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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Athens Symphony & Chorus Christmas Concerts

Christmas Concerts to be Presented December 12 and 13

The Athens Symphony will present its annual Christmas concerts featuring the Athens Symphony Chorus Saturday, December 12 at 8:00 p.m. and Sunday, December 13 at 3:00 p.m. at the Classic Center in Athens. This year, the symphony is partnering with the Salvation Army in collecting canned and other non-perishable foods to help feed Northeast Georgia families.

In addition to selections from Handel’s Messiah, the concerts will include J.S. Bach’s Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring; Franz Schubert’s Ave Maria; Dream Pantomime from “Hansel and Gretel” by Engelbert Humperdinck; and a variety of Christmas carols and medleys. As a grand finale, Conductor Albert F. Ligotti will lead the orchestra, chorus and audience in a sing along of holiday favorites.

“The Christmas concerts have become a tradition of holiday celebration for many Athens families,” said Ligotti. “I’m hopeful that the spirit of joy that we share through this music will be further shared through our drive for the Salvation Army.”

Symphony’s New Movement

The Athens Symphony is partnering with the Salvation Army to collect non-perishable food items for families in need this holiday season across Northeast Georgia. Audience members are encouraged to bring canned or boxed goods with them to the Classic Center to donate to the drive.

“We really wanted to give back to the community that has supported us for the last 32 years,” said Dr. Dick Hudson, president of the Athens Symphony. “We know that the need for these goods is particularly acute this year, and we’re proud to offer our audience an opportunity to get involved.”

Collection boxes will be placed outside the Classic Center all day December 12 and December 13. Audience members may drop off donations on their way to the concert, or any area residents who wish to contribute may drop items off with no concert ticket necessary. All goods collected will be donated to the Salvation Army.

A Most Wonderful Christmas

The programming for 2009’s Christmas concerts includes a variety of traditional and contemporary seasonal selections. “Just about everyone’s favorite is bound to be represented,” noted Ligotti. As in years past, selections from Handel’s Messiah will be featured, including the Overture, the Pastoral Symphony, and the majestic Hallelujah Chorus presented with the Athens Symphony Chorus.

The Hallelujah Chorus concludes Part Two of Handel’s most famous oratorio, describing the passion, death and resurrection of Christ. After composing this section, Handel is said to have exclaimed, “I did think I did see all Heaven before me, and the great God Himself!” Upon hearing one of the earliest performances of the Hallelujah Chorus, King George II spontaneously rose to his feet in a spirit of exaltation—a tradition repeated by audiences to this day.

Johann Sebastian Bach’s Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring and Franz Schubert’s Ave Maria, both devotional pieces characterized by their simple but universally stirring melodies, have become not only a staple of Christmas celebrations, but also familiar and beloved pieces in traditional wedding literature. The Dream Pantomime from “Hansel and Gretel” by German composer Engelbert Humperdinck is an all-orchestral movement from a full opera based on the fairy tell by the Brothers Grimm.

Following the intermission, the Christmas Concerts’ program moves from inspirational classical selections to contemporary Christmas pops selections and carols to include Joy to the World, Deck the Halls, God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, Good King Wenceslas, Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, The First Noel, Silent Night, Jingle Bells, O Come, All Ye Faithful, White Christmas and many more.

At the concert’s close, the audience will join the Athens Symphony Chorus in a Christmas carol sing along, forming a chorus of up to 2,000 voices in the hall of the Classic Center Theatre.

Admission to the Christmas concerts is free but tickets are required for entry, and will be available for pick up at the Classic Center Theatre Box Office beginning Monday, November 30 at 10:00 a.m.

The Christmas concerts feature the Athens Symphony Chorus, a group of volunteer singers including seasoned choir singers, enthusiastic amateur singers and former and current professional singers. Membership to the chorus is open to any adults over the age of 18 with the ability to read music.

Anyone interested in joining rehearsals for the Pops concerts this Spring may find more information at the Athens Symphony Orchestra’s web site and Facebook page. Those interested may also contact the Athens Symphony Orchestra by email or by calling (706) 425-4205.

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SecDef Robert Gates To Address UGA Commencement

Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates will address the University of Georgia’s fall undergraduate commencement ceremony, which takes place at 9:30 a.m. on Friday, 18 December, at Stegeman Coliseum. See the UGA announcement and the Banner-Herald article.

Note this from UGA:

Gates' talk is not open to the general public and, for the first time in years, UGA is requiring family members and friends to present tickets to get into the ceremony. The university is allotting six tickets to each eligible student. . . . The commencement speech will be broadcast live on Charter cable channel 15 and will be streamed live at www.uga.edu.

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Athens Symphony 2009-2010 Season

Season Opens November 15

The Athens Symphony will open its 32nd season with its Winter Concert, November 15, 2009 at 4:00 p.m. at the Classic Center in Athens. As a special twist to the annual concert, Conductor Albert F. Ligotti has put together an all-orchestral program featuring Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake Ballet Suite.

In addition, the concert will include Alexander Borodin’s Overture to Prince Igor; Franz Schubert’s Symphony No. 4 in C minor; and the Funeral March of a Marionette by Charles Gounod.

“It is a treat to present the music of the most famous ballet ever written to the Athens community,” said Ligotti. “It’s exciting to think of the possibility of potentially acquainting children and adults with this iconic masterpiece for the first time.”

Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake, commissioned in 1875 by Moscow Imperial Theatre director Vladimir Petrovich Begichev, was the first ballet ever set to the score of a symphonic composer. Based loosely on Johann Karl August Musäus’ “Der geraubte Schleier” (The Stolen Veil) and the Russian folktale “The White Duck,” Swan Lake is the tale of the beautiful Odette, cursed by the villain Von Rothbart to appear in the form of a swan during daylight hours, and her love Prince Siegfried, who is tricked into declaring Von Rothbart’s daughter Odile as his bride.

Ligotti has included a nod to fall in this season’s Winter Concert, with a piece by romantic composer Charles Gounod that’s perfectly suited for Halloween.

“Everyone knows the Funeral March of a Marionette as the theme song to Alfred Hitchcock Presents,” said Ligotti. “As soon as you hear it, you can just see Hitchcock’s shadow stepping into that drawing of his profile--it’s a really fun piece for the orchestra to play.”

Admission to the Winter concert is free but tickets are required for entry, and are currently available for pick up at the Classic Center Theatre Box Office. Tickets are provided on a first come, first served basis, so patrons are encouraged to secure theirs as early as possible.

Chorus looks to hit a High Note

This season, the Athens Symphony Chorus will again join the Athens Symphony Orchestra in presenting their annual Christmas and Pops concerts. The chorus is seeking singers of every voice type to join this November, as they begin preparing carols and selections from Handel’s Messiah for the Christmas concerts. “

The symphony’s Christmas concerts have become a staple of holiday celebration in the Athens area,” says Ligotti. “The Athens Symphony Chorus offers the opportunity for many people to get involved in this community tradition.”

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.

More information regarding this Sunday’s concert and a full schedule of chorus rehearsals may be found on the Athens Symphony Orchestra’s web site and Facebook page. Those interested may also contact the Athens Symphony Orchestra by email or by calling (706) 425-4205.

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