Archive for the ‘Governor 2010’ Category

The Red & Black, the independent University of Georgia student newspaper, is reporting on one of its own today in a story about college drinking. This is a tough break for the student/editor involved.

He had to be a talented editor to rise to his top leadership position. I am sorry that he made his big mistake at such a high profile forum and with the current and next state governor present.

But I suspect this is a lesson that Daniel Burnett will never forget. (Take a look at my colleague Jim Galloway’s take on this.)

Also on the Red & Black web site are two other items about drinking, including one about a student who kicked in the door to an apartment. I am not sure how to get the message that drinking, if done at all, ought to be in moderation.

According to the Red & Black:

Daniel Burnett, editor in chief of The Red & Black, has submitted a letter of resignation stemming from an incident in which he was asked to leave the University President’s Box during Saturday’s …

Continue reading UGA’s student editor proves dangers of drinking »

UPDATED:Now, it appears Cobb District 2 school board incumbent Holli Cash has not won, edged out by write-in and absentee ballots. So, the current winner is Republican Tim Stultz, suggesting that this GOP sweep was broad and wide.

Looks like incumbent school board member Holli Cash pulled it off in Cobb, retaining her post on the school board by 50 votes. She may be the one Democrat to have won in a metro Atlanta partisan contest last night.  (Many school board races are nonpartisan. although voters seem to know their candidate’s party affiliation regardless.)

In DeKalb, incumbent Jim Redovian and challenger Nancy Jester are headed to a runoff in District 1, as are incumbent Zepora Roberts and challenger Donna Edler in District 7.

In Fulton, Linda McCain took an impressive 70 percent of the vote in a three-way race in District 5. And the  Republicans won easy school board victories in Cherokee, Fayette and Forsyth.

Republican incumbent Bob McClure also retained his seat in …

Continue reading Georgia school board elections: The morning after. Are you toasting or are you toast? »

Tonight’s returns suggest a GOP sweep in Georgia, which means either more of the same for education or even less. Nathan Deal is in the lead for governor and John Barge is well ahead for the state school chief job.

We already have a Republican governor and a Republican school superintendent so we should not see any dramatic shift in how our schools or the Department of Education operate.

But Deal is not as interested or as versed in education as Gov. Sonny Perdue.

Deal’s comments on education have been platitudes rather than policies — restoring “the joy of teaching and the magic of learning” — so we are in the dark about what he will do with education, if anything.

One policy that Deal did articulate — letting elementary and middle school students take the CRCT whenever they are ready during the year and then moving them ahead — lacked specifics. In fact, when Deal announced the plan at the Capitol, a GOP lawmaker/educator on hand whispered to me later that he had no idea how …

Continue reading Georgia election and GOP sweep: More of the same or less for schools? »

I just voted at my local school where poll workers told me there had been a steady stream of folks all morning.

Chatting outside with neighbors, one expressed relief that the robo calls were finally over. She lamented the horrible campaign mailers in which candidates castigated their opponents for all varieties of vile wrongdoing.  If you believed all the charges and countercharges, she said the election came down to “pick your perve.”

Nathan Deal

I think this election offers two stark options for education. A Nathan Deal/John Barge regime will delight educators who believe that less is more. Districts that want less direction, intervention and guidance from the state will like the hands-off GOP team.

But I think the GOP will also mean less money. Deal has made clear that he’s promising greater flexibility to systems, not greater resources.

Those who believe that education needs the spotlights turned up to push change would like the Roy Barnes/Joe Martin regime. However, …

Continue reading Georgia election: Who won your vote today and why? »

Gov. Perdue has been very concerned with the quality of the APS probe into CRCT cheating, now adding the GBI to the case.

It has to shake Atlanta teachers and administrators up to see GBI agents arriving on their campuses to question them on the CRCT cheating allegations.

Gov. Sonny Perdue has signaled from the very start of this probe that he was not playing and that he would not tolerate whitewashes or half efforts by systems with unusual erasure rates.

He has surprised me with his tenacity. I figured with his tenure winding down, this issue might lose momentum.

Not so. He’s assigned two noted prosecutors to the case, Bob Wilson and Mike Bowers, and now the GBI. He apparently does not want to leave office with this unresolved.

According to the AJC:

Georgia Bureau of Investigation agents began questioning Atlanta public school teachers Monday afternoon, part of an ongoing investigation into possible test tampering.

GBI spokesman John Bankhead declined to say how many schools …

Continue reading Perdue has made it clear: He’s not playing in this CRCT probe and he’s not leaving office without resolution »

Fantastic debate among the candidates for governors on Georgia Public television just now, largely because of the great questions posed in person or via video by the state’s college students.

The questions were tough. Students pressed GOP nominee Nathan Deal on why voters should believe he can manage the state’s finances given his own personal family money woes. (He cited his strong financial stewardship in Congress.)

A Georgia College and University student asked Democrat Roy Barnes about illegal immigrants on campus. (Barnes said those students have to follow the law on both tuition and attendance.)

A Tech student — with the Ramblin Wreck in the background  in a video– asked Monds why he is the best candidate to lead Georgia.

In a nutshell, Monds kept coming back to the Libertarian theme: Getting government out of the way, including doing away with laws outlawing  guns on campuses.

Barnes stressed the need to restore school funding, chiding Republicans for cutting $4 …

Continue reading Watching gubernatorial debate tonight: College students asked tough questions. »

Nathan Deal unveiled his education plan today, but Georgians have seen a lot of it already.

With GOP legislative leaders standing behind him in the Capitol today, gubernatorial candidate Nathan Deal outlined an education plan that no one will dislike.

Not even his opponent Roy Barnes.

For one thing, several key Deal initiatives already exist in Georgia, including charter high schools with a math and science emphasis, a “Move on When Ready” program for accelerated high school students and incentives to sway more teachers into math and science. There wasn’t much new in Deal’s vision, which was broad enough to be applicable to any state and any party.

I asked him about his notion that we should adapt the Move on When Ready concept to elementary school students by giving them the CRCT when they are “ready” and moving them to the next class if they pass. I asked how he envisioned schools dealing with five or six third graders who passed the CRCT in December.

Would we walk them down …

Continue reading Nathan Deal: Is he ready to move on to the state’s education problems? Read his policy paper to find out. »

You are getting a double dose of politics today as I am covering the release of the Nathan Deal education plan at 1 and am sharing an story that AP education writer Dorie Turner wrote on Roy Barnes’ courtship of teachers.

I find it fascinating how much attention both candidates for Georgia governor are giving to teachers. There is a lot of romancing under way. The problem, says teacher, is that the ardor cools once the election is over.

But I think that most Georgians have now come to the conclusion that the future belongs to the highly educated and are beginning to expect more of the schools. On my 12 hour drive back from Ohio yesterday, I listened to the poignant Alan Jackson song “Small Town Southern Man” that begins, “Born the middle son of a farmer/And a small town southern man/Like his daddy’s daddy before him/Brought up workin’ on the land/Fell in love with a small town woman/And they married up and settled down/Natural way of life if you’re lucky/For a small town …

Continue reading Everybody loves teachers during the campaign, but the romance cools after the votes are tallied »

I am just back from driving my son 12 hours to college and learned that GOP gubernatorial nominee Nathan Deal will unveil his education plan this afternoon. Until now, the Deal campaign has been vague on his education vision.

One interesting aspect is the wellness/fitness/nutrition aspect cited in the press information. I will attend the press conference and let you know the details.

But here are the basics of the event:

Republican nominee for governor Nathan Deal will release his education plan “Real Results” at a news conference Tuesday, at 1 p.m. inside the state Capitol.

Real Results will expand educational options, emphasize math, science and technology, and place new focus on wellness through fitness and nutrition.

Deal has put together his education plan in collaboration with state leaders and educators, and he’s solicited the input of teachers from around the state on the challenges they face in the classroom. Real Results aims to build on our state’s previous …

Continue reading “Real Results”: Nathan Deal to unveil education plan today at Capitol »

Gov. Perdue's legacy is devastating cuts to education, according to PAGE leader.

I am sure that Gov. Sonny Perdue considers Race to the Top his major education legacy, but Allene Magill, executive director of the Professional Association of Georgia Educators,  disagrees:

In her own words:

By Allene Magill

Lately, Gov. Sonny Perdue has been much in the news, whether on the necessary but heavy- handed CRCT investigation or doing a victory lap about winning a Race to the Top  federal funding grant.

While the money is sorely needed, reading the state’s 200-page RTTT application, one is struck by the overly rosy depiction of education achievements over the past eight years and an equally rosy prediction about how quickly complex items like a student information system and a statewide evaluation system can be developed and implemented.

With less than 50 business days before the next governor and next state school superintendent open up and staff their transition offices, our …

Continue reading Head of PAGE: Perdue’s legacy will not be Race to the Top, but austerity cuts to education »