Tag Archives: kickoff

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.