Category Archives: VBOE

5.a. school consolidation not initiated by school system —James Wright @ VCC 25 August 2011

Council James Wright stated concerns that neither citizens nor the city school board had initiated school consolidation, and cited several statutes that he said indicated the local board of education needed first to request a feasibility study from the state and then to approve it, and that has not happened in this case.

Here’s the video:


5.a. school consolidation not initiated by school system —James Wright @ VCC 25 August 2011
petition, education, referendum,
Regular Session, Valdosta City Council (LCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 25 August 2011.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

-jsq

CUEE filed enough petitions for a referendum

Less than one percent of the registered voters in Valdosta have made the difference between CUEE’s school consolidation petition getting on the ballot and not.

According to the City of Valdosta’s website 19 August 2011: Continue reading →

Your children’s education at stake —Sam Allen, FVCS, 7 July 2011

Good question:
“Are you willing to put your children’s education at stake because somebody has promised you something they can’t deliver? I for one am not willing.”

Here’s the video:


Your children’s education at stake —Sam Allen, FVCS, 7 July 2011
No school consolidation,
Press Conference, Friends of Valdosta City Schools (FVCS),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 7 July 2011.
Videos by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

-jsq

There is more than one option —Sam Allen @ FVCS 7 July 2011

Sam Allen of Friends of Valdosta City Schools (FVCS) tells us what CUEE didn’t.
“You can read the billboards, you can look at the pretty brochures, but that’s all your going to get.”
So what haven’t we been told? Continue reading →

Put energy into things that are right for all children —Annie Fisher @ FVCS 7 July 2011

Valdosta school board member Annie Fisher advocated saying no to school unification and instead finding out how to desegregate the schools and improve education for everyone. She already suggested some things to do.

Here’s the video:


Put energy into things that are right for all children —Annie Fisher @ FVCS 7 July 2011
No school consolidation,
Press Conference, Friends of Valdosta City Schools (FVCS),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 7 July 2011.
Videos by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

-jsq

The members of the CUEE, they send their children to private schools —Annie Fisher

Valdosta school board member Annie Fisher pointed out CUEE members sent their chidren to private schools and now they’re meddling in public education. She listed some real issues, such as Valdosta city schools remain segregated, focussing on tests just to meet AYP, and we need to remove students from the prison to the classroom.
“How can we equally educate each child?”
Yes, let’s forget “unification” and focus on that.

Here’s the video:


The members of the CUEE, they send their children to private schools —Annie Fisher
No school consolidation,
Press Conference, Friends of Valdosta City Schools (FVCS),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 7 July 2011.
Videos by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

You thought maybe I made up the three points I proposed to improve education? Nope, unlike CUEE, I’ve been paying attention.

-jsq

School consolidation report: can cause irreversible damage

People ask me: why do the NAACP and the SCLC oppose school consolidation? Well, here’s some recent research that backs up their position, followed by their positions. My summary: because it caused great damage last time, and this time would be no different.

Craig Howley, Jerry Johnson, Jennifer Petrie wrote 1 February 2011, Consolidation of Schools and Districts: What the Research Says and What it Means:

…the review of research evidence detailed in this brief suggests that a century of consolidation has already produced most of the efficiencies obtainable. Research also suggests that impoverished regions in particular often benefit from smaller schools and districts, and they can suffer irreversible damage if consolidation occurs.
Isn’t such irreversible damage what Rev. Floyd Rose got Mrs. Ruth Council to admit?
Rev. Rose: “…we were told about the world, where we came from, how we got here.”

Mrs. Council: “I think we did receive a better education.”
They are referring to black schools before desegregation in the 1960s.

Rev. Floyd Rose is president of the local SCLC, and here is a statement by Leigh Touchton, president of the local NAACP: Continue reading →

The end game is …. —Karen Noll

Received yesterday on “the qualified voters voting thereon in each separate school system proposed to be consolidated”. -jsq
Questions abound: Why is it that Lowndes County residents will not be voting on the most important issue to face their school system since its inception in 1950?

If I lived in the county I’d be mad that CUEE and the Chamber of Commerce chose to leave my vote out of such a very important decision.

Quick fact: Consolidation alone will not save money & Consolidation alone will not improve academic success, according to the Vinson Institute report commissioned by CUEE and the Chamber.

Further Query: Why would CUEE and the Chamber of Commerce spend $50 grand to collect the signatures for the petition causing the City of Valdosta to spend thousands of tax dollars (2 staff dedicated to task & 4 temps hired) to verify the signatures on the petition?

Continue reading →

a “public dialog” —Alex Jones

Received today on Three things to actually improve education. This CUEE supporter completely ignores all three things I recommended to improve education; I will respond in more detail in the next post. -jsq
I have actually attended several of the public meetings and listened to the discussions from the Education Planning Committee. I’m not sure if you realize this or not, but the committee consists of parents, concerned residents and educators from both school systems and VSU. The committee also has members who are supportive and opposed to school unification, and it includes both city and county residents. In fact, Sam Allen even attended and participated in the last meeting.

The objective of the Education Planning Committee is to

Continue reading →

Three things to actually improve education —John S. Quarterman

People ask me why I oppose CUEE. It’s because I’d rather actually improve education instead.

It seems to me the burden of proof is on the people proposing to make massive changes in the local education system. And CUEE has not provided any evidence for their position. Sam Allen of Friends of Valdosta City Schools (FVCS) pithily sums up CUEE:

“It’s not about the children. It’s about somebody’s ego.”
I don’t think the children should have to suffer for somebody’s ego.

CUEE’s unification push isn’t about education. It’s about a “unified platform” to attract industry. That alone is enough reason to oppose “unification”. It’s not about education!

As former Industrial Authority Chair Jerome Tucker has been heard to remark on numerous occassions, “nobody ever asked me how many school systems we had!” The only example in Georgia CUEE points to for this is the Kia plant that came to Troup County, Georgia. It’s funny how none of the locals seem to have mentioned any such connection in the numerous articles published about the Kia plant. Instead, the mayor of the town with the Kia plant complains that his town doesn’t have a high school. That’s right: he’s complaining that the school system is too consolidated! The only actual education between Kia and education in Troup County is with West Georgia Tech, the local technical college.

CUEE has finally cobbled together an education committee, but it won’t even report back before the proposed ballot referendum vote. CUEE has no plan to improve education.

If CUEE actually did want to help the disadvantaged in the Valdosta City schools, Continue reading →