Showing posts with label
Richmond County Board of Education.
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Showing posts with label
Richmond County Board of Education.
Show all posts
Many people qualify but for one reason or another they do not run for this position. Sometimes the reason is due to not knowing where to start. The first site you can check is the Augusta government website. Under the Departments tab select A-E, then Board of Elections. You can visit the RCBoEd site to see the school board members, districts, contact information and when their terms are due to expire. As you can see from the site, personnel holding the positions for Districts 1, 4, 5, 8, 10 (At large district) expire December 31, 2012. This means if you want to run for one of the positions, you must register between Wednesday, May 23 beginning at 9:00 AM and no later than (NLT) Friday, May 25, 2012 by noon.
Qualifying
Qualifying for partisan (Democrat and Republican) and non-partisan offices opens Wednesday, May 23, 2012 at 9:00 AM and closes at 12:00 Noon on Friday, May 25, 2012.
Information regarding the qualifications and requirements to seek public office may be found in the publication Qualifications and Disqualifications to Seek Public Office, which is published by the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office.
Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Act of 2010
To locate information on the Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Act of 2010 and to file campaign reports visit the Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission.
This information is from page 252 of the 272 pages of the Qualifications and Disqualifications for Holding State or County Elective Office in Georgia.
MEMBER, COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION
Qualifications
1. Must be a citizen of this state.
2. Must have been a resident of the county from which elected for 12 months immediately
preceding election.
3. Must be a qualified voter. O.C.G.A. § 45-2-1
4. Must reside within the school district in which he or she seeks election and in the election
district which he or she represents. Ga. Const. Art. 8, § 5, ¶ 2 O.C.G.A. § 20-2-51
Cross-Reference:
Art. 8, § 5, ¶ 2, and O.C.G.A. § 20-2-51 establish county school districts under the management and control of a county board of education.
Annotation:
Residency requirements for the election of local school board members cannot be established
by local board bylaws. Op. Atty. Gen. U97-25.
5. Must not be
a) employed by or serving on the governing board of any private educational body or
institution;
b) employed by the local board of education and be on the same board;
c) employed by either the State Department of Education or the State Board of Education.
O.C.G.A. § 20-2-51 (c)
Term of Office and Election
6. Term of office is four years unless otherwise provided by local act or constitutional
amendment. Ga. Const. Art. 8, § 5, ¶ 2 O.C.G.A. § 20-2-52
7. Elected in the general election held on Tuesday following the first Monday in November
in each even-numbered year next preceding the expiration of the term of office.
O.C.G.A. § 21-2-9
8. Elected in partisan elections unless nonpartisan elections are provided for by local law.
O.C.G.A. §§ 20-2-56, 21-2-139
9. A candidate for member of a county board of education must pay a qualification fee or
file a pauper’s affidavit.
O.C.G.A. §§ 21-2-131, 21-2-132, 21-2-153
Annotations:
1. If a candidate is unable to pay required qualifying fee, candidate may execute a
pauper’s affidavit in lieu of qualifying fee and be afforded the opportunity to run.
Op. Atty. Gen. 72-48. See Georgia Socialist Workers Party v. Fortson, 315 F. Supp.
1035 (N.D. Ga. 1970).
2. A candidate for the final half of an unexpired term must pay the full qualification
fee just as if he or she were running for a full term. Op. Atty. Gen. U70-77.
3. For the purpose of computing qualifying fee, only the salary which the law provides
for the office directly involved should be included and not the additional compensation
paid for the ex-officio position held by the incumbent. Op. Atty. Gen. 70-53.
4. An elected official cannot rely on payment of an incorrectly advertised qualifying
fee to compel the governing authority to compensate the elected official beyond the
salary permitted by statute. Rowland v. Tattnall County, 260 Ga. 109, 390 S.E. 2d
217 (1990).
If you qualify, the next step is to bookmark this site, Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission and select your role, Candidate, Non-Candidate Committee, Lobbyist, Public Official, Qualifying Officer, State Employee, and/or Vendor.
Select Candidate, check out the site and:
1. File a Declaration of Intention to Accept Contributions.
2. File a PIN Application for e-filing CCDR & PFD (Candidates / Elected Officials).
3. If you have designated someone to file your reports or if anyone is collecting your contributions or expending your contributions, file a Registration Form for a Candidate’s Campaign Committee.
4. File a form for Choosing Option of Separate Accounting.
5. File reports according to your schedule.
Do you want to see reports submitted by existing office holders or other campaign reports? Search reports by types: Campaign Reports, Personal Financial Reports & Affidavits, Business Transaction Reports, Lobbyist Reports, Late/Non-Filer Reports, Campaign Contributions Map, Vendor Gifts Reports.
If you want to be one part of the change that you want, starting at the local level is an option.
Comments, recommendations +1s, and reaction check boxes are always appreciated.
If your school district has a $13.4 million shortfall...What would you do if you were in charge for a day?Recommendations have been made to the school board to add a virtual suggestion box to the home page. Graduations were piped through the net, why not let the property tax payers, working parents, current and former students, teachers, and community partners make suggestions through the net? After all, this is the second time in one year that the RCBoEd has decided to raise taxes.So why doesn't a school district that is raising taxes again, incorporate Google Apps for Education? Bring in Moodle for Blackboard? Incorporate Google Docs, Presentations, and Spreadsheets, Star Office, or OpenOffice for proprietary software? Use Google Earth to teach subjects where collaboration can enhance the learning event for everyone involved? Use Google's SketchUp to supplement learning in Engineering, Construction, Interior Design, or anything 3D ? Encourage the use of wikis? Get involved with global initiatives like the Flat Classroom and Horizon Projects?The school administration noted that summer school is not profitable, yet failed to add those "fun to learn" courses, such as chess, double dutch jump rope, basic keyboarding, creating ePortfolios, Internet safety, basic web design and bring in volunteers from the community or education majors looking to facilitate a class to add to their "real world" teaching experiences. Why not have fun while learning something new and sharing knowledge?The community can be encouraged to support schools by participating in Target's Take Charge of Education, UPromise Schools Program, Coke Rewards for Schools, Donor's Choose, Campbell's Labels for Education, Office Depot's "5% Back to Schools" Program, join the local PTAs, PTSAs, booster clubs, and other local philanthropic opportunities.GA Department of Audits and Accounts posts the salary and travel pay for everyone in the school district, for any district in GA based on June, the closeout month of the school year. Each January of a new year, Internet surfers can visit the site and see the released reports of salary and travel by name of every employee paid, before taxes. The link is referenced in the end of this post.
So now, RCSS hires America's Choice. A company that came in and conducted "training" for principals. So, "Did learning take place? and "Are the principals implementing a knowledge sharing plan?"For a school district who's mission statement reads, "The Mission of the Richmond County School System is to educate students to become lifelong learners and productive citizens" is oxymoronic when the graduation rate is 62% and 1500 students failed the CRCT. The primary reason that the graduation rate is 62% is due to two magnet schools which graduated 100% of their students. This information is available through the GA Dept of Education website.All comments, recommendations, suggestions are welcome. If you were in charge for the day what would you do if you were in charge and inherited the school district with the $13.4 million budget shortfall?Links referenced in this blog:Google Apps for EducationGoogle EarthGoogle SketchUp Google Pack which contains Star OfficeOpenOffice MoodleAmerica's ChoiceGeorgia Dept of Audits and AccountsRichmond County School System (About Us) GA Dept of EducationFlat ClassroomHorizon Project
The AYP (Annual Yearly Progress) numbers are in and once again, Richmond County School System (RCSS) did not meet the standard. This year 50.9 percent of schools made AYP, down from 70.2 percent last year. While these numbers mean different things to different people...educators, administrators, parents, guardians, students, the community and the military members who end up on orders to a military installation in Georgia it is the news for the day. The school board will vote to raise the millage rate on Monday, July 28, 2008 at 4:30 for the second time this year, regardless of the numbers.Yes, the positive numbers need to be acknowledged but overall the RCSS numbers dropped. School choice will be back...but what do you do when your student's school does not make AYP and there are no school choices? You jump in with both feet and do what you can to make improvements. Schools are a vital part of the community. These students are the future leaders, they will be the ones rocking our rocking chairs. Everyone needs to do something.The Augusta Chronicle does a great job of providing coverage when the negative news in the Richmond County School System will draw the attention of the online posters. If 1/2 of the people who post a gripe, complaint, or groan about the school system would put 1 hour of volunteering in at the local neighborhood school, we might see some improvement or maybe change the perspective of their posts.I am proud that my daughter graduated high school, but I know it was her diverse experiences in schools in Georgia, Florida, Alaska, and Texas exposed her to different learning environments and the involvement of the adults in her life that expected no less from her. I am concerned about the graduation rate of the school system as a whole. From the Georgia Department of Education, these are the graduation rates posted under the annual AYP reports as the second indicator:Richmond County (721) System did not meet AYP
2001 2002 Graduation rate: 58.7%
2002 2003 Graduation rate: 59.4%
2003-2004 Graduation rate: 62.2%
2004-2005 Graduation rate: 72%
2005-2006 Graduation rate: 66.1%
2006-2007 Graduation rate: 66.3%
2007-2008 Graduation rate: 62.1%Education is big business. If colleges, corporations, or the military produced these kind of numbers for graduation they would be put out of business. So whether you want to believe the numbers posted by the GA Dept of Education, US Department of Education, Ed in 08, US Census Bureau, or whatever organization is publishing the numbers...take a look around your neighborhood. Will the children your student eats lunch with today be the same students walking across the graduation stage?Ed in 08: http://www.edin08.com/GA Dept of Education 2008 AYP: http://www.doe.k12.ga.us/ayp2008.aspxUS Dept of Education: http://www.ed.gov/index.jhtmlBill & Melinda Gates Foundation: http://www.gatesfoundation.org/UnitedStates/Education/While the AYP #s are in the news today, the first "rightsizing" forum was held July 27, 2008 and hopefully will provide recommendations for the August monthly school board meeting. The audit conducted by MGT of America, Inc. documented that the school system had 6000 empty seats, and recommended closing 1 high school, 1 middle school, and 3 elementary schools. But the school board approved building 1 new middle school which is undergoing construction.Having been an involved parent in GA, FL, AK, and TX, I question many decisions of this school district. These questions and my research play a vital role in the research I conduct for my own educational assignments.Regardless of the outcome, I have to thank the Richmond County School System for the valuable lessons learned and the plethora of research and information they provide as I continue my own education in the field Educational Technology Management.
One of the many things I am sharing knowledge with my daughter (and my mother who is now a GA resident) is how the local school board raises taxes without tightening their own belt a little more. As a property owner in RC but not always a resident due to military moves and job that required me to be a road warrior teaching soldiers I did not pay as much attention to my property taxes as I would with my personal finances. I do not know why and I won't worry about it now. But this time the school board and the county commission are proposing tax increases. So I attended one of the three public hearings and a crowd of seven people was present. Out of the seven one was the Augusta Chronicle reporter.
The meeting was opened, a gentleman addressed the tax issue concerning adults over 65 and was quickly shut down as the board addressed the concern as an issue that needs to be taken up with local legislators. Then I took my turn at the microphone. Stated my name for the record and reminded the board that I am not here on behalf of the Butler HS PTSA...just as a concerned tax payer, a grad student, and a parent of a soon to be freshman at ASU. I collected a few comments and emails from individuals who knew I would be attending and requested a link or form be placed on the RCBoEd home page where individuals who could not attend the public hearings could still submit recommendations. Most people are not aware of their assigned school board member because you may vote for a school board member in your voting district but then your students attend a school which falls under another school board member's district. I also requested that the textbook budget be reviewed for an opportunity to purchase laptops for every student in the district. Because we are a military town, many property owners may be deployed or could not attend the three scheduled meetings but many people are concerned with a school system not making AYP coupled with a graduation rate of 48%, 57%, 62% depending on who publishes the numbers.
I share this link with individuals who are concerned about the budgets (salary & travel) for any of the educational districts, universities, state agencies, technical colleges, and universities. The link for GA Department of Audits and Accounts: https://www.audits.state.ga.us/esa/index.html .
This link will take you to the memorandum stating the GA DoAA requirements and require the user to select the "I Understand...Proceed" button. Multiple reports can be pulled from this collected data, so users can compare and contrast positions, school districts, job titles, etc.The Richmond County School System is not even close to being participants in Classroom 2.0, Students 2.0, the Horizon and Flat Classroom Projects (or the many other wonderful initiatives) because the system is in a state of Paradigm Paralysis. There are people who want to move the school system into the digital world but the number of digital inequities, coupled with the anti computer attitudes of those choosing not to migrate is frustrating.My hat is off to Dr. Dana Bedden for surviving his first year in the Paradigm Paralysis in Richmond County. Requesting the audit and implementing some suggestions (but not all) and his discovery of the $13.4 million shortfall. I thank him for taking this job, Greg Gelpi from the Augusta Chronicle, and the school board members who make for great research material in my assignments. Nothing like real world application to make educational theories stick. I support Dr. Bedden's efforts and continue to support the students who will eventually become the leaders of Augusta. While I do not support the tax increase because actions exist that could be implemented to reduce the budget and I do not believe in throwing good money after bad. With the tax increase...will we see an improvement in the graduation rate or implement pay reductions for leaders making 3x the starting salary of a new teacher? I am not a parent who sits on the outside looking in. During the last two years, I took one day off per month from my job and volunteered at the school. I substituted 2x, revitalized the PTSA, connected the parents, students, teachers, and community partners through MySpace, web site, and newsgroup, attended football games for two losing seasons, met Wycliffe Gordon and worked with him as he donated $1000 for the PTSA to host a county wide talent competition, met an awful lot of people who tried to drag me into a paper based world as I reminded them of my digital native status, attended every Saturday school to assist in whatever was needed, provided gum and mints to all students arriving at Butler to take the monthly SAT, and many other events to minor to list here.As a Google girl, I volunteered at the local library and conducted Google products and scholarship workshops. There are many passionate people in Richmond County concerned about education, but are too busy to speak their mind, intimidated by the past decade of bureaucracy by a lame duck superintendent, jaded by a bureaucratic process that requires parents to jump hurdles to retrieve an answer to specific questions, or those who just do not know where to turn. Based on the turnout of the two public hearings, the board will hold their 3rd and final public hearing on Monday, July 28, 2008, 4PM. The board will reconvene at 4:30 to pass the vote which will increase our taxes for the second time in one year. It is said that the sweetest revenge is living good...so I will continue to live the best that I can, while seeking to improve my weaknesses and capitalize on my strengths and remember that school board members have students in the system and that in the end...everyone has to answer to a higher power.
Finally...RSS feeds and a suggestion form available on the RCBoEd web site. For many of us digital parents it is nice to see the website crawling onto the bridge over the digital chasm.
We thank Dr. Bedden for the many improvements he has made to the RCBoEd website. Accessing the RCBoEd homepage from school computers is still slow from some of the school computers used by the students. The 2 click rule is also not incorporated into the website, eventually the digital natives will make their way into the RCBoE.
Go ahead make a suggestion to the Richmond County Board of Education: http://www.rcboe.org/www/rcboe/site/hosting/Suggestions.htmlOne suggestion has been made to change the web page display name from New Page 1 to Suggestions.
