We are on our way to being the next Clayton County School System and many teachers will be leaving in droves to escape it along with the pay cuts and furloughs which have only just begun in Fayette County.

The school board exhausted its reserves by building unneeded new schools and 90+ acres, using old data for justification. Then, it threatened taxpayers with the demise of the school system unless they voted in a SPLOST...we all know how that played out. These are just the more far-reaching examples of the board's ineptitude. Now, the taxpayers and employees must pay for their errors in judgment, and not once has the board acknowledged its culpability, much less apologized.

In the last election only Marion Key answered the questions below by the Citizen, Smith, nor Smola would..

In her answers she states that we already had too few students in the exciting schools to get federal funding.....before Inman, much less Rivers!

She and Dr T voted against them!

Guess who the 3 were who voted not only to build Inman, but Rivers as well?

Question: 1. The school board is faced with the likelihood of having to increase the millage rate from 18.569 to 19.35, a rate just .65 mills under the maximum allowed. If negative conditions such as Fayette’s economic downturn have not improved significantly by mid-2009, the board might be faced with deciding to either cut programs or expenses, increase the millage again or all the above. How will you handle those decisions? Are you prepared to cut people and programs if necessary? Be specific. (And please explain — if you don’t have any definite position on this, why should anybody vote for you?)

Answer: 1. "I, Marion Key, have been asking for an assessment of program costs and effectiveness for some time. I will support requiring the superintendent to provide this data to the board prior to the FY 2010 budget process with specific recommendations for cuts and revisions to the budget. It is the superintendent’s responsibility to make those recommendations and I will insist to my fellow board members that this process be followed.

Why did the BOE buy an extra 100 acres at Inman? This bond money is now tied up in land we cannot use. Why did we buy the Kiwanis property? To build a bus facility?

There were no plans for such a facility and there are no plans nor money now to build such a facility. I voted against both of these acquisitions.

We had to build Inman at 600 capacity instead of the usual 800 capacity because our bond money is tied up in land. Rivers [Elementary] is also being constructed at the smaller capacity for the same reason."
........
Question: 7. It looks like we built too many classrooms for declining student numbers. That’s a lot of local tax dollars. Who should be held accountable for that miscalculation?

Answer: 7. "I voted against constructing Inman and Rivers elementary schools because enrollment projections clearly indicated the schools were not needed at this time. Prior to the construction of Inman, we had space for 10,000 elementary students and about 9,200 enrolled."

Question: 8. Few people like redrawing school district attendance lines. This year, several candidates seem to focus on that process. Give the current board a grade from A to F for the most recent redistricting plan adopted. And, by the way, should voters elect a single-issue candidate, even if that issue is redistricting?

Answer: 8." Since I did not vote for the last two redistrictings , I would give the Board an F. We have more space system wide than we need, yet after redistricting, we are still using trailers. We are paying twice for utilities at schools with empty space and the trailers.

My position in the redistricting process was for all schools to have enough students to receive full state funding for their administrative overhead. The consultant and the committee had developed a plan to meet that criteria.

The board chose to change the recommended boundaries over my objections. This is the reason we have trailers in some schools while other schools do not meet the state’s minimum enrollment requirements to receive full funding for administrative costs. This leaves Fayette County’s taxpayers to make up the shortfall."

There you have it. There are 3 people responsible for the expense of a school that is now moth balled, our money tied up in excess land, and excess class rooms, while SEVERAL schools don't even have enough kids attending to get Federal funding!

Look at your reduced paychecks and your bloated tax bills and don't be confused on who to thank for both!

to how to salvage the situation, the 3 amigos sit back and let Todd and Key make the suggestions. Knowing full well, they themselves, Smith, Smola, and Wright, had plans already. They are just letting others now take the blame.

There is no other way this could have turned out. Way back in 06 they KNEW the numbers were declining!

Sell Rivers to some 2 year college and get our money back!

Wright is coming up for re election. Start looking for someone in his district NOW! He goes lock step with Smith and Smola.

A great many of the excess jobs at the county office have vulgar salaries even before you consider they don't work 3 months in the summer!

Smith's, Smola's, and Wright's, progress reports are all F.

If you don't make a change this next election, yours will be too!

Aren't you guys sick of footing the bill for their foolish decisions?

And the worst part is that come the next election, they will all be voted back into office.

Shame on the voters of Fayette County!

I'll vote for the roach in the puddle of my driveway before I vote for Smith, Smola and their little minion,Wright, ever again -for anything!
Sugarfoot tried to warn me, but no... I was blinded by their smoothly crafted and well prepared pack of lies!
Start talking it up now! This is sad!

the voters of this county are appathic when it comes to the schools. It is really a shame.

I wasn't apathetic - I was just totally fooled by well-crafted lies!
BOOOO on you SMITH, SMOLA AND LITTLE BUDDY WRIGHT -BOO (even though I think that they fed Wright the lies along with the rest of us- he got sucked in)!! I sincerely hope that all of your greedy development plans backfire and that you get stung (maybe ever serve some jail time!)