Tom James Web Page Home

On this page:

1. Food for Thought Quotations to inspire or bother you. Updated every week or so.

2. Links to My Class Pages Updated as needed. School Loop brings you back to these for assignment and class updates.

3. Grades Updated often. Grades will be posted on School Loop.

4. School Loop Updated at an astonishing rate. If you are a parent and have not registered with School Loop, WHY HAVEN'T YOU DONE SO YET? WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR???

5. Academic Decathlon Updated a lot during the winter.

6. My Domicile at Chaffey Updated hardly ever.

7. Links related to some important current issues Poverty, Darfur, Japan, Economics. Updated pretty often.

8. Other Links and email Updated less often.

9. About Mr. James Updated 3 November 2011.

Link to School Loop

Food For Thought

"No pessimist ever discovered the secrets of the stars, or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened a new heaven to the human spirit. "

--Helen Keller (1880-1968), Deaf and blind writer and activist for the disabled.

Image credit: Helen Keller - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Academic Decathlon

In addition to the schedule listed above, I assist head coach Mr. Steven Mercado and Chaffey High School's Academic Decathlon Team as they prepare for the 2012 San Bernardino County competitions to be held next January and February. My principal areas of involvement are mathematics, science, speech, and interview.

In the 2011 San Bernardino County Academic Decathlon, Chaffey earned a second place finish. After finishing second four years in a row, the Tigers had finished in first place in 2009 and 2010. Thus, Chaffey has finished in the top two each of the past seven years. Mr. Mercado published this summary of the 2011 County competition results.

Chaffey joined Redlands High School (the county winner), Arroyo Valley High School and Chino Hills High School at the California State Academic Decathlon Competition on March 12-14 in Sacramento. Chaffey finished 20th out of 65 teams competing.

This year's competition will take place at Arroyo Valley High School in San Bernardino. The speech, interview, and essay portions of the competition occur on Saturday, January 28, 2012 with the objective portions including the Super Quiz relay following on Saturday, February 4. Individual, event, and team winners will be announced at the county banquet to be held at the National Orange Show event center in San Bernardino on February 9.

The picture above was taken on January 29, 2011 after the Speech, Interview and Essay competitions at Arroyo Vista High School in San Bernardino. Click on the image for a larger view.

Most of the school day I can be found in or near MS114, the class room I have worked in since 1995. Students are welcome to visit or seek help after school until I go home (usually around 5 pm). Students can also email questions whenever they want. I'll reply pretty much as soon as I read the question. I have never had a Facebook page (contrary to student rumors). Of course, School Loop is another way to contact me, but once I'm at home, I don't monitor School Loop as frequently as my regular email account.

E-mail Mr. James

My classes meet in room 114 of the Math-Science Building.

As Japan continues to clean up following the destructive 9.0-magnitude earthquake and tsunami on March 11, World Vision relief distribution operations are underway in Miyagi prefecture, including the city of Tome and Minami Sanriku, one of the hardest-hit coastal towns in the country.

As of March 28, the United Nations estimates that some 244,000 remain in emergency shelters. Some quake and tsunami survivors have returned home because electricity and water supplies have been reconnected. Read more.