Tag Archives: LCBOE

Is consolidation inevitable? —David Mullis @ LCBOE 4 Oct 2011

David Mullis, author of the most basic and comprehensive resource on school consolidation, the Grassroots Handbook Against School Consolidation, noted that the Chamber and CUEE had tried to paint Valdosta School Supt. Dr. Cason and Lowndes School Supt. Dr. Smith as saying school consolidation was inevitable.

Dr. Smith replied:

I use the word “may”. It may occur. I’m not like CUEE; I don’t have a crystal ball to predict the future.

David Mullis asked for further clarification based on the data we have today.

Supt. Smith’s answer:

Now is the worst possible time to even consider consolidation or any other education innovation that’s going to cost more money that has possibly little or no return.

Here’s the video: Continue reading →

What effect will this have on teachers’ jobs and salary? @ LCBOE 4 Oct 2011

Someone (didn’t get her name; sorry) wanted to know how CUEE could say, on their glossy flyer they mailed out, that no teachers would lose their jobs. Supt. Smith responded that there would be winners and losers, and unfortunately more winners than losers. Yes, teachers have contracts. However, due to the economy, Lowndes County Schools already have a Reduction in Force (RIF) policy, through which they have offered retirement and about 80 teachers have already taken advantage of it.

Here’s the video:

What effect will this have on teachers’ jobs and salary? @ LCBOE 4 Oct 2011
Why we oppose consolidation,
Community Forum, Lowndes County Board of Education (LCBOE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 4 October 2011.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

-jsq

Has CUEE compared parental involvement between school systems? —a parent @ LCBOE 4 October 2011

A parent (didn’t get her name; sorry) who said her children were in Lowndes County schools and she had gone to Valdosta City schools wanted to know if CUEE had collected any data to compare parental involvement between the two school systems.

Parental involvement is not as high as it should be… and the first step will be to start in everyone’s home….
[applause]

(Oh, and I can hear Continue reading →

Bussing is a natural consequence of consolidation —Warren Turner to Roy Copeland @ LCBOE 4 Oct 2011

Two attorneys brought a point into the light that CUEE doesn’t like to talk about: bussing is a natural consequence of consolidation. That was stated by the attorney for the Lowndes County School System, Warren Turner, 4 October 2011.

Roy Copeland brought up some names from the past: Mrs. Copeland or Mrs. Adams, and the newscasters Huntley and Brinkley. He then asked about the consent decree on desegregation from back in that era:

Has anyone given any thoughts to the issues relative to the consentdecreee, desegregation, and the realignment of school districts relative to the Voting Rights Act 1965 preclearance, and all those other issues.

Lowndes County Schools Attorney Warren Turner answered the question, after Roy Copeland mentioned they were neighbors. The answer was basically that there would be a hearing before November 8^th. Hm, I wonder what happened with that? As far as what happens if consolidation is approved by the Valdosta voters, he said, among other things:

So the concept of a neighborhood school, where everybody stays where they are, is not going to happen in my opinion, because the federal government is not going to allow that to happen.

Finally, Roy Copeland asked: Continue reading →

Are you gonna get the parents involved? —Roy Taylor @ LCBOE 4 October 2011

Roy Taylor said his grandson graduated from Lowndes County High.

He must be a lot older than he seems, since LCHS closed about 1968 when it was combined with Hahira High School to create Lowndes High School.

He did have a good point, though (paraphrasing): 80% of prisoners are less than 30 years old.

$60,000 a year to keep a person in prison.
$30,000 a year to keep them in college.

His question:

Are you gonna get the parents involved?

Lowndes County Schools Supt. Smith responded that they are working diligently through Community Partners in Education to do that. He also talked about Valdosta and Lowndes schools already improving their graduation rates. And school, home, and community as three legs of a stool.

We’re striving to do better every day.

Here’s the video: Continue reading →

How about as a first step the Chamber pledge… —Jim Parker

Received today on Why the Chamber Supports Unification. -jsq

So true, John. There was no meat in the whole letter. The last line sums it up, “We BELIEVE…” yada, yada, yada. Faith based thinking might fly in religious institutions, but in the education of our children, we have a pretty good handle on what is needed. Deferring to those trained and with years of experience in the education of our children, who have brought countless facts to the discussion, none of which the Chamber can or has bothered to refute, I will go along with both Boards of Education and vote NO to consolidation.
I did note that Mr Gooding offered to “combine our resources and our efforts and work together as a community to transform two average school systems…” Since he used the first person plural “our,”

Continue reading →

Financial Issues of Consolidation @ LCBOE 1 November 2011

Video of the open forum Tuesday night at Lowndes High School where the Lowndes County Board of Education thoroughly addressed new evidence found by both them and CUEE. Partly through the information they presented at their previous forum of 4 October, they provoked dialog with CUEE in the form of several email messages from consolidation proponents distributed by the Chamber of Commerce. At Tuesday’s forum the Lowndes board and staff took CUEE’s messages as questions, looked up the answers (for example, how much did taxes rise in places where there was school consolidation recently?) and worked the result into their own computations. The general answer is still that consolidation wouldn’t improve education and would raise property taxes to near the state-mandated cap, yet that wouldn’t be enough to preserve all the existing school programs, and teachers and staff would also have to be let go.

So the Lowndes Board and the Valdosta board (several VBOE members plus Supt. Cason were present, and one repeated point was that the two school boards and staff talk to each other all the time) used CUEE’s questions to improve the case against consolidation while promoting community dialog. They even managed to criticize specific named individuals for specific messages Continue reading →

All about school consolidation

Update 12:55 3 Nov 2011: LCBOE’s own video of their 1 November open forum on Financial Issues of Consolidation is now available on YouTube.
Apparently there are still many people out there who don’t know much about school consolidation. A quick yet comprehensive way to find out is to read the Grassroots Handbook Against School Consolidation by David Mullis.

See also the statements against consolidation by both school boards. Many citizens spoke at the 29 August 2011 VBOE meeting where all but one Valdosta School Board member voted for the statement against consolidation. VBOE then held three open forums: Continue reading →

An Open Forum on Financial Issues Concerning Consolidation —LCBOE 1 November 2011

Last chance for an open forum about school consolidation issues.

Lowndes County Board of Education will hold a An Open Forum on Financial Issues Concerning Consolidation:

6PM, 1 November 2011
Lowndes High Cafeteria
1606 Norman Drive
Valdosta, GA

All about the previous LCBOE Forum of 4 October 2011.

-jsq

The Real Truth About School Consolidation by Supt. Smith to Lowndes County Schools

Received today. -jsq

Sent: Tue, October 25, 2011 7:55:07 AM
Subject: Letter to the Staff
Friends,
Attached is a copy a document that was sent to all Lowndes County teachers and staff from Dr. Steve Smith.
Thanks,
Sam Allen
Samuel Allen, Superintendent Emeritus [Valdosta City Schools]

The letter is on the LAKE website. Here are a few excerpts:

REAL TRUTH: Continuing all of the current programs the Valdosta City School System and the Lowndes County School System have would require a millage rate of approximately 24 mills. Considering state law limits us to 21 mills, some programs will be eliminated. The decision to eliminate such programs will be recommended by the Lowndes County Superintendent, subject to final approval by the Lowndes County Board of Education. There will be winners and losers in consolidation and several current successful programs will likely have to go.