Tag Archives: 25 October 2011

Jobs, Title VI, and education —George Boston Rhynes @ VBOE 25 October 2011

George Rhynes tied together parents, jobs, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, and local education at the VBOE 25 October 2011 open forum. His question:
If we are concerned about our children really getting an education, better be concerned about equal employment and getting federal funds, so these parents get their equal share of the jobs, in the community…. I’m talking about the qualified parents that apply for jobs in this area and some of you know they don’t get them.
[applause]

Here’s Part 1 of 2: Continue reading →

$75/day Lowndes County Travel Policy @ LCC 24-25 October 2011

Commissioner Crawford Powell wanted exemptions or exceptions to Lowndes County’s travel policy for “department heads, elected officials, County Manager”. Commissioner Richard Raines just wanted the limits raised. Commissioner Joyce Evans preferred they
…make a statement that we should not exceed a certain amount per day.
Chairman Ashley Paulk said exceptions were a problem and indicated they would be a bad idea. Powell and Raines are the same Commissioners who thought accepting a federal grant for NOAA Weather Radios would be “wasteful spending” of tax dollars and who refused a federal grant for an emergency vehicle. Spending local taxes seems fine with then when it comes to their travel expenses. They finally adopted a total of $75/day for meals. I hate to agree with Frank Barnas, but GSA standard for trips to Atlanta is $56/day.

At the Monday 24 October 2011 County Commission Work Session, County Manager Pritchard said the county’s travel policy had been discussed during their retreat and during budget preparations, with changes for mileage reimbursement, meal limitations, and use of tax forms. .

This is the policy we have been acting under since the adoption of the budget. I just wanted to bring it back before you to make this adoption public.
Joyce Evans expressed a concern about it saying the County Manager or his designee could approve expenses. She seemed to want the designee part removed.

Crawford Powell said:

Continue reading →

Videos of VBOE Education Open Forum 25 October 2011

Here are videos of the entire Open Forum on education held by the Valdosta Board of Education at JL Lomax Elementary School 25 October 2011. This forum was advertised starting 29 August 2011, almost two months in advance, and was the third of three forums held by VBOE. As I asked back back on 1 September, Where was CUEE at the school board meetings? One or two showed up at each of the VBOE forums. Where were the rest of them?

Oh, that’s right! CUEE’s idea of a forum is to phone up selected people in the middle of the night to come to a meeting when both school superintendents are out of town, oh, and not invite the newspaper of record.

If you still haven’t been to a real open forum, the Lowndes Continue reading →

Any parent is free to send their children to Valdosta Schools —Susan Wehling @ VBOE 25 October 2011

Susan Wehling made several good points Tuesday, including an invitation for CUEE to put their children where their mouth is, like she already has.

Hi, I’m a parent, and I have three kids in school right now; one just graduated.

First of all, CUEE sent me flyers… to insult my schools…. That was very hurtful for my children to read those flyers telling them how bad my schools are. My schools are not bad, and I’m very upset about that.

[applause]

She also said: Continue reading →