Category Archives: Community

Hamilton Co. TN is high priority school district —David Mullis @ VBOE 29 August 2011

I didn’t catch his name, but he David Mullis talked about his children and said:
All of my children have fourished in the Valdosta School System.
…
The special ed program they have here is second to none.
Then he got to the night’s topic:
When I look at these things when people talk about consolidation, I have to ask the question: why do they want to consolidate two school systems? The things that they say sound good. I think everything they say would be agreab What do they mean by them? And I have a little bit of a problem; whenever somebody wants to combine two groups together, it almost looks like they want to control the whole.
And this little bombshell:
It seems like the group that is most pushing this thing is referring to the Tennessee Hamilton County system, which if you read their site, sounds like their statistics are good and everything’s working good. Except that there’s some data that came out a month ago that says that they are, the first time, the entire district is high priority.
…
That means they had two years of bad results.
There’s more in the video:


Hamilton Co. TN is high priority school district @ VBOE 29 August 2011
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.

-jsq

Private prisons considered harmful —Gretchen Quarterman to Jack Kingston

Gretchen Quarterman
3338 Country Club Road #L336
Valdosta GA 31605
26 August 2011
PDF
 
Hon. Jack Kingston
Member of Congress
First District of Georgia
 
Dear Mr. Kingston,

You asked me last week in Tifton to provide you with evidence that private prisons have fewer guards per prisoner than public prisons.

Here is an example:

“The largest juvenile prison in the nation, Walnut Grove Youth Correctional Facility houses 1,200 boys and young men, between the ages of 13 and 22, and is run by a private contractor, the GEO Group based in Boca Raton, FL. … State audits over the last several years had already indicated the burgeoning problem. While it is recommended at youth facilities to have an inmate-to-guard ratio of 10:1 or 12:1, Walnut Grove had a ratio of 60:1.”
“When the Wolves Guard the Sheep,” by Mariah Adin in Kids and Crime, 28 March 2011
It’s not just less staff, it’s less qualified staff: Continue reading →

What it takes to run for Mayor of Valdosta

People ask me: what does it take to run for mayor of Valdosta? A few qualifications, a few skills, and a vision would sure help.

Well, you have to qualify. That costs $750 down at the Board of Elections.

According to the City of Valdosta’s website, there are a few other requirements:

Qualification Mayor. To be eligible for election or appointment and service as Mayor, a person must be a minimum of 21 years of age, be a resident of the City of Valdosta for one year prior ro the date of qualifying, and a registered and qualified voter of the City of Valdosta at the time of qualifying.
Then you have to campaign and win. Some people will doubtless spend a lot of money running for mayor. However, some recent elections to Lowndes County Commission and Valdosta Board of Education indicate Continue reading →

John Fretti resigned as mayor Tuesday, or, Roy Taylor got his way

Doubtless everyone knows this already, since the VDT and others have covered it well, including his guilty plea, the VDT’s call for him to resign, and his resignation. Here is John Fretti’s press release announcing his resignation. It seems appropriate that he sent it to News Talk 105.9 FM, where he so frequently appeared.

Personally, I thought he was not all that bad as mayor, even though he never did anything I asked him to. Given that I don’t even live in Valdosta, there is of course no reason that he should have, and he was always courteous when I appeared before the Valdosta City Council or met him elsewhere. Yes, I am well aware of many of the downsides, many of which I have written about in this blog, and Valdosta can do better.

If Valdosta is going to do better, somebody better needs to run. That’s why at the moment I’d prefer to write about the open race for mayor: qualifying is still open today and tomorrow (see next post).

I will say that whoever wins I hope will have less of this attitude:

“If they don’t say they’re against it, they’re for it.”
I think all citizens, but especially elected officials, should be willing to say what they’re for.

If people around here are too frightened to do so, then we’ve got a much bigger problem than who is mayor of Valdosta.

-jsq

The most damaging useless thing —Craig Cardella @ VBOE 29 August 2011

Craig Cardella said his wife Anne was a current Valdosta City Schools teacher and former Teacher of the year, and he was a former city manager who had done community development all his life.
I can tell you without doubt this is the most damaging useless thing I’ve seen proposed in many many years. This will do more damage to our community than just about anything I can think of short of a hurricane running through the middle of town. It will damage both the county and the city school systems severely. It will hinder the growth of the education of our children. It will cause chaos among the city and county school staffs, both of which are like this, because a lot of times they’re the same people.

Here’s the video:


The most damaging useless thing —Craig Cardell @ VBOE 29 August 2011
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.

More transcription; he’s just getting to the best parts: Continue reading →

Celebrate the leadership that the BOEs have shown. —Karen Noll

Received yesterday on Unanimous: LCBOE votes to oppose school consolidation. -jsq
This is truly a time for educators, and the families of students in our communities’ schools to celebrate the leadership that the BOEs have shown.

That said, I would like to commend the LCBOE on the strength of their resolution. They not only state clearly that consolidating the schools would not increase in academic achievement, but a large tax increase would be expected. Another point that LCBOE included in their resolution is that such a referendum should only be brought by citizens, families, or educators. Jame Wright also made this point in his statement to city council last week. Without the support of the educators involved, and the families impacted, such a referendum question is just a big buck political agenda on the ballot.

This town is still small enough to call this spade – money trying to drive the education bus into the ditch.

Let me just say this-

NOT WITH MY KIDS’ EDUCATION, YOU DON’T!!!

Consolidation won’t improve education so I see no need for it ever —John S. Quarterman @ VBOE 29 August 2011

I see nothing in consolidation that would improve education, so I see no need for it ever.

I got to the VBOE meeting really early, so I was the first to sign up to speak. My main topic was to praise the Valdosta Board of Education for putting their agendas online in web-readable form (rather than entombed in PDF as so many other organizations do).

Here’s the video:


Consolidation won’t improve education so I see no need for it ever —John S. Quarterman @ VBOE 29 August 2011
education, referendum, consolidation, statement,
Work Session, Valdosta Board of Education (VBOE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 29 August 2011.
Videos by George Boston Rhynes for K.V.C.I.

Later I also complimented the chair for having one of those rare objects, a clock on the wall where everyone can see it so they can know how long they’ve spoken already.

Thanks, George, for the compliments in the information on your YouTube video. You were blogging long before LAKE. Everyone please look at George’s blog, K.V.C.I. Keeping Valdosta Citizens Informed.

-jsq

The school systems don’t want to consolidate —WALB

Jade Bulecza wrote for WALB today, School systems oppose consolidation
Two south Georgia School systems don’t want to consolidate.
Hm, they noticed yesterday’s VBOE meeting with its statement and today’s LCBOE meeting with its resolution.

Almost as interesting is what they don’t mention. CUEE is not named; it’s just “a citizen group”. And there’s no mention that both meetings were full of FVCS people opposing consolidation, and not one single CUEE member willing to speak up for it. Less than two months ago, both WALB and WCTV named both groups and used words like “Talks Heat Up” (WALB) and “Showdown” (WCTV). What’s changed, TV media?

-jsq

LCBOE resolution against school consolidation, read by Supt. Smith

Here is the text of the resolution against school consolidation adopted today by the Lowndes County Board of Education. It does not seem to be on their web pages yet. First a video of Superintendent Steve Smith reading the resolution, followed by the text of the resolution.

Here’s the video:


LCBOE resolution against school consolidation, read by Supt. Smith
education, referendum, consolidation, statement,
called meeting, Lowndes County Board of Education (LCBOE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 30 August 2011.
Videos by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

This text is my transcription of what was read. I have added a few links.

-jsq

RESOLUTION

WHEREAS the Lowndes County Board of Education, Valdosta, Georgia, met on August the 30th 2011, to discuss positions regarding the consolidation of the Valdosta City School System and the Lowndes County School System.

WHEREAS the Valdosta City School System met in session on Monday

Continue reading →

Video of LCBOE adopting resolution against school consolidation

It took the Lowndes County Board of Education less than two minutes at today’s 1PM called board meeting to adopt a resolution against school consolidation.

Here are a few excerpts, followed by the video:

Superintendent Steve Smith: As y’all are well aware, we have had numerous requests from our constituents that we adopt a stance regarding consolidation. So I think this resolution pretty much describes our position regarding consolidation.
Nobody had any comments or discussion.

So they moved and seconded. Philip Poole made the motion. I didn’t catch who seconded.

Chair Fred Davis asked for a vote indicated “by raising your hand individually and reciting your name, please.” Continue reading →