“Are you willing to put your children’s education at stake because somebody has promised you something they can’t deliver? I for one am not willing.”
Here’s the video:
Your children’s education at stake —Sam Allen, FVCS, 7 July 2011
No school consolidation,
Press Conference, Friends of Valdosta City Schools (FVCS),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 7 July 2011.
Videos by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
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Sam Allen of Friends of Valdosta City Schools (FVCS) tells us
what CUEE didn’t.
“You can read the billboards, you can look at the pretty brochures, but that’s all your going to get.”So what haven’t we been told? Continue reading
Valdosta school board member Annie Fisher advocated saying no to school unification
and instead finding out how to desegregate the schools and improve education for everyone.
She already suggested
some things to do.
Here’s the video:
Put energy into things that are right for all children —Annie Fisher @ FVCS 7 July 2011
No school consolidation,
Press Conference, Friends of Valdosta City Schools (FVCS),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 7 July 2011.
Videos by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
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Valdosta school board member Annie Fisher
pointed out CUEE members sent their chidren to private schools
and now they’re meddling in public education.
She listed some real issues, such as
Valdosta city schools remain segregated,
focussing on tests just to meet AYP,
and we need
to remove students from the prison to the classroom.
“How can we equally educate each child?”Yes, let’s forget “unification” and focus on that.
Here’s the video:
The members of the CUEE, they send their children to private schools —Annie Fisher
No school consolidation,
Press Conference, Friends of Valdosta City Schools (FVCS),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 7 July 2011.
Videos by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
You thought maybe I made up the three points I proposed to improve education? Nope, unlike CUEE, I’ve been paying attention.
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I had heard that some Board members were elected with intention to support consolidation but that I hadn’t heard anything about that from any of them when they were running.
They didn’t say much about it when they were running, either.
Back in 2009, the only one who got elected who was asked about this issue, Jeana Bealand, pretty
much dodged the question at AAUW’s
Lowndes County Political Forum on 15 September 2009.
This was the forum that was the day after the VBOE meeting that drew 400 people because of Superintendent Cason’s decision about President Obama’s speech. Very few of those 400 people showed up at the forum to ask questions of their likely school board members. Maybe more people should take an interest in who is going to represent them on their school board.
Here’s the video:
Jeana Beeland answers a question about school system consolidation
Lowndes County Political Forum, AAUW, 15 Sep 2009
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
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The people … that are opposing the plant … have yet to agree to sit down and talk with the authority directly about the plant.He said somehing similar at the 29 Sep 2010 meeting of the Valdosta Board of Education (VBOE). Except then he at least admitted that I had gotten the VLCIA presentation. Yet even then he forgot about the other people in this picture of that 10 June 2010 meeting at the VLCIA offices:
Pictured: Natasha Fast, Angela Manning, Allan Ricketts (Project Manager), Geraldine Fairell, Ken Klanicki, Brad Lofton (Executive Director)
Even earlier, Dr. Brad Bergstrom and Seth Gunning got a presentation from the VLCIA.
I pointed all this out a month ago, after the VBOE incident.
Why does Brad Lofton, a public employee, keep standing up before elected bodies and saying something that is not true?
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Watching a video of your speeches to the Valdosta Board of Education (VBOE), I was astonished to see Brad Lofton say nobody in the room but me had sat down and gotten a presentation from VLCIA!
Brad Bergstrom has already reminded you that Bergstrom and Seth Gunning sat down with VLCIA months ago. I hope you weren’t failing to count Dr. Bergstrom because he wasn’t physically in the same room at the time you made that astonishing assertion.
And what about these people?
More here.
Sitting directly in front of Lofton in those pictures of that June 10th meeting in the VLCIA offices is Pastor Angela Manning.
I see later in the same video Allan Ricketts contradicts Brad Lofton by referring to that very meeting that I organized on June 10th. Yet one of Ricketts or Lofton (I can’t see which) at the very end of the video claims VLCIA answered every one of Pastor Manning’s concerns.
As I already pointed out directly to Brad Lofton before
the VBOE meeting, listening to the VLCIA persuaded Pastor Manning to
oppose the biomass plant, organizing
a town hall
at which numerous people spoke about the biomass plant, mostly against.
In case there is any doubt as to Pastor Manning’s position on the
biomass plant, she has since
spelled it out in a letter directly to Brad Lofton:
“I stand with the NAACP, the SCLC, the American Lung Association, and any other group fighting against the bio mass plant.”
In my above message to Lofton, (sent, once again before the VBOE meeting) I listed four unanswered concerns from the June 10 meeting at VLCIA. He responded by ignoring half of them and inadequately answering two of them. When I pointed this out to him, he failed to answer any of them and asked for assistance in recruiting jobs. When I offered such assistance his whole response was:
“We’re moving forward with permits in hand. Have a nice day.”
All the messages cited in the preceding paragraph were exchanged before the VBOE meeting. Yet Lofton and Ricketts stood up before the VBOE and asserted all concerns had been answered. Is that how someone acts who is seriously trying to answer concerns of the community?
I do not appreciate Brad Lofton and Allan Ricketts using my name to support the misinformation they conveyed in their speeches to the Valdosta Board of Education.
When I first heard about this proposed biomass plant, I thought it was green energy. Attempts to obtain objective information about plant emissions and fuel sources for all the similar nearby plants, together with repeated presentations such as this from Brad Lofton and Allan Ricketts, have persuaded me and others to oppose the proposed biomass incinerator.
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John S. Quarterman
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| Dr. Gretchen Bielmyer speaking against the biomass plant. |
| Dr. Brad Bergstrom speaking against the biomass plant. |
| Brad Lofton and Allan Ricketts speaking for the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA) and the biomass plant. |
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Dear Lowndes County Commissioners.Continue readingMy sincere thanks for letting me present my concerns at yesterday’s meeting. It is very much appreciated.
Please understand that what I presented is based on facts. I have worked for ten years at VSU as an educator, and my students and colleagues know me as a straightforward person. I may ruffle some feathers at times, but I clearly was brought up in a no-nonsense household.
If Mr. Lofton would not continue to ignore our concerns (as he again did at the BOE meeting), to misrepresent organizations such as the Sierra Club (an organization I happen to support), or to keep bringing up names of those who endorse the biomass plant (yet conveniently overlooks a conflict of interest), IÂ probably would have never brought this up. However, during these past couple weeks, and particularly with his behavior at the BOE meeting, Mr. Lofton has added insult to injury, and enough is enough.
To substantiate the comments I made yesterday,
I did address the county commission on this topic over a year ago – in a public forum at a scheduled meeting.He provided no date nor link, but since this is the only Commission meeting minutes for which I can find his name, I’m guessing this is the one he meant. I’ve quoted here the relevant item, and I’ve added paragraph breaks to it to make finding individual speakers’ names easier. See also the VDT writeup. I would like to ask people, especially academics, who want to cite sources to actually cite them, not allude to them by some vague description.
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LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERSContinue reading
MINUTES
Regular Session
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
COMMISSIONERS PRESENT
Chairman Ashley Paulk
Vice Chairperson Joyce E. Evans
Commissioner Richard C. Lee
Commissioner G. Robert Carter
Chairman Paulk called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m.[…]
REZ-2009-05 Wiregrass Power, LLC, 2637 Old Statenville Hwy, 0164 025. 22.1 ac., E-A to I-S,
County Planner, Jason Davenport, presented the item, stating that both the Planning Commission and TRC recommended approval with conditions.
Chairman Paulk asked those in attendance to be patient with the Commission as the item was considered, since it was an issue that many in attendance may want to speak.
Dr. Michael Noll, 2305 Glynndale Drive, spoke against the request and presented the Commission with a list of questions prepared by himself, Dr. Brad Bergstrom and Mr. Seth Gunning.
Mr. Fred Deloach III, 1411 New Statenville Highway, addressed the Commission requesting that tires and coal be added to the list of prohibited fuel items.