Morning Metro: Superintendent’s Contract Renewed, Decatur Loves Booze, and the Beauty of Maps
Decatur Metro | November 10, 2011- Decatur superintendent’s contract renewed despite goal objections from outgoing board member [Patch]
- After vote, Wheatley notes Decaturites want booze more than anyone else [Fresh Loaf]
- Dunwoody voters reject idea of displacing poor residents to build ball fields [AJC]
- Is the Atlanta Beltline “the best sustainability project in America”? [Atlantic Cities]
- Are cookbooks becoming obsolete? [NYT]
- Poem: And the Ship Sails On [Poetry Foundation]
- The BBC’s excellent “The Beauty of Maps” doc finds its way onto YouTube [BrainPickings]
Photo courtesy of the City Schools of Decatur
DM’s headlink suggests Dunwoody rejected the idea of displacing the poor but I wonder if that was just the net effect. Given the politics up that way (a gross generalization, I understand), I wonder if it was more a rejection of spending tax money on green space than anything else.
I work with 3 Dunwoodians. Based on that small sample, it seems to have been about the money. $33M is about the amount of the Decatur referendum several years ago and we got school system improvements + a host of city projects out of it. Dunwoody needs to learn the lesson Decatur has – make sure your referendum has “things” that appeal to a broad cross section of your population.
Benfield needs to do more than “periodically” check-in with Beltline PR.
OMG! What a great poem about marriage! “A man and a woman transacting their magnificent business with the usual equanimity” Thanks for the link.
Glad you liked it. In addition to the overall poem, I quite enjoyed the line
“…and the woman as the moon
over his shoulder oiling the ocean
with light. “
“What a great poem about marriage!” Agree, but I have to wonder about that ring being set on the cool white lip of the sink.
Yes! Was hoping someone else would point that out.
That’s the other thing that I loved about it. So subtle, yet so potentially disruptive.
Yes, but the lines above it that include her looking at him “beautifully, but without feeling” & his regard of her in turn that she is beautiful but distant…HUGE clues that the smooth thrumming is only on the surface! The quiet above decks is belied by the fury in the engine room, which tells me that these spouses are roiling within, but not rocking the boat. Why? Are they each passionate about something/someone else? Ah, poetry– how I love the endless questions it raises!
Thanks for posting that link, DM. Loved it!
The first time I read it – just a few days ago – I didn’t pick up on anything “wrong” until those last two lines. Then I went back and noticed the boilers reference and it seemed to give greater weight to the “without feeling” look she gave him earlier. But then I realized that she is not the ship, but the moon, and he’s a passenger. Their relationship is “the ship”. But you’re right that it could still mean the relationship is “roiling within” while still sailing on.
Yes, their marriage is the ship, but they are the engines that run it…this poem lends itself to so many different readings of one relationship, and I’d wager none of them would be too far off!
Yep, many possible readings. Personally I thought they might not be spouses – at least, not of each other. (The ship might just be “relation-.”) And that she could be removing the ring to avoid physical discomfort or emotional discomfort (or both). And that she’s putting it in a precarious position. And that the ship itself may be “sink”-ing.
Wow! What a beautiful young lady that won teacher of the year! Way to go Robyn! I love you, your husband!
Ms. Tibbetts is an outstanding teacher in every way. Her ability to engage Middle Schoolers is amazing. How lucky we are to have a homegrown, hometown district TOTY!
+1 and she trains husbands well too!
Tangentially (from the maps piece), the BBC iPlayer is an absolute PITA to use, but it has one awesome saving grace: the volume slider goes to 11.
Tomorrow is “Nigel Tufnel Day”, so the timing seems appropriate.
Evaluating the Beltline’s success based on renderings is really weak to me. Ponce City Market and the Westside are emerging due to market forces that were already occuring, though the Beltine could certainly add to those areas’ resurgence. I just don’t like the idea of patting the Beltine folks on the back about things that haven’t happened yet.
TOTY Homegrown, educated and trained. Came through the school system, worked for Rec after school and teaches Decatur children. Look at her now – TOTY, great mom and great wife! We’re proud of you Robyn!
Thanks very much for the maps link. I had not seen this before, and it was most enjoyable.
Don’t understand how Dr. Edwards manages to keep her job. Constant re-direction – – at great expense to taxpayers.
Can you explain what you mean by constant re-direction? And how that costs us more? Not being snarky, just looking for a perspective that I don’t hear much from.
Also, as for outgoing Ahmann’s dissent, I don’t agree with him on the outcome over process focus mentioned in the article.
For example: the re-purposing of Glennwood (have lost count); Westchester being improved for use as a nice elementary school, then shortly thereafter being turned into a nearly empty admin building, and now there are plans for constructing a new admin building; seems every year there is a major change in where or when kids go to school; and the curriculum – yikes!
Can’t speak about Glenwood or the curriculum but as for Westchester, the admin bldg and redistricting, population has exploded beyond anyone’s expectations (as has been hashed out before on DM). Not sure how those impacts could be addressed in any “once and for all” manner. I guess I don’t see these as problems, rather challenges of being (yes, here it comes) a Good School System!
I love it when we give the superintendent a $5,000 raise while we are facing education cuts. It really shows we are committed to the students and teachers that make our system fantastic.
And the teachers get a $75 bonus.
But the $75 bonus was from the Supt’s $18,000 bonus that she deferred, right? Wasn’t that an admirable thing to do in the current economic situation? What do you guys expect?
As said before by others who have eventually boycotted this blog, the **** people will find to complain about.
What Dr. Edwards did with the bonus was admirable and the right thing to do. I disagree with the Board even giving the option for a bonus in the first place. That money should go to educational needs in the system from the very beginning.
My biggest concern is with the raise of $5,000. How can that be justified to students and parents? We have faced cuts to programs, resources, paraprofessionals, etc. in the last several years, yet manage to give a raise to the superintendent? It doesn’t matter how good of a job she is doing, it sends the wrong message.
Have to agree, the $5 grand is something like a 2.7% base raise for her, which is no big deal. And this is coming from someone who regards most public employees as drastically overpaid. Compared to the string of DeKalb supers, of course, Edwards is a pauper. Which says a lot more about DeKalb’s runaway compensation than it does about Edwards.
And others have boycotted because they were snark attacked for bringing up concerns. You have to be hardy to read and post on blogs. Luckily the new information to spitefulness ratio on this blog is high.
I commend any leader that gives up a bonus to benefit frontline staff. It shows an understanding of how to lead and earn staff loyalty and commitment.
I’m not a fan of bonuses in public positions. You should be doing your best for the citizens for whom you work at the good salary and benefits you earn, without extra incentives. Plus top level officials always get their bonuses, unless they are about to be fired, so often they are just like a salary, not an incentive or reward.