More photos and thoughts from the Forum



Job well done by all involved in the Board of Education and Board of Commissioners debate Monday and Wednesday at the Oconee County Library on Experiment Station Road in Watkinsville.

Among those who turned out Wednesday night not participating in the event directly were Mayor Jim Luken of Watkinsville, Maridee Williams of Oconee Enterprise, Blake Giles of the Oconee Enterprise, Adam Thompson of the Athens Banner-Herald, North High Shoals City Council member Steve Holzman, Jerry Studdard, Dr. Lee Becker, Dr. Tony Glenn, emcee Charlie Baugh and plenty of other friends and familiar faces.

Dr. Jackson the acting Superinterent was there as were numerous other Board of Education personnel as well.

Straight shooter Mike Maxey was there as was Melvin Davis and Sarah Bell. Margaret Hale and Chuck Horton were in the house. Many husbands and wives and sons and daughters were in the hot and crowded room of maybe eighty people, including Ashley Hood's daughter Madison.

Chuck Toney got the biggest laugh of the evening with the line of the night responding to the line of question from Jerry Studdard by saying "I hug that Oconee County teacher every evening" and pointed to his shrugging wife in the crowd.

Mike Hunter and Ryan House seemed the most ill at ease with public speaking, but that does not mean they did a particularly poor job at the Forum.

The Forum was sponsored by a consortium of groups including Citizens for Oconee's Future,
Friends of Barber Creek,
Citizens for South Oconee County,
Friends of the Apalachee and
Oconee Citizens for Responsible Growth are to be congratulated for a job well done in putting on this event quite successfully. The event will be posted sometime soon at vimeo.com

Comments

Anonymous said…
Personally I was really impressed by Rich Clark's thoughtful answers. I think he'll be a great candidate in the fall, against either Tom Breedlove or Kyle L. Martin (whom I haven't seen yet). You could really pick up on the fact that he is there for the kids and not just to keep taxes low and do 'less with less' - which it seems many in government want to do these days. I also picked up on Ashley Hood's commitment to the children of Oconee County. Sometimes business experience or a huge resume can be trumped by energy, action, and commitment. She has all three, plus more.

Go Ashley, Go Rich. As for the other candidates, I'd really like to see some position statements, websites, MORE INFORMATION. Come on Oconee Enterprise and ABH, get out there and ask the tough questions. Get out there and pin these folks down on the issues. Let us know who we are voting for.

I was especially glad to hear that none of the candidates advocated teaching creationism or banning books such as Harry Potter. Why should we waste tax payer $$$s fighting losing battles?
8:47 AM
Jonathan said…
I thought last night that all the candidates done really well giving the conditions of the room. I personally picked up on several key things from two of the candidates that spoke last night. I looked at the qualifications that each of the candidates and ask myself this question "Does any of these Board of Education candidates set a clear vision based on real knowledge of education?" The one candidate who spoke, I agree with the previous statement regarding Ryan House that he seemed nervous as did others, but I did listen to Ryan House’s comments and positions. He made his vision known last night for Oconee County Schools and I believe he does have education-related experience that will make the difference on the board. Ryan made known that he would use the opportunity to find the best qualified experienced Superintendent for Oconee County and use the vacancy of the curriculum director to find a qualified individual that has a vision of making our schools stronger while implementing a more challenging curriculum. I am glad that he was one of the few candidates that would open the communication for the parents and teachers in Oconee County. I would like to see more about Kim Argo (whom I have not seen yet) to get her take on positions, views and how she would take the school system forward. I must admit that I wasn’t a supporter of Ryan House before last night but after visiting his website and reading more about his positions I am clearly a supporter of him now.

Steve you should visit two websites that I found for the candidates that are running for BOE:
www.electmikehunter.com- Mike Hunter
www.RyanHouse08.com- Ryan House

I am glad that all of these candidates will not support wasting time on senseless issues such as teaching creationism or banning books. I believe we are in for a great board if these candidates with real education experience are elected.
12:03 AM
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