Fannin County residents are proud of their schools. What the heck for?
They're at or below the Georgia average, and as of the 2006-07 American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) reports, Georgia ranks 43rd among 51 districts (includes District of Columbia).
In 2008, Georgia ranked 41st out of 51 in ACT scores and 48th out of 51 for SATs, also according to ALEC.
Georgia should be embarrassed, except that all the above rankings are an improvement on previous years. I guess that's like the kid who's proud of getting a D instead of flunking--doing better but just not even close to good enough.
GreatSchools.com compared Fannin County to the state averages in 2008 for grade 11 for the Georgia High School Graduation Test. In social studies, FCHS ranked 85% compared to the state average of 87%. In science, FCHS is 83% vs. the state's 87%. For English Language Arts, it's 89% FCHS vs. the state's 91%. Only in math does Fannin County do a little better than the state's average--94% compared to 93%.
And remember, Georgia ranks 43rd in the nation. That's in the bottom 10!
But it's not just the county's educational inferiority that's a problem. As I've told many people, it's as if the bigwigs in the county sat down one day, spit out some chaw, picked some lice out of their hair and said, "We oughtta git some eddication in this hyar county!"
There seems to be no rhyme or reason for most policies, and they seem to be imposed at whim. So far, I know of various school employees keeping children captive on the school bus for no good reason for approximately 20 minutes, calling children names, punishing students who'd already served out their punishments, failing to keep children safe, failing to follow state law and more.
I'll discuss these in later posts.
One of the most egregious examples of how Fannin County's teachers fail to lead occurred when Barack Obama was elected president.
As soon as Obama announced his candidacy, the n****r jokes began, and no teachers ever attempted to stop the students in any of my son's classes. When Obama was elected president, students ran down the hall, yelling, "We elected a n****r as president!" and "Obama is a n****r!" My son never saw one teacher attempt to correct the students or stop them.
When a book was assigned in class, the teacher warned the students that it contained a swear word (d**n) and that if it upset them, they could read an alternate novel. She never said a word about the numerous times the word n****r was used in the book. Apparently, that term is not considered offensive in Fannin County.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Southern charm, my ass!
Where did people get the idea that Southerners are charming and gracious? They are the rudest, most arrogant people I've ever had contact with.
They must have paid some spin doctors very well to portray as Southern charm their habit of constantly being late or missing appointments with no notification or excuses. Apparently, everyone else on the planet has nothing better to do than wait around for His or Her Rude Southernness!
For example, I made an appointment with the vice-principal of my son's school for a certain time on a certain day. I waited in the hallway for 15 minutes, because his staff did not know where he was and he hadn't bothered to tell them. It's not like I walked in and asked to speak to him; I had an appointment! He seemed amazed that I didn't accept his excuse of grading papers.
Numerous times, I have waited from a half hour on up to four hours for a doctor. Never did the doctor or his/her staff notify me that the doctor was running late. Never did they give me the option of rescheduling. Apparently, patients in the South are supposed to take the entire day off work in order to fit in a half-hour doctor's appointment.
Maybe Southerners are so late for appointments because the word has more than four letters and they just don't understand what it means.
Southerners don't return phone calls. I called six different charities that had advertised in the local newspaper to schedule volunteer work for my son and myself. I left messages at each (rather amazing, because many Southern organizations and businesses can't figure out how to use an answering machine either).
Two responded the next day. One of them said that the ad shouldn't have been in the paper. Another said they'd call back to schedule my son for volunteer work and, as of Day 5, they haven't called.
Another called two days later and eventually scheduled him for volunteer work. None of the others bothered.
At another agency, I volunteered to help teach computers and job skills. I went in to speak to the administrator, who told me later that the charity wasn't getting computers after all. I responded that I could help with job skills. I emailed and called several times and even went there once, but all I heard were excuses.
I can't wait until these charities complain they can't get volunteers!
I called one doctor's office to schedule an emergency appointment for my son. I left a message when no one answered the phone. No one called me back. I called the next day and managed to get an appointment. We showed up to the appointment 12 minutes early and waited until a half hour past the appointment time.
When I informed the receptionist that it was extremely unprofessional to keep patients waiting so long and if the doctor couldn't take my son in the next five minutes, we were going to leave, she became very defensive. She promised he'd see my son in just a few minutes. When I pressed her on it, she admitted it'd be closer to a quarter hour. We walked.
At several doctors' offices, I was told they would call with the results of tests within two days. When I didn't receive calls two days later, I called on the third day. I would have to call a fourth and sometimes a fifth day to get the results. If they were unsure when they'd get the results, why give me a specific time?
I attempted to schedule special tests for my son at the local high school at the beginning of the school year. I was told someone in administration would get back to me. After I pulled my son from school six months later, the vice-principal contacted me.
He eventually scheduled the appointment for one test, which my son passed with flying colors, but although I informed him several times that my son was ready for the second, he waited two months to contact me again. Who knows how long it'll take him to schedule the appointment?
On April 26, I called county offices to inform them that the name of their former technology officer, who had been dismissed for downloading porn, among other things, was still listed on the county's Web site.
I didn't even get an answering machine, apparently because, as I learned later, it was Confederate Memorial Day and all county offices were closed. Two months later, the site still has the guy's name on it.
I could go on for hours, but then, that would be...rude. I'm sure Southerners would love it.
They must have paid some spin doctors very well to portray as Southern charm their habit of constantly being late or missing appointments with no notification or excuses. Apparently, everyone else on the planet has nothing better to do than wait around for His or Her Rude Southernness!
For example, I made an appointment with the vice-principal of my son's school for a certain time on a certain day. I waited in the hallway for 15 minutes, because his staff did not know where he was and he hadn't bothered to tell them. It's not like I walked in and asked to speak to him; I had an appointment! He seemed amazed that I didn't accept his excuse of grading papers.
Numerous times, I have waited from a half hour on up to four hours for a doctor. Never did the doctor or his/her staff notify me that the doctor was running late. Never did they give me the option of rescheduling. Apparently, patients in the South are supposed to take the entire day off work in order to fit in a half-hour doctor's appointment.
Maybe Southerners are so late for appointments because the word has more than four letters and they just don't understand what it means.
Southerners don't return phone calls. I called six different charities that had advertised in the local newspaper to schedule volunteer work for my son and myself. I left messages at each (rather amazing, because many Southern organizations and businesses can't figure out how to use an answering machine either).
Two responded the next day. One of them said that the ad shouldn't have been in the paper. Another said they'd call back to schedule my son for volunteer work and, as of Day 5, they haven't called.
Another called two days later and eventually scheduled him for volunteer work. None of the others bothered.
At another agency, I volunteered to help teach computers and job skills. I went in to speak to the administrator, who told me later that the charity wasn't getting computers after all. I responded that I could help with job skills. I emailed and called several times and even went there once, but all I heard were excuses.
I can't wait until these charities complain they can't get volunteers!
I called one doctor's office to schedule an emergency appointment for my son. I left a message when no one answered the phone. No one called me back. I called the next day and managed to get an appointment. We showed up to the appointment 12 minutes early and waited until a half hour past the appointment time.
When I informed the receptionist that it was extremely unprofessional to keep patients waiting so long and if the doctor couldn't take my son in the next five minutes, we were going to leave, she became very defensive. She promised he'd see my son in just a few minutes. When I pressed her on it, she admitted it'd be closer to a quarter hour. We walked.
At several doctors' offices, I was told they would call with the results of tests within two days. When I didn't receive calls two days later, I called on the third day. I would have to call a fourth and sometimes a fifth day to get the results. If they were unsure when they'd get the results, why give me a specific time?
I attempted to schedule special tests for my son at the local high school at the beginning of the school year. I was told someone in administration would get back to me. After I pulled my son from school six months later, the vice-principal contacted me.
He eventually scheduled the appointment for one test, which my son passed with flying colors, but although I informed him several times that my son was ready for the second, he waited two months to contact me again. Who knows how long it'll take him to schedule the appointment?
On April 26, I called county offices to inform them that the name of their former technology officer, who had been dismissed for downloading porn, among other things, was still listed on the county's Web site.
I didn't even get an answering machine, apparently because, as I learned later, it was Confederate Memorial Day and all county offices were closed. Two months later, the site still has the guy's name on it.
I could go on for hours, but then, that would be...rude. I'm sure Southerners would love it.
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