Most people may think of cranberries only at Thanksgiving, but not the people of Warrens, Wisconsin. The town’s 40th annual Cranberry Festival starts today and runs through Sunday, a celebration expected to draw 110,000 people. While the focus is on cranberries, the festival has more than three miles of booths featuring arts, crafts, antiques, and food. Among the activities offered are educational tours of the nearby cranberry bogs. Each year in the U.S., there are 340,000 tons of cranberries harvested, worth more than $321 million. Massachusetts is the leading producer, followed by Wisconsin. You can find more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau, online at <www.census.gov>.
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At last night’s community watch meeting, the Vance County School Board made the point that, education is the key every person needs to find their success in life. They added that teachers and school methods can do only so much without committed mentoring by someone. (I changed the school’s words teaching and parent to mentoring and someone, because mentoring is more than teaching and sometimes the biological parent is ill equipped to guide the child.)
Before the start of the meeting I told Mr. Choplin that I hoped the auditorium would be at capacity; alas 40 – 45 people attended the meeting well less than half the auditorium’s capacity. Of those attending about the meeting 85% – 90% are directly involved in the community watch program.
It is hard to understand how anything will change (reduced drop-out rate, reduced adolescent pregnancy, reduced crime, reduced poverty and hopelessness) when so few care to attend a meeting to listen to the school’s leadership speak.
Michael Bobbitt
Mr. Bobbitt, for many years, many of us attended countless meetings, served on committees, donated money, spoke to classes,etc. Whenever we made suggestions to improve education in Vance County, we were labeled as racists, particularly when it involved raising standards. For example, the suggestion was made to increase the requirements for participation in athletics. The loudest protest I heard was when whites out numbered blacks on the Vance cheerleading squad, even though proper procedure had been followed. Finally, the administration gave in and added a black girl even though she had not met eligibility standards.
Over the years, many of us just got tired of the loud and persistent clamor from the few in the black community who called themselves “concerned citizens”. We just quietly dropped out and let these so called “concerned citizens” run the show. See what the result is.
Just called FGvVSmart Start and the race, weather permitting, is still on at 2 pm.
Duing these tough economic times the City Of Henderson only makes it harder !!
Does anybody know when the next Henderson City Council Meeting will be? Apparently, I can only assume that the City only listens to to who and what they want to. The city council is suppose to represent the citizens of Henderson…..right? Fair is fair and right is right -it’s just that simple.
As a tax paying citizen of this city/county and a small business owner downtown…..everyone deserves the right to be heard!
I could not agree with you more, BSams. Wonder what is going on? Our downtown is fragile and should be nurtured and protected in the right way. This includes our local merchants! I hope everything is alright.
BSams, according to the city’s website, the next council meeting is scheduled for Monday October 8, 2012 at 6:00pm. If it were me I would call the city on Monday and ask to be placed on the agenda.
Mr. Bobbitt,
I hate that I missed that forum b/c it would have been interesting to hear what the superintendent and his many assistants had to say. I’m sure they read off some statistics about poverty/dropout %/etc. but I bet they didn’t mention what Research Based Interventions have shown…and that is if a child isn’t reading on grade level by 3rd grade the chance of ever getting them ‘up to grade level’ rapidly closes and if by 5th grade they still aren’t on grade level…not gonna happen. My reason for the comment is this: I know that the majority of “good” teachers send home a reading log w/young elementary students. This is not a log for a parent to read a bunch of books to the kids but rather an attempt to get parents to “help” their child read the books. A child in K/1st grade should know the sounds that each alphabet makes and they can “sound it out” and then “blend” the sounds. It helps to know strategies such as if a word ends in the letter “e” that the vowel that proceeds it in the word will usually “say its name”…and the “e” at the end will be quiet… Ex: Taste….t…A…st….e. If parents will parent and not the XBox Kinect/Nintendo DS/Wii babysit their kids then reading will become enjoyable and learning will become fun. It is no greater feeling(other than the birth of your own children) than to see a young child sound out a word such as taste and blend it and his/her eyes light up b/c now they know that the word is TASTE.
On the topic of wanting more Church involvement within the schools….the MAIN reason the Charter Schools are scoring better on Standardized Tests is b/c they make the parent/guardian sign a contract saying they will volunteer a certain amount of hours each semester/year and from the statistics I’ve seen from the Charter Schools compared to Vance Co. Schools…there is no comparison. Nuff Said!!!
Three different times in the past, a group of parents, including two former public school teachers met with various School Board members and Superintendents. Our idea was to identify poor readers in grades one, two and three and place them all together in smaller class sizes with a teacher and an aide. In other words, concentrate over half of the school day on reading.
Then in grades four and five repeat the process for concentration on math. We were basically ignored except two board members told us that it was a great idea and had been used in many states with a high degree of success. Why not in Vance County then? We were told that blacks would never allow this because they see it as a return to segregation. I say…draw your own conclusions based on the performance of Vance County schools over the last 15 years or so.
Whats your grievance BSams?
Reminder if you want to speak during the city council meeting you must sign up BEFORE the meeting on the signup sheet. We’ll be posting the agenda of the upcoming meeting usually on the Friday before.
Royal Rooter: I would agree with you that the School Board seems to speak only in political tones and I would bet that the vast majority of them haven’t set foot in a school unless it was for a Grand Opening(Clarke Elementary) or another photo-op. The word that I should have used for the lesson instead of “taste” was “WASTE”….same principles apply but it better fits the County of Vance and its schools and govt. officials.
P.S. to Pete(Mayor) and Garry(City Councilman)….how much sense would it have made to have a public address(P.A.) system or something so that the people who attended the Ducky Derby could have heard what Pete was saying. I estimated about 100-150 people in attendance and that’s counting the Firemen/Police. Speaking of public officials…..when is the last time your representative(whether it be county commissioner or city council member) came to the school in their district and volunteered? I haven’t seen 1 at any of the schools I have to be involved with in one way or another. Maybe my timing is just bad and I’m missing the opportunity to witness such ‘giving back’? I doubt it……..NUFF SAID!!!!
BSams: unless you are one of the “insiders” be prepared for your speaking engagement b/c Pete will hold you to the 3 minute limit….unless you are one of the ones who pulls the strings of the city council and the Mayor.Mr. Bobbitt..I think you know of what I speak b/c you have witnessed it firsthand. NUFF SAID.
Hey Deception, since his last name is Sams, maybe Pete will get confused and give him at least 20 or 30 minutes like he has done in the past for Sam or anyone speaking in favor of Sam’s viewpoint.
Royal Rooster: you must keep up with local politics to know that certain “individuals” get more time to speak at the Public Forums held at City Hall. I have witnessed it 1st hand on several occassions and its kinda funny b/c Petey knows that the “individuals” time is lapsed but it’s almost like he’s scared to call him on it. That’s some funny s###.
I see the Rev/Pastor/Deacon Miles got an endorsement from ex-commissioner S.Hughes. Talk about being the “last nail in the coffin”….if he wasn’t doomed from volunteering he probably will be now. Some things are left better unspoken…………NUFF SAID!!
BSams,
The next City Council meeting is scheduled for October 8, starting at 6:00 pm. The public has two opportunities to speak to the council. The first is to comment on an agenda item(s) and the second is on non-agenda items.
The City Council publishes a complete and professionally prepared meeting packet generally on the Thursday before the scheduled meetings. (Copies of council packets are published on HiH.) Included in the packet is an outline of the Citizen Comment Guidelines for agenda and non-agenda topics. “The Mayor and City Council welcome and encourage citizens to attend City Council meetings and to offer comments on matters of concern to them.” Take them at their word. Also read and heed the seven steps in the public comment guidelines prior to addressing the City Council. The first guideline states: “Citizens are requested to limit their comments to five minutes; however, the Mayor, at his discretion, may limit comments to three minutes should there appear to be a large number of people wishing to address the Council.” I assume that the Mayor has discretion to allow a longer presentation. The second guideline states: “Comments should be presented in a civil manner and be non-personal in nature, fact-based and issue oriented.”
Follow the guidelines and be prepared for one of two responses when making your presentation; a pleasant thank you for speaking; or a question(s) from the Mayor and one or more Council members. I have observed both responses.
Hope to hear what you have to say.