Atomictumor whines about things, read on!
March 30th, 2007 by Atomictumor
Last night, the Oak Ridge school board received next years budget prepared by Dr. Bailey, the superintendent, and it looks like its going to be a throwback to last years brouhaha which resulted in us putting bumper stickers all over town trying to protest the backwards nature of people determined to keep city expenditures low no matter what the cost is to the citizens of the town.
Last year, we bent over backwards trying to get people to recognize the simple fact that the reputation of the school system is a huge draw for people moving in, and gutting the schools is going to do some serious harm to the city. It came down that the biggest cut would be the busses, and thoughts of elementary school kids walking a mile to the schoolhouse through barking dogs, meth addicts, and the projects chilled me. I throught for sure we were going to have stories of some poor bastard of a 1st grader, run down by some high school kid on her cellphone, because neither of them could ride the bus.
But you know what? It never happened.
Well, several things never happened. While we got bumper stickers all over cars, we never had a chance to really bring the movement to a head, for various reasons. We were all busy. When the first day of school came and went, and then the 30th, we realized that hey, it sucks, but its working out.
We were still fiddling with it when GAC got sick, and it became utterly unimportant, and finally we ended up losing the website when the ‘tumor moved to its hew host, and I never bothered salvaging the stuff. If you hit the link to supportoakridgeschools.com now, you end up with a placeholder.
Whats the point, AT?
Well, the point is, its happening again. Drivers education classes are out the window apparently, according to Netmom, because of an unfunded mandate by the state requiring that the schools hire a “wellness coordinator” to make sure that Tennessee apparently won’t produce fat lazy kids anymore. Woot. Bring on the healthy, active kids who run over you while trying to get to that frisbee golf game.
But, I’ve been down that road before, and I don’t know that I’m entirely eager to drive down it again (no matter how much instructional training the kids may or may not have had), because I feel like no matter how hard you try, and no matter what you say, or how much sense you make, you’re still dealing with the same hard headed dumbasses who disagree with you just because they don’t have anything better to do.
Which is still a huge minority to the vast amounts of people who just don’t give a damn. They complain because they have to send the kids to school, and they say they want some more shopping in town, but they don’t think the city should build the place. Yes, somebody has told me that. And you know what? I didn’t have the patience to set her straight. The majority of people in this town will believe anything they’re told about local issues because they just don’t care about it. What happens in town, they figure, is not as important as what happens nationally, or on TV.
Maybe I’m just cynical in my dotage, or I just have a defeatist attitude, or didn’t eat my Wheaties this morning, but I’m sick of dealing with people who just don’t try to care.
Ironic, huh?
March 30th, 2007 at 9:41 am
Me too. I’m constantly amazed at how people can be so smart, but so uninformed about what’s going on right in their own town.
They may be able to name each of the 7 fired US Attorneys and talk about why they shouldn’t have been fired, but they don’t know there’s a budget problem, or they think the City is trying to build a shopping center.
Sigh.
March 30th, 2007 at 10:04 am
You could so be describing my Michigan town, where the community would rather decimate their newly built and state of the art library system than vote YES on a renewal of the libraries’ operating budget.
It would cost a homeowner of a $100,000 home (the average home in our area is $80,000) a whopping $45 per YEAR in taxes, but yet they voted no, shutting down the states oldest library and cutting staff by 3/4.
I just don’t get people. Not one bit.
March 30th, 2007 at 10:54 am
You could live in Oregon where we purposely try not to educate our children, provide them no arts, music or after school activities. Yes, you could live here. Wal-Mart got thrown out of town. The Willamette river is constantly getting sewage overspill in it. But, hey, we have a Starbucks on every corner. We have clearcut mountains where landslides are the name of the day. But don’t let that bother you while you drink your venti caramel machiatto every day.
March 30th, 2007 at 11:39 am
Or you could take your kids out of gov’t sponsored schools and home school them. This way they get all of the academics, music, art, driver’s ed and anything else you want to give them!
And none of these lazy, uninformed, money-hungry superintendants can do a thing about it! ;)
March 30th, 2007 at 11:52 am
FWIW, University City High School doesn’t have driver’s ed. We got our daughter private driving lessons. I can’t say that U City is any less safe for lack of a driver’s ed class, though it would have saved us a little dough.
My lovely and talented wife and I both took driver’s ed at ORHS. It was a nice perk, and cut our insurance a bit. Might even have made us better drivers. But there are places in the civilized world that don’t have driver’s ed as part of their public high school curriculum.
March 30th, 2007 at 1:12 pm
It’s true that many parents would pay for private driving school, but the problem is for the kids whose parents can’t afford it. As a public school class, the school system covers the cost for the economically disadvantaged students (31% here in Oak Ridge).
It isn’t always good for an insurance discount, either — Safeco now doubles the “good student discount” and doesn’t count driver’s ed at all.
March 30th, 2007 at 1:19 pm
i didn’t know there were “private” driving schools … i didn’t do driver’s ed. i did “big empty parking lot with my dad”.
March 30th, 2007 at 3:25 pm
“As a public school class, the school system covers the cost for the economically disadvantaged students (31% here in Oak Ridge).”
Uh, Netmom, University City High School is also a public school. I’ll bet at least 50-60% of the students at U City high are economically disadvantaged (it is 85% black).
I’ll bet that most parents in U City can’t afford (or won’t pay for) private lessons. I’ll bet the teenage accident rate in U City isn’t that different from Oak Ridge. Perhaps they amortized this at Safeco and that’s why these folks, who are in the business of making money, decided not to give a discount to driver’s ed grads in Oak Ridge.
Safeco isn’t the only insurance company in Missouri. When I lived in Oak Ridge, it wasn’t the only company then. Maybe things have changed, though.
March 30th, 2007 at 6:11 pm
I don’t like idle bitching. Ask Bos. It drives me batty. I just don’t think people make the connection that when you throw money at education that it is always a win and not a loss. You see, if you keep the little buggers in school then they are not smoking meth behind your house. I have yet to see a school system get very public and very personal about what it needs and what will happen if it does not get what it needs. I am not in OR — but from past vocations it is like the schools are really scared to advocate for themselves. Any parent that has got a kid in school needs to get pushy on this — any person that doesn’t have kids in the school system needs to realize that a strong education system keeps the kids off the streets and away from your Lexus or bass boat. People (I know I am generalizing — forgive me Joel) seem to think that they pay taxes for the services that they directly benifit from — sorry — you are also paying for services that you indirectly benifit from as well. Take the city jail for instance. Just because you have not been put in it does not mean you don’t benifit from it. I am sorry, you just can not convince me that you can put too much money into education — What about money for vital services? You know what — let vital services advocate for their money and let school do the same. In my liberal mind I guess I feel that education is a vital service and requires serious consideration for funding.
tg
March 30th, 2007 at 6:47 pm
It’s true, Timsan does get batty under such circumstances. In fact I don’t think he’s recovered from the last idle bitch fest.
Nobody ever said local politics were easy.
March 30th, 2007 at 7:09 pm
Uh, Timsan, I don’t think we disagree. I’m not opposed to driver’s ed at ORHS. I’m just sayin’ that there is a precident for a functional school system to not offer this particular class.
March 30th, 2007 at 7:32 pm
precident? No… oh no. Did we just witness the great and powerful one make a spelling error?
Ok, it’s most likely a typo. But still, a rarity. (precedent).
March 30th, 2007 at 7:39 pm
No I wasn’t saying that we were — I was just making sure to out myself making vast generalizations before anyone could correct me on it — =).
tg
March 30th, 2007 at 7:46 pm
“Did we just witness the great and powerful one make a spelling error?”
Perfection appears to be your cross to bear, Netmom.
March 30th, 2007 at 8:11 pm
But on this issue of Driver’s Ed — If you are talking about this state you are right it is pretty hit or miss. Now in Illinois — land of the free and all — a student can expect to have 4 fun filled years of Phys Ed (volley ball, kick ball, and dodgeball) and expect to commit a semester to Driver’s Ed unless their parents have something to say about it. We also had an underfunded band and strings program. I think we have to look at how we use the word precedent as a reason to fund or not to fund a program. — or even to start new ones or kill old ones. While driving does not fall in the three R’s it is a vocational skill like welding, shop, and cooking class. While we are a wonderful capitalist country that believes in private everything to solve all problems — most of use can not afford the price tag. So what is the big deal about Driver’s Ed? Yeah it cost money and increases the schools insurance premium — but it also equips students with a skill that is going to be pretty central to their work life after they graduate. Not all people can afford private driving school and not all parents have time to teach their kid to drive — heck, some parents don’t even have cars. The argument on accidents is neither here nor there. Kids, by their nature, will take risks because well we did it too. The divorce rate for Evangenical Christians is the same or higher than the pagans that stay home on Sunday. Some people have been taking that class (church) for more years than they have been married. But does that mean we should scrap church? Depends on who you are. My point is not political — I am just saying here is an institution that is geared to educate a population in a behavior yet for some reason the numbers are equal across the total population. Apples and oranges maybe — but I contend that a school sponcered driver’s ed program puts a valuble skill in the hands of the student that will benifit them years longer than a health game of dodgeball.
tg
March 30th, 2007 at 8:16 pm
“But does that mean we should scrap church?”
Sounds like something we could try. If it doesn’t work out after 5 or 10 years, we could always go back.
March 30th, 2007 at 8:22 pm
Bitch fest — no this isn’t a bitch fest. A bitch fest is when someone who is known for bitching engages in endless bitching at you and asks you retorical, self answering questions in a whinny tone of voice that are silently looking for affirmation for their point of view and it is repeated as many times as needed with no intention of addressing the real issue that is really them making a decision to do something that is entirely out of your control but you are in some way indirectly related to the situation or they have daddy/mommy issues.
tg
March 30th, 2007 at 8:31 pm
I see that I have dropped to 9th place in the total number of comments — I am slipping
March 31st, 2007 at 6:17 am
“Perfection appears to be your cross to bear, Netmom.” ROFLMAO
We’ll all have to remember that line Joel. You may have it directed at you soon.
March 31st, 2007 at 8:05 am
Sorry you didn’t think of it first, eh, daco?