Author Archives: admin

Class action lawsuit against second largest donor to GA charter school referendum

K12 Inc. of Virginia has a class action lawsuit against it,
as well as allegations of lack of effectiveness of its courses.
K12 is the

second biggest contributor to the Georgia charter school
referendum which would privatize Georgia’s public schools.
Shades of

CCA desperately offering 48 states to privatize their prisons!
And we know there’s a connection:

ALEC helps push both private prisons and privatization of public schools.
We didn’t fall for ALEC’s privatized prisons:
let’s not fall for ALEC’s privatized schools.

Emma Brown wrote for the Washington Post 31 January 2012,

Shareholder lawsuit accuses K12 Inc. of misleading investors,

A shareholder in Virginia-based K12 Inc. has filed a lawsuit against

K12 Inc. CEO and Founder Ronald J. Packard, named in class action lawsuit
the virtual-schools operator in federal court, alleging that the
firm violated securities law by making false statements to investors
about students’ poor performance on standardized tests.

The class-action complaint, filed Monday in U.S. District Court in
Alexandria, also accuses K12 of boosting its enrollment and revenues
through “deceptive recruiting” practices.

Herndon-based K12 is the country’s largest operator of full-time
public virtual schools, a growing sector in which students as young
as five learn at home via computer.

The lawsuit comes after a spate of national news stories —
including in The Washington Post — raised questions about the
effectiveness of virtual schools, K12’s in particular. The firm’s
stock has since plummeted.

There’s more in the article, and in the actual

Harry T. Hawks, K12 Inc. executive vice president and chief financial officer, named in class action lawsuit

Class action suit against K12 Inc.
Named in the suit are

Ronald J. Packard (K12 Inc’s CEO and Founder) and

Harry T. Hawks, executive vice president and chief financial officer,
both pictured here.

-jsq

VLCIA tomorrow, no agenda @ VLCIA 2012-09-25

The

rescheduled Industrial Authority meeting is tomorrow, 25 September 2012,
5:30pm, 2110 N. Patterson Street, Valdosta.
On their

facebook page
I asked "Agenda for tomorrow?"
Here's their response:



Valdosta Lowndes County Industrial Authority
Thanks Mr. Quaterman,
The meeting agenda is the same as posted on the website. I'll update
the date in the morning, working on our new & improved website
project now. Can't wait to unveil our new site. See you tomorrow
evening!

While I commend VLCIA (I'm guessing by way of S. Meghan Duke)
for responding to an inquiry (even if she didn't get my name right),
I do wonder whether, while they're updating the website format,
maybe they could add some content to their agendas.
Meanwhile, the one she's referring to is the one

quoted for last month's meeting.

-jsq

Outside money fueling charter school amendment referendum

Why does Alice Walton want, to the tune of $250,000, for Atlanta
to be able to force charter schools on local areas that don't want them?

Wayne Washington wrote for the AJC 14 September 2012,

Outside money pours into Georgia for charter amendment fight,

Out-of-state money is fueling the campaign of a group trying to
convince Georgia voters to change the state constitution so more
charter schools can be approved.



Families for Better Public Schools has raised $486,750, campaign
disclosure forms show. About 96 percent of that money has come from
donors outside of Georgia.

Donors include Wal-Mart heiress Alice Walton, politically
well-connected law firms and for-profit companies that are operating
charter schools in Georgia.

Here's

the Georgia campaign finance report for Families for Better Public Schools,
which shows Alice Walton of Bentonville AR in for $250,000, K12 Inc. of Herndon VA in for $100,000,
Charter Schools USA of Ft. Lauderdale FL in for $50,000,
also J.C. Huizenga and National Heritage Academies, both of Grand Rapids MI,
each in for $25,000.
That's $450,000 from those five biggest donors, all out of state.

What about opposition money; where's it coming from?

A coalition of groups opposing the amendment, Vote Smart, has raised
$80,951, mostly from traditional school officials like teachers,
principals and superintendents who say more charter schools and more
state money for them would threaten the funding of already
cash-strapped traditional public schools.

So we have big out-of-state money funding demolishing our public schools,
and public school people spending some of what little money they have
defending them.
I know which side I choose.
Which side are you on?

Do we want to turn our public schools into private corporate fiefdoms?
If not, vote No on the charter school amendment in November.

-jsq

Sewers, laptops, and insurance @ LCC 2012-09-24

Repairs to a sewage lift station, laptops for the Sheriff’s office,
and health and life insurance.
I’ll bet this morning’s Lowndes County Commission Work Session will be brief.



What’s this about a
Bevel Creek Lift Station Repair?
That sewer line station seems to have last been mentioned in a Commission
meeting

11 February 2003:

Mr. Clark stated that the Bevel Creek Lift Station rehab came in
under budget enough to cover the additional $26,000.00 from the Exit
22 project.

The Commissioners (of whom only Joyce Evans is still or again on the Commission)
proceeded to approve one of their famous transportation change orders.



But what is Bevel Creek?
According to

Watershed Assessment:
The Watersheds Associated with
Lowndes County, Georgia, May 2001,

Bevel Creek discharges into the Withlacoochee River in north-central
Florida.

Since Bevel Creek doesn’t join the Withlacoochee River in Georgia,
it’s considered as a separate watershed basin for Lowndes County.

Here’s

the agenda.



LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

PROPOSED AGENDA

WORK SESSION, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2012, 8:30 a.m.

REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2012, 5:30 p.m.

327 N. Ashley Street — 2nd Floor

Continue reading →

Watershed seminar tomorrow in Tifton



Boating, walking, birding, hunting, fishing: our watersheds provide
us all that, plus what goes in upstream comes out in your drinking
water. Withlacoochee, Willacoochee, Alapaha, and Little Rivers: WWALS
Seminar tomorrow in Tifton. Good talks, good food, good water. Y’all come!

-jsq

10:00 – 10:20 Dave Hetzel,
WWALS President

Welcome/Introductions
10:20 – 10:35 Karen Hendrix, WATER MATTERS: Co-Chair

WATER MATTERS:
Focus & Function
10:35 – 11:10 Neill Herring,
Veteran Conservation Lobbyist
at the GA General Assembly

The Political Economy of Water
Conservation in Georgia
11:10 – 11:45 Jesslyn Shields, Georgia River Network

River Protection Success Stories in Georgia
11:45 – 11:55 Break
11:55 – 12:10 Bret Wagenhorst

Water Trails: Conservation and
Development
12:10 – 12:45 Babe McGowan,
Forester

Best Management Practices for
Riparian Ecosystems
12:45 – 1:00 Karan Rawlins,
University of Georgia

SEEDN smartphone app
1:00 – 2:00 Dave Hetzel

Open Discussion
and Pot Luck Lunch
2:00 – 4:00pm Walk to the Arboretum and
Practice SEEDN App
WWALS Watershed Seminar
10:00 am Saturday

22 September, 2012

Seminar Room

NESPAL Building

2360 Rainwater Road

Tifton Campus

University of Georgia
WWALS
WWALS Watershed
Coalition is an Advocacy
Organization working for
watershed conservation
of the Willacoochee,
Withlacoochee, Alapaha,
and Little River Systems
watershed in south
Georgia and north Florida
through awareness,
environmental
monitoring, and citizen
advocacy.
Introducing WWALS Board
Dave Hetzel — President

John S. Quarterman — VP

Brittney Hull — Treasurer

Nathan Wilkins — Secretary

Gretchen Quarterman

Bret Wagenhorst

Garry Gentry

Karan A. Rawlins

Al Browning
Pot Luck Lunch
All Attendees, please bring
your favorite dish to share

WWALS is Providing
the Main Course

In the spirit of conservation
please bring your own set up:
Plate, fork, knife, spoon, cup

Q: Why are so many states pushing charter schools now? A: ALEC


Michigan, Massachusetts,
and


New Jersey,
plus Georgia.
Why are so many states attempting pro or con charter school referendums
this year?
Because many states have a push for charter schools,
especially

Louisiana.
Where’s that coming from, at the same time in so many states?
ALEC, that’s where.

Ed Anderson wrote for The Times-Picayune 12 January 2011,

Gov. Bobby Jindal says charter school proposal is based on Florida initiative,

Jindal said his proposal will be fashioned on

a Florida law known as
“Charter-Schools-in-the-Workplace Initiative” which also has been
introduced in 14 other states.

Excuse me?
Which “also has been introduced in 14 other states”?
Then it’s not just a Florida law, is it?
And who introduced it?

Mattreichel wrote for FireDogLake 5 April 2012,

Jindal Puts Louisiana’s Schools Up for Sale: ALEC’s Education Reforms Rammed Through

Continue reading →

Louisiana, the poster child for private school privatization

The poster child for charter school privatization is Louisiana.
It started in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina,
but the man-made education disaster has spread to the whole state.

Mattreichel wrote for FireDogLake 5 April 2012,

Jindal Puts Louisiana’s Schools Up for Sale: ALEC’s Education Reforms Rammed Through

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal has wasted no time this legislative


session in pushing wide-reaching education reforms designed to
expand the charter school footprint, while opening the door to
vouchers and tying teacher tenure to student test results. In the
early hours of the morning on March 23rd, after a marathon session,
the Louisiana State House passed two bills that form the core of a
wide-reaching education reform agenda designed to expand the charter
school footprint, while opening the door to vouchers and tying
teacher tenure to student test results. Governor Bobby Jindal wasted
no time in pushing these reforms through in the first weeks of the
legislative session, and the urgency with which he has advanced this
agenda has infuriated teachers and left even some charter-school
advocates alarmed. “The governor’s expression of urgency for
these bills is specious at best. [They] did not have to be passed
under cover of darkness,” says Louisiana Federation of
Teachers (LFT) president Steve Monaghan. Even Senator Mary Landrieu,
a Democrat who has been an avid charter school advocate, criticized
the Governor’s haste: “I am by no means naïve, and know full
well the Administration’s political advantage of pushing legislation
through with as little debate as possible.” With these bills,
Louisiana is set to join Florida, Ohio and Minnesota amongst the
states that have enacted the most far-reaching of these school
reforms. This marks the latest wave in a concerted nation-wide
effort by right-wing advocacy organizations and their corporate
supporters to ravage the public sector.

While “reform” usually has connotations of “making better”,
in this case, “better” means more profit for private school companies,
not better education for students.

Why would Louisiana’s legislators vote for something so counterproductive
for education?

Continue reading →

JC Cunningham against the charter school amendment and for HD 175



JC Cunningham, running for Georgia House District 175
against incumbent Amy Carter,

spells out his opposition to the charter school amendment.
-jsq


Video by George Boston Rhynes for bostongbr on YouTube.

Actually, it's even worse than JC indicates, because
because
HB 797 specifies more money per pupil for charter than for public schools,
and the difference has to be made up out of local sales or property taxes.

-jsq

Southern Company: let’s do the renewable energy study for Georgia

Mark Z. Jacobson's study shows

offshore wind is plentiful from Virginia to Maine
Let's

do the study for Georgia!
Southern Company

brags about its private R&D:

Research & Development (since the 1960s)


  • Awarded more than $1.3 billion to conduct more than $3.8 billion of research and development.
  • Qualified for $412 million of investment tax credits for a 21st century coal plant being built in Mississippi.

OK, SO, let's see you do the study to show what we can really do with



conservation, efficiency, wind, sun, and less natural gas than we have now.
Sure, in the Georgia Bight we do have to contend with hurricanes.
But a

"great, big company"
like SO should be able to focus its vaunted private R&D on that problem and solve it.

Maybe SO doesn't want to do that because the result might show there is no need for
any coal plants, nor new natural gas plants, nor any nuclear plants, which would mean
Georgia Power would have to give up its nuclear-funding rate-hike stealth tax
and SO would have to give up its $8.3 billion loan guarantee.
Hey, we might even need to

change the 1973 Georgia Electric Territorial Act,
and that might damage Georgia Power's guaranteed profit!
Nevermind that Georgia Power and SO might make more profit if they got out
in front on solar and wind power and a smart grid.

If SO won't do it, how about we elect some Public Service Commissioners and legislators who will?
For

jobs, energy independence, and profit, oh, and clean air and plenty of water!

-jsq

Charter school referendum in New Jersey?

Here’s another potential charter school referendum
that

BallotPedia doesn’t seem to have caught yet, in New Jersey.

John Mooney wrote for NJ Spotlight 3 February 2012,

Assembly Committee Votes to Put Charters Under Local Control:
Bill calls for local referendum on any school that wants to be granted a charter in a NJ district,

The Assembly education committee yesterday moved a bill that would


give local voters the right to approve new charters in their home
districts. If passed by both houses, the law would make New Jersey
only the third state to require charter schools to face a local
referendum.

First proposed last year, the new bill has been toughened for the
new session. Amendments filed with the bill would make those
referendums retroactive for as many as 30 urban and suburban schools
awaiting their final charters.

The votes would come after the state’s preliminary approval, but
often as much as a year can lapse before the final charter is
granted and a school can open.

NJ bill A1877 seems to have

gotten stuck in the NJ state Senate Education Committee back in May.
It has 21 sponsors, starting with

Patrick Diegnan (D-Middlesex),
shown in the picture above.

Related bill A2147

got as far as a second reading in the Assembly in February.

Charter schools in Georgia already have to be approved by local school boards.
Let’s not give up that local control.
Vote No on the charter school referendum in November.

-jsq