Honey Badger

I have repeatedly gone to the meetings about the Macon Miracle seeking answers but it is now clear to me that all any of us are allowed to do at this point is vent our frustrations. I have the same issues with the Miracle as many others but I want to implore the Board and Dr. Dallemand to answer for the runaway spending for which nobody appears to be accountable.

In a video that Mr. Dallemand commissioned, Macon was described as the fourteenth brokest city in the country. It is high time he started acting like it.

Members of the Board: A superintendent that YOU chose and YOU hired has apparently been given carte blanche to redecorate, travel, spend and entertain to promote a personal agenda. In true "let them eat lava cake" fashion, this administration is traveling and spending as if they are corporate jet setters while teachers are not allowed to attend professional conferences at their own expense due to the cost of substitutes! Parents and teachers (also known as tax payers and voters) are the ones trying to "do more with less" while the district is hemorrhaging money on extravagant travel upgrades, dining and entertaining. Aside from the monetary value of this style of "doing business", can you really afford the cost of morale of the ones who work with the children?

If you want to know what one values, just watch how they spend their money. As taxpayers, we want highly trained, motivated, passionate teachers, enough furniture and books for every child, 21st century technology that will open classroom walls to a world at their fingertips, and most of all, a safe environment where discipline is enforced.

However, what we are getting for our tax money is exorbitant spending at the highest level of leadership, flat screen monitors and working computers, ipads, iphones and the latest, greatest technology gadgetry for employees of 484 Mulberry and the Welcome Center. Neither of these facilities hosts a single child but you cannot deny that far too much of the limited resources that we have is siphoned away from the children to provide amenities for the infrastructure. Seriously? You need a ridiculously expensive conference table when there are multiple conference rooms already in the board office? Why not just rearrange the furniture you have? This district is full of classrooms with computers with floppy disk drives, broken computers, labs full of twentieth century technology and Windows 93 software. There are classrooms without adequate desks and tables but you cannot find conference rooms like that for the leadership team. Our children are served government food in the lunchroom while the dream team dines on shrimp and steak under the same roof. Our teachers are cutting paper towels in half, reducing  the number of copies allowed, or repairing broken classroom furniture because there is no budget, instructional or otherwise. Their mantra is"we have to do more with less". Do the members of the leadership team conserve resources the same way? I suggest there is evidence that they do not.

There were numerous stacks of receipts submitted when citizens began to demand that Mr. Dallemand account where our money is going. It is unconscionable to travel, spend, redecorate, outfit, and entertain when it comes at a cost to the children; the ultimate reason that any of the leadership team or board members exist. I agree with the theme of the protesters; If you are not outraged, you are not paying attention!

Honey Badger

The Honey Badger has been busy but I promise I am still here. Please get yourselves out to the protest tomorrow at 3:45 at the Georgia Music Hall of Fame. We need to show the administraion and the BOE that we are still here and GROWING. (Not unlike his expense account!) Bring your signs, tee shirts, protests, and best behavior. Lets be as peaceful, organized, and as non confrontational as the situation will allow. The Honey Badger is ready to strike again!!

Honey Badger

A VERY important message:
Dr. Dallemand has directed all schools to hold a public meeting to hear concerns regarding the plan by Friday in hopes of PUSHING his miracle through next week. In his usual stealthy fashion, he is hoping that parents will not find the paper informing us of this as most of the schools will be placing them with the signed papers. PLEASE let everyone know that the meetings will be this week and that you must be there to give your concerns to the administrators. To further complicate the procedure, he is requiring parents to write down their grievances on a form provided by the school. Please call your school and ask for forms and specific information about your school's meeting. I am asking everyone to make an effort to be at these meetings. The short notice is certainly his way of keeping the masses away. We need to keep pushing!

Thought for the day......why would they not use a telephone announcement for this? After all, they called each of us to let us know that we had to pick our children up early for the presentation of the miracle....

Honey Badger

Never Fear....The momentum is still here. We must stay focused. I suggest that everyone call the BOE to request the dates/forums for the public to comment.
Question of the day....
   Is it not curious that Dr. Dallemand has referred to himself as our hero and referred to his plan as our miracle?
   Is it not true that miracles and heroes are generally named only after they have proved to be so?
Discuss....


The following websites are worth a look:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ue0A007_rRA

Please take the time to sign the following petition.
http://www.change.org/petitions/bibb-county-board-of-education-in-maconga-stop-the-macon-miracle-plan?utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=share_petition&utm_term=share_with_facebook_friends

Honey Badger

A message of the utmost importance:
With this blog being less than six days old, the groundswell of public interest regarding the new administration has been enormous as evidenced by the fact that it has received over 12,000 views. The vast majority of the views shared by the contributors to this blog have been very insightful, informative and thought provoking. It is not surprising that the tactics and broad sweeping changes put forth by Dr Dallemand and his new administration have created many unanswered questions and skepticism with regards to the future success and direction of the Bibb county school system. The cornerstone of the creation of this site was to provide the avenue for uncensored and unedited views of ALL concerned citizens of this community. It is understandable that the arguably inflammatory tactics that Dr Dallemand has employed with his staff and the radical nature of his platform has elicited much emotion and even anger amongst those weighing in. We must not allow these emotions to become counter productive to our purpose at hand. We must stick to the facts, maintain credibility without injection of anger and prejudice, and form a united front. It is certainly true that everyone here on either side of the argument wants the same thing, a solid education and future for our most precious resource.....our children.
Thank you

Silent Protest

I have been asked to post about a silent protest on Friday that is being planned by the teachers who are not in support of the plan. You are expected to be there but you do not have to applaud or clap for anything that you do not support. (Including the acrobats) Good luck guys. I will be outside with signs and hopefully many others doing the same.

Honey Badger's Question of the day

The Plan for the Plan!!
What do you think about "The Plan"?
How can the school board members possibly vote for something for which they do not even have a cost analysis?