Tag Archives: Lowndes County Board of Education

LCBOE resolution against school consolidation, read by Supt. Smith

Here is the text of the resolution against school consolidation adopted today by the Lowndes County Board of Education. It does not seem to be on their web pages yet. First a video of Superintendent Steve Smith reading the resolution, followed by the text of the resolution.

Here’s the video:


LCBOE resolution against school consolidation, read by Supt. Smith
education, referendum, consolidation, statement,
called meeting, Lowndes County Board of Education (LCBOE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 30 August 2011.
Videos by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

This text is my transcription of what was read. I have added a few links.

-jsq

RESOLUTION

WHEREAS the Lowndes County Board of Education, Valdosta, Georgia, met on August the 30th 2011, to discuss positions regarding the consolidation of the Valdosta City School System and the Lowndes County School System.

WHEREAS the Valdosta City School System met in session on Monday

Continue reading →

Video of LCBOE adopting resolution against school consolidation

It took the Lowndes County Board of Education less than two minutes at today’s 1PM called board meeting to adopt a resolution against school consolidation.

Here are a few excerpts, followed by the video:

Superintendent Steve Smith: As y’all are well aware, we have had numerous requests from our constituents that we adopt a stance regarding consolidation. So I think this resolution pretty much describes our position regarding consolidation.
Nobody had any comments or discussion.

So they moved and seconded. Philip Poole made the motion. I didn’t catch who seconded.

Chair Fred Davis asked for a vote indicated “by raising your hand individually and reciting your name, please.” Continue reading →

8 to 0 Unanimous: LCBOE votes to oppose school consolidation

Update 5:30PM 30 August 2011: Text of the resolution and video of the board adopting it are posted.
Update 7:12PM 30 August 2011: a recent LHS graduate points out it was 7 to 0, since there are 7 board members. Let’s call it unanimous.

Karen Noll of FVCS illustrates the result of today’s Lowndes County Board of Education meeting: eight to zero unanimous for a statement opposing school consolidation. More videos of the meeting will follow.

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1PM (confirmed) today LCBOE to vote on school consolidation

The Lowndes County Board of Education has put up an agenda for today’s called meeting at 1PM, which includes these items:
VI. a. Resolution Regarding Consolidation
VII. a. Resolution Adoption
Hm, another school board that puts its agendas online in web-readable form. Maybe the municipal elected and appointed bodies could adopt this format.

On the other hand, would you want to merge with a school board that doesn’t know when its own meetings are? I went to the Lowndes County Board of Education at 11:30, and the woman (Terri) who previously told me that was the time of today’s called meeting now says it is 1PM. She apologizes for the confusion. She says it was previously 11:30, but they changed it to 1PM.

Here’s the video:


1PM (confirmed) today LCBOE to vote on school consolidation
education, referendum, consolidation, statement,
Work Session, Lowndes County Board of Education (LCBOE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 30 August 2011.
Videos by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

-jsq

Lowndes County School Board meeting 11:30AM 1PM today

Update 12:15AM 30 August 2011: It’s really at 1PM and an agenda is posted now.

I called the Lowndes County School Board number just now at (229) 245-2250 and asked if there was a school board meeting today. They said yes, at 11:30. (That’s different from the rumored time of 1PM.) It’s a called meeting for the purpose of discussing school system consolidation. The woman who provided this information said:

Not sure there’s a resolution. They may say their stands.
They meet at 1592 Norman Drive in Valdosta.

There is at this writing nothing on their web page and no notice in the newspaper that I can find. Of course by state law all they have to do for a called meeting is to post a notice at their meeting location and send a notice to the newspaper of record; the newspaper doesn’t have to publish it.

-jsq

Brad Lofton’s Selective Memory

I see by yesterday’s VDT story about the Lowndes County Board of Education (LCBOE) meeting that Brad Lofton, executive directory of the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA), is reported as saying:
The people … that are opposing the plant … have yet to agree to sit down and talk with the authority directly about the plant.
He said somehing similar at the 29 Sep 2010 meeting of the Valdosta Board of Education (VBOE). Except then he at least admitted that I had gotten the VLCIA presentation. Yet even then he forgot about the other people in this picture of that 10 June 2010 meeting at the VLCIA offices:


Pictured: Natasha Fast, Angela Manning, Allan Ricketts (Project Manager), Geraldine Fairell, Ken Klanicki, Brad Lofton (Executive Director)

Even earlier, Dr. Brad Bergstrom and Seth Gunning got a presentation from the VLCIA.

I pointed all this out a month ago, after the VBOE incident.

Why does Brad Lofton, a public employee, keep standing up before elected bodies and saying something that is not true?

-jsq