School Board's Possible New Property Tax?
According to the newspaper, the TCSB announced last week their intent to impose a newly authorized .25 mil property tax. They can add this tax for two years without a community vote. I know they can impose this whether we agree or not, but I wonder how everyone feels about it.
This is something many counties in Florida are doing to offset funding decreases from the state level. Generally speaking, I'm one who tends to think we're taxed highly enough already. But if I were going to pay more in taxes, I can't think of a more worthwhile investment than education; it's the only thing that has a chance of helping Taylor County--and America--thrive in the years to come.
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The only way I would vote for an increase in taxes is if we were told an exact amount of revenue the school system takes in, we are never given this information, always a prediction of income, or deficit for the coming year, never the total amount of income for the district. This district has been in trouble for years, probably long before Oscar, we just had a finance director that knew how to move the money around, from school to school, account to account, we probably never really had what was supposed to be left in reserve from year to year. When he retired it all went to crap. You can't rob Peter to pay Paul, sooner or later you end up where we're at. BROKE
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This is not an increase in taxes, all it is , is to allow the board to use .25 of the 2 mill monies for salaries instead of capital improvements.
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Maybe, once again with all the transfering of this percentage here, and moving this percentage there, and allowing some money to be used here that wasn't allowed last year. Do ya think they could just show how much money they actually receive, and how much they spend without all the crap to try and confuse us so they can spend millions, and always, always, never have enough.
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Good Point. You my friend are an asset to this site, keep up your comments.
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The school board members and superintendent need how to manage the budget they have. Apparently, they need to be schooled on how to do that because none of them seem to have a clue. Those who have been on the board have no excuse for not responsibly handling taxpayer money. I may have to pay the increase they chose to levy on me now, but in two years, they won't get my vote.
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Florida School Law allows for an internal auditor. I think all tax=payers should pressure the school board to establish and hire an internal auditor independant from Dyal and company and maybe scholl board members themselves, at least the several who are getting checks out the front and back door! This internal auditor could report directly to the tax=payers and Tallahassee to break up the organized crime of the school district. I am just waiting and hoping, first Jefferson County, now Gadsden County, hopefully soon to be Trailer COunty!
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How much would such an auditor cost, and what would that auditor investigate beyond what's already handled by the state auditors?
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We don't want an internal auditor we want an external auditor! An internal one will just be one more line item on the budget and would be pressured to conceal certain misstatements in order to make the current administration look better. CPAs charge about $150/hour.
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I think what the point being made is what Florida School Law allows and dictates. I do not think the "law" provides that a school district would have to pay for an "external" auditor, the auditor general provides this review. I assume the poster was responding to the fact that there needs to be a watchdog following what Dyal and company do since they cannot work within a budget or manage the district finances.
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I simply refuse to believe that Paul Dyal and all of the other people that work out of his office and throughout the school district that handle the financial matters are all in a conspiracy to misappropriate school district funds. Is it not possible that they are simply trying to do too much with too little? Someone give me some facts; with references! If Dyal is doing something wrong, hopefully someone in the school system would blow the whistle! Do you exect me to believe that NONE of the administration care that we, the taxpayers, and our children, the beneficiaries of the school system, are being cheated and will do nothing about it? SOMEONE GIVE ME SOME FACTS
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To prove your point I suggest refusing the stimulus dollars to cover over that mis-management you have a hard time resolving in your mind. Paying for services twice will not improve the situation.
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Or perhaps cut off all funding, divide what comes in among families with school aged children, let their parents decide where to send them. No Administration, no buildings and property to maintain, you choose your childs education. But if you don't have school aged children then you don't have to pay the school tax. That way the users foot the bill that seems to be the only fair way, why should someone without school aged children pay for others education?
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Wise words, Karl. I've disagreed with some of the things Paul Dyal has done since taking office, but I have no reason to believe he's a crook. Vague accusations are pointless--let's focus on specifics.
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Well I guess that's possible, and I guess you could say that's what Oscar was doing, more than he had money to do. I don't think there's a conspiracy, but I'm not sure these people really know what they are supposed to be doing. So far there hasn't been a lot of improvement. But Dyal hasn't been in that long, however the people in charge have for the most part been there a while, and they don't seem to be too willing to do a lot of changing at the top. As I stated before for many many years we had a financial officer that knew how to work within the requirements, I've heard it said that he could be told to find the money and he would, somehow, somewhere. Then he retired, and suddenly we don't even have enough to cover what we are supposed to have in reserve. So I don't think there is a conspiracy to rip off the taxpayer, I just think money was found for things that were not needed, and now we have to pay for that.
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Who paid for the football trip this month, who "wrote" the (manual) check? Who bypassed sunshine laws to hire a coach and cronys? Who bypasses procurement policies to award bids and related items to cronys? These are just some questions folks should ask to get "facts".
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I assume the boosters paid for the trip. That's allowed, though, as far as I know.
I believe Paul Dyal is too concerned with football to the detriment of other areas, and I don't care for how the coach situation went down (the head coach was brought in despite existing coaches volunteering to do the job for free, and the assistant coach was brought in under the radar without the local newspaper even reporting on it). But to my knowledge no laws were broken in the hiring process.
Which rules were broken regarding bids/procurements, and for which projects?
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TCC probably right no rules were broken, however, if you remember when the Administration Offices were remodeled, how they got the vendors to send bills for single items of furniture, so they could be paid without going before the board. There's a cutoff amount that if your below you don't have to get approval. The furniture total would have raised a red flag, but purchasing it item by item kept it under the wire. Within the rules, but crooked as a dogs back leg.
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I'm not familiar with that situation, and I agree it sounds like a skirting of the rules.
But that would've been long before Dyal took office...
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Right, but I'll bet the policy is still in place. I supported Dyal, both runs, I thought he would put an end to the shananigans, but I guess it's just like sending someone to Washington, they always end up joining the crowd, much like what has happened with Dyal. I'm not saying he is breaking the law, or the rules, but his actions of late lead me to believe he is not the man I thought he was.
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Change orders vs. bidding out items, I do support local business bids. Dyal must have had a short course from Oscar the Great! Dyal is fast developing an organized crime scenario and simply is not as smart as Oscar to pull this off. There was a comment about the former financial director and his ability to "find" money. The reality is that the former financial director had things in a big mess as well. Using grant funds inappropriately, letting food service items fail and lose money, and many other things. You could review the audits for details. The sad fact is that our school system has been mis-managed for the last 20+ years. It was a balancing act at best and could be balanced as long as there was enough money to rob peter to pay paul. Now that money is tight there is no opportunity to pull off such a shell game. The Dyal and Company Administration and school board are going to have to develop a new way of managing the school district finances, and they can not tax the local citizens for a solution!
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I have an idea:
Since Dyal is apparently all about football, why don't we take advantage of that and raise awareness of the football program and our new coach to get more people to come and watch the games?! I don't know what the capacity is for that stadium, but I imagine that if we filled it up and everyone there bought a soda and a hot dog, they'd make enough money off of one game to support at least 2 away game's worth of transportation costs. Isn't that more money for the band and the football program? If anyone is interested in helping, I'm going to contact someone at the boosters and see what I can cook up. I think we need more volunteers, here is a link to the volunteer form for the school district. Fill it out and turn it in. If all of the parents or anyone that has little brothers or sisters, neices or nephews or whatever spends one or two days every school year helping out, we can turn this school district around!!!
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The fair-weather fans will come out by the droves if the Bulldogs start winning...
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http://www.taylor.k12.fl.us/shared.content/forms/tcsb99003volunteer.application.pdf
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Sorry folks I accidentally erased a hyphen on that link! Here's the real one: http://www.taylor.k12.fl.us/shared.content/forms/tcsb99003-volunteer.application.pdf
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I would not encourage to many fans to attend, are not the stands in much need of repair? (As noted in a report received some time ago during the Oscar era).
It would be a complete diaster and liability for the school district to have the stands give way during a game. Looks like Dyal should have put some resources into maintaining the stadium stands rather than all his eggs in one basket to hire a coach and related cronys.
If you hear all of the grumbling around town, I predict attendance to decline to show Dyal he offended the tax-payers. Since the boosters seem to be perpetually flush with cash, let them pay to fix the sub-standard stands before they crumble.
Did the boosters pay for the recent out of state trip for the football team and cronys? Did the school district write a check? Now that would be a great discussion item!
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Here you go, the stands I believe passed inspection, and for your information the kids raised their own monies for the trip, so before you whine..... check your facts.
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You're saying the boosters did not pay (or help pay) for this trip at all?
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As far as I know the kids paid for themselves by raising the monies selling items, such as do-nuts, gift cards and such. As for the fans coming in groves you are right, if they win, they will come.
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The Student Athletes that participated in the trip for the football team, raised most of the monies there selves. They received money from USW local 1192 ($750.00) $250.00 of which went to the Boys and Girls club as free season tickets.
What does it matter if the Boosters paid any part of the trip? Isn't that what they are for, "boosting" the program?
The real fans come even if they don't win. We go to see our sons play, daughters cheer. We may have other family members playing or children of friends on the field.
You are correct in part of your post, if they win the "fair weather" fans will be there. Some will even show up so they can complain on here about what ever it is that they can think Mr. Dyal did wrong or the Coach blah blah blah.
If anyone thinks they can do better, why don't they?
The .25% millage increase. The same people who put us in the situation are still there. The only exception is Mr. Dyal. The same board. The same people in the supers office (minus Mr. Dyal). Can we expect them to do better with these monies or the same. Can we as taxpayers do better? I say yes. We can do better at the voting booth at the next available time. We need a clean sweep.
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There was a question; Who wrote the "manual" check to pay the cost, by "manual", a check that would not appear on the check register reviewed at the school board meeting, inquiring minds want to know. Dyal you have some explaining to do, explaining to the tax-payers!
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When schools are failing our children and person(s) in leadership roles fail to respond with action plans to improve systems let's talk about football. Cute trick. But it is not the football team winning or losing that is the problem.
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When Oscar was still in office, and we didn't know we were in such dire straits, I told a friend "Maybe if Dyal is elected we can at least get a good coach" as I said that was before I knew we were in such dire straits. I have sense enough to realize that the Football Coach should have been put on the back burner. I thought Dyal would too, but I guess I was wrong on that count, but right on the statement we'll at least get a new football coach, little did I know that was all we could look forward to. Sorry about my vote.
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My point was that why instead of b*tching and moaning aren't we trying to make lemonade out of lemons? Dyal aready hired the coach. That's done. There's really not much we can do about it except pitch in and try to support Dyal's decision. Any school administrator worth his/her mettle knows that athletic venues bring in MONEY. Moreso when the teams in the exhibitions are GOOD. I personally, can't blame Dyal for wanting to enhance the football progam. It's been stagnant the past 12 years and it's time that we re-vamp it in a serious way. But, the team needs our support. In fact, you can use the high school football team as a metaphor for the entire school system if you want. The school system as a whole needs the support of the community. We shouldn't expect the school system to function as well as it has in the past during these hard economic times if we are simply "dumping" off our kids at school and forgetting that they exist for 40 hours/week.
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How do football finances work?
The football team plays, what, around a dozen games a year? Say half of those are at home, so that's 6 games bringing in revenue from ticket sales and concessions. How much money does that plus fundraisers add up to? (I honestly have no idea--maybe it's more than I'm thinking.)
And offsetting that, how much does it cost to run the program? Maintaining the stadium, paying the electricity, paying the coaches, buses, bus drivers, gas, uniforms and equipment, and so on? Again, I don't know the answer. I'm assuming a heafty sum.
I'm not sure the program pays for itself, or else we wouldn't need the boosters stepping in and spending money. And since the boosters foot a significant portion of the bill, they feel like they get to call the shots. They didn't like the last coach, so they closed up their wallets--punishing not only the coach, but the players as well. They also played a significant role in selecting the new coach. As I understand it, the boosters--who aren't employees of the district--actually helped interview the candidates.
Maybe if attendance at games were high enough, revenues would be at a level that would allow the district to cut itself free from the boosters...
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When every graduate can read, and make change, I'll quit bitchin and moaning. I agree, if cuts weren't having to be made on the education end, we should try to boost morale with a winning team, it's also true we haven't had a good team in many years, maybe this will turn everything around like you and Mr. Dyal seem to think, I hope so, I'll attend the games. But the primary reason the school is there is to teach students what they will need to function in the world.
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Personally, I think knowing how to function as part of a team and being physically fit is just as important in today's society as knowing how to read.
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Functioning as part of a team is critical--but this skill can be taught without participating in athletics. Most of the teams people will participate in during their lives will be non-athletic teams at work. The skills required for this can be taught in a classroom.
Being physically fit is important, too, but not nearly as important as knowing how to read. Plenty of people are successful in life without being physically fit. Far fewer are successful without being able to read.
Please understand, I'm not anti-football. I love football. I just don't think the district can afford to make it the top priority at the moment. Finances and academic performance have to come first.
Which position did the district invest more time and energy in filling... The new head coach, or the new head of TTI?
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Best point made all week! (being able to read and resources put for TTI hire). It is absolutely absurd that so many resources have been expended for the hiring of a coach and his cronys, And then you have folks on this blog expressing the point that playing football is going to take the place of being able to read, write and compute. I guess Dyal feels this way as well, the moth-balling of TTI and lack of direction for TTI takes away the asset that TTI could be for preparing young and old for the working world. The football program will do little for our community, winning or losing. What we need is jobs, people who are prepared for jobs, people trained for jobs and an education system that sees the interdependent aspect of education, training and job creation. Dyal and company and the school board have lost there minds!
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I bet you're one of those "FCAT people". Meaning, of course, that you are unable to think outside the box.
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There's a time to think outside the box, and there's a time to be able to read, write, and do math at a basic level.
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http://www.wctv.tv/home/headlines/51567107.html
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Game, set, match.
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Functioning in a team is all about social interaction, negotiaions, conflict resolution, building a rapport with teammates, and various other group dynamics. You cannot learn how to apply these skills by reading a book. Can you function in society without these skills? Probably. You can probably get a job digging ditches or working at McDonald's or selling oranges on the side of the road or whatever. If you do have these skills and know how to use them will you be more successful in terms of friendships made, jobs obtained, personal wealth, family status, etc. I think so. Besides, they don't have classes on these subjects in our high school. Fact: Participating in sports activities allow people to obtain physical fitness, and teaches them a recreational activity that will foster physical activity and better health throughout their lives, and increases self-esteem and social skills. Physical fitness is a health issue more than anything else. What good does it do you to be "successful" if you're fat, out of shape, generally unhealthy and and probably going to have a heart attack/stroke/colon cancer, etc. at age 50 and die? These arguments begs the question, "Do we want out school system to teach our kids how to function in society and survive on a basic level? Or, do we want our school system to teach our kids how to utilize their full potential to make the best lives for themselves that they can?" Put that in your pipe and smoke it.
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I understand what teamwork is, and I understand the benefits of it.
Nowhere did I say that the application of the skills required for teamwork could be learned solely from a book. What I said was that they could be taught in a classroom--an environment which much more closely approximates a real-world work environment than does a football field.
Sports are not the only way to learn teamwork. They may not even be the best way. And they're certainly not the way that the overwhelming majority of students learn it, since relatively few are on athletic teams. By your logic, every student should be required to join a team.
I appreciate the benefits of physical fitness. I mentioned that in my earlier post, and I'm not arguing with you about it. My point was simply that there are many paths to fitness, and most of those are less expensive than a formal athletic program. Perhaps this is why North Florida Community College opted to eliminate all sports teams.
And just out of curiosity, have you looked at our football players ten years after graduation? I don't see that they're any more fit than anyone else once high school is behind them (or college, for those handful that make it on to a college team).
I love your closing comment of, "Put that in your pipe and smoke it." Is that the kind of respectful dialog you learned from playing on a football team? If that's one of the "social interaction" skills you mention student athletes learning, then we've got a problem.
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So now your logic is that we should do what the local community college did? Well if I'm right (and I usually am) then we'll follow suit soon enough if more people like you get it stuck in their minds that sports are a waste of time and of money, which is fine I mean it takes different strokes. So you don't support your local youth sports team by going to the games and you don't buy a ticket and you don't buy a soda or whatever. You're not willing to spend just a little bit of money out-of-pocket on top of your taxes. Because of people like you, the sports team have a harder time trying to come up with the money to keep the programs going. If I was a betting man I'd bet you spend more money on something trivial like eating out or cable TV in a month than you would in a whole season going to the High School football games. Maybe I'm crazy but I think sports are good! They're fun an entertaining and they are a valuable part of education and life in general!!!
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So what do you tell the child about the expectation to complete school or do well while in school?
It's okay for you to fail at school, good job, now let's go to the ball game.
The leaves don't fall to far from the tree and we have an orchard of nut trees in this community.
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I seem to not be communicating effectively here, and for that I apologize.
Let me reiterate my position once again... Athletics are NOT a waste of time and money. They are not useless. I like sports. I like football. I've been to plenty of Bulldog football games and yes, I've bought the food there.
I don't know how to be any more clear than this.
That said... While I support the Bulldogs, I do not--nor will I ever--believe that athletics are more important than academics. When examining the global marketplace to which America belongs (like it or not), I see our nation falling further and further behind in raising a generation of future information workers--and make no mistake, the overwhelming majority of work in the not-too-distant future will be information work. America's students will be competing for jobs with students from China, India, and other countries that are doing a far better job of educating their children. If something doesn't change, we don't stand a chance. And I assure you that more football isn't going to solve our problem.
Ideally, the district wouldn't have to choose between academics and athletics. We do not, however, live in an ideal world, and this moment in America's history is not an ideal time. Money is in very short supply, and difficult decisions must be made. For the time being, we may be forced to put athletics on hold.
That's precisely what North Florida Community College did, as you mention. They recognized that their pot of money had shrunk. They recognized that academics would be negatively impacted if they continued to fund athletics. They were forced to choose between the two, and they chose academics.
They made the right choice.
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Isn't the new Coach overweight, haven't most of the coaches we've had in the past overweight? In fact most of the coaches in college, and on national sports are overweight. I did say most not all.
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"social interaction, negotiaions, conflict resolution, building a rapport with teammates, and various other group dynamics", that is a hoot.
This sure is not coming through in folks on a professional, national, college or high school level. I have not seen any of these characteristics in our local players, I see players using drugs, date-raping and dumping the girl at DMH, breaking laws and general bad behavior. My church prepared a meal last year for the "team" and aside from the grunting while eating I did not notice and "social interaction" between team members, coaches and not one team member thanked us for preparing a meal.
I agree that the school system cannot teach "social interaction, negotiaions, conflict resolution, building a rapport with teammates, and various other group dynamics", but you did leave the biggest responsible parties, PARENTS!
I see the football program as more an avenue for a few local potentates to back slap, they are "in it for the kids" just like Oscar was "in it for the kids"! LOL! Save it for the awards banquet blah, blah.
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http://www.wctv.tv/home/headlines/51572107.html
Check this out.
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Holy crap! The Fed is scamming the states into enacting new legislation! ROFL
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Did you think the stimulus dollars were gonna come to cover the lack of state funding without strings attached.LSHWMP
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No, I didn't. I don't think the Fed will ever give the states any money anyway. Obama's administration is using the recession to effectively trick states into writing their agenda into law by enticing them with the promise of "stimulus money".
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http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601070&sid=aN.8yww3oUO4
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http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/AP/story/1156045.html
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Two-Year Option, Many Fla. School Boards Raise Tax, By BILL KACZOR, The AP, Pub.: Wed., 7/22/09
TALLAHASSEE | Many Florida school board members are griping because state lawmakers left it up to them to pass property tax increases instead of making that decision in Tallahassee.
Most of Florida's 67 school boards are expected to exercise an option in the new state budget that will let them raise property taxes by $25 per $100,000 of taxable value. Some local school officials, though, have refused to take the political heat.
"I feel like legislators sent us an apple with a razor blade in it," Orange County School Board member Christine Moore said when she voted against it last month in Orlando.
The tax increase is designed to offset a funding shift lawmakers made in an existing local option tax of $175 per $100,000 that until this year had been used only for construction, maintenance and other capital expenses.
The new state budget diverts $25 of that amount to operating expenses such as salaries. Districts have the option of using the new tax to replace the lost capital outlay funding or for operating costs.
Wayne Blanton, executive director of the Florida School Boards Association, says most of his members have little choice but to pass the increase because they are in dire financial straits. He also noted the Florida Constitution says it's "a paramount duty of the state" to provide for the education of its children.
"There's a huge amount of grumbling among my school board members," Blanton said. "The Legislature has not met its state-mandated obligation and my people are not happy about it."
BUCK-PASSING?
Gov. Charlie Crist, who signed the budget into law, denied the state is passing the buck.
"No, we're trying to reduce property taxes," Crist said Wednesday. "I think that's exactly what the people want and I would encourage local government to do the same thing - honor the will of the people, reduce their taxes, get the burden off their back."
Passage by votes of more than a simple majority is required by law to put the increase into effect for the next two years. To keep the tax any longer will take voter approval.
If all school districts pass the tax it would raise $385.4 million statewide, said Department of Education policy and budget coordinator Link Jarrett.
The Legislature, instead, could have raised the minimum local property tax rate required to get state funding - now $531 per $100,000 of taxable property value.
Not all local officials, though, are complaining about having the decision passed down to their level.
"There's no grumbling here," said Palm Beach County School District spokesman Nat Harrington. "It's an option the school boards asked for."
Other districts that have given at least preliminary approval include Duval, Lake, Seminole and Volusia.
Pinellas County's board agreed with School Superintendent Julie Mastry Janssen's recommendation for an initial hearing July 28."
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How about next time you just provide us with a link to the article, hmm?
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Careful your baggage is showing.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDgHSVYiq4M
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Here’s a novel idea. Let’s CUT OUT the football program. Let’s also cut baseball, basketball, volleyball and tennis. While we’re at it let’s do away with Cheer Leaders, Majorettes, Dance team, Band, Art, Honor Society, Student Council, Little Women, FBLA, French Club, Spanish Club and/or any other club we can think of. Take away anything and everything that may invite students to gather and socialize with each other. ALL students should dress alike, speak alike, and think alike. Take away anything that will bring individuality to anyone. Each teacher should be able to handle 40 or 50 students per class and every student would be perfectly behaved. Only teach Reading, Math, and Language. History is out because it might cause a student THINK. The same with Science, students may form an opinion and we can’t have that. Technology is a definite no-no. Let’s not forget to give them enough homework to keep then indoors until bedtime. We cannot have them congregating in the streets after school. Students have NO RIGHT to think for themselves, or have opinions. After cutting all of the above programs, the school district should have more than enough money to double the salaries of all school board members, staff and anyone else they feel like paying. Oh, don’t worry about graduation ceremonies, After all the above cuts; there will not be very many graduating so we won’t need senior pictures, Class rings, class trips, graduation ceremonies or after school meetings of any kind. Just hand them a piece of paper after class on the last day (if there are any left) and send them out into the world to seek their fortune. Maybe there will be enough fast food restaurants or Jiffy Stores to employ them all by then.
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I love this comment. True satire. Love it.
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I have a better idea. Let’s go back to fifteen double-wides set up around a cafeteria and call it a school. That way the programs you speak of will have funding. Let’s set up a system were who you are becomes more important than what you can achieve. This will insure rewards of achievement go to those most privileged. Let’s promote a place where hula hoping is more valuable skill than music and the arts. I am not bickering. I am snickering.
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Professional athlete's get paid 1000 times more than the average person, albeit the ratio of professional athletes to average people is 1:1000....the point is the world isn't perfect, and hula-hooping could very well be more valuable than music or the arts if you do it well enough.
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TO: Fed up
I think you have a great idea - whether satire or not, it is worth thinking about but keep science and history as well as technology. If you've not noticed lately the US is falling way behind in math, science and engineering. We are turning out US college students that can run a hotel or to make loans to people that have no money to vacation or buy a house.
Nothing - absolutley nothing is as important as an educated critical thinking young person. We do harm and a disservice when we graduate young people that can't make change or think that World War 2 is a new rap group.
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So what do the other countries do to educate their young people that we don't do? Maybe we should do what they're doing. I know that in Japan (one of the "smarty-pants" countries) their young people go to school 6 days per week instead of 5.
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I think it all boils down to a lack of discipline. We allow these kids to fail by giving them a choice between whether or not they learn the material, whether or not they do their homework or read the assignments. When one goes through military education, the drill sargeant often uses the rhetoric that he/she is responsible for your life while under his command because it is his/her responsibility to teach you how to avoid getting killed. I think if we employ the same rhetoric, and our teachers take personal responsibility for these kids making something of themselves and not "allowing" them to fail, we can reform education in this country. That is why I fully support the President's action plan on education reform, specifically, the practice of forming a direct relationship between teacher pay levels with student achievements/academic progress/grades. But, I believe that with this reform the goverment also needs to give the public school system more authority and some liability immunity in regards to student disciplinary procedures. I know it sounds like I'm supporting a total militarisation of the school system, but I think we need to make the teachers more accountable for the education of their students and give the schools more control over the students.
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Hey anon:
It is not teacher reponsibility for the socialization of the school student. That is the parent's job.
Nowhere in your diatribe is the mention of parents participating in the education of dullards, little Johnny or little Janie whose only thoughts are tight and ill-fitting short shorts and industrial amounts of cheap tart make-up so dull little Johnny will let her ride in his 4 wheel drive truck with the blaring music destroying every organ in their bodies.
It is priorities, and the parents don't want their children to not like them and parents want to be friends with their dull children and to think that mom and pop are pretty cool.
Teachers cannot make Johnny and Janie smart, teachers cannot compete with complacent parents, teachers cannot compete with a lack of money, teachers cannot compete with a miserable school administration.
Until you get the parents off their dead asses and a school administration that has got a clue, it will only get worse.
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Very good points, you hit the nail on the heard regarding the children of local potentates and charlatans! The parents of such "good kids" are destroying this community and their children. I just love to see such "good kids" in the booking desk for driving-boating while intoxicated, to see such "good kids" kissing their same-sex partners in public, to see such "good-kids" peirced and tatooed and a host of other bad behaviors. All the while the kids who actually apply their brains to school, work and careers and life beyond trailer county, yes kids not good enough for the parents of and such "good kids". I am not a teacher, but it has to be a happy day when such "good kids" graduate or are socially promoted out of TCHS. We sure did have a great group of kids graduating this past year, kids who could read and pass the FCAT, kids who got scholarships and kids not good enough for such "good kids" in our community!
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Here we are at a standstill again, contributing to the long winded discussion of “what” while we should be considering “why”. We repeatedly talk about what someone told us, what we heard, what we think, and what’s going on. No wonder we are boring. For once I would like to talk about why. Why are we being told this or that? Why would someone tell us this or that? Why do we think this or that? Why is this or that going on? I call this motivation detection others say thoughtful consideration of topic is “critical thinking”. Strip the buzz-wired promotion of ideas, talking points, and so called expert opinions and the bottom line depends solely on a monopoly of resources.
The list of things undisclosed and held confidential are countless volumes of information pertaining to the motivation of deals made in this county and state. The citizens/public knowledge is so small it appears as ignorance and stupidity which in turn is propagated for the benefit/gain of others. i.e. uneducated, unskilled, workers are the problem which keeps the pay level low in the area. Who does this benefit?
Why are we being told this when reality says production is profitable and the same uneducated, unskilled described worker is producing this valuable product.
Because the undisclosed advantage point is low cost production requires labor cost containment to produce high range profits. So why would anyone devalue the hard working hands producing valuable product lines? To make more money/profit is the motivation hence the outcome. But where does that leave you? Could it be over worked and under paid?
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Weak sisters can dish it out, but can't take. As uaual.
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Florida has the smallest number of school age children per- capita and the smallest amount of funding. Yet we persist in our thinking that less is more. We have been sold every bad idea from lottery funding to stimulus dollars without gains or improvements in our school systems. Tell the truth our local school system has failed to achieve little more than mis-management and the same old bad ideas. A waste is a terrible thing to mind
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That lottery funding bad idea put me through college and saved my parents over $10,000 thank you very much.
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Good point, but most students do not have the gumption to aspire to any post-secondary education or training. I have been tickled all summer with the pictures published of a student in our local mullet wrapper and woods 'n water touting the student as "graduating with honors, when the fact is the complete opposite! What fools we have in this community!
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It is nice to hear someone took advantage of bright futures, good for you. But this does not excuse our lawmakers selling the public on the lottery for education funding and then re-directing dollars from the source. The monies going into the schools from the state were replaced with lottery funds and not added to already existing funds. Is this a possible explanation for the current crisis? The low rate of graduation in Taylor County and the state sure is a bright futures scholarship fund cost saver. Lottery was a bad idea.
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Guess the school board will have to vote for the tax now to correct the Dyal and Co. fiasco! Way to support education.
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Hmmm… are you uncomfortable talking about why? Would you prefer to talk about how? Well, here is the partial list of “how’s” open for debate.
Copyright clauses, written into state and federal law, for whose benefit and protection?
Florida Statue 288.045
Project protection from OTTED (office of tourism, trade, and economic development).
How projects are held confidential from the public for two years to whose advantage when tax payer dollars are at stake? How does this happen without help and support of regulators and lawmakers? Truth is this would be impossible without assistance.
Expedited processes and exemption from process development of regional impact (DRI)
Are local government bocc, planning board, preservation/historical board, tcda, mainstreet, as well as state senator, state representative, us representative, and the governor all on contribution to campaign list or projects support for private jobs which the decision maker is an employee?
Who is representing the public interest? The definition of representative government is to represent one and another. My question is where is the “another”. Our special oh so special interest has more representation than needed if all is above board and openly disclosed. How does one entity get so much support, tax breaks, law created, and exemption from any and all regulations and taxes?
How becomes a very interesting question, don’t you think?
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My bad that is 688 not 288 but both are interesting. Florida statue 688 Trade secrets.
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Like the school district, you guys need to dumb it down a little! LOL!
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You completely underestimated Bubba and Bubbette’s ability to comprehend “What in it for ME”. But remember while Bubba and Bubbette are working so hard to put milk on the table ($4.00 per gallon) and gas in the tank ($2.55 per gallon) that is what keeps them to busy to mind the community’s business. The business which politicians are paid to monitor and complete is not being done. Those assuming Bubba and Bubbette are too dumb to realize they are being ripped-off are operating in a delusional mind set. Bubba knows, Bubbette understands, and who is acting stupidly now. Bubba and Bubbette could apply for leadership jobs that will take the heavy workload off their shoulders and increase their earnings. Then what will you do “smarty pants”? You might then reconsider running that hateful ha-ha down to Bubba’s hard working family.
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You hit the nail on the head! It is always "what is in it for me". Most "respected" business leaders in trailer county are in actuality of the criminal mind-set. It is amazing what passes for "leadership" in trailer county, the bar has been lowered for students and the bar has definetly be lowered for elected officials and other assorted "leaders".
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http://www.hks.harvard.edu/news-events/news/press-releases/peterson-pr-mar09
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