SWGA Politics

Revamping a broken system[ March 19, 2010 – 8:00 am]by Tom Posted in » General

Dougherty County.  The name is almost synonimous with failure in education, at least among those of us who’ve lived here long enough.  The recent shenanigans at the School Board certainly haven’t helped fix that opinion in the least.  But the Dougherty County School System isn’t beyond hope.  I thought it was, but the Reason Foundation helped change my mind.

Earlier this week, they launched a series called Reason Saves Cleveland with Drew Carey.  Cleveland suffers from a lot of the same problems that Albany does.  Like us, they have a poor economy that’s lost a lot of manufacturing jobs.  Like us, they have an educational system that is driving residents to the outlying areas.  In their series, Reason TV head honcho Nick Gillespie looks at alternative methods for education that might just help pull Cleveland, and unbeknownst to Nic,. it might help Albany out of the funk it’s been in. Read More …

Closing the Consent “Loophole”[ November 30, 2009 – 9:19 pm]by Jeff Posted in » Legislation

Last Friday, I wrote about State Rep (and Attorney General Candidate) Rob Teilhet saying he wanted to close the loophole in regards to teachers having sex with students being able to use the fact that it was consensual as a defense when charged with sexual assault of a person in custody.

I said then and I maintain that I have ZERO problems with the teacher in question losing their license to teach. I’m even willing to allow – though I’m not completely sold on this – that it should be a crime to begin with. ALL I am saying is that if a person is charged with sexual assault under this statute, the fact that the sex was consensual SHOULD be a valid defense that SHOULD be allowed at trial – as the Supreme Court of Georgia said last summer.

I just wanted to get my position on the matter crystal clear before going into the meat of this post. You see, there is already a bill that attempts to close this “loophole” – State Rep Kevin Levitas’ HB 886 pre-file.

Also please remember that, as always, this commentary is SIMPLY opinion-based commentary from a “civilian” with absolutely no legal training whatsoever. If you need legal advise on the subject matter at hand, PLEASE contact a member of the State Bar of Georgia!
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Pick Your Own School[ June 25, 2009 – 1:15 pm]by Tom Posted in » Local, State

Today, Albany and Dougherty County news outlets are all a-buzz about the new state law allowing parents to pick and choose which schools they want their kids to attend, provided there is room at the school. Local school officials don’t seem wild about the plan, stating that it will add “unnecessary” difficulties. Me? I’m a bit mixed. Read More …

Education in 1984[ June 8, 2009 – 6:25 pm]by Jeff Posted in » General

Note: 1984 was published 60 years ago today, and in honor of that occassion I am re-posting this article. This was actually one of the first political blog posts I ever wrote, back way before the idea for SWGAPolitics.com had ever entered my head and I was still doing everything in Myspace.
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