AJC - Article
Lawmakers took no decisive action Wednesday to overcome an impasse over a mandate to reduce the number of school board members in DeKalb County, but they did grasp for a potential solution -- one that could involve voters.
The meeting of the county House delegation was civil, in marked contrast to one last week when members complained that race-based politics had made compromise impossible. The House group, prompted in part by word of new legislation in the Senate, unanimously decided to study the matter further. They established a committee to talk with legal staff about proposals that would postpone for two years the mandated reduction in the school board from nine members to at most seven. A law passed last year requires that reduction to take effect in January 2013. That law didn't stipulate a process, and legislative leaders gave the local delegates until Wednesday to agree upon a method and a map.
Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver, D-Druid Hills, dismissed that deadline, saying the real deadline is the end of the legislative session. She proposed that a committee get answers to two questions: What are the ramifications of postponing implementation for two years and what would be the effect on last year's law of a voter referendum this year to let the public decide whether they want a smaller school board?
The House delegates were responding to news that Sen. Fran Millar, R-Dunwoody, was introducing legislation that would postpone the downsizing until January 2015. Millar confirmed he was introducing his bill as statewide legislation tailored to DeKalb. He said the local delegation would have to come up with its own local bill for a referendum and for other details.
He said they might want to cut the terms of board members up for election this year to two years, so that voters could decide on all the seats in 2014.
Learning to Respect Each Other
ReplyDeleteStudents will understand the following:
1. Dr. Martin Luther King was a strong advocate of nonviolent protest and fought for civil rights for all Americans with an eloquence that can be found in speeches such as his famous "I Have a Dream" speech.
2. Throughout U.S. history, certain groups of people have been discriminated against for characteristics as superficial as the color of their skin. That racism still exists despite the passage of laws that make it illegal.
3. Stereotypes can lead people to make unfair judgments about individuals and groups.
Let's us as adults, review and appreciate a page out of our own children's lessons in any future deliberations.
In Praise of a Teacher
ReplyDeleteThe reason Miss Delaney was my favorite teacher, not just my favorite English teacher, is that she would let me read any book I wanted and would allow me to report on it. I had the pleasure of reading The Scapegoat as well as We the Living as well as Silver Spoon (which was about a whole bunch of rich folk who were unhappy), and Defender of the Damned, which was about
Clarence Darrow, which led me into Native Son because the real case was defended by Darrow though in Native Son he got the chair despite the fact that Darrow never lost a client to the chair including Leopold and Loeb who killed Bobby Frank. Native Son led me to Eight Men and all the rest of Richard Wright but I preferred Langston Hughes at that time and Gwendolyn Brooks and I did reports on both of them. I always loved English because whatever human beings are, we are storytellers. It is our stories that give a light to the future. When I went to college I became a history major because history is such a wonderful story of who we think we are; English is much more a story of who we really are. It was, after all, Miss Delaney who introduced the class to
My candle burns at both ends;
It will not last the night;
But, ah, my foes, and, oh, my friends—
It gives a lovely light.
And I thought - YES.
Poetry is the main line.
English is the train.
by Nikki Giovanni
"Fox News host Eric Bolling shocked his co-hosts on "Fox and Friends" when he told Rep. Maxine Waters to 'step away from the crack pipe' on Thursday. Bolling quickly said that he was 'kidding'."
ReplyDeleteAnd I wondered where our Republican politicians were learning their incivility.
A canner exceedingly canny
ReplyDeleteOne morning remarked to his granny:
“A canner can can
Any thing that he can
But a canner can’t can a can, can he?”
Carolyn Wells
This just in - the New Jersey’s Assembly voted 41 to 33 to approve a gay marriage bill that could pave the way for New Jersey to join six other states where same-sex couples can today legally wed.
ReplyDeleteHowever, my old New Brunswick brother in arms, as well as my Parsippany and Piscataway pals, don't get too excited. In order to become law, the bill would have to be signed by Governor Chris Christie, a Republican who has, of course, promised to veto the measure.
"Puritanism - the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy." H.L.Mencken
Came across this naked fat crazy old white-haired white guy on Chamblee-Dunwoody trying to solicit my vote for the upcoming Georgia Republican primary. Said his name was Nude Gringrich.
ReplyDeleteOne would hope that Gingrich is an anomalous last of the George Wallace, Lester Maddox, Strom Thurmond white Southerners, but with all the "Newt for President" signs that just popped up in Dunwoody, I guess not.
ReplyDelete