Category Archives: Transparency

School Consolidation Lost by a Landslide with 14 of 16 precincts reporting

Not this time. Not Now. How about not ever after a 4 to 1 loss? 79.07% No Consolidation with 14 out of 16 precincts. All that is outstanding is provisional ballots and military, which are usually a handful. The percentage of no votes kept going up. Also more people voted on the school consolidation referendum than there were validated signatures on CUEE’s petition.

It looked like a landslide, and it was:

In other news, the mayoral vote almost voted that of four years ago. John W. Gayle will be the new Mayor of Valdosta with 57.3%.

Ben H. Norton retains his Valdosta City Council Seat with 76.56%.

Sunday sales of alcohol in Valdosta won with 52.3%. A similar alcohol referendum won in Lake Park with 65.99%.

It looks like Ben Futch will be the new Mayor of Lake Park with 54.85%.

Sandy Sherrill, Russell H. Lane, Paul Mulkey, and Roanald Carter will apparently be on the Lake Park City Council.

In Dasher, Edwin R. Smith will be City Council P3 and Donald J. Bryan will be P2.

In Hahira, Ralph Clendenin retains his City Council seat.

The school referendum details: Continue reading →

Is consolidation inevitable? —David Mullis @ LCBOE 4 Oct 2011

David Mullis, author of the most basic and comprehensive resource on school consolidation, the Grassroots Handbook Against School Consolidation, noted that the Chamber and CUEE had tried to paint Valdosta School Supt. Dr. Cason and Lowndes School Supt. Dr. Smith as saying school consolidation was inevitable.

Dr. Smith replied:

I use the word “may”. It may occur. I’m not like CUEE; I don’t have a crystal ball to predict the future.
David Mullis asked for further clarification based on the data we have today.

Supt. Smith’s answer:

Now is the worst possible time to even consider consolidation or any other education innovation that’s going to cost more money that has possibly little or no return.

Here’s the video: Continue reading →

What effect will this have on teachers’ jobs and salary? @ LCBOE 4 Oct 2011

Someone (didn’t get her name; sorry) wanted to know how CUEE could say, on their glossy flyer they mailed out, that no teachers would lose their jobs. Supt. Smith responded that there would be winners and losers, and unfortunately more winners than losers. Yes, teachers have contracts. However, due to the economy, Lowndes County Schools already have a Reduction in Force (RIF) policy, through which they have offered retirement and about 80 teachers have already taken advantage of it.

Here’s the video:


What effect will this have on teachers’ jobs and salary? @ 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

Who will be deciding where our little girls go to school? –Sam Worthington @ LCBOE 4 October 2011

A local dentist asked the Lowndes County School Board and staff:
Two little girls, one is ten and in the county, another is three and will be going to the county. When me and my wife moved into this area, we spent a lot of time deciding where we wanted to live mainly based upon based on schools, and the schools’ records; where we wanted our girls to go.

If consolidation goes through, who will be deciding where our little girls go to school?

Supt. Smith said the Lowndes County Board of Education would make the initial decision, but it would have to be approved by the Department of Justice,
and we all know what that might be. I’d rather control it locally.
[applause]
We know because Continue reading →

Open record requests and jail deaths —George Boston Rhynes

George Rhynes complimented Ashley Paulk for having provided information about people in jail when Paulk was Sheriff, and noted that unfortunately that had not been the case since. He asked if someone could point him to where he could get such information. Chairman Paulk reminded him that the Sheriff is a constitutional officer, and the Commission did not direct him. George Rhynes responded:
Everywhere I go, I hear that. I go to Brooks County, and they inform me of the same thing.
Chairman Paulk noted:
… by state law.
They agreed on that, and George said he thought nonetheless:
Seems like somebody in the state of Georgia would know how to get that information, if it is open.

George also said: Continue reading →

And I feel like there’s somebody meddling in their affairs; I wish they wouldn’t have. —Ashley Paulk @ LCC 7 November 2011

As previously noted, Chairman Ashley Paulk last night told Matt Portwood he didn’t think the Lowndes County Commission should be meddling in school affairs. Here’s the part the VDT didn’t quote:
And I feel like there’s somebody meddling in their affairs; I wish they wouldn’t have.
That’s pretty interesting considering that Brittany D. McClure reported for the VDT 4 November 2011 that FVCS makes campaign contributions public:
Ashley Paulk, Lowndes County Commission chairman contributed $200
So it’s not like the public doesn’t already know Ashley Paulk’s opinion on this subject, and it seems he was reminding us of it: he contributed money to FVCS, a group actively lobbying to prevent the school consolidation promoted by CUEE.

Chairman Paulk also noted:

We do have county residents who live in the city.
Seems like he’s confusing two excuses for the Commissioners not speaking about school consolidation: Continue reading →

Bussing is a natural consequence of consolidation —Warren Turner to Roy Copeland @ LCBOE 4 Oct 2011

Two attorneys brought a point into the light that CUEE doesn’t like to talk about: bussing is a natural consequence of consolidation. That was stated by the attorney for the Lowndes County School System, Warren Turner, 4 October 2011.

Roy Copeland brought up some names from the past: Mrs. Copeland or Mrs. Adams, and the newscasters Huntley and Brinkley. He then asked about the consent decree on desegregation from back in that era:

Has anyone given any thoughts to the issues relative to the consentdecreee, desegregation, and the realignment of school districts relative to the Voting Rights Act 1965 preclearance, and all those other issues.
Lowndes County Schools Attorney Warren Turner answered the question, after Roy Copeland mentioned they were neighbors. The answer was basically that there would be a hearing before November 8th. Hm, I wonder what happened with that? As far as what happens if consolidation is approved by the Valdosta voters, he said, among other things:
So the concept of a neighborhood school, where everybody stays where they are, is not going to happen in my opinion, because the federal government is not going to allow that to happen.

Finally, Roy Copeland asked: Continue reading →

School Consolidation: Chairman Ashley Paulk responds to Matt Portwood

The VDT this morning left out all the best parts of last night’s exchange between Matt Portwood and Lowndes County Commission Chairman Ashley Paulk. We’ll have the video up shortly so you can see for yourself.

The question:

“Reading the news, I found that both school boards and the City Council have come out with either a statement or a resoultion with their stance on school consolidation. I’m just curious why there hasn’t been a statement or resolution from you,” said Portwood.

The VDT’s version of the answer:

“Look at your tax notes. It says county taxes and school taxes,” replied Paulk. We’re two totally different entities than the county school system. I don’t feel like we should be meddling in their affairs. I don’t think the County Commission should be weighing in on the city issue. Commissioners agreed that this was their stance on the matter.”
More in a bit.

-jsq

CUEE Campaign Disclosure Report Completed

Received yesterday.
From: Sam Allen
Date: November 6, 2011 5:26:15 PM EST
Subject: CUEE Campaign Disclosure Report Completed

Friends,
Attached is a copy of the CUEE Disclosure Report. How many children could this have help!!!!! How many teachers and support staff could we have saved? Are we in still in a recession?

Thanks,
Sam Allen
—
Samuel Allen, Superintendent Emeritus

How about as a first step the Chamber pledge… —Jim Parker

Received today on Why the Chamber Supports Unification. -jsq
So true, John. There was no meat in the whole letter. The last line sums it up, “We BELIEVE…” yada, yada, yada. Faith based thinking might fly in religious institutions, but in the education of our children, we have a pretty good handle on what is needed. Deferring to those trained and with years of experience in the education of our children, who have brought countless facts to the discussion, none of which the Chamber can or has bothered to refute, I will go along with both Boards of Education and vote NO to consolidation.

I did note that Mr Gooding offered to “combine our resources and our efforts and work together as a community to transform two average school systems…” Since he used the first person plural “our,”

Continue reading →