Atomictumor

According to Morgan Quitno Press, that paragon of surveying goodness, Tennessee is the 30th smartest state in the union.  We have moved up 11 spots, which is the best improvement in the country.

I guess I should qualify this by saying that the factors involve the public education system in the state…

Wheres the haiku man?
Seriously, wheres the haiku?
Nobody wrote it.

Public city schools in Cleveland, Ohio are initiating a program to teach age-appropriate sex ed to all students, K-12.  The classes will, of course, teach biological aspects of sex ed, but will also include lessons on self-esteem and peer pressure.

K-3rd grade will discuss topics such as how a virus works and appropriate vs. unappropriate touching.  4th-6th grades will learn about menstruation and reproductive health, while 7th-12th graders will learn about interpersonal relationships and STDs.

These classes are the result of high teen pregnancy rates as well as alarmingly high rates of STDs.

It’s this sort of progressive, pro-active teaching that I’m such an advocate of.  I wish this were the norm instead of surprising and news-worthy.

The Oak Ridger reported yesterday that City Manager Jim O’Connor sent an email out to the School Board to have a pow-wow over how the school board does the budget. 

What  hasn’t been commonly reported (other than here, and Netmoms site, and a few other places not afraid of working off the record) is that back in August, Jim-boy met with Mayor Bradshaw, Superintendant Bailey, and School Board Chief John Smith Jr. to discuss the matter, directing them not to make a big thing out of the budget this year like they did last year.  It was advised that they stop giving teachers raises (Oak Ridge has done a great job keeping teachers, who get raises on a periodic scale, so because we have a lot that have been around for years and years, we pay em more.  Circle of life), or put the can on a few teaching jobs, in order to make the budget work in a media friendly way, and prevent people from being voted off the council this coming year.

Wait, hold on.  I told myself that this wouldn’t be a one vs. the other kinda post, and that I’d be fair and balanced, just like Rupert.  Why, Atomictumor WHY, do you always have to dig at the Council!  You’re such a closed minded, liberal bastard, and I think your opinions are petty and simple. 

Sorry about that.

As I was saying, Jimjam wants to have the board and the council meet, sort of a West Side Story with pizazz.  They’ll snap fingers at each other, and sing songs about how one side doesn’t know how to use the other sides money, but I don’t think there’ll be a knife fight. 

There certainly will be some wondering how the City Council expects the school board to have a very meaningful dialogue vis a vis this years budget when they don’t expect to have any thing close to the numbers and expenses required to make a budget for another few months.  Hmm. 

I’d be interested in seeing what happens at this meeting.  I want to see if everybody involved is going to be involved for the best of Oak Ridge, or if they’re going to be involved to try to make themselves look good.  I don’t see why they necessarilly have to be exclusive, but thats why I’m not in politics.  I’m a gadfly, remember?

Finally, what really got me thinking about this matter is the discussion (I didn’t see the meeting, myself) during the meeting asking if Oak Ridge really wants to commit to excellence in the school system.  The word “complacent” came up, which I think is a very interesting word to use in the situation. 

Is Oak Ridge complacent about the schools?  Do Oak Ridge citizens, in 2006, really care if they have the best school system in the state/country/county/whatever?  Where are the priorities there?

Well, according to our little very, very, highly informal poll on the website, the schools aren’t much of a priority compared to general housekeeping, like bringing in business, or repairing blighted neighborhoods.  Should we deal with the city as a whole, get something put in that albatross of a mall downtown, get some decent businesses in town, fix up shitty parts of town, and come back to the schools in a few years?

We’d only be sacrificing the education of some of the kids? 

Man, things have gotten boring in Oak Ridge.  Seemed like back in the summer I didn’t have enough time to write about stuff going on around here, but nothings a-going now.

Updates on stuff:

Monty Koons thing: Yeah, we haven’t heard about that in a while.  Word around the campfire, tho, is that he asked his assistant to apply for his job, figuring that he won’t be in it much more.  Unfortunately, as is so often about the campfire, you hear things that may mean squat.  Anyhow, this probably isn’t (unfortunately) over.

We’ll see.  We’ve had people stopping by here recently touting both sides of the story, that he was a great teacher who wouldn’t do this kinda stuff, and that he was a perv.  My opinion of him is based solely on the letter to the editor he wrote denouncing Stuart and Agle in the Observer in the fall, which seems to me that he’s either

a) sucking up to Beauchamp and his family (for whatever reason)
b) A sap

But, I don’t know the guy, and this stuff probably doesn’t have anything to do with the case at hand.  Thats it.

Beauchamp:  Whats up with his anti-blogger lawsuit?  He’s still a dick for dropping a libel lawsuit on a website with public documents.

However, his probation days are over, although he still holds the buildings and grounds position (although he has a John that mows the yard).

Court moving from Oak Ridge to Clinton: Netmom is all worked up on this, but I can’t really bring myself to give much of a crap.  The court room in Oak Ridge is really, really crappy.  I was there for my speeding ticket a few months ago, and was floored by the crummy fake wood vineer all scratched up, the stained carpet, and the general gloom of the place.

Notwithstanding the fact that the only security there is the baliff that looks a lot like Bull from Night Court, and I can see where Murch is coming from.  Sorry NM, I’m just not with you.

Election 06: Is still for suckers.  The Observer had a nice list of endorsements which completely matched mine, with the exception that while I was leaning for Corker, technically my endorsement is to write in a candidate.  They seem to have hope, tho, that Corker will be a principled candidate who will not cling to party coattails in Washington.  That’d be great, and he seems like the type of guy who’d have those kind of principals, but dammit, I’ve been burned by the Republican Party too much in the past 7 years to want to hand those bastards a seat.

Bring it on people.  What do you say?