REMEMBER THE KEYSTONE COP MOVIES

In those movies nothing went quite right. Move the picture to Saratoga Street in downtown Suffolk where a fine organization wants to expand and put a second floor on the old A & P store. An architect made proper drawings and work began. Then trouble intervened, something was not quite right which prompted second thoughts about a second story on an old less than seaworthy building. Worse, the front began to cave in and emergency measures were taken to prevent it collapsing on the street. Work stopped and we believe there were discussions about demolishing before someone got hurt. Ah, but the Historical Society has something to say about that if there is any historical significance connected to an ancient A & P. Strange that there was no report in this morning’s SNH. There is no way all those reporters and reporter-ettes failed to see the pile of destruction even if they came in the back door. Surely there will be a story and pictures.

FINALLY A CHARTER SCHOOL ????

It’s a chance for a failing school to become a Charter School. All the Elephant’s Fork Elementary School has to do is accept Federal Funds. The DEA is about to hand Virginia nearly $6,000,000 to turn around its lowest achieving schools. For Elephant Fork the deal comes with choices between hiring new personnel to closing it. A more sensible choice would be to become a Charter School.

"Elephant’s Fork is a Tier III school — meaning it has failed to meet adequate yearly progress under the No Child Left Behind program for two years, but has not been identified as a persistently low-achieving school. But it is about to be.

The SNH new article about this subject contained an error. Our candidate for the Shool Board, Debra Wahlstrom,Ph.D, has pressed the writer for a correction.

Elephant's Fork Elementary

Elephant’s Fork Elementary is a fully-accreditated school.  So you may be scratching your head wondering why in heck the school is on a list that designates it as one of the lowest performing schools in the state.  You read about it in the morning paper and something’s not making sense.  This post is for a very quick clarification about the targets our schools are expected to hit.

In the world of measuring how schools are doing – there are two DIFFERENT accountability programs to which our schools must answer.  The first target  is for accreditation purposes by the Virginia Department of Education.  This is the easiest of the two targets to hit because the pass rate is lower than that for the federal requirement, plus it ignores subgroup performance of students.  (Examples of subgroups are white students, black students, and low socioeconomic status.)  

The second target is for accountability purposes by the U.S. Department of Education.  Under federal law, schools must meet Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) for all students and select subgroups of students.  And these targets get higher and higher as each year goes by.

Elephant’s Fork hit the targets for Virginia accreditation, but did not hit all of the higher targets for accountability under the No Child Left Behind Act.  

Now here’s the interesting part.  When school districts accept money from the federal government, there is an expectation to keep an eye on accountability.  Yet keeping an eye on this is a silent issue in our district.  Effective school research clearly reminds us that looking at student achievement by subgroups is one of the measures to determine whether or not a school is high quality.  Even without No Child Left Behind assessments, this is data an effective school district would regularly review.

Let’s call for leadership to tighten up on looking at the achievement of subgroups to determine whether or not each and every school in the district – and the district itself – has learning for all.  In the case of Elephant’s Fork Elementary, we need to ensure that the school has the aligned resources needed (not additional money) to help all students achieve at the highest level possible.

By the way, the school district also did not make AYP.

Does our community want our schools and district to make AYP?

IF TRUE THERE WILL BE A RIOT

The story making rounds today is that Obama has plans to honor Jane Fonda. It would not surprise too many if they but consider his other recent radical accomplishments. If you think of the wounds such an action would reopen you hope, as we do, it is not true. Jane Fonda was and still is detested by anyone connected to the war in Vietnam and veterans still want her to do time as a traitor. Maybe you have an opinion of her activity back in that sad military history. The loose lip slip of a girl caused hatred and anguish that most survivors of that war cannot forget.

VERY SCARY AT BEST

About a year ago the national media reported that Chrysler had created the list of Chrysler dealerships to be closed. But the Washington Examiner, Newsmax, Fox News and a host of other news agencies discovered that the list was put together by the "Automotive Task Force" an Obama czar, Steve Rattner, and the plot thickened. Many thought that there was neither rhyme nor reason why certain dealerships were closed. But there is a very obvious pattern as to who was closed and May 27, 2009, the Washington Examiner and Newsmax exposed the connection...of the 789 dealerships closed by the federal government, all but one had donated money exclusively to Republican political causes and nothing to Democratic political causes. The only "Democratic" dealership on the “close” list was found to have donated $7,700 to Hillary's campaign, $2,000 to John Edwards but, reportedly, only $200 to Obama's campaign. The perception might be that the president has the power to destroy private businesses and eliminate upwards of 100,000 jobs just because they don't agree with his political agenda. By the way, Rattner is under investigation for a multi-million dollar pay-to-play investment bank scandal in New York. It is likely there will be further investigation when the right people find the courage to explore. Snopes claims the list was created before Obama became president but there are still some funny connected smells.

Submitted by an ”IS” reader.

No New School Yet

In March 2010, the Planning Commission denied the request of Suffolk Public Schools to build a school on Copeland Road.  This was likely NOT a surprise to the School Board as staff members with the City of Suffolk had already determined that the school site to “be inconsistent with the policies for siting and location for schools as stipulated in the 2026 Comprehensive Plan.”

Additionally, it should have been no surprise that Council upheld the decision of the Planning Commission since the project is not consistent with the Comprehensive Plan.  In my dealings with staff in the planning office, one of the things I have learned is that there is a focus on ensuring that projects are aligned and compatible with the Plan.  I also learned that there is much discussion for as much time as is needed to work the details of a project with city staff, who also share the recommendations that will be made to the Planning Commission and the Council.  District staff likely knew that the project did not match the Comprehensive Plan but allowed its submittal anyway.

Why would the Board submit a project that did not fully meet the Plan’s requirements?  Why waste everyone’s time and energies?  Am I missing something?

FUNNY BOOKS OR S.O.P.

Recently the City Mothers patted their backs for masterfully concocting a budget that brought smiles to those not laid off, and to all of us because it was not necessary to raise the tax rate. Many, including me, wondered why our assessments remained the same while one neighbor assessed $100,000 less. One item not in the budget, nowhere in the budget in any form, was an eight million dollar windfall that should at least have been noted, eight million that had it been paid out would have severely affected the budget and all of us. .

The budget looked good to those New York bond-rating agencies that determine our interest rates to borrow. Would it have made a difference if they knew we were relieved of paying the eight million? Surely there should be some column in the budget referring to such a large amount of money. One citizen asked how our auditors handled the eight million “non-transaction” but got no answer. Maybe you have one…here’s what resulted in the windfall. SPSA charges its members $170 per ton of trash taken to the Suffolk landfill. We pay nothing. During June of 2009 we deposited 5,472 tons at “no cost to us” of $930,240. That month times 12 is over eleven dollars...we are using eight. If the agreement terminates as it is supposed to do in 2018 our City Mothers will get very serious about it then becoming a very frightening budget item. So why not now?

IS THE SYSTEM AT FAULT

From the SNH, an opinion piece by a concerned parent whose imperfect child, her words, is failing yet she hears nothing from the teachers or administration. She is referring to the Kings Fork High School, our most expensive palace of learning. The parent states she supplied the school authorities with five telephone numbers and an address but the so-called Parent Connection system is not working. Seems a bit late in the school year but the parent asks why a teacher constantly put failing grades into a computer and never felt the need to contact the parent? She reportedly stated, “I refuse to let my child become an educational casualty. So I wrote the school administration and some of the School Board members. Have I received an answer about my concerns? No."

We can understand her frustration with school authorities and system of reporting grades if her case is stated correctly. Perhaps Dr. Liverman or the Board is considering a reply.

SO GET OUT OF THE MIDDLE CLASS

Kudos for candor to Paul Volcker, the former Federal Reserve Chairman and current White House economic adviser, for admitting what other Democrats also know but don't want to admit until after the November election: The political class is preparing to pass a European-style value-added tax.

Answering a question at the New York Historical Society on Tuesday, Mr. Volcker said that a VAT—a consumption tax levied along stages of production—"was not as toxic an idea" as it has been, and that both a VAT and some kind of tax on energy need to be on the table. "If at the end of the day we need to raise taxes, we should raise taxes," he said.

We've long predicted that this would be the White House fiscal strategy, and its new deficit commission is bound to propose something along these lines. In Europe, a VAT rate that reaches 20% in some countries applies to countless products and services, so the middle class would be hit especially hard.

SHE IS RIGHT ON THE MARK

The reason nearly everyone in the universe has a cell phone is that President Reagan did to telephones the exact opposite of what the Democrats have just done with health care. Before Reagan came into office, we had one phone company, ridiculously expensive rates and one phone model. Reagan split up AT&T, deregulated phone service and gave America a competitive market in phones. The rest is history. If you can grasp how inexpensive cell phones in a rainbow of colors and wonders like the iPhone could never have been created under a National Cell Phone Reform Act, you can understand what a disaster ObamaCare is going to be for health care in America." --columnist Ann Coulter

HOPEFULLY THIS IS AN EXAGGERATION

This is how some picture the new Health Care plan will be because of a sudden shortage of doctors when millions more are "forced" or free to join the system regardless of physical condition. Forget the additional costs, imagine a life insurance company being forced to absorb clients regardless of health or occupation. Both concepts are absurd and all but encourage people to be less concerned about their health. Forcing insurance companies to accommodate this stupidity merely means the insured, even those who strive to be fit, will pay extra to cover this folly. Now add to the doctor's pain that they will get less from Medicare.

YEAH, WHAT DO WE NEED THEM FOR?

Text from the Wizard Of Id:

OBAMA: Elect me and I promise you free health care, free housing, free clothing, Food Stamps, and jobs for everybody.

POTENTIAL VOTER: What do we need the jobs for?

12% RESPONSE MAKES IT OFFICIAL

From the SNH

This is the second occasion the school system conducted the biennial survey. In 2007, only 910 parents of the 13,029 students responded to the survey. This year, 1,505 parents responded.

In both years, elementary parents were more satisfied than middle school parents, and middle school parents were more satisfied than high school parents.

Notices were sent home to parents on Nov. 30 asking them to give their input on what they think about their children’s education. All responses were anonymous.

The survey is designed to gauge the level of “customer service” that the school system provides, along with the level of satisfaction among parents, school officials said.

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YOU THINK WE ARE OUT OF OIL

Hidden 1,000 feet beneath the surface of the Rocky Mountains lies the largest untapped oil reserve in the world. It is more than 2 TRILLION barrels. On August 8, 2005 President Bush mandated its extraction. In three and a half years of high oil prices none has been extracted. With this motherload of oil why are we still fighting over off-shore drilling?

They reported this stunning news: We have more oil inside our borders, than all the other proven reserves on earth. Here are the official estimates:

- 8-times as much oil as Saudi Arabia
- 18-times as much oil as Iraq
- 21-times as much oil as Kuwait
- 22-times as much oil as Iran
- 500-times as much oil as Yemen
- and it's all right here in the Western United States .
HOW can this BE? HOW can we NOT BE extracting this? Because the environmentalists and others have blocked all efforts to help America become independent of foreign oil! Again, we are letting a small group of people dictate our lives and our economy....WHY?
James Bartis, lead researcher with the study says we've got more oil in this very compact area than the entire Middle East -more than 2 TRILLION barrels untapped. That's more than all the proven oil reserves of crude oil in the world today, reports The Denver Post.

And this w.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=1911 OR just type in google

Rocky Mountain Oil Reserves And you are paying $2.63 per gallon

A FRIGHTENING THOUGHT

Can one doctor refuse your business because you voted for Obama? This one does. What if all doctors were to decline business based upon that sort of reasoning? But it could be that doctor's will suffer lower incomes either way; less income from Medicare/medicaid, or turning away liberals patients.