Mr. Quarterman, what can we do, do we have to go to the state legislature
to get a law passed to force these so-called public officials to answer
questions and respond to the citizens?
First of all, my compliments to anyone such as Leigh Touchton
who has been doing politics around here longer than me for asking
my opinion, because that indicates they are pretty good at it
and are probably asking many people their opinions.
My answer: carrots along with sticks, and shine some light!
That all builds political capital, which will be needed for elections.
We need many people building a community doing many things.
If I knew a simple answer that would change things magically overnight,
I’d recommend it, but I don’t.
I don’t even know if I know a long answer, but I’m pretty sure that
any answer will require a community, because
Continue reading →
The Quitman 10 were arrested in Brooks County for alleged irregularities
with absentee ballots, the day after two of them were elected to the
Brooks County Board of Education.
Saturday (tomorrow) a statewide rally for them will be held in Macon:
When:
Saturday at 11:00pm – Sunday at 2:00am
Where:
Stewart Chapel AME Church, 887 Forsyth Street
Who:
Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sen. Robert Brown, Rep. Tyrone Brooks, Sen. Vincent Fort, Rep. David Lucas, Ms. Helen Butler
I had
heard that some Board members were elected with intention to support
consolidation but that I hadn’t heard anything about that from any of
them when they were running.
They didn’t say much about it when they were running, either.
Back in 2009, the only one who got elected who was asked about this issue, Jeana Bealand, pretty
much dodged the question at AAUW’s
Lowndes County Political Forum on 15 September 2009.
This was the forum that was the day after the VBOE meeting that drew 400 people
because of Superintendent Cason’s decision about President Obama’s speech.
Very few of those 400 people showed up at the forum to ask questions of their
likely school board members.
Maybe more people should take an interest in who is going to represent them on their school board.
Jeana Beeland answers a question about school system consolidation
Lowndes County Political Forum, AAUW, 15 Sep 2009
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
Tonight I went to the VBOE meeting and delivered the offical NAACP letter
stating our branch’s opposition to consolidation. I asked Chairman Warren
Lee if he would discuss with VBOE attorney Gary Moser and let me know
whether they are “allowed” to take a position on this. The reason I
asked this is because one of my friends says that Dr. Cason told her
that “they are not allowed” to take a position on this. To my mind,
employees might not be able to take a position, but elected officials
representing voters ought to clearly state their position on an issue
as important as school consolidation.
Our community could subsequently also “monitor” increases in respiratory
illnesses, cancer rates, cardiovascular diseases, and mortality
rates. Just ask the American Lung Association, the American Cancer
Society, and the American Heart Association.
This is incredible. A city council member who still hides behind an
EPD air permit, and who chooses to ignore the testimony of thousands of
medical professionals throughout the United States. At the same time,
we have a City Council that continues to isolate itself from its citizens
with a policy that undermines open dialogue.
The continued silence of our City Council and Mayor in regard to biomass
is mind-boggling. Haven’t they noticed the developments of the past
couple months? The regular protests? Hundreds and hundreds of signatures
and voices in opposition to biomass? Ashley Paulk’s statement? George
Bennett’s statement? Even a statement, it appears, by Wesley Langdale
who said that biomass is economically not feasible … which is something
WACE stated as far back as October 2010, supported by an article from
the Wall Street journal called “(Bio)Mass Confusion”.
Dr. Mark George once asked all City Council members the following
question: “What is it you still need from us, so that you understand
that biomass is a bad deal”? To my knowledge that question was never
answered.
Last night I shared a letter from a local physician
Pretty much everyone agrees there are problems with the two local
school systems in this county, those of Lowndes and Valdosta.
Proponents and opponents of school unification even agree on many
of the details.
They just don’t agree on the solution.
CUEE believes that unification will somehow lead to solutions to all this,
and
believe is the word they use,
because they have no evidence.
Opponents such as me
don’t see any plan to get to better education, and some think that unification
will cause problems that CUEE is not even considering,
just like integration did in 1969.
Here’s a pair of pie charts from 2008 from
Who’s losing in Winnersville?
a project unification opponent Dr. Mark George was involved in:
I completely agree with Alex Rowell. What is the purpose of
consolidation/’unification’? Is the purpose to desegregate the two school
districts? If so, how will the new school district deal with the issues
that Leigh Touchton brings up with regard to education not serving black
male students. How will a larger school district better meet the needs of
a much more diverse student body? Furthermore, What do the parents in the
county think about desegregation of their distict? (Because if they don’t
want it, there is no doubt that ‘unification’ will be a disaster for ALL)
OR is the purpose to reduce cost by reducing administrators in the head
office? If that is the purpose where are the students in this decision.
“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.”
And, indeed, where are the students in this decision?
What NAACP has advocated for is cultural competency from our teachers,
this is not necessarily a black or white issue. Often it’s more a matter
of class than race; for example, far too many middle class teachers
expect middle class behavior from children who are living in poverty
and this is an unfair expectation. There are also deep-seated issues
regarding black males that cultural competency won’t address: namely,
that many black teenaged males don’t see any benefit to a high school
education because so many of their family members cannot find work here
in Valdosta. What’s the point to an education if one is still shut out
of most successful careers?
Consolidation won’t be the magic bullet that solves these problems,
there aren’t even any CUEE representatives speaking to these issues. To
most of our members, we think these issues will get worse rather than
better if the two systems were to merge.
I didn’t intend to say anything Monday, but since
Rev. Bennett named me in his introduction
I thought it necessary to stand up and make it clear that
I do not support CUEE’s plan for school system unification.
After some examples of things on which I agreed or disagreed with
Ashley Paulk, the VDT, the Chamber of Commerce, and VLCIA,
I mentioned that after an SCLC meeting Rusty Griffin told
me that nobody who was not for unification would be accepted
on the CUEE board.
I praised
the upcoming Thursday meeting about education,
but pointed out that commitee would not report back before
the proposed unification vote,
and the CUEE board still had only one member from the county
outside Valdosta, so:
This is not diversification,
this is not representative of the people,
this a small pressure group,
and nothing personal against you,
a small pressure group that is trying to decide
for the rest of us.
Once again, why I’m opposed to CUEE’s unification scheme:
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So he was surprised when he discovered a group proposing to
finance such a plant.
And he later learned that there were many health problems
with biomass plants, and he now thinks it would be wrong to build it.
So as my mother would say, Rev. George Bennett is a big man!
Rev. George Bennett is a big man @ LCDP 2 May 2011
Debate between proponents of school system unification (CUEE) and opponents,
at Lowndes County Democratic Party (LCDP), Gretchen Quarterman chair,
Videos by George Rhynes, Jim Parker, John S. Quarterman, and Gretchen Quarterman
for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange, Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 2 May 2011.
My answer: carrots along with sticks, and shine some light!
That all builds political capital, which will be needed for elections.
