It was Dostoevsky who said: “The degree of civilisation in a society
is revealed by entering its prisons.” But in contemporary Britain you
don’t even need to do this, you can simply stand on a street corner and
wait for the ghosts to come flitting past in order to appreciate its
parlous condition.
We now have the highest prison population in Europe by a considerable
measure, and following the recent riots there is no likelihood of it
decreasing.
Of course, we aren’t quite at the levels enjoyed by our closest allies,
those prime exponents of the civilising mission the United States, whose
extensive gulag now houses, it is estimated, more African American men
than were enslaved immediately prior to their Civil War – but we’re
getting there.
CUEE has staked their efforts on catch phrases & false promises that look
& sound good. All of their info is at best a half truth. The promises
that are imposible to keep are lies. I was raised believing a promise
broken is a truth untold, which is a lie.
Unfortunately this tactic
will work for today’s lazy voters who won’t even take the time to go
to a website where the true facts are posted much less do their own
research. Surely don’t ask them to leave the comfort of their homes &
entertainment & personal addictions to attend any public meetings on
either side when they should be visiting both sides at least once. They
are part of the convenient idiot masses that facilitate take overs by
the clever greedy for money & power few.
Both school boards [VBOE, LCBOE]
and their
supporters have done a great job of researching to produce true evidence
that dissolves all the CUEE false rhetoric & print.
We cannot assume
that truth will prevail because it is much easier to believe the fast
sell that requires no personal effort. CUEE is banking on this. Most of
the
school consolidations that have occurred
had many that were shocked
when they passed because they did not account for the money/power ruses
of the facilitators working so well with the lazy voter public. Many will
not even show up claiming they have no stake since they have no children
in either system. They are too lazy to check the researched facts to
see they will be paying higher taxes for a handicapped unified system.
Mayor Sonny Vickers said he thought it was important for children
and grandchildren and proper for the City Council to take a stand
against school consolidation, and City Manager Larry Hanson read
the statement (transcript appended).
For:
James Wright
District 1
Hoke Hampton
District 3
Alvin Payton
District 4
Ben Norton
At Large
Didn’t Have to Vote:
Sonny Vickers
Mayor
Against:
Robert Yost
District 6
Tim Carroll
District 5
Missing:
Deidra White
District 2
After very brief discussion, the vote was 4 for
(James Wright of District 1, Hoke Hampton of District 3,
Alvin Payton of District 4, and Ben Norton At Large)
and 2 against
(Robert Yost of District 6 and Tim Carroll of District 5).
Valdosta City Council voted to oppose school consolidationo
education, consolidation, resolution,
Regular Session, Valdosta City Council (VCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 6 October 2011.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
Here’s the statement transcribed as accurately as I could from the video:
Continue reading →
After reading the
Ed Weekly article, [slightly earlier version quoted here, referred to
here. -jsq]
I was struck by a very strong
dejavu feeling. I checked the date twice and only to realize ( twice)
that this consolidation went on more than 15 years ago.
The city schools were in bad shape financially and educationally in
Chatnooga city. That is the major difference with our situation here.
As much as some want you to believe that Valdosta city schools are not
doing well, there are many that can point to the school improvement plan
and it being recognized as one of the best in the state, or other notable
achievements that differ front the view of VCS propagated by the folks
on CUEE.
Other than that we are looking at the same issues; racial segregation,
neighborhood schools, professional development monies in the different
district, curriculum changes, busing to attain integration requirements,
and the concerns about redistricting and moving kids to other schools.
Again this was 15 years ago, yet we are now faced with the same issues.
At the time of the article consolidation had passed (19k to 21k).
Teachers and parents Interviewed expressed concern about the poor kids
of the city not getting a fair shake because the county (largely white)
schools had little connection to the issues of the city kids. We would
be faced with that just on a smaller scale.
The other strange likeness to this 15 year old consolidation is that
Steve Prigozhy seems to have some very vague notions of school reform
today that he did back then. These notions have been found to be less
than successful in the ensuing 15 years.
Distancing himself from his failures does not make him a success at
anything but manipulation of facts. The education of my children is
not going to be reformed by a man that spins the truth and panders to
the wealthy.
Belief based on evidence!
About something that deals with the underlying local educational problem here: poverty.
From her speech yesterday at the White House:
It is my belief and its also been demonstrated that if we provide early
childhood education to Latino children it would take less than a decade
to reap the benefits since investment in early education is proven to
generate the fastest returns to the state.
With more ECD programs there will be less Latino students being held
back, less dropouts and less crime involving school-age children; and
they will be more productive individuals to society.
Greed
is an excessive desire to possess wealth or goods with the intention
to keep it for one’s self. Greed is inappropriate expectation.
However, greed is applied to a very excessive or rapacious desire and
pursuit of wealth, status, and power. —Wikipedia
We
would like to think that our community “leaders” are not full of
pride and greed, but please listen closely:
The
CUEE Board did NOT
meet with both school boards prior to sending the petition around
town.
Troup
County Schools have not
met AYP in 8 years.
Tennessee’s
Hamilton County system, the entire district, is currently high
priority. This means they have had two
years of bad results.
This is the school used in CUEE’s original study.
CUEE’s
expert
Steve Prigohzy said,
"If you believe in the end that running
one system is cheaper than running two school systems. If in the end
you are going to cast a vote for a single system because you think
it would save money, I
wouldn’t cast my vote
I do not think it will save money."
If
consolidation passes, there will be only
7 Board Members representing almost 20,000 students.
Current LCBOE member Fred Wetherington said he was on the Chamber of
Commerce Board and is still a member.
Remembering how consolidation started at the Chamber:
The whole idea was could it help us with economic development in our community.
At the same time could we increase student achievement.
And could we save the taxpayers money.
Well, I’m here to tell you tonight that I was one of the board members…
that if that theory and those ideas had held up after research and study,
I would be supporting this idea.
But he doesn’t. Because that theory and those ideas did not hold up.
Current Lowndes County Board of Education (LCBOE) member
Philip Poole said various members of both school boards have met
with consolidation proponents, and had asked them to involve the
whole community in any decisions.
Since that didn’t happen, there’s been less involvement lately.
And the referendum is solely about dissolving the Valdosta School System,
which would trigger the Lowndes system having to take over.
Which would result in losing federal and state funding due to
the resulting school system being larger.
Referendum is to dissolve Valdosta School District —Philip Poole @ LCBOE 4 Oct 2011
Why we oppose consolidation,
Community Forum, Lowndes County Board of Education (LCBOE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 4 October 2011.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
Dan Davis suggested letting professional educators deal with education
and let the Chamber attend cocktail parties.
That got a big round of applause.
First he established his credentials in business and education:
20 year veteran of CPIE and of the Chamber of Commerce;
has businesses in many countries, but chooses to live here.
Having seen the world and many educational systems,
he thinks:
This consolidation is really a bad issue; very very bad.
It was Dostoevsky who said: “The degree of civilisation in a society is revealed by entering its prisons.” But in contemporary Britain you don’t even need to do this, you can simply stand on a street corner and wait for the ghosts to come flitting past in order to appreciate its parlous condition.
