“It’s not about the children. It’s about somebody’s ego.” —Sam Allen, FVCS, 7 July 2011

Sam Allen asked in various ways:
“What about the children?”
He made it clear he doesn’t think school consolidation will help the children, and it will definitely hurt current Valdosta teachers and staff, so he says don’t do it.

Continuing the FVCS press conference, Sam Allen asked some good questions,

“If the school system was good enough for them, why isn’t it good enough for us?”
and
“If there’s not going to be any change, why are we doing it?”

Here’s Part 1 of 9:


Part 1 of 9:
No school consolidation,
Press Conference, Friends of Valdosta City Schools (FVCS),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 7 July 2011.
Videos by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

Sam Allen ridiculed the alleged unification cost savings:

“Save money? Not in this lifetime!”
He wanted to know why do we let somebody we never laid eyes on give us something to sign? He added:
“If this should pass, on November the ninth, the Valdosta School system will cease to exist.”

Here’s Part 2 of 9:


Part 2 of 9:
No school consolidation,
Press Conference, Friends of Valdosta City Schools (FVCS),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 7 July 2011.
Videos by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

Sam Allen wanted to know what would schoolteachers and staff do for

“Thanksgiving when your check don’t clear?”
He said CUEE can’t tell you what will happen. And who should be in charge should be the two school systems. That got applause.

Here’s Part 3 of 9:


Part 3 of 9:
No school consolidation,
Press Conference, Friends of Valdosta City Schools (FVCS),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 7 July 2011.
Videos by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

Sam Allen wanted to know:

“Where do we get those answers from?”
Then he told us something CUEE never has:
“We’ve been told over and over and over again that there was only one way that this question could be put on the ballot. And that is for the city residents to give up its charter. That’s the only option. Well, that should have been worded a little bit different. There’s more than one option. But the other option we didn’t want to use because we knew that the county would not vote for it. Now we’re going to dump 7,000 kids on Lowndes County, with them to not have a say on whether or not to consolidate.”

Here’s Part 4 of 9:


Part 4 of 9:
No school consolidation,
Press Conference, Friends of Valdosta City Schools (FVCS),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 7 July 2011.
Videos by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

Sam Allen pointed out Lowndes County gets its curriculum from the state, just like every other public school system in the state.

Here’s Part 5 of 9:


Part 5 of 9:
No school consolidation,
Press Conference, Friends of Valdosta City Schools (FVCS),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 7 July 2011.
Videos by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

Sam Allen gets to the root of the matter:

It’s not about the children. It’s about somebody’s ego. They want to consolidate these schools, and to take over our government.
Yes, the obvious next step would be to consolidate the Valdosta and Lowndes County governments so the old boys could run both more easily.

He also pointed out that unification without consolidation of schools made no sense, since with the current Valdosta schools 85% black, busing would be required to balance racial differences.

Here’s Part 6 of 9:


Part 6 of 9:
No school consolidation,
Press Conference, Friends of Valdosta City Schools (FVCS),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 7 July 2011.
Videos by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

Sam Allen pointed out your children’s education is at stake, and asked if you’re willing to gamble that on a plan nobody can explain.

Here’s Part 7 of 9:


Part 7 of 9:
No school consolidation,
Press Conference, Friends of Valdosta City Schools (FVCS),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 7 July 2011.
Videos by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

Sam Allen says FVCS is here to look out for our teachers, children, and community. Well, somebody needs to.

Here’s Part 8 of 9:


Part 8 of 9:
No school consolidation,
Press Conference, Friends of Valdosta City Schools (FVCS),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 7 July 2011.
Videos by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

Finally former school superintendent Sam Allen thanked current superintendent Dr. Cason and elected officials for coming out.

Here’s Part 9 of 9:


Part 9 of 9:
No school consolidation,
Press Conference, Friends of Valdosta City Schools (FVCS),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 7 July 2011.
Videos by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

Here’s a playlist for the whole press conference.

-jsq