Category Archives: History

The promises that are impossible —Barbara Stratton

Received 6 October 2011 on LCBOE did its homework about consolidation. -jsq
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.

-Barbara Stratton

Valdosta City Council voted to oppose school consolidation

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:
City Council District 1 - James Wright
James Wright
District 1

City Council District 3 - Hoke Hampton
Hoke Hampton
District 3

City Council District 4 - Alvin Payton Jr.
Alvin Payton
District 4

City Council At Large - Ben Norton
Ben Norton
At Large

Didn’t Have
to Vote:
Valdosta Mayor - Sonny Vickers
Sonny Vickers
Mayor
Against:
City Council District 6 - Robert Yost
Robert Yost
District 6

City Council District 5 - Tim Carroll
Tim Carroll
District 5

Missing:
City Council District 2 - Deidra A. White
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).

That means Ben Norton changed his vote since since their last non-binding vote related to school consolidation. (Nonbinding because they didn’t have any authority to decide whether the referendum went on the ballot or not.) Council Deidra White of District 2 was absent throughout the meeting, which I find rather odd since she seemed quite aware when I spoke to her the previous day that this vote was going to occur. Back in August she voted against putting the referendum on the ballot. Yes, I know the motion was not exactly the same, so the votes are not exactly comparable. In any case, this time there was no tie and thus no need for the (new) mayor to break a tie.

Here’s the video:


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 →

Chattanooga deja vu —Karen Noll

Received yesterday on How did we get here? apparently referring to Barbara Stratton’s comment since reposted as Hauntingly familiar Tennessee Waltz. -jsq
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.

Thank you for sharing the Edweekly article.

-Karen Noll

Hauntingly familiar Tennessee Waltz —Barbara Stratton

Received 3 October on How did we get here? -jsq
Very well said JC.

On Thursday 9/29/11 CUEE called a special meeting of their Education Task Force at the City Hall Annex. Reading on and between the lines of the VDT article it appears the new, more agressive tactic is to call into question the conduct and accountability for goverance of education of the Valdosta City Board of Education. Under the leadership of Steve Prigohzy they seem to be heading toward usurping this goverance from the elected school boards to another entity they can control. This is hauntingly familiar if you read an article titled Tennessee Waltz from the Education Week Teacher.

http://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/1995/10/01/02tenn.h07.html
(If you go to the Education Week Teacher website it will say the Tennesse Waltz article is only available to registered guests, but registration is free.)

Leadership for the post consolidation planning was forcibly taken from the county superintendent and given to the Public Education Foundation of Chattanooga, TN, which was headed by CUEE’s own Steven H. Prigohzy. His specialty seems to be powering school consolidations and overseeing the resulting planning which does little to improve the academic or financial conditions of the public schools (actually these get worse). It does however provide the perfect climate for pulling grant monies to establish the magnet schools he also specializes in.

-Barbara Stratton

The Tennessee Waltz article seems to be a slightly later and slightly revised version of the article I referenced in Steve Prigohzy, guru of Chattanooga-Hamilton Co. school consolidation, as quoted recently by Smart Memphis.

-jsq

Consolidation was about economic development —Fred Wetherington @ LCBOE 4 Oct 2011

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.

He might have settled for something less than that: Continue reading →

Consolidation: A Financial Puzzle —Dr. Troy Davis @ LCBOE 4 October 2011

Dr. Troy Davis spelled out where we are financially in the school systems, and what consolidation would do to that: it would raise taxes and reduce services.

He took CUEE’s own figures for how much more consolidation would require to be spent per each Valdosta City school student, and demonstrated that not only would that require raising taxes for both Valdosta and Lowndes County residents to near the state-capped maximum of 21 mils, but even then there is no way enough tax revenue would be generated to pay for all the things CUEE proposes to do after consolidation, and probably not even enough taxes to continue employing all the teachers currently employed by the two school systems. Oh, plus consolidation would lose state and federal grant money by increasing the composite school system size, so the local taxpayers would have to make up that slack, too.

Here are his slides.

Here is a playlist.

-jsq

People who look like you or people to do a job? —Jerome Tucker @ LCBOE 4 Oct 2011

Jerome Tucker continued talking about his experience, including at Griffin Industries, and said:
You looking for people who look like you or are you looking for people to do a job?
He elaborated:
If you pay enough, I’ll find you people to work. That’s a lie: you can’t find people to work in a business. That’s a lie.
He talked about his experience with other schools and the local schools. About business development:
I use the school systems.
He concluded:
If you live outside the city limits, call somebody in the city limits, and please, please vote no.
[Applause]

Here’s the video:


People who look like you or people to do a job? —Jerome Tucker @ 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.

-jsq

How will you know what’s going on in school if you don’t go in? —Jerome Tucker @ LCBOE 4 Oct 2011

Former chair of Community Partners in Education (CPIE) Jerome Tucker continued:
Three weeks ago, at JL Lomax, I had lunch at Southeast Elementary Community Partners in Education. I didn’t see a Chamber […] person there; I didn’t see a CUEE member there. How in the world are you going to know what’s going on in school if you don’t go in?
[Applause]
He pointed out what most children want: Continue reading →

I have never, never, been asked whether I’ve got one system or two —Jerome Tucker

Jerome Tucker has experience in all the major local business organizations and with both the local school systems. He used to be the chair of the Community Partners in Education (CPIE) that a CUEE board member had never heard of. He is the voice of experience, and here’s what he said:
You told me not to cheerlead, but I’ve got the mic in my hand.

I don’t have the right to vote, but I’m encouraging everybody to vote no. I have friends in the city. Call them; tell them to vote no.
[Applause.]
This is too important an issue in our community not to lead a cheer.

Then he established his personal credentials, stated the truth as he knows it, and issue a challenge.

First he bragged on the local school systems:

Somebody’s supposed to be about business thinks we don’t have what it takes to compete; somebody make a statement, and I’m an old country boy. My granny told me things that are said are the truth or a lie. The things I say … this afternoon are what I’ve experienced.
That’s what I call a primary source. He discussed other places that brag on our school systems, then:
I challenge anybody to have been as involved as consistently and as long as I have in business and community development in and around Valdosta and Lowndes County. I’ve served as chairman of the Industrial Authority. I’ve served as chairman of the Tourism Authority. I’ve served as chairman of the Valdosta Technical Board of Education. I’ve been on the superintendent’s council of schools. A member of CPIE since its inception. I challenge anyone….
What’s the challenge? Continue reading →

We educators were ignored back then —John Wayne Baxter

Received today on LCBOE did its homework about consolidation. -jsq
Hey John, I appreciate your summary of the latest meeting on consolidation. I was on the Chamber sponsored consolidation committee back in 1993-94. The same folks pushing the effort then are pushing it now. Back then, nothing about improving education was ever mentioned; it was all about banking and real estate. Only two educators back then were on the committee, the two superintendents from the school systems, and we were never asked our opinions on anything. We were totally ignored.

Yes, we educators were ingored back then and there is no doubt in my mind that this group pushing for consolidation is ignoring opinions of educators now. I believe the “dollar bill” mentality of a handful of folks is the driving force behind this effort, and I don’t mean the tax payers. Of course, this is just my opinion; I could be wrong.

We have two excellent school systems now in one county. Here is the method that I propose for a merger: if and when one of our school systems gets to a point where it cannot provide quality education for it’s students, let that school system’s school board approach the other school board and begin discussions on consolidation or some other remedy. Why should some bank or real estate company be the driving force behind consolidation. Maybe kids should be put ahead of lining the pockets of a few business owners. And the most important thing to remember about this action is: once Valdosta gives up the charter for it’s school system, it’s over and done with; good or bad, it’s over; Valdosta can never get it back. Think about that!

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-jsq