No support for the Pocahontas Indians

[schoolteacher 10]

I recently heard that the central office will only allow the Pocahontas Indians to have only one coaching supplementfor the football season. The Indians deserve and the students deserve there fair share of support from the central office. People of Pocahontas wake up and stand by your team ,and make a call or two and ask why the children of Pocahontas are being left out again. It was also brought to my attention that the Richland football team would receive the additional supplements that would have went to Pocy.This is an injustice to treat the children of Pocahontas High School and the community as second hand citizens.

[six4three 10]

[ QUOTE ]

I recently heard that the central office will only allow the Pocahontas Indians to have only one coaching supplementfor the football season. The Indians deserve and the students deserve there fair share of support from the central office. People of Pocahontas wake up and stand by your team ,and make a call or two and ask why the children of Pocahontas are being left out again. It was also brought to my attention that the Richland football team would receive the additional supplements that would have went to Pocy.This is an injustice to treat the children of Pocahontas High School and the community as second hand citizens.

 

[/ QUOTE ]

 

it's best not to go on "i heard". go straight to the source, the county school board and find out, then come back and give us an update.

[Gunz9 71]

Last I had heard was that they (School Board) were considering cutting one to two supplements at the beginning of the year but I haven't heard anything else. This was considered because it was mentioned by Richlands head coach Greg Mance.

 

Mance pretty much said that Pocahontas did not deserve to have as many coaching supplements as them....one because they were a small school and two because they were not the defending state champs. I know for a fact that Mance even approached Pocahontas about hiring one of Richlands coaches and Pocahontas High would pay that coach and that coach would only coach at Richlands. That offer was quickly turned down.

 

I hate to sound like a Richlands basher but they have 11 coaches this year....dont' know why they need 11. Seems like they have become a little demanding since winning state.

[BLU 10]

Sounds like Taz. County is trying to do away with Pocy. Instead they should thy to pick up the economy and increase population. But looks like everything is headed to Graham right?

[GMan 3,569]

Pocahontas is a dying community...the prison IS NOT going to increase the town's population or the school's enrollment. I had to laugh when I read the BDT this morning about the Pocy residents vowing to save their school...a noble thing, but, eventually, the school will be closed and the sooner, the better.

 

Burt McGlothlin had a couple of "good" quotes in the article...

 

"Pocahontas is going to lose $29,000 a year if you take this school away."

 

Well Burt, guess how much its going to cost Tazewell Co. to keep the school open for 100 kids...about 25 times that amount.

 

McGlothlin also said "within the next 30 days, 100 new families will be moving into the Pocahontas community to staff the new Pocahontas Correctional Center."

 

Really??? Does Pocahontas have enough housing for 100 new families??? If so, I better jump in on this "real estate boom" in Pocahontas and get me a piece of that action.

 

The reality of the situation is...while there may be a FEW new residents coming to the Pocahontas area to support the prison, MOST of the "new employees" ALREADY live in this area and I really doubt they'll be moving to Pocahontas just because they work at the prison.

 

And truthfully, why does Pocahontas need more than two (three at the most) football coaches when they only have maybe 20 kids who play football...do they need one coach for every kid???

 

Also, if the TCSB did take away coaching supplements from Pocahontas, and if they were to "redistribute" them, they should at least "redistribute" them EQUALLY amongst the other three schools in the County...not just to ONE school because they won the State Championship last year. That, in and of itself, is as bad a reason to get the "extra" coaching supplements as the decision to keep Pocahontas open...

[Bulldogs52 483]

[ QUOTE ]

Last I had heard was that they (School Board) were considering cutting one to two supplements at the beginning of the year but I haven't heard anything else. This was considered because it was mentioned by Richlands head coach Greg Mance.

 

Why is Mance worried about how many coaches they have any way? Thought he said this was his last year at Richlands anyways..

 

Mance pretty much said that Pocahontas did not deserve to have as many coaching supplements as them....one because they were a small school and two because they were not the defending state champs. I know for a fact that Mance even approached Pocahontas about hiring one of Richlands coaches and Pocahontas High would pay that coach and that coach would only coach at Richlands. That offer was quickly turned down.

 

I hate to sound like a Richlands basher but they have 11 coaches this year....dont' know why they need 11. Seems like they have become a little demanding since winning state.

 

[/ QUOTE ]

[GHS89 77]

Coaching supplements should be directly related to the number of kids on the team. If there are twice as many kids out at Richlands as at Graham, I don't have a problem with them having more coaches than Graham. I find it hard to believe that Mance would try to leverage with a state championship. As far as Pocahontas being open or not, the rulers of Tazewell County need to be fiscally reasonable with my (and your) money. Also, how many kids from the Pocahontas area have missed opportunities for higher education by not having participated in a wider range of atheletic and educational activities?

[GMan 3,569]

[ QUOTE ]

the rulers of Tazewell County need to be fiscally reasonable with my (and your) money.

 

[/ QUOTE ]

 

RESPONSIBLE, not reasonable...and I'm not sure I would trust any of them to cat-sit for me...

[GHS89 77]

"Responsible" would indeed be a better term. It implies accountablity. But, I'm the only one expected to understand that, every December at tax time. Certainly not the county the rest of the year when free roaming dogs are ravaging my farm. I've GOT to stop now.

[GMan 3,569]

[ QUOTE ]

"Responsible" would indeed be a better term. It implies accountablity. But, I'm the only one expected to understand that, every December at tax time. Certainly not the county the rest of the year when free roaming dogs are ravaging my farm. I've GOT to stop now.

 

[/ QUOTE ]

 

No, no! Keep going!!! Get it out of your system. The more problems people see with our so-called "leaders", the sooner we will have enough people together to make changes...and changes are needed at every level and department of the Tazewell Co. government.

 

Trust me, I'm not at all opposed to political discussions...even on the football board...actually seems to get more attention on the football board than on the general discussion board...so, have at it!!!

[Beaverteeth 10]

If you didn't live in Mercer Co. i would run for Mayor!, But Mercer needs help too, can you help? You live real close to the new mayor! lol

[GMan 3,569]

[ QUOTE ]

If you didn't live in Mercer Co. i would run for Mayor!, But Mercer needs help too, can you help? You live real close to the new mayor! lol

 

[/ QUOTE ]

 

Yeh I do...do you let your dogs crap in her yard??? I know someone does...I've seen it...just glad I didn't step in it...LOL...

 

BTW, if you could do a better job as Mayor...I'd vote for you...

[Beaverteeth 10]

Post deleted by Beaverteeth

[fieldgeneral 10]

Hey, football is not the easiest thing to coach. It's difficult to do it alone. You need a couple of people dedicated to successfully run a program. You have to pay a couple people at least. One stipend will do basketball, not football. It's ridiculous to ask anyone to coach a football team on thier own. Two at the very least, even three will not break them. Richlands doesn't need 11 paid if that is the case. They may be a small school, but 1 stipend it stupid.

[olewave 44]

I hate to break it to the fine people in Pocahontas, but the prison is not not going to bring any change in your school enrollment. The workers will drive in from Bluefield or some other part of the communities near by. The prison in Buchanan County is twice the size as the one in Pocy, and has been here for years and the county enrollment has not increased in either of the schools near the prison. In fact the enrollments have gone down. Sure there are 400 to 500 jobs, but they drive in with the rest of the people and leave the county after work. So, do not be counting on pocy to have anymore students this time next year either.

[GMan 3,569]

[ QUOTE ]

I hate to break it to the fine people in Pocahontas, but the prison is not not going to bring any change in your school enrollment. The workers will drive in from Bluefield or some other part of the communities near by. The prison in Buchanan County is twice the size as the one in Pocy, and has been here for years and the county enrollment has not increased in either of the schools near the prison. In fact the enrollments have gone down. Sure there are 400 to 500 jobs, but they drive in with the rest of the people and leave the county after work. So, do not be counting on pocy to have anymore students this time next year either.

 

[/ QUOTE ]

 

That's what I'm saying...but you can't convince the hard-heads in the Northern District of Tazewell Co....

[Sources 10]

I know of a lot of people who have been hired at the Pocahantas prison but live in the local area which means a majority of those jobs won't increase the population for the town.

[Hacker 82]

Our friend in Grundy has it exactly right. I worked for a few years in Southside VA. In fact my house was about 2 miles from Nottoway Correctional Center. That prison has been there for decades, and you would be hard pressed to find a handful of people who live within 10 miles of the prison who actually work there. Those that do are locals who have gotten jobs at the prison.

 

If you go to Nottoway Co., Sussex Co., Buckingham Co., all of which have prisons, you will find exactly the same thing that is going on in Buchanan Co. The vast majority of the employees drive in from somewhere else, and very few move into the community next to the prison.

[Pru 10]

Exactly, I know personally of several people who have gotten jobs at the prison and not a single one of them live in Pocy, nor have plans of moving there. They plan on just working there and coming home. Majority of them live in Bluefield, or Tazewell, heck I even know a few that live in Bland Co. and are going to be working there. I am not going to bash the people that live in Pocy, but how many people in the community have actually gotten jobs with the prison? I don't know everyone in that community, I do know a few people, but along with that I have met only a few people that would be qualified to work there. Haha actually I even heard from a local merchant that was talking to me about some of the kids that work for him. He didn't mention any names, also he didn't name which school he was talking about but he made it obvious what school he was talking about. But he had said that out of the high school students that he has working for them, the ones that come from Pocy, are really not that smart. He said he hired one person one time that honestly did not know how to spell. He didn't know it at the time when he hired the person but after the person started working for him when the employee would leave notes for him about what they had done the night before, he could not read but maybe a couple words of the whole note. I think before they start complaining about the amount of coaches they need to worry about the students. Yes having enough coaches to coach a team is important, but I think that school has more problems then the football program to focus on. Honestly they probably need to not worry about the sports programs, cause how many people there actually play the sports, how often do the teams have winning seasons. If there isn't that much interest they need to just not worry about the sports and worry about giving their kids a little bit more education. I love sports, but if these kids are not getting an education what is the sports really doing for the kids in Pocahontas?

[EH31 2,518]

[ QUOTE ]

Exactly, I know personally of several people who have gotten jobs at the prison and not a single one of them live in Pocy, nor have plans of moving there. They plan on just working there and coming home. Majority of them live in Bluefield, or Tazewell, heck I even know a few that live in Bland Co. and are going to be working there. I am not going to bash the people that live in Pocy, but how many people in the community have actually gotten jobs with the prison? I don't know everyone in that community, I do know a few people, but along with that I have met only a few people that would be qualified to work there. Haha actually I even heard from a local merchant that was talking to me about some of the kids that work for him. He didn't mention any names, also he didn't name which school he was talking about but he made it obvious what school he was talking about. But he had said that out of the high school students that he has working for them, the ones that come from Pocy, are really not that smart. He said he hired one person one time that honestly did not know how to spell. He didn't know it at the time when he hired the person but after the person started working for him when the employee would leave notes for him about what they had done the night before, he could not read but maybe a couple words of the whole note. I think before they start complaining about the amount of coaches they need to worry about the students. Yes having enough coaches to coach a team is important, but I think that school has more problems then the football program to focus on. Honestly they probably need to not worry about the sports programs, cause how many people there actually play the sports, how often do the teams have winning seasons. If there isn't that much interest they need to just not worry about the sports and worry about giving their kids a little bit more education. I love sports, but if these kids are not getting an education what is the sports really doing for the kids in Pocahontas?

 

[/ QUOTE ]That statement was altogether stupid. You "hear" about one guy from the Pocahontas area that wasn't as well educated as some others, so you automatically think that everyone in Pocy cannot read or write? Do you think we just go to school to hang out and play sports? Our school stresses education more than anything. Every year since I've been here we've heard the speech that says "if we don't get accredited, we're getting shut down." So yes, we take education very seriously, because we know that since we have a small population, every single person counts toward the statistics of the school.

 

And our sports program has been on a up-rise the past couple years. Our volleyball team is always at the top of the district, and our basketball and football teams have made a huge improvment from not winning a game all season, to coming up with some big wins.

 

The truth is we work just as hard as any other school at Pocahontas in both sports and education, but we never get the credit for it. We have such a small population that every little thing that happens shows up and makes us look worse. Other schools have thier own problems too, but if something isn't perfect at Pocahontas then that's just another excuse to shut us down.

 

A lot of people around here think that the prison will bring in more population to the Pochaontas area. Myself, I know that it's not going to be that way. Most of the employees would rather live in Bluefield and make the 10 minute drive to work. I never said that it's going to make our community bigger.

 

And honestly, I can understand how residents of the other towns in the county feel. As G-Man(not singling you out) has said many times, he thinks it would be better for the county just to shut Pocahontas down. I understand where he is coming from, but all the same you have to think about the residents of Pocahontas and how we feel. Put yourself in our situation. If you lived in a place, and went to school there all your life, would you just be o.k. with consolidating with another school? We take a lot of pride in our community and that's the last thing any of us would want to happen.

 

All I'm saying is, as of the upcoming 2007-2008 school year, Pocahontas High School is still open. You can talk about closing it all you want, but for now it's open, and the students deserve every oppertunity that every other school has. We have 6 very dedicated coaches that have took time out of thier lives, all through the summer and now through 2-a-days to come coach us. Not for the money, just because they believe in us, unlike 95% of Tazewell County. So we should have the same benifits as every other school in the county. Richlands shouldn't be entitled to anything extra than Graham,Tazewell, or Pocahontas, just because they won a state championship.

[mav_fan 10]

hey i got a good idea maybe this is a possible recruitment area so BHS can continue to win with outsiders or in and outers

[beavsone 10]

What are you talking about??? outsiders?? You sound pretty bitter if you ask me.

[Pru 10]

First off, I didn't say everyone in the school was as bad as that one person that I spoke of. I have known a few people that went to Pocahontas and have done very well. But you brought a point to my attention, "Our school stresses education more than anything. Every year since I've been here we've heard the speech that says "if we don't get accredited, we're getting shut down." Thats bringing attention to the school and students that isn't needed. If the teachers would go in there and do their jobs and help the kids that need the help, then it might be fine. I am not saying that the teachers don't, but if the students are struggling with learning this stuff help them! I went through high school never really hearing about being accredited except for maybe one time, and that was just based off of our behavior. Thats because we would go to classes we would do our work and would get the job done that was needed of us, not because we were being pressured to do so, but because we wanted to. I don't believe it is right year in and year out to sit here and pressure the kids saying oh well you all need to make sure your test scores are up to par so they we don't get shut down. Thats just not right to have to tell the kids. Yes, I understand the whole thing of a community not wanting to close down a school that majority of went to and support. But they also have to realize that for the county it would be better, and cheaper to consolidate with another school than to keep the whole school open for only a few hundred students. I mean yes this arguement has gone on for years and I pretty much realize that this subject will go on for several more years. The fact is that something does need to be done, but I and many other people believe that the School Board will not do anything about it. I remember specifically hearing about this argueement when I was starting into middle school and now I'm in my early 20's and I'm still hearing about it.

 

And yeah on the prison thing, like I said no one or very few are going to be willing to move to Pocahontas just to work at the prison. I mean honestly, I don't go to Pocahontas for pleasure or enjoyment personally. So what other reason besides the prison would anyone have for moving to Pocahontas? There is nothing for people to do except go down to that picnic area on the corner as your coming into town, which is usually from what I remember when I dated someone in Pocahontas, was just a hang out for the local kids to come out and drink, and smoke weed. I don't think it has changed much concidering I still know people that go down there for that reason, and I just think its stupid personally. Why would families want to come into that? I don't know maybe its not as bad as it was when I was younger. But yeah, its just my own opinion, and thats it. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, whether you think its stupid or not.

 

Also another thing, EH31 I obviously wasn't taking a specific shot at you in the prior statement that you quoted. I was mainly going off of what I know from the people that I have known that went to Pocahontas and what they have told me. And like I said earlier in this statement, I didn't say that EVERYONE could not read and write. Just a few, cause from what I was told about this person it just didn't seem right. Obviously being able to read what you wrote in your message tells me that you are one of what could be many kids that go there that are very intellegent. But what I was getting my point to be in that statement before was that, how can someone that is about to graduate or even being in high school, not able to read, write, or do simple math. I don't understand how someone could of gone that far for so long and only knowing very little. That was my point.

[JGray 60]

I was just wondering if you guys have every heard of a little thing called "SPECIAL EDUCATION"? Not everyone has the ability to learn to read or write. There are different levels of Spec.Ed. You don't have to be in the special olympics to be labeled as a special needs student and some kids can only be tought functional skills, like how to do a job. Be it a brick mason, welding, janitorial, stocking, etc.... You get the picture. And these kids come from EVERY school in our area. You guys definately should think about stuff before you just start rambling off at the mouth. This kid you were reffering to may have been a special needs student.

[Gman1986 10]

Is there a school in Pocahontas...If so, WHY?