BOE chairmanship to become county-wide position?

As of Monday, February 4, 2013
© Copyright 2013 Clayton News Daily

State Rep. Mike Glanton (D-Jonesboro), shown in this January 2012 file photo, has confirmed he plans to introduce legislation next week to make the Clayton County Board of Education chairman a full-time, county-wide elected position. The change would reduce the number of school board districts from nine, to eight.

JONESBORO — Clayton County voters may decide in 2014 whether the Clayton County school board’s chairman should become a county-wide elected position, Clayton News Daily has learned.

State Rep. Mike Glanton said he plans to drop a legislation next week in the House of Representatives’ hopper to call for a non-binding referendum on the matter.

The change would reduce the number of school board districts from nine to eight and there would be a full-time chairman. It is similar to the structure of the Clayton County Commission.

Glanton said he also expects to drop legislation in the hopper next week to repeal two pieces of local legislation passed in 2008 and 2009 to force Clayton County-specific ethics reforms on the school board.

The Georgia General Assembly passed a stronger statewide school board reform bill in 2010 and the Clayton County school board has been trying since 2011 to get the local legislation repealed.

Glanton said the statewide bill made the local legislation unnecessary.

The state representative said he also plans to introduce legislation calling for a referendum on lowering Jonesboro’s Homestead Exemption next week.

Read Wednesday’s edition of Clayton News Daily for additional information and local reaction.

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DE 3 months, 2 weeks ago

That's all this county needs. Uneducated voters electing someone who isn't qualified for the job, just because they are running for a particular office.

DE 3 months, 2 weeks ago

If the BOE Chairman is allowed to be an elected position, our schools will be in worse shape then they are in now.

Robert 3 months, 2 weeks ago

I agree. Where I like the idea of the power to elect and un-elect public office positions I just don't see the voters of CC conducting their own nationwide search for a suitable candidate and if the elected position has to come from someone living in CC then we might as well go ahead and close the schools now and save the children the heartache of not being accredited upon graduation. I pity the children who have to suffer a CC education.

Robert 3 months, 2 weeks ago

http://www.mindingthecampus.com/forum/2008/04/then_and_now.html

Imagine where we would be as a nation if we hadn't bowed to political correctness. I had to thin this down to accommodate the word limit per post.

This is the eighth-grade final exam from 1895 in Salina , Kansas , USA . It was taken from the original document on file at the Smokey Valley Genealogical Society and Library in Salina , KS , and reprinted by the Salina Journal.

8th Grade Final Exam:

Grammar (Time, one hour)

Give nine rules for the use of capital letters.
Name the parts of speech and define those that have no modifications.
Define verse, stanza and paragraph
What are the principal parts of a verb? Give principal parts of 'lie', 'play', and 'run.'
What is punctuation? Give rules for principal marks of punctuation. 7 - 10. Write a composition of about 150 words and show therein that you understand the practical use of the rules of grammar.

Arithmetic (Time, 65 minutes)

Name and define the Fundamental Rules of Arithmetic.
A wagon box is 2 ft. deep, 10 feet long, and 3 ft. wide. How many bushels of wheat will it hold?
If a load of wheat weighs 3942 lbs., what is it worth at 50cts/bushel, deducting 1050 lbs. for tare?
Find the cost of 6720 lbs. coal at $6.00 per ton.
Find the interest of $512.60 for 8 months and 18 days at 7 percent.
Find bank discount on $300 for 90 days (no grace) at 10 percent.
Write a Bank Check, a Promissory Note, and a Receipt

U.S. History (Time, 45 minutes)

Give the epochs into which U.S. History is divided
Give an account of the discovery of America by Columbus .
Relate the causes and results of the Revolutionary War.
Show the territorial growth of the United States

Orthography (Time, one hour) (Do we even know what this is???)

What is meant by the following: alphabet, phonetic, orthography, etymology, and syllabication.
Give two rules for spelling words with final 'e.' Name two exceptions under each rule.
Give two uses of silent letters in spelling. Illustrate each.
Define the following prefixes and use in connection with a word: bi-, dis-, mis-, pre-, semi-, post-, non-, inter-, mono-, and sup-..
Write 10 words frequently mispronounced and indicate pronunciation by use of diacritical marks and by syllabication

Geography (Time, one hour)

1 What is climate? Upon what does climate depend? 4. Describe the mountains of North America 7. Name all the republics of: Europe and give the capital of each. 8. Why is the Atlantic Coast colder than the Pacific in the same latitude? 9. Describe the process by which the water of the ocean returns to the sources of rivers. 10. Describe the movements of the earth. Give the inclination of the earth.

Michael 3 months, 2 weeks ago

Robert, I have a Masters from GSU, and I grew up and was educated by the Kansas school system. (Graduated from HS in '65) I don't think I could have passed that exam.

Robert 3 months, 2 weeks ago

Michael, You could have passed it IF it had been taught to you and IF it were required information for you to pass on to the next grade. Children will rise to the challenge if the adults will challenge them. Teachers today have to many issues on their hands to deal with like looking for the kid building a pretend gun out of legos and not being supported by the school system with basic school supplies needed to teach. They can't discipline within their own class room or even within the school itself because they don't have the support of the parents. Some of the parents dump their kids off at school and believe that learning ends at 3 pm when the last bell rings. I envision that the kids that struggle at school are not getting the necessary support at home to help them "get it" and to make that little light bulb shine brightly. The school board seems to be so entangled with their own self made problems that they are to busy trying to dig themselves out of hole to focus on what the schools and teachers need.

Instead of teaching to the bottom side of the bell curve, go back to teaching to the top. After all I need someone to ask me if I want fries with that?, or paper or plastic?. Society needs ditch diggers and such and we will always have those. They will always be useful members of society as honest, hard working, individuals. But where America is lacking is in the top level fields of mathematicians, scientist and doctors. If we as a collective don't start teaching to the top levels these people won't exist or at least won't be coming out of Clayton County and moving on to GSU, Harvard, Princeton, Ga Tech and other institutions of higher learning. By dumbing down the education we are failing todays' children and our future.