School voucher proponents argue that kids need a way out of failing
schools, but research increasingly suggests that it would be more
effective to provide them a way out of failing neighborhoods.
Should we consider giving poor families in low-performing school zones
housing vouchers that they could use to relocate in the zone of a school
performing above the area median?
I’d say that’s a bad solution to the problem the study identifies,
and we already know better solutions.
But first,
from the abstract of the the studyContinue reading →
CUEE can attribute the source of this ad to another committee all
they want to. I know that I personally overheard Rusty Griffin telling
Myrna Ballard about the ad last Thursday night at the CUEE Education
Task Force meeting which I attended as a concerned citizen. Rusty was
very excited about the ad & said he expected it to greatly enhance their
campaign to unify the black community for consolidation. I told Sam Allen
what I heard, but neither of us knew what would be in the ad until it
aired Tuesday. Rusty said he had to get a final OK so I was hoping that
person would be smarter, but evidently not. Another thing I noticed at
the meeting where everyone but me was part of the task force only two
people out of the fifteen were from the black community. How does that
represent the diversity they preach?
I personally appreciate all the times over the past months
Why Employers Support School Unification
By Greg Justice
Director of Manufacturing
Regal Marine Industries, Inc.
Look it up, states that rank among the highest in terms of
quality of life and economic growth rank among the highest in terms of
quality of education. Is this because these states have higher levels
of education, or did they become attractive places to live because they
have a focused approach to improving the quality of education? And does
the same reasoning hold true for different nations?
It would seem we’re about to find out. In one generation, the U.S. has
fallen from No. 1 to No. 9 in the number of people graduating with
college degrees. We’re mediocre in education when compared to the other
34 industrialized nations. A 2009 study from the Organization for
Economic Cooperation and Development shows the U.S. ranked 14th in
reading, 17th in science, and 25th in math – all lagging behind other
leading industrialized countries.
It is hard to relate these statistics to our local schools,
Videos of the Candidates Forum put on last night by the Valdosta-Lowndes County
Chamber of Commerce (VLCoC) are starting to appear in
this playlist.
The three Valdosta Mayoral candidates are there already (in order of appearance):
Candidates Forum, Valdosta-Lowndes County Chamber of Commerce (VLCoC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 11 October 2011.
Videos by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
Chairman Tom Gooding of the Valdosta-Lowndes County Chamber of Commerce
said that the Chamber was opposed to government adding hidden taxes,
and Roy Taylor can be heard going “Amen!”.
Yet both of them back the Chamber and CUEE’s school “unification” referendum,
which would
raise taxes for everyone in Valdosta and Lowndes County
plus making conditions more difficult for business.
None of the school consolidation proponents seem to see the irony.
Gooding’s talk about the Chamber’s Government Affairs Committee spelled
out the Chamber’s theory of local government, which is all about helping
business, and apparently not about anything else.
He didn’t say a word about government providing public benefits for the
common good.
Which is the tail and which is the dog?
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?
It was Dostoevsky who said: “The degree of civilisation in a society
is revealed by entering its prisons.” But in contemporary Britain you
don’t even need to do this, you can simply stand on a street corner and
wait for the ghosts to come flitting past in order to appreciate its
parlous condition.
We now have the highest prison population in Europe by a considerable
measure, and following the recent riots there is no likelihood of it
decreasing.
Of course, we aren’t quite at the levels enjoyed by our closest allies,
those prime exponents of the civilising mission the United States, whose
extensive gulag now houses, it is estimated, more African American men
than were enslaved immediately prior to their Civil War – but we’re
getting there.
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 →
There are a bunch of changes to the Comprehensive Plan and the
Land Development Regulations (LDR) that people ought to pay attention to,
scheduled for tonight’s Valdosta City Council (VCC) meeting.
But the one many people are going to see is this one:
6.a) Consideration of a Position Statement on School Consolidation.
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.
School voucher proponents argue that kids need a way out of failing schools, but research increasingly suggests that it would be more effective to provide them a way out of failing neighborhoods.
