Campus authorities tried getting students to move away from the University
Center where
Governor Nathan Deal was having a luncheon.
The students stood their ground.
Here’s the video.
Protesting Gov. Nathan Deal at Valdosta State University (VSU), 16 September 2011.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
The students had been standing on the sidewalk in front of the Continue reading
promoting Dr. Martin Luther King’s Dream with cuee’s mission.Voiced by Morgan Freeman. So we know CUEE is pouring money into their local disaster capitalism.
This is not sitting well with opponents of consolidation. Here’s JC Cunningham’s reaction:
I personally am not surprised by any tactics that Cuee uses in order to win on Nov. 8th. In the last 5 minutes I have received 3 phone calls and 6 emails. Each one asked me what was I going to do about it? After the last call I began to get a little upset, because I did not ask that person the same question. What are you going to do about this?Continue readingCuee and the Chamber will try and get away with
What’s the Shock Doctrine?
It’s been around for a long time, but Naomi Klein researched it for
her book of the same name. It’s
“the rapid-fire corporate reengineering of societies still reeling from shock”She was writing mostly about wars, terrorist attacks, and natural disasters. Locally here we haven’t had any of those. But we may be about to create a disaster, a shock, at the ballot box in November, if voters fall for the school “unification” snake oil.
What’s the next step after CUEE has accidentally revealed that Continue reading
If I were Superintendent in the Lowndes County School System on November 9, 2011 and I had 7700 additional students and a potential $10 Million Deficit this would be my starting list:
Winners:
- Bus Drivers (ALL – NO supervisors, trainers or mechanics)
- Lunchroom Staff (Until we decide which schools to close)
- Custodial Staff (Until we decide which schools to close – no supervisor)
- Media Specialists (Until we decide which schools to close – then I would move you down to the Losers section)
- 2 Maintenance Workers (Heating/Air – no supervisor)
- Academic Teachers (with good evaluations) – NOT ALL because I would raise teacher class size to the max and ask for a waiver for an additional child or two 1 Asst. Superintendent
- 2 Technology support staff (no Supervisors)
- School Secty (Until we decide which schools to close)
- 1 Finance staff person (Payroll)
- Principals (Until we decide which schools to close – except Southeast, will not rebuild)
Losers:
- Teachers (especially ones that do not have tenure)
- Assistant Principals (at Elementary Schools that have more than one)
- Media Specialists (Until we decide which schools to close)
- 3 Curriculum Directors at Central Office
- Technology Supervisor
- Special Education Director
- 2 Assistant Superintendents
- Director of ESPLOST Projects
- Superintendent
- All Central Office Support Staff
- Food Service Director and Staff
- Ticket Manager
- Community Relations Director
- 1 Social Worker
- VECA Staff (ALL)
- Pinevale Learning Center Staff (ALL)
- Personnel Director and Staff
- Title I Director and Staff
- Director of Testing
- Mail Courier
- Vocational Teachers due to change in direction (Not All)
- Elective Teachers (Some)
- Parent Involvement Coordinators (Title I $ will be cut)
- Instructional Supervisors
- Para Educators (except for Special Education)
- Valdosta Police Department Dare Officers/SRO’s and Football Games (taken over by the County if funding is available)
- 1 Band Director at VHS – student fees will increase and school will not furnish as many instruments
- Performing Arts Center Mgr. – public will be charged a higher costs to use
- Director of Purchasing and Staff
- 1 School Psychologist
- 9 Board of Education Members
- 2 @ Asst Principals at VMS and JLN
- 2 Asst Principals at VHS
- No Swim Team staff
- IB Teachers would be relocated if positions are available
- 5 Furlough days for the first year
- School Board Attorney
School Closing:
- Southeast
- Pinevale Learning Center
- VECA
- JL Lomax ???
- Parker Mathis
- Old Pine Grove
- Moulton- Branch ????
Sell:
Now it took me about 15 minutes to come up with this list and it’s not near what my actually happen during the 2011-12 school year if we don’t get people out to vote against this misguided attempt to dismantle our schools. If I didn’t include you don’t thank for one second that you are safe. Remember I didn’t hire you and I don’t owe you anything, so pay your bills on time and keep your credit ratings high because you may need to rent for a while.
- Bazemore Hyder Stadium and Central Office to VSU at Fair Market Value – Wildcat Museum would be housed at the Historical Society
- Southeast School
- VECA to VSU at Fair Market Value
- Pinevale Learning Center
-Samuel Allen, Superintendent Emeritus
Why the second thoughts? Continue readingIt was Dostoevsky who said: “The degree of civilisation in a society is revealed by entering its prisons.” But in contemporary Britain you don’t even need to do this, you can simply stand on a street corner and wait for the ghosts to come flitting past in order to appreciate its parlous condition.
We now have the highest prison population in Europe by a considerable measure, and following the recent riots there is no likelihood of it decreasing.
Of course, we aren’t quite at the levels enjoyed by our closest allies, those prime exponents of the civilising mission the United States, whose extensive gulag now houses, it is estimated, more African American men than were enslaved immediately prior to their Civil War – but we’re getting there.
CUEE has staked their efforts on catch phrases & false promises that look & sound good. All of their info is at best a half truth. The promises that are imposible to keep are lies. I was raised believing a promise broken is a truth untold, which is a lie.
Unfortunately this tactic will work for today’s lazy voters who won’t even take the time to go to a website where the true facts are posted much less do their own research. Surely don’t ask them to leave the comfort of their homes & entertainment & personal addictions to attend any public meetings on either side when they should be visiting both sides at least once. They are part of the convenient idiot masses that facilitate take overs by the clever greedy for money & power few.
Both school boards [VBOE, LCBOE] and their supporters have done a great job of researching to produce true evidence that dissolves all the CUEE false rhetoric & print.
We cannot assume that truth will prevail because it is much easier to believe the fast sell that requires no personal effort. CUEE is banking on this. Most of the school consolidations that have occurred had many that were shocked when they passed because they did not account for the money/power ruses of the facilitators working so well with the lazy voter public. Many will not even show up claiming they have no stake since they have no children in either system. They are too lazy to check the researched facts to see they will be paying higher taxes for a handicapped unified system.
-Barbara Stratton
Mayor Sonny Vickers said he thought it was important for children
and grandchildren and proper for the City Council to take a stand
against school consolidation, and City Manager Larry Hanson read
the statement (transcript appended).
For:
James Wright District 1 
Hoke Hampton District 3 
Alvin Payton District 4 Ben Norton At Large Didn’t Have to Vote: 
Sonny Vickers Mayor |
|---|
Against:
Robert Yost District 6 
Tim Carroll District 5 Missing: 
Deidra White District 2 |
|---|
That means Ben Norton changed his vote since since their last non-binding vote related to school consolidation. (Nonbinding because they didn’t have any authority to decide whether the referendum went on the ballot or not.) Council Deidra White of District 2 was absent throughout the meeting, which I find rather odd since she seemed quite aware when I spoke to her the previous day that this vote was going to occur. Back in August she voted against putting the referendum on the ballot. Yes, I know the motion was not exactly the same, so the votes are not exactly comparable. In any case, this time there was no tie and thus no need for the (new) mayor to break a tie.
Here’s the video:
Valdosta City Council voted to oppose school consolidationo
education, consolidation, resolution,
Regular Session, Valdosta City Council (VCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 6 October 2011.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
Here’s the statement transcribed as accurately as I could from the video: Continue reading
After reading the Ed Weekly article, [slightly earlier version quoted here, referred to here. -jsq] I was struck by a very strong dejavu feeling. I checked the date twice and only to realize ( twice) that this consolidation went on more than 15 years ago.
The city schools were in bad shape financially and educationally in Chatnooga city. That is the major difference with our situation here. As much as some want you to believe that Valdosta city schools are not doing well, there are many that can point to the school improvement plan and it being recognized as one of the best in the state, or other notable achievements that differ front the view of VCS propagated by the folks on CUEE.
Other than that we are looking at the same issues; racial segregation, neighborhood schools, professional development monies in the different district, curriculum changes, busing to attain integration requirements, and the concerns about redistricting and moving kids to other schools.
Again this was 15 years ago, yet we are now faced with the same issues. At the time of the article consolidation had passed (19k to 21k). Teachers and parents Interviewed expressed concern about the poor kids of the city not getting a fair shake because the county (largely white) schools had little connection to the issues of the city kids. We would be faced with that just on a smaller scale.
The other strange likeness to this 15 year old consolidation is that Steve Prigozhy seems to have some very vague notions of school reform today that he did back then. These notions have been found to be less than successful in the ensuing 15 years.
Distancing himself from his failures does not make him a success at anything but manipulation of facts. The education of my children is not going to be reformed by a man that spins the truth and panders to the wealthy.
Thank you for sharing the Edweekly article.
-Karen Noll
Erin speaking at the organizational meeting today:It is time to Occupy Valdosta!
Friday October 14, 2011 BE AT DREXEL PARK @ 11:45am AND MARCH WITH YOUR FELLOW NEIGHBORS, CLASSMATES, COWORKERS, BROTHERS AND SISTERS!!!
We are the 99% and it is time to be heard!!!
Y’all come!
-jsq
It is my belief and its also been demonstrated that if we provide early childhood education to Latino children it would take less than a decade to reap the benefits since investment in early education is proven to generate the fastest returns to the state.
With more ECD programs there will be less Latino students being held back, less dropouts and less crime involving school-age children; and they will be more productive individuals to society.