The Athens Symphony will present its annual Spring Concert Saturday, 03 April, 2010 at 8:00 p.m. at the Classic Center. As a special twist to the annual concert, Conductor Albert F. Ligotti has put together the most famed movements from among the most famed fifth symphonies in the Classical repertoire.
In addition, Ligotti has selected soloists from within the symphony to feature in the program’s second half. Principal oboist Barbara Spurgeon and principal clarinetist Thomas Cooper will take front stage for Domenico Cimarosa’s Concerto for Oboe & Strings and Carl Maria von Weber’s Concertino for Clarinet, Op. 26. Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari’s Intermezzo from “Jewels of the Madonna” and Mikhail Glinka’s “Summer Night in Madrid” will round out the program’s second half.
“I wanted to offer our audiences something different than the standard concert format we always present,” said Ligotti. “Number five has always been my favorite number, and so many great composers’ fifth symphonies have turned out to be their masterpieces.”
The Perfect Fifth
The Athens Symphony will present a new fifth symphony, comprised of the first, second, third and fourth movements of various symphonies numbered five from history’s greatest composers. As an opener, Ligotti has selected the most famous first movement among both fifth symphonies and all of classical literature-that from Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 in C minor. Listeners are sure to recognize the four notes of the dramatic fortissimo opening motif.
The thundering first movement will give way to a quieter drama in the opening of the second movement of Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5 in E minor. The symphony’s theme, representing Providence and victory through strife, is introduced in this movement by the horn section. John Denver fans take note-this horn theme is said to be his inspiration for “Annie’s Song.”
For the symphony’s third movement, the Minuet and Trio from Schubert’s Symphony No. 5 in B flat major will add traditional Classical form with a special twist of lyricism and spontaneous melody.
“We end the first half with the wonderful 4th movement of Dvorak’s Symphony No. 5 in F major. This exciting medley of movements, perhaps combined in this order for the first time, is certain to make for an interesting concert,” Ligotti noted.
Featured Soloists
In the program’s second half, the Symphony’s principal oboist, Barbara Spurgeion, will join the orchestra in presenting the Concerto for Oboe & Strings by Domenico Cimarosa. Spurgeion received her Bachelor of Music in music performance from Georgia Southern University in 1986, her Masters in Education from Georgia Southern University in 1988, and her Doctorate in Music Education from the University of Georgia in 1998. A member of the Athens Symphony for 18 years, Spurgeion began her oboe studies at the age of 10 and now passes her love of music on to students as band director at Monroe Elementary School in Monroe, Georgia.
Thomas Cooper, principal clarinetist of the orchestra, will be the featured soloist as the symphony performs Carl Maria von Weber’s Concertino for Clarinet, Op. 26. Since first picking up the instrument at age 11, Cooper went on to study at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Indiana University, and the Bayerisches Staatskonservatorium der Musik in Würzburg, Germany. Cooper retired from the University of Georgia in 2006, where he taught German and foreign language education, but continues to perform with the Athens Symphony--of which he is a charter member.
Admission to the Spring concert is free but tickets are required for entry, and are currently available for pick up at the Classic Center Theatre Box. Tickets are provided on a first come, first served basis, so patrons are encouraged to secure theirs as early as possible.
Athens Symphony Chorus Ready to Pop
This May, the Athens Symphony Chorus will again join the Athens Symphony Orchestra in presenting their annual Pops concerts. The chorus is seeking singers of every voice type to join rehearsals this April, where they will begin preparing favorite selections from musical theatre including the music of MGM and a celebration of Andrew Lloyd Webber.
Sopranos, altos, tenors and basses of any level are invited to join the chorus with no audition required. Singers need only be over the age of 18 and able to read music.
Chorus rehearsals begin Sunday, April 11 at 2:30 p.m. at the Holy Cross Lutheran Church. A full schedule of chorus rehearsals may be found on the symphony’s Facebook page under Athens Symphony Orchestra. Interested parties may contact linda3892@charter.net, call 706-425-4205, or visit www.athenssymphony.org for more information.
About the Athens Symphony
The Athens Symphony was founded in the summer of 1978, when a group of local musicians convened following a survey by the Clarke County Office of Cultural Affairs that determined a strong desire within the community for a symphony orchestra. Early on, it was decided that the orchestra should be a not-for-profit organization, that its members should be unpaid volunteers from Athens and the surrounding communities, and that its concerts should be both free of charge and appealing to general audiences. Al Ligotti was immediately identified as the ideal conductor due to his wealth of musical experience, enthusiasm and high musicianship, and continues to lead the orchestra as it embarks on its 32nd season.
The non-profit organization operates through the generosity of private donors and the support of its sponsors: Athens Area Health Plan Select; Athens Banner-Herald; Athens First Bank & Trust Company; AT&T; Blasingame, Burch Garrard, Ashley, P.C. Attorneys at Law; Chick Music; The Classic Center; Georgia Power; Jackson Spalding and WGAU 1340 AM.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Athens Symphony Takes The Fifth
Monday, February 15, 2010
Impertinent Observations (education edition)
A quintet of interrelated education items for your reading pleasure:
I submitted this letter-to-the-editor of the Banner-Herald a while back and assumed that the powers that be over at Press Place had decided against running it. I guess they were short of letters for last Thursday’s edition, though, because there it was. The issue has to do with spending revenue from the Unified Government’s hoped-for continuation of SPLOST on “technology infrastructure” for the Clarke County School District. As readers can see, there are problems with that suggestion: the legalities governing a county/municipal SPLOST versus those of a school district ELOST, the fact that the CCSD is wallowing in money even without such funds, and the fact that the CCSD is hardly lacking in technology infrastructure.
Concerning the latter point, see this article about the CCSD’s classroom technology that came out the day after the letter that prompted my response. As an aside, the picture in the article attracted the attention of the folks over at Nealz Nuze (scroll down to the bottom of the page).
Also, the write-up of the recent “Seeing is Believing” tour of the CCSD sponsored by the Junior League of Athens and the Athens Area Chamber of Commerce contained this quote from former Athens-Clarke County mayor and current Chamber or Commerce grand poobah Doc Eldridge:
“For the child that wants it and has the ability, they can get the finest education in the Clarke County School District as they can anywhere in the state. Period. End of sentence.”
Everyone knows that I am a vocal critic of the CCSD, but they should also recognize that I fully concur with Eldridge in this regard and, in fact, have made this very same point for years. The problem has never been with those few students – and just as importantly their parents – who have the good sense to make the most of the educational opportunities the CCSD offers. The problem has been, and remains, that the majority of the student population does not. The response of the Board of Education and the appointed bureaucrats to this situation, for a long time now, has been to increase expenditures – an approach that has manifestly failed. While I am not without a certain amount of sympathy for the CCSD in trying to score a few PR points, to my mind the annual Tour amounts to little more that a propaganda exercise. See here for another take on the Tour.
I support the Board of Education’s decision to close down the SOAR Academy and turn its mission over to a private contractor. From what I can gather, the CCSD’s punitive alternative school has not worked as hoped. If the CCSD can get better student performance, and do so at appreciably less cost, then so much the better. Even so, while I think this is a good thing, critics who note that the decision seems to have been made before the issue came up for public discussion just a couple of weeks ago do seem to have a legitimate point.
One of the CCSD’s middle schools is under suspicion after an audit found a higher percentage of erasures than expected on its students’ CRCT answer sheets. At this point, I’m not sure what, if anything, to make of this.
Finally, the CCSD’s web site still has as its per pupil expenditure the figure from Fiscal Year 2008; as reported here, the updated figure for Fiscal Year 2009 was posted by the Georgia Department of Education at the end of December. At least, though, the District is now using the correct source.
Monday, February 1, 2010
Qualifying Information For 2010 Elections
Per the Athens-Clarke County Board of Elections, here is qualifying information pertaining to the various local offices for which elections will be held this coming November. Note that this list does not pertain to state offices.
Solicitor General
Salary: $114,353.86
Qualifying fee: $3430.62
State Court Judge
Salary: $128,597.57
Qualifying fee: $3857.93
Mayor
Salary: $45,000.00
Qualifying fee: $1350.00
Commissioner (odd-numbered districts)
Salary: $15,000.00
Qualifying fee: $450.00
Board of Education (odd-numbered districts)
Salary: $3600
Qualifying fee $108.00
The qualifying period for the office of Solicitor General runs from 9:00 a.m. on Monday, 26 April, through noon on Friday, 30 April. The qualifying period for all of the other offices listed runs from 9:00 a.m. on Monday, 28 June, through noon on Friday, 02 July. For further details concerning voter registration, voting procedures, district maps, and contact information for the Board of Elections, see here. For a calendar of election-related dates, see here.
Friday, January 22, 2010
Public School Accreditation Follies (II)
The announcement earlier in the month that the Warren County School District may lose its SACS accreditation again brought to my mind the dubious importance assigned to public school accreditation.
A couple of years ago, I pointed out that the Clayton County School District, the first Georgia public school system to lose its accreditation in some 40 years, did a better of educating its students than did the Clarke County School District. And yet the latter was in no danger of losing its accreditation. So, for the record, how does Warren County compare with Clarke County?
Per pupil expenditure FY 2009:
Warren County $10,606.05 (FTE 724)
Clarke County $11,248.22 (FTE 11,785)
Graduation rate 2008-2009:
Warren County 68.0%
Clarke County 63.3%
AYP 2009:
Warren County 66.7% (2 of 3 schools)
Clarke County 68.4% (13 of 19 schools
So, the Warren County School District is set to lose its accreditation, while that of the statistically similar Clarke County School District remains perfectly safe.
The Clayton County and Warren County school systems, or more precisely their students, are being punished for administrative lapses as opposed to poorly educating their students. It is true that the Clarke County School District brushed up against similar issues recently, but all concerned managed to make nice and the school system settled back into to the same old expensive mediocrity to which we have become accustomed.
Public school accreditation appears to primarily concern administrative procedures, having little if anything to do with actual student achievement. Thus, to my mind it remains a meaningless concept.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
The Curious Case of Mike Hamby (II)
This is old news, but still hilarious. It appears that the folks at Georgia Liberal and Blake at the Banner-Herald got into a pissing contest over Mike Hamby. Get up to speed by seeing here, here, and here (to get a feel for the tenor of the dispute, read the comments).
Yawn. More than a year ago, I posted this about former Republican turned progressive Hamby. He ran against lefty icon Gwen O’Looney for mayor in 1994 and was affiliated with the local GOP for a couple of years thereafter. He saw the progressive light, though, and has been left-leaning ever since. My post did not concern Hamby so much as posit whether the local left would hold his conservative past against him. As I wrote I at the time:
For those who do not live in our fair city, the first things to happen when any given individual is rumored to be considering a run for local office is that the lefty types immediately comb through the voting history of that individual and the campaign finance disclosures of past candidates so as to detect any latent Republican sympathies, however trivial they may be . . . Since Dodson pulled out of the race, one can only wonder as to how that contest may have played itself out. I assume that the local left would have mentioned Hamby’s past dalliances with things Republican but . . . only for the purpose of distancing him from them. This is Athens-Clarke County; progressive ideology trumps all else.
To me, this nonsense is the Classic City’s own version of Coakley’s loss to Brown up in Massachusetts. The progressive’s staggering defeat could not possibly be the result of being too far left on policy grounds; it has to be that Coakley was not to the left enough and/or residual anger at George W. Bush. Yeah, right. I must confess a certain amusement at seeing progressive types turn on one another; with the Obama Administration coming apart at the seams and the far-left legislative agenda on the verge of collapse, the run-up to November’s elections should be fun to watch.
Be that as it may, my point remains that this dust-up says far more about the progressive left than it does about Mike Hamby. I was indeed prescient – it just took a while for others to catch up.
Friday, January 8, 2010
Property Tax Assessment Cap Case Slated For 21 January
The Unified Government of Athens-Clarke County is claiming exemption from the recently passed state law that capped last year’s local property tax assessments, excepting only those counties that reassess all of the parcels contained therein on an annual basis (okay, maybe my description of the law is not legally precise, but for the purposes of this discussion it is close enough).
The folks down at City Hall claim that they do, indeed, systematically reevaluate every property every year. Like many, I do not believe such a contention for a moment; I have no doubt whatsoever that the Unified Government is exploiting the provision as a convenient excuse for raising assessments.
But not everyone is taking it lying down. For those stalwart souls desiring more detail than was included in Blake’s story in today’s Banner-Herald, Quick’s suit concerns O.C.G.A. § 48-5-296 (Removal from office on petition of freeholders; appeals), the text of which reads:
Whenever by petition to the judge of the superior court any 100 or more freeholders of the county allege that any member of the county board of tax assessors is disqualified or is not properly and impartially discharging his duties or is discriminating in favor of certain citizens or classes of citizens and against others, the judge shall cite the member to appear before him at a time and place to be fixed in the citation, such time to be not less than 20 nor more than 40 days from the date of the presentation of the petition, and to answer to the petition. A copy of the petition shall be attached to the citation and service of the citation may be made by any sheriff, deputy sheriff, or constable of this state. The officer making the service shall serve copies and return the original petition and citation to the clerk of the court as other process is returned. At the time and place fixed in the citation, unless postponed for reasonable cause, the judge shall hear and determine the matter without a jury and shall render such judgment and order as may be right and proper, either dismissing the petition or removing the offending member of the county board of tax assessors from office and declaring a vacancy in the office. If either party to the controversy is dissatisfied with the judgment and order of the court, the party may appeal the issue as in other cases.
As I understand it, Quick’s suit does not concern the assessment cap per sé, rather it alleges that the Board of Assessors illegally ceded its authority to the Unified Government’s staff. See the plaintiffs’ Petition for Removal and the Rule Nisi issued by Superior Court Chief Judge Lawton Stephens scheduling the hearing for 1:30 p.m. on Thursday 21 January.
Over the past several years, the Unified Government has lost a series of high-profile cases dealing with the policies that it has pursued (rental registration/regulation, park land condemnation, hostile takeover of the Hospital Authority, etc.); I can only hope that this case will end similarly.
Monday, January 4, 2010
CCSD FY 2009 Per Pupil Expenditures
The Financial Review folks over at the Georgia Department of Education proved as good as their word, sending me notice on New Year’s Eve that the FY 2009 per pupil expenditures for the Clarke County School District had been posted, coming in at $11,248.22.
Readers may remember that the CCSD’s per pupil expenditure figure for FY 2008 was $11,180.05. Thus, the figure for FY 2009 increased by 0.61%. The corresponding figures for the state as a whole were $8965.24 for FY 2008 and $8912.19 for FY 2009, reflecting a decrease of 0.59%. So, the short version is that the CCSD’s per pupil expenditures increased from 24.70% above the state average for FY 2008 to 26.21% above the state average for FY 2009.
Regarding the details, the CCSD continued to outspend the state average in six of the seven categories tracked by the DOE, in some cases by wide margins indeed:
• Instruction $7460.97 (+ 23.98% of the state average of $6017.89)
• Pupil Services $288.28 (- 3.17% of the state average of $297.73)
• Staff Services $669.22 (+ 45.48% of the state average of $460.11)
• General Administration $494.86 (+ 14.39% of the state average of $432.62)
• School Administration $634.96 (+ 14.25% of the state average of $555.76)
• Transportation $747.01 (+ 73.66% of the state average of $430.16)
• Maintenance & Operations $952.93 (+ 32.73% of the state average of $717.92)
• Total $11,248.22 (+ 26.21% of the state average of $8912.19)
If my various calculations are correct, this level of per pupil spending places the CCSD in the 94th percentile of school systems statewide, 11th highest out of 182 reporting – about the same position it has occupied for years.
By way of comparison, review the per pupil expenditures of other area school systems here. Jackson County’s per pupil expenditures are the closet to those of Clarke County, but even so come in at a thousand dollars per pupil lower; all of the other neighboring school systems have figures lower than $9000 per pupil and a couple even have figures lower than $8000 per pupil. But guess which school system has the highest dropout rates, lowest graduation test scores, lowest achievement test scores, lowest AYP scores, etcetera?
These figures are based on the 182 of 185 schools/school systems in the state that have reported their expenditures to the DOE as of the end of December 2009. All of the mathematical calculations shown are my own.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Impertinent Observation
Admittedly, this is something of a pet peeve of mine. It strikes me as an appropriate note on which to end the year, however, as I find it symptomatic of a much larger problem.
Today may indeed mark the final day of 2009, but it does not mark the final day of the decade. Decades begin in years ending in “one” (such as 1901, 1991, 2011), not in years ending in “zero” (such as 1900, 1990, 2010). Thus, 31 December, 2010 marks the end of the current decade, while 01 January, 2011 marks the beginning of the succeeding one. One would never know it by news coverage, though, as evidenced by items such as this, this and this.
Some may excuse such blatant inaccuracy as a trifling matter. I am inclined otherwise. That is because I think that it is characteristic of a much larger, and I daresay intentional, ignorance that permeates our society (mathematical, historical, geographical, economic, etc.). To my mind, it is obviously apparent that our population has been “progressively” dumbed down (and yes, I use the adverb purposefully).
Otherwise, so many citizens would not stand blithely by while our betters in government pursue the ruinous policies that they do, and certainly not with such reckless abandon.
Friday, December 18, 2009
FY 2009 Per Pupil Expenditures
Just out of curiosity, earlier in the week I pulled up the Georgia Department of Education web site to see if updated figures for per pupil expenditures had been posted. I was pleased to find that the numbers for FY 2009 were, in fact, there. The amounts for FY 2008 came out back in February, and I was not expecting the corresponding figures for the next fiscal year to be up just yet.
So, without further ado, let’s run the numbers. Insofar as Clarke County’s neighboring school districts were concerned, the per pupil expenditures for FY 2008 were:
Barrow County $7968.16
Commerce City $8692.96
Jackson County $10,279.22
Jefferson City $7738.37
Madison County $8942.75
Oconee County $8542.34
Oglethorpe County $8756.68
State Average $8965.24 (apparently revised from the $8967.83 posted last February)
For FY 2009, the per pupil expenditures were:
Barrow County $7987.92 (+0.25% from FY 2008)
Commerce City $8582.85 (-1.27% from FY 2008)
Jackson County $9689.45 (-5.74% from FY 2008)
Jefferson City $7592.71 (-1.88% from FY 2008)
Madison County $9037.65 (+1.06% from FY 2008)
Oconee County $8577.80 (+0.42% from FY 2008)
Oglethorpe County $8369.55 (-4.42% from FY 2008)
State Average $8895.28 (-0.78% from FY 2008)
Thus, the changes in per pupil expenditures for the school systems noted fell within a narrow band, some coming in a little lower and some a little higher (the percentage calculations are my own). Of course, with the drop in local and state tax revenues, this was to be expected.
But what about the Clarke County School District? Imagine my surprise to find that the revenue and expenditure entries for Clarke County merely read “Data not Reported by this District for this Fiscal Year.”
That being the case, I called the DOE’s Financial Review office over in Atlanta to see what was amiss. In response to my questions, I was told: that the CCSD got its information in late, but that such had been submitted and the revenue and expenditure reports on the state web site would be updated at some point (the Financial Review staff being busily at work of some quarterly report at present) and that it is the Financial Review folks who calculate per pupil expenditures based on the DOE’s FTE count and the expenditure data supplied by the CCSD (which is as I suspected).
As a point of reference, the CCSD’s per pupil expenditure for FY 2008 was $11,180.05. As an aside, I am glad to see that the CCSD has finally started using the most recent, not to mention easily verifiable, information for this figure as opposed to its past practice of employing dated and un-sourced figures. Readers may remember the minor debate concerning per pupil expenditures during the run-up to last year’s Board of Education elections (see here, here, and here).
I will post and comment on the CCSD’s per pupil expenditures for FY 2009 as soon as the information becomes available.
For what it is worth, Clarke County was one of only seven school systems (out of 185) for which revenue and expenditure information is not posted. There was only one such school system in 2008 and only two in 2007.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Fire Station No. 6 Still Vacant
Yesterday marked nine full months since that late-season snowstorm damaged the roof of Fire Station No. 6, located at the intersection of Olympic and Athena Drives. The facility is still vacant, is still enclosed by a chain-link fence, and still exhibits absolutely no indications whatsoever that it will be operational anytime within the foreseeable future.
Though we are busily contemplating redoing the streetscape around City Hall (didn’t we do that just a few years ago?), potentially spending far more for a new jail than necessary, pouring millions into the former bank building next to City Hall (which housed the bank’s operations just fine until a few months ago), flushing millions down the toilet on an unneeded Tennis Center, begging the General Assembly to allow the Unified Government to jack up taxes, and wanting to take even more property off of the tax digest, we apparently have no interest in funding a project that directly impacts public safety.
I have neither the time nor the inclination to rehash the details concerning the continuing saga that has been Fire Station No. 6. For that, readers may consult the Banner-Herald’s coverage of the issue here, here, and here. For what they are worth, my previous laments on the matter date from March, April, May, June, and July. Suffice it to say that money appears to be of little concern when we are talking about frivolous expenditures (and yes, I understand the legalities of SPLOST – which to my mind is just another reason to vote down the next iteration of it) but appears to be the sole determining factor when we are considering much more important ones.
Well into the holiday season, not a word regarding the repair or reconstruction of Fire Station No. 6 has appeared in the Banner-Herald, Flagpole, or on the Unified Government’s web site since the height of the summer. I daresay that if Fire Station No. 3, the Classic City’s own little Taj Mahal located in Five Points (complete with any number of different kinds of bricks and stone, ornamental iron work, and a clock tower no less), had to be closed for some reason or another, it would not remain so for a single day longer than required to get it back up and running – funding sources be damned.
The residents who live in that formerly unincorporated area of Clarke County, that area euphemistically termed the “general services district,” seem to be of lesser value than those located within the former city limits and, consequently, get the shaft yet again.
