See also the statements against consolidation by
both school boards.
Many citizens spoke at the
29 August 2011 VBOE meeting
where all but one Valdosta School Board member
voted for the statement against consolidation.
VBOE then held three open forums:
Continue reading
This was the first of three forums on school consolidation
hosted by the Valdosta Board of Education.
It was at Valdosta High School on 8 September 2011.
Here’s a playlist:
VBOE School Consolidation Forum @ VHS 8 September 2011
education, schools, referendum, consolidation, unification,
Forum at Valdosta High School, Valdosta Board of Education (VBOE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 9 September 2011.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
-jsq
held by the Valdosta
Board of Education at JL Lomax Elementary School 25 October 2011.
This forum was advertised starting
29 August 2011, almost two months in advance, and was
the third of three forums held by VBOE.
As I asked back back on 1 September,
Where was CUEE at the school board meetings?
One or two showed up at each of the VBOE forums.
Where were the rest of them?
Oh, that’s right!
CUEE’s idea of a forum is to phone up
selected people in the middle of the night to come to
a meeting when both school superintendents are out of town,
oh, and not invite the newspaper of record.
If you still haven’t been to a real open forum, the Lowndes Continue reading
She also said: Continue readingHi, I’m a parent, and I have three kids in school right now; one just graduated.
First of all, CUEE sent me flyers… to insult my schools…. That was very hurtful for my children to read those flyers telling them how bad my schools are. My schools are not bad, and I’m very upset about that.
[applause]
Lowndes County Board of Education will hold a
An Open Forum on Financial Issues Concerning Consolidation:
6PM, 1 November 2011All about the previous LCBOE Forum of 4 October 2011.
Lowndes High Cafeteria
1606 Norman Drive
Valdosta, GA
-jsq
and why I call on them to stand up and say whether they are for or against it:
the same old disproved disinformation sent again yesterday by a
CUEE board member from
the Chamber’s own email address to Chamber members.
If you support CUEE, you support this disinformation campaign
instead of real research that shows consolidation would do nothing
to improve education, it would raise everyone’s taxes, and
it would not help attract industry.
Instead, it would seriously damage public education.
This is not a time to be silent. Which side are you on? CUEE and the Chamber’s propaganda campaign? Or public education, and you will vote no?
CUEE Board Member “Jud Rackley, CPA” emailed yesterday from chamber@valdostachamber.com, subject “The Truth About School Taxes and Unification”, including:
I’ve heard several people say school unification will cause a significant tax increase. Yet, no one seems to know why this would happen. It appears this rumor is based on a document circulated by the Lowndes County Board of Education.
Dr. Troy Davis
spelled out why taxes would increase,
based on actual tax statements, plus information from the Lowndes County
Tax Assessors’ office and the actual budgets of the Valdosta and Lowndes
County School Systems.
See also former Valdosta
School Superintendent Sam Allen’s partial list
of massive layoffs, service cuts, and school closings
caused by reduced income because of less federal and state funding,
and increased costs due to bussing.
And the formal statements against consolidation approved overwhelmingly
by both school boards.
In addition to these statements by people with actual experience in school
administration, see also
the extensive statement against consolidation by the Valdosta City Council,
and
even the VDT turned against this consolidation effort.
If that’s not enough, David Mullis has compiled all the research
into a convenient
Grassroots Handbook Against School Consolidation.
Opposed to all this evidence, we have this undocumented letter Continue reading
Referendum SupportersMrs. Julia AriallJohn and Helen Bennett Mr. James Bridges The Honorable Tim [Golden? Carroll?] Mr. Kevin Conrad Mr. & Mrs. Joe Cordova Mr. Ed Crane Mr. Curtis Fowler Mr. Jeff Hanson Mr. Lee Henderson Mr. Ryan Holmes Mr. Jerry Jennett Mr. Joe Johnson Greg and Nancy Justice Mr. Matthew Lawrence Mr. Richard Lee Mr. James McGahee Mr. Dutton Miller Mr. John Peeples Mrs. Jennifer Powell Mr. Donald (Butch) Williams |
Time to stand up and be counted. There are two sides to this issue. There’s the truth, and there’s a lie.
Which side are you on?
They say they have to guard us to educate their child.And what about the Chamber board, which apparently is no longer unanimous?
Their children live in luxury, our children almost wild.
Which side are you on, which side are you on?
— Florence Reese
How about Chamber members? Those signs out front of the Chamber: do they represent you?
Which side are you on?
-jsq
Jeff Bryant wrote for Campaign for America’s Future 13 October 2011, Starving America’s Public Schools: How Budget Cuts and Policy Mandates Are Hurting Our Nation’s Students
Critics of America’s public schools always seem to start from the premise that the pre-kindergarten-through-12th-grade public education system in this country is failing or in crisis.
This crisis mentality is in stark contrast to years of survey research showing that Americans generally give high marks to their local
schools. Phi Delta Kappa International and Gallup surveys have found that the populace holds their neighborhood schools in high regard; in fact, this year’s survey found that “Americans, and parents in particular, evaluate their community schools more positively than in any year since” the survey started.
The first factor: New austerity budgets passed by state legislatures are starting to have a huge influence on direct services to children, youth, and families.Well, we don’t have that problem in Valdosta City and Lowndes Schools. For example, graduation rates in Valdosta schools have been improving year over year, and both school systems are solvent.
So what happened instead?
Why, they made up a crisis instead!
A local business group convinced enough registered voters to sign a petition to get a referendum on the November 8th ballot to decide whether to abolish the Valdosta City School System, which would force the Lowndes County School System to take it over, and also would result in massively raised taxes, which still wouldn’t be enough, so services would have to be cut. Voila! Forced budget crisis! Fortunately, the two school systems have seen through it, and Continue reading
Greg Gullberg wrote for WCTV 22 October 2011, ‘Vote No’ For Consolidation March,
For the second week in a row, protesters picket outside the Chamber of Commerce to the tune of: ‘No Consolidation’.
But unlike the occupy movement, this rally has one message; one voice.
They say: ‘Vote No’…..
But what does Valdosta’s first black mayor say about it?
“Just Vote No,” the Mayor chants from a podium.
Mayor Sonny Vickers is one of the strongest opponents of the consolidation plan. “The group that’s pushing this has no authority. No kind of plan to tell us anything. Because they are not on the board. So they cannot tell us anything specific about what’s going to happen,” says Mayor Vickers.
The letter is on the LAKE website. Here are a few excerpts:Sent: Tue, October 25, 2011 7:55:07 AM
Subject: Letter to the Staff
Friends,
Attached is a copy a document that was sent to all Lowndes County teachers and staff from Dr. Steve Smith.
Thanks,
Sam Allen
Samuel Allen, Superintendent Emeritus [Valdosta City Schools]
REAL TRUTH: Continuing all of the current programs the Valdosta City School System and the Lowndes County School System have wouldContinue reading