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.
Tom Gooding, Chair of the Valdosta-Lowndes County Chamber of Commerce,
asked the school boards to do the Chamber’s homework.
He got no takers.
Reiterating the Chamber’s demand from its letter of 9 September 2011,
Gooding asked VBOE superintendent Dr. Cason at the 20 September VBOE
forum to commit to meeting about what to do if the “unification”
referendum passes.
Dr. Cason said that should have happened two years ago, and
Now is not the appropriate time.
He said if the referendum passes, then the two school boards will sit down
together.
Dr. Cason didn’t say anything about inviting the Chamber or CUEE to such
meetings, since, after all, neither the Chamber or CUEE would have any legal
role.
Last night was the second of the three forums
the Valdosta Board of Education (VBOE) approved
along with its
statement opposing school consolidation.
George Rhynes reports there were 300 people there,
and he videoed everybody who stood up and spoke.
Here’s a
video playlist
for the whole meeting: teacher hiring, board member training,
and a statement against school consolidation, with additional
comments by many citizens.
Many of these videos have already been published in the
VBOE 29 August 2011 category in this blog.
Videos of entire VBOE 29 August 2011 meeting
education, referendum, consolidation, statement,
Work Session, Valdosta Board of Education (VBOE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 29 August 2011.
Videos by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
The playlist also includes other video material,
such as
The first Public Forum presented by Valdosta City Schools on
the subject of School Consolidation is tonight at
Valdosta High School’s Performing Arts Center (PAC), 7PM to 8:30 PM.
That’s after the Valdosta City Council meeting,
so you can even go to both.
This is the clearest statement of the football argument I’ve heard.
This is the same speaker who already mentioned
quality of education, property taxes, and property values,
so this is just one argument among many.
The speaker is associated with FVCS, and if I went to VHS,
I’d know his name right away; I’m an LHS graduate.
The first thing they’ll do is sell that stadium.
They’d be crazy not to do….
They’re not going to pay upkeep on two stadiums.
Look at Tallahassee, Macon: all the schools play at one stadium….
…
Don’t let those people run the show.
Don’t let them take the power away from us.
…
If one day it makes good economic sense for y’all to
make the decision to sell that property to Valdosta State
and build another stadium and we can come out ahead,
I think that’s a great idea.
Like my granddaddy said, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
By “those people” I don’t think he means the Lowndes County Board
of Education; I think he was referring to CUEE.
Research quality of education, property taxes, and property values
after school consolidation, and you’ll find down, up, and down,
said this speaker.
Didn’t get his name; sorry.
I don’t have kids, but I have plenty of friends that do.
that are in Valdosta city school system,
and they like the direction that the school system is going.
They like the quality of education that their children are getting at this time.
My grandfather used to say, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
It ain’t broke, so why are we going to let them try to fix it?
Do the research; I’ve done the research.
Do the research on other communities that have consolidated two systems.
When you get a big huge system, the quality of education goes down.
Check it out. Research it.
Property taxes go up.
Property values go down.
Do the research.
Classrooms are festooned with college pennants. Hallway placards proclaim:
“No Excuses!” Students win prizes for attendance. They start classes
earlier and end later than their neighbors; some return to school on
Saturdays. And they get to pore over math problems one-on-one with newly
hired tutors, many of them former accountants and engineers.
If these new mores at Lee High School, long one of Houston’s most
troubled campuses, make it seem like one of those intense charter schools,
that is no accident.
In the first experiment of its kind in the country, the Houston
public schools are testing whether techniques proven successful in
high-performing urban charters can also help raise achievement in regular
public schools. Working with Roland G. Fryer, a researcher at Harvard who
studies the racial achievement gap, Houston officials last year embraced
five key tenets of such charters at nine district secondary schools;
this fall, they are expanding the program to 11 elementary schools. A
similar effort is beginning in Denver.
Charter schools were supposed to be pilot projects, so why not
adopt what works there in public schools?
However, this still seems to be all about test scores.
Maybe some public schools could look farther afield,
If TV cameras show up for football, why don’t they show up
“when the people come together on issues such as this,
not just black folk, not just white folk, but all Americans
are here tonight because of our concern”?
The school consolidation referendum is already having ill effects more than
two months before anybody gets to vote on it.
The Valdosta School Board has had to postpone further work planning
for a new elementary school.
However, since the referendum for consolidation made the ballot,
it would be impossible for us to sell bonds at this time.
because who would buy them, knowing the selling school board
might not exist come this November?
Or, if the consolidation referendum passes, for some unknown time
after that?
So the board decided to postpone even selecting an architect
until the consolidation question is resolved.
