BrodyBlog

PLANO, TX - Employees of CompUSA received notices from the Senior Director of Human Resources outlining the electronics retailer's severance packages, indicating it will begin major layoffs "on or before Febuary 8th," according to an internal communication obtained last week.

The memo indicates that certain employees may be retained on an as needed basis, but stops short of providing finite dates for termination, saying "we are not ready to provide specific end dates for your employment with CompUSA."

Downsizing is now handled by the Gordon Brothers Group, a firm specializing in the liquidation of ailing businesses, and store management has been systematically stripped of most administrative control, according to several employees who requested their names be withheld from publication to preserve anonymity.

The company has weathered financial challenges for over a decade, slowly losing its customer base to other big box chains like Best Buy and Circuit City, while also feeling a tight price squeeze from Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, which recently began selling an expanded selection of electronics such as LCD Televisions and Dell Computers.

But in early January, Tiger Direct, an electronics retailer owned by parent company Systemax, announced its purchase of the CompUSA brand and just over a dozen stores in the United States.

Communications intercepted in late January indicate that Tiger Direct plans to keep stores in McAllen and Plano open for business, however specific information pertaining to current employee retention, merchant relations, and reported visits to stores in North Texas by corporate personnel were not confirmed by store management, who referred media inquiries to corporate offices of Tiger Direct and CompUSA.

Messages left with both companies were not immediately returned Tuesday.

Posted by Brody at 11:06 PM | Permalink

Where Parents Take a Drug Test

By Brody Andrew Mulligan

SOUTHLAKE, TX - Parents of students in extracurricular activities are required to
complete online "Substance Abuse Awareness Training" before their children are
eligible for participation, according to official press releases and student
handbooks distributed by the Southlake-Carroll Independent School District.

The prerequisite in this small, money-laden North Texas suburb (Pop. 21,519),
exceeds requirements set by the Texas Education Association for participation in
school-sponsored activities, such as band, choir, and--of course--sports.

Texas Law requires that a student be in good academic standing and keep within
an allowance of unexcused absences in order to participate in interscholastic
activities, but stops short of requiring that a student--or parent--be educated or
tested regarding illegal drug use.

Combined with searches for contraband by drug sniffing dogs, random student
athlete drug testing, and student drug education programs that begin in elementary
grades, the parental education curriculum aims to preempt overdose and addiction
epidemics that continue to plague schools in the 12 county Dallas-Fort Worth-
Arlington metropolitan area, a sprawling collection of cities and towns housing a
population of approximately 6 million.

With little regulation from State or Federal agencies, each district is left to tailor and
mold its own drug testing policy, navigating the narrow road leading to a balance
between budgets, politics, and rates and risks for abuse.

Debate among drug testing in public schools has reached the United States
Supreme Court, which, in its most decisive and recent ruling on the subject, said
that students participating in extra-curricular activities have a reasonable
expectation of a loss of privacy, such as with athletes in locker rooms, and found
drug testing programs do not violate a student's constitutional rights.

A court has not heard arguments against the current policy that requires parents
earn correct marks on at least 16 of 20 questions on a third-party online test. The
site, www.psaas.org, lists dozens of Texas school districts utilizing the parental
training program.

No argument may be needed here, with a high school parking lot that, teachers
joke, has better, newer, and more expensive cars than the faculty lot, and students
with access to money and information beyond what schools and parents provide,
often learning about how to abuse over the counter, prescription, and narcotic
drugs, ironically, on the internet.

In the 1990s, the North Dallas suburb of Plano, a similarly affluent, predominately
white bedroom community was stunned by the deaths of several students caused
by heroin, a drug normally associated with poverty and inner city life.

And while recent studies suggest that teenage drug use is down, evidence exists
that--especially in affluent areas--the drug trade is alive and well. Recently Thomas
Crutsinger was sentenced to eight years in prison after being convicted of
supplying and selling ecstasy and prescription drugs to students of a nearby school
district. Prior to his arrest, Mr. Crutsinger was on the Grapevine-Southlake Soccer
Association's board of directors.

A junior at Carroll Senior High School who requested his name be withheld from
publication said drugs were readily available in most social circles, and especially
noted the availability of prescription drugs like Xanax.

He admitted to having an addiction to the painkiller oxycontin that, at times, cost
him hundreds of dollars a month. He added "when I first started doing it, I didn't
know much about it...how to use it, and which [pill] was which"

"But then, I went online."

Posted by Brody at 11:01 PM | Permalink