A Sad Christmas Story

“T’was the night before Christmas and all through the schools,
Not a creature was stirring, not even the head fool.
The begging buckets were hung on the chimney with a sash,
Hoping that council would fill them with cash……”

Not a very amusing Christmas story if you are a taxpayer in Danville. But as the new year approaches you can be sure the school board members are gearing up for an assault on the treasury of the city. Right now they are busy assembling sob stories to tug at the heart of the council members. The wringing of hands will begin as they prepare the speeches about how this and that program will have to be cut if the city does not cough up more money. And in their back pocket they will hold their doomsday weapon. If all else fails and the council doesn’t start vomiting cash at them they will whip out this ultimate weapon. “If we don’t get more money we will have to cut out sports and band.” Not that they ever would but it is a rallying point that has been used successfully in the past. Oh no! Band? Football? We cannot allow this to happen! Quick open up the vaults! Allow the money to flow!

Though it would never happen it is a good weapon that council has even fallen for on past occasions. Dare we look at their budget and see the money they have pissed away already? Oh no, that would make too much sense. Even though the school district already gets over twice the minimum the council is required by the state to pay them. Several councilmen have already stated they will increase the city contribution without any facts or figures to back it up.

Meanwhile back at the ice palace on main street the Scrooges of the district will sit down by the midnight oil and prepare their post-Christmas wish list for the city to fund. I have a Christmas list for them:

For the Superintendent:
A coat totally made of Teflon so anything that comes her way will immediately be deflected to some other poor soul. Lord help if she ever had to make a real decision herself.

For The Asst Superintendent for Business:
A color chart and an eye appointment so she can paint schools and offices only ONCE to prevent the illogical waste of money over the years repainting schools one shade different. Also her stocking should be filled with….what else….rubber mulch.

For the Asst Superintendent for Instruction:
An aerial spray of Midol for his office

For the Asst Superintendent for Human Resources:
A chair, a whip, a gun, and a large sack. The tools she will need to get anyone to work in the Danville district.

And finally for the school board:
A free operation to have a backbone installed……………

So there it is citizens of Danville. Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on council. Don’t let this Christmas story turn into a Christmas horror tale. Stand up and d what’s right for the citizens of Danville. Stem the tide of red ink from the school district. At least put some coal in their stockings.

The Vanishing Principal

It doesn’t take a genius to know that a leadership position at the city school’s can only be successful when the person is present! Well at least one city school doesn’t believe this theory. GWHS has been run by a phantom for over a year.

Yes our tax money has been going to an individual who believes a principalship is a part-time job. According to some well placed sources the principal of GWHS has yet to put in a full week of work this year. And even when he’s there he isn’t there! Since when do principals leave school grounds for lunch? You would think he worked at Home Depot. Hey, news flash, a principal’s job is full-time! Geez……….

Well I guess since the school is running so smoothly you can afford to sit back and bask in your glory. If only this was true. With a drop out rate increasing every year and a total enrollment slipping by an average of over 50 students a year you would think the principal might have something to do. Lets look at some other statistics: Alcohol and drug offenses from 7 to 25, Offenses Against Persons from 54 to 115, Technology Offenses from 0 to 205, and the grand Kahuna, Disruptive Behavior Offenses 8 to a whopping 3,410! Now I know why he doesn’t want to be there. (See School Report Card)

And all this goes on under the watchful eyes of the exalted Danville City School Board and Reject Committee. But listen to the school board meetings. The picture is painted of la-la-land where all is good and the butterflies are beautiful. At their meetings they collectively pat each other on the back and smile while the grand diva spouts off about her latest achievement in mediocrity. An “Overachieving School District”? What the hell does that even mean ? More like an “Overembellishing School District”. How long will the citizens of Danville stand for this?

And the wheel continues to grind on chewing up the children of Danville. And in the mean time the principal of GWHS rears back in his chair and contemplates where he will go today. If you don’t have to be there you certainly don’t have to deal with it. The crown gem of Danville is tarnished indeed. The school board croons about how all is well and continues their real task, rewriting those important school board policies. This is what a district is really about. But travel down the corriders of GW and look at all the principal photos in the main hall. The many fine leaers that graced this institution. The years of academic excellence represented by those picture. But look closely, you can almost see a tear in the eye of each photograph.

Autumn in the Schools

Ahhh fall is in the air, the leaves are crisp, the smell of burning leaves permeates our senses, and the stench of municipal corruption smacks us in the face. And by corruption I mean the stench coming from a certain old bank building on Main Street.

The smell grows stronger as one gets closer to the superintendents office. It is as if you have entered a black hole. All money and common sense goes in and it is sucked away to nothingness. Its like a skunk smell, only a special blend will get it off of you. The only real way is to leave….forever.

Another employee has fallen to the hatchet of the Grand Inquisitor. Warn ye those who do not abide to the Divas of the Palace! Pay no attention to the woman behind the curtain! The benefits coordinator made the most serious mistake of all, she failed to bow low enough to Twit and Frack who guard the palace safe. Hmmmm, what did she know about the inner workings that they wanted to crush? She was terminated for “supposedly” releasing salary information to a department head. Hmmmm let me see………don’t department heads ALREADY know the salaries of department personnel? They do the budget for the department don’t they? And isn’t salary information available to anyone under the Freedom of Information Act? So why was she terminated? She was the remaining portion of the old regime and did not fall on a sword for the Diva’s. So she became expendable.

After the Diva of Administration has bloated herself on the city trough and wasted all the money the well has begun to dry up. The state budget has cut funding and halved the lottery proceeds. How will she react to the decrease in funds available? She will throw herself to the ground in front of city council and wail and cry that the district “is struggling” and in need of “local support” when in fact the locality supports the school board budget much better then they should. I can’t decide who has their heads deeper in the sand, city council or the school board! Neither seems to understand the waste the district continues to allow.

Well the leaves on the trees are like the school board budget—red. Let’s see if these nutty squirrels ever had the brains to stash some nuts away for winter.

Coming Soon: The School (GW) With the Phantom Principal
The Galileo School- Animal House Meets Brokeback Mountain

Oh Where Has The Summer Gone

Well as the fall arrives and our children scurry back to school lets look into what madness that emanates from the Concrete Palace (School Board Central Office).

As usual the edicts passed down make absolutely no sense and make one wonder if psychiatric drugs are being dispensed in candy dishes throughout the building. Or has aerial spraying of Prozac been approved. Either way the ridiculous mandates show that the School Board is one brick short of a full load. To see the board members nod their collective bobble heads to the drivel that comes out of the Divas that appear to run the asylum without a single question makes one wonder. Should candidates for the school board be required to pass minimal tests to see if the gray matter between their ears has any electrical activity?

In my absence (gotta take a break from the insanity….) I wondered if some sense of stability had come to the school district. Not a chance. Here is a sampling of the ridiculous “policies” recently enacted:
1) Students at GW are exempt from exams if they do not miss 7 classes. Hmmm let me see this is really preparing them for college life. When questioned about it Sue Davis sticks to her “site based decision” monologue. Since when is grading and such policies a site based decision? I thought there was a superintendent in this district or at least a reasonable facsimile of one but I guess not. The fact is such a decision at the level of an inexperienced principal is ridiculous. This is not preparing them for college and doing the students no favor. But then again when does the board ever do anything for the students?
2) Trying to pass a policy to have all students and teachers have lunch at the high school at the same time. This is to stupid to even try to address. Can anyone in that school count? Do they know the capacity of the cafeteria? Do they know what would happen if students were given an hour for lunch. Can you say supervision nightmare! Man who even thinks these things up…………
3) Filling buses to only a ¼ tank to save gas. Oh god what physics professor thought this thing up! Defies logic, sensibility, and the basic laws of physics.
4) Colored mulch stacked up for three months in the maintenance yard and finally having bus drivers spread it. No comment here…..just to dumb to even talk about.
5) Giving first graders A, B, C, D, and F grades. Ok what Dr. Spock reject came up with this one? No one owning up? I wouldn’t think so…….. Defies ALL established research.

Well now’s you chance for all teachers and employees to get even. Just e-mail the most ridiculous policy the administration has passed on to you to savetheschools2@aol.com.
The best will be printed (anonymously of course).

I’m back on tract and ready to write. So much mismanagement….so little time. Write soon the pen is hot!

Cell Phone Myths

I realize this is off my usual subject, the ridiculous way Danville and the public schools is being run but on a holiday I don't want to get too depressed. Knowing that Danvillians are naive to a fault I couldn't help but notice that the Sam's Club had a sign about not using cell phones at the pump. While using mine I was approached by the brain trust that runs the pumps that I needed to turn off my cell phone. When I tried to explain to him the FACTS he simply said, "But the sign says so!" I was immediately reminded of the carelessness of the school board in BELIEVING everything that Sue Davis ever says without question. If they would only look at a few FACTS they might be able to get their collective heads out of the sand. Anyway here are some interesting myths about cell phones and the FACTS. (My daughter researched these.....LOL)

Cell phones crash planes.
Myth: If you use a cell phone while flying, the signal can interfere with the plane's compass and navigation systems, possibly leading to a crash.

True or False? It's debatable.Anyone who's flown knows that flight attendants ask you to turn off all electronics, including phones, until after takeoff. According to one pilot who was interviewed by ABC News, the reason for this is so you pay attention to safety instructions, and, in the case of an aborted liftoff, "I don't want a laptop flying across the cabin."A UK study in 2003 showed some interference with compasses and navigation systems, but that was done in controlled settings, not on real planes. More recent studies by the NASA and the FAA have found no instances where a cell phone caused a crash, although some pilots claimed otherwise.Currently, the approach is "better safe than sorry," but they say that systems in aircraft are shielded enough not to be disrupted. As soon as it's proven that there's no link or threat, you'll be able to talk someone's ear off instead of watching the crappy in-flight movie.

Cell phones can cause gas station fires.
Myth: While pumping gas, using or turning on your phone can release a charge of static electricity that will ignite the fuel.

True or false? False.This rumor dates back to the '90s, when a phony e-mail made the rounds of people's in-boxes around the world. The e-mail claimed that Shell Oil had issued a warning about three instances of cell phones causing fires at the pumps. When contacted about it in 2003, Shell claimed it was a complete hoax and that it wasn't aware of any such incidents.While it has been proved that static electricity can cause fuel vapors to combust, cell phones do not emit a strong enough amount to ignite anything. Smoking, however, will still cause problems.

Cell phones cause cancer.
Myth: Prolonged cell phone use can cause brain cancer or tumors because of radiation.

True or false? Debatable.Ever since cell phones became popular, both the media and average people have claimed that cell phones can cause cancer. Unfortunately, there have been many medical studies on the issue and they still don't offer any definitive proof.A 2005 study of 4,000 Europeans by the Institute of Cancer Research found no link to any types of cancer among regular phone users, but did say that radiation could potentially cause adverse effects, so moderation was recommended.

Cell phones can be used to open up locked cars.
Myth: Broadcasting the sound of a remote keyless entry device over a phone can open up a locked car.

True or false? FalseThe rumor is that if you have an extra key remote at home, you can call someone and have them hit the open button while you hold your phone up to the lock. Well, those entry systems use radio waves and proximity – think about when you've tried to open your car from too far a distance – and can't be transmitted over a phone.Unfortunately, if you lock your keys in the car, you'll have to get your spare set or AAA to open it for you.

Dialing a special code gives you extra battery life.
Myth: Entering *3370# or some other code will unlock a reserve amount of battery to allow you to make another call.

True or false? False.Sure, it'd be nice if this trick really worked but, unfortunately, once a battery's drained, you're out of luck. One European Nokia executive even called this idea "pure science fiction." Some phones actually use codes like that to enhance voice quality, which decreases battery life.Instead, keep your phone charged and don't rely on this one.

Cell phones interfere with hospital equipment.
Myth: Cell signals disrupt hospital equipment and can kill patients.

True or false? False.Many uniformed people have claimed that the radio frequency signals from phones somehow screw up medical technology in hospitals, so it's unsafe to use your phone in any of these settings. Even some hospitals have cell phone bans as a way to avoid this potentially life-threatening scenario.Thanks to a study by the Mayo Clinic, this was proved to be completely untrue. 300 tests using two cell phones, four carriers, and 192 medical devices were conducted at the clinic's Rochester campus over five months and not one problem occurred. The study even recommended that hospitals lift their bans, so you can forget about this one.

Hitting a button gets you a number that will help you get your phone back if it's stolen.
Myth: Pressing *#06# will give you a serial number that you can use to prevent your stolen phone from being used and help investigators find it.

True or false? Both.Yes, entering the code *#06# on many phones with GSM (those from T-Mobile or AT&T Wireless) will bring up a 15-digit International Mobile Equipment Identity or IMEI number that is unique to your phone. It's also usually printed underneath the battery. Depending on your carrier, you could use this number, if you wrote it down, to flag the phone as invalid if someone tries to use it with a different SIM card or provider. Unfortunately, this doesn't really do much for you in terms of getting your phone back.The smarter option is to just report the phone as stolen to your service provider, which protects your account from unwanted charges.

Cell phone use lowers sperm count.
Myth: Carrying a phone in your pocket and constant use can lower your sperm count (that is, if you're a guy).

True or false? TrueSorry fellas, but if you're on your phone all the time, you might have a lower sperm count or abnormal swimmers.A study at a Ohio fertility clinic tested 361 men with infertility issues and divided them based on cell phone usage. Those who used their phone more than four hours a day were found to have much lower sperm counts and higher amounts of poor quality semen. The study is being reviewed currently, as it didn't take other factors such as drug use into account, and follow-up studies will also test electromagnetic radiation on sperm cells in labs to see if they're directly affected.It will be a while before we know anything for sure, but in the meantime, you might want to keep your talk time down.

So now you have all the FACTS on cell phones. Now if we could just get the school board to do a little research maybe the school system would get just a little bit better. Errrrrrrrr Don't hold your breath......................

What has Danville Public Schools Done?

Lets see what has happened since Sue Davis took over Danville Public Schools. A measure of true leadership is performance. And the performance has been miserable to say the least. The money flows but with no results. If she was a CEO of a major corporation the board of directors would have removed her long ago. But Danville School Board just smiles and says everything is ok as they all stand with their fingers in the dike. It’s a shame and an embarrassment to the citizens of Danville.

Why the criticism? Lets start with drop out rates. Danville’s rate is 3.65% compared to Pittsylvania County (1.24%), Henry (2.54%), Halifax (1.29%) and Patrick County (1.20%). I’m sure they will puff up and say that these districts do not have the problems of an urban district. Well ok let’s look at “urban” districts: Lynchburg (2.06%), Newport News (0.66%), Hampton (2.95%), Norfolk (3.06%), and Staunton (1.0%). GWHS had 102 drop outs by itself. Lord even the golden goose Galileo had 3 drop outs! Enough said. Danville has not stepped up to the plate and addressed this issue with any amount of success. The disgraceful way the leadership has ignored the problem thinking it would go away borders on malfeasance.

Are the schools safe? Not by a long shot. GWHS had 5,316 violations of school regulations in 2006-2007. This includes student disruptions, weapons, drugs, and fighting. This is up from 2,406 in 2005-2006! A lack of leadership both on the school level and the district level again. The school board turns a blind eye.

High drop out rates, out of control discipline, outrageous costs, questionable spending of funds, an exodus of good administrators, teachers fleeing to other districts, and a employee morale in the toilet is what this board has allowed to happen. What can Danvillians do? Well its too late to get new candidates for the election. Unfortunately the voting system does not allow a line to vote “I don’t trust any of them. The only mandate they have is to do their job! Stop all the dog and pony shows on TV and the self gushing of praise for programs that don’t really work.

The Apathy Election

The citizens of Danville have alot to fear unfortunately they will never realize the source of the fear. This is because it is going on right under their noses but they choose to do nothing about the situation. As Edmund Burke said in 1756, “No passion so effectually robs the mind of all its powers of acting and reasoning as fear.” This spells out the case for Danville very prophetically.

Danvillians fear change. Why change it when it is working? Why rock the boat? Leave it alone. Such statements are the thoughts of fearful people. They accept the substandard, the mediocre, the bland. They accept that in their leaders also. The more they blend into the background the better they like them. It is government by fear of change.

The city council elections are coming up in just two weeks. The leaders elected will guide the city for two more years until the next group are up for a vote. But instead of widespread questioning of the candidates the only sound heard are the sheep lining up to be fleeced. For the last few years the people of Danville have been sold a false hope. Hope that more jobs will return. Hope that utilities will decrease. And hope that Danville will revive itself from its Rip Van Winkle sleep. Hope lacking foundation.

Danvillians should jam the candidate forums asking the hard questions of the people seeking the positions. But only a handful of people show up. No hard questions just softball throws from the press. A middle school child could put together the answers to the questions. But why worry? Life will go on as it always has, with no direction, just fear. Fear that someone may actually have a new idea that hasn’t been thought of before. Fear that the candidates might have to answer a real question.

The school board elections? Please…………. A jackass could run and win. Or has one already won? What a pitiful group. They are the biggest collection of failures lacking the basis intellectual standards to move the needle on a brain scan machine. They sit by quietly as the district dies a slow squirming death. The leadership of the district are a collection of misfits who masquerade as administrators. Dumb decision after dumb decision is made and supported by the board. When are the tough questions going to be asked of them? For example why does the city fund the school board at over $6 million above the minimum when example after example can be shown of the board’s complete inability to control spending and stop wasting money? Why does Pittsylvania County produce such better results on one twentieth of the funding? Why have a majority of the district true leaders resigned or retired over the last four years? Why has the board stood by when hundreds of thousands of dollars has been wasted on idiotic purchases, mismanagement, and fraud?

Well I for one refuse to let them get by. I will continue to write about them and the greed they display. They will not slink silently into the night. I will not let apathy win. As Charles Nimitz once said, ”God grant me the courage not to give up what I think is right even though I think it is hopeless.”

People of Danville. Wake up. Throw off the shackles of apathy. Ask questions. Demand answers. Vote like your life depends on it.

Business Rumblings and Briefs

Just an overview and musings of the latest business news in Danville….. Welcome O’Reilly Auto Parts building at the corner of Piney Forest and Audubon..... Mighty fine headquarters for Dodson Pest Service on Memorial Drive….. Bill Stearners HVAC supply company built a new warehouse and sales office on Memorial Drive next to the old Danville Chrysler building….. Harbor Freight, a discount tool store, opening soon on Sandy Court off Piedmont Drive….. Sam’s Club had biggest opening of any Sam’s Club in history, Danville people do buy!..... Its amazing that no one has ever built a restaurant along the river, it would be a great location….. What’s behind the Stratford Inn closing down?..... Heard of a new restaurant/night club going up near NC line ….. Roto-Rooter moving office from Piney Forest by Skatetown to old Dan River trucking terminal on 58 West….. Newspaper in town has been butchering classified ads for weeks with new system, why mess with what isn’t broken?..... New executives at Swedwood all bought homes near Greensboro. What does that say about Danville?..... Warehouse district is really heating up. New young professionals love the lofts….. Ollies Bargain Barn coming to Fairgrounds Plaza…..Perfect Body gym is expanding AGAIN. This time to add basketball court….. Look at the trucks doing work in Coleman Marketplace. Very few Danville area contractors are working there. Perhaps the $8 million given to the developers should have had some stipulations about supporting Danville contractors….. “Its Fashion” moving into new expanded store in Nor-Dan Center…..Lots of places to eat in Danville if you don’t want to use a fork…… The Rosen Group are the new leasing agent for Danville Plaza….. Two new tenants already in Jerry Davis’ strip center on Riverside Drive….. 41 renovations going full steam. That area will be the next development hot spot. Pittsylvania County better plan additional school space quick….. Pittsylvania County wants to close only state store? Go back to math class….. New strip center going up on Westover. Do developers see the empty retail space around town now?..... CVS ready to open at 58 East and Kentuck Rd…… Rumor of another Sheetz going up on 58 East….. Walmart pulls plug on Blairs store. Hopefully just on hold and not killed totally. Ever try to shop in there on the first or third of the month? Why do they only open a few checkouts?..... Sam’s Club has already shown it intends to be a good corporate citizen. Already donated over $5,000 to God’s Pit Crew. Also notice that a lot of Danville service contractors worked on their building…..Rumor that the old hotel at Main and Union will start renovations again….. Shame the old Dimond offices on Bridge Street can’t find a new life…..Wouldn’t the old Carrington Hall on Bridge Street make a good restaurant/music venue with possibly a deck overlooking the Dan River?….. Don’t rule out uranium yet. Its day will come. The more gas creeps up the more it looks as a good alternative….. Danville needs a fast food salad restaurant….. WDVA closing down soon and towers will be removed….. Danville needs a full service real bakery, fresh bread, rolls, pastries, mmmmm….. Till next time—Buy In Danville! ..... Any news send to savetheschools2@aol.com.

The Big Pie In The Sky

Well the spinners at city hall have really done it this time. After packaging Coleman Marketplace as the “savior of the region” it turns out that Danvillians again have gotten the short end of the stick. Oh we were all told how good this would be for the area, the jobs it would create in construction, the taxes to be charged, etc. etc. Well as always pay attention to the man behind the curtain. The snake oil salesmen are out in force.

It turns out the center is smaller then originally planned due to engineering missteps. Don’t ever use the term “dirt cheap” because it appears that dirt isn’t cheap. Even after moving tons of dirt off the creek bed behind Lowes it turns out it still wasn’t enough so the project shrunk a little. Next came the “jeez that’s a big rock” incident. It appears that despite engineering studies the whole project sits on solid rock. (Anyone who was around when Piedmont Mall was built could have told you that.) So after using over 2,000 pounds of dynamite the mountain won. The project is now a series of different levels which will require shoppers at Home depot to get into their cars move to the Target level then get in their cars again and move to the Marshalls level and so on. Maybe the next store in there needs to be “Mountain Goats R Us”.

Well as a continuation of the Murphy Law they had to rip out a lot of drain pipe that was installed due to inferior materials. This is not even mentioning the multi-million dollar bridge the was built that is barely two lanes wide. Who made that decision? Hmmm now lets see the traffic dumps out at the light at Hobby Lobby which is only about five cars from the Piedmont Drive light. Can you say huge traffic jam? If you want to get to Piedmont Drive be prepared to wait….and wait…..and wait. This must have been the same engineering firm that designed the new intersection at Boxwood Court that will be half a block from the Parker Road light. So all the extra tax money Coleman will generate will be used up on the extra policemen needed to keep the traffic flowing. Sort of like a raccoon trap, you can get in easy enough you just can’t get out!

But the biggest flaw of the project is the down right lie told to everyone about jobs. Check out the trucks doing the work at Coleman Marketplace. See anyone you know? Probably not, they are all out of the area, not Danville contractors. Now someone has to explain to me how a floor tile and ceiling company from El Paso, TX can bid a Danville job cheaper then a large flooring and ceiling tile company located in Danville! We will never know because Danville companies were not even given the opportunity to bid! Concrete contractors from Warrenton, earth movers from Atlanta, plumbers from North Carolina, and electricians from Greensboro. The list goes on and on. Sure a handful of locals were thrown a bone on some small contracts but the majority of the work is being done by out of area contractors. So much for the philosophy of “keep the money in Danville”. Its flowing out faster then the Dan River.

But the icing on the cake is the decision by the local business mafia, the Chamber of Commerce, to only allow Chamber members to bid on service jobs at the complex when it is completed. For years many small business men in this area have shunned the Chamber due to the fact they have never offered any promotion of the small business man. It is a closed club that wants your dues to complete the agenda that they feel promotes their “mission”. The “mission “seems to be to be the “closed shop” mentality of the 1960’s. I recently ran into several business owners who were not members who felt they have been shut out by the Chamber. Where was the Chamber when all the contracting jobs were going to out of area companies? How many of them are members of the Chamber? Let me tell you…..none! Sounds like they are talking out of both sides of their mouth. Why Coleman Marketplace ever gave them the job of collecting proposals for service work is beyond logic. It appears North American Properties knows nothing about Danville and cares not to find out anything. Oh yeah, by the way, they aren’t a member of the Chamber either………………..

But it will open with all the fanfare like Sam’s Club (who by the way tried to use as many local contractors as possible and allows anyone with the best price to bid on their service work). The people of Danville will flock to see the shiny buildings and those new fangled big city stores. They will beat it to death for six weeks then settle back into their normal routines (back to Walmart). And the city officials will thump their chests and roar about all the $5.85 an hour jobs that Danville has brought (to replace the $12.50 and hour average job lost)to the area. All is good they will roar, all is good.

IB Program or International Bull

Well the Danville Public Schools are at it again. Not satisfied with consuming millions of dollars on “magnet schools” they are again grazing at the federal trough. (When asked they are quick to note that federal grants are not “city money” but “federal money.” Hmmm and federal money comes from where? Yes, you guessed it -tax money!) This time its fishing for more “IB” money. This is the International Baccalaureate program originally developed for Galileo, Schoolfield, and Westwood. The official website describes IB: “The International Baccalaureate Program is governed by the International Baccalaureate Organization in Geneva, Switzerland and administered by the International Baccalaureate Curriculum and Assessment Center in Cardiff, Wales. The organization originated over thirty years ago in Europe as an effort by international schools to assure quality educational standards for students, regardless of where they lived. Today, the organization uses the talents of educators around the world to continuously update curriculum, train teachers, assess student work, and evaluate the program.” UNESCO, the United Nations’ primary agency dealing with universal education, helped set up and fund the International Baccalaureate Organization (“IBO”) in Geneva, Switzerland in 1968. Danville, drooling over those grant dollars, now wants to expand it to Forest Hills School. Why Forest Hills? Because it’s the best little private school at public expense they have! When the “open enrollment” concept was eliminated almost three years ago students were steered back to their home schools. All except Forest Hills. Why again? Forest Hills has traditionally been the school where the elite of Danville put their children. The school at one time was nearly 60% opt in students. Statistically Forest Hills should have been closed years ago. A dwindling elementary population in the Forest Hills area and an aging land locked facility should have had any school board member with kahunas calling for its closure but that would have been comparable to streaking naked through the Wednesday Club. In other words, it wasn’t going to happen. Averett has been foaming at the mouth for the land but we will all be dead and embalmed before that school ever closes even though it has one of the highest costs per student in the district. Enough on economics. The fact is it’s the home of the upper crust and thus an “international” program would give the parents something else to brag about at the Danville Country Club. So the evil generals assembled at the concrete palace and plotted the assault on the American taxpayer. But hold on, has the IB program been a success? No mind! Tax money is just over the horizon! Damn the torpedoes and full speed ahead! Let no one stand in the way. The education pigs are elbowing for room at the trough. (Lets ignore the fact that the budget for technology in the schools has continually declined over the past three years). The Gregorian monks who are housed in the basement straining in candlelight writing grants with quill pens must have work. Well in fact the IB program has been an udder failure though again no gueen from the concrete palace would ever admit to that. The real facts are that it never caught on and only a handful of students have ever worked their way through the program. On top of that the program is coming under increasing criticism for its anti-American slant. Anti-American? How could that be? Critics have argued that IB's multicultural themes promote values that conflict with traditional Judeo-Christian values. Some opponents have called it Marxist because the International Baccalaureate Organization is a signatory to the Earth Charter, a collection of global principles created in France in 2000. Under the mantles of “sustainable development” and “social justice,” the Earth Charter’s authors want it to become part of binding international law to control population growth, force a slowdown of economic activity in the industrialized nations, and divert a massive amount of wealth from successful economies to failed ones by UN fiat. This is old-fashioned global socialism by a different name. The idea, according to IBO’s mission statement, is to build “intercultural understanding and respect” among “compassionate and lifelong learners who understand that other people, with their differences, can also be right.” That would be fine enough if countries like Iran were dedicated to the same principle of intercultural understanding. But in the eyes of UNESCO and the International Baccalaureate Organization, we are the ones who must do more of the multicultural outreach than our mortal enemies determined to destroy us. IB's curriculum, instruction and assessment can be expensive, though, running into the tens of thousands of dollars. That cost, and the idea of giving up local control of school curriculum, upsets some school board members across the nation. IB programs can cost up to six times the cost of Advanced Placement programs. IB is coming under increased scrutiny across the country, largely because it is being expanded through additional federal grant money. A recurring criticism concerns IB's promotion of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Critics point out that students are not taught nor is the public informed that Article 29 of that UN document puts the United Nations in authority over individual rights -- unlike America's founding documents, which describe individual rights as "inalienable." Article 29 states: "These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations." Many may argue that we must become more aware of our world community. That’s true, the US cannot become an isolationist society. But they also don’t need to become a socialist haven either. Students have the right to understand that our form of government, while it may have its problems, is not all bad. Why are so many people trying to sneak in if its such an evil place? While the pros and cons of the program can be argued the fact remains for Danville that it isn’t working. We do not need to throw more money at it to make it work either. Someone needs to shake up the concrete palace or the next tax fueled school trip will be to Geneva. Oink.

Uranium Madness

It’s amazing how bizarre the discussion has gotten concerning uranium mining in Pittsylvania County. Isn’t it interesting that most of the complaints are coming from Halifax County? If they want a chemical trespass ordinance it may affect their top cash industries of pot growing and moonshine. I’m all for discussions of a subject however the opponents don’t even want you talking about it! Let’s get to the facts of the matter. The “chicken littles” of the radical NIMBA’s (Not In My Back Yard) want everyone to believe that their word is correct and everyone else is wrong. They are the same ones that get up each morning, take a hot shower, brush their teeth with an electric toothbrush, cook breakfast on an electric stove, then get into their SUV to go to a meeting to protest producing power. How hypocritical! Until more practical sources of power become available we are faced with just a few viable options to produce affordable power. To ignore the use of nuclear power as a way to free the US from the grip of radical oil bandits is ridiculous. The deaths associated with fossil fuel plants is many times the number that can be connected to nuclear power. A distinguished team of researchers from MIT and Harvard released a report that has been described as the most comprehensive, interdisciplinary study ever conducted of nuclear energy maintains that “The nuclear option should be retained precisely because it is an important carbon-free source of power.” The report further states: "Fossil fuel-based electricity is projected to account for more than 40% of global greenhouse gas emissions by 2020. In the U.S. 90% of the carbon emissions from electricity generation come from coal-fired generation, even though this accounts for only 52% of the electricity produced. Taking nuclear power off the table as a viable alternative will prevent the global community from achieving long-term gains in the control of carbon dioxide emissions." Can it be mined safely? If the NIMBA’ s have their way we will never know. Let’s at least study it for Christ’s sake. Stop acting like the chicken littles who believed the world was flat. Only by education can we all make intelligent decisions. So just sit back and let the Halifax Hystericals stick to cleaning up their own county before they take aim on Pittsylvania. The future is in your light switch.

Danville, City of the Lost

Danville has the unique ability to turn molehills into mountains and creating boogie men where they don’t exist. On the other hand they tend to take real important issues and sweep them under the rug with the broom of apathy. Several issues locally have brought this issue more to light. An issue “swept under the rug” is the fact that two more experienced administrators from the Danville Public Schools have “put in their papers” to retire. Not a peep from the school board about this epidemic and of course the local fish wrap masquerading as a paper doesn’t know a thing about it. Well when you fire all the good people at the paper, make reporters hourly employees, and turn the printing of the paper over to a facility hundreds of miles from Danville then I say you have a problem. The only way the paper would get a real story was if it ran into their building. Then again if it was after five o’clock they would miss that also. Enough about them. The loss of experienced administrators is just the tip of the iceberg with DPS. The average experience level of a DPS school administrator is just under four years. Most of us have shoes older then most administrators. Why is this important? Danville was once a proud district with well known administrators known around the state and the nation. Several former administrators traveled throughout the country lecturing and presenting to a multitude of school officials. That was when DPS was a respected organization. Now, it is joke among other districts. A tyrannical leadership, a fast and free budget, and a school board that have their collective heads so far in the sands that they may strike oil. The flagship high school GW, is just a mere shadow of its former grandness. It has been reduced to an “expulsion” academy with students “eliminated” from the population for minor infractions. Pretty soon the custodians will outnumber the students. The many trophies in the front office ought to be turned around so they would not have to witness the demise of a once great institution. Continuing the saga of “The Rise and Fall of DPS” is the former flavor of the day, Galileo. This experiment was like Madame Curie’s experience with radiation. Her work was important but she died from radiation poisoning. The same is true for Galileo. It was built up so much that it is dying from its own trumped up success. The downtown administration was always so quick to throw up Galileo to the press as the “golden child” that they started to believe their own hype. But with all false idols the covering of gold covered a lead base. Just scratch the surface a little and you find out what it really is. It was marketed as a “super academy” but in fact was merely a way parents tried to have a private school at public cost. The cost per child is almost three times the district average yet the results are not worth the cost. Galileo’s IB (International Baccalaureate) program never really got off the ground. Students never bought into the program and it has fallen by the wayside. The promised space age technology never materialized as is evident by the specially designed virtual reality lab. What is it used for now? It is a storeroom for textbooks. The rush and overtime expense of the new chemistry/physics lab was all for naught also. The lab was months behind schedule, way over budget, and still not completed. But what else is new? Has anything in the district been on time, on budget, or sensible in the last four years? So as the people in Danville worry about uranium mining like Chicken Little, something is going on right under their noses and no one seems to care. It they did there would be lines of people getting petitions to run for the school board. But there aren’t. And so it goes in Gotham, not even the Bat Signal from the roof of the municipal building would help. Now a Bat Signal from the new school board digs would be something. Unfortunately it would probably be late and over budget.