Category Archives: Education

Austin solar sunflowers

What does a city with clean industry and clean energy do to attract more of it? One such city planted a solar sunflower array along its main interstate corridor.

Ariel Schwartz wrote for Inhabitant.com 17 August 2009, Solar Sunflower Field Energizes Austin, Texas

A retail lot in Austin, Texas recently sprouted a stunning field of solar sunflowers that soak up the sun’s rays to provide shade while generating a steady stream of renewable energy. Designed by public art team Harries/Heder, the installation consists of 15 flower-like solar photovoltaic panels located on a pedestrian and bike path between the village of Mueller and Austin’s highway I-35. According to Harries/Heder, the flowers are “an icon for the sustainable, LEED certified Mueller Development and a highly visible metaphor for the energy conscious City of Austin.”


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Are these solar sunflowers practically profitable? Perhaps:

In addition to providing shade for walkers and bikers, the solar flowers collect energy during the day to power the installation’s blue LED lights at night. Leftover power is sent to the grid to offset the cost of maintaining the installation.
But practicality of this particular field of solar flowers is not the point.

This is the point: Continue reading →

Lowndes County and Valdosta history: origins of the old boys

If we want good clean industry for jobs for local people, we need good clean local government, too. Why do our local government bodies hide when they discuss public goods like waste disposal, try to avoid stating public positions on issues, and fail to publish minutes of elected bodies?

A little reading in local histories of the area or talking to people who were involved even a generation or two back indicates that Lowndes County has always been a cliquish sort of place, mostly run by old boys, for reasons that made some sense in the early days (lack of resources, mainly), but doesn’t so much anymore in these days of I-75 and I-10, airport, railroads that still go everywhere, Moody AFB, VSU as a regional university, technical and community colleges, two hospitals and medical industry, TitleTown, Grand Bay WMA, Wild Adventures, and south Georgia sunshine we can export to Atlanta and points north.

Here are a few books about the old days, all available in local libraries and possibly in local bookstores: Continue reading →

Coke and Pepsi exit ALEC

Yesterday Coca-Cola announced it would no longer be a member of ALEC, the law-drafting pressure group American Legislative Exchange Council. Pepsi already decided that last year. Voting with your pocketbook works! There’s plenty more to do: ALEC pushed Georgia’s HB 87 that provides “customers” for CCA’s ICE prison yet is opposed by local farmers; ALEC backed the “Stand Your Ground” law that Trayvon Martin’s killer is hiding behind; ALEC is behind the charter school constitutional amendment that will be on the ballot in November. ALEC is crony capitalism in our legislature, our neighborhoods, and our schools. Here’s one way to oppose ALEC that works.

Leon Stafford and Aaron Gould Sheinin wrote for the AJC yesteray, Coke cuts ties with ALEC,

“Our involvement with ALEC was focused on efforts to oppose discriminatory food and beverage taxes, not on issues that have no direct bearing on our business,” Coke spokeswoman Diana Garza Ciarlante said.

Here’s ALEC’s “model legislation”: A Resolution in Opposition to Deiscriminatory Food and Beverage Taxes,

…opposes all efforts — federally and on the state level — to impose discriminatory taxes on food and/or beverages.

Now I don’t like food taxes, either: they’re the very model of regressive taxes that affect the poor more than the rich. But beverage taxes? As in taxes on the sugar water Coca-Cola sells? Those might improve public health and increase state revenue.

So how much has Coke supported ALEC in this?

Ciarlante said the company would not disclose its financial support of ALEC but said it was restricted to yearly dues. She said it had been a member for approximately 10 years. The company had received some phone calls protesting its relationship with ALEC, she said, but declined to comment on the decision beyond the company’s statement.

I wonder how much other support Coke provided, as in for example introductions to power-brokers around Atlanta.

Coke’s rival Pepsi also declined to renew its ALEC membership when it expired at the end of 2011, spokeswoman Heather Gleason said. The company’s 10-year membership focused exclusively on tax issues related to the beverage industry, she said.

And Pepsi probably also didn’t want to talk about lobbying for tax breaks for sugar water while legislatures are cutting education budgets.

What does ALEC do, anyway?

Continue reading →

Good thing we didn’t buy a “jail to nowhere”

Still more evidence that private prisons are bad business. If the Industrial Authority won't do due diligence before buying into boondoggles like biomass and private prisons, we'll have to do it for them.

Kirsten Bokenkamp wrote for ACLU Texas 4 April 2012, Nobody wants a “Jail to Nowhere”,

…a number of Texas counties and towns ( the article points to Anson, Littlefield, and Angelina, Newton, Dickens and Falls Counties as a few examples) were sold on the idea that mass incarceration was in Texas to stay. According to the article, most of the privately operated county jails sit less than half full, and guess who is left holding the bill? (Hint – it is not the for-profit prison company).

Meanwhile, we can look askance at anything else that is pushed by ALEC, like private prisons and charter schools are.

-jsq

 

Support Public School education! —Karen Noll

Received today. -jsq

Dear Friends,

After learning abut the for-profit charter school issue from and the tax credits for private school tuition, I interpret today’s VDT articles as part of a political agenda to further dismantle a Georgia Constitutional right to Free Public School Education. Here we are again, let’s paint the schools as failing and then try to legitimize further defunding of the schools. And instead of Free Public Education the students from poor families will continue to get what ever is left when the well-to-do take their large piece of the public school education pie.

CHARTER SCHOOLS SERVE STUDENTS ALREADY SERVED WELL IN PUBLIC EDUCATION:

It is important that we understand that Free Public Education is clearly being
Continue reading →

Local Heirloom Tomatoes and More @ HLTF 2012 03 22

Here are videos of “Local Heirloom Tomatoes and More”, the 22 March 2012 Lunch and Learn by Healthy Living Task Force, organized by Diane Howard (dhoward202@mchsi.com) and Traci Gosier (tqgosier@dhr.state.ga.us) 229.245.8758

The program has been grant funded and has had previous topics of:

February 2012:
“Lovin’ Local-Grown: Grits, Cheese, and More” featuring Gayla’s Grits and Sweet Grass Dairy Cheeses
19 January 2012:
Juicing Jubilee Lunch and Learn event

The final session will be 26 April 2012, 12:00PM til 1:30PM at Valdosta City Hall Annex.

Here’s a playlist:


Local Heirloom Tomatoes and More,
Lunch and Learn, Healthy Living Task Force, (HLTF), Healthy Living Task Force,
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 22 March 2012.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE).

-gretchen

Stop the PRIVATIZATION of PUBLIC EDUCATION in Georgia! —Fannie Jackson

Received yesterday on ALEC, Trayvon Martin, CCA’s private prisons, and charter schools?. -jsq

I could use quite a few verbs, adjectives, nouns to describe my year with K-12 and NONE of those would be complimentary. Public funds are used to the pay salaries plus all other expenses for this privilege to freely HOME SCHOOL a child. The lead educator is the LEARNING COACH (who is the stay-at-home relative). If I had wanted to be a TEACHER, I would have chosen an education career. Bottom line-slick way to divert public funds for private profit…. And now those kids can participate in public school sports. All those voices that rose up to defeat Lowndes-Valdosta Consolidation should RUN-not WALK to stop the PRIVATIZATION of PUBLIC EDUCATION in Georgia!Checking to see where Amy Carter, Ron Borders, Jay Shaw and other POLITICIANS stand on this issue. Been out of loop for a minute..Trying to make up for lost time with K-12..I am sure someone will update me. Thank you for your advocacy.

-Fannie Jackson

I don’t think Ron Borders holds any elected office, and Jay Shaw is retired; his son Jason Shaw was elected to the same statehouse seat. Here’s a list of our state elected officials.

On HR 1162, “state-wide education policy; clarify authority – CA”, in the House, Amy Carter and Ellis Black voted for it, and Jason Shaw voted against it. In the Senate, Tim Golden voted for it. I believe that means it now goes to a statewide referendum in November.

On HB 797, “State chartered special schools; revise funding”, in the House, Amy Carter and Ellis Black voted for it, and Jason Shaw did not vote. In the Senate, Tim Golden voted for it Monday.

There is one new candidate running for one of these statehouse seats so far, JC Cunningham, and K-12 education is top of his issues list:

I will work to improve our schools so our children have every opportunity to succeed. Too many students have dropped out of high school, and we have lost far too many good teachers due to budget cuts to our K-12 schools because, “…we live in challenging times and tight budgets”. The budget could not have been that tight if they were $23.5 million dollars available to fund an Administration building for Valdosta State University. Our elected representative should have been advising the Governor to Ear Mark that $23.5 million for the Georgia Department of Education in order to retain and hire more teachers and Para Pros.

Saturday I heard him say he opposes the charter schools constitutional amendment.

-jsq

ALEC, Trayvon Martin, CCA’s private prisons, and charter schools?

What’s the connection between the Florida law that’s letting the killer of Trayvon Martin hide, the private prisons CCA runs in Georgia and other states, and HB 797, the Georgia charter schools bill that’s on the floor today for Senate debate today? ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council.

Paul Krugman wrote yesterday for the NYTimes, Lobbyists, Guns and Money,

ALEC seems, however, to have a special interest in privatization — that is, on turning the provision of public services, from schools to prisons, over to for-profit corporations. And some of the most prominent beneficiaries of privatization, such as the online education company K12 Inc. and the prison operator Corrections Corporation of America, are, not surprisingly, very much involved with the organization.

What this tells us, in turn, is that ALEC’s claim to stand for limited government and free markets is deeply misleading. To a large extent the organization seeks not limited government but privatized government, in which corporations get their profits from taxpayer dollars, dollars steered their way by friendly politicians. In short, ALEC isn’t so much about promoting free markets as it is about expanding crony capitalism.

And in case you were wondering, no, the kind of privatization ALEC promotes isn’t in the public interest; instead of success stories, what we’re getting is a series of scandals. Private charter schools, for example, appear to deliver a lot of profits but little in the way of educational achievement.

Same as private prisons. The only real benefit goes to private prison company executives and shareholders.
Think about that: we seem to be turning into a country where crony capitalism doesn’t just waste taxpayer money but warps criminal justice, in which growing incarceration reflects not the need to protect law-abiding citizens but the profits corporations can reap from a larger prison population.
Martin Luther King Jr. wrote from a Birmingham jail in 1963:
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
And today we have an organized threat to justice everywhere. That threat is called ALEC.

-jsq

Videos of VSU Debate 2012-03-20

Debate at Valdosta State University between Democrats and Republicans, 20 March 2012, organized by Phi Alpha Delta Law Fraternity, International Pre-Law Chapter.

Moderator: Dr. Jim Peterson

Democrats: President Kelli Cody and former President Alex Thomas

Republicans: Chairman Ron Bearwall, Political Director George Lee, and Secretary Preston Porter.

Somebody please correct any misspelling of names.

Here’s a playlist:


Videos of VSU Debate 2012-03-20 between VSU Democrats and VSU Republicans,
Valdosta State University, Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 20 March 2012.
Video by John S. Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE).

Here are the debate questions:

A few more videos will follow. -jsq

Cats and Vikings working together: Joint meeting of LCBOE, VBOE, LCC, VCC 2012-03-29

Has this ever happened before? Both school boards and the Valdosta City Council and Lowndes County Commission all meeting together? Maybe this way we can get some actual improvements in education!

The text of the announcement by Lowndes County Schools 20 March 2013, Valdosta-Lowndes Governmental Leadership Meeting, is below.

-jsq

The first annual Valdosta-Lowndes Governmental Leadership Meeting will be held on March 29, 2012 at 6:30 pm in the Lowndes High School Lecture Hall. Valdosta City and Lowndes County Board of Education members, Valdosta City Council members, and Lowndes County Commissioners will be in attendance. Lowndes County Schools will host a dinner for the leadership at 6:00 pm.

The purpose of the meeting is to promote the enhancement of communication and allow leaders to share ideas and plans pertinent to the development and expansion of our local governmental entities. It will also allow members to discuss long-range strategic plans, including any special projects, while providing greater insight as to what will transpire within our community over the next five years. The meeting is open to the public.

Agenda
Welcome and Introductions
Dr. Steve Smith, Superintendent Lowndes County Schools
Sharing of Long Range Plans and Vision
Lowndes County Board of Education
Lowndes County Board of Commissioners
Valdosta City Board of Education
Valdosta City Council
Questions, Comments, Suggestions
Wrap Up
Wes Taylor, Superintendent-elect, Lowndes County Schools