Category Archives: VLCoC

CUEE demolishes its own case

CUEE still doesn’t have a plan for improving education. When asked for any concrete examples of education improving because of school consolidation, not one person could come up with one: not CUEE, not the Chamber, not their invited experts. Their invited experts established that consolidation in Troup County not only didn’t save money, it required a bond issue. And it took four or five years of the hardest work they’d ever done, even though they couldn’t give any evidence that it improved education. It was like that on almost every point: the Chamber and CUEE either couldn’t answer the simplest questions, or even more frequently demolished their own case.

The last question asked to give an example of any company that had declined to come in because of multiple school systems. Not only could nobody give an example, but someone, I believe it was Walter Hobgood, stood up at the podium and said when he was working for a large company he had never encountered a case where they looked at the number of school systems.

Early on Chamber Chair Tom Gooding went on at great length about Continue reading →

18 years later in Troup County

“Unification” of LaGrange City and Troup County schools was in 1993. Eighteen years later, it’s still a mess.

Natalie Shelton wrote March 2011 for LaGrange Daily News Online, Parents: Seek other options to school consolidation

In considering the change at West Side, officials noted in last year’s budget proposal talks that about 73 percent of its students are bus riders, brought from all parts of the county. The school posts a per-student transportation cost of $1,198, more than twice the zone average of $529.

“Why is West Side so important to the county?” parent Brandi Kennedy asked. “You have buses picking up kids all over the county to go to West Side.”

Because children are chosen to attend the magnet school through a lottery, Kennedy said she couldn’t understand funding the fine-arts focus of the school when it is not more prestigious than other county schools.

There are some unhappy parents and students: Continue reading →

Detracking Troup County, according to Terry Jenkins

In Troup County, school “unification” was all about race and desegregation, according to the speaker our local Chamber is bringing in Tuesday evening.

Dr. Terry Jenkins, co-authored an interesting paper in 1997, Detracking Troup County: Providing an Exemplary Curriculum for All Students.

As series of decisions, not unrelated to race, made by the “white fathers” of the city of LaGrange, led the citizens of the city to vote their school system out of existence and to become a part of the county system.
The quotes around “white fathers” are in the paper.

Hm, back when I first encountered CUEE, they were speaking to SCLC in Valdosta late last year, Rusty Griffin among them, and the theme was desegregation. They did not receive a warm welcome. Funny how CUEE changed its tune to “unification” after that.

But the local “white fathers” are still insisting on making decisions for all of us.

-jsq

Chamber Punts for CUEE

Received today. Guess they’ve forgotten about CUEE’s Kick-Off event back in March, at which CUEE Vice-Chairman Rusty Griffin spoke. -jsq
Date: Mon, 26 Sep 2011 15:36:40 -0400 (EDT)
From: Rusty Griffin <chamber @valdostachamber .com>
Subject: School Unification Forum: 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday

SCHOOL UNIFICATION FORUM:

Make your plans now to attend the first Vote YES public forum on school unification, which is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 27 at the Rainwater Conference Center.

Our guest speaker will be Dr. Terry Jenkins, who served as the Superintendent of Troup County Schools during the unification process of LaGrange and Troup County school systems in 1992.

Many of the same issues and rumors being discussed locally were also debated when LaGrange and Troup County were voting to unify their school systems. In his presentation, Dr. Jenkins will discuss how the school unification issue unfolded in Troup County, its impact to improving test scores and graduation rates, and how the decision to unify their school systems has transformed the community for the better.

Tom Gooding and the Chamber rebuffed @ VBOE 20 Sep 2011

Tom Gooding, Chair of the Valdosta-Lowndes County Chamber of Commerce, asked the school boards to do the Chamber’s homework. He got no takers.

Reiterating the Chamber’s demand from its letter of 9 September 2011, Gooding asked VBOE superintendent Dr. Cason at the 20 September VBOE forum to commit to meeting about what to do if the “unification” referendum passes.

Dr. Cason said that should have happened two years ago, and

Now is not the appropriate time.
He said if the referendum passes, then the two school boards will sit down together. Dr. Cason didn’t say anything about inviting the Chamber or CUEE to such meetings, since, after all, neither the Chamber or CUEE would have any legal role.

Here’s the video:


Tom Gooding rebuffed @ VBOE 20 Sep 2011
education, referendum, consolidation, statement,
Forum at Valdosta Middle School, Valdosta Board of Education (VBOE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 20 September 2011.
Videos by George Boston Rhynes for bostongbr on YouTube.

-jsq

Videos of last night’s Valdosta school forum by George Rhynes

Last night was the second of the three forums the Valdosta Board of Education (VBOE) approved along with its statement opposing school consolidation. George Rhynes reports there were 300 people there, and he videoed everybody who stood up and spoke.

I especially like this one, with Jerome Tucker asking:

What makes the Chamber of Commerce better qualified than professional educators?
That pretty much sums it up, doesn’t it?

Here’s the video:


Videos of last night’s Valdosta school forum by George Rhynes
education, referendum, consolidation, statement,
Forum at Valdosta Middle School, Valdosta Board of Education (VBOE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 20 September 2011.
Videos by George Boston Rhynes for bostongbr on YouTube.

Here’s a playlist of all George’s videos of that Forum:


Videos of last night’s Valdosta school forum by George Rhynes
education, referendum, consolidation, statement,
Forum at Valdosta Middle School, Valdosta Board of Education (VBOE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 20 September 2011.
Videos by George Boston Rhynes for bostongbr on YouTube.

-jsq

Anyone attending the CUEE meeting expecting a plan … left disappointed. —VDT

While many other people, such as Friends of Valdosta City Schools (FVCS), are trying to prevent the damage to education CUEE is trying to cause through its “unification” referendum, CUEE had a meeting of its educational committee yesterday.

Sharah Denton wrote for the VDT, CUEE focuses on academics:

Anyone attending the CUEE meeting expecting a plan for how unification of the city and county school systems would work left disappointed. Instead of discussing how the school systems might merge if CUEE’s campaign to dissolve the Valdosta school charter succeeds during the Nov. 8 election referendum, the Education Planning Task Force focused on its primary objective: improving academics for area students.
So they have no plan, and of course they also have no control over academics. If “unification” passes, that control would lie with Continue reading →

Why can’t Winnersville have two great school systems? —Sam Allen @ VBOE 29 August 2011

CUEE has lost its framing. Nobody calls it “unification” but CUEE. Everybody else calls it consolidation, same as for the last thirty years. And Sam Allen is turning the tide against it.

Sam Allen, president of Friends of Valdosta City Schools (FVCS) and former Valdosta School Superintendent said:

I promised myself three years ago when I left this place, that one thing I would never do, and that would come and attend another board meeting.
He said he came for a good cause this time.
The CUEE group is calling this unification all of a sudden. And I think that’s just a play on words, and a play on our intelligence. Because for thirty years we’ve called this process consolidation. Now all of a sudden we’re calling it unification.

We’re calling it unification because the only thing that we want to change is the central office. We want all the schools to remain the same. The only thing we want to change is what goes on right here at 1204 Williams Street.

Well if you’re going to unify a community, something has to change. This group has failed to put together a plan that we can follow.

And that’s the point, isn’t it? Continue reading →

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 →

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 →