Kingsport Citizens

[WaCoJaCo]

well they what to consolidate because the state is telling them to so the state can save money they did in chattanooga and they tried where i live in coffee co but they let us vote on it and of course it failed overwhelmingly

 

 

mjuhb, I have some spare periods and some capitol letters if you'd like to borrow them sometime.

[LCborn]

Schools in TN deserve more money period. I wish lottery money would go directly to the schools and increase school funding and teacher pay.

 

Perhaps...but there's a perception that teachers are underpaid that I don't think is correct. Not that teachers in some school systems aren't underpaid, but according to statistics from the Bureau of Economic Analysis (www.bea.gov), the average annual income in TN is $29,806; and according to the National Education Association average TN teacher salary is $41,257. But that should be adjusted for educational attainment. If you use 2000 census numbers to calculate average pay for folks with a college education, the TN average is something like $40,773. So, teachers, on average (different school systems vary, of course), earn 102% of average pay for people with college educations. That's not too very far from the state-wide average.

 

Then again, many people outside of teaching get 10 or 11 holidays per year and 10 vacation days. According to the TN Dept. of Ed., teachers must receive 10 vacation days and may receive as many as 60 holidays (counting summers), depending on how many days their school system is in session. And nobody outside of education gets tenure. So I don't believe teachers are underpaid.

 

Also...the argument seems to be that kids would get better educations if teachers were paid more. That could only be true if (1) teachers are holding back but would perform better if they were paid more; or (2) teachers lack talent and higher pay would attract more talented people into teaching. Either way, the argument is an insult to current teachers. According to that, they're either slackers or incompetents. I don't believe it. Teachers are great people.

 

I think school consolidation is a mistake, though. High schools should never be larger than about 1000 kids. Even that may be too large. Think about it: a high school with 1000 kids has one boys' basketball team of about 15 kids; so does a high school with 4000 kids. The same numbers game goes for football, track, baseball, band, chorus, drama club, whatever. Smaller schools just give more opportunities for kids to participate.

 

OK--I'm now descending from my soapbox. Sorry to have ranted.

[bc4059]

The problem lies with the Sullivan County Board of Idiots, it states than when a area is annexed that the kids have to go to the city schools. All it would take is for them to make a rule change so the kids could stay in the county school. I have 2 sons that go to Sullivan Middle School, and because of rezoning the number of kids going to class there is now under 200, and Colonial Heights Middle School numbers around 600. There are alot of those students live closer to Sullivan Middle than they do Colonial Heights. I think the board needs to get their idiot heads together and make the changes and leave the students alone!

[bud]

Actually Kingsport City would have to make the choice to allow the newly annexed kids to choose which sysytem to attend. Maybe I am wrong though. It seems that the city would be the one to make that call since a newly annexed area would be under the govern of the city. Now, maybe the Sullivan County Board also has to vote to allow these kids to stay in the county schools once these kids homes have been annexed.

[OakRidgeCat]

Dang, with all due respect to our foes this topic is wwwaaaaayyyyyy tooooooo deep for me. In our city, we are simply tearing down the old school and building a larger new one where the old stood. All this while the kids are in school, go figure that one out. (you know it would take a rocket scientist to do this)

 

Good luck though, it does take citizen involvement to make things right. For too long the public has simply accepted what the government wants to do without the input of the public or the right to vote on an issue.

 

Hang in there DB, nothing can take away the class from your program regardless of what happens.

[bc4059]

Sullivan County allows the students to finish out the year but after that they must attend the city school. The city will allow the students to attend county schools in a annexed area. It is one screwed up mess!

[Rebel Nation]

I'm posting merely because there are soo many people in here with my avatar...thought we should all bee seen together, so someone doesn't think we're all the same person.

[formerblazer]

 

A similar problem will occur before long in Johnson City/Washington County.

Gray is now the fastest growing area in the Tri-Cities, and Johnson City is naturally going to want to annex as much as possible, to get the tax dollars. But when you bring in that much population, where do you send them to school? Science Hill is the only high school, and it's bursting at the seams now. It's going to be a continuing problem as this area grows................

 

Gray voted for no annexation. When I was going to school, I was still attending Gray and this would have effected me. I would have had to go to Sulphur Springs and Crockett instead of Gray and Boone (which I live 5 min away, though I live in Jonesborough because of mailing address). Gray community had 3 options: No annexation, annexation, or become their own "city" if you will. They eventually voted no annexation, but JC is considered to be the whole road from where it turns into a three lane right before Daniel Boone all the way down to the Mouse's Ear right before Boone Lake. Slowly but surely, they are taking over. JC is getting so big, that eventually they will need a new high school. Making it a city school and taking over Boone would not be cool in my book, but it would take care of building a brand new school. But then you lose a lot of students and then they would have to be bussed out to Crockett which is already bursting at the seams.

 

Tough decision. I still say no annexation and just leave it alone.

[Honky Tonk Man]

 

 

Hang in there DB, nothing can take away the class from your program regardless of what happens.

 

 

Right back at cha ORCat!

 

Nuttin going to be better than to see you guys play Archie and the boys from Riverdale!

 

The Honky Tonk Mans Say "Roll Cats Roll!" (for one tim only) LOL

[bc4059]

Gray voted for no annexation. When I was going to school, I was still attending Gray and this would have effected me. I would have had to go to Sulphur Springs and Crockett instead of Gray and Boone (which I live 5 min away, though I live in Jonesborough because of mailing address). Gray community had 3 options: No annexation, annexation, or become their own "city" if you will. They eventually voted no annexation, but JC is considered to be the whole road from where it turns into a three lane right before Daniel Boone all the way down to the Mouse's Ear right before Boone Lake. Slowly but surely, they are taking over. JC is getting so big, that eventually they will need a new high school. Making it a city school and taking over Boone would not be cool in my book, but it would take care of building a brand new school. But then you lose a lot of students and then they would have to be bussed out to Crockett which is already bursting at the seams.

 

Tough decision. I still say no annexation and just leave it alone.

I agree with you on annexation, our area has been rezoned, annexed and rezoned again. Anywhere there used to be a farm it is now a subdivision and with the subdivision comes rezoning and you end up moving more kids. All of this has killed our Middle School athletics. They overload one school and leave the other one with nothing, makes no sense at all.

[DBGRAD70]

Good luck though, it does take citizen involvement to make things right. For too long the public has simply accepted what the government wants to do without the input of the public or the right to vote on an issue.

 

Certain schools like DB and South have little to worry about. If the politicians attempted drastic negative changes relative to those two schools, it would be political suicide. They'd just have to pack it up and go home (and try to remember what they were doing for a career before the found the easy life). Imagine what would happen if city/county schools merged there at Oak Ridge and they tried to eliminate Oak Ridge High School. The buzz saws would come out. Same thing here. That would certainly be public input.

[jhite4058]

I totally disagree with annexation of Colonial Heights. Years ago, when we needed power, did kingsport help us out. No! The part they are annexing is right next to Sullivan South. How can politicians try to convince the parents that their kids have to drive 8 miles into Kingsport when they could just drive 1/4 mile to south?