In the last few weeks, our community has seen an unprecedented effort from left, right, and center, city and county, town and gown, all workingtogether as a community to achieve a goal that the overwhelming majority see as in our best interest. We have an opportunity that we should not squander. It doesn’t take a lot of money. It takes dedicated people, calling their friends and neighbors, canvasing every neighborhood, holding open and honest forums, and answering questions to the very best of their ability.
Let us not focus on the things that have divided us in the past, but rather use this opportunity to build a stronger community, a stronger education system. Let us not focus on the things that have divided us in the past, but rather use this opportunity to build a stronger community, a stronger education system. Let us find opportunities to work together to benefit our students, teachers, police, firefighters, farmers, small local businesses and all the rest of us who call this community home.
We have an opportunity that we should not squander.
Let us work as one community for the benefit of all our citizens; students, seniors, family, friends, urban, rural, conservatives, progressives, Wildcats and Vikings.
One community out of many,
with liberty and justice for all.
Gretchen Quarterman
Chairman
Lowndes County Democratic Party
Tag Archives: Lowndes County Democratic Party
Revenue Disbursement Summary —Mary Nell Robertson
![](http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6063/6144692792_19a3a69cf7_b.jpg)
Click on the link to see the entire table, including the “Disburse Total” column on the right. Continue reading
Five Points Steering Committee presentation by Mara Register @ LCDP 1 August 2011
She sent her slides to me this morning for publication by LAKE.
Here they are
on the LAKE web pages,
in PPT, PDF, and HTML formats.
She said there is no FPSC web page, but their meetings are shown in the calendar of events on Valdosta’s city website. The next FPSC meeting shown there is for 18 August 2011.
Date: | 8/18/2011 5:00 PM |
Location: | Valdosta City Hall Multi-Purpose Room
300 N. Lee Street |
I will probably post some more here about what she said and some of the Q&A that ensued. Meanwhile, you can see the slides for yourself.
-jsq
School consolidation report: can cause irreversible damage
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?
They are referring to black schools before desegregation in the 1960s.Rev. Rose: “…we were told about the world, where we came from, how we got here.”
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Mrs. Council: “I think we did receive a better education.”
Rev. Floyd Rose is president of the local SCLC, and here is a statement by Leigh Touchton, president of the local NAACP: Continue reading
A real education dialog @ LCDP 2 May 2011
![](http://i2.ytimg.com/vi/alDZDiuH1CM/default.jpg)
- Through the LCDP 2 May 2011 LAKE blog topic, which has all the relevant posts, newest first.
-
Through the YouTube video
playlist.
Each video has a link to the relevant blog post.
School unification dialog at Lowndes County Democratic Party (LCDP)
Videos by John S. Quarterman, Jim Parker, Gretchen Quarterman, 2 May 2011.
At that LCDP meeting I pointed out that the CUEE education committee was not scheduled to report back until after the proposed referendum vote, and nobody had any rebuttal.
-jsq
Ashley Paulk, Corey Hull, and Norman Bennett on T-SPLOST
![](http://www.sgrc.us/transportation/images/VLMPO_planningarea.jpg)
T-SPLOST regional executive committee chairman
Ashley Paulk
gave his opinion on T-SPLOST at a Lowndes County Democratic Party
(LCDP) meeting a few months ago:
He’s against it
because he doesn’t like
a law with a stick in it.
At the same LCDP meeting, Corey Hull of VLMPO explained T-SPLOST, which LAKE videoed in six parts,
-
T-SPLOST Explained
- T-SPLOST Business plan
- T-SPLOST Project Lists
- T-SPLOST Penalties and LMIG
- T-SPLOST Projects to GDOT
- T-SPLOST referendum in 2012
Before that, Corey Hull explained T-SPLOST to VLCIA,
and got
a very interesting question about penalties from Norman Bennett.
VLMPO held an extended public participation period for T-SPLOST in May. Maybe some of you who went can report back on that.
-jsq
Everyone agrees there’s a problem with education — pro and con CUEE @ LCDP 2 May 2011
Proponents and opponents of school unification even agree on many of the details. They just don’t agree on the solution. CUEE believes that unification will somehow lead to solutions to all this, and believe is the word they use, because they have no evidence. Opponents such as me don’t see any plan to get to better education, and some think that unification will cause problems that CUEE is not even considering, just like integration did in 1969.
Here’s a pair of pie charts from 2008 from Who’s losing in Winnersville? a project unification opponent Dr. Mark George was involved in:
And here is a similar comparison from CUEE using data from 2009-2010.: Continue reading
Where are the students in this decision? —Karen Noll
I completely agree with Alex Rowell. What is the purpose of consolidation/’unification’? Is the purpose to desegregate the two school districts? If so, how will the new school district deal with the issues that Leigh Touchton brings up with regard to education not serving black male students. How will a larger school district better meet the needs of a much more diverse student body? Furthermore, What do the parents in the county think about desegregation of their distict? (Because if they don’t want it, there is no doubt that ‘unification’ will be a disaster for ALL)CUEE’s own study says unification wouldn’t save money and CUEE’s own expert consultant said:OR is the purpose to reduce cost by reducing administrators in the head office? If that is the purpose where are the students in this decision.
-Karen Noll
“If you believe in the end that running one system is cheaper than running two school systems. If in the end you are going to cast a vote for a single system because you think it would save money, I wouldn’t cast my vote. I do not think it will save money.”And, indeed, where are the students in this decision?
-jsq
Consolidation won’t be the magic bullet —Leigh Touchton
What NAACP has advocated for is cultural competency from our teachers, this is not necessarily a black or white issue. Often it’s more a matter of class than race; for example, far too many middle class teachers expect middle class behavior from children who are living in poverty and this is an unfair expectation. There are also deep-seated issues regarding black males that cultural competency won’t address: namely, that many black teenaged males don’t see any benefit to a high school education because so many of their family members cannot find work here in Valdosta. What’s the point to an education if one is still shut out of most successful careers?Consolidation won’t be the magic bullet that solves these problems, there aren’t even any CUEE representatives speaking to these issues. To most of our members, we think these issues will get worse rather than better if the two systems were to merge.
-Leigh Touchton
This is not representative of the people —John S. Quarterman on CUEE @ LCDP 2 May 2011
![](http://i3.ytimg.com/vi/6UUxN6sgtK4/default.jpg)
After some examples of things on which I agreed or disagreed with Ashley Paulk, the VDT, the Chamber of Commerce, and VLCIA, I mentioned that after an SCLC meeting Rusty Griffin told me that nobody who was not for unification would be accepted on the CUEE board.
I praised the upcoming Thursday meeting about education, but pointed out that commitee would not report back before the proposed unification vote, and the CUEE board still had only one member from the county outside Valdosta, so:
This is not diversification, this is not representative of the people, this a small pressure group, and nothing personal against you, a small pressure group that is trying to decide for the rest of us.Once again, why I’m opposed to CUEE’s unification scheme: Continue reading