While many other people, such as Friends of Valdosta City Schools (FVCS), are trying to prevent the damage to education CUEE is trying to cause through its “unification” referendum, CUEE had a meeting of its educational committee yesterday.

Sharah Denton wrote for the VDT, CUEE focuses on academics:

Anyone attending the CUEE meeting expecting a plan for how unification of the city and county school systems would work left disappointed. Instead of discussing how the school systems might merge if CUEE’s campaign to dissolve the Valdosta school charter succeeds during the Nov. 8 election referendum, the Education Planning Task Force focused on its primary objective: improving academics for area students.

So they have no plan, and of course they also have no control over academics. If “unification” passes, that control would lie with the Lowndes County Board of Education, which Tuesday unanimously resolved that it doesn’t want consolidation, supporting the Valdosta Board of Education statement against consolidation of the previous day.

So what was this CUEE meeting about?

“How can we change the environment to help stimulate personal interest? The attitude that child leaves home with is critical. What can we do to support them so they can rise above what they see already?” he asked.

I have several answers to that:

1. Stop wasting educational effort with distractions like “unification”.
2. Get on with investing in early childhood education, since we can’t assume parents will suddenly pay more attention.
3. Get some knowledge-based jobs here to employ parents so they don’t have to work two jobs to make ends meet, and to employ their children once they graduate.
4. How can you expect parents to be attentive to students when they’re locked up or trying not to get locked up again? End the War on Drugs so we can ramp down the ridiculous incarceration rate in this country, and especially in Georgia, where 1 in 13 adults are in jail, prison, probation, or parole.

We can’t change national policy all at once, but we can refuse to let the Industrial Authority site a private prison in Lowndes County.

Also this:

“World preparation, I believe, is the most important. Making sure that they (students) can understand what is expected of them before they graduate,” the teenage student said.

Maybe like in Shanghai or Finland, teach students to think, not to pass rote tests.

For that matter, how about CUEE and the Chamber and the Industrial Authority start acting like adults, and have some real debates instead of holding fake forums to foist their plans on us? That would set a good example for students.

The only real discussion or debate I’ve seen about “unification” was organized by none of CUEE, the Chamber, or the Industrial Authority. It was organized by the Lowndes County Democratic Party back in May. Videos of it are available on youtube via LAKE.

Oh yeah: the VDT previously examined the evidence and turned against biomass. The local newspaper of record could still look at the evidence and turn against CUEE’s referendum. Yesterday’s VDT article could be the start of that return to investigative reporting.

-jsq

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