Hall County GOP Chairman Blog

Read the pitiful story here–> Georgia ranks near the bottom in SAT scores.  IF YOU HAVE CHILDREN OR EMPLOYEES THERE IS NO MORE IMPORTANT CONCERN FOR YOU THAN THIS.

OK, we are losing ground educationally, so now what are we going to do about it?  Our children are all we have.  If we abandon them, we abandon everything. 

The usual answer in education is that we need more resources. However, we are paying more per student for education than some of the 46 states that are better than we are. More money and more government is NEVER the answer to a problem. Personal responsibility, hard work, and ingenuity solves problems. The government did not invent the light bulb, Thomas Edison did. (And he did it to get rich. And he spent HIS own money to do it, not a government handout.)

I don’t buy the argument that Georgia has more people take the test and that makes our average go down. On average, it will work out the same (unless you believe that in Wyoming they lock up the dumb kids so they won’t take the test and drive the scores down for the 311 who took the test).  This “average” argument shows a math problem in and of itself. Average = Total Score / Number of Students Taking the Test. The “bell curve” of average probabilities says that students will score along a curve with a peak at the middle. Without getting into mean, mode, median, chi squared, and statistical significance, the average score should be at the peak of the curve. Statistics 101. A higher total number of kids taking test should make the average a BETTER indicator of overall educational performance not worse.  Come on!

The answer has to be one of four things: (1) The curriculum is not adequate (not even meaning to teach what is needed to score high on the SAT); (2) The teachers are not teaching properly (either not teaching the curriculum or don’t know how to teach); (3) The students are not learning the material (lots of reasons like attendance, parental responsibility, drugs, extracurricular activities, organic brain disorders, etc.); or (4) the SAT is inaccurate.

For years curricula has been make more politically correct and “dumbed down.” I’m not sure it is any better.  Kathy Cox says that the math curriculum needs to be adjusted.  What else needs work?  Does each parent have to get an SAT study guide and check to make sure that someone is teaching the basics?  Are our teachers or students dumber than all the students and teachers in 46 other states?  Are ALL our teachers unable to communicate with their students?  I can’t believe that. There has to be at least one state ranked above us (e.g. California or Ohio) with dumber people than us, right?  (After all they are voting for Hussein Obama right?)

The SAT is not skewed.  The political correct police have already been fly specking that test for years.  Next!

Bottom line is that unless someone can show that the average Georgia student has a low IQ and is unable to learn the material, then the answer has to be curriculum first.  If not the curriculum itself, the way it is implemented from the State level down. 

I was an instructor in the Air Force.  We often just taught the answers on the test to our students.  It was not hard to teach ABC (airway, breathing, circulation).  The material WAS the answer to a question.  Simple.    The SAT is not so simple.  You can’t just teach the test answers (e.g. “C”), you have to teach the theory and how to take tests.  Kids have to know what a triangle is, and how triangles are named in order to understand the mathematical relationship between the length of the sides  of certain triangles (the dreaded a squared + b squared = c squared for right triangles for example).  Then they have to be able to read and understand the question, pick the right answer, and bubble in the right circle to get credit.  If the student misses any one of those, they miss the question.

Hall County is BELOW the abysmal average for the state as a whole.  It is the responsibility of the school board to correct this.  No blame can be shifted to the State for the curriculum UNLESS the local local school board can show they told Kathy Cox of the curriculum issues. 

I’m afraid that education is seen by some administrators as an assembly line and as long as the line is running and product is coming off the line, they are doing a good job.  Not true.  Only quality products off the line count.  If the design (in this case curriculum) is flawed, then the product (e.g. student) will be flawed.

No whining or finger pointing or saying that scores are lagging what we did earlier.  These are children today who deserve to learn what they need to excel in the world.  With those crappy scores they won’t get into the college of their choice.  Without that college they will get the same old job the rest of us have working for the smart folks.  This is real important, and it is time everybody (including parents) start pulling on the oars together to fix it right dang now!

Don’t worry about other state programs that get money (no matter how silly they seem).  Don’t worry about budget shortfalls.  Test scores have gone down steadily while the education costs have risen steadily.  This is not a money problem.  Teaching is one person passing knowledge to another.  It only takes a willingness to teach and a willingness to learn.  We have smart dedicated teachers that are up to the task.  Fix the curriculum and stay out of their way, and their dedication, skill, and ingenuity will propel us up the ranks.

A moment of silence before looking at this picture—->Navy NewsStand - Eye on the Fleet  This is WAR brought into the streets of New York City by foreign soilders.  Your street WILL BE next if you do nothing.

July 31, 1981, U.S. Military MEPS Station, Jacksonville, Florida: 

“I, Paul Stanley, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.”

I have never been relieved of this oath.

This will be my only response to Mike and other Democrat fascists.  What service were they in?  Like the Dali Bama, none, I’m sure.  To liberals, soilders are just guys in funny hats with guns that take up money that could be used for social programs.  Like a good pickpocket, liberals want you to watch one hand while the other goes for your wallet.  As long as liberals or their friends profit from any government program, they are satisfied–no matter what the program does to you.  Liberals squeal like pigs about their rights, but they are ready to spit on yours for a dollar (or a fish or turtle).  To liberals, the Constitution is a “living changing document” that is “variable” based upon the “social norms” that 5 people in Washington impose upon you.  And Liberals, lead by the Dali Bama want to choose which 5 people make the decision.  (HINT:  You are not one of them.  Jesus would not be on their list either.)

The American Fighting Wo/Man is the only thing that stands between your quiet pursuit of happiness and death.  Vote Republican or prepare to surrender.  Surrender your rights.  Surrender your church.  Surrender your wallets.  Surrender your home and property.  Surrender the lives of your family.  Worse yet, surrender your heart and mind and soul to a bunch of heathens bent on self aggrandizement who are driving electric cars, wearing sandals, and smiling at you the whole time.

Of course not all Democrats are heathens–but almost all heathens are Democrats and their Democrat leaders are all heathens (OK, I’ll give you Jimmy, but even they ignore him unless he says something silly).  Believing in God is not the same thing as following Him.  Even Satan believes in God.  Your friendly next door neighbor Democrat you go to church with is not going to get appointed to the Supreme Court any more than you are.  Neither is Jimmy.

VOTE RIGHT, VOTE REPUBLICAN

VOTE MCCAIN: NO SURRENDER

Just when you thought that $9M was a bad, now we are up to $33M in budget adjustments… but that is just through 2007.  It will take auditors another few weeks to fix the books for 2007!  Even the auditors don’t know if the school system is in a deficit or not.  Don’t they have last month’s bank statement?  That might provide a clue don’t you think?

Read the story in The Times here–>Audit of Gainesville schools results in $33M worth of adjustments.  

When you read news remember that good writers learn the importance of primacy and recency.  The reader tends to remember what you read/hear last (recency) followed by what you read/heard first (primacy).  Those presenting information to you will attempt to put the most important points in those two positions, with the rest of the stuff sandwiched in between.  That way the story looks like it tells both sides, but if one side is at the beginning and the end, you are more likely to just remember that side.  That last paragraph of the story was too silly for printing.  Who cares what the auditor thinks about what the people who are responsible for this mess think?  What else is the auditor going to say to the paper before they are finished with the audit?  They are accountants (I hope!)

I had appointed criminal case once where the Defendant though he wasn’t legally responsible for selling crack cocaine.  An undercover officer asked the defendant for the crack and he got some crack from a drug dealer and gave the crack to the cop who gave him the money and then gave all the money to the drug dealer.  Since he didn’t make a profit, and he was asked to get the crack by the cop, he reasoned in his own mind that he did not commit a criminal act of sale of cocaine.  He was wrong. 

People who commit malfeasance or misfeasance in public office often convince themselves they are in the right because they are owed what they took.  People who commit nonfeasance in public office are too lazy to know what they did wrong so they think they are in the right.  You often hear them cry out: “But I did the best job I could.”  When you are entrusted with public money and public trust and our children, the only job that is good enough is a flawless job that follows all the proper procedures and is completely reasonable under the circumstances.

In the Gainesville City School fiasco we KNOW that some money is missing.  We KNOW that the accounting practices are horrible.  We KNOW that expert financial auditors don’t know what is going on yet and they need WEEKS to figure it out.  We KNOW the school board is going to raise taxes to pay for the mess.  We KNOW that all the time the quarter-million-dollar-man and his staff have been getting money and writing checks and making the bad entries into the accounting system every day.  We KNOW the same people who caused the mess are still at work making almost $1,000 per day.  Wouldn’t you hang out and “cooperate” for $1,000 per day too?  Especially if you had a $.5M golden parachute?  Besides I never had a white collar criminal case where the Defendant didn’t have a well thought out story before he/she was arrested.  You can’t be a good “con man” unless you are a convincing and engaging actor.

Democrats = Tax Increase * infinity.  Do you see the proof now with the Gainesville School Board? 

I guess the old addage that absolute power corrupts absolutely is at play in our small town.  The quarter-million-dollar man and his handlers appear to think that they are above reproach.  Way to go Carl Rogers for reminding the city school board that they can all be “fired” in February when the General Assembly gets in session if they don’t get their act together.  Do we really want to be put in the same pot with Clayton County?  Do we want to lose accredidation?  Don’t we deserve more for our money?  Ballew and his crowd don’t think anything can happen to them.  They now know differently.

How many weeks have we gone now without an answer to the question of the missing money?  The only answer we get is that taxes have to be increased, but no idea where the money went or where it is going to go.  Ballew might as well have taken the 5th Amendment when he gave The Times an interview.  He SHOULD have had a lawyer before he did that.

(more…)

Maria Caulkins said: “We [the school board] all completely agree with the success of this administration in the quality of education with Gainesville city schools.”

I know there is a lot moral relativism going on and the hand holding and cheerleading for everyone no matter how badly they perform, but under no usage of the English language can the administration of the Gainesville City Schools be considered a success.  Unless by “success” you mean in the red several million dollars,  a couple million are just plain missing, and you are raising taxes 20% (this year alone).  If the kids are getting educated properly it is DESPITE the administration not because of it.  If the administration is teaching math to our kids, then there is no way they will ever pass the CRCT.

I’m glad that the quarter-million-dollar man got back from vacation in time to see his largest tax increase ever through, however.  It is a shame he missed the lynch mobs during the public hearings.  Hope he has his golden parachute at the ready.  But since his bosses think he is a “success,” his job is secure.  Hope the voters disagree.

Practice Tip:  By the way voters, here is a secret:  Republican voters outnumbered Democrat voters in Gainesville this year.  So if a real Republican were to run for school board he/she would be likely to win even if every Democrat voted for the opponent.  Maria Caulkins is not a member of the Hall County Republican Party.

Read the whole story here–>Gainesville schools weigh budget cuts; deficit is $6.6 million.

I would sign it if I could.  Read about the Petition here–>Petition calls for removal of Gainesville superintendent.

Update:  Did you read The Times on Saturday and Sunday (June 7 & 8)?  Where is the criminal investigation?

OK, I could not have predicted this crazy turn of events.  It is like a soap opera.  Guess it is time for the GBI and the DA’s office to get involved when the superintendent is short by $8M AND he is getting “lawyered up” before talking to his own Board!  Ballowe Memo.  He must be thinking that the best defense is a good offense to write a memo accusing the board of “criminal” activity.  He needs to be put on unpaid leave immediately before the evidence is all gone.  And IF he is right, these “executive sessions” need to end and let the public hear what has gone wrong.

Read the most incredible story to date on this here–>Ballowe: Board violated my civil rights.  Jeff Gill is doing a great job reporting this story as it develops.  I included this picture from The Time web page, but don’t know who took it.  It is a great shot, however.

By the way, that clicking noise you hear is handcuffs being put on someone.

UPDATE:  I heard a rumor that the Superintendent has a “golden parachute.”  If he is fired he walks away with around $500,000 in cash.  I recommend the Board put that off as long as possible (or deduct it from the restitution he owes the taxpayers?)

No Government seems to ever have a surplus.  If they do, the first thing they do is fight over how to spend it as soon as possible.  That is why in years when WE are having a hard time making ends meet, THEY ask for more.  The answer should always be NO.

The $27M Gainesville budget shows that 16% or $4,320,000 is administrative overhead.  55% of the budget is public safety.  I’m all for police and fire protection at any cost but…..

….it is time to consider unified fire and law enforcement in Gainesville / Hall County.  Each operation now has its own administration which could be cut on half.  Chief Hooper is doing a great job, but a unified law enforcement under Sheriff Cronic would bring the illegal alien capture-and-deport program to the City (where it is a huge loophole now).  Gainesville is almost a sanctuary city for illegal aliens.  Recently I was told that one rating company has rated Hall County down because of the illegal alien issue.  Any certified officer can run radar and write speeding tickets on the bridges (no matter the color of the uniform).

What is the importance about the property tax being steady (about $4.9M)?  It means that there is no reason to increase taxes because the City’s income is the same.

Thanks to Kristen Morales at The Times for this information.

No matter how you word it, and no matter the justification, taking more money from citizens is an increase in taxes.  I’m all for pay-as-you go, but I suspect that many governments take “profit” from one area to subsidize other areas.  Pay-as-you go only works for “extras” so they break even, not become a cash cow for wasteful spending.  Those extras are probably not something that should be a priority (like curbside organic refuse pickup the City of Gainesville has, multi-million dollar libraries, and water parks).  You can make a argument that anything is related to health, safety, and welfare of the residents.  But picking up leaves?  Read The Times article here–>Residents get chance to comment on Gainesville’s $27.9 million budget plans.  Also notice how the City Council will try to ignore the City School Board mess in their budget talks.  However the money for both comes out of the same pockets.  And those pockets don’t have to move far to get out of reach of the pickpockets.  Of course, it goes without saying that the huge illegal immigration problem in Gainesville is the root cause of most of the budget problems.  When a large portion of your population does not pay taxes, but takes advantage of every service, it shifts the burden to the taxpayers.

Read the paper about the effects of the Sheriff’s new immigration efforts.  He tells me that crime involving illegal aliens is down by a large percentage already!  Way to go Sheriff!  Vendors who rely on illegal aliens are already whining (and threatening) too.

Now it is time for the County Commission and City Council to start refuse to issue permits to illegal aliens.  Business permits, building permits, licenses of all sorts (e.g. licenses to sell liquor).  A town in Virginia is doing that and the results have been dramatic.

Keep in mind that while illegal aliens are living in Hall County they occasionally have children.  Those children are U.S. Citizens and when they turn 18 they can vote.  Last report I read says that Hispanic births at the NEGMC outpace all others.  That means in 2026 the children of illegal aliens might be able to vote our elected officials out of office and put in their open border radical stooges in their place.

Republicans are normally too busy working (and paying taxes) to plan ahead.  For a very long time I was only in support of deporting illegal aliens that committed felony criminal offenses and some more severe misdemeanor offenses where public safety is at risk (e.g. DUI, battery, family violence, etc.)  However now I understand that the costs to lawful citizens of the illegal aliens far outpace the utility of their being here.  Every sector of our local economy is negatively affected by illegal aliens.  Yes it means that some very nice, hard-working, talented, God-fearing people will be deported.  However the will be deported TO THEIR HOME NOT TO A CONCENTRATION CAMP.  That is like me being deported to Athens.  It is not really mean spirited or unfair to give someone a free trip home so they can follow the rules to return lawfully.