $150) are available at the KenCen’s Web site.
The degree of cooperation between the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) will face a test beginning today, as the DPP plans to hold a survey on its prospective candidates for the Keelung mayoral elections.
If the winner's support rate in the poll is higher than that of the TSU's nominee, the DPP will nominate a candidate, rather than giving the nomination to its ally.
The election has already produced some infighting within the pan-green camp, after National Policy Adviser Huang Hua (黃華), a DPP member who was planning to campaign for the position, announced he was withdrawing from the DPP and joining the TSU on Friday, during a rally for TSU candidate Chen Chien-ming (陳建銘). Huang sa...
DPP Secretary-General Lee Yi-yang (李逸洋) announced the decision yesterday, saying that if the DPP's winner still cannot surpass the TSU's candidate in the surveys, then the DPP will throw its support fully behind Chen Chien-ming in the year-end elections. The poll will begin today, and the results will be unveiled on Th...
DPP spokesman Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) admitted that Huang's defection to the TSU complicated the DPP's arrangements in Keelung, where the party originally planned to "enlist" one nominee, rather than holding a primary or just giving up the position to the TSU.
Huang asserted that the DPP's cancelation of the primary was designed to help People First Party (PFP) Legislator Liu Wen-hsiung (劉文雄), who also plans to contend for the head of Keelung City, to win the election because the DPP had been advocating political reconciliation with its erstwhile opponent ever since Presiden...
"Huang's initiation into the TSU surprised us and drove us to reconsider the overall arrangement in Keelung City," Cheng said, while denying Huang's conjecture.
Before yesterday, in reaction to Huang's big gesture, Cheng Wen-tsan said that DPP Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) had talked to Lee and Kao Chih-peng (高志鵬), both Keelung-based party members, to consider campaigning for Keelung mayor on the DPP's behalf. But the two declined Su's request.
Meanwhile, Cheng did not deny that if the DPP decides to nominate its own candidate, a problem for cooperation between the two pan-green camp parties is likely.
"No one wants to give up this mayoral election, after all," Cheng said. "The party who surrenders the year-end election virtually gives up the next legislative election in 2007, which will be an unprecedented competition because of the new electoral system."
This story has been viewed 3617 times.
Kris Jones is a serial entrepreneur, angel investor, best-selling author, accomplished public speaker and dedicated philanthropist.
Go on, you know you have one.
You may not talk about it in polite company, but you know what it is.
“Your number” is the amount of money someone would have to offer for you to sell your business today.
At some point in the negotiations, most sophisticated buyers will try to extract your number from you. Smart buyers will often wait until you are alone, unprotected by your intermediary or legal counsel, who know better than to answer.
The question is, what should you do when a potential buyer puts you on the spot and asks you for your number?
That’s exactly what happened to Pepperjam founder Kris Jones. Jones had grown his digital agency into a successful business with a differentiated technology platform that his team had built for managing affiliate advertising.
Given its unique technology, Pepperjam piqued the curiosity of Michael Rubin, founder and CEO of GSI, a company that created online stores for some of the world’s best-known brands before it was acquired by eBay .
Rubin cultivated a relationship with Jones over some months. Then, as Jones told me during our interview for my podcast, Rubin called Jones into his Philadelphia headquarters. Jones was expecting to walk into a one-on-one with Rubin, so was surprised to find Rubin had gathered his Chief Marketing Officer, Chief Financi...
Jones was surprised. He had expected a pleasant conversation between two technology entrepreneurs, but had walked into the lion’s den. It was four on one and Jones was on the spot.
Jones hesitated and then blurted out his price.
Jones went on to close the sale with Rubin for almost exactly the price he had uttered in that boardroom and credits his candid answer to Rubin’s question with the rapport they enjoy today.
But in answering the question, Jones had committed one of the cardinal sins of negotiating your company’s sale: never be the first to name the price. There are very few advantages to answering the question and plenty of potential downsides.
If you offer a reasonable number, you will have inadvertently given your buyer a ceiling above which they will never pay. What’s more, the corporate development executives who work for your acquirer will take it as their mission in life to buy your business for less than your number – it’s practically written into thei...
On the other hand, if you offer an unrealistically high number, you could be written off as unreasonable.
When you’re presented with the big question, simply thank the potential acquirer for their interest and let them know that you’re always open to considering a reasonable offer.
It’s the buyer’s job to make the first move and it’s your job – no matter how cornered you feel – to dodge the question. Listen to my interview with Kris Jones now.
This week, cricket journalist Tristan Holme talks to The Cricket Pod co-hosts Paul Radley and Chitrabhanu Kadalayil about the state of South African cricket.
Faf du Plessis' side have excelled on the field, crushing Pakistan in a home Test series recently, with their youth giving them plenty of hope in the short term (read World Cup) as well as over the long haul.
Holme details the challenges Cricket South Africa faces both within the organisation and outside, even as the game itself is managing to appeal beyond its traditional base.
What is former ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat's legacy at Cricket South Africa? Here is Holme's take.
Record-breaking win over China a big deal for UAE women's cricket, says captain Humaira Tasneem.
Why all-rounder Hardik Pandya is a symptom and not the problem of Indian society, according to Kadalayil.
In 1993, id Software put out the now-classic computer game Doom. The game is widely hailed as one of the more important videos to have ever come out on any platform, and to this day we still quote the game whether we know where it's from or not.
Doom was also pretty damn metal, because since when has being a space marine that eventually travels to hell and shoots up hordes of demons not metal? Now Loudwire has put out a few videos that compare the game's soundtrack to classic metal songs, positing that maybe the game was a little too influenced by the metal go...
I'd say I agree with about 80% of the comparisons, as some of 'em are pretty close, but there are definitely a few in there that are grasping at straws (the second and third Slayer ones, mainly).
Master of disaster. McCane coordinated all acquisition activities related to the government’s response to natural disasters in 2018 — a year that saw an exceptional number of wildfires, floods and other calamities nationwide. He helped state and local jurisdictions take on new acquisition roles during response and reco...
52-year-old Irma Davidian admitted she paid off four state and federal employees in Broward County for years and with her help, her clients fraudulently claimed more than $5 million worth of Medicaid and food stamps.
Irma Davidian has worked both sides of the law.
In the former Soviet Union, she prosecuted criminals. Then she came to South Florida, where she bribed government workers to approve benefits for needy clients. "You have to give something to get something," she explained to the judge.
He sentenced her to 10 years anyway.
The Boca Raton woman admitted she paid off four state and federal employees in Broward County for years. With her help, her clients fraudulently claimed more than $5 million worth of Medicaid and food stamps and received more than $2.7 million from the government.
Davidian, 52, was sentenced to 10 years in prison Tuesday and ordered to pay more than $2.7 million in restitution. She was immediately taken into custody, as her 86-year-old mother wept.
In court, Davidian cried, blamed others for her actions and told the judge she had a tough time understanding, or accepting, that what she did was criminal.
A former claims representative for the Social Security Administration who took money to speed up the benefits process for selected clients was sentenced to four months in jail followed by four months of house arrest Wednesday.
In a detailed speech about her upbringing and life, Davidian told the judge that paying bribes to get results was an everyday thing when she grew up in the former USSR. She told the judge she later worked as a prosecutor in the Republic of Georgia and moved to the U.S. in 1995.
"We always do things like that back in Russia," Davidian told Senior U.S. District Judge Daniel T.K. Hurley in federal court in West Palm Beach.
She veered between telling the judge she was sorry, ashamed and felt "very, very bad about myself" and complaining she was struggling to accept what she did was wrong, though she said prosecutors and the FBI explained it to her at considerable length.
Davidian admitted she gave illegal cash payments to two state Department of Children & Families (DCF) workers and two Social Security Administration workers, all of whom no longer work for the government. Davidian pleaded guilty earlier this year to one count of conspiring to commit health-care fraud and bribery in fed...
As director of Boca Raton-based American Advisory Associates, she helped applicants obtain government assistance, including Medicaid, food stamps and disability benefits.
She recruited clients by running ads in Russian-language newspapers and charged her customers between $2,000 and $5,000 for her assistance, federal prosecutors Jeffrey Kaplan and Thomas Lanigan said. The fraud operated from 2008 to 2014, according to court records.

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