Category Archives: Education

Kia and school unification in Troup County, Georgia: any connection?

The only example in Georgia that CUEE claimed of good effects of school unification was Troup County, Georgia, where a few people are convinced that the Kia plant would not have come to town if the schools hadn’t unified. That’s one county out of 159. And it’s hearsay anecdotal evidence. So let’s look for any actual evidence.

The county’s own announcement of the Kia plant opening says nothing about schools, much less unification. Troup County’s web page about their Strategic Plan for Sustainable Development does mention education, but says nothing about school unification. Their county history page mentions the Kia plant but nothing about education being a factor, much less school unification.

Even if that anecdotal connection between school unification and the Kia plant had some evidence behind it, that’s not an example of improved education!

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Why school consolidation is useless: bright flight

What local county grew twice as fast as any of the others? If you guessed Lowndes, nope, no prize for you. The answer, according to the 2000 census, is Lanier County:

What school consolidation would get us is more of that. Not white flight, rather bright flight, to Lanier and other counties. Many of the leaders of the local African-American community already don’t live in Valdosta; they live in Lowndes County or even Berrien County. More of both black and white people will move out of a county with a consolidated school district, resulting in lower educational results not just for Valdosta but also for Lowndes schools. Is that what we want?

How about all the people who claim they know how to take our schools to “the next level” get on with doing that right now with the two existing school systems?

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Wiregrass Tech: fastest growing and award winning

According to Community College Week Magazine,
Valdosta Technical College (which is now Wiregrass Georgia Technical College) earned the honor as being the fastest-growing college in the nation among colleges with enrollments of equal size.
Its size range is enrollments 2,500 to 4,999 (see page 8.) Enrollment went up at Wiregrass Tech 45% between Fall 2008 and 2009.

Also, the Technical College System of Georgia named Wiregrass Tech Technical College of the Year for 2010.

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The CUEE Board: not quite all city

Let’s meet the CUEE board and ask them a simple question.

The Chair, Leroy Butler, named them in this order: Rusty Griffin (Vice-Chair), George Bennett, Tom Kurrie, Walter Hobgood, Johnny Ball, Jack Edwards, Jud Rackley, Gene Godfrey, and “last but certainly not least” Ruth Council. (Not named but listed on CUEE’s website are David Durland, Terry Hunt, and Ronnie Mathis.)

As I told Rusty Griffin, I congratulate CUEE on holding public meetings about their plans.


Kick-off meeting, 24 March 2011,
Community Unification for Educational Excellence, Inc., CUEE,
They’re for consolidation of the Valdosta and Lowndes County School Systems.
Videos by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

Here’s the question:

How many of the current CUEE board are from the county outside of Valdosta?
Continue reading

Wiregrass Technical College @ VLCIA 15 March 2011

Wiregrass Technical College wants to expand onto some land owned by the Industrial Authority, using SPLOST funds.

Chairman Jerry Jennett:

The point is they’re landlocked.

And so what you want to do is you want to take what your tract is now and have the ability to expand your building in the future. You want to move your training facility now and….

More transcription after the video:


Regular monthly meeting, Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority, VLCIA,
Norman Bennett, Roy Copeland, Tom Call, Mary Gooding, Jerry Jennett chairman,
J. Stephen Gupton attorney, Brad Lofton Executive Director,
Allan Ricketts Program Manager, 15 March 2011.
Videos by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

Roy Copeland: Continue reading

School consolidation: CUUE kick-off event tomorrow night

Do you think the Valdosta and Lowndes County School Systems should be consolidated? I don’t, but CUEE does, and they’re having an “official kick-off” 6PM tomorrow, 24 March 2011, at the Gazebo Room, James H. Rainwater Conference Center, 1 Meeting Place, Valdosta.

Note at the top of the invitation:

It’s Your Decision. It’s Your Choice.
Well, not if you live in the county outside Valdosta, it’s not. CUEE is promoting a referendum for Valdosta voters in November 2011 for Valdosta to give up its school system: Continue reading

Communities watching boards

Susan Hall Hardy says that in most places industrial authority executives don’t interact with their communities. Well, paraphrasing what Yakov Smirnoff used to say, in Lowndes County, community interact with officials!

Here is her comment from 15 March 2011 on this blog:

Not to be rude, although honesty is very often perceived that way these days, but, the industrial authority executives rarely thank their communities. In the six states I’m most familiar with, these fellows see themselves as beholden only to their employers. After all, they work with their directors, elected officials, a few bankers and city/county department heads. Rarely do they come in direct contact with the average voter, employee or homeowner, although all those people often pay a large part of their salaries and office operating expenses. Despite the public funding, these groups are usually tight lipped about how they do business and rarely provide the public with records or audits. We’ve all put up with that manner of doing business for so long we now see it as just that — the way you do business. We’d never accept that from a nonprofit organization, a charity group or most elected officials. Shame on us all.
Susan, you’re helping by reading, and you’re helping more by posting. Many local officials have noticed LAKE and this blog because they know people read it.

Anyone who wants to help still more, you, too, can go to a meeting. The Industrial Authority is a good one to attend, but I hear the Tree Commission isn’t trying as hard to enforce things, and does anybody know anything the Hospital Authority does? The Airport Authority? Continue reading

ESPLOST Passed

If you go to lowndescounty.com, pull down Government at the top, select Board of Elections, then Election Results, you can select a format for displaying election results. And the results at 8:50 PM 15 March 2010 are:
BOE SALES TAX QUESTIONVOTES
YES82.66%2,931
NO17.34%615
Total Votes: 3,546
I think it’s safe to say ESPLOST passed.

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ESPLOST Election Today

If you’re not yet convinced to get out and vote today to continue the 1% ESPLOST local sales tax that pays for school buildings, books, band instruments, and sports equipment for the Valdosta and Lowndes County, Georgia school systems, here are two Facebook pages: And where you can vote. And here’s lots of detail on where the money goes. The two school boards are setting a standard for local government transparency in posting a detailed notice in the newspaper five times, holding information sessions, going to other people’s meetings and speaking, handing out flyers, etc.

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Precincts for ESPLOST election

Local precincts have been changed yet again since the last election. Here are the precincts for the ESPLOST election on March 15th. According to the Board of Elections, Lowndes County Polling Places:
To find your polling place go to Secretary of State Poll Locator

Click Precincts for Map Locator and Driving Directions provided by Google Maps.

The version of their precinct list below actually has map links for each precinct. I have omitted the photographs of the polling places.
Precinct 1 Newsome St. Church, 202 S. Newsome St., Hahira
Precinct 2 Old Pine Grove Elementary School Gym, 4023 Pine Grove Road, Valdosta
Precinct 3 Westminister Presbyterian Church, 3019 Country Club Road, Valdosta
Precinct 4 Northside Baptist Church Gym, 200 E. Park Avenue, Valdosta
Precinct 5 Jaycee Park Activities Building, 2306 Jaycee Shack Road, Valdosta
Precinct 6 Naylor City Hall, 8753 Georgia Highway 135, Naylor
Precinct 7 Wood Valley Community Center, 1907 Gornto Road, Valdosta
Precinct 8 Rainwater Conference Center, One Meeting Place, Valdosta
Precinct 9 New Clyattville Fire Station, 5080 Madison Highway, Clyattville
Precinct 10 Mildred Hunter Community Center, 509 S. Fry St., Valdosta
Precinct 11 Dasher City Hall, 3686 US Hwy 41 S. Dasher
Precinct 12 South Lowndes Recreation Center, 6440 Ocean Pond Ave, Lake Park

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