Alternative news and discussion for Scottsboro, Jackson County Alabama and the Tennessee River Valley as I see it. Responsible comments to articles welcome. As always, "Watch for Snakes," particularly those wearing suits.
JAMES MADISON QUOTE - 1822
"A popular government without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy; or, perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power knowledge gives."
Patrick Woosley (2nd from left), Election Certificate for Place 4 of Board of Education, no opposition, presented by Patrick Stewart (2nd from right), President Scottsboro City Council (photo by G. Morgan)
VIDEO Regular Session
JACKSON COUNTY COMMISSION MEETING - AGENDA AND VIDEO LINK (after agenda below) - JULY 27, 2020
Jackson County Commission July 27, 2020 (Fair use for non-profit news reporting and commentary - photo capture from commission's Facebook live video.) Note, no social distancing, no masks.
Photo right to left - Mrs. Julie Buko Gentry , Scottsboro Board of Education President; Dr. Jose Reyes, Superintendent of Scottsboro City Schools. (photo by G. Morgan)
AGENDA - STUDENT AWARDS
STUDENT AWARDS
PHOTOS (by G. Morgan)
Transportation Employee Award
AGENDA ITEMS II and III
Video Agenda Items II, III, IV
The short of it -
Brownwood will be closed after this school year. Students will be consolidated
into Nelson Collins and Caldwell Schools. Dr. Reyes stated, in an impromptu
Press Briefing afterwards, that the consolidation would save between $300 to
$500 thousand dollars per annum.
Security will be upgraded
at all schools, with active video monitors in 4 separate undisclosed, secure
locations to cover all school entrances. Special "key" access will be
implemented at all entrances with communications systems for folks who do not
have a keyed access. The Junior High will incorporate special fencing with
gated access.
Dr. Reyes stated he will
be releasing a letter to the community in the near future regarding the Schools
Consolidation now that the school board has approved the action. Dr. Reyes
discusses schools consolidation, Feb 4, 2018 in the below video. At this
link, Scottsboro Schools Superintendent Dr. Jose Reyes discusses schools safety and security: http://www.scottsboroschools.net/home
Dr. Jose Reyes, on
Scottsboro City Schools System Consolidation
Dr. Spivey commented that the Scottsboro Schools system has been loosing student enrollments at approximately 50 per year and that this has been ongoing for several years. The loss in enrollment will result in a teacher loss within the school system in the upcoming year.
The below videos will speak for themselves. During the Staffing segment there was a heated discussion about issues which I elaborate on in a short video. Regarding the superintendent selection process, there appears to be a transparency issue regarding the publishing of all candidates for the superintendent position. I inquired to Mrs Thompson, School Board President about the issue after the meeting. Currently there is no intention to release all applicants for the job to the public. There is also a question of whether the final selectees will be interviewed in public prior to the boards choice.
Another concern is the organizational process regarding the agenda. The Superintendent of Scottsboro's Schools is not a school board member and should not be establishing the agenda, that is a job for the School Board President. The President and the Superintendent should discuss matters which would be placed on the board's agenda, but never should the Superintendent establish the Agenda, in my opinion, as this compromises the purpose of the School Board's President and the organization function of the board as to checks and balances function of the governmental entity.
UPDATE
UPDATE 8-25-17: After further consideration and thought, this writer thinks it is important to offer forth my further thoughts and information gained on this matter based on my leadership experiences, training, political involvement in community,and discussions with knowledgeable individuals about Alabama school boards within this state and area
Responsibilities
The problems and their solutions involving the Scottsboro Board of Education are the sole responsibility of the Scottsboro Board of Education; they, the School Board, are the RESPONSIBLE authority as to school board matters, the buck stops with the school board regarding Scottsboro Schools as to policy, budget and rules of the school board. The electorate is responsible to be knowledgeable about the character and experience of those they elect to school board office.
It is unfair to the Scottsboro Schools Superintendent for the school board's to attempt to PASS OFF its RESPONSIBILITY onto the school's superintendent. It is important to remember, RESPONSIBILITY may not be delegated. Dr. Sandra Spivey has demonstrated a strong leadership style which local citizens I think are not familiar, personally I am impressed with her leadership style and capabilities. Further, because of a lack of leadership training and experience many on the school board, past and present, are ill equipped to deal with her very capable leadership abilities. The Scottsboro Schools Superintendent is accountable to the Scottsboro School Board. The problem and question, is the school board capable of managing and leading the school system as to budget, policy and the superintendent? The superintendent is responsible for the day to day operations of the schools and reporting to the school board, which includes keeping the board informed on all issues which may affect the schools operations. This includes advising and making recommendations to the school board on important issues
AASB, Alabama Association of School Boards - Hidden Agendas
In discussions with individuals and a lack of past replies from the AASB on issues, there appears to be a problem with their facilitation of transparency and the conduct of meetings to include citizen input. It was good to see the long standing citizen input session was brought back into the process of the Scottsboro School Board, no thanks to the AASB's bureaucratic position. There is a concern that the AASB's influence is a direct threat to transparency, open elections and the operation of the Scottsboro School Board for the citizens of Scottsboro, Alabama.
My recommendation is that the school board, its President, and the superintendent should think twice before allowing an inordinate amount of influence from the AASB and their hidden/secret agendas. Examples: facilitating squashing of transparency, no citizen input to the school board, elected board officials replaced by appointed officials, and the AASB's facilitation of regional legal support of school boards by large corporate law practices.
On the AASB web site there ( http://www.alabamaschoolboards.org/ ) is the appearance of nothing but support, I'm sure they facilitate this support function. However, when there is an effort to remove citizen input, squash transparency, remove elected officials via supporting appointed school board members, along with supporting corporate regional legal services instead of local attorneys, there appears to be a degree of inordinate influences via a hidden agenda within the political mechanisms of the AASB. It is my opinion they are not supportive of the community, but embrace the position of a political action committee supporting no accountability to the electorate in regards to school boards.
After considerable thought, observations and discussions the over reliance on the AASB's hidden agenda regarding school board management is creating problems for the citizens of Scottsboro, Alabama as to schools management.
Facebook has permanently suspended my account, CENSORED, for telling the truth about Donald Trump's criminal history and disclosing facts about racial discrimination in Scottsboro and our nation. Garry Morgan : 03/15/2025
Copyright Info
All Rights Reserved for writings, video, photographs and art by Garry L. Morgan.
U.S. Copyright Office Fair Use Rule: "Section 107 contains a list of the various purposes for which the reproduction of a particular work may be considered fair, such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, nonprofit educational purposes and research. Link: http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html
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Scottsboro Police Department Web Site
""The police are the public, the public are the police. The police are the only members of the public who are paid to give full time attention to duties that are incumbent on every citizen in the interest to community welfare and existence." - Sir Robert Peel, 1829 https://www.scottsboropd.org/
The Sunlight Foundation uses cutting-edge technology and ideas to make government transparent and accountable. Click on image to learn more.
THE FEDERAL BUREAUCRACY
"I can say with confidence that the federal government needs a major overhaul. Don’t get me wrong, most public servants in government are highly educated and dedicated professionals who are committed to “the greater good.” At the same time, the government has become a bloated bureaucracy that is based on past conditions and in too many cases, federal programs and policies can’t demonstrate that they are generating real results that benefit the American people."
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David Walker President and CEO The Peter G. Peterson Foundation http://www.pgpf.org/ ; former, recently served for 10 years, Comptroller General of the United States and head of the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO).
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NPR's story on David Walker: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124460237
"public intelligence"
"What is Public Intelligence? Public Intelligence is an international, collaborative research project aimed at aggregating the collective work of independent researchers around the globe who wish to defend the public’s right to access information." http://publicintelligence.net/
A Nuclear Engineer's Report on the Bellefonte Nuclear Plant
Danger Zone: Aging Nuclear Reactors
Incident at Browns Ferry (PBS 1977)
History of nuclear power safety issues which the 1975 Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant fire brought forward. This video has been censored by the nuclear industry. The trillion dollar multinational nuclear death industry prefers to keep you the citizen in the dark and feed you crap.
Renaissance artists including Michelangelo, Sandro Botticelli, Pietro Perugino, Pinturicchio and others. Click on image for a tour. Left click & hold mouse to move image.
Bellefonte Efficiency and Sustainability Team/Mothers Against Tennessee River Radiation http://www.matrr.org/
"TVA at the Crossroads" a SACE Film.
"America is at an energy crossroads and the Tennessee Valley Authority has a choice to make: Will it cling to old coal power because of its historic significance or will it retire its oldest, dirtiest and least efficient plants and lead America into a clean energy future?" TVA At The Crossroads from SACE.
****************************I'm GARRY MORGAN, a Christian, U.S. Army (AMEDD) retired, Race Relations/Equal Opportunity Specialist (U.S.Army, Retired DOD-DRRI-DEOMI) a citizen of Scottsboro Alabama, a Baylor University grad-Go Bears, a political activist and a political Independent as I believe political parties divide the citizenry whom they are suppose to represent. We must learn the lessons of our history or we will surely repeat our mistakes. I think the greatest problem facing our nation is the massive national and personal debt.
