The borrowing of the $21 million just to make payroll is through an instrument called a Tax Anticipation Note (TAN). A TAN is not unusual in the world of bureaucratic funding. But while a TAN is often routine, this particular TAN was anything but.
Jolene Byrne
Posted inThe Best of Savannah
Best School Board Member
Since she isn’t running for reelection, this will be the last year outgoing School Board President is eligible for this award, which she’s won every year since being elected in […]
Posted inCommunity
Editor’s Note: Byrne bows out. What’s next?
Jolene Byrne’s announcement not to seek a second term as School Board President wasn’t a complete surprise given the many controversies during her tenure. But it does say a lot of things about the state of our community and our education system —
few of them positive.
Posted inCommunity
Editor’s Note: It’s not Jolene Byrne who needs to go
On this issue, always keep this in mind: The rest of your elected School Board is essentially working to keep local students from being able to attend college. Their vendetta against the Board President has reached such a fever pitch that they hold every child in the district hostage to it.
Posted inCommunity
Editor’s Note: Lockamy’s revenge — but for what?
Even as he retires, Lockamy is pursuing an official complaint with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) against Savannah-Chatham School Board President Jolene Byrne. In effect, Lockamy is holding the nearly 40,000 children in the school district hostage to his vendetta with Byrne.
Posted inThe Best of Savannah
Best School Board Member
Now with her first full school year under her belt—she was sworn in January 2015—Jolene has made good on many of her promises to bring taxpayer and parent-friendly reform to […]
Posted inCommunity
Throwing safety under the bus
In all, 75 percent of the fleet as inherited by MV wasn’t roadworthy by state or federal standards, with over 7,000 safety or maintenance defects being discovered so far. Though the damning audit was done in Nov. 2014, Board President Byrne didn’t receive a copy of it until the week before school opened.
Posted inCommunity
Editor’s Note: Unsafe at any speed
After the buses get rolling this week and the safety issue fades in the public consciousness, another backstory will remain: The issue of why this School Board President and School Board are consistently not being given vital information by the administrative staff at 208 Bull Street.
Posted inCommunity
Editor’s Note: Taking out the trash in the school budget
The bid rejected by the board would save nearly $4 million over a ten-year period. How many new teachers do you think could be hired with that money?
Posted inThe Best of Savannah
Best School Board Member
ANYONE who’s met Jolene Byrne in person knows there are few local folks as pleasant and interesting to talk to as the new Savannah-Chatham County School Board President. So what […]
Posted inCommunity
Editor’s Note: The Great Homework Controversy
A recent editorial in the daily paper attacking Jolene Byrne completely missed her point, and deserves a solid rebuttal on the merits.
Posted inCommunity
The Year in Review: News
1: FULL METAL JACKET Gun violence has been a part of Savannah life and lore for decades. But never before has there been such a high volume of shootings over […]