{"id":1552,"date":"2011-09-02T16:08:12","date_gmt":"2011-09-02T20:08:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2011\/09\/why-cant-winnersville-have-two-great-school-systems-sam-allen-vboe-29-august-2011.html"},"modified":"2011-09-02T16:08:12","modified_gmt":"2011-09-02T20:08:12","slug":"why-cant-winnersville-have-two-great-school-systems-sam-allen-vboe-29-august-2011","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2011\/09\/why-cant-winnersville-have-two-great-school-systems-sam-allen-vboe-29-august-2011.html","title":{"rendered":"Why can’t Winnersville have two great school systems? —Sam Allen @ VBOE 29 August 2011"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/a>\nCUEE has lost its framing. Nobody calls it “unification” but CUEE.\nEverybody else calls it consolidation, same as for the last thirty years.\nAnd Sam Allen is turning the tide against it.\n

\nSam Allen, president of Friends of Valdosta City Schools (FVCS)\nand former Valdosta School Superintendent said:\n

\nI promised myself three years ago when I left this place,\nthat one thing I would never do,\nand that would come and attend another board meeting.\n<\/blockquote>\nHe said he came for a good cause this time.\n
\n\n<\/a>\nThe CUEE group is calling this unification all of a sudden.\nAnd I think that’s just a play on words, and a play on our intelligence.\nBecause for thirty years we’ve called this process consolidation.\nNow all of a sudden we’re calling it unification.\n

\n\n<\/a>\nWe’re calling it unification because the only thing that we want to change\nis the central office.\nWe want all the schools to remain the same.\nThe only thing we want to change is what goes on right here\nat 1204 Williams Street.\n

\n\n<\/a>\nWell if you’re going to unify a community, something has to change.\nThis group has failed to put together a plan that we can follow.\n<\/blockquote>\n\nAnd that’s the point, isn’t it?\n\n\n<\/a>\nThere’s no plan, because there is no evidence that “unification”\nhas any benefit.\n

\nSam Allen said a lot more, including this:\n

\nNobody can promise what will happen after November 8th except\nthe men who are sitting on the Lowndes County Board of Education.\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<\/a>\nAnd the next day he was there when those same men said they\nsupported\n\nthe Valdosta Board’s statement against consolidation<\/a>\nby passing\n\na resolution of support and against consolidation.<\/a>\n
\nThere is something that we don’t know about.\nThere is something that someone is not telling the common everyday public\nabout why this process is so important.\nThis process came out of \nImpact 2012.<\/a>\n

\n\n<\/a>\nAnd they fooled me; I’ve got to admit I was part of this.\nI admit it.\nBecause they told me that we are finally going to get an official study done\nthat will prove once and for all\nwhether having a dual school institute has a negative impact\non economic development.\nThey hired the Chamber of Commerce;\nthey hired the Carl Vinson Institute.\n

\n\n<\/a>\nThey sent the Carl Vinson Institute back twice because\nit didn’t tell them what they wanted to hear.\nAnd when it came back the third time, is my understanding,\nit still didn’t tell them what they wanted to hear.\nSo they surveyed their own members.\n<\/blockquote>\n

\nSam Allen asked a better question:\n

\nWhy can’t Winnersville have two great school systems?\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<\/a>\nSam Allen addressed the cost saving excuse,\nand pointed to the only duplication between the two school systems:\n
\nThe only duplication you have is right there, sitting in that seat right there.\n<\/blockquote>\nHe was pointing at Superintendent Cason.\nEverybody laughed.\n

\nBut of course he was right.\n“Unification” wouldn’t save money.\n\n<\/a>\nHe ended with a call to action.\n

\nThere’s more in\n\nthe video by George Boston Rhynes:<\/a>\n

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