Joseph Joyner
Tue, Nov 25, 2008 10:49 AMMessage
Message Tue, Nov 25, 2008 10:49 AM
From: Tommy Bledsoe
To: Joseph Joyner
Subject: Re(2): Fwd: Editorial Cartoon
The more serious issue is why the Record would touch this cartoon in the first place. As I said, the agenda seems to be heat, not light.
Tommy Bledsoe
Arts and Foreign Language Program Specialist
St. Johns County School District
40 Orange Street
St. Augustine, FL 32084
904-547-7565 fax: 904-547-7544 cell: 904-806-3921
http://www.stjohns.k12.fl.us/depts/is/art/
Joseph Joyner on Tuesday, November 25, 2008 at 9:23 AM -0500 wrote:
Thanks Tommy. I appreciate the support and after reading the blog this guy disgusts me even more.
Tommy Bledsoe writes:
Dr. Joyner, I was compelled to address the artist about his editorial cartoon, so I sent the email below directly to him (halltoons@aol.com). I also ran across this posting on his blog (http://www.halltoons.blogspot.com/) that seems to be the rationale for the cartoon:
I'm getting a little tired of listening to over-paid school board administrators tell how if they "don't get some help soon" they're going to have to eliminate a school day. Uh huh. Maybe they should take a hint from some of these fat cat bankers and insurance executives and give up their bonuses for a year. Let some of that cash trickle back into the school budget. Right, like that's gonna happen. Is it Monday? Feels like a Monday - I'm a little more snarky than usual.
Tommy Bledsoe
Arts and Foreign Language Program Specialist
St. Johns County School District
40 Orange Street
St. Augustine, FL 32084
904-547-7565 fax: 904-547-7544 cell: 904-806-3921
http://www.stjohns.k12.fl.us/depts/is/art/
----- Original Message -----
Mr. Hall, I saw your editorial artwork in the St. Augustine Record on Saturday, Nov. 22 depicting a bloated, greedy school administrator threatening to cut art, music and athletics while protecting his paid leave. I have seen your cartoons in the past and they usually hold truth as the guiding principle, however broadly represented. This one is an exception...it is ill-informed, distorts truth, and is mean-spirited. This is especially disturbing in light of the current and upcoming cutbacks in education funding resulting from the global economic meltdown and priorities at the state level.
Here are some facts. Florida is 50th out of all the states in money spent on school administration. That is last and least. St. Johns County School District's administrative budget is 64th out of 67 counties in Florida, with only only three counties spending less than we do. In spite of this, we have art and music teachers in all 18 elementary schools, 8 middle schools and 6 high schools. We also have the St. Johns County Center for the Arts at both middle and high school levels, where students can take sequential courses, not only in art and music, but in dance, drama and guitar, and master classes in all disciplines for career track students. A charter school also provides art and music integrated into the curriculum.
Athletics have not been cut and are unlikely to be cut. Look at the local sports page and you will see that our soccer, basketball, football, baseball, softball, swimming, diving, track, cross country, etc. are active and growing. This year, the district has begun implementation of a mandatory physical education program, an unfunded mandate from the state which creates even more challenges to funding in the classroom, including elective courses.
Our district faced over $11 million of cutbacks for the 2008-09 school year. We are told that we are facing over $20 million additional cuts. When the cuts come, there are no sacred (administrative) cows. When a school district is required to cut 15% of it's budget, something's going to suffer. There may have to be cuts in electives, like arts and music, but it will not be so that Dr. Joyner or the administrative staff will deploy golden parachutes or lounge in Caribbean resorts. Cuts will be made in every department, but our priority will be providing service to the student and teacher in the classroom .
There are reasons that our district consistently scores near the top of the state in FCAT scores and School Ratings (which are based partly on student learning gains, especially among lowest performing students, and reducing dropout rates). One of the reasons is a leadership that has set priorities of quality education, including electives, and fiscal responsibility.
The citizens of St. Johns County expect children to enter a safe learning environment with high standards, a relatively low student-teacher ratio, and available electives, like art and music. That requires teachers in the classroom with support in everything from transportation to facility maintenance, service of special needs children, and administrative support at all levels to ensure the teachers can teach. We are the county's largest employer, but it is not because we hire too many administrators. There has been a freeze on administrative hiring for 2 years, causing many departments to be understaffed.
Continue your important work of bringing attention to ineptitude and injustice through art and humor. However, make sure you do the critical research and fact checking before using too broad a brush. Here is a source for some information on the district http://www.stjohns.k12.fl.us/admin/supt/stateofschools0809
Tommy Bledsoe
Arts and Foreign Language Program Specialist
St. Johns County School District
40 Orange Street
St. Augustine, FL 32084
904-547-7565 fax: 904-547-7544 cell: 904-806-3921
http://www.stjohns.k12.fl.us/depts/is/art/
Joseph G. Joyner, Ed. D.
Superintendent of Schools
St. Johns County School District
(904) 547-7502 Phone
(904) 547-7515 Fax
"All correspondence sent to and from St. Johns County School District is subject to the public records law of Florida. This law provides that any records made or received by any public agency in the course of its official business are available for inspection, unless specifically exempted by the Legislature."
---------------
Message
Joseph Joyner
Tue, Nov 25, 2008 10:49 AMMessage
Message Tue, Nov 25, 2008 10:49 AM
From: Tommy Bledsoe
To: Joseph Joyner
Subject: Re(2): Fwd: Editorial Cartoon
The more serious issue is why the Record would touch this cartoon in the first place. As I said, the agenda seems to be heat, not light.
Tommy Bledsoe
Arts and Foreign Language Program Specialist
St. Johns County School District
40 Orange Street
St. Augustine, FL 32084
904-547-7565 fax: 904-547-7544 cell: 904-806-3921
http://www.stjohns.k12.fl.us/depts/is/art/
Joseph Joyner on Tuesday, November 25, 2008 at 9:23 AM -0500 wrote:
Thanks Tommy. I appreciate the support and after reading the blog this guy disgusts me even more.
Tommy Bledsoe writes:
Dr. Joyner, I was compelled to address the artist about his editorial cartoon, so I sent the email below directly to him (halltoons@aol.com). I also ran across this posting on his blog (http://www.halltoons.blogspot.com/) that seems to be the rationale for the cartoon:
I'm getting a little tired of listening to over-paid school board administrators tell how if they "don't get some help soon" they're going to have to eliminate a school day. Uh huh. Maybe they should take a hint from some of these fat cat bankers and insurance executives and give up their bonuses for a year. Let some of that cash trickle back into the school budget. Right, like that's gonna happen. Is it Monday? Feels like a Monday - I'm a little more snarky than usual.
Tommy Bledsoe
Arts and Foreign Language Program Specialist
St. Johns County School District
40 Orange Street
St. Augustine, FL 32084
904-547-7565 fax: 904-547-7544 cell: 904-806-3921
http://www.stjohns.k12.fl.us/depts/is/art/
----- Original Message -----
Mr. Hall, I saw your editorial artwork in the St. Augustine Record on Saturday, Nov. 22 depicting a bloated, greedy school administrator threatening to cut art, music and athletics while protecting his paid leave. I have seen your cartoons in the past and they usually hold truth as the guiding principle, however broadly represented. This one is an exception...it is ill-informed, distorts truth, and is mean-spirited. This is especially disturbing in light of the current and upcoming cutbacks in education funding resulting from the global economic meltdown and priorities at the state level.
Here are some facts. Florida is 50th out of all the states in money spent on school administration. That is last and least. St. Johns County School District's administrative budget is 64th out of 67 counties in Florida, with only only three counties spending less than we do. In spite of this, we have art and music teachers in all 18 elementary schools, 8 middle schools and 6 high schools. We also have the St. Johns County Center for the Arts at both middle and high school levels, where students can take sequential courses, not only in art and music, but in dance, drama and guitar, and master classes in all disciplines for career track students. A charter school also provides art and music integrated into the curriculum.
Athletics have not been cut and are unlikely to be cut. Look at the local sports page and you will see that our soccer, basketball, football, baseball, softball, swimming, diving, track, cross country, etc. are active and growing. This year, the district has begun implementation of a mandatory physical education program, an unfunded mandate from the state which creates even more challenges to funding in the classroom, including elective courses.
Our district faced over $11 million of cutbacks for the 2008-09 school year. We are told that we are facing over $20 million additional cuts. When the cuts come, there are no sacred (administrative) cows. When a school district is required to cut 15% of it's budget, something's going to suffer. There may have to be cuts in electives, like arts and music, but it will not be so that Dr. Joyner or the administrative staff will deploy golden parachutes or lounge in Caribbean resorts. Cuts will be made in every department, but our priority will be providing service to the student and teacher in the classroom .
There are reasons that our district consistently scores near the top of the state in FCAT scores and School Ratings (which are based partly on student learning gains, especially among lowest performing students, and reducing dropout rates). One of the reasons is a leadership that has set priorities of quality education, including electives, and fiscal responsibility.
The citizens of St. Johns County expect children to enter a safe learning environment with high standards, a relatively low student-teacher ratio, and available electives, like art and music. That requires teachers in the classroom with support in everything from transportation to facility maintenance, service of special needs children, and administrative support at all levels to ensure the teachers can teach. We are the county's largest employer, but it is not because we hire too many administrators. There has been a freeze on administrative hiring for 2 years, causing many departments to be understaffed.
Continue your important work of bringing attention to ineptitude and injustice through art and humor. However, make sure you do the critical research and fact checking before using too broad a brush. Here is a source for some information on the district http://www.stjohns.k12.fl.us/admin/supt/stateofschools0809
Tommy Bledsoe
Arts and Foreign Language Program Specialist
St. Johns County School District
40 Orange Street
St. Augustine, FL 32084
904-547-7565 fax: 904-547-7544 cell: 904-806-3921
http://www.stjohns.k12.fl.us/depts/is/art/
Joseph G. Joyner, Ed. D.
Superintendent of Schools
St. Johns County School District
(904) 547-7502 Phone
(904) 547-7515 Fax
"All correspondence sent to and from St. Johns County School District is subject to the public records law of Florida. This law provides that any records made or received by any public agency in the course of its official business are available for inspection, unless specifically exempted by the Legislature."
--------------------------
Message
Philip McDaniel
Mon, Dec 01, 2008 7:48 AMMessage
Message Mon, Dec 01, 2008 7:48 AM
From: Joseph Joyner
To: "Philip McDaniel"
Subject: Re: FW: disagree
WOW. I have no problem with Political satire........I only think that it should be based in some part in fact. I wonder what she thinks after seeing the editorial Sunday that reiterated the truth about administrators and the budget. Perhaps too much time with the BCC??????
"Philip McDaniel"
A guy can’t win for losing. This from the secretary of the Board of County Commissioners. She has assumed so much and is wrong on nearly all of her points. Ahhhhhh… I would never survive the scrutiny and barbs that accompany public life.
You make it look so easy!
Best
PM
-----------------
From: Diane [mailto:stayinput@bellsouth.net]
Sent: Sunday, November 30, 2008 6:35 PM
To: philip@mcdaniel.net
Subject: disagree
Importance: High
Phil,
One of the amazing gifts we are given as citizens of the United States of America is the gift of free speech. I am appalled that you chose to use a satirical cartoon for political gain. I I know we are very close in age, and honestly, I cannot believe you would speak out against an artist publicly and cause the artist to be suspended. Andy Warhol? Lou Reed? Playboy Magazine? Political satire has been around for centuries, it is part of our heritage. If I cannot paint or draw or sculpt with the freedom to create, what is the point? I'm disappointed with your letter to the editor and disgusted with the St. Augustine Record's response.
Diane
Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail
Joseph G. Joyner, Ed. D.
Superintendent of Schools
St. Johns County School District
(904) 547-7502 Phone
(904) 547-7515 Fax
"All correspondence sent to and from St. Johns County School District is subject to the public records law of Florida. This law provides that any records made or received by any public agency in the course of its official business are available for inspection, unless specifically exempted by the Legislature."
----------------------------------
Message
Philip McDaniel
Mon, Dec 01, 2008 9:53 AMMessage
Message Mon, Dec 01, 2008 9:53 AM
From: "Philip McDaniel"
To: Joseph Joyner
Subject: RE: FW: disagree
Attachments:
Agree 100%. It appears her thinking may have been, through all the craziness at the BCC in the last 24 months, jaded by the people she worked with. Hopefully with some new blood in there, she will come back to her senses. I certainly want to give her the benefit of the doubt.
Best – PM
-----------------
From: Joseph Joyner [mailto:joynerj@stjohns.k12.fl.us]
Sent: Monday, December 01, 2008 7:49 AM
To: Philip McDaniel
Subject: Re: FW: disagree
WOW. I have no problem with Political satire........I only think that it should be based in some part in fact. I wonder what she thinks after seeing the editorial Sunday that reiterated the truth about administrators and the budget. Perhaps too much time with the BCC??????
"Philip McDaniel"
A guy can’t win for losing. This from the secretary of the Board of County Commissioners. She has assumed so much and is wrong on nearly all of her points. Ahhhhhh… I would never survive the scrutiny and barbs that accompany public life.
You make it look so easy!
Best
PM
-----------------
From: Diane [mailto:stayinput@bellsouth.net]
Sent: Sunday, November 30, 2008 6:35 PM
To: philip@mcdaniel.net
Subject: disagree
Importance: High
Phil,
One of the amazing gifts we are given as citizens of the United States of America is the gift of free speech. I am appalled that you chose to use a satirical cartoon for political gain. I I know we are very close in age, and honestly, I cannot believe you would speak out against an artist publicly and cause the artist to be suspended. Andy Warhol? Lou Reed? Playboy Magazine? Political satire has been around for centuries, it is part of our heritage. If I cannot paint or draw or sculpt with the freedom to create, what is the point? I'm disappointed with your letter to the editor and disgusted with the St. Augustine Record's response.
Diane
-------------------
Message
Philip McDaniel
Thu, Dec 04, 2008 11:32 AMUrgent: Message
Urgent: Message Thu, Dec 04, 2008 11:32 AM
From: "Philip McDaniel"
To: Brandon BillingsleyAdministratorarchiver@arcmail.stjohns.k12.fl.usjoe.joyner@att.blackberry.net"Margo Pope"
Subject: [Defender Restored] Margo - Can you please try to get editorial in soon.... Happy
Attachments:
Cartoon Needs to be Re-Drawn
I was saddened and disappointed to see the cartoon in Sunday’s Record regarding the school district administration. The image was as offensive as it was inaccurate.
Since well before my involvement with the St. Johns Cultural Council, I have known and admired Dr. Joe Joyner. We met in the Leadership St. Johns class of 2004. From our very first conversation, I knew that Joe understood and valued visual and performing arts as an integral part of a high-quality, public education.
For your information, every elementary school in the district offers art and music, along with all our middle and high schools. National studies confirm the correlation between strong arts curriculum and academic achievement. I firmly believe that this one of the main reasons why St. Johns County schools consistently rank in the top three counties (out of 67) in the state.
To further the point of the district’s support of arts and music, we are perhaps the only county of our size in the state to have not one, but two specialized centers for arts learning: St. Augustine High and Murray Middle School Centers for the Arts.
While we may be in for some rough times in the next 12 – 24 months, I sleep well at night knowing our school district’s administration will continue to protect and support student access to arts, music, and theater.
On behalf of the St. Johns County Cultural Council, we are proud of our partnership with the county’s artists, cultural organizations and, in particular, our school district.
Please check your facts next time before you mislead the public with a rendering as erroneous as the one in question. It’s ironic that you would have used your artistic skills in defamation of the very subject that is one the most valued in our school district.
Philip McDaniel is a 15-year resident of St. Augustine and has been associated with several quality of life projects including Project S.W.I.N.G., the New Davis Shores Park, and the restoration of the Cultural Center at St. Augustine Beach Pier. He currently serves as board president for the St. Johns County Cultural Council, the local arts agency for St. Johns County.
Philip
Philip McDaniel
St. Augustine, FL 32084
Tel: 904-806-1440
E Mail: philip@mcdaniel.net
Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail
Joseph G. Joyner, Ed. D.
Superintendent of Schools
St. Johns County School District
(904) 547-7502 Phone
(904) 547-7515 Fax
"All correspondence sent to and from St. Johns County School District is subject to the public records law of Florida. This law provides that any records made or received by any public agency in the course of its official business are available for inspection, unless specifically exempted by the Legislature."
---------------------------------
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