DeKalb’s Lewis steps down temporarily. How will it affect school closings and layoffs?
In a shocker tonight, DeKalb Superintendent Crawford Lewis temporarily stepped down from his post after a morning search of his house ordered by the DeKalb DA.
It appears the search was the catalyst for the sudden decision, but it is unclear why. Was Lewis upset by the search, which is related to an ongoing investigation of school construction projects, an investigation that Lewis himself instigated and that now seems to have widened to include him?
Did he feel the whole mess compromised his position to oversee the county schools in these next few months of controversial and painful budget decisions? (I just came back from Tucker where 260 parents from three small elementary schools turned out to find out if why their schools were on a possible closure list and what they could do to fight it.)
I can understand the pressures on Lewis right now, but is this the right decision given the delicate negotiations over the next months to decide which schools to close and which employees to let go?
According to the AJC:
The DeKalb school board voted Thursday to accept Lewis’ temporary hiatus from the district and appointed an interim superintendent to serve while the district attorney completes its investigation into possible wrongdoing involving multi-million dollar school construction projects.
“He has made the offer because as always he is putting the best interest of the district and students above his personal interest,” board chairman Tom Bowen said.
The board’s vote came after investigators with the DeKalb district attorney’s office spent five-and-a-half hours searching Lewis’ Stone Mountain home, seizing three computer hard drives and six boxes.
District Attorney Gwen Keyes Fleming would not say what investigators were looking for, but confirmed that prosecutors executed search warrants at Lewis’ home and three school buildings as part of the investigation into the district’s construction program.
“This is all part of an ongoing investigation which was started at the request of the school system’s administration. After reviewing the information we gathered today, we anticipate bringing this matter to an appropriate conclusion,” Fleming said in a statement.
The district attorney’s office has been investigating whether the school system’s then-chief operating officer, Patricia “Pat” Pope, broke the law by allegedly steering contracts to her architect husband and construction companies where she has connections.
According to search warrants obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, investigators were looking for Lewis’ personal finance records, along with documents concerning him, Pope, Pope’s husband and the couple’s associates. Investigators also searched for records of gifts Lewis, Pope and school employees received from contractors; car purchases; and information on seven school construction projects.
The investigators were looking for the documents and computer files in connection with 10 different potential criminal charges, ranging from theft of federal funds and mail fraud, to bid-rigging and Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations, according to the search warrants.
A lawyer for Pope has denied the allegations. She has since been reassigned to special projects.
Lewis and Bernard Taylor, an attorney who previously represented him, did not return phone calls on Thursday.
After four hours behind closed doors, the board voted to appoint Ramona Tyson, the district’s deputy chief superintendent of business operations, as interim superintendent. The board also voted to pay Lewis’ legal expense and allow him to maintain his salary during his leave.
Board vice chair Zepora Roberts abstained from the vote, saying she didn’t want Lewis — a DeKalb schools employee of 33 years — to go.
“Our superintendent has not done anything wrong,” she said. “I am in support of him and would like to see him come back to work tomorrow.”
Lewis himself is the one who sparked the criminal probe that has now turned on him. In November 2008, while being questioned by a district attorney’s investigator about his purchase of a county car and questionable gas purchases on his county credit card, Lewis revealed a slew of allegations about Pope. The superintendent reported discovering a trend that those close to Pope were profiting off school projects, and that Pope’s husband had worked on school construction projects against his direction.
Bowen said Lewis is cooperating with investigators.
“It’s really a situation where the board is anxious to get all the details and why,” Bowen said. “We’ve been cooperating with the Pope investigation. So it’s a bit alarming and surprising to have something of this nature going down.”
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122 comments Add your comment
FulCoTeach
February 27th, 2010
11:36 am
Amen, catlady! I say the state law should be a minimum of five years in a regular classroom – 25-30 kids all day or each period – with responsibility for lesson plans, grading, EIPs, talking with parents, as well as showing up for class each day. They should also have to have a team teacher in at least one class during the five years, so they know what to expect from team teachers (NOT that the SpEd teacher will be a glorified parapro so they have time for their coaching responsibilities…).
THEN they can only be administrators at the level at which they have the teaching experience. Forget your experience as an elementary school PE teacher qualifying you to be a high school principal (and then superintendent?). If a principal is to be the instructional leader in the building – and you want more local school control for those leaders – they need to understand the experiences of the majority of students and teachers at that grade level!
@ So much for experience in the classroom or business
February 27th, 2010
4:04 pm
I read in the AJC today that the new interim superintendent Ms. Tyson had 2 years in the classroom from 1987 – 1989 as a Business Ed teacher, 4 years as an Education Instructional Specialist and then back to DeKalb where she was in the MIS Dept. from 1989 until last fall 2010 when she was promoted by Dr. Lewis. It also said that Chamber of Commerce president had lauded her corporate business experience. As an Education Instructional Specialist, does anyone think she was heavily involved in the revenue and expense end at IBM?
@ Dekalbite
February 27th, 2010
4:43 pm
A BOE member Paul Womack said that Dr. Lewis recommended Ms. Tyson. That’s really not a very good recommendation.
Louise
February 27th, 2010
5:32 pm
Megan and Tim’s decision to quote a parent who lives out of the district in the home raid story was baffling. These two reporters never stopped to question the real reason why this individual’s children no longer attends DeKalb schools, but its quite evident in the story — she lives out of district!
concern parent
February 27th, 2010
6:18 pm
I agree with most of the comments already stated. Unless your child attend Chamblee, Dunwoody and Tucker the school system really don’t give a damn. Why! because they think the Black parents really don’t give a damn; and when they find the ones that do; it’s hell to pay. Let me give you example; Miller Grove High School the principle walk around in tight ass pants with her couch presented to everyone to see (even the high school teenage boys) two male teacher fighting one I saw at an honor day program rub his hand down the center of her back only two days later he’s in a fight with another student. I tell my teenagers you can’t wear that to school; that;s for the weekend but mom the principle wear the same thing. I know this may seem to be a small issue but once you have educated her kids in a school like Chamblee and listening to Dr. Lewis I decided to move the last one to her home school after over 12 years commuting back and forth to Chamblee he promised that the education and the educators would be equal. Not only is theft but a liar as well! Oh, by the way sorry Ms. Lowery you were right and I was wrong. We should have stayed.
Morgan
February 27th, 2010
8:09 pm
Decatur parent, don’t be so naive. Decatur is a great school system, no doubt, but Decatur has its own share of problems. Why do all the intelligent, highly educated parents in Decatur never talk about Decatur schools own nepotism?—the fact that the superintendent hired Dr. Lewis’ daughter into a central office position and a week or so later Dr. Lewis hired Dr. Edwards’ husband into a central office position…or that she hired her own daughter to work at the High School (her daughter’s boss reports to her)…or that the district-wide Athletic Director reports directly to her when his wife is the school board chair…or that she got an 8% raise last year (turned the performance bonus down but made up for it with an 8% raise)at the same time that big budget cuts were being made? I guess as long as schools are performing well, ethical behavior doesn’t matter.
Jean Graham
February 27th, 2010
8:31 pm
Dr. Lewis stay on the job until the investigation is over. You are in my prayers.
Good grief Morgan
February 27th, 2010
8:54 pm
Shushhhh!!
Decatur is smarter and smaller… They did not involved EVERY Tom, Dick, and Jane in the racket. But more than this, Decatur did not destroy teacher morale.
I think people are better able to tolerate minor corruption as long as the schools function well. In Dekalb County, it was all tricks, smoke, and mirror on the back of teachers.
Mind Your Business
February 27th, 2010
8:55 pm
Name One, you don’t know what the hell you are talking about. Dr. Berry confessed to changing answers. Mrs. Alexander was not charged with anything. Get your facts straight. Mind YOUR business!!!!!!!!!!!!
Dr. FeelGood
February 27th, 2010
9:09 pm
Well, we do have concerns about DCSS. How do we fix it? It starts from the home. Parents prepare your children to be educated. You use inappropriate language and children think its ok to swear at an adult. On the southside of the city, black students do not care about learning. Then, you have administrators telling teachers that its their fault if the students do not pass the CRCT. Parents, students, teachers, and administrators must support each other to have better schools. We have turned away from education to fashion, styles , and fine cars. What are you offering your children? Some of us have gotten away from our belief in praying and attending church. Some of these monsters do not fear anything. I watch students get out of fine cars and with fine fashions, but do not have paper and pencil when walking in the school building. Please, do not mention a book. We need to take a serious look at discipline in our schools. The administrators trying to save the students that are willing to learn by placing them in a high achievers team and dumping all the bad students on a single team and teachers rarely get support. Students are not crazy. They know when all the same. This system needs to address discipline! Before we throw stones look at yourself. If you think the county is wasting money, what are you wasting? We all need to stay involved with the educational system. We are so ready to jump for joy when a man is down. Be careful what you say.
Jabberwocky
February 27th, 2010
9:22 pm
So…what’s this about Crawford Lewis’s right hand person resigning a few weeks ago in anticipation of the approaching trouble???
Titanic is sinking
February 27th, 2010
9:28 pm
The rats sensed the danger before the iceberg hit…
MOBFIGURE
February 27th, 2010
11:09 pm
Dear Dekalb County Board Members;
It is unfortunate that your “premier Superintendant” Crawford Lewis is being investigated for alleged criminal behavior. The raid is evidence of a systemic culture of corruption that is prevalent in all organizational levels in the Dekalb County School District. Remember, this is the District that allowed Stanley Pritchett when he was the chief operations officer to hire one of his freaks, Joan Williams-West to serve as his assistant because she was having a sexual relationship with him. Stanley Pritchett participated in unethical behavior and Crawford Lewis allowed him to retire instead of pursuing criminal charges. This is factaul information. BIG BIRD (Joan Williams-West) is masquerading as a principal at Cedar Grove High School. The School is terrible and she is the worst principal in captivity.
Ima Teacher
February 28th, 2010
1:26 pm
To “help”–Your principal sounds like MY principal. She is one of Crawford Lewis’ buds too. He has protected her and allowed her to get away with soooo much crap. But her day is coming too. In fact, I think that all of Lewis’ buds are job hunting now or filling out those retirement papers, because there won’t be anyone to protect them now!
To the DBOE–Putting Ramona Tyson (Lewis’ right hand) in as interim superintendent only puts a spotlight on your incompetence, as does voting to pay for Lewis’ legal fees. Makes you wonder if the GBI shouldn’t be investigating YOU too. They definitely should be looking at Zepora Roberts! No one in their right mind would support someone as crooked as Crawford Lewis if they weren’t in it with him. I think she just wants this whole thing to blow over fast so they don’t start digging any deeper into the corruption that is running rampant in DCSS. Why does the county office have 983 (was it?) employees?? What the ‘H’ do they do?? You can never get anyone on the phone over there; if you go there, they are all standing around chatting or “away from their desk”; and no one knows anything over there if you have a question. It’s because Lewis has made positions for all of his friends and relatives, and they are all as incompetent as he is. Why hasn’t anyone looked into his nephew Harold, who is making six figures and getting moved from job to job because of his sexual escapades in the office? To the GBI–the corruption runs DEEP. Get a big shovel!
Titanic is sinking
February 28th, 2010
1:55 pm
Ima,
It is a sad situation…. There is a lot of incompetence floating about.
South-End Mom
March 1st, 2010
3:38 am
@ Jean Graham you are going to be on your knees alot praying for him.
Here is a list for you to start with: Lord give him the strength to endure what is about to come. Lord let him be smart enough to retire instead of them firing him. Lord oh Lord please, please, PLEASE let each decision he makes from this day foward be ordered by you!!! AMEN
Jean Graham
Dr. Lewis stay on the job until the investigation is over. You are in my prayers.
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