Jackson Jambalaya

I don't believe that this information is correct. At least two of Blount's kids go to public school in Jackson.

You may want to check your sources and not trust WJTV.

His kids went to public school in the lower grades so he is not the huge hypocrite. He paid his dues in Parents for Public Schools for that reason. Parochial education is valuable for kids so they understand the divine origin of themselves and of the natural order prior to the study of the sciences in the middle grades. Public schools might be a benefit for early socialization and learning to read, but methinks the local government should withdraw from education by age 9 to 10. Senator Blount is hurting from this intellectual inconsistency and might read Paul Goodman.

All the JPS touting crackers In Belhaven, Fondren and NE Jackson bail out when faced with the prospect of sending their kiddies to Chastain.

Thanks to Tate Reeves Senate District 29 is a gerrymandered abomination.

So let me get this straight. He lives in Belhaven. But JPS are not good enough for his kid? But other parents in JPS districts who don't have $12,000 lying around are just supposed to let their kids suffer in failing schools? Why are their kids supposed to be less important to them?

If you live in a great school district, good for you. If you don't, it's pretty damning to be told you shouldn't have options if you aren't rich.

"Parochial education is valuable for kids so they understand the divine origin of themselves and of the natural order prior to the study of the sciences in the middle grades."

Is that a quote out of the School Handbook? If not, what the hell has it got to do with the breaking story of Blount's hyprocrisy?

I don't understand why this site is so high on charter schools. When we build these charter schools, what happens to the kids who don't get in? They are just left to rot in the failing schools which then get even less attention. How is that a good thing?

You are right. Can't offer a gifted/talented program unless every kid has access to one. Can't offer Chinese unless every district or school offers it. Can't set up a special autism program in Tupelo because a child in Natchez won't be able to use it. Can't pilot a Montessori program in Canton because a kid in Ridgeland can't use it. Gotcha.

Did you really just get on to someone for not using their real name?

Comrade 2:07

2:07 The kids in JPS are being left to rot RIGHT NOW. Are you really suggesting we maintain that status quo?

And David Blount is one of the ones leaving them rotting. But not for his own. No we can't have that.

Look, he's trying to help the plebes out. They think they want choice in education, but we all know they're too stupid to make choices. That's why they're plebes. If we allow charter schools, next thing you know they'll be lined up around the block to hand their tuition vouchers to Chuck-E-Cheese.

David is trying to build the best possible institutions to house these plebe children. You can't seriously expect him to put HIS OWN KIDS in there with them. I mean, does the warden have to send his kids to prison???

I have to agree about bailing on Chastain. I was sitting around a table at church one day, and these wonderful liberals were discussing how they were going to move to Madison because it is time for their kids to start middle school and they were not going to Chastain. Liberal... liberal to a point that is!

It is the Donkeycratic motto. The greatest common failure (they call it "good") for the greatest number.

Adding to the hypocrisy St. Andrew's is not the most racially diverse private in the area and is by far the least socio-economically diverse private school.

"I don't understand why this site is so high on charter schools. When we build these charter schools, what happens to the kids who don't get in? They are just left to rot in the failing schools which then get even less attention. How is that a good thing?"

So, if we don't have enough lifeboats for everyone, we dump all the lifeboats overboard and let everybody drown?

Well, that's "equality", I suppose, "Social justice" too.

I don't suppose the radical solution - "Build more schools" - every crossed your tiny little mind......

3:52: SA is the ONLY school in MS among the top 100 high schools feeding into Harvard College. If that's the sort of ambitions you have in mind for your kids, that's the place to go. I think they also gave out some huge amount (the figure $7.1 million comes to mind, but I'm too busy to look it up right now) in financial aid this year to decrease the chances of qualified kids not attending because of the cost.

I am not into quotas and have no idea what percentage of other prep schools student body are non-European. I do know both my kids have close friends there who are African-American, and those kids' parents have the same goals, aspirations and values as we do. SA was also founded around the 1940s, waaayyyy before the "segregation academies" sprung up.

$7.1 million is way high, but I do agree with you that it is a great school. My question is, should parents in Jackson Public Schools not have the same aspirations for their children? The maximum financial aid in most cases is 50% of tuition, and with tuition running $12,000, that means a parent has to come up with at least $6,000.

If a parent can't come up with $6,000 to $12,000 for each child does it mean they don't care?

What does this say about those of us who live here? We are all paying astronomical taxes to live in Jackson. And we have to pay private tuition on top of that or else we don't have aspirations for our children?

I talked to a friend that was at the House Education Committee today, and they said that the Dems were steaming mad hot about how they ram-rodded the bill out of the committee after only 90 minutes. He heard some of the Dems talking about walking-out of the House Chamber and refusing to vote when they call a vote on the bill. I wonder what the quorum number is in the House in order to hold a vote?

We have plebeians and the proletary. And we have the gentry and nobility. We have silk and we have sack-cloth, the Taurus and the Mercedes, St. Andrews and the rest of the metro.

If any of you think St. Andrews has a tuition assistance program out of a sense of 'the public good', you're delusional. Pull through their campus some day in a rusty Pontiac with smoking dual exhausts and two people in the office will be dialing 911. Step out of that Pontiac with a donation check and they'll squirt it down with hand sanitizer.

Hell, this is life. As to the bitchers, "Qu'ils mangent de la brioche".

Regarding socioeconomic diversity, last year St. Andrew's gave out more than $2 million in financial aid.

Financial aid doesn't mean socioeconomic diversity.

3:52: SA is the ONLY school in MS among the top 100 high schools feeding into Harvard College.

How many do they get in annually, on average, over the last 10 years to Harvard?

If any of you think St. Andrews has a tuition assistance program out of a sense of 'the public good', you're delusional.

You nailed it. Financial aid at St. Andrew's is merely a discount on over-priced tuition.

There's no doubt that St. Andrews performs the rituals and buys the indulgences to absolve itself of liberal guilt. A $2M discount is a small price to pay for (1) a clear conscience; and more importantly (2) not having to go to school with too many blacks.

As for the Harvard point, it's correlation, not causation. Having affluent parents usually means good genes and lots of support. You seriously think the neurologists' kids in AP classes at Madison Central aren't getting into Ivy League schools, too?

Just drop the pretense. We all know what this is about. You can nod while the priest drones on about social justice, but you're only fooling yourselves.

The Senator Blount & St. Andrews story is just a six o'clock story. Liberals being elitist is not substantive news. The reality in Mississippi is social darwinism. How does the state plan for the future? Tough decisions face the state in regards to funding a progressively failing public system or should we just start over? The charter school idea is just something 'ready to wear'.

No doubt it is early in the year but the comment @ January 22, 2013 at 6:12 PM has to be a candidate for Best of JJ for 2013.

Gosh how all of this reminds me of Bobby Moak who pretends he lives in Bogue Chitto while he has actually lived in Madison (Annandale) for more than a decade (JFP intern note: decade = 10 years) while his sons were attending lily white Jackson Academy.

Now why is it that McCoy's WaterBoy didn't relocated to Jackson and his children to Jackson Public Schools?

So when you see big ol' overweight yellerdawg do-as-we-say-not-as-we-do Bobby droning on about charter schools remember that his boys attended Jackson Academy.

And Brandon's children?

Consider the Sinner Andrews school in Canton. With HB 575 you get a charter school advisory board with no governing authority and a lot of jobs for bus drivers and kitchen workers. Transit and lunch is a parental task for Sen. Blount or Kate. Scratch 'transit allotments' and 'base student cost' --just bring back neighborhood schools with a more local board with authority.

there are other independent (private) schools in the jackson metro area that 4:27 did not mention...some of them are very diverse also...for example, Hillcrest Christian School is 82% white and the remainder primarily African American students..

8:44 ok, whatever. People don't think about Hillcrest when they think of private schools. I thought it had closed down years ago.
The point of this discussion is not that David "Lamar" Blount is sending his kids to St Andrews, or Prep, or JA, or Hillcrest or wherever. The point is, he rails against charter schools while at the same time, would not dare send his own daughter to a Jackson Public School.

Thank you 9:22 - too many people try to take issues like this off track so that they can help hypocrites hide from the real issue. I'm proud of David "Lamar" Blount for wanting to get a good education for his kids. I don't care if he is getting financial assistance or not [recognizing that until just recently his only occupation was that of being a legislator, he may have qualified. Of course now that he is the Chairman of "Public Property" in the Senate and has ironically gained a new profession as a "commercial realtor", he might have to carry the full weight next year.]

The point of the posting by KF, as is clearly explained in his post, is that Senator D. Lamar Blount constantly blocks the ability of poor families from having a choice in their kids education; instead condemning them to rot in the hellhole of JPS.

At the end of the day, I think Mr. Blount as well as most Democrats and NE Mississippi Republicans will vote for a charter school bill that limits charter schools to districts rated D and F. The current Senate Bill will not pass in the House. Too many A, B, and C rated school districts that have Republican representatives do not want charter schools taking away what limited resources they have. People need to realize that charter schools are a part of the education puzzle, but they are not the ultimate solution. After the charter bill passes, your D and F districts will have the same issues that need to be addressed by the State because by and large most of the students in those schools will still continue to attend those schools.

Meanwhile; the liberal guilty who reside in heavily fortified, gated compounds serve swill to the unshaven at Stewpot. And while they decry a societal class system, their Audis, smelling of Chinese take-out boxes lodged between cases of Merlot, drive through those closing-gates.

That was darn near poetic, Shadowperson.

People need to realize that charter schools are a part of the education puzzle, but they are not the ultimate solution.

Spare us the damn sanctimony.

YOU NEED TO REALIZE that the audience here at JJ does not believe that charters are "the ultimate solution".

GO SPIN ELSEWHERE. Maybe the brain dead at the JFP will eagerly eat up your slop.

LOSER.

Shadow, you are showing a poetic side I have not seen before. The truth is education is a human not technical enterprise. It cannot be 'fixed' like a truck. Discipline is a key element that the secular and legal minds have stripped out of the schoolhouse. Thank you David Watkins. Senator Blount's relative was a prominent state education bureaucrat who worked with Watkins when he was a lobbyist.

I remember a time when everyone said and accepted that New Orleans public schools were hopelessly broken. It took Katrina to get some real change in that district. Now look at what great things are happening there. Why would anyone oppose such a thing for JPS?

Hey Y'all. An inside source has leaked to me some of the Best of Jackson 2013 winners!

Best Local Blog: Jackson Jambalaya
Best Mississippi Blog: Jackson Jambalaya

Best Local Journalist: Kingfish
Best Mississippi Journalist: Kingfish

Best Investigative Journalist: Kingfish

It is a long list. I'll post some more shortly.

So, what you're saying is that he should compromise his children's future to qualify for an opinion that's different from yours? Who's the hypocrite? The answer, of course, is both of you.

No dumbass at 9:27. Exactly not what is being said. He should not compromise his children's future at all. But he shouldn't compromise other people's children's future in his role as an elected official. If he understands that to save his children's future he needs to give them an option other than the absolute failure of JPS, he should quit demanding that everyone bow down at the alter of Central High and the bureaucracy of the existing government education system.

Proud of him for ponying up and doing what is necessary to give his children the opportunity - that's been said from the beginning. But do point out his hypocracy in the difference between that fine move and what he screams from the stump!

It is a very long list. Here are some more:

Best Police Impersonator: Hinds County Supervisor and JPD Lieutenant Robert Graham

Best No-Bid Contract: Hinds County's with Airwave

Best Surface-Based Sewage System: City of Jackson

Best Flop: Jackson Convention Center

8:45
You can't blame David Watkins for the loss of discipline in the schools. You can thank the courts.

Can Watkins be taken to task for all the property taxes he hasn't paid?

"3:52: SA is the ONLY school in MS among the top 100 high schools feeding into Harvard College.

How many do they get in annually, on average, over the last 10 years to Harvard?"

Don't know the average, but the peak was three (out of a class of around 70) about three years ago.

I know one Madison Central grad who placed out of an entire year at Wharton because of AP credits, so obviously kids can do very well there too - however their class size dwarfs SA, which has a much higher percentage of kids going on to elite colleges.

11:12
Absolutely

Dumbass at 9:42, if you had attended SA, you may have learned how to read and/or think for yourself. The point is that it is hypocritical to criticize a person for having a different opinion simply because he chooses the best option for his children; AND, to your point (to the extent you have one other than "me too") to take a public position which is contrary to your private beliefs.

Sincerely,
Dumbass at 9:27

Let it be settled once and for all that dumbasses support St. Andrew's Episcopal LGBT School.

@6:41, you owe me a keyboard and a monitor.

@9:27/5:27, please look up "hypocritical" before using that word again. You were close at 9:27, but you were making up a new use at 5:27. If you did, in fact, attend SA, you should ask for a refund.

Given your misuse of "hypocritical," I suspect you could also benefit from reviewing the proper use of "literally" and from dropping "irregardless" from your vocabulary.

Shalom,
AW

I am not surprised that David Blount has had no comment on all of this. Let Jackson eat cake, he'll just drive to Ridgeland every day to drop his kid off at school.

Seems pretty dead-on after reading the headline...

hyp·o·crit·i·cal [hip-uh-krit-i-kuhl] adjective

1.of the nature of hypocrisy, or pretense of having virtues, beliefs, principles, etc., that one does not actually possess: The parent who has a “do what I say and not what I do” attitude can appear hypocritical to a child.

2.possessing the characteristics of hypocrisy: Isn't a politician hypocritical for talking about human dignity while voting against reasonable social programs?

Dearest @9:56,

You are correct, but to clarify for others:
Blount = hypocrite
@9:42 = not a hypocrite
@9:27/5:27 = does not know what the words "hypocrite," "hypocritical," or "hypocrisy" mean.

All my best,
AW

I remember wondering what would happen to my classmates who lived in Belhaven or Northeast Jackson if the parental money spigot ever got turned off and they had to go to a public school in Jackson.
It was pretty much common knowledge then that you either paid the tuition or you moved out of Jackson. Some things don't change.

I think it needs to be known that "yes" St Andrews offers scholarships but not for the right reasons! They seek out poor children in public schools that have high tests scores, they offer them scholarships to show diversity but also to keep their own ACT/SAT averages high to be able to use these scores in their advertising, They are using them! Too liberal and real clueless! Also, they love to list all the Ivy League schools their graduating students are attending, I checked and the statistics are low for them graduating from these schools! I know I sent my son there K3-5 grade, glad we got outta there! Good lower school education but high school is misleading! (Unless you're gonna be an Art Major)

9:35, are you for real? That is one of the most ridiculous comments I have ever read on this site. Offering a scholarship is "using" a student? What about all the high school graduates (public or private school) being offered college scholarships every year? Are they being "used", too? Most parents I know are thrilled to get the money! I assume your kids will not accept scholarships unless you have verified they are being offered for "the right reasons", whatever that means?

Also, where does one go to obtain the college graduation rates for SA graduates who attend an Ivy League school? Since you say you have checked the statistics, I would like a citation to your source of information.

9:35, are you for real? That is one of the most ridiculous comments I have ever read on this site.

Really? One of the most? How long have you been reading here? 3 months? 6 months?