Tag Archives: consolidation

LCBOE did its homework about consolidation, 5 October 2011

Unlike

consolidation proponents,
the Lowndes County Board of Education did its homework,


showed it to us all, and could answer questions,
all demonstrating that school consolidation would not improve education,
would increase expenses and taxes, and far from bringing in more industry
would probably drive some away by reducing the quality of education.

Tuesday evening, going beyond

the research it had already published,


Dr. Troy Davis 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.

Jerome Tucker, on fire as a cheerleader, spelled out his life-long

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Perceptions on School Unification —Clinton Beeland

Well,

I was wrong:
there is still somebody willing to try to link
school consolidation in Troup County with the Kia plant,
even though

there’s no evidence there’s any connection and the mayor of the
town with the plant complains about the results of consolidation.
The appended LTE appeared in the VDT the other day. -jsq

Perception (from the Latin perceptio, percipio) is the process of
attaining awareness or understanding of the environment by organizing
and interpreting sensory information

– Wikipedia



I have sat on the sideline for a while on the issue of
consolidation. Perhaps I am still on the sideline since I am not going
to tell you how to vote. Regardless of the decision on November 8th I
will continue to support education in one or two systems. In any event
I feel compelled to at least provide some words for consideration.
Here is my perspective from the sideline.

It is very apparent that we have pride in our schools. Pride is both

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How did we get here? —JC Cunningham

Received Friday. -jsq

Things really have not changed have they? There are still people out


there who believe they can force their will on the people regardless
of the circumstances. I still cannot believe that we are here.
Consolidation, Unification, where did this come from? What mind first
came up with this idea and what is the real motive behind it?

Eight months ago when I heard that Rusty Griffin and his merry band
of followers were once again trying to force unification down peoples
throats, I never thought it would catch on and would just fizzle away.
Oh, how wrong.

Over the months this consolidation issue that I thought would never gain
steam is now on the ballot and could possible pass this Nov. 8th.

I have seen this thing divide friends, families, co-workers and even

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Why We Oppose Consolidation —Lowndes County Schools

From their website:

Lowndes County Schools will be hosting a forum entitled Why We
Oppose Consolidation on October 4, 2011 at 7:00pm in the Lowndes High
Cafeteria. All community members invited to attend.

Some people have been confused by LCBOE’s image version of this meeting announcement:


The meeting starts at 7PM on the fourth of October, which is Tuesday.

They’ve also put the LCBOE resolution
online in plain text.


Here’s the earlier LAKE transcription from our

video of Supt. Smith reading the resolution.
Here are
videos of that entire LCBOE meeting,
including

the unanimous vote to adopt the resolution.

-jsq

Consolidation has nothing to do with improving our children’s education —Etta Mims

Received Thursday. -jsq

I know that there are many “newcomers” to the area which supported
consolidation until they connected the dots and realized this has nothing
to do with improving our children’s education.


See also
Valwood, CUEE, and the Chamber.

-jsq

Steven H. Prigohzy, All-Star and Best-Paid Educator!

We have an all-star athlete class educator advising us,
with an all-star athlete salary!
Hm, I wonder how much CUEE is paying him?

A Sun Life Financial press release of 26 February 2011,

Exceptional Students & Nonprofits, All-Star Team of Pro Athletes, Corporate & Education Leaders Tackle Lagging High School Graduation Rates at Sun Life Rising Star National Summit,



“Steven H. Prigohzy, education advocate and developer of one of the
country’s first open magnet schools.”

Well, that sounds like the
Steve Prigohzy of CSAS in Chattanooga,
whose

Public Education Foundation
advised the consolidated school system there.

What about this, is this just a coincidence of names?
Empire Center for New York State Policy put out a press release of

8 October 2009,

According to the data, the highest paid non-professional school employee
(outside New York City) was Steven H. Prigohzy of the New York Institute
for Special Education, who was paid $230,000.

It turns out it’s not a coincidence.
In a paid death notice in the New York Times,

BLOOM, FRANCES R., 18 January 2005,

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Results of PEF’s plans for Chattanooga/Hamilton Co. schools?

The partnership between
Public Education Foundation, headed by Steven H. Prigohzy, and
the consolidated public schools in Chattanooga and Hamilton County, Tennessee
continues.
So, how have all those great plans for improving education worked out?

First, let’s look at PEF’s own

History webpage,



In 1994 Chattanooga city voters voted to turn responsibility for education
over to the county, requiring the two systems to merge. At the request
of the Hamilton County School Board, PEF surveyed 3,300 area residents
and convened 135 community members – educators, civic and government
leaders, residents, parents and students – to help shape the vision
for the new school system. When the newly consolidated system emerged
in 1997, the partnership with PEF continued.

Interestingly, Prigohzy is no longer listed as board or staff with PEF.
Maybe we should ask them why….

So, what came of all this consolidation in Chattanooga?
It must be great, considering PEF’s Board Approved

2005-2010 Strategic Plan for Great Public Schools,

In the years 2005 – 2010, Hamilton County Public Schools will meet or
exceed national benchmarks for excellence with continuous, measurable
improvement in reading, mathematics, and in the numbers of students who
progress smoothly from grade to grade, graduate from high school and go
on to college or career-path jobs. Because of this sustained progress,
Hamilton County will be recognized among the very best mid-sized public
school systems in America. The community will be justifiably proud
and more and more people will understand and support the investment
necessary for great public schools. The Public Education Foundation
will be instrumental in these achievements as a champion of school
transformation and will devote its expertise and fundraising capabilities
to the Hamilton County Public Schools as a catalyst for bold ideas that
create real and positive change.

Sounds great!

But an outside study shows a different result.
Kontji Anthony wrote for WMCTV, 23 January 2011,

Study offers glimpse at possible impact of school consolidation,

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Steve Prigohzy, guru of Chattanooga-Hamilton Co. school consolidation

We’ve seen that Steve Prigohzy’s magnet school, CSAS,
was started in 1986.
Chattanooga school consolidation with Hamilton County, Tennessee was in 1995.
And look who was waiting to tell them what to do:

Chattanooga, 1995: City Referendum on Consolidating Schools, and No Legislative Interference,
by Smart City Memphis, 1 January 2011,
quoting Education Week 2 August 1995,

A month after the election, the board voted to ask the Public Education
Foundation to help frame the new system. The move was partly on the
advice of educators in Knoxville, who faced a raft of problems after
consolidating rapidly with Knox County eight years ago.

The foundation, one of the wealthiest local education foundations in
the country, has worked closely with educators in both the city and
county. Its president, Steven H. Prigohzy, is a dynamo with a clear
vision of where he’d like to take education in the new system.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for a county

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Videos by LAKE of CUEE school unification meeting 27 Sep 2011



Videos are appearing in

this playlist
of the 27 September 2011 school unification propaganda meeting by CUEE
and the Valdosta-Lowndes County Chamber of Commerce (VLCoC).
And if CUEE or VLCoC doesn’t want to see me call it propaganda,
nothing’s stopping them publishing their own videos of the event,
as I already suggested yesterday.
Unless maybe they don’t want people

to see their speakers contradict each other.




Videos by LAKE of CUEE 27 Sep 2011

School Unification,

Forum, Community Unification for Educational Excellence, Inc. (CUEE),

Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 27 September 2011.

Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

-jsq

Sports teams won’t change (Tom Gooding) my sports team changed (Ronnie Mathis) @ CUEE 27 Sep 2011

CUEE and the Chamber hardly need opponents for school consolidation.
All they need is for people to listen to what they say to contradict each other.
Here’s a good example.



First,

Tom Gooding said sports teams won’t change (until there’s a
newly elected Lowndes County school board, which of course can do
whatever it wants to; read the fine print as he speaks).



Then Ronnie Mathis said he’d been through “unification” elsewhere,

and his sports team changed from Vikings to Bobcats.
Oops!

Maybe this is why CUEE won’t post videos of its own meetings.
But LAKE has, so you can watch this for yourself.

Here’s

Part 1 of 2:

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