February 14, 2008
My Reply to "It is Time for Dr. Scales to Go"
I sent this response yesterday to an article on the chattanoogan.com web site by Tim Price about the Hamilton County school superintendent. A couple of other responses have appeared since I sent mine in, and the article link has rotated off the front page, so I doubt the following will make it on that site ... but maybe a few folks might be interested in reading what I had to say:
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Ms. Crowder's assertion that HCDE is underfunded is a joke. HCDE's budget has been steadily increasing for years, at considerably greater than the rate of inflation, with stagnant (or even declining in some years) enrollment. It currently stands at over $320 million for just over 40,000 students, making it one of the better-funded districts in the state.
Perhaps Dr. Scales wouldn't be facing that $10 million "shortfall" if our elected "leaders" didn't spend tens of millions of dollars building unnecessary schools (like Ms. Crowder's pet project on Signal Mountain) and then millions more every year staffing them.
(As an aside -- why new administrators, faculty, and staff have to be hired for newly constructed schools when overall system enrollment has not increased significantly in years is a mystery to me. It seems that the intelligent thing to do would be to just transfer personnel from other schools whose enrollment decreases when the new schools open.)
I note with chagrin Ms. Crowder's attempt to "shoot the messenger." Apparently she believes that if you don't have solid evidence to refute someone's point, the best tactic is to just smear him as a racist and hope that undermines his credibility with the audience. Nice try, but I think most of the chattanoogan.com's readers are smart enough to see through that (lack of an) argument.
Mr. Price, you are right in saying that Dr. Scales needs to be replaced. But there is no point in trying to effect that change now. As you point out, if Dr. Scales leaves, the same school board will use the same type of "blue ribbon" committee to choose yet another "yes man" in the mold of Drs. Register and Scales. Nothing will change except the name on the door of the superintendent's office (and an even bigger paycheck going into the next anointed one's pocket).
The only way to fix the problem is to replace several of the current school board members with new folks who have some sense and don't owe their allegiance to the "good ole boys" in the local power structure. Rhonda Thurman is doing the best she can to right the ship, but she is only one of nine and she can't do it all by herself. Enough school board seats are up for election this year that positive changes could happen ... but the time to start preparing for the election is now!
Posted by joedumas at 12:53 PM | Comments (0)
February 02, 2008
Ron Paul's Son Addresses Chattanooga Rally
Rand Paul, an eye surgeon from Bowling Green, Kentucky and the son of GOP presidential candidate Ron Paul, addressed a gathering of local residents Saturday morning. The rally was held at 1601 Rossville Avenue on Chattanooga's Southside and drew a crowd of over 100 people who braved the morning chill to express their support or find out more about Ron Paul.
The younger Dr. Paul spoke for about an hour, discussing various aspects of his father's platform and answering questions from the audience. One of his main points was the devaluation of the U.S. dollar due to massive deficit spending both at home and abroad. Rand Paul made the point that the national debt has increased by more than $3 trillion during just the seven years that George W. Bush has been in the White House.
"We borrow the money for our excessive spending from China and Japan, and when we can't borrow enough, we print the rest" said Dr. Paul. "Actually we don't even have to print it anymore; the Federal Reserve just creates it with a computer entry. When they do, the value of the dollars you already have goes down."
Rand Paul went on to illustrate this point by quoting his father's argument from the recent Republican debate. "Over the last ten years, the price of oil in dollars has gone up by 386%. In Euros, it has gone up by 200%. But in terms of gold, the price of oil is the same as it was." He said similar statements could be made about necessities such as bread and milk. "It's not that it has gotten more difficult to produce these things - it is that inflation, which is caused by our federal government's deficit spending, has made the dollar worth less and so it takes more dollars to buy the things you need."
Rand Paul said that no matter what the outcome of his father's campaign, the important thing is to keep the movement for freedom going forward. He encouraged local Ron Paul supporters to stay organized after the election and run candidates for Congress as well as state and local offices. "No matter what happens, Tuesday is not the end of the Revolution. It is only the beginning" of the grass-roots movement spearheaded by the senior Dr. Paul to take our country back and restore limited, Constitutional government.
From Chattanooga, Rand Paul traveled to Atlanta in order to address another rally this afternoon. Both Tennessee and Georgia, along with 20 other states, have primaries on "Super Tuesday", February 5.
Posted by joedumas at 01:39 PM | Comments (0)