In considering the change at West Side, officials noted in last
year’s budget proposal talks that about 73 percent of its students
are bus riders, brought from all parts of the county. The school posts
a per-student transportation cost of $1,198, more than twice the zone
average of $529.
“Why is West Side so important to the county?” parent Brandi Kennedy
asked. “You have buses picking up kids all over the county to go to
West Side.”
Because children are chosen to attend the magnet school through a lottery,
Kennedy said she couldn’t understand funding the fine-arts focus of
the school when it is not more prestigious than other county schools.
As series of decisions, not unrelated to race, made by the “white fathers” of
the city of LaGrange, led the citizens of the city to vote their school system
out of existence and to become a part of the county system.
The quotes around “white fathers” are in the paper.
Hm, back when I first encountered CUEE, they were speaking to SCLC in Valdosta
late last year, Rusty Griffin among them, and the theme was desegregation.
They did not receive a warm welcome.
Funny how CUEE changed its tune to “unification” after that.
But the local “white fathers” are still insisting on making decisions
for all of us.
Make your plans now to attend the first Vote YES public forum on school
unification, which is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 27 at
the Rainwater Conference Center.
Our guest speaker will be Dr. Terry Jenkins, who served as the
Superintendent of
Troup County Schools during the unification process of LaGrange and
Troup County school systems in 1992.
Many of the same issues and rumors being discussed locally were also
debated when
LaGrange and Troup County were voting to unify their school systems. In
his presentation,
Dr. Jenkins will discuss how the school unification issue unfolded in
Troup County, its impact to improving test scores and graduation rates,
and how the decision to unify their school systems has transformed the
community for the better.
Tom Gooding, Chair of the Valdosta-Lowndes County Chamber of Commerce,
asked the school boards to do the Chamber’s homework.
He got no takers.
Reiterating the Chamber’s demand from its
letter of 9 September 2011,
Gooding asked VBOE superintendent Dr. Cason at the 20 September VBOE
forum to commit to meeting about what to do if the “unification”
referendum passes.
Dr. Cason said that should have happened two years ago, and
Now is not the appropriate time.
He said if the referendum passes, then the two school boards will sit down
together.
Dr. Cason didn’t say anything about inviting the Chamber or CUEE to such
meetings, since, after all, neither the Chamber or CUEE would have any legal
role.
Tom Gooding rebuffed @ VBOE 20 Sep 2011
education, referendum, consolidation, statement,
Forum at Valdosta Middle School, Valdosta Board of Education (VBOE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 20 September 2011.
Videos by George Boston Rhynes for bostongbr on YouTube.
Georgia operates the fifth-largest prison system in the nation, at a
cost of $1 billion a year. The job of overseeing 60,000 inmates and
150,000 felons on probation consumes 1 of every 17 state dollars.
Last night was the second of the three forums
the Valdosta Board of Education (VBOE) approved
along with its
statement opposing school consolidation.
George Rhynes reports there were 300 people there,
and he videoed everybody who stood up and spoke.
Videos of last night’s Valdosta school forum by George Rhynes
education, referendum, consolidation, statement,
Forum at Valdosta Middle School, Valdosta Board of Education (VBOE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 20 September 2011.
Videos by George Boston Rhynes for bostongbr on YouTube.
Videos of last night’s Valdosta school forum by George Rhynes
education, referendum, consolidation, statement,
Forum at Valdosta Middle School, Valdosta Board of Education (VBOE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 20 September 2011.
Videos by George Boston Rhynes for bostongbr on YouTube.
the Lowndes County Commission could lead by making one of their famous
position statements, this time in favor of solar,
or by putting solar on the roofs of their buildings (solar on the jail! imagine that),
bringing in money to do so by
or by applying for grants,
or by making a project big enough to apply for private venture capital
from the at least two firms that are looking for such projects.
If the LCC won’t do it, how about solar Valdosta fire departments,
or solar Hahira tobacco barns?
This has been a great year for the Georgia Solar Energy Association,
too. Our membership has swelled to almost 300 corporate and individual
members. This number includes manufacturers, installers, integrators,
consultants and advocates who want to see Georgia benefit from an
industry that contributed more than $5 billion in economic activity to
the U.S. gross domestic product since 2008 and now employs more than
93,000 workers nationwide.
Our annual Southern Solar Summit in Atlanta this summer sold out, filling
the auditorium at the Georgia Tech Research Institute Conference Center
with Georgians eager to learn what innovations are making solar power
more accessible in Georgia and beyond. Another annual Solar Summit
in Savannah last month doubled its attendance this year, proving that
interest in solar has spread beyond metro Atlanta.
The 2011 Georgia Solar Tour will feature sites statewide. We hope that
some of the participants in this year’s tour will become hosts in
next year’s.
Georgia’s pardons board rejected a last-ditch clemency plea from death
row inmate Troy Davis on Tuesday despite high-profile support from figures
including the pope and
a former FBI director for the claim that he was
wrongly convicted of killing a police officer in 1989.
Davis is scheduled to die Wednesday by injection for the killing of
off-duty Savannah officer Mark MacPhail, who was slain while rushing to
help a homeless man being attacked. It is the fourth time in four years
that Davis’ execution has been scheduled by Georgia officials.
Steve Hayes, spokesman for the Board of Pardons and Paroles, said
In considering the change at West Side, officials noted in last year’s budget proposal talks that about 73 percent of its students are bus riders, brought from all parts of the county. The school posts a per-student transportation cost of $1,198, more than twice the zone average of $529.
