Comments on: Gwinnett doesn’t win ‘Nobel Prize,’ but still gets bundle

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 20:58:48 +0000

Congratulations to Gwinnett.

By: Maureen's accountability metric

Maureen's accountability metric — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 02:50:49 +0000

Maureen, I see I’m not the only one with concerns about how the AJC bias affects its coverage.

Here’s another quote; bonus points if you can recognize who it is.

“But many more believe that our editorial pages are too liberal and that bias seeps into our news coverage. We have heard you on the bias issue and are taking deliberate steps to address this. On the news pages, we have several editors who are assigned to look for bias and balance issues in stories and headlines. This has led to fairer coverage…”

And this is from? You guessed it, Julia Wallace, the editor of your very own paper. And if she readily admits her changes have led to “fairer coverage” is it so very wrong to suggest that various agendas have influenced the AJC in the past?

By: Dr. John Trotter

Dr. John Trotter — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 01:43:49 +0000

Maureen: It looks like that I have missed a good day on this thread! Yes, Joe, elected superintendents all the way! I have worked for appointed superintendents and elected superintendents. I have worked for Grand Jury-appointed school boards and elected school boards. Elected all the way! Now, in Georgia, all school boards are elected, and all superintendents are appointed. This arrangement was passed by the voters as an amendment to the Georgia Constitution in 1992. Big mistake. The appointed supes are too insulated, as evidenced by the likes of the arrogant school dictator, Alvin Wilbanks.

Maureen, you are so right. The AJC did blow the whistle in the media on the cheating on the CRCT and the disciplinary reports (or, lack of reports). But, I have to agree with MAM that it does appear that the AJC walks lightly around the Atlanta Public Schools. I have a letter with me now from an Atlanta teacher who is being pressured into changing her detailed testimony about cheating at one of the APS middle schools. We also received an email on the MACE email address from a Gwinnett teacher who is so frustrated because she cannot get any administrator to listen to her about her detailed explanation about the cheating going on at her school.

Maureen, when jobs are contingent on raising test scores, I can assure you that character-challenged administrators and teachers are going to be tempted to cheat…and some actually engage in it. Standardized testing is way over-blown in the public schooling process. The testing itself has become the curriculum, the false god of the public schooling process. I hope that the legislators and policy-makers will soon realize the futility of this testing idolatry and abandon it, but I fear that it will last for a few more decades.

Yes, jim d, Ms. Dodd does a good job for the AJC reporting on the Gwinnett County School System. I find her to ge most gracious when interacting with her. She appears to have a great deal of zeal in addressing the pertinent issues in Gwinnett County.

Maureen, don’t apologize or even hesitate in posting old editorials, etc. It’s just cyber space. No costs. Hey, if someone doesn’t like the length, they can use the ole mouse and scroll down the page. I tend to like the historical perspective.

By: Joe

Joe — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 22:41:51 +0000

So would returning to an elected superintendent help get rid of some of these superintendents with complacent boards?

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 22:05:53 +0000

More than 500 volunteers, including Aldine ISD employees, business partners and parents, knocked on doors Saturday, Sept. 12, in a mammoth effort to find students who have dropped out of school. The annual event, Reach Out to Dropouts Walk Day, brought 26 former students back to five of the district’s seven high schools the same day. One of them was Patricia Hernandez.

This kind of a project turns a good school district into great. FYI – Adline is the district which won Broad Foundation 1,000,000.00

By: dear teacher

dear teacher — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 20:53:41 +0000

Why are we so sure that Ivy Prep test scores are authentic. Maybe they need to be verified just like GCPS.

By: Hall Co ghost

Hall Co ghost — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 20:43:35 +0000

Is it because of Cagle and Deal that Hall always gets a pass? The documentation is out there. Most of it found in online public records.

By: Hall Co ghost

Hall Co ghost — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 20:38:19 +0000

Then come on up to Hall County!

By: Maureen's accountability metric

Maureen's accountability metric — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 20:08:49 +0000

Well shut my mouth! And duct tape it too Maureen! I’ve been totally and completely, utterly and irrefutably refuted on that score, and I’ll be the first to admit it!

And I’ll admit it again for emphasis!!!

Now please, as you do this blog, please channel that Maureen! That Maureen, as seen in those two editorials, I truly believe is writing in the interests of “what’s best for Georgia students”.

I’ll will officially let this topic go back to the topic at hand, but I hope one day Maureen, you’ll address why you do focus much on discipline issues.

By: Maureen Downey

Maureen Downey — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 20:07:03 +0000

OK, this is my last comment. A few of you are very focused on the city of Atlanta, a system with 50,000 kids. Readers in Cobb and North Fulton and Gwinnett are not that interested and any metro-wide newspaper has to think carefully about how it uses it resources. This paper has taken a long hard look at many aspects of APS, including the E-rate scandal that led to changes in the federal law.
I have to say again that I have never been pulled off a story here or anywhere else because of “business interests.” Consider that it was AJC investigations that led to both the discipline report probe and the CRCT cheating review. Neither reflected well on the state and I doubt chambers were happy about such damning reports. But the idea that the chamber would ever come by and ask us not to do such stories and that we would comply is the stuff of somebody’s fantasy. I repeat: I have worked at four publications and never have been pulled off a story, and that includes working as a consumer reporter testing claims by companies and products. I often did stories that advertisers did not like.
The real factors in determining whether we will pursue an investigative series are: Is their documentation? Is the misconduct pervasive? Does it have real impact on schools and students?