Saturday, June 16, 2018

Don't Fail the Children

Local social media influencer Othor Cain urged Jacksonians to support the $65 million school bond referendum scheduled to take place in August. Mr. Cain wrote on Facebook yesterday:

Based on the needs of our district, we MUST pass this bond deal.

At what point do we make a REAL investment in our children?

Our district is under state mandate to repair our schools but why should it take the state to come in and tell us to give our children the facilities that they deserve?

Don’t get distracted from the goal-we fought as a community in September to retain control of our system because we are the best people to know what OUR children need.

The numbers we are seeing right now are an estimated budget. All responsible bond deals have a starting place: a budget!

So, next fall, when the students in Rankin, Hinds and Madison start school in air condition what will we tell our students when they have to continue to swelter in heat because there are no funds to repair the AC? 

When our students play football at Terry High’s new stadium and our students can’t play at Newell field because it’s closed for repair indefinitely what will we say?

When our students graduate having never been in updated, modern science labs and can’t compete with their peers in college will we say that we failed them because of a budget?

There’s a time to be angry and there’s a time to be sensible.

Our children deserve better.

27 comments:

Anonymous said...

How about start as a community to stop having kids with no date around. That might help.

Anonymous said...

Impressive! Pass the bond issue and elect him as Mayor!!

Anonymous said...

Other,
I am a resident of NE Jackson and here's what you tell the children when they ask why things at JPS are the way they are... tell the students that the JPS board hired unqualified people that over spent and spent much more money outside of the classroom than any other district. This is all garbage anyway. Not a funding problem. I vote NO!

Anonymous said...

Perhaps Mr. Cain can tell the children JPS spends the money on salaries for administration positions and butler snow rather than on the children. He them that othor... tell them the truth and it's a shame JPS does what they do... I will vote HELL NOOOOO!!!!!

Anonymous said...

He paints a picture of third world Delta schools in the sixties. Tell the children the truth. It's not the fault of the white man in Terry or Madison or Brandon. It's the fault of incompetent administration leaders at JPS over the years. A veritable revolving door of incompetence. But there were always national searches, right?

This man is deluded. When he becomes mayor he will be really dangerous.

Anonymous said...

The Jackson Public School had "aging" school buildings thirty, forty, even fifty years ago. The difference then was the administrators planned ahead to keep the buildings repaired. They didn't have a top heavy system that employed more pencil pushers than teachers. When a bond issue was passed the money was used to obtain quality construction, not to hand out contracts to unqualified friends and family that were unqualified to build a tree house, much less a school that wouldn't fall down after a few years. Yes, the kids deserve better, but the suits need to look for a solution to the problem that starts at the top. Don't blame surrounding districts just because they are better managers of the funds they have. By the way, none of the JPS schools that I attended were air "condition" and it didn't hinder the students in the least. Suck it up Othor!

Anonymous said...

I am a graduate of the Jackson Public School System......1961.....Murrah H.S......one of the top high schools in th United States at that time. There was no air conditioning in the schools then and the weather was just as hot! This is yet another attempt to equate performance with the amount of money spent per pupil......JPS is the best example available to us that you cannot BUY sufficient “home training”.

Anonymous said...

I'm sure its the fault of the upper class whites in NE Jackson that send kids to st Andrews prep JA etc... Just like everything else pay the taxes and pay private tuition but it's our fault.

Kingfish said...

He might want to go look at the Rankin bond issue that failed. It had $10 million or so for athletics. Helped kill it at the polls. They stripped it out last year and it passed.

Kingfish said...

I don't think anyone wants to have non-air-conditioned schools.

Anonymous said...

Put me in the doubtful column. I don't believe there are un-airconditioned schools in the JPS empire. If there IS one, that's the fault of the money-managers employed by JPS.

Anonymous said...

Will more money be used for upkeep on the buildings or wasted on salaries for friends and family?
Before voting they should explain where all of the money for upkeep in the last few years went.

Anonymous said...

I think the children would be better served if each one were handed 25k of this bond money to put into a pattern day trading account with a no commission brokerage. You could also afford to give each one a smart phone from which to trade. They'd learn all kinds of stuff about money, capitalism, taxation. Stuff they could really use in the real world. I bet the crime rate would go down, too.

It is about the children, right?

Anonymous said...

I live in Jackson and my household is voting NO.

We are tired of the incompetence, the mismanagement, and the complete and utter WASTE of our tax dollars.

Skin color has never been a legitimate basis for employment and business decisions... yet it seems to be the only qualification needed in Jackson, whether you are running for office, running a school system, or bidding on public contracts.

The results speak for themselves.

We are already a top spending public school district and continuing to RAPE the few remaining tax payers in Jackson (who are already the highest taxed in the state) is the very definition of insanity.

All those funds are doing is padding the pockets of people like Othor and his cronies.

The poor kids will never see that money. They are doomed.

Anonymous said...

Considering that the JPS is top-heavy with non-teaching friends and family, does anyone know if there is a culture of "no-show jobs?"

These are employees on the payroll (friends/relatives) who rarely if ever even show up to work.

Anonymous said...

New narrative will be that the white people killed the bond issue.

Anonymous said...

Where are the un-airconditioned schools in the JPS District?

Anonymous said...

Oh I can see it now on front page of the white guilt press also known as Jackson free press headline reads... affluent white NE Jackson voters kill funding for kids at JPS. Donna Ladd will have a hissy fit!!! I'm also voting NO...

Anonymous said...

There are people in this world who are absolutely and totally unable to solve the problem of failed education in the "inner city" but these same people want soooo
bad to be "leaders" and recognized as authorities on the subject. They know that for the problems that plague these schools there will NEVER be enough money, so they can keep blaming the inevitable lack of money for the problem. Cain and his ilk will be looked to for "leadership" by the victims who accept the proposition that our problem is not us, but "them". "Them" being anyone who denies us one more dollar. If JPS were swimming in money (impossible with the dwindling tax base) it
would mean there would be several more Mercedes and SUV's in the parking lot and the district might, might, if lucky, be a D instead of an F. Might.

Anonymous said...

The sad part is many of the people that vote to approve the bond issue will be renters. Most of them think that because they are not property owners any tax increase will not apply to them. Wrong! Somebody pays the property tax on rental property and it certainly is not the owner.

Anonymous said...

NEWS FLASH!!!!!!

Impending "White Guilt" news story by Jerry Mitchell on how it destroyed Jackson's Education system, never mind what the facts say or show.

Will be time to dumb down an already failing system. What is going to be the blame when passing scores get down to around 40 for a "D"?

Sammy Sarcasm said...

This may fail, because the white privileged children of the rich pro-Trump mostly republican voters in NE Jackson attend private schools, so they don't give a damn about the children who attend public schools.
.
.
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Gotcha, just kidding.

Anonymous said...

Mr. Cain,

Your reasoning, as usual, is faulty, very faulty.

You start by saying that all planning starts with a budget. That's about the only sensible thing you say. The problem here is that JPS "leaders" refuse to provide that budget - except of course, for the bottom number. They deny the ability to say how much each of the proposed uses is ESTIMATED to cost. Instead they provide a long list of MAINTENANCE items -- painting, carpet replacements, HVAC repair, landscaping (renamed soil erosion control), facade replacements, etc. by individual schools. In the end, they give a grand total for these maintenance items of $30 million or so. The other $30 million or so is for athletic facilities - Newell field MAINTENANCE, and a baseball/softball facility.

If they have the budget you claim, it should be provided to the folks being asked to support this bond issue and being required to pay for it. If you, Mr. Cain, are so impressed with their having a budget, provide us with this secret knowledge that JPS has not been willing to give to others.

After getting past the fact that JPS doesn't want to tell us how the money is going to be spent, is the fact that they want to borrow long-term money to spend on short term maintenance items. Painting, flooring, landscaping, etc. should not be paid for with 30 year money - it should be budgeted and spent annually out of regular operating income - of which JPS has a bunch! Even HVAC repairs or replacement should not be done with a long term borrowing.

Responsible people do not take out a new mortgage every time they have to repaint their house, inside or out. And they do not take out a 30 year mortgage for a new HVAC system. Yes, they might borrow using a short term home loan for such a significant expense as replacing their air conditioning recognizing that a normal home owner is not operating on a $30 million annual budget. Even so, if JPS had to borrow to repair air conditioners in some schools they could do so much cheaper and more responsibly than by doing a bond issue of this nature.

My question to you, Mr. Cain, is did these poor kids that you claim will have to go to school this fall and not have air conditioning - is this a new situation? Have the HVAC systems worked previously, but now suddenly conked out in several different facilities throughout the district all at the same time? Will these poor kids have to wait a couple of years sweltering in their non-airconditioned buildings while the bonds are sold, contracts let, and construction completed? If you were REALLY, REALLY concerned about the kids having no air conditioning this fall while looking across the Pearl into Rankin County, you would be insisting that JPS go downtown to Trustmark or some other bank and take out a bank financing to fix those HVAC units - not lying about the problem in order to satisfy the bond pimps and justify your 'consulting fee' to help sell this to your folks.

Anonymous said...

So IF the majority of this 65 million dollars is supposed to go to "maintenance" within JPS, just where ARE the good folks of Chokwe's Marxist Utopia that can donate their time and materials to fix things? Am I to believe there are no HVAC technicians or roofers or painters or.....just a whole lot of skraight-pipers and City Employees that can't read a water meter? I mean, there IS a tool shed, right?

Anonymous said...

Deferred maintenance is never a good thing to spend bond issue money on!

Anonymous said...

Maybe JPS should start by trimming their hugely inflated budget before asking for more money.

Anonymous said...

I wonder how much this clown named Othor Cain pays in taxes... it's hard to take anyone serious with a first name like that
I feel bad for him in a way. These people are proof that we need charter schools as well as vouchers to compete with public schools. This is a total fiasco and not fair to the students.



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Trollfest '09

Trollfest '07 was such a success that Jackson Jambalaya will once again host Trollfest '09. Catch this great event which will leave NE Jackson & Fondren in flames. Othor Cain and his band, The Black Power Structure headline the night while Sonjay Poontang returns for an encore performance. Former Frank Melton bodyguard Marcus Wright makes his premier appearance at Trollfest singing "I'm a Sweet Transvestite" from "The Rocky Horror Picture Show." Kamikaze will sing his new hit, “How I sold out to da Man.” Robbie Bell again performs: “Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be Bells” and “Any friend of Ed Peters is a friend of mine”. After the show, Ms. Bell will autograph copies of her mug shot photos. In a salute to “Dancing with the Stars”, Ms. Bell and Hinds County District Attorney Robert Smith will dance the Wango Tango.

Wrestling returns, except this time it will be a Battle Royal with Othor Cain, Ben Allen, Kim Wade, Haley Fisackerly, Alan Lange, and “Big Cat” Donna Ladd all in the ring at the same time. The Battle Royal will be in a steel cage, no time limit, no referee, and the losers must leave town. Marshand Crisler will be the honorary referee (as it gives him a title without actually having to do anything).


Meet KIM Waaaaaade at the Entergy Tent. For five pesos, Kim will sell you a chance to win a deed to a crack house on Ridgeway Street stuffed in the Howard Industries pinata. Don't worry if the pinata is beaten to shreds, as Mr. Wade has Jose, Emmanuel, and Carlos, all illegal immigrants, available as replacements for the it. Upon leaving the Entergy tent, fig leaves will be available in case Entergy literally takes everything you have as part of its Trollfest ticket price adjustment charge.

Donna Ladd of The Jackson Free Press will give several classes on learning how to write. Smearing, writing without factchecking, and reporting only one side of a story will be covered. A donation to pay their taxes will be accepted and she will be signing copies of their former federal tax liens. Ms. Ladd will give a dramatic reading of her two award-winning essays (They received The Jackson Free Press "Best Of" awards.) "Why everything is always about me" and "Why I cover murders better than anyone else in Jackson".

In the spirit of helping those who are less fortunate, Trollfest '09 adopts a cause for which a portion of the proceeds and donations will be donated: Keeping Frank Melton in his home. The “Keep Frank Melton From Being Homeless” booth will sell chances for five dollars to pin the tail on the jackass. John Reeves has graciously volunteered to be the jackass for this honorable excursion into saving Frank's ass. What's an ass between two friends after all? If Mr. Reeves is unable to um, perform, Speaker Billy McCoy has also volunteered as when the word “jackass” was mentioned he immediately ran as fast as he could to sign up.


In order to help clean up the legal profession, Adam Kilgore of the Mississippi Bar will be giving away free, round-trip plane tickets to the North Pole where they keep their bar complaint forms (which are NOT available online). If you don't want to go to the North Pole, you can enjoy Brant Brantley's (of the Mississippi Commission on Judicial Performance) free guided tours of the quicksand field over by High Street where all complaints against judges disappear. If for some reason you are unable to control yourself, never fear; Judge Houston Patton will operate his jail where no lawyers are needed or allowed as you just sit there for minutes... hours.... months...years until he decides he is tired of you sitting in his jail. Do not think Judge Patton is a bad judge however as he plans to serve free Mad Dog 20/20 to all inmates.

Trollfest '09 is a pet-friendly event as well. Feel free to bring your dog with you and do not worry if your pet gets hungry, as employees of the Jackson Zoo will be on hand to provide some of their animals as food when it gets to be feeding time for your little loved one.

Relax at the Fox News Tent. Since there are only three blonde reporters in Jackson (being blonde is a requirement for working at Fox News), Megan and Kathryn from WAPT and Wendy from WLBT will be on loan to Fox. To gain admittance to the VIP section, bring either your Republican Party ID card or a Rebel Flag. Bringing both and a torn-up Obama yard sign will entitle you to free drinks served by Megan, Wendy, and Kathryn. Get your tickets now. Since this is an event for trolls, no ID is required. Just bring the hate. Bring the family, Trollfest '09 is for EVERYONE!!!

This is definitely a Beaver production.


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Trollfest '07

Jackson Jambalaya is the home of Trollfest '07. Catch this great event which promises to leave NE Jackson & Fondren in flames. Sonjay Poontang and his band headline the night with a special steel cage, no time limit "loser must leave town" bout between Alan Lange and "Big Cat"Donna Ladd following afterwards. Kamikaze will perform his new song F*** Bush, he's still a _____. Did I mention there was no referee? Dr. Heddy Matthias and Lori Gregory will face off in the undercard dueling with dangling participles and other um, devices. Robbie Bell will perform Her two latest songs: My Best Friends are in the Media and Mama's, Don't Let Your Babies Grow up to be George Bell. Sid Salter of The Clarion-Ledger will host "Pin the Tail on the Trial Lawyer", sponsored by State Farm.

There will be a hugging booth where in exchange for your young son, Frank Melton will give you a loooong hug. Trollfest will have a dunking booth where Muhammed the terrorist will curse you to Allah as you try to hit a target that will drop him into a vat of pig grease. However, in the true spirit of Separate But Equal, Don Imus and someone from NE Jackson will also sit in the dunking booth for an equal amount of time. Tom Head will give a reading for two hours on why he can't figure out who the hell he is. Cliff Cargill will give lessons with his .80 caliber desert eagle, using Frank Melton photos as targets. Tackleberry will be on hand for an autograph session. KIM Waaaaaade will be passing out free titles and deeds to crackhouses formerly owned by The Wood Street Players.

If you get tired come relax at the Fox News Tent. To gain admittance to the VIP section, bring either your Republican Party ID card or a Rebel Flag. Bringing both will entitle you to free drinks.Get your tickets now. Since this is an event for trolls, no ID is required, just bring the hate. Bring the family, Trollfest '07 is for EVERYONE!!!

This is definitely a Beaver production.

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