Get Schooled

By jim d

September 6, 2006 10:08 AM | Link to this

You’d think with all the studies that have been done and the fact that these folks are suppose to be educated enough to be able to read, they’d have figured out bigger schools aren’t better. To the contrary, smaller schools are.

Once again our educrats are proving “ya just can’t fix stupid”

By Janine

September 6, 2006 10:21 AM | Link to this

AMEN jimd There was even one study done years ago that studied 2 schools in California. One was huge and had all the bells and whistles..the other was small and had only books, chalkboard, desks, bare essentials. Guess who did better…Right again!! the itty bitty one. THere was also some research showing that students learned to read faster and understood what they read better using the old time McGuffie readers.Each of the lessons in McGuffie readers have a moral..

By Janine

September 6, 2006 10:33 AM | Link to this

But..as everyone knows, one cah find research to support any position….and Educrats make the huge mistake my statistics professor warned us of…..His caveat: Don’t ever make the mistake of thinking that Correlation MEANS Causation!

By jim d

September 6, 2006 10:39 AM | Link to this

I love it! Mind if I use that one in the future?

By Janine

September 6, 2006 10:43 AM | Link to this

jimd Not at all…it’s always been one of my favorites!

By JustMe

September 6, 2006 11:55 AM | Link to this

I agree that bigger does not mean better. However, I want to point out some things about the flip side of the coin….

It is less expensive to the tax payers to build one large building/facilities rather than two (or more). We all scream for less taxes and yet when a proposal surfaces to provide an opportunity for less taxes, we balk at it?

Having one large building also means economy of facilities such as supplies. For example, you can purchase one set of science lab stuff for the one building rather than two sets for two buildings, and so on.

And, the “educrats” are trying everything possible to respond to the public outcry to improve education. Since they have seemingly tried everything else, all that is left is to build these ultra-expensive, highly furnished schools. By doing this, then the media and general public cannot claim that the “educrats” didn’t try everything. Otherwise, it would be a no win situation for them.

They don’t build it and the public complains. They build it and the public complains. What would you do?

By MMM

September 6, 2006 12:16 PM | Link to this

These stories always make me sick with envy.

My charter school only exists because two Churches have decided to share space with us.

I know my kids are better off housed in trailers with their program, but it is so frustrating to know that all that money goes to others and we must beg because the law is written to deny facilites or food, transportion, and administration money to start-up charter schools. So we must beg enough to get to parity—then beg more to do those special things that we had to commit to doing extra in order to even be considered for a charter to begin with.

By Jim in Marietta

September 6, 2006 12:34 PM | Link to this

Less windows and more barbed wire.

By Ernest

September 6, 2006 12:52 PM | Link to this

JustMe, you nailed it on the head! I’d love my children to attend a neighborhood ES with a building capacity of 400-500. However because there was not a master plan for neighborhood/community developments from our commissioners, it makes ‘business’ sense to build elementary schools for 900-1000. It costs between 12-18 million to build an ES, based on where you live. You also need the land to build them on, at least 10 acres. Kinda hard to come by both these days….

By V for Vendetta

September 6, 2006 01:02 PM | Link to this

Wow, yet another way to waste hard-earned taxpayer money. That’s right up there with all the computers Cobb and Gwinnett have bought over the years. Why are we funding/allowing this kind of rampant spending stupidity? I mean, ultimately it is our money.

Still, in GA this will seem like a good idea because we throw the kitchen sink at our problems. Bigger schools, well, why not!? Only a technologically advanced school will do! Tearing out the kitchen sink and throwing it at the problem only creates a water-spewing hole in the wall, not an answer.

By E for Educate

September 6, 2006 01:26 PM | Link to this

Just remember that part of the money is for furnishing the building and making it technology-advanced. Most Forsyth Co Schools have “smartboards” and such, which is a huge plus for students. Plus, this school she is referring to will also house a Tech Dept that rivals a college (media, beautician, nursing) and that costs also! Bigger is not the reason why as in student population - but safer, advanced and ahead of its time.

By Renae

September 6, 2006 01:48 PM | Link to this

We can barely get the basic supplies in the classrooms, and we can spend over sixty million dollas on a building?? It just dont add up.I rather have a increase in pay!!

By jim d

September 6, 2006 01:51 PM | Link to this

OMG, justme,

“They don’t build it and the public complains. They build it and the public complains. What would you do?”

Gee, I don’t know, but bet I could come up with something.

The first death knell sounded when Kroger built a bigger store and moved. Then Target closed. Eckerd Drugs went dark. Tenants in smaller shops abandoned the site. Property managers convinced MacFrugals (now Big Lots) and AutoZone to rent space, but the stores had trouble making their numbers.

Like an unwanted, creeping fungus, retail blight has infected even relatively prosperous areas of suburban Atlanta as retailers seek new space, consolidate or go out of business. This particular saga occurred at Gwinnett Crossing on the corner of Jimmy Carter Boulevard and U.S. 29.

All of metro Atlanta’s core counties are faced with retail blight in the older suburban areas,

Noro Management officials say the Stone Mountain Festival on U.S. 78 and West Park Place has lost close to half its value since it opened 13 years ago. Winn-Dixie closed several years ago. Uptons went out of business. The cinema is dark.

By Melody

September 6, 2006 01:53 PM | Link to this

Sometimes we cant get the basic supplies in the classrooms, but you can spend over 60 millions dollars own a buiding, can i get a pay increase instead!!

By Janine

September 6, 2006 02:35 PM | Link to this

Forsyth isn’t the only county robbing Peter to pay Paul [so to speak]…I have pictures of a teacher in Dekalb holding an umbrella over her head while demonstrating a math solution on the overhead projector….a custodian was mopping as she taught. There were so many leaks in my school! The one in my room caused mold to grow all over the ceiling and after months of dripping into a huge barrel smelled so horrible. I, of course, complained daily to no avail. So I got one of my students to have her parent call the county about the mold and the smell. The next day they had me trade rooms with the in-house room. Guess they thought it was okay to have them breathe in that mold!

By Janine

September 6, 2006 02:36 PM | Link to this

Oh…I left the school last year and my colleagues there tell me the leak is still there!!!

By Lisa B.

September 6, 2006 03:23 PM | Link to this

In a nearby South Georgia school system, the schools have state-of-the-art equipment AND remain small. Four or five small high schools take the place of one mega high school. The test score still aren’t perfect, but the smaller schools seem to work much better for the students.

By Pamela

September 6, 2006 04:51 PM | Link to this

I would like AJC to look into the racist issue within the Paulding County School bus driving system with bus drivers being racist towards the African American Children since last year I’ve been having a problem with this one bus driver in paulding county Bus 1096 driver name Geri. I ned help to assist me in what I can do to expose them

By Ernie Logman

September 6, 2006 05:45 PM | Link to this

Memo: to all of you folks who moved to Forsyth to get away from Fulton County taxes are soon going to be paying as much or more

Keep building those “state of the Art” schools

By catlady

September 7, 2006 12:47 PM | Link to this

We either pay for education from the front end (smaller schools, etc.) or through the back end (drop outs, teen parents, etc). Especially in areas that are not upper class, we should have small, personal schools.

By Lee

September 7, 2006 05:05 PM | Link to this

Is $65 million too much? I don’t know. Sorta like how much does a 3 bedroom house cost. Answer, it depends…

What I would like to see is a comparison of the cost per square foot of classroom space. Maybe they are getting a lot of classrooms for that $65mm.

Few years ago, my semi-rural hometown spent about $28mm for a new high school. They planned to renovate the old hs and move the middle school into it. Problem is, they waited too long to re-occupy the old hs and would have to bring it up to modern codes. They wound up selling the old school for pennies on the dollar and are now having to build a new middle school.

$28 million and they gained about 10 classrooms.

But hey, we got a new football stadium, new track, new tennis courts, new baseball fields, new weight room, new batting cages, etc. etc. At least the Athletic Booster Club is happy….

By OldSchool

September 8, 2006 10:33 AM | Link to this

(with tongue firmly in cheek!)

Bells and whistles are nice but with the writing section of the SAT done with pencil and paper, wouldn’t it be better to have facilities designed for that instead of all this computer stuff? I mean, education should be all about only 2 things: 1. doing well on the SAT and 2. football. All else is evidently fluff.

High tech pencil and paper labs with scholars assigned to spellcheck/grammar check the students’ work and craftsmen available to sharpen those pencils would insure success and everybody gets to go to ivy league schools.

Let’s build domes over the football stadiums while we’re at it so no games are cancelled due to rain or hot weather and everybody gets his chance at the pros.

Now THAT’s education!