Tag Archives: Karen Noll

Take a stand against the the pipeline –Karen Noll



Received today on

Spectra reps unfamiliar with Spectra fines @ LCC 2013-12-09. -jsq

Take a stand against the the pipeline by sending in your comment to

FERC.gov. At the website you eRegister and they send you an email.
Once registered you can submit a comment on docket # PF14-1. Find
below an example of a comment, feel free to copy any or all as you
please:

Sabal Trail pipeline proposal poses a significant safety threat to
our community through accidents. Leaks from such pipelines in the US


have caused explosions and have destroyed homes and killed people 29
times this year alone. Since the proposed pipeline is much larger
than any of these recent explosions, a pipeline of 36 inch radius
could do extreme damage if such an accident should occur in the


Lowndes county area where it is proposed. Not only those living near
the pipeline but Continue reading →

Frack Off Spectra, We Want Solar @ LCC 2013-12-09

Some citizens spoke up before the

Lowndes County Commission meeting, even if the Commission didn’t want to hear from them during.


 Continue reading →

For-profits are chomping at the bit to take Georgians for a ride. —Karen Noll

Received yesterday on

Outside money fueling charter school amendment referendum. -jsq



For-profits are chomping at the bit to take Georgians for a ride. It
is expected, as per, John Barge, Superintendent of Georgia schools,
that the charter school commission that this amendment would allow
can cost us $430million in 5 years. This amendment has absolutely
NOTHING to do with school achievement and everything to do with
shareholders and profits. Vote NO on amendment #1 and vote NO to
higher taxes and vote NO to bigger government, OH and vote NO to
lining the pockets of millionaires with our tax dollars!!

-Karen Noll

-jsq

Support Public School education! —Karen Noll

Received today. -jsq

Dear Friends,

After learning abut the for-profit charter school issue from and the tax credits for private school tuition, I interpret today’s VDT articles as part of a political agenda to further dismantle a Georgia Constitutional right to Free Public School Education. Here we are again, let’s paint the schools as failing and then try to legitimize further defunding of the schools. And instead of Free Public Education the students from poor families will continue to get what ever is left when the well-to-do take their large piece of the public school education pie.

CHARTER SCHOOLS SERVE STUDENTS ALREADY SERVED WELL IN PUBLIC EDUCATION:

It is important that we understand that Free Public Education is clearly being

Continue reading →

Schools serving children in poverty well —Karen Noll

Received yesterday. -jsq



From: Karen Noll

To: chamber@valdostachamber.com

Cc: [many other people]

Dear Mr. Gooding and Chamber of Commerce,

In response to

your most recent correspondence, I dare say many ask why the
Chamber has such a single focus on an unproven plan with little or no
supporting data. Yet again your answers to the many questions about the
reasons that the Chamber is acting in this manner are insufficient and
demonstrate quite clearly that you are steadfastly working to undermine the
very community you claim to support.

Maybe it is my academic background, but I will use data to support my
assertions and hopefully rectify some of the misinformation that has been
so disruptive to this community, a discussion of a very important issue:
the education of our children.

According to

the Chamber’s own study, education ranked

12th out of 16
factors in importance to businesses coming to our community. The

Chamber’s
own survey revealed that a low crime rate and the business friendliness of
the local agencies were most important to businesses in 2009.

Our community sadly hosts a large population of children living in poverty,
and education is the best avenue to future success. For this reason, I am
very pleased to report that our economically disadvantaged students in
Valdosta City Schools met or exceeded the expected CRCT scores for the
district last year. This is no small feat and we have some very dedicated
educators to thank for this achievement.

Furthermore, research shows that “larger district size has been shown to be
negatively associated with the achievement of impoverished
students” (
Howley, C. 1996). This means that the fantastic achievements of
our most disadvantaged students will be reversed in a larger district and
all of the hard work of VCS educators will be lost in order to create, as
you claim, “one great public school system”.

Two years ago the city school district asked Chamber members to provide
input on their Strategic Improvement Plan through an online survey. Only
5.2% of responses came from Chamber members. Valdosta City Schools
encouraged input from all stakeholders, yet these Chamber members in large
part did not respond. Now the Chamber claims to have THE solution for the
schools they had no time for when asked for feedback.

Research consistently shows that bigger does not mean better in education.
So, ‘combining our resources’ does not bring more money, better
educational outcomes, or cost savings. According to the

Lowndes County
Board of Education consolidation would put a number of teachers out of
work. That would mean fewer customers in local businesses and less tax
revenue. In other words, school consolidation would negatively impact our
local economy and its businesses.

The Chamber is acting irresponsibly toward this community and the children
served by the Valdosta City Schools. I am again appalled by the
callousness of this organization, the petty name calling and repeated
misinformation. It is crystal clear that CUEE and the Chamber are not
interested in what is best for our children.

As a positive and strong community we will rise above the bad apple that
misbehaves and move forward because it is the right thing to do, and we
will continue to model appropriate behavior to our children. At the same
time, we as a community must remember the lesson we have learned today:
‘greed can blind’. We are called to reach out to and to help those in
need. We will continue to work together as a community and work toward the
brightest future for our children.

Thank you, Mr. Gooding, for reminding us again of the path we are called to
take.

Vote No for our children!!

My best wishes to you,

Karen Noll

At the door of the most educational meeting —Karen Noll

Received today on

A most educational meeting. -jsq

Thank you, John for that accurate description of the most bizarre meeting
that I have ever attended.





Karen Noll and Dean Poling at the door

As I was not invited I remained at the door. Dean Polling came to
the door 10 minutes late because he’d been roaming around Rainwater
conference center with a few other folks before he found out the meeting
was located here. This meeting was held on the date that the CUEE had
given when it would unveil its education plan. So many assumed it would
be at the conference center and open to the public.(LOL)

The plan put together by the unnamed education task force a sub committee
of cuee pushed Levy into having it at VSU, when VSU has clearly stated
they are taking NO side!! So CUEE’s educational plan was presented before
the vote has been taken to an invited group at a public institution that
is staying out of the whole stinking affair. This is all to strange to
not ask why and who is behind this mess?

At the end when I told Myrna Ballard about the location

Continue reading →

VSU Faculty Senate passes anti-biomass resolution

Karen Noll reported on WACE’s facebook page that
the VSU Faculty Senate passed a resolution Thursday 19 May 2011 that
biomass will not be considered renewable for VSU’s climate commitment goal.

Why?

Because
leading medical associations have identified woody biomass
incineration as increasing risks of
“a variety of illnesses, some life-threatening”,
because biomass incineration
produces more CO2, NOX, and fine particulates than existing coal plants,
and because it
“may lead to
unsustainable forestry practices and a net increase in global greenhouse
gas emissions”.

Who proposed this?

Continue reading →

Where are the students in this decision? —Karen Noll

This comment by Karen Noll came in last night on
“I don’t see a separation”. -jsq

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.

-Karen Noll

CUEE’s

own study says unification wouldn’t save money and

CUEE’s own expert consultant said:

“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?

-jsq

Listening and asking questions to make sure I understand —Tim Carroll

This came in as a comment Tuesday evening on
Walk out into the audience.
-jsq



Over the past four years, I have had a significant number of citizens
contact me. Some with complaints, some with questions and yes…even some
with compliments. I have never refused to meet with anyone. Some want
to know what my position is on an issue. As a rule, especially on items
that may come before council for a vote – I do not state a position. I
choose to wait for the public hearing at which time all final arguements
both for and against an item are stated and on the record.

Mrs. Noll contacted me directly this past week and we met and discussed

Continue reading →

Disturbing things —Dr. Noll



Dr. Noll posted a comment today about last night’s Valdosta City Council
meeting, and we thank him for his report:

What I found most disturbing are actually the following things that
happened at last night’s meeting:

  1. A Mayor in absentia because he is celebrating his birthday and decided
    not to attend because of a lack of agenda items for the meeting.

  2. A mother being harassed by Mr. Taylor who makes sexist comments when
    her daughter is receiving an award for an essay contest.

  3. A City Council and ALL of its members who continue to hide behind a policy
    that supposedly does not allow them to respond during meetings. As if
    they would respond before or after meetings.

  4. City Council member Yost going into a tirade about my wife’s comment in
    regard to “boring” meetings, when she is referring to the experience
    of our children who have been sitting through quite a few of them by
    now. Such meetings are indeed “boring” to a 9 and 12 year old.

  5. Council member Yost then goes on to “thank” all of us for staying until
    the end of the meeting so that we could witness the important work
    they do. Like what? The replacement of two belt press sludge pumps, the
    renaming of a street? If there is an important piece of work Mr. Yost
    and his colleagues could impress us with, it would be a resolution to not
    sell water to a biomass plant that threatens the health of our community!

-Michael Noll

Sometimes sludge replacement parts are boring,
but if we don’t replace them and the wastewater treatment plant
overflows, it may pollute your yard or your creek.
Best we take of it ahead of time and be proactive, rather than reactive.
Let’s take care of a problem before it happens!

-gretchen

PS: Don’t forget to go to the Planning Commission on Monday.