The latest as teens, schools official fight Orange's class-time...

[Barbara]

PLEASE - someone in Kat Gordon's district run for school board and get her out of office. She has been there too long.

[YetAnotherTeache r]

Barbara wrote:

<quoted text>
Ms. Ardaman was very well spoken during the meeting, as was Jim Martin and Rick Roach. The problem materialized when Kat Gordon rushed the motion for the vote without having the benefit of discussion among the board members. They each spoke individually, but because Kat Gordon rushed the vote to the table and someone, I'm not sure who, seconded it, the board members NEVER had discussion among themselves. This needs to be put back on the table so that each of the board members have an opportunity to discuss the issue among themselves. None of them had any opportunity to try and convince the other side to change their minds. I watched the meeting. This whole situation is Kat Gordon's fault for rushing things and not allowing public interaction to occur among the board.

That's because there's nothing under Kat's hats.
LOL
(this comment SHOULD have probably been posted under my alias =-) Oh well, not on county time or county computer so I'm allowed to have an opinion now)

[seniors want more money]

GIVE IT A REST wrote:

You people make me sick. First you complain that summer isn't long enough and your demon child can't go on vacation with family in other parts of the country.

I am sure you ment angle darling

[Barbara]

Barbara wrote:

<quoted text>
Ms. Ardaman was very well spoken during the meeting, as was Jim Martin and Rick Roach. The problem materialized when Kat Gordon rushed the motion for the vote without having the benefit of discussion among the board members. They each spoke individually, but because Kat Gordon rushed the vote to the table and someone, I'm not sure who, seconded it, the board members NEVER had discussion among themselves. This needs to be put back on the table so that each of the board members have an opportunity to discuss the issue among themselves. None of them had any opportunity to try and convince the other side to change their minds. I watched the meeting. This whole situation is Kat Gordon's fault for rushing things and not allowing public interaction to occur among the board.

And, in case anyone is not familiar with Sunshine Law, they are not allowed to interact on anything that might come before them for a vote unless it is at a publicly meeting agenda that is posted to the public at least three das in advance, so this was the first opportunity they had to discuss it as a group. There was no discussion, so each voted from their own private world.

[School memories]

Barbara wrote:

PLEASE - someone in Kat Gordon's district run for school board and get her out of office. She has been there too long.

I am in her district but I actually like her. I used to be in Rick Roach's district but my son's school was redistricted and now we are in hers. She's been to Sadler several times this year (I sure she visits the other schools ,too). My eight year old son said that she can stay in her office as longs as she wants because he thinks she is a nice lady. We went to a school board meeting and afterwards we went down to the front to say hi and she knew my kids came from Sadler.

Her district has so many low income schools, don't you think she thought long and hard about the economic outcome for some of the students?

Google East St. Louis School District as a cautionary tale of mismanaged funding. Look up the book Savage Inequalities(I forget the author's name it starts with a K. Kolzol, Kozool, something like that.) He has pictures of the school district. be glad at least our district is open about the money.

I've been to the ELC. One quarter of those people could go. There will be one person in charge of something and three back ups. Slash some money from there.

[seniors want more money]

Barbara wrote:

<quoted text>
Everyone needs to STOP talking about the property tax issue. That's a done deal. I voted against it, but lost. Now we just have to figure out how to make sure our children are safe. Talk about something that WE CAN do something about.

You can hope admendment 1 is thownout by the courts. There are four lawsuits against it. Just like admendment 10 in 1992 that established the homestead cap, last years admendment 1 effects and inequities will continue to grow each successive years. Add to it the declining real estate values, the admendment on this Novemeber's ballot to eliminate the 7 Billion that fund schools through property taxes replacing it with a 1 cent sales tax increase--this eill leave a 4 Billion shortfall for education funding that has not been address-- there are worse times ahead. There is also an admendment to limit goverment speding increases to no more than 3%. If inflation is more than 3%, SOL. These admendments will pass because seniors vote more than the rest of the electorate and see these as better for their pocketbook. Until Florida's demographics shift more in a younger direction--we have the highest median age in the nation--these admendements will doom Florida. The only thing that we can do is throw the current officials out of office.

[Barbara]

School memories wrote:

<quoted text>
I am in her district but I actually like her. I used to be in Rick Roach's district but my son's school was redistricted and now we are in hers. She's been to Sadler several times this year (I sure she visits the other schools ,too). My eight year old son said that she can stay in her office as longs as she wants because he thinks she is a nice lady. We went to a school board meeting and afterwards we went down to the front to say hi and she knew my kids came from Sadler.
Her district has so many low income schools, don't you think she thought long and hard about the economic outcome for some of the students?
Google East St. Louis School District as a cautionary tale of mismanaged funding. Look up the book Savage Inequalities(I forget the author's name it starts with a K. Kolzol, Kozool, something like that.) He has pictures of the school district. be glad at least our district is open about the money.
I've been to the ELC. One quarter of those people could go. There will be one person in charge of something and three back ups. Slash some money from there.

I agree she is a nice lady. I agree that money needs to be slashed for ELC. But Kat Gordon has been in office so many years that it's time for a change. She has gotten lax in her thinking and just sides with Blocker (98% of the time) without actually thinking about the consequences and questioning his authority (which, by the way, requires questioning by the board as they have the power to hire and fire him).

[Barbara]

seniors want more money wrote:

<quoted text>
You can hope admendment 1 is thownout by the courts. There are four lawsuits against it. Just like admendment 10 in 1992 that established the homestead cap, last years admendment 1 effects and inequities will continue to grow each successive years. Add to it the declining real estate values, the admendment on this Novemeber's ballot to eliminate the 7 Billion that fund schools through property taxes replacing it with a 1 cent sales tax increase--this eill leave a 4 Billion shortfall for education funding that has not been address-- there are worse times ahead. There is also an admendment to limit goverment speding increases to no more than 3%. If inflation is more than 3%, SOL. These admendments will pass because seniors vote more than the rest of the electorate and see these as better for their pocketbook. Until Florida's demographics shift more in a younger direction--we have the highest median age in the nation--these admendements will doom Florida. The only thing that we can do is throw the current officials out of office.

Okay, agree, but someone needs to step up and take their place.

[Barbara]

School memories wrote:

<quoted text>
be glad at least our district is open about the money.

Can I laugh? The district only tells you what they want you to hear. Try going to your son's school and asking for a copy of their school budget (which is public record by the way). I tried a few years ago. Took months and approximately 100 emails, and a couple of public record requests to get anything out of them.

[I have nothing left]

"West Orlandoman wrote:
How to fight the Orange County School Board after members pass a unpopular decision?
1. Organize, meet, elect your own leaders of the opposition group, raise money. Speak as a group, let your elected leaders summ up the main points and express them to elected officials. Let you elected leaders call for meetings with School Officials.
2. Keep the issue in the news by writing the sentinel, releaseing press releases to all news outlets. Write to the news deck. Keep an open mind, speak nicely to elected officials, and above all, take the high road and do not make threats. Its hard enough to be an elected official without threats of harm.
3. Hire a attorney to represent the group.
4. Follow the attorney recommendations. Attorney's know how the system works, and save everyone a lot of time. As a group, the cost is min. for everyone. Just make sure you have a large group.
OCPS should have sent out questionaires to High School, and middle school families asking if the time change would distrup their schedules. OCPS should have answered all the questions about sports and sport practises, middle after school care, and effects of being at schools for over 12 hours per day, before changing the schedule. OCPS should have had an air tight case supporting all the promised transportational savings before taking the vote.
In support of any group that organizes to oppose this decision, I can tell you from experience, OCPS isn't that smart or air tight. There will be many flaws found with a little digging. OCPS doesn't release public records easily, that's where the attorney comes in.
Good luck, I support the opposition. Organize quickly, the time clock is running. Raise $20,000 to fight this issue."
Tell me were to sign and im all in.

[nick]

Read Carefully Above wrote:

<quoted text>
Well Melissa, from your post we know A) You are a high school student B) You are NOT in honors or AP and C) You need to take responsibility for your time the way others need to in the real world. "When I was in high school" I know, it is trite, but when I was in High School I studied, worked hard, was a member of 5 after school groups, was on the student council, and worked a job. And somehow, miraculously, I survived.

well yea genius but did you not end school at 3:45-4:00
oh thats right you ended it nearly 2 hours earlier!

[nick]

also yea im a highschool student too!
and guess what i have
ap human geography
honors algebra honors
honors intergrated science
honors english 1
spanish
AVID-advancement via individual determination!
im also against the vote if you havent figured it out
any comments?

[nick]

GIVE IT A REST wrote:

<quoted text>
Thats your parents problem, not the school systems

hey genius the school system just made the problem
think before you write unless you want to make an idiot out of yourself
if you do then go ahead i wont complain

[Leslie Richards]

Barbara wrote:

<quoted text>
It has already been rushed. Did you watch the school board meeting. The vote was called and voted on in approximately 3 seconds. Now they need to admit they were wrong in voting so hastily and bring it back to the table. If it is not brought back at the 5/27 meeting, it is a done deal.

I agree. I was at the meeting and couldn't believe the ridiculous speed of the vote. Kat Gordon didn't even seem to comprehend that the vote had occurred (even though she motioned for it and supposedly voted).

[Leslie Richards]

notsurprised wrote:

<quoted text>
I have always felt the Ms. Ardaman was open-minded and global in her views and approaches to the issues of the school system. I knew that she would be well prepared for the meeting and she did not disappoint me.
If there is the potential of covering the upcoming year's bus expenses, then why in the world did the OCPS admnistration and/or board rush this onto the table to begin with, especially when it wasn't a popular idea the other two times it was suggested? When this possibility was announced at my school in April, my first thought was "Do this in 09-10 and research it in 08-09. Give people (schools, parents, employeers, YMCA and B&GC) a year to make plans rather than dropping it on them so quickly." If this is what needs to be done then fine, but it IS being pushed quickly which in turn is causing the uproar and unsettled feelings throughout the community.
If Mr. Roach can convince the board members to revisit the issue, then that's fantastic but it needs to be done now so the decison can be finalized and implemented. If they want to revisit this issue, then the MS and HS schedules should remain as they are NOW and use some of the contingency funds to make it through this year. What won't work is leaving the community in limbo, nor should they push it through for this year and then revisit it during the year and then change it back for next year when they realized that plan B would work just as well.
Good luck to Mr. Roach; I don't envy his (or anyone's) position on the Board and the work they have ahead of them.=-)

Brilliant and 100% agree

[Leslie Richards]

Barbara wrote:

<quoted text>
Ms. Ardaman was very well spoken during the meeting, as was Jim Martin and Rick Roach. The problem materialized when Kat Gordon rushed the motion for the vote without having the benefit of discussion among the board members. They each spoke individually, but because Kat Gordon rushed the vote to the table and someone, I'm not sure who, seconded it, the board members NEVER had discussion among themselves. This needs to be put back on the table so that each of the board members have an opportunity to discuss the issue among themselves. None of them had any opportunity to try and convince the other side to change their minds. I watched the meeting. This whole situation is Kat Gordon's fault for rushing things and not allowing public interaction to occur among the board.

Agree! I think it was Flynn who seconded. It was either her of Cadle, but I think Flynn

[Harvard Alum]

Deal with it! If you want to play sports or work a job, then get your lazy a**es up and work in the morning like the rest of us.

[Natalia]

I’m a high school student a junior to be exact and I don’t think the majority of adults posting this bogs take us seriously and don’t really understand how the time change will affect us. For all of you that are saying “stop complaining get use to it, there are bigger issues”. Well you have to understand this is going to be an issue in the long run. To start of the majority of high school students that have a job after school work because they have to NOT because they want to. The crisis in their household with mortgages, taxes, and the rise of gas, makes the economy on their houses to go down so parents don’t have plenty of money to pay all of the bills, so their kids, high school students have to help them get money to play the bills. We don’t go to “after school social events” we go to work to support our family. The time change is going to impede high school students to work because business owners are not going to hire people that are going to be working from 5pm to 10:30pm. We are going to be in a hard position either quit our job or stay in school, and for some other students this is not going to be a choice, their decision will be to quit school which will increase the drop out rate. What is the point of saving 2.3 million dollars if in the future does 2.3 million dollar won’t mean anything when people star noticing high school dropouts, teenage pregnancy rates getting higher since middle school students are not going to have supervision when they get home early, missing posters everywhere because middle school students will be waiting for the bus to pick them up at 6:30am when is still dark. The whole thing should have never happen and it must be change immediately because if it doesn’t the school board will regret it in the future.

[Timbo]

Harvard Alum wrote:

Deal with it! If you want to play sports or work a job, then get your lazy a**es up and work in the morning like the rest of us.

Yeah, Ronald Blocker said high school students can work in the morning but for how long, 1-2 hours? Some students need to earn more money than that. If you say deal with it, deal with 5 AP classes, 5 Extracurricular acticities, and an after school job at the same with the time switch. I'm sure you can do because you're from Harvard, you can do EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!

[mark]

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