Guest Column: Education Bureaucracy is Failing Our Children

Why Little Johnny Can't Read & What Education Bureaucrats                   Aren't Doing About It

Friday, October 5, 2012
Augusta, GA
By Tom the Green Gobble

When was the last time that someone stopped you and said “The public school which my child attends is absolutely great.”? Just last week? Well, maybe not.  In fact, most of us have probably never heard such a thing. Have you ever wondered why? Is the list of answers to that question just too long to even contemplate? Let’s take a look and see what’s going on. Maybe there are some areas which might be improved upon.

Who’s in charge of little Johnny’s education? Let’s see; there’s his class room teacher Ms Jones, and then the Principal, Ms Smith. She in turn answers to the Superintendent who then answers to the county Board of Education, with an elected representative from each district. They oversee the work of the Superintendent of Schools and set policy for the school district. And let’s not forget about the myriad of clerks, specialists, janitors, cooks, cops, and other assorted bean counters mandated (but not paid for) by the Georgia Dept of Education and finally by the U.S. Dept of Education. Wow! That’s a lot of people helping Ms Jones teach little Johnny. It’s like they don’t trust her to do her job.

It begins to look like we have more “educrats” than teachers!  Why are these people here? Fifty years ago, the average high school with 1200 students had a Principal, a Vice Principal, one secretary, 40 teachers, a kitchen staff and a part time guidance councilor. The district superintendent had a secretary and a staff of two clerks. Now those numbers are dramatically changed. We seem to have more “chiefs” than “Indians”. The reason is more and more and more mandated regulation from Atlanta and Washington, DC. It takes dozens of bodies to create all these reports to tell us what we already knew back then. 

We are spending huge sums of money creating reports that no one reads or cares much about except the next “educrat” up the line. If schools are underfunded it’s because huge portions of the money are going to pay the “educrats” who contribute little, if anything, to little Johnny’s education.  Looks like we might have an opportunity for a partial solution here. Get rid of the excessive number of non-classroom “educrats” and increase the number of classroom teachers.  Oops, I’ve been told that we can’t do that because all these “educrats” are required to fulfill obligations to Washington, so we can get our tax money back to help run the schools that they are destroying. Oh, well, let’s look elsewhere.

Why are so many kids failing and dropping out of school? It can’t be for the lack of “educrats” or for facilities. It must be… the parents! Make that noun singular or possibly even non- existent. There are hundreds of kids in Richmond County being raised by extended family members because one or both parents have abandoned them, died or are in prison. And then there are those parents who literally cannot help their kids even if they wanted to, because they have no education either. Sadly, many just could not care any less about helping their child with their school work. It is no big surprise when these kids act just like their parents. Just ask the sheriff. We are dealing with a huge portion of the population which has a significant cultural deficit.  Or to put it another way, their life culture actually embraces drugs, prostitution, theft and burglary, assault of all types and all manner of antisocial behavior. Again, it is no great surprise when these kids fail to graduate from even our most  dumbed down public school curricula.

What can be done? Given that the current system fails with this group of students, we must look outside the box. Unfortunately, our “educrats” can’t do this. They have been brought up and trained in the current system which still predicates success on outside sources (parents) to help educate their children. Since a huge portion of our kids do not have access to this resource, it is hardly surprising that they regularly fail. We cannot continue to bury our heads in the sand, if we are to find a way to educate these children who have no support at home.  In order to successfully change the educational paradigm in Richmond County, the first thing which we are going to have to do is elect some Board of Education members who see things in a new light. The old ways don’t work and haven’t worked for 40 years. 

It’s time for new ideas, new approaches and a bold approach to educational reform. Get rid of the old school of “educrats”.  Most of them will not even admit that there is an issue. Marion Barnes, a BOE member from District 1, is a perfect example. At a recent forum he publicly stated that charter schools do not out perform public schools. Any independent study of Charter vs Public schools clearly shows that charter schools do a superior job across the county.

The key differences between charter schools and regular public schools lies in three elements that help define them: they are held accountable, not just in general, but to achievement goals embedded in their charters. Their student body is made up of children whose parents chose the school, and the school is tailored to the student body’s needs. They are given freedom from certain bureaucratic procedures with the idea that this will give them a greater ability to focus on creating academic emphasis.  (All of this is the subject of another article.) If Charter schools were not succeeding, one would have to ask why they are being developed in over 40 states across the country. It has gotten to the point that if the “educrats” don’t want it, you can almost be certain that you need it. It’s all a matter of control; the “educrats” have failed miserably. Allowing a new and successful approach threatens their very existence. It’s time to start threatening their existence at the ballot box. ***

TGB

*Do you have a thought or an opinion you'd like to share? Then submit a guest column to CityStink@gmail.com

Craig Spinks: Why Frazier Was Really Removed From Glenn Hills

Commentary

Sunday, July 29, 2012

Augusta, GA

By Dr. Craig Spinks, ED D

Wayne Frazier got fired from Glenn Hills High School? Even though they are calling it a "reassignment" to the Alternative School, let's call it what it is: Frazier was terminated as principal of Glenn Hills  in an act of political retribution. It's business as usual in the Richmond County School System.

Frazier is the principal who got a filthy building cleaned up, rousted wanderers from school hallways, removed athletics as the school's primary focus, took control of school finances, "lit up" indolent employees, motivated disheartened students and began a long march to academic quality on "The Hill.".

Why would the RCBOE "need to make a change" involving the "reassignment" of such a leader less than three weeks before the start of his fourth year at Glenn Hills? Wasn't Glenn Hills recently recognized for having the highest graduation rate among all the historically most underperforming public high schools in Georgia? Wasn't the Frazier-initiated mentorship program the subject of a local newspaper article which was recently selected by the Georgia Press Association for a first-place award for Education Reporting?

Why would Frazier be removed as principal of Glenn Hills? One board member cited "poor test scores."  Apparently the board member's making this claim didn't notice that the passing rates on 5 of the 8 End-of-Course-Tests given Glenn Hiills' students has increased since Dr. Frazier arrived on "The Hill" in the late Spring of 2009.

Another board official cited staff discontent as the reason for Doc's firing. What percentage of this discontented staff segment was composed of the incompetent, lax and/or uncaring hold-overs whom Dr. Frazier inherited from the notoriously ineffective principal which preceded Dr. Frazier? Did the poor-excuse-for-a-head-custodian whose reassignment Doctor Frazier requested in his first days on "The Hill" complain to board members and/or The Broad Street Temple about the filthy halls and bathrooms which Frazier found upon his initial inspection of the building? How about the member of the athletic staff too out-of-condition to walk from the GHHS gym to the office?   How he'd like Doctor Frazier's removing control of the athletic funds to the principal's office? How'd he like being relieved of coaching and administrative duties?

Like Columbia County Sheriff Clay Whittle, Doctor Frazier doesn't play. The two Glenn Hills High School staff members mentioned in the previous paragraph and many others "riding the system" there learned "the hard way" that there was "a new sheriff in town." Wayne Frazier isn't about shamming. He's about children, particularly poor children, and what's best for them.

Now Doc would be the first to admit that working successfully with children, particularly poor children and most particularly poor children without Fathers, is demanding work which takes a passion and an energy which most teachers don't have. Such work is not for the "eight hour per day, forty hour per week" type of teacher.  Frazier also realizes that all teachers can't be expected to have the energy and passion necessary for teaching effectively at "The Hill."

 Most teachers have family responsibilities which preclude the close mentorship required for "reaching" kids who lack money and both parents. Glenn Hills High is not the best place for folks whose parental responsibilities prevent the extra time and effort needed to "reach" the at-risk kids who constitute a  large part of the GHHS student body. Such teachers can be successful elsewhere. And Doctor Frazier wishes them well.

And Doctor Frazier wishes Mr. Givens, his close friend and right-hand man at both Tubman Middle and GHHS, Givens' staff and the GHHS student body success during the upcoming 2012-13 school year. Dr. Frazier looks forward to Graduation Day 2013. Frazier's will be the biggest smile in the James Brown Arena when the freshman who entered Glenn Hills High in August 2009 walk across the stage, receive their diplomas and enter the adult world to learn and lead.

Dr. Craig Spinks, ED. D

* Dr. Spinks is an educator with the Richmond County Public School System

Dr. Craig Spinks: Drive A Mile On My Bus

Saturday, March 3, 2012

Evans, GA

By Dr. Craig Spinks, Ed. D.

There's an old Indian saw which advises that no one should criticize another without having walked a mile in his moccasins. That saying popped in my mind when I heard of the recent incident involving a Columbia County substitute bus driver's pulling his bus off on the side of a county road and calling the Columbia County sheriff's office.

 Many, if not most, parents of kids in Columbia County public schools were incredulous to see and hear that any school kids would have behaved so badly as to warrant their driver's calling the sheriff and reputedly cursing some of the riders on his bus. Of course, I've never driven a school bus but, as a retired public school teacher who supervised numerous bus-loadings and unloadings, I am aware of the incredibly disruptive and disrespectful things I've seen a small minority of kids demonstrate. And I've seen many more such behaviors in school halls, restrooms, cafeteria and classrooms that tempted me to curse them and to call the police (I did have the Grovetown police called once.

The disrespectful student-batterer was incarcerated and, thanks to the judgement of then-Assistant Superintendent Charles Nagle, was placed in another school permanently. The young man was never allowed to return to Grovetown Middle School. Thanks again, Charlie.).

Thanks, too, to Barry Paschal, publisher of the Columbia News-Times, for promoting in an editorial in his twice-weekly paper the position that riding a public school bus is not a right, but is a privilege which may be lost as a consequence of misbehavior. I'm sure that Mr. Paschall's position didn't win him any friends among those many-too many enabling parents whose children don't lie to them, who don't break any school rules and who are the victims of regular, "evil" teacher practices.

Ms. Sullivent, a Columbia County School System bus driver for over fifteen years, also deserves recognition for drawing public attention to the problems caused by misbehaving bus riders. She recently submitted to The Augusta Chronicle a Letter to the Editor which confronted these problems. The letter appeared in the Augusta Chronicle's March 2, 2012 edition. Sullivent's courage in speaking  the truth about the misbehaviors of some bus riders to our school officials in a public venue is heartening. School bureaucracy has a long and sordid history of failing to deliver the truth about school conditions to those top-tier officials who want to hear it- and we have some in CC. KUDOS to Ms. Sullivent for striking a death knell to the informally-condoned "rug-and-broom" strategy which had frequently been employed by mid-level educrats in previous administrations.

Hopefully, the courageous stands by the unidentified substitute school bus driver, by Ms. Sullivent and by Mr. Paschal will not be ignored or demeaned by my fellow Columbia Countians. Hopefully, these stands will inspire the many, many concerned Columbia County parents, grandparents and other tax payers to visit our school bus stops, to ride our busses and to visit our schools to insure that our kids and the adults who supervise them are safe and are treated respectfully.

Moroever, let us all hope that the examples of these three citizens will not be lost on the residents of Augusta-Richmond County and of the counties which surround our metropolitan area's largest population center. Student misbehavior, after all, is not unique to the Columbia County School System or any other public school system in metro Augusta.***

Dr. Craig Spinks, Ed. D.

Previous Column:

Important Information Missing from ASU's Annual Report

Dr. Craig Spinks: Important Information Missing from ASU's Annual Report

Monday, Feb. 20, 2012
Augusta, GA
By Dr. Craig Spinks, Ed.D


Recently, I received a copy of Augusta State University's The President's Report 2011. The impressive annual periodical, which is distributed free-of-charge to ASU's friends, alumni, faculty and staff, contains sections typical of other universities' marketing efforts. The ASU periodical features highlights, news, class notes, alumni & development, financials and giving. Paid particular note were the $1.1 million grant provided by the National Science Foundation to finance scholarships for students who agree to teach science-, technology-, engineering-, and math-related fields in Burke, Jefferson, McDuffie and Warren counties; the ASU's Division I Golf Team's winning its second consecutive NCAA National Golf Championship; the work of ASU's College of Education's Fulbright Scholar, Dr. Olajide Agunloye, to build a mentoring program for teachers in Nigeria; and the work of Helen Hendee and her associates to build the corpus of the Augusta State University Foundation, Inc.

Missing from The President's Report, however, were systematic data documenting the efficacy and efficiency of ASU in producing the leaders Augusta and Georgia will need to meet the civic, economic, social, and moral challenges of the new century. While the graduates' anecdotes provided in the report make for interesting reading, they cannot provide a complete picture of ASU's success in producing needed graduates. Absent is any chart depicting the size and majors of ASU's most recent graduating class and any longitudinal data comparing the most current class with earlier ones. Moreover, there is no information regarding the characteristics of the most recent freshman class and other under-classes. This absence of any data regarding enrollee-inputs and leader-outputs makes any measure of ASU's efficacy and efficiency in leader-production impossible.

However, while the efficacy and efficiency of ASU as a producer of long-term leadership for greater Augusta and Georgia may not be feasible, we might gain an insight into our university's success in satisfying a shorter-term performance criterion, the school's six-year graduation rate. This rate is one of the prime criteria used by The University System of Georgia(USG) to judge the efficacy of each of its member institutions.

Here, the efficacy of my alma mater was not sterling. Of the thirteen four-year schools operated by the USG, ASU had the lowest specific-institution(20.8%) and system-wide (28.5%) six-year graduation rate during the 2009-10 school year, the latest year for which data were available. For comparison, the USG's six-year graduation rates were 51.7% for specific-institutions and 58% for the system as a whole.

Moreover, ASU's success in retaining students during the 2009-10 school year was not stellar. Only Columbus State(64.5%) and Armstrong Atlantic(69.3%) state universities had lower institution-specific retention rates than did ASU(69.8%) during this school year. Only Columbus State University had a lower system-wide retention rate than did Augusta State(73.3%) in 2009-10.

So what do these graduation and retention data mean? What do they imply? Working students? Surely working full-time while one attends college might be expected to interrupt one's enrollment and to slow one's progress toward graduation. But I'd bet that ASU's not the only four-year school in the USG with a sizeable proportion of working students.

Is "unprepared students" another possible explanation for my alma mater's dreadful graduation rate? ASU runs a sizeable academic remediation program. Many area HS grads who have attempted to enroll at ASU for college-level work don't demonstrate the Reading, Math and Writing skills necessary for success in such work. Failing scores on COMPASS tests indicate these deficiences. Many kids who apply and are admitted to ASU earn failing scores on these college-readiness measures.

A reasonable, concerned taxpayer might ask, "Why are so many area HS graduates unprepared for college-level work at ASU?" "What can we do to insure that our area's high school graduates are ready to succeed at ASU and at other post-secondary educational institutions?

Are you reasonable and concerned?

Dr. Craig Spinks, Ed. D.

School Beat: When Otha Thornton Speaks, We Should All Listen

National PTA President Otha Thornton

Saturday, Feb.11, 2012

Augusta, GA

By Dr. Craig Spinks, Ed. D.

When Otha Thornton speaks, I listen. I listen not only because Thornton is a retired United States Army Intelligence officer, but also because he is the President-elect of the National Parent-Teachers Association. When he says that only 6% of our state's 9th graders will finish college or technical school within four years of their enrollments there, I listen and am shocked. Even more shocking, is Thornton's assertion that only 54% of our 9th graders will finish high school within four years.

But wait a minute. We read reports about the RCSS high school graduation rate's being in the upper 70% range. Who are we to believe- a man who is a disinterested advocate for our kids, or educrats with a keen interest in protecting their own turf?

Each of us can make up our own minds about that question. But there is a question about whose answer there should be no discordance: Should any RCSS educrat expect kudos because the school system graduates 79% of its entering ninth graders? This answer should be unanimously negative- no matter what the RCBOE attorney might want us to believe. Assuming that the RC school system graduates 80% of it's entering high school freshman, 20% of these freshmen would have left the system without the academic skills they'll need to succeed. These twenty percent also wouldn't have the high school diploma, which is essential to document those skills. What about these kids? What kinds of lives will they live? How many RCSS educrats really care what happens to these dropouts? Or do many educrats and other RC residents consider these primarily-poor and/or -minority kids expendable? Think about it.

And speaking of undeserved kudos, how about the kudos being paid to the several RCSS elementary and middle schools which made AYP based upon their CRCT results? As founder of Georgians for Education Excellence, LLC, a non-profit, Georgia-chartered advocacy group, I'm an avid supporter of educational excellence wherever I find it. Davidson, Johnson, Walker, Freedom Park, Warren Road, Lake Forrest Hills and Goshen are several RCSS schools which deserve accolades for the academic achievement of their students. Unfortunately, these seven schools constitute only 14% of the elementary and middle schools in the RCSS. What about the academic achievement of the kids in the remaining 86% of RC public elementary and middle schools? In a word: Abysmal.

Don't believe me? Would you believe data extracted from www.rcboe.org, the official RCSS website? Thirty-five(35) of the RCSS's thirty-seven(37) elementary schools in 2009 housed students whose fifth graders' percentile rankings in Reading Comprehension were lower- much lower- than those of these schools' first graders. This discrepancy in percentile rankings between first and fifth graders was part of a trend which was exhibited in the years 2005 through 2008. This discrepancy averaged about 13%-ile points over the 2005-08 period.

If that's not bad enough to excite your anger, just wait until you read about the discrepancy between RCSS first and eighth grade  Reading Comprehension percentile rankings. Percentile rankings in Reading Comprehension in RCSS were an average of twenty-three(23) percentile points lower for eighth graders than for first graders in the period 2005 through 2009, the latest year for which Iowa Test of Basic Skills(ITBS) data for the RCSS is available.

Now, as your eyes glaze over after an interlude with educationese, you must ask: What does all this educationese mean? It means that RCSS first graders'  Reading Comprehension skills compare more favorably with those of other first graders throughout our nation than RCSS eighth graders' skills compare with those of other American eight graders.  RCSS eighth graders' Reading Comprehension scores compare more unfavorably with other American eighth graders than do RCSS first graders and their national peers. RCSS eighth graders have lower average percentile scores than do RCSS first graders. It also means that the reading skills of RCSS students decline over time when compared to those of their peers throughout the U.S. Some particulars?

Please consider the following matrix.

                                                READING  COMPREHENSION (In %-iles)

READING Comprehension

               

 
                               

Does any parent, grandparent or guardian of a RCSS elementary or middle school student find this inference reassuring? Are any RCSS taxpayers happy? Is any local economic development official pleased?

Come on, man.***

Craig Spinks

***Do you have a story idea, a tip, or would you like to write for City Stink? Then please contact us at: citystink@gmail.com***

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Dr. Craig Spinks: Disquieting Facts About Richmond County High School Graduation Rates

Saturday, Feb. 4, 2012

Augusta, GA
By Dr. Craig Spinks, ED. D.


While lunching Wednesday with a good friend who is an assertive advocate for high-quality public education in our state, he told me about his recent experience at a parent-involvement workshop conducted at a local middle school. My friend explained that a high-level school board official had explained to the audience that the RCSS was making good progress in improving student learning. The official moved to prove his point by explaining that the RCSS' high school graduation rate was increasing. My friend allowed that he, however, was appalled by the low high school graduation rates that the board official was extolling.

My friend's reaction to the RCSS' high school graduation data piqued my interest in the issue. My research into it has revealed some disquieting facts about the success of RCSS students on the Georgia High School Graduation Test(GHSGT), a test the passing of which is a requirement for high school graduation in The Peach State. Among these disquieting facts are the following:

(1) Six of the ten high schools in the RCSS had first-time passing rates on the GHSGT below 75% in the school year 2010-11. ot ear;

(2) Two RCSS high schools had first-time passing rates below 60% during the same period.

(3) The GHSGT passing rates at six RCSS high school declined over the three-year period from the 2008-09 school year through the 2010-11 year.

(4) The passing rate at only three of 10 RCSS high schools improved over the last three school years.

(5) Each of the four historically, predominantly black high schools in the RCSS had a first-time failure rate in excess of 33%.

(6) Laney and Josey had first-time failure rates in 2010-2011 of over 40%.

And, folks, the GHSGT is a joke. It's so weak-a-test that Dr. John Barge, our new state school superintendent, and his reform team have persuaded the Georgia State Board of Education to replace it with several, more rigorous End-of-Course-Tests(EOCTs).

And if these facts leave your parental and/or taxpayer blood's boiling, stop reading right here. You may have a stroke, a seizure, a heart attack or some combination thereof if you read facts about the RCSS' End-of-Course Test(EOCT) results. These troubling facts include:


(1) Eight of the ten RCSS high schools had a failing rate on an EOCT exceeding 50% during the 2010-11 school year.

(2) Five RCSS high schools had a failure rate on an EOCT of at least 80%.

(3) Josey had the highest system-wide failure rate of 89% on any one EOCT.

(4) Students in GA public schools will be required to pass each of several EOCTs to receive their respective high school diplomas under Dr. Barge's reform efforts to improve the academic skills of our state's high school graduates.

(5) No non-magnet RCSS high school had a passing rate above 50% on all EOCTs given its students in the 2010-11 school year.

If you can still see straight after reading these last facts gathered, by the way, from the website of The Governor's Office of Student Achievement (www..gaosa.org), you Richmond County parents and taxpayers might want to check the date and time of the next meeting of the RCBOE. Then plan to attend and to give the high-ranking board official mentioned in the first paragraph as well as his employers "a piece of your mind." That is, if you think your children's futures are worth the trouble.***

Dr. Craig Spinks: Some Real Heroes Who Are Really Improving The Schools

Thursday, Jan. 26th, 2012

Augusta, GA

Dr. Craig Spinks

Parent involvement is a key to student success in schools. Everybody has heard that statement and most would agree with it. But what does "parent involvement mean? Does parent involvement mean only signing a report card, sending a snack to one's child's class but otherwise staying out of the way? No, parental involvement has to extend beyond signing a report card, sending brownies to school for the class Christmas party but otherwise staying home. There must be an "IN" in parent involvement. And that "IN" is parental presence in his/her child's schoolhouse during the instructional day- not just presence at school during Thanksgiving programs, football games and school carnivals.

Who in the RCSS is promoting real parental Involvement in schools? Three names come immediately to mind: Dr. Frank Roberson, Ms. Monique Braswell  and Dr. Wayne Frazier.

Dr. Frank Roberson's name and smiling face are both well-known around Richmond County. Early on, he made known his intention to reach out to the community and enlist the support of parents, family members and other taxpayers in efforts to improve schoolling for all students enrolled in Richmond County public schools.Unfortunately, Dr. Roberson's efforts have been postponed as he recovers from brain surgery performed early last year to repair a cerebro-vascular problem.

But two folks have continued to work toward Dr. Roberson's goal as we await his return to full-time work. Whereas the name and face of Frank Roberson might be familiar to most RCSS parents, the name and face of Monique Braswell might not yet be familiar to them. But that soon will change. Ms. Braswell is well on her way to popular familiarity because of her success in recruiting over 10K RCSS parents and other stakeholders to join the local PTAs. And she's been president of the Richmond County Council of PTAs for less than a year. Ms. Braswell's not a "pay-your-dues-and-go-away" PTA leader. 

She has reached out to parents in RC to let them know that their presence at PTA meetings is just the first step in the parent Involvement process. To promote her goal of greater parent Involvement, Ms. Braswell arranged the visit of the incoming national PTA president, Col. Otha Thornton of Atlanta. Thornton visited Augusta as the speaker at the January meeting of the Windsor Springs Elementary PTA. Col. Thornton is an alumnus of WSES. He attended elementary school there in the 1970s. Col. Thornton stressed the idea that parents' "standing back" won't get their children a good education. "Standing up" and "getting Involved" in their children's respective public schools are required. By the way, Mr. Terry Morgan, president of the WSES PTA, is a sterling example of such a parent.

A sterling example of a principal committed to getting parents involved is Wayne Frazier. Now the principal of Glenn Hills High School, Dr. Frazier personifies parent involvement. And his efforts to get parents into his school didn't just begin with his assumption of the principalship at GHHS. It began several years before. I first noted Dr. Frazier's name when I read in a local print medium his invitation for any and all taxpayers to visit his school. His school at the time was the Richmond County Alternative School. My initial response was inconsistent: first, I liked a principal whose school was open to public view; and, second, was this guy nuts? Who in his right mind would want parents and other folk in an alternative school. By the time that I tracked Dr. Frazier down he had been transferred in mid-year to Tubman Middle School, a school which had never made AYP. There I found that Frazier "walked the walk" when it came to welcoming parents and other taxpayers to TMS. Even though I had never met the man before, he welcomed Marine MGySgt(ret.) Greg Davis and myself to Tubman on our initial visit there in 2008. Frazier did so on several subsequent, unplanned, unannounced visits over the year-and-a-half that Frazier led TMS. By the way, TMS made AYP both years when Frazier was principal.

For his exemplary efforts, Frazier barely missed being transferred to the directorship of the RCSS Transportation Department. Fortunately for the kids at GHHS, his efforts at persuading his superiors that he was a "school man" and not a "bus man" were successful. Thereupon, he was transferred from Tubman Middle in the Summer of 2009 to Glenn Hills, a high school besieged by safety, academic and disciplinary problems. To this day, Dr. Frazier works tirelessly to improve his school and its kids by getting the community, in general, and the parents of his students, in particular, into Glenn Hills High classrooms during the regular day. Of course, he continues to encourage parents to attend ballgames and PTA meetings. But Frazier stresses that the most important function of GHHS is to graduate young people who have the academic skills to succeed in adult leadership roles. As an indicator of GHHS' progress toward Dr. Frazier's goal, GHHS' passing rate on the Georgia High School Graduation Test(GHSGT) was the highest among 41 GA high schools which had received special funding for school-improvement projects.

What are RCSS parents and other Georgia citizens doing to help Dr. Frazier,  Ms. Braswell, Dr. Roberson,  and other  folk like them in their efforts to make diplomas from the RCBOE and other GA boards of education things of which their kids and other GA HS graduates can be proud?

Hey, I'm talking to you.

Dr. Craig Spinks 

Robert Cheek Plans to Challenge Southside Mafia for School Board Post

Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012
Augusta, GA
By The Outsider

For the most part, the old Southside Mafia political machine has become a relic of the past. Most of its members have either died off or been defeated at the polls. But still a few cling on to power. The Richmond County School Board is where the Southside Mafia's presence in local politics is still the most noticeable. There are two school board members who have received support from  the old Southside Mafia political machine: Jack Padgett, representing District 6  and Jimmy Atkins representing District 8. School Board districts are congruent with Augusta commission districts.

We have learned that Robert Cheek plans to challenge sitting Dist. 8 school board member Jimmy Atkins this fall. Political insiders are telling City Stink that Cheek's campaign will be an all out assault on one of the last remaining power bases of The Southside Mafia, and he will have some heavy-hitters backing him in this race.

Robert Cheek is the brother of former Augusta Commissioner (Dist 6) Andy Cheek, who defeated the Southside Mafia to get elected to the Commission in 2000. Robert Cheek had planned to run  for the Dist 8 Augusta Commission seat back in 2010. It was an open seat since Southside Mafia stalwart Jimmy Smith was term limited out. In that race the Southside Mafia had lined up behind Doug Lively. In the end, Cheek decided not to run and backed Wayne Guilfoyle, who ultimately won. That was a major defeat for the Southside Mafia, since the Dist 8 commission seat was their last stronghold on the commission.

Robert Cheek also backed Libertarian Taylor Bryant, in his bid to unseat veteran school board member Jack Padgett in the Dist 6 school board race in 2010. The Southside Mafia tried to get Bryant to drop out of the race and run against Commissioner Joe Jackson, whom they believed had turned against them. Bryant declined, saying "I don't play that game." Bryant contends he was contacted by Darren Smith (son of former Commissioner Jimmy Smith) and J.B. Powell (who was running for Agriculture Commissioner at the time), to get out of the school board race. The Southside Mafia seemed to be protecting Jack Padgett. So they turned their ire against Bryant. Joe Jackson ended up having no challenger for the commission race. You can read more about these events here: Sylvia Cooper: Good Government Panel High on Incumbents.

Ultimately, Bryant's bid came up short and Padgett won another term. If Cheek were to unseat Atkins this fall, Padgett would be one of the last surviving members of the Southside Mafia left in county government in any form, and the new redistricting maps under consideration leave him extremely vulnerable to a challenge in the next election. That may be why Padgett is fighting so vigorously to halt the redistricting 3-R map.. the same one that he and all of the other redistricting ad-hoc committee members voted to approve last November.

Political insiders are telling City Stink that this will be one of the highest profile school board races in recent memory and that good money is betting on Robert Cheek. But The Southside Mafia will likely not go down without a fight, so expect this one to get real ugly. Stay tuned for more to come. ***
CS

***Do you have a story idea, a tip, or would you like to write for City Stink? Then please contact us at: citystink@gmail.com***

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School Beat: Do Richmond County Parents Care?

School Beat
Jan. 10, 2012
By Craig Spinks, Ed.D.


Do the parents of kids in the Richmond County school system care about how well their kids learn to read, cipher, write, think et al.?

Author’s Note: To meet head-on the irrelevant, tangential criticism that the bald-headed SOB who’s writing this piece in the CityStink.net lives in Columbia County, I assert my belief that the Augusta Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area(SMSA) can be only as vital and stable as its urban core. And, inasmuch as the health of the urban core is greatly dependent upon the quality of its public school system, the vitality and stability of the Augusta SMSA will be greatly influenced- for good or ill- by how effective in graduating educated young folks the Richmond County School System(RCSS) is.

“Not much” is the unvarnished answer to the question posed above. “How can you say that?” will complain many parents of the kids in the RCSS. Easy: How many times a year do RCSS parents visit their kids’ schools during the regular school day? How many times a year do they attend PTA meetings? How many times do they talk to their kids’ teachers on the phone?

Well, obviously I don’t and can’t know exact answers to these questions. I don’t have and can’t get access to school sign-in logs, teacher phone-call lists and PTA meeting attendance rosters. But I think that I can make valid inferences from my personal experiences in a system where most of the folks are trying pretty-doggone-hard to educate RCSS students.

How many times I’ve visited RCSS schools and attended PTA meetings conducted in them during the almost-seven years since my retirement as a Special Education(SpEd) teacher in the Columbia County School System I can’t say. But I’d venture that the number is substantial. After all, I was selected Richmond County Council of PTAs’ “Volunteer of the Year” for the 2008-09 school year.
 
During my numerous visits to several RCSS elementary, middle and high schools, I ‘ve seen plenty of teachers, administrators, secretaries, custodians, bus drivers, cafeteria workers , unidentified  employees of questionable function and thousands of students, but one group has been conspicuous by its absence: you guessed it- PARENTS. I don’t remember ever seeing a RCSS parent make a classroom visit. I remember seeing more than 50 parents at only four or five  PTA functions. Now I have seen a lot of parents in school offices for conferences about their kids’ behavior, to pick up sick kids, and to check kids out early at the end of a school day, particularly a Friday. But their absences in their kids’ classrooms and at their kids’ schools’ PTAs is distressing and destructive.***

***Do you have a story idea, a tip, or would you like to write for City Stink? Then please contact us at: CityStink@gmail.com***

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Craig Spinks: Why's Nobody Mad-as-Hell?

Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2012

Augusta, GA
By Craig Spinks

An article in a recent edition of a local print medium noted that the Richmond County School System (RCSS) is the worst public school system in Georgia.

Well, that's not exactly correct. While it may be true that the RCSS ranked at the bottom of the 18 public school systems in its Georgia Department of Education(GDOE) comparison group, the RCSS is not the worst in Georgia. If the frightening Truth be known, there may be several Georgia public school systems whose students demonstrate poorer academic skills than the kids in the RCSS.

Of course, Augusta's local public school system's not being the worst in Georgia is no cause for celebration. Rather, its being among the worst should be a cause for community outrage. But why's nobody mad-as-Hell? Why aren't parents of kids whose poor academic skills will deny them decent-paying jobs when the latter reach adulthood not protesting at school board meetings? Don't they realize that their kids fall  below weak state academic norms? Don't parents realize that many of their kids read, calculate and write well below more rigorous national academic norms? Are they afraid? Of what? Of whom? Don't they care? Do they think that they are "nobodies" whose opinions don't count?

In subsequent pieces, we're going to provide answers to these questions.

If yours is a weak stomach, don't bother reading these answers.***

Craig Spinks, Ed.D.

CEO

Georgians for Educational Excellence

______________________________________

Look for Craig Spinks' column covering the Schools System and Education policy in City Stink.

**********Do you have a story idea, a tip, or would you like to write for City Stink? Then please contact us at: CityStink@gmail.com***

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