Rumor? about Georgia Schools Closing Monday/Tuesday

[Radii]

Oliegirl said she just saw a breaking news report on Fox News about Georgia Public schools(statewide it sounds like??) closing Monday and Tuesday to conserve energy, but I don't see confirmation on this anywhere yet(gwinnett county schools, AJC, CNN, etc). I don't know how big the story was or if they were just presentnig a rumor or any details at all...

Has anyone else heard anything about this?

[JonInMiddleGA]

If that's what they said, it certainly appears to be news to both the AJC & the GA DOE website (neither mention it at all).

[cartman]

Yep, the Governor issued an order:

http://www.11alive.com/news/news_art...?storyid=69646

Governor Closing Schools Monday & Tuesday

Web Editor: Michael King
Last Modified: 9/23/2005 3:56:17 PM

Governor Sonny Perdue has announced that he is closing all the state schools on Monday and Tuesday of next week in a fuel saving measure as a result of Hurricane Rita.

This is a voluntary request on the governor's part.

Schools in Cobb, DeKalb and Gwinnett counties have confirmed that they will be following the request of the Governor's Office.

Sources at the Georgia Department of Education have confirmed the governor's announcement.

A formal news conference is due at 4 p.m. 11Alive and 11Alive.com will be carrying the news conference live.

[HomerJSimpson]

Purdue just announce this on the news. He is also asking some state employees to take time off, and having 4 10-hour work days for employees to conserve gas.

[Radii]

well damn, I was about to post and say that I thought this was very far-fetched on such short notice.

[HomerJSimpson]

BTW: They will be considered "snow days."

[JonInMiddleGA]

Interesting local note about this -- looks like somebody in ATL did a pretty darned good job of keeping this under wraps, the local county school system notified employees that they would be off Monday & Tuesday at 320 this afternoon. That's at least a half hour before it appears any of the news outlets got hold of it.

{edit to add, while avoiding a dola} -- This seems like a pretty big case of mixed signals from the Guv. Just a few hours ago, I finished reading a fairly long story on the gas situation in Georgia, complete with everybody agreeing that there was really nothing to worry about right now unless everybody started panic buying. Well, guess what this action has started? Haven't seen anything on the rest of the state yet, but locally, the lines are reportedly already forming up after the announcement about schools was made.

Just seems kinda like he was hell bent to fulfill a bit of prophecy here or something.

[Radii]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

unless everybody started panic buying. Well, guess what this action has started?

....

Just seems kinda like he was hell bent to fulfill a bit of prophecy here or something.

When Oliegirl called me and mentioned this she said something to the effect that she wondered why in the world they would announce, after school closed on Friday, that school would be out Monday and Tuesday unless there was some sort of major crisis looming.

I'm not particularily worried myself about a gas shortage or anything, but I think she has a valid point. It's going to be a huge nightmare to have schools closed for two days with basically zero notice, I don't think it's suprising at all that many reasonable people assume this is indicitive of some sort of impending shortage or crisis, and if reasonable people are wondering about that, your average Georgian is going to go into a gas buying panic.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Now the bigger worry in inquiring minds around my house -- we're supposed to leave for WDW Friday afternoon (a week from today). What's being debated is whether the gas situation means the surest way to get there on time & without major PITA is to fly instead of drive.

Damned if I like the notion of adding about $1,000 to the total cost of the trip, but damned if I don't like the notion of having this badly needed vacation screwed up even less.

@#$^@%^#& decisions.

[oliegirl]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Now the bigger worry in inquiring minds around my house -- we're supposed to leave for WDW Friday afternoon (a week from today). What's being debated is whether the gas situation means the surest way to get there on time & without major PITA is to fly instead of drive.

Damned if I like the notion of adding about $1,000 to the total cost of the trip, but damned if I don't like the notion of having this badly needed vacation screwed up even less.

@#$^@%^#& decisions.

FYI - all the local gas stations I passed on the way home, most notably Quik Trip (the best gas station is the world!) has lines forming already. I also noticed that they are raising prices...I paid $2.59 at my local station yesterday, it was $2.79 there when I came home about half an hour ago.

[Tekneek]

Originally Posted by oliegirl

FYI - all the local gas stations I passed on the way home, most notably Quik Trip (the best gas station is the world!) has lines forming already. I also noticed that they are raising prices...I paid $2.59 at my local station yesterday, it was $2.79 there when I came home about half an hour ago.

That's crummy. I was thinking about getting gas in the morning. At least I saved some gas by getting a virus and not making it into work today.

I usually either buy at the QuikTrip at 316/29 or the Costco on Venture (just off Steve Reynolds, next to Dave & Buster's). If the QT's around there are up to $2.79, Costco will probably be just below that.

[oliegirl]

Originally Posted by Tekneek

That's crummy. I was thinking about getting gas in the morning. At least I saved some gas by getting a virus and not making it into work today.

I usually either buy at the QuikTrip at 316/29 or the Costco on Venture (just off Steve Reynolds, next to Dave & Buster's). If the QT's around there are up to $2.79, Costco will probably be just below that.

We'll be at that Dave and Buster's tomorrow at 4 for the kiddo's birthday party - stop by and have some birthday cake with us if you are in the area We'll be the frazzled looking parents drinking tequila while the children around us run wild and eat junk food...

[ISiddiqui]

This was the dumbest thing I've heard in a while. I saw schools closed, I had no clue why. Then the local news explained why, I turned to my friend dumbfounded and could not fathom why in the Hell this was happening.

And of course, we both agreed that this would most definetly cause the gas panic that this move was supposed to have prevented.

Idiots!

[Solecismic]

Stupid, stupid governor. And what about the hundreds of thousands of parents who will need to take off work, as well, with no notice?

[Crapshoot]

Seriously- this seems exceedingly stupid, and likely to cause more panic (The State is telling you to conserve gas ? ) than anything.

[cartman]

Is he any relation to Frank Perdue, the chicken farmer?

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Interesting local note about this -- looks like somebody in ATL did a pretty darned good job of keeping this under wraps, the local county school system notified employees that they would be off Monday & Tuesday at 320 this afternoon. That's at least a half hour before it appears any of the news outlets got hold of it.

Tucker played up at Etowah last night, so we left at 2:45pm. We were riding county-owned school buses, which have in-house radio communications with the central office. I think the word came across those just a few minutes after 3:00pm. I called my wife and she stayed on the internet and turned on local radio. There wasn't a whiff of a news announcement until quite a bit later.

{edit to add, while avoiding a dola} -- This seems like a pretty big case of mixed signals from the Guv. Just a few hours ago, I finished reading a fairly long story on the gas situation in Georgia, complete with everybody agreeing that there was really nothing to worry about right now unless everybody started panic buying. Well, guess what this action has started? Haven't seen anything on the rest of the state yet, but locally, the lines are reportedly already forming up after the announcement about schools was made.

Several folks I know decided immediately to take a day or two off of work, too. They're taking the family to the beach, to Disney, to the lake house (and of course going out on the boat). That'll save lots of gas. Of course, since Georgians don't exactly tend to trust government, the reaction should have been easily predictable: "Yeah, he's SAYING we won't have a gas crisis just to keep us from buying up the rest of the nearly-depleted supplies, so I'm going to get MY gas NOW!!!" Sitting on a bus on I-285 with a bunch of coaches who were getting two days off, I found that even they thought it was a stupid decision, and everyone in the discussion I was involved in said the same thing: that this would directly cause a gas shortage even if one didn't previously exist. Why in the name of Zeus's BUTTHOLE couldn't Sonny or his advisors figure out what would happen as a result of this???

[HomerJSimpson]

Cathy Cox (GA Sec of State and canidate for govenor) response:

“Clearly, the Governor didn’t consider the impact of this stunt on working Georgians. He must not realize how much Georgia families will have to spend for last-minute child care alternatives for their children on Monday and Tuesday. What was he thinking?”
“Parents, teachers and principals across Georgia just had their lives thrown into chaos. With no warning or offer of assistance, Perdue is forcing parents to find childcare or take days off work. Schools are scrambling to get the word out about Perdue’s stunt late on a Friday afternoon because he didn’t show steady leadership.”
“We needed calm, level-headed, common sense in the Governor’s office but it was nowhere to be seen today. Sonny Perdue is just plain out of touch.”

The only things I don't agree with is that this is a real hardship on schools. Schools have been losing huge amounts of money on gas the last couple of months (which means we are all going to be looking at higher property taxes next year), and this is more warning than a normal "snow day" is given.

Other than that, she is right on. Any doubt she is going to mop the floor with him next year?

[Tekneek]

Originally Posted by HomerJSimpson

The only things I don't agree with is that this is a real hardship on schools. Schools have been losing huge amounts of money on gas the last couple of months (which means we are all going to be looking at higher property taxes next year), and this is more warning than a normal "snow day" is given.

We have had a property tax increase and a sales tax increase. They better forget about increases for about 5 more years.

Other than that, she is right on. Any doubt she is going to mop the floor with him next year?

I doubt she will. I would not even bet on her winning the Democratic primary.

[Tekneek]

Originally Posted by oliegirl

We'll be at that Dave and Buster's tomorrow at 4 for the kiddo's birthday party - stop by and have some birthday cake with us if you are in the area We'll be the frazzled looking parents drinking tequila while the children around us run wild and eat junk food...

Appreciate the invite...but I've got to work until 5 and then have a handful of errands to run on the way home. How old is your kid? My son is 4 (will be 5 in December). (This should have been a PM...)

[HomerJSimpson]

Originally Posted by Tekneek

We have had a property tax increase and a sales tax increase. They better forget about increases for about 5 more years.

Dream on.

I doubt she will. I would not even bet on her winning the Democratic primary.

Who will, Mark Taylor? It is not even close right now (his approval ratings as of a couple of weeks ago were in the low 30's, with her's in the low 50's.)

[Easy Mac]

Originally Posted by SkyDog

Tucker played up at Etowah last night, so we left at 2:45pm. We were riding county-owned school buses, which have in-house radio communications with the central office. I think the word came across those just a few minutes after 3:00pm. I called my wife and she stayed on the internet and turned on local radio. There wasn't a whiff of a news announcement until quite a bit later.

So if I get this right, he cancelled school on Monday and Tuesday to conserve fuel... but he lets schools drive god knows how far on Friday night so they could play football? How does that make sense at all?

[Tekneek]

Originally Posted by HomerJSimpson

Who will, Mark Taylor? It is not even close right now (his approval ratings as of a couple of weeks ago were in the low 30's, with her's in the low 50's.)

We will see what gathers once the campaigns start. I know a handful of obvious Democrats and they don't like her much. Of course, they would vote for her if she wins the nomination.

It doesn't look like she could get my vote without $1 million dropping into my bank account, so it doesn't matter too much to me. I would not vote for either of them.

[Tekneek]

Originally Posted by Easy Mac

So if I get this right, he cancelled school on Monday and Tuesday to conserve fuel... but he lets schools drive god knows how far on Friday night so they could play football? How does that make sense at all?

It was too late to cancel, plus there is probably a lot of money made on football here.

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by Tekneek

It was too late to cancel, plus there is probably a lot of money made on football here.

Plus it would have been a really, really, REALLY bad political move to do so. (As opposed to the move he made, which was merely really bad.)

[JonInMiddleGA]

EM - figure an average of, hmm , 5 buses for HS football/bands/et al for 80ish teams, that's 400 buses running last night ... but that pales in comparison to the number of buses running for something on the order of 200 school systems running everhowmany buses each on a school day. Cancelling the football games would have been a token move at most.

And would have been 20x worse p.r. than cancelling school for a couple of days. Maybe 200x worse.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Tekneek

We will see what gathers once the campaigns start. I know a handful of obvious Democrats and they don't like her much.

I expect it'll be the GOP crossovers (like me & quite a few others I know) that'll ultimately win it for her. Taylor is too tainted by the scent of Barnes for me to stomach him (obesity pun intended).

At the moment, what I'm hoping for is Cox as Governor, maybe a GOP Lt. Gov, and a split state House & Senate. Given the past few years of legislative actions, I'm to the point that complete gridlock might just be the best thing that could happen to state government here. They seem much more adept at doing things to me than for me, I wouldn't mind seeing them do virtually nothing at all for a few years.

[Tekneek]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

I wouldn't mind seeing them do virtually nothing at all for a few years.

I can agree to that. The only thing preferable to a government doing nothing is one that only repeals laws, at least to me.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Tekneek

The only thing preferable to a government doing nothing is one that only repeals laws, at least to me.

Don't get carried away here, you're probably going to have to settle for gridlock

[Easy Mac]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

EM - figure an average of, hmm , 5 buses for HS football/bands/et al for 80ish teams, that's 400 buses running last night ... but that pales in comparison to the number of buses running for something on the order of 200 school systems running everhowmany buses each on a school day. Cancelling the football games would have been a token move at most.

And would have been 20x worse p.r. than cancelling school for a couple of days. Maybe 200x worse.

There were 147 games last night. I'll assume that most teams took 30 minutes there and 30 minutes back (conservative estimate). 5 buses per team. That would have saved a whole hell of a lot of money. I have no doubt it would have been horrible PR, but its a just a shame that they care more about football than educating the kids.

[Tekneek]

Originally Posted by Easy Mac

I have no doubt it would have been horrible PR, but its a just a shame that they care more about football than educating the kids.

They care more about the politics and public relations than education, and the same can be said about a lot of the parents.

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by Easy Mac

I have no doubt it would have been horrible PR, but its a just a shame that they care more about football political backlash than educating the kids.

Fixed that for you. I'm pretty sure that Sonny's too much of a pansy to really care about football.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Easy Mac

There were 147 games last night. I'll assume that most teams took 30 minutes there and 30 minutes back (conservative estimate). 5 buses per team. That would have saved a whole hell of a lot of money. I have no doubt it would have been horrible PR, but its a just a shame that they care more about football than educating the kids.

1) My bad on the team count, I groggily divided counties by half, not high schools. Haven't had enough coffee yet to be even reasonably coherent

2) The cancellations don't appear connected to money particularly, it's about gas supply worries as far as I can tell.

2) Anybody paying attention even the slightest bit shouldn't be surprised that football trumps education in Georgia, that's been the case for as far back as I can remember (and we've got the performance indicators to prove it). I'd add a " " here, but it'd be inappropriate since I'm not kidding. We have high schools in order to give the populace a football appetizer on Friday before the main course on Saturday (well, that & to provide state-funded adolescent care).

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by SkyDog

Fixed that for you. I'm pretty sure that Sonny's too much of a pansy to really care about football.

Actually, he's a pretty big football geek. Played football as a walk-on at UGA, talks frequently about his playing days in HS & college, and frequently uses football metaphors when discussing politics.

You're allowing his cluelessness to obscure his good-ol-boy'ness

[Tekneek]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

We have high schools in order to give the populace a football appetizer on Friday before the main course on Saturday (well, that & to provide state-funded adolescent care).

WHAT? I would not have expected you to say that this sort of public school activity boils down to a 'daycare' situation. Isn't this described as "enrichment" by the politicos?

[Ben E Lou]

Also, there was a pretty big logistical/timing issue at work here. In Tucker's case, we already had at least four of our buses on the road when the decision came down from DeKalb County, and four more were either loading or had already left. Further, the decision was left up to each county. In our case, DeKalb made the call at around 3:00pm, but the decision was not announced in Cherokee County, where we were playing, until after the 7:30pm kickoff.

[Tekneek]

Originally Posted by SkyDog

In our case, DeKalb made the call at around 3:00pm, but the decision was not announced in Cherokee County, where we were playing, until after the 7:30pm kickoff.

It would have been a greater loss of dollars if kids were enroute to events that never went on. At least actually playing the games brought in some kind of revenue.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Tekneek

WHAT? I would not have expected you to say that this sort of public school activity boils down to a 'daycare' situation. Isn't this described as "enrichment" by the politicos?

Sorry, I probably wasn't clear there. I was talking about the reason the high schools themselves exist, not the football games. Point being that if it weren't for the football games AND/OR the daycare the high schools provide, there'd be little interest in having the high schools exist at all in most places in the state.

[Crapshoot]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Sorry, I probably wasn't clear there. I was talking about the reason the high schools themselves exist, not the football games. Point being that if it weren't for the football games AND/OR the daycare the high schools provide, there'd be little interest in having the high schools exist at all in most places in the state.

If that's true, that's one of the most damning indictments of a state that I think of. Is education really regarded as that irrelevant ? Does everyone expect to make it to pros through sports ?

[Buccaneer]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Sorry, I probably wasn't clear there. I was talking about the reason the high schools themselves exist, not the football games. Point being that if it weren't for the football games AND/OR the daycare the high schools provide, there'd be little interest in having the high schools exist at all in most places in the state.

I don't doubt there is some truth in that but it's not just Georgia (despite the perponderance of evidence of the over-emphasis on sports among Georgians here ). Other regions in Appalachia and the South have similar views historically that have carried down to this day. The anti-education bias doesn't divide along racial lines either. Surveys years ago did show a much larger percentage of blacks having false illusions about sports but I also wonder if the gap has narrowed as other opportunities become more open and acceptable?

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by Crapshoot

If that's true, that's one of the most damning indictments of a state that I think of. Is education really regarded as that irrelevant ? Does everyone expect to make it to pros through sports ?

I think what Jon is getting act is in the same ballpark of what I was recently talking about in the thread about two Katrina recovery options: that there is a large segment of our society in general that just doesn't care about education. There are tons of no account parents who see the school system as nothing more than free babysitting, but the football and basketball games as meaningful. That is painfully obvious. I've worked in two different inner-city-type communities, and in both cases, you'd be stunned by the number of kids in junior high and high school who thought they were going to be:

a. a rapper
b. a pro basketball or football player
c. a producer

If I had to guess, I'd say that, oh, 85% of the males I worked with in those three urban situations told me one of the three things above. I'm talking about guys who couldn't make the high school varsity team telling me that they were going to be in the NBA or NFL.

[Buccaneer]

SD, how are you and other role-models encouraging alternate opportunities or are the cultural biases too strong to counteract such mentalities?

[Solecismic]

Originally Posted by SkyDog

If I had to guess, I'd say that, oh, 85% of the males I worked with in those three urban situations told me one of the three things above. I'm talking about guys who couldn't make the high school varsity team telling me that they were going to be in the NBA or NFL.

It worked out okay for Michael Jordan.

But this is exactly why the schools are failing. Parents refusing to instill any kind of educational goals in their children. Can't fix the school system until this is fixed. In fact, can't even assess the school system as broken yet.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by SkyDog

I think what Jon is getting act is in the same ballpark of what I was recently talking about

Very much so.

You also raise some things in this post that prompted some additional disturbing thoughts for me (thanks bud, just what I needed this morning )

I've worked in two different inner-city-type communities ,,,

Great, so it's the same in the inner-city as it is in the rural areas. Well, at least they're equally screwed then, I guess that's something. Seriously though, I think it's important to note that me & SD are looking at extremely different environments (urban vs rural) but seeing a lot of the same things.

a. a rapper b. a pro basketball or football player c. a producer

Here's what really scared me in this post: realizing that I'd probably trade the aspirations you're seeing for the ones I'm seeing ... cause there really aren't any to speak of around here. However unrealistic those goals you're hearing may be, I'm not at all sure that they aren't preferrable to the common responses around here: "I dunno", "who cares", "it don't matter", "something, I don't know". At least the kids you're talking to still seem to be capable of dreaming, at opposed to my corner of the hinterlands where they don't seem capable of even that much interest or motivation.

Lord knows, I'm not putting it all on the kids either, I see the same thing from the parents (although, somewhat curiously, not nearly so much so from the grandparent generation). I know my experiences are largely anecdotal, and that I'm suffering greatly from the despair of seeing too many trees & not enough forest, but it's ... deeply disturbing is as close as I can come right now, to see 90% of "sub-generation" (say +/- 10 years of a given age) really have no desire to do anything, be anything, or even in this day & age of focus on material goods even manage to work up much interest in wanting anything.

... the school system as nothing more than free babysitting

I've seen so much crap in the past few years that I'm ready to applaud those sperm-donors & recipients (damned if I'll call them "parents") for at least acknowledging the need for their kids to be supervised. There's a phenomenon in this area that defies all my prior experiences & challenges my ability to describe -- we call it a "disposable children" attitude around here, behaviors that make it clear that there's little to no value being placed on the individual child at all, a "we'll just have another one" approach to the notion that something might happen to the kid in question. Sort of a "crunch all you want, we'll make more" Doritos mentality.

Surely I'm not the only person who remembers it being common to hear kids complaining about how strict their parents were, or comparing how strict X's parents were compared to their own -- but you never hear that around these parts, the most common complaint about parents (their own or other kid's) is how they aren't strict enough, how there are no rules, no controls, etc. Maybe I am just getting old, but doggone it, there's something that seems very f'ed up about kids consistently & routinely complaining about how slack parenting is, that's just too paradoxical for me to deal with I'm afraid.

Sorry for the off-topic rant, but that's the path this discussion ended up sending me down. Can you tell it's time for me to get the hell out of Stepford?

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by Buccaneer

SD, how are you and other role-models encouraging alternate opportunities or are the cultural biases too strong to counteract such mentalities?

The problem is that you're dealing with an age where virtually ALL of them have a pretty skewed view of life to being with. Add to that cultural biases and lack of parenting, and you've got an uphill battle in front of you. You tell a group of kids that only .5% of high school athletes (or whatever figure that is) will make it to the pros, and you can just SEE some of them sitting there thinking, "Yeah, these other guys need to get a job, 'cause I am in the .5%." Curiously, as I mentioned in the other thread, there's a common sentiment that somehow runs through a small percentage of the kids, though (and I'm talking about ones from bad situations, even). Apart from the athletes, the ones who do something different often say a similar thing: "I learned what NOT to be from the adults in my life." My dad said it starting over 70 years ago, and I can think of two kids from Tucker, one from inner-city Atlanta, and one from inner-city Marietta who all made nearly the exact same statement to me. All four are doing quite well for themselves now. Two are currently in college, and the other two are leading productive lives in the work force.

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Can you tell it's time for me to get the hell out of Stepford?

My brother taught middle school in Cusseta for several years, and it just got too depressing for him and he's teaching in Columbus now. His stories were pretty much exactly as you said about no motivation whatsoever.

I wonder if the difference between the rural and urban situations are simply that kids from the metro area actually see, or at least know someone who has seen, Puffy or Jermaine or Li'l John riding around town. At some point, they manage to score free tickets to a Falcons or Hawks game one way or another and see the NFL and NBA guys up close. I'm not sure that's it, but I'd imagine seeing it a little more up-close might contribute to some basic level of dreaming.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Dang SD, I really believe there might just be something to that difference ... and I'm not at all sure that seeing Puffy drive by being a difference maker in these kids doesn't scare me as much as all the rest of it. (nothing against Puffy, just really absorbing how lacking in motivational examples kids have to be for that to be some sort of defining moment).

Criminy, I believe we've reached a point where this is more depressing than I can handle on a Saturday afternoon. Time for a nap or something.

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

... and I'm not at all sure that seeing Puffy drive by being a difference maker in these kids doesn't scare me as much as all the rest of it. (nothing against Puffy, just really absorbing how lacking in motivational examples kids have to be for that to be some sort of defining moment).

Side note about Puffy, btw. He likes to be seen driving through the 'hoods and the ghettos, but I happen to know where he lives, because it is right down the street from my wife's boss, in one of the lilliest-white parts of Dunwoody.

[Tekneek]

Originally Posted by SkyDog

Side note about Puffy, btw. He likes to be seen driving through the 'hoods and the ghettos

Of course he does. I don't think much of him, but he is a savvy businessman. He's made a whole lot of money out of nothing and he knows his market very well.

[korme]

Does anyone think this is crazy? I feel like I'm in a movie like Day After Tomorrow or something.