...and why would this bill be a bad thing?? Principals often forget that they are paid with state and federal money to SERVE THE STUDENTS AND PARENTS. Parents should absolutely be able to decide to overthrow a principal. Principals are not lords and ladies, friends....

Thank you for doing your necessary part to protect our community. I hope he never gets out.

Hey! What incredibly great news for the holidays!! We all really needed some great news! Prayers answered - it's nice to cry good tears after reading the news this week.

I LOVE THIS ARTICLE!!! GO ATHENS CHRISTIAN!!

I used to be a Democrat until I read about the state threatening to close the GA Cyber Academy in April 2013. That article was viewable in the online edition of the ABH for about one day. Now it's buried and only searchable using key terms of the article.

LONG LIVE THE STUDENTS!!

http://onlineathens.com/local-news/2012-11-21/ga-cyber-academy-threatene...

My comments were deleted. ?

I consider it a little more important than how to hunt for Black Friday deals. It gets buried, people don't notice, the state shuts down GA Cyber Academy. Not on my watch!

Moderator, why has this story been removed from today's news section? This is the most important thing that was reported today. ???

They should do a survey and find out just how many people are happy with the Georgia Cyber Academy. Out of 12,000, if 11,500 are happy, it would be an atrocity to see it close.

This is horrible. Really just about ruined my day. What a tragedy and a bureaucratic nightmare.

The teacher should not continue to work with children, period. If that were my child, I would do the only thing to which contemporary school boards pay attention - SUE!

Haha - cover up child molestation and blame in on gay people - lose your funding! Closed minded conservative ignorance.

@dahreese: Ah, if only we could meet in person. Your trite comments and undying loyalty to the empire is so admirable. You don't shed a tear for the students who are wasted along with those who had barely a fighting chance in the beginning. You don't care about those kids getting out and having a better chance to succeed - your loyalty is only with the empire.

You served in internal suspension for a good bit of that time? Wow, that shows how much your prowess in the classroom was a real necessity for the school in which you served.

For you to call Tee Wee "a joke" is all out war. You are only loyal to the empire. Anyone who DARES to call Clarke County out on its lack of safety nets for those who have been treated like garbage by employees paid with federal and state tax dollars is "a joke" to you.

Dahreese - If I wasn't such a lady, I'd tell you what's really on my mind. Enjoy your retirement dollars. I'm sure you earned every one of them with your years of "quality service" to the local schools. Ha ha!

@dahreese: You're running us around the mulberry bush again dahreese! Shame on you! In the first sentence, you acknowledge certain factors that cause certain students not to focus and succeed in public education. You skip over the part where these students create an unfit learning environment for the gen ed students with whom they are mixed. Then, you go on to criticize the state for granting a spring board to charter schools who might provide an oasis in the desert, particularly for gen ed students who will not likely succeed or graduate in the general pool with those students who are not likely to succeed.

You contradict yourself - in almost all your responses on Education. Then you choose to attack those who call you out on your narrow-minded picture which seeks to protect those who are not operating at full capacity because the effort may be futile.

Like a cop who protects those who protects those who still exercise police brutality or takes bribes - you justify the failure by blaming society and the system - with arguments that are not wholistic in perspective.

Teachers have one of the most difficult jobs in our state. The plan does keep changing, and the balancing act between trying to keep students orderly, admins happy, and meet state and federal expectations is a balancing act that is rarely a perfect dance. A nearby superintendent said it best, I think: All great teachers must prioritize:

CONNECT WITH STUDENTS

RIGOR

STUDENT VOICE

Amen.

We never know that day that we will go. On this day, your son left behind a legacy of goodwill toward others. This story touches my heart. May you be comforted in your grief that your son was one of the rare few who connected with the plights of those around him and reached out to those in need. May we all be inspired to do more for others because of his sacrifice. God bless your family.

@anonymous1: Please keep blogging on this issue. That one teacher that threw a tennis ball at your child - the one bad apple in the barrel. You ain't seen nothing yet. I've been in several of the local schools and have seen things that have left me crying at night. There are more good teachers than bad here, but those bad apples treat children like UTTER GARBAGE.

@Groovin: I felt like you do at one time. After 9 years in this district, most of them good, I can tell you that one and a half years of our lives were hell after we were forced to move due to a nightmare of a situation at one school. Good luck to you. I hope NO ONE has to endure what my family did. Hopefully, there will be less of a chance, now that there are MORE CHANCES FOR CHARTERS!!!

Yes, the wording on the amendment was biased. Yes, I'm very grateful that more charters will be approved. WE NEED THEM.

I understand the amendment, its backers, and its risks. We can't afford not to pass some vessel for change in Georgia schools. If this passes tonight, we may start to see more charter schools approved. This equates to more choice for students and parents. YES on charter schools.

Vote YES on the Charter Amendment. Georgia's failing national rank tells us that parents and students NEED MORE CHOICES IN GEORGIA PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

It's true, if you live in Oconee County - you should vote NO for the Charter Amendment. In Oconee, you can expect your child, whether a high achiever or a moderate achiever, to receive a quality education. In elementary school, you can expect that your child will be cared for and taught by professionals who will treat your child with love and respect, engaging them in learning and teaching them to love school!

If you live elsewhere in Georgia, you might vote YES for the Charter Amendment. In certain schools, you might expect your elementary student to be yelled at for giving the wrong answer. You might expect that your child will be forced to throw away the juice you sent in with their snack. You might expect that your child will be touched in a rough manner for making a calm statement that does not sound perfect to the adult in charge. You might expect that if your child has Autism and throws tantrums due to noise, your child will be isolated in the dark. You might expect that if your eighth grader fails the benchmark exams, he or she will be publicly humiliated in front of the class for an entire hour.

VOTE YES FOR MORE CHOICES IN GEORGIA. MORE CHOICES MEANS HIGHER QUALITY SERVICE TO THE STUDENTS OF GEORGIA.

Every child a wanted child. Support a Pro-Choice administration for our country. Abortion is a necessary evil in a country where wholistic people are not the priority. This tragedy causes me great pain.

@historydawg: un-American? Really, you mean un-American like dissenters such as Paul Revere and Frederick Douglass - who would not accept the status quo as acceptable? Really? Un-American because they don't send their children blindly to the meat grinder of Georgia education where your child has a one in 3 chance not to graduate with a high school diploma?

One failed charter school? How about a failed state? A failed state that, consistent with the mantra of the South - "We don't want to embrace change, ever." - wants to continue to embody punitive methods of classroom management as well as tiny increments of time for sunshine, fresh air, and the necessary priority of letting elementary AND MIDDLE SCHOOL children blow off steam at recess. All the while, serving more and more FRIED FOOD and SUGARY FOODS for lunch and breakfast.

I'll take my chances with the charter amendment - that ONE CHARTER SCHOOL in each district - ONE WITH OPEN ACCESS TO STUDENTS FROM ALL OVER THE DISTRICT - would create a more competitive environment where education professionals would take seriously the part of the job that is called (in the private sector) CUSTOMER SERVICE. That, my friend, is not un-American, but actually quite the embodiment of American capitalism and a free-market economy. And all this is coming from a LIBERAL.

@historydawg: fiefdom is EXACTLY THE WORD I WOULD USE TO DESCRIBE SOME OF THE NEIGHBORHOOD SCHOOL ENTITIES IN OUR AREA. You might expect your child to be treated poorly and you better enjoy it - because we're the only one zoned to serve you - unless you can afford to pay for something different!!!

@friendly fire - you nailed it in regards to Special Ed. needs. This is a difficult issue for which I have a suggestion. There should be a charter specifically designed for students who have behavioral issues. I have researched those components that constitute successful programs and would be happy to help start one! You would have to be lawyered up and have a substantial waiver release form for parents to sign before you begin, however. There are major liability issues when dealing with kids who have serious behavioral issues. They hit, bite, and kick.

@dahreese - I would love to work at this school - but make sure you remember that it's because I'm only in it for the money!

@ Jim Geiser - I echo your posts.

@dahreese - you can't seem to make up your mind. The only thing that stays consistent is that you are against the amendment, but here, you seem to be taking a stance similar to prior arguments. In the past, you have posted that lack of parent involvement is the primary problem in public schools. Here, you post that the federal and state standards should be relaxed in all public schools - not just charters.....so you admit that conditions in charters could be better for students.....

In that past, you have posted that if I am an Educator and would dare to send my child to a private school, that I should be fired because I am only "in it for the money."

If you admit that conditions could be better in charters or private schools, then why would you advocate that a parent place his or her child in a setting that is detrimental to that child's growth? Do you think that only people who are "driven by money (those big education salaries)" would care so much for the children that they are responsible for raising that they would not want them in only the best fit of an education environment?

Your posts are all over the board dahreese. You must choose. I have chosen. It is an extraordinarily difficult choice to vote YES ON AMENDMENT 1 because yes, local funds for existing public schools will likely suffer as more charter schools are approved. But for those of us who support charter schools and support the amendment, because TIME IS A'WASTIN and there must be MORE BRIDGES TO CHARTERS IMMEDIATELY - the choice to vote for the long-term better good of districts is to vote yes for the amendment.

Voting yes to the amendment doesn't mean you are against public education or that if you are an educator who chooses to pull your own child from public education that you are "only in it for the money." Dahreese, voting yes means that it is unacceptable to me that people being paid with public tax dollars use profanity toward middle school students. It means that it is unacceptable to me that kindergarten and first grade students be treated roughly and that they are yelled at for giving the wrong answer. It means that is is unacceptable to me that a child who is bullied remains unsafe. IT MEANS MORE CHOICES FOR ALL STUDENTS AND PARENTS WHO MUST FACE THESE THINGS IN LOCAL PUBLIC SCHOOLS EVERY DAY.