It’s interesting what paying people to collect petition signatures can accomplish.
The CUEE press release of yesterday is
on their web pages.
Here’s an excerpt:
9,000 and Counting!
Petition Drive Hits Key Milestone In Effort to Give
Valdosta Residents Opportunity to Vote on Unification
Plan to Attend Saturday Event at McKey Park to Join the Movement, Sign
Petition
(Valdosta, GA) The petition drive campaign giving Valdosta residents
the chance to vote on school unificationreached a key milestone Friday
when it topped its goal of 9,000 signatures.
The 9,000 signatures was the target set by the Community Unification
for Educational Excellence (CUEE),which launched the petition drive May
12 after three years of planning. The minimum number of validsignatures
needed to place the issue on the November ballot is 25 percent of
registered voters in Valdosta, or7,375. The target figure of 9,000
represents a 22 percent increase over the minimum required and nearly
31 percent of all registered voters.
It’s too bad they haven’t dedicated all this organizing to something
that might actually help education around here, such as
prison reform or preventing bright flight by squelching sprawl.
Mr. John Robinson pointed out that school board problems and biomass
are not the only issues around here, and for example the south side
of town needs money so people there can become more productive citizens.
At the 21 April 2011 Valdosta City Council meeting,
He specifically recommended getting
Valdosta Small Emerging Business (VSEB) up and running.
Let us try to come together and find some method —John Robinson
Regular monthly meeting of the Valdosta City Council (VCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 21 April 2011,
Videos by George Boston Rhynes for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
In response to the person exclaiming about the situation in the sixties:
What many of our members recall vividly from that period of time is how
black teachers and black principals were fired or demoted, some even went
to work as custodians. Our members and their families all experienced
this to some degree. Right now, Valdosta City Schools probably has fewer
black administrators that at any time since integration. We have taken
complaints whereby black professionals were passed over for promotion
or demoted or denied a position which was given to white candidates
with less experience, fewer credentials, and even in one instance, an
incomplete employment application. These stories are profound and leave
lasting impressions which cannot be ignored. It is very impolite for
the majority to tell the minority how to feel about this. Integration,
as Dr. George has clearly explained, did not solve all problems.
Our members have valid reasons for feeling the way we do, we feel
that the rights of all children to achieve are also interwoven with
the rights of all education professionals to be treated with equality
and fairness. Since we are having to fight so hard for equality and
representation in Valdosta City Schools, where we have several Board
members who represent minority districts, and a black Chairman, it is
impossible for us to believe that becoming even more of a minority in a
consolidated system will be beneficial. The struggles have been lengthy,
expensive, and emotional, and they continue today.
Alex Rowell, Lowndes High School student, said he’s been
volunteering at S.L. Mason, and:
I’ve been told, “you work better with black students because you’re black”.
These kids are working with each other, playing with each other.
…
Especially in these lower students,
I don’t see a separation.
I want to know if CUEE…
When I saw your graph…
You have Lowndes predominately white,
Valdosta predominately black.
Is one of your goals to integrate that?
Is the goal to have a more integrated racial system,
or what exactly do you propose to do?
I think the graph was
this one
supplied by Dr. George.
The question remains.
We have complaints that some people couldn’t understand
what Dr. Mark George was saying in
the previous post of his remarks at Monday’s Lowndes County Democratic Party meeting,
so here’s another version from a different camera.
Feedback, please.
He said the Chamber of Commerce said schools were not its issue.
Dr. George pointed out that it was the Chamber and the
real estate industry that largely produced the current situation
by funelling people to the county schools.
He said the unification project started with a request from
the Industrial Authority, who said it didn’t look good when
potential industry saw there was a black school system and
a white school system.
(The timing of this is interesting, because it comes after
Brad Lofton was hired as VLCIA Executive Director,
and other people formerly associated with VLCIA say they
were never asked by any potential industry how many school
systems we have.)
Dr. George discussed many other interesting points, such as CUEE’s
terminology drift from consolidation to integration to unification.
Camera 2: Dr. Mark George about CUEE @ LCDP 2 May 2011 Part 1 of 2:
Debate between proponents of school system unification (CUEE) and opponents,
at Lowndes County Democratic Party (LCDP), Gretchen Quarterman chair,
Videos by George Rhynes, Jim Parker, John S. Quarterman, and Gretchen Quarterman
for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange, Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 2 May 2011.
In this second video from camera 2,
Dr. George noted
that the Valdosta school system is internally segregated.
He said both he and Rev. Rose asked to have somebody put
on the CUEE council, and that that didn’t happen.
There’s more; you can watch it for yourself.
Here’s
Part 2 of 2:
Camera 2: Dr. Mark George about CUEE @ LCDP 2 May 2011 Part 2 of 2:
Debate between proponents of school system unification (CUEE) and opponents,
at Lowndes County Democratic Party (LCDP), Gretchen Quarterman chair,
Videos by George Rhynes, Jim Parker, John S. Quarterman, and Gretchen Quarterman
for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange, Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 2 May 2011.
Dr. Mark George pointed out that school consolidation didn’t solve
some problems last time:
In 2011 our schools were more segregated racially than they were in 1968.
He questioned why people should believe that consolidation, even if called
unification, would solve those same problems this time.
Continuing the
debate between proponents and opponents of unification of the
Valdosta and Lowndes County School Systems, organized by
Gretchen Quarterman, chair of the
The Lowndes County Democratic Party (LCDP).
Here, speaking against, is Dr. Mark George.
I’m on the CUEE board because
I believe a unified school system can better serve children
of our community, and particularly children in the city of Valdosta.
Gretchen Quarterman, chair of the
The Lowndes County Democratic Party (LCDP),
organized a debate between proponents and opponents of unification of the
Valdosta and Lowndes County School Systems.
Here, speaking for, is Dr. George Bennett, on the board of
Community Unification for Educational Excellence (CUEE).
The real answer is in the first sentence after A: in this
FAQ by CUEE:
Q: HOW WILL UNIFICATION OF OUR SCHOOL SYSTEMS IMPROVE EDUCATION?
A: School unification, by itself, will not improve the quality of
education for our children.
What about county voters, and what about the combined budget?
Q: “What is the county’s view on consolidation?”
A: CUEE Chairman Leroy Butler answered:
“We did no poll of individuals in the county,
so we don’t have any; anything we say would be speculation.”
Remember,
only one of CUEE’s board is from the county outside the City of Valdosta,
and nobody outside Valdosta gets to vote in the referendum.
They don’t know what the county thinks, and they don’t care,
because legally they don’t have to:
if Valdosta votes to give up their school system, the Lowndes County
school board has no choice but to pick up the pieces.
Kick-off meeting, Community Unification for Educational Excellence, Inc., CUEE.
They’re for consolidation of the Valdosta and Lowndes County School Systems.
Videos by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
http://lake.typepad.com/on-the-lake-front/cuee/
The Chair, Leroy Butler, named them in this order:
Rusty Griffin (Vice-Chair), George Bennett,
Tom Kurrie,
Walter Hobgood,
Johnny Ball,
Jack Edwards,
Jud Rackley,
Gene Godfrey,
and “last but certainly not least”
Ruth Council.
(Not named but listed
on CUEE’s website are
David Durland,
Terry Hunt,
and Ronnie Mathis.)
As I told Rusty Griffin, I congratulate CUEE on holding public meetings
about their plans.
Kick-off meeting, 24 March 2011,
Community Unification for Educational Excellence, Inc., CUEE,
They’re for consolidation of the Valdosta and Lowndes County School Systems.
Videos by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
Here’s the question:
How many of the current CUEE board are from the county
outside of Valdosta?
(Valdosta, GA) The petition drive campaign giving Valdosta residents the chance to vote on school unificationreached a key milestone Friday when it topped its goal of 9,000 signatures.
