An open invitation to my local school system and government

Tax hike alert!

Johnston County property owners are about to take it on the chin again. I have no frickin' idea how construction costs can suddenly go up by 50%, but I do believe we are getting hosed. Now we are going to pay for it. Thanks, Johnston County. My taxes are about to go up yet again. I just got an increase in property taxes two years in a row from Selma. My electricity bill just went up 11% or so. My trash collection just went up another $2 a month. Now our property taxes for the county are about to go up because of a school being built with 50% cost over runs. Thanks. From WTSB's news page:

$30 Million Loan Will Pay For New Cleveland High School
Johnston County Commissioners have agreed to borrow $30 million to pay for a new Cleveland High School. However, in borrowing the money, the county can’t rule out a possible property tax increase to cover the debt. Higher costs for steel and petroleum products have pushed prices way up for proposed high schools in Cleveland and Corinth Holders. Voters had approved $60 million in a 2007 school bond referendum to pay for both schools at a price tag of $30 million each. However, construction cost estimates have risen to about $45 million for each school. By shifting most of the money from the bond to the Corinth Holders project and borrowing $30 million for the Cleveland High, both schools can be built and opened by the fall of 2011. But it could come with as much as a three cents tax increase. “Certain financial models show the possibility of that,” County Manager Rick Hester told WTSB, “but in the past we have been fortunate enough to absorb that, and we hope to do that this time.” The County will borrow $30 million from First Citizens Bank at 4.14 percent and repay the note over a 19-year period. Commissioners hope to use lottery funds to make the annual payments, however the county’s proceeds from the state lottery vary each year. Commissioners unanimously approved the loan with Commissioner Jeff Carver recusing himself due to being a board member of First Citizens Bank.

Welkum too edukashun n da Yoonited Statz uv Amerika

When the Selma Elementary School instituted a dress code, I pretty much supported the idea. Even when I was in elementary and high school, there was an expectation of appropriate attire. As I look back at old school pictures, I marvel at the clothes we wore, although they were not as risque as outfits often are today. They were funky looking clothes, but it was, after all, the 1970's. I still chide my mother for dressing me in such weird clothes whenever we look over a photo album together. In high school, I grew up in an area where flannel button shirts, blue jeans, and work boots were normal attire for a large portion of the school year. We wore Buck knives in leather holsters on our hips (just like in "The Dukes of Hazzard") to school every day and never thought anything of it, nor did the school administrators. A Buck knife was seen as a necessary tool, not a weapon. Anyway, rabbit trail aside, I supported the school dress code until recently.

As I had written previously, I have been active in the life of a boy who is now five and about to enter kindergarten. In a couple of months, this boy will become my step-son, so I have an active interest in his success at school and getting him prepared for it. His grandmother took him shopping for some clothes, but you don't generally find school uniforms at Macy's. I took him and his mother to Target last weekend to buy the requisite school clothes and supplies we would need. After all, the school system was kind enough to post the uniform code and school supply list on the internet for us to find (after hunting down the information by surfing a while).

Like I said, I was all for a school dress code. I believe in modest apparel. What I found, however, was that clothes that should be perfectly acceptable by public standards are not necessarily so for school uniforms. The real trick was finding clothing for winter while still in August, of which we found nothing but a few pairs of pants that met the criteria. We did find some polo or golf type shirts. The real problem was finding them in solid colors with no brand logo on them, and in the appropriate size 5. The boy already had some nice, appropriate shirts in his closet, but they had stripes and a Polo logo. Those shirts are plenty nice for church, but not for sending a tot to kindergarten, apparently. We can buy solid shirts in orange, red, blue, purple, black, white, or whatever color we want, but they can not have logos, pockets, or stripes. If the school REALLY was shooting for a school uniform, one style of shirt of one color should be required, but I digress.

For pants, a good looking pair of corduroys or nice, new blue jeans are taboo. Wow, that would have shot my whole school career attire down, except for the bell bottom hound's tooth or plaid pants my mother used to buy me, along with white patent leather belt. I do find the requirement for cotton twill only to be a bit excessive. We are talking about 5 to 10 year olds, not teenagers. For kindergarteners, we are talking about children who just recently learned to wipe themselves after using the bathroom, may have just learned to tie their shoes, and have recently gotten used to the use of forks. They may still often use "sippy cups". Maybe my future step-son is the "Messy Marvin" of his day (wow, that is dating me a bit), but there is extensive clean up after each meal. He play rough with me, his toys, and my dog, so I am dubious about not putting the lad in denim to go to school.

I am not disturbed so much by the cost of adhering to the dress code, though. I would have to buy him new clothes anyway, since he has grown like a weed just since I first got to know him late last year. We did find some $5 polo shirts and $10 pants. It was the exclusivity without adherence to a true uniform standard that sort of annoyed me.

Here is what DID annoy me...the school supply list. Parents are expected to purchase an entire shopping list of materials and simply turn them over to the school at the time of a parental conference. We are expected to furnish brand name crayons, markers, scissors, baby wipes, paper towels, hand sanitizer, Ziploc bags, tissues, dry erase markers, napkins, highlighter markers, index cards, and more. We are not supposed to put the child's name on anything except his change of clothes and his book bag.

I am sorry, but the last time I looked, we still live in America, not the former USSR. Furthermore, I just got my Johnston County property tax bill this week and I am wondering why I am paying all that money in taxes, the school system keeps asking for more money, we constantly are having school bond referendums, and I am being asked to supply basic classroom materials. Does the school not have a janitor? Do they not have cases of paper towels somewhere in that building? Are the teachers not supplied with dry erase markers to write on their boards? Chalk was used in my day, right through college and that worked fine, but I can understand using dry erase boards now. But still, the school system, with all the millions of dollars we are paying in taxes for their operation, should be furnishing something as basic as paper towels. If the school can not afford the materials, I am sure we can afford enough dry erase markers for the entire school system by cutting Superintendent Parker's salary to a reasonable level for what he does for a living. I will do the same job only better for half of what he makes. That is an official offer to the Johnston County Board of Education, by the way. If not that, then one less assistant principal at the elementary school would furnish all the paper towels we would ever need.

Why I mention the USSR is that by confiscating the materials that we are furnishing for the classroom as a whole, we are teaching communism. When I was in kindergarten, all I had to show up with was my daily lunch and/or snack. The rest was taken care of by the school system, which was much smaller than that of Johnston County with a much smaller budget and much older facilities. Furthermore, we learned. We did not have issues in which we did not pass mandates for performance. As a matter of fact, the state where I grew up used to consistently score in the top of the national SAT averages while having the lowest per capita state expenditure per student for education in the country. Thus, I know that education is not a matter of dollars and materials can be furnished for said education.

Sure, when I got older, I had to furnish my own book covers, but an old paper bag from a shopping trip to the A&P did fine. I furnished my own notebooks eventually, but they were MY notebooks for my use alone. By taking the crayons that I purchase and pooling them with that of others, we are employing a communist system. I was told by the office staff that 60% of the students at Selma Elementary are Hispanic and from families in which English is not the primary language. If Jose and Maria can not afford to buy a 27 cent box of Crayolas, that is their problem. It is not my responsibility to furnish their children with crayons, markers, glue, and paper towels. I bought the crayons, so I know how much they cost. I bought my boy some pencils with his name on them some time ago. I surmise that he will not be able to use them at school, since not all children are so named. We are supposed to protect the self esteem of some illegal immigrant children or even some poor family's kids by furnishing them with Crayolas? All this redistribution of school supply wealth has got to be all one big joke, right? That is liberal academia social engineering with lower educational results for you.

First, I am ticked that the schools are not furnishing these supplies after we are constantly being asked to "pony up" an ever increasing amount of tax dollars for their operation. Then I am extremely annoyed that our children are being taught communisitic principles for politically correct reasons. If you can not afford a trip to Wal-Mart or the dollar store for your child to bring his/her own supplies and not take from others, then I suggest that you forgo that next DVD purchase, 12 pack of beer, tattoo addition, or carton of cigarettes and buy some 22 cent glue sticks and crayons (at least the non big named crayons were 22 cents, but the school specifically requested the five cent higher Crayola brand). Better yet, let the school system slash its over bloated bureaucracy and maybe we could afford to buy the needed supplies instead of double taxing us by demanding a grocery list of supplies before the first day of school. It gets better, though. We were informed that we will be furnished an additional supply list later. Doggone communists of academia. I miss America.

Prove you need it and are using wisely what we already give you FIRST!

Why do we as citizens allow for such flagrant wasteful spending? If we did not allow illegal aliens in our schools, we would not have the need for more buildings, teachers, staggered openings, double bus routes, and increased budgets. But, I digress. When have we ever had a budget stay the same, much less decrease? It has not happened. I am sure that there is no "zero based" budgeting going on. It is sheer laziness to simply add a percentage figure to the budget from the previous year and submit it. A $5.3 million hike is nothing tiny in a county of 140,000 people or so. Show me that the money is being used efficiently and I will consider supporting the 10.5% increase. Doubtful, though.

From WTSB's news page:

Superintendent Unveils $56.3 Million Budget Proposal
Superintendent Dr. Anthony Parker presented members of the Johnston County School Board a proposed $56.3 million budget for the 2008-09 school year. The budget of $56,337,443 is up about 10.5 percent or $5.3 million over the current fiscal year spending plan. By state law, the budget must be passed and presented to county commissioners by May 15. School officials plan to hold a budget work session before that day. School Board Chairman Kay Carroll said, "I am pleased that we only had an increase of 10.5 percent. Dr. Parker said the two major money issues looming over the board are overcrowding, mainly because of growth in western Johnston County, and the need to increase teacher supplements to remain competitive with more wealthy school districts in the Triangle."

Once again, Bob Etheridge ignores the Constitution

This is why I refuse to vote for Bob Etheridge. He (and most of Congress) acts like he has never read the U.S. Constitution. He has filed a bill to give more money to public schools under the guise of homeland security. Allegedly, the bill will fund improved security at schools, as if that was the federal government's job. It is the LOCAL government's job to secure schools run by local governments. If the feds would stop making schools gun free zones and allow teachers and staff to possess concealed firearms, much of the gun violence would stop. Instead, people continue to pour money down a chasm of never ending futile efforts to stop evil people from being evil.

From WTSB's news site:

Ethridge To Introduce Bill To Help Schools With Security Needs
U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge (D-Lillington), the only N.C. member of the Homeland Security Committee, has announced that he will introduce a comprehensive bill to improve federal efforts to help schools with their security needs. The legislation follows a multi-year effort to gather information from N.C. stakeholders about their school security needs. “Homeland security begins with hometown security, and federal support for local emergency preparedness and response makes our entire nation more secure,” said Etheridge. “Children spend the majority of their daylight hours in school, but schools are often overlooked when considering emergency preparedness and first responder needs. Given recent events at schools across the country, we as a nation simply must invest in emergency planning to ensure our children have safe and secure places to learn.” The Schools Empowered to Respond Act will provide increased federal guidance and access to resources to schools in developing and implementing their emergency response and preparedness plans. It will create a one-stop shop within the Department of Homeland Security to coordinate the department’s school security efforts and provide best practices for schools. The bill will give schools more access to federal funds and provide educators with an increased voice in state and local grant decisions. Etheridge crafted the legislation in response to the results of a survey of principals and superintendents in North Carolina’s Second Congressional District that found that although schools have emergency plans, they would like more assistance and direction from the federal government. The survey was followed by a nationwide Government Accountability Office study requested by Etheridge that reached similar conclusions. The legislation has the support of House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson. It does not create any new requirements or mandates for schools, but instead seeks to provide schools with more support for their security measures. As the former Superintendent of North Carolina’s schools, Etheridge has made school security his top priority on the Homeland Security Committee.

For a non-obscene t-shirt? Come on, gimme a break!

So a teenager gets punished for wearing a t-shirt with just the IMAGE of a gun on it? What is this world coming to? When I was in school, most guys had a big Buck knife in a leather holster strapped to their belt. It was normal. Knives were seen as necessary tools, not weapons. School officials did not flip out. Sure, I got into trouble for wearing a t-shirt to school before, but in all honesty, it was obscene. This one, however, is not.

This quote in the article sums up the stupidity of political correctness.

an attorney for the school district said school must create a safe environment for students in the post-Columbine era, and bringing even the image of a gun to school violates the district's policy.