{"id":2095,"date":"2011-05-02T22:33:43","date_gmt":"2011-05-03T02:33:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2011\/05\/im-baffled-jon-parris.html"},"modified":"2011-05-02T22:33:43","modified_gmt":"2011-05-03T02:33:43","slug":"im-baffled-jon-parris","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2011\/05\/im-baffled-jon-parris.html","title":{"rendered":"I’m baffled —Jon Parris"},"content":{"rendered":"A comment by Jon Parris on a comment.<\/a>\nMy response is appended below. -jsq\n
\nWell-said, Alex. I’m baffled that this website and the local NAACP are\nagainst unification… the status-quo has created a haves\/have-nots\nsituation that is untenable if we are going to consider ourselves a\nprogressive area. A unified system would bring uniformity to curriculum\nand scheduling, eliminate redundant administrative positions, and allow\n(force?) everyone in the county to have a stake in the educational\ndevelopment of all the children in the county. What basically exists now\nis institutional racism… predominately lower-income minority (& some\nwhite) kids attending resource-depleted city schools due to a shrinking\ntax base, and predominately white middle and upper income kids attending\nthe resource-enriched county schools with an affluent tax base.\n

\nI can see the downside for an older,\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n

\nchildless\/empty-nester individual\nwho owns land in the county: likely an increase in property taxes,\nand deflation of property values inflated by white-flight to the county.\n

\nFull Disclosures: 1) I attended and graduated from Valdosta City Schools;\nmy family now resides in the county, and my son attends county schools. 2)\nWe moved to be nearer my retired parents (who live in the county), but\nsadly, school quality was a concern. As a progressive, this situation\nwas a stressful one for me. 3) I am a state-licensed Therapist who worked\nfor nearly 15 years with children and adolescents in Valdosta\/Lowndes. A\ngreat deal of my work involved interacting with school systems and the\nrepresentatives thereof; I saw first-hand the resource gaps that exist,\nand the psycho-social impacts of said gaps on individual young people\nand their parents.\n

\n99% of the time, I’m a cold rationalist… the data and reasonable\nsolutions should carry the day. This situation, however, is one in\nwhich the symbolism of changing an institutionally racist construct\nis too powerful to avoid. Sometimes what is right is not the most\nsensible\/efficient option… but we do it anyway.\n

\nJon Parris, M.S., LPC\n

\np.s. due to my spouse being currently employed in the local educational\nsystem (her work covers multiple systems), this post will be my only\ncomment on this matter. My comments are my personal opinions, and\nshould not be construed to represent, in part or whole, the opinions of\nmy spouse.\n<\/blockquote>\nLet me clarify that “this website” is the blog of LAKE, the Lowndes\nArea Knowledge Exchange. LAKE has not expressed an opinion;\nthat’s a rare event, requiring all sorts of bureaucracy,\nsuch as a meeting of the Supreme Soviet and the Tea Party Subcommittee.\nMost blog posts here are by specific named individuals,\nsome associated with LAKE, and some not.\n

\nHere’s my response to Jon Parris’ comment: Still looking forward to\nhearing reasonable solutions from CUEE. So far CUEE’s own evidence (see\ntheir 6 page report under education on the Chamber of Commerce website)\nand their own hired expert say unification will not save money and will\nnot improve education. That could be why NAACP is against it. It’s why\nI’m against it.\n

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