This is not sitting well with opponents of consolidation.
Here’s JC Cunningham’s reaction:
I personally am not surprised by any tactics that Cuee uses in order to
win on Nov. 8th. In the last 5 minutes I have received 3 phone calls
and 6 emails. Each one asked me what was I going to do about it?
After the last call I began to get a little upset, because I did not
ask that person the same question. What are you going to do about
this?
Today from 5 to 7 PM at the Rainwater Conference Center is the
2011 Meet the Candidates Forum organized by the Valdosta-Lowndes County
Chamber of Commerce.
The Chamber’s Meet the Candidates Reception provides an opportunity
for Chamber members to meet and hear from candidates running in the
Nov. 8 general election. All Chamber members and guests are invited to
attend this event at the Rainwater Conference Center. There is no cost
to Chamber members to attend.
Here’s a list of
who qualifed to run.
As you can see, most local incumbents are running unopposed.
Maybe they’ll show up anyway, and there are at least a few contested positions
(Valdosta Mayor and Council At Large, Hahira Council 3, Dasher Post 3, and Lake Park Council At Large.
This being an odd year, there are no county-wide posts up for election,
but the municipal elections affect everyone around here, even people
like me who do not live in any of the cities.
Whether at this event or elsewhere, you may want to ask the candidates
their platforms and positions on local issues.
Usually there’s also an
AAUW Lowndes County Political Forum;
I don’t know what’s up with that this year.
Usually it’s immediately after the Chamber thing,
and the AAUW Forum is open to all.
School consolidation would set up an artificial fiscal disaster that
could force the “unified” public school system to turn to private foundations
for funding, at the price of control of public education by private entities.
This is disaster capitalism, or the shock doctrine, right here in
Valdosta and Lowndes County.
What’s the Shock Doctrine?
It’s been around for a long time, but Naomi Klein researched it for
her book of the same name. It’s
“the rapid-fire corporate reengineering of societies still reeling from shock”
She was writing mostly about wars, terrorist attacks, and natural disasters.
Locally here we haven’t had any of those.
But we may be about to create a disaster, a shock,
at the ballot box in November,
if voters fall for the school “unification” snake oil.
What’s the next step after CUEE has accidentally revealed that
Continue reading →
If I were Superintendent in the Lowndes County School System
on November 9, 2011 and I had 7700 additional students and a potential
$10 Million Deficit this would be my starting list:
Winners:
Bus Drivers (ALL – NO supervisors, trainers or mechanics)
Lunchroom Staff (Until we decide which schools to close)
Custodial Staff (Until we decide which schools to close – no supervisor)
Media Specialists (Until we decide which schools to close – then I would move you down to the Losers section)
2 Maintenance Workers (Heating/Air – no supervisor)
Academic Teachers (with good evaluations) – NOT ALL because I would raise teacher class size to the max and ask for a waiver for an additional child or two
1 Asst. Superintendent
2 Technology support staff (no Supervisors)
School Secty (Until we decide which schools to close)
1 Finance staff person (Payroll)
Principals (Until we decide which schools to close – except Southeast, will not rebuild)
Losers:
Teachers (especially ones that do not have tenure)
Assistant Principals (at Elementary Schools that have more than one)
Media Specialists (Until we decide which schools to close)
3 Curriculum Directors at Central Office
Technology Supervisor
Special Education Director
2 Assistant Superintendents
Director of ESPLOST Projects
Superintendent
All Central Office Support Staff
Food Service Director and Staff
Ticket Manager
Community Relations Director
1 Social Worker
VECA Staff (ALL)
Pinevale Learning Center Staff (ALL)
Personnel Director and Staff
Title I Director and Staff
Director of Testing
Mail Courier
Vocational Teachers due to change in direction (Not All)
Elective Teachers (Some)
Parent Involvement Coordinators (Title I $ will be cut)
Instructional Supervisors
Para Educators (except for Special Education)
Valdosta Police Department Dare Officers/SRO’s and Football Games (taken over by the County if funding is available)
1 Band Director at VHS – student fees will increase and school will not furnish as many instruments
Performing Arts Center Mgr. – public will be charged a higher costs to use
Director of Purchasing and Staff
1 School Psychologist
9 Board of Education Members
2 @ Asst Principals at VMS and JLN
2 Asst Principals at VHS
No Swim Team staff
IB Teachers would be relocated if positions are available
5 Furlough days for the first year
School Board Attorney
School Closing:
Southeast
Pinevale Learning Center
VECA
JL Lomax ???
Parker Mathis
Old Pine Grove
Moulton- Branch ????
Sell:
Bazemore Hyder Stadium and Central Office to VSU at Fair Market Value – Wildcat Museum would be housed at the Historical Society
Southeast School
VECA to VSU at Fair Market Value
Pinevale Learning Center
Now it took me about 15 minutes to come up with this list and it’s not
near what my actually happen during the 2011-12 school year if we don’t
get people out to vote against this misguided attempt to dismantle
our schools. If I didn’t include you don’t thank for one second that
you are safe. Remember I didn’t hire you and I don’t owe you anything,
so pay your bills on time and keep your credit ratings high because you
may need to rent for a while.
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 →
Hahira’s biggest event of the year, the Hahira Honeybee Festival,
filled up Main Street from the Middle School to Branch Street.
Last year reputedly drew 25,000 people; I’m no expert, but I’ll be surprised
if there weren’t at least as many this year.
You can tell by all the City Council candidates that there’s
an election going on.
See if you can spot the mayor.
(I didn’t, until I was revewing the pictures.)
My favorite is this one of
Charles Henry Hobrat.
Hahira Honeybee Festival, Hahira, Lowndes County, Georgia, 8 October 2011.
Pictures and Videos by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
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.
