It’s official: DeKalb hires Ohio school chief in split vote.
School chief finalist Cheryl Atkinson met the DeKalb public for the first time today, wrapping up the session just a few minutes ago.
UPDATE Monday morning: The DeKalb board approved Dr. Atkinson this morning in a 6-3 vote. She is now officially the new school chief of the third largest system in the state of Georgia.
In her first meet-and-greet Saturday morning with the community, DeKalb school chief finalist Cheryl Atkinson came across as open, tough, seasoned and ready for the challenges of the fractured district.
Twice, to applause both times, Atkinson said she had no problem letting people go who are not performing. She also won applause when she said that education takes place in the classroom, not in the central office.
(You gained the sense that the DeKalb parents in the audience believe there is too much dead weight in the central office as the applause was reflexive whenever Atkinson talked about changes at that level.)
“My focus will be on our students and student success first with adults and political issues taking a distant second. Children must come first. Our decisions, my decisions, must first and foremost focus on what is good for all children. My intention is to create an internal structure that will allow effective educators to focus on the core mission improving academic performance. We do not have the luxury of allowing non-academic related issues to consume the attention and focus of all our educators,” she said
She also earned applause when she said that she didn’t believe in teaching to tests, but she did believe in preparing for them, including raising the performance of high school students on the college admission tests, the SAT and the ACT. In Kansas City, she pushed and obtained ACT testing for every student during the school day.
Atkinson called for lacrosse and fencing so more students can participate in sports. She called for updated vo-tech offerings, such as alternative energies. She called for Smart Boards in every classroom. She called for a laptop or iPad for every student.
Her strong performance probably allayed the concerns of some folks, although great rhetoric doesn’t always produce great results. Atkinson’s selection has met with resistance from many parents, who do not believe that she has the depth to manage the 100,000-student urban district and all its problems, including flagging student performance and a stubborn achievement gap.
But Atkinson emphasized that she has done this work for three decades and understands what’s required to boost student achievement and change cultures.
“It is hard work. It is heavy lifting and it will take time. When student achievement is not improving, particularly as it relates to the very foundation for what we do, reading and reading, skills, you can pretty much guarantee your foundation has crumbled and is certainly broken.”
In response to a question on bloat in the central office, Atkinson said the greater question is competency of that staff. She predicted that she would likely downsize, but said her first task would be figuring out who’s doing what and how well they’re doing it. “I have no problem saying to someone you have to go,” she said.
Asked about her husband’s bankruptcy and her failure to list it on her DeKalb application, Atkinson addressed only her own financial abilities, saying that her husband’s small business finances have never affected her abilities to be an effective manager of her schools. She said she has handled complex financial challenges, including in Lorain, and done it well.
Atkinson promised one-on-one meetings with principals, admitting that it would take a lot of her time. “I have some time,” she said. She pledged to meet with teachers and teacher groups, saying that they were critical to her plans to turn around DeKalb schools.
“I never met one kindergarten child who said ‘I am going to drop out in several years.’ Something else happens, and so we have to fix that and we have to stop it,” she said.
In her final comment, Atkinson told the crowd, “It is not all bad. There are some very good things happening in this district. We will built upon those things.”
–from Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog
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199 comments Add your comment
Berny
August 28th, 2011
5:40 pm
@Amazed – I do not believe that neither Ally(however you spell it) Thompson and Trayneesha (I get it, I really do) Jones are who you think they are. I could be wrong, but I believe those are trolls who post racially divisive commentary to further divide. Trust me, educated, thinking parents on the southside know where the money has been spent as it relates to high school buildings and infrastructure. That’s why we ALL have to make sure that a good education is being provided in those nice, new, pretty buildings.
Dunwoody Mom
August 28th, 2011
5:43 pm
@Berny, conversely, don’t the students and parents of “receiving” schools, have a right to a good education as well? Don’t they have the right to say “enough, you are compromising my child’s education with all of these transfers. By slamming these schools year after year with transfers, DCSS has created schools that are overcrowded and 35+ students in general classes. In this setting no one is receiving a quality education.
Berny
August 28th, 2011
5:46 pm
@Ed Johnson – Standing and Applauding. People are being bamboozled by what is going on in education and it will swallow us all whole if we don’t fight back. Children are being dumbed down all over this country – moreso with poor and minority children. Do any of you think it is by accident? That’s why I get so frustrated with people who make everything about race or socioeconomic status or how much their property taxes are, etc. Their heads are so far up their own butts that they can’t see we all should be fighting the same fight.
Teacher Reader
August 28th, 2011
5:49 pm
@ Ed Johnson, if you read/listen to Charlotte Iserbyt, you will learn that most non-profits also do more harm than good. They were set up that way from the very beginning.
I agree with you on the self-esteem issue. We are giving our children a false sense of self esteem. I have my self esteem from working hard, persisting through challenges, and meeting my self set goals.
I wish that more white and black parents would read Kohn’s book “Punished by Rewards,” Iserbyt’s book “The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America,” Ronald Havelock’s “Change Agents Innovation in Education” (So that they can understand what is really happening with the various curriculum’s that keep popping being touted as the best way to help our children. It’s the psychology of those in power and happens all of the time in DCSS.), and begin to question what is really happening and being/not being taught in our schools.
Parents need to wake up, this over taking of our schools has taken place little by little and gotten parents to think/believe that their children were being taught, when that simply isn’t the case.
Berny
August 28th, 2011
5:59 pm
@Dunwoody Mom – I agree with you wholeheartedly! It is absolutely unfair to the receiving schools. I had this same conversation with a bunch of women complaining that Chamblee, Lakeside didn’t want them because “they were black”. I told them NO, it’s because they don’t have room for you. DCSS is the problem. Too much focus is put on transfers – and paying parents to take their own children to school is disgusting. I personally believe that providing tutoring at the home schools is a better option. I believe in Saturday school for those that need it. Parents of children who consistently lag behind should be forced into the education process WITH their children or keep them behind – but absolutely do not let them go elsewhere. But to do that, DCSS has to clean house first and rid itself of those who benefit from the current status quo. We have to get rid of the No-Zero policy. We have to let those that fail, FAIL. We have to ensure the we have quality teachers who can at least spell on the grade level they are teaching in each and every classroom. And STOP teaching to tests. We have to make students read and write real research papers. If things were to improve, I’d be the first to send my child to her home school because I believe it is the right thing to do. Education is very important to me. My grandmother could not read or write very well. I did not grow up in an environment where education was stressed. I wanted to be educated. My children want to be educated. I want every child who wants to be educated to be educated. Dunwoody Mom, I know you care about your children and want them to have the best. I do too. We’re fighting the same battle – against DCSS – not each other.
Dunwoody Mom
August 28th, 2011
6:05 pm
Dunwoody Mom, I know you care about your children and want them to have the best. I do too. We’re fighting the same battle – against DCSS – not each other
Ok, fair enough…you’re right.
Teacher Reader
August 28th, 2011
6:19 pm
@ Berny What can we do, to get other parents in your area to better understand what is really happening in our schools? How can we get them to wake up, elect better board members, and demand better for their children and stop the current agenda in its tracks?
These are serious questions. I am really not sure how we can get others to see what is really happening to their children and in their schools.
Dunwoody Mom
August 28th, 2011
7:48 pm
@Berny, I just saw your video. I understand now…Accept my apologies for questioning you.
Anonmom
August 28th, 2011
7:51 pm
Berny — thank you for taking the time to figure this out — please help your friends and neighbors to see this! Thank you! Please take a look at a book/New York Times article on the Tiger Mom… It addresses how Western moms (not white versus black but Western American versus Asian) do a tremendous disservice to their children by rewarding everything… the children never gain a true sense of pride in true accomplishments. If you reward everything there is never any feeling of satisfaction or success … the kids know that they can’t always win a game. When you artifically don’t keep score on a baseball or soccer field, they still keep score and they still know who won and who loss. Life has winners and losers. Al Queda knows who is going to win and who is going to lose. You can’t master a piece on the piano (a story the Tiger mom tells) without really practicing and if you don’t have stamina and patience and confidence, you will never master the piece. There is a tremendous amount of self satisfiction (that applause and “yeahs” can’t “buy” a child) that comes from mastering that piece. Eastern society wins on this front and we, and DCSS with it’s no zeros policy and nothing is worth striving for, loses in spades.
Teacher Reader
August 28th, 2011
8:01 pm
Berny the video is powerful and well stated. Thank you! I hope that more parents begin to open their eyes and see what you are saying.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQnZfintdSY
The Deal
August 28th, 2011
9:58 pm
Berny, that was a fantastic video. It baffles me that more people are not ANGRY at their elected leaders for the state of the schools. Who else do they think is responsible? Hopefully we can leverage the power of the Parents for DeKalb Schools group next election and have the largest candidate education campaign this county, particularly South DeKalb, has ever seen. Flyers with each candidate’s schools and the trend of their test scores under that person’s watch, quotes that tell the story of how that candidate has NOT been watching over his/her district, and facts, facts, facts.
Write Your Board Members
August 28th, 2011
9:58 pm
It is time for the parents and taxpayers to seriously consider a recall of the entire Board of Ed. This means all of them and it needs to happen soon. If Atkinson is to have a chance, she needs the current board gone.
Write Your Board Members
August 28th, 2011
10:05 pm
Many years ago, when Elizabeth Andrews was still alive, parents did put together a flier that showed the decline in test scores during her decades long terms on the board. She won anyway and at least a big part of her district were highly educated parents.
It is important that we start to recruit now, strong candidates who can make a difference and that those candidates begin to attend board members now. Donna Edler is a disaster in part because she was one of those S DeKalb parents who used N. DeKalb schools but participated not at all. She knew nothing coming in, she only won because she wasn’t Zepora and she is a disaster. Not as bad as Zepora was but terrible all the same.
It isn’t enough just to change the person sitting in the seat, we have to elect higher quality people to begin with.
The Deal
August 28th, 2011
10:07 pm
Does anyone know what controls the fact that our school board is split up into districts? Would electing a county-wide board help?
Presode
August 29th, 2011
1:51 am
@Dunwoody Mom
I would have no problem with your saying the buttons were really silly if you respected yourself and your opinions enough to use your real name rather than an anonymous screen name. But then this is an AJC blog where people can hide behind these cutesy anonymous screen names and lob grenades at other citizens while they cower behind their rocks, i.e., anonymous scree names. I don’t mind you criticizing me by name. I am accystomed to dealing with internet bullies. At least respect yourself and your opinions enough to use your real name when you criticize others who stand up for what they believe. Until you use your teal name, your opinions are meaningless. Call me if you want to have a meaningful discussion about issues facing the DeKalb school system. Nicest thing I can say it is really “bad form,” as the British would say, to criticize another citizen by name while hiding behind an anonymous screen name.
No nonsense Mom
August 29th, 2011
2:15 am
I am an african american parent who had to reluctantly return my child to the dekalb school system from Gwinnett. I’m so disappointed in all of these comments. The racial undertones are unbelievable. My reluctance was because of just that. Nothing is never good enough for you people. Do you know how hard it is to find the perfect unblemished candidate to appease all facets & factions in this county. Can we focus on the issues… like why is my child being served a lunch menu fit for the prison system. Why can’t we be asking Dr. Atkinson, what is her plan to uplift the low performing areas so that Dekalb as a whole stands strong and high. You guys are the most selfish self-centered so called christians I’ve ever seen in my life. Dr. Atkinson can’t fix the culture. Nor could her predecessors… Stop masking behind the truth, this time around, you wanted a “white” superintendent. Making a big deal about her bankruptcy as a serious litigation issue is nonsense and just phony!
So again, if you want to change Dekalb, as Michael Jackson said, start with the man in the mirror!!!
I feel so sorry for all of you cynical, small minded morons.
August 29th, 2011
3:06 am
Thank you. Why won’t DCSS succeed? Just reading all the pointless, cynical, ill-informed, bigoted, and in some cases libelous posts on this blog tells you why. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Presode is right. Your stupid opinions are meaningless to the majority of citizens since you are too cowardly to back up your thoughts and opinions with a real name. Some of you need to GET A LIFE! @Dunwoody Mom: When do you have time to pay attention to your children since you appear to spend all your time posting ignorant and pointless remarks on this blog? You give new meaning to the concept of latch key kids. And anyone with a brain knows that the DeKalb Schools Watch is nothing more than a propaganda tool by a little, mean spirited, clique in one part of DeKalb. DSW will eventually be sued for slander. How easy it is to assassinate people and their characters on Internet blogs without identifying yourself or being able to prove anything. Do you people have a conscience? What goes through your hearts and minds when you attend your church, synagogue or
mosque? I feel so very sorry for those of you who have nothing better to do than post cynical remarks on blogs. I feel even more sorry for your children who are exposed to and infected with your day to day mental illnesses and stupid opinions. Does it feel good to insult other people with baseless, false, and slanderous, accusations? Does it make you feel important to post anonymous, uninformed comments that you don’t have to back up with your real identity? Who cares what you think? If you could back up your posts with facts, you woul use your real names. But that would be no fun now, would it? It is no wonder we have so many discipline issues in the schools when there are so many unmannerly, undisciplined, opinionated adults. People who have nothing better to do than spread baseless rumors and slander other people on blogs really lead pointless lives devoid of true humanity. Kind of reminds me of the Stalinist era in the Soviet Union where you could do away with your enemies by making anonymous, false, accusations to the Secret Police. And Dunwoody Mom, we hope you can tear yourself away from your computer long enough to remember to feed your children and get them to school on time.
Linda
August 29th, 2011
3:58 am
Dunwoody Mom deserves none of the criticism that is being heaped on her. She is unapologetically honest (actually, she did apologize to Berny.) She has consistently made two valid points:
1) Dr. Atkinson is not qualified nor experienced enough to be Superintendent of DCSS based on the criteria set forth by SACS.
2) It is unfair to students at receiving schools (like Dunwoody, Lakeside, Druid Hills and Chamblee) to have their quality of education degraded because of extreme overcrowding.
She cares enough about education to blog about it and there is some good info for any parent.
Linda
August 29th, 2011
4:00 am
For those fair-minded people who are interested, here is Dunwoody Mom’s blog: http://dunwoodyschooldaze.blogspot.com/
Dunwoody Mom
August 29th, 2011
6:54 am
Actually I just laugh out the criticism of myself and the charges of racism. I know where those come from – those people whose agendas are not those of educating our chidren, but of maintaining the status quo in DCSS. Those who truly know me understand how much I value education and how much I love this school system. That is the reason I speak out. I am a product of this school system. I was a product when this school system WAS the premier school system in this state. I am embarassed as to what is going on with DCSS, but my overlying emotion is anger. I look around and wonder what happened….when did the people who were entrusted with the education of our children become concerned with their agendas then with the education of our children? What do board members spend hours discussing why they do not need an ethics policy and never once ask “how are our children doing in the classroom”, “what do we need to do to make sure they are getting a top-notch education”? I do not hear those questions from our board members, do you?
The people who want to critize those of us who choose to make a difference is DCSS are those who want to divert the conversation away from the real issue – the dysfunctional, broken, toxic board of education and our failing school system.
Let’s see how many board members vote for the status quo this morning versus those who vote with the priority of children’s education in mind. We’ll know who needs to go November 6, 2012. And you can be sure I will be working to make sure that happens.
Dunwoody Mom
August 29th, 2011
6:55 am
Geez, I need to get a new keyboard….sorry about the typos.
Dr NO aka Mr Sunshine
August 29th, 2011
7:08 am
No nonsense Mom
August 29th, 2011
2:15 am
Why dont you start with the woman in the mirror and thanks for you racially charged diatribe. Bottome line is Atkinson is underqualified. A few years from now dekalb parents will be crying out “Why oh Lord…WHY!” The reasons these kids are being fed prison food is because thats where most will end up…not all but most.
I must agree with one of your points. Culture!! Absolutely. The thuggish, ignorant culture of DCSS, APS is inbred and will never change. The parents that can stay far away from Atkinson and “cupcake” are doing. I see you have decided to stay.
Thats nice!
Ronin
August 29th, 2011
7:46 am
“Atkinson called for lacrosse and fencing so more students can participate in sports.” and an iPad for every student. Interesting. Simply tell the voters, or in this case the parents, what they want to hear.
She comes from a failing school system and you expect great things from Ms. Atkinson?
Will there be positive change in the Dekalb School System in the next 5-10 years? Probably not.
Until there is accountability or school choice, don’t expect any great improvement in the education process in Dekalb County.
We elected them
August 29th, 2011
7:53 am
We elected the members of the school board. They are a reflection of the citizens of DeKalb. Maybe next year at this time Nancy Jester and Sara Copelin-Wood, the worst of the bunch, will be on their way out. Maybe Dunwoody Mom should run against Jester. Jester’s e-mails are an embarrassment to herself and the entire board, not to mention putting DCSS accreditation in limbo.
Dr NO aka Mr Sunshine
August 29th, 2011
7:55 am
No nonsense Mom
August 29th, 2011
2:15 am
PS…I also do not take advice from child molesters like MJ.
Atlanta Media Guy
August 29th, 2011
8:03 am
I feel so sorry for all of you cynical, small minded morons. I’m interested in knowing what you think is so slanderous at DSW blog? Please let us know. If it’s slander can you fill us in what you think is so slanderous about the truth? Is this a Palace guard on this blog trying to deflect criticism? Is this Dr. Walker or the BOE’s own convicted felon, Cunningham? I’m just saying.. The name calling, the threats, what are the slanderous statements made at the DSW blog? Please enlighten us!
Anonmom
August 29th, 2011
8:55 am
Want to know why so many posts don’t use names? Take a very hard look at DeKalb County and its history. BJ Bernstein had guards 24/7 because she receive death threats and was followed for representing the boys who filed those suits against the “kind” bishop. Liz Carter had guards for the death threats she and her supporters (large/vocal ones) received for supporting her for challenging Hank Johnson. There were some murders involving a sheriff and his challenger and a county attorney wound up dead of a ’suicide’ but the gun is in the wrong hand. Our county, for anyone really paying attention is run by a gang of thugs intent on taking our money and not doing right by it — the kids and taxpaying citizens are suffering. It isn’t much different from other examples in history (both in the US and elsewhere in the world). This is the truth. It isn’t racist and the AJC is too afraid or on the take or under the thumb of someone in on the scheme to do the proper journalist investigating (as did the journalists at USA Today). At the DSW Blog — the facts are upwards of 90% accurate, because they are by anons who are okay in sharing what they know because they can’t be bullied — live and in person — by those who are trying to do the ‘bad deeds” — the trick is really figuring out how to stop it all. My solution: a very thorough audit (too many stories about off shore accounts); on line check registers and p-card registers and vouchers. It’s time to put the dollars back into the hands of the parents and to force the parents to chose how the dollars are used. Let the state school superintendent be responsible for checking on the actual usage of the money. Doubt what I’m saying? Take an hour or so and do an AJC and Fulton County Daily Report search and just look at what DCSS has spent on attorney’s fees and see what the students have received in exchange for the fees (include Heery Mitchell and the Jaheem suicide and the pending prosecution of Dr. Lewis and any others you run across). Then ask yourself from which school house pocket and teachers are they paying said fees? Then come back and accuse me of slander and tell me that I don’t know what I’m talking about… I’m crying out for help for all of these kids who want a future.
Ladalang
August 29th, 2011
8:55 am
To her credit she is the master at PR. And the mastery stops there. She’ll say anything to get this job. You are going in knowing she lied on her application and had terrible academic results. If you still choose her you deserve her.
chillywilly
August 29th, 2011
9:21 am
If the North Dekalb schools worked for this woman’s child, that’s all well and good. However, I know several parents whose kids attended South Dekalb schools and did very well. Their test scores were very high (although I think we put too much weight on some of these worthless test), they graduated from high school with honors and received scholarships from very good colleges based on their classroom work & SAT scores. I also know several parents that transferred their kids from the North Dekalb Schools to the South Dekalb Schools because in their words “the environment was hostile and the schools were morally corrupt”. So, parents must decide for themselves, but the key is “well behaved kids” and active, regular parental participation ( and I don’t mean just attending ball games).
If a kid doesn’t want to learn and disrupts school all day long, kick his a$$ out of the school and lock up his no good parents.
Dunwoody Mom
August 29th, 2011
9:50 am
Atlanta Media Guy, when people cannot justify their own positions,they have to resort to diversions in an attempt to steer the conversation away from its true purpose, in this case, does Dr. Atkinson have the background and expertise to turn around DCSS. These diversions have taken their normal course with accusions of racism and attempts at bullying people into silence. It’s sad that these type of individuals are sitting on our school board making decisions about our children’s education.
Ronin
August 29th, 2011
10:07 am
@DunwoodyMom, most people who can’t debate an issue on fact, turn it into an emotional issue or throw out a red herring like race baiting.
Dunwoody Mom
August 29th, 2011
10:49 am
Jester, McChesney, Speaks vote no. 6-3 vote.
Teacher Reader
August 29th, 2011
10:55 am
We know who on the board really cares about the kids, is able to critically think and look at the facts, hopefully the other board members will be replaced.
Berny
August 29th, 2011
10:57 am
@ChillyWilly – I also know several children who attend and have attended schools in the southern part of the county who are doing very well. I also know many who have not had that experience including my own. I speak from my own experience and no one elses. I had a child that was bullied, had an arm fractured and sexually harrassed in a middle school and I refused to send another child to that school under that same administration. Would you? As I’ve said before, I want every child in the county to have a positive academic experience where they are taught real material, challenged to do their best and safe. When any child in any school is not receiving that then it is a problem for ALL of us. I agree with you in that the key is well-behaved kids who want to learn. I am a firm believer in removing those from the school environment who are there to disrupt and cause problems and sending them home to their parents. While test scores alone is not an indicator of how well children are learning, I do know that a 13% pass rate in 7th grade Social Studies is an indicator that something is terribly wrong. And, I think you do too.
Dunwoody Mom
August 29th, 2011
10:58 am
On August 29, 2011, the following DeKalb County Board of Education members voted to keep the status quo for the students of DeKalb County Schools by supporting the selection of Dr. Cheryl Atkinson as Superintendent of DeKalb County Schools:
Tom Bowen
Jay Cunningham
Donna Edler
Eugene Walker
Sarah Copelin-Wood
Paul Womack
These individuals voted for the status quo , a school system in crisis. You have failed at your job as members of the DeKalb County Board of Education and violated the trust the parents and voters of DeKalb County placed in you. I look forward to November 6, 2012 when we can refer to these individuals as “former” members of the DeKalb County School Board.
We also should send our thoughts and prayers to Dr. Atkinson because she is going to need everyone in dealing with this Board of Education.
Dunwoody Mom
August 29th, 2011
11:00 am
Oh, and any thoughts this BOE had of SPLOST IV passing just disappeared with this vote.
Dr NO aka Mr Sunshine
August 29th, 2011
11:39 am
The only way to go is vote NO on any SPLOST for any reason, anytime. The govt has more than enough of our tax dollars. The problem is they keep wasting it.
NO MORE SPLOST!!
Hen-pecked Husband of Dunwoody Mom
August 29th, 2011
12:20 pm
After Bootney and Cere picked me up late Saturday night, we did indeed go to the Clarkston Waffle House. I snuck back into the house at 4:23 AM, and the Mom was sitting in the Living Room, waiting on me. She kept haranguing about the Mrs. Dr. Atkinson and the DeKalb School Board and how someone might just be making a ton of money on those IPads or whatever they are talking about purchasing for the students. She thinks the upkeep alone on those gadgets will be in the millions of dollars. Who is going to be paid to “sell” them to the school system and who is going to be paid to “maintain” them? I had to listen to this until time to go to church. Of all places, she wanted to go to the Palace of Eddie Longshanks, Was Birthed Missionary. Now I put my foot down! I have been going to St. Philip’s on Candler for 38 years, despite the fact that we moved up here to Dunwoody with all of the white folk nine years ago. I was determined to go to MY church and hit Church’s Fried Chicken on Glenwood afterward…like we have been going for 25 years. We still own a house off McAfee. But, the Mom does indeed like to call herself “Dunwoody Mom.” She thinks now that she has arrived. She keeps getting tickled when she tells me, “They think that I am white.” Huh!
Geter in the Gym
August 29th, 2011
12:42 pm
Hmm. Is 6 to 3 the kind of ringing endorsement that SACS is looking for? A 6 to 3 vote on a superintendent from a dubious at best little school system (one high school). I just mop the floors in one of our big high schools here in DeKalb. I am not known to be a scholar but I know that I have a lot of common sense, and I am a deacon in my church. I know something about leadership and what moves people. I also know when the pastor is more interested in what is in the collection plate than what is in a man’s heart or what food is on the family’s table. Something is just not right about this superintendent selection. Something in the milk just ain’t clean.
Did Dr. King and heroes like Fannie Lou Hamer, Medgar Evers, Rev. Hosea Williams, and others fight for our civil rights so that we could act like the avaricious white man? Was the purpose of the fight that our leaders could selfishly act like the whites who ran our school system for years? I remember those years. They were pretty rough years for us. But now that we are in control, why are we acting just as rapacious as the man acted toward us. Has “us” become like the man?
Ladalang
August 29th, 2011
12:47 pm
We don’t want to hear a peep when she trashes your district. Those 3 votes were the right votes. This broad will be out in 3 years. May God help you! More importantly thank you. Thank you for taking her off our hands. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you! Thank you for ignoring she lied on her application, thank you for believing the Morning Journal and thank you for ignoring her horrible academic record. No take backs, she’s yours now!
Good Mother
August 29th, 2011
1:02 pm
I DO NOT want more ipads and technology in the classroom because they are misused. What teachers will do is park students in front of a computer and call it “self-directed” learning. That’s a big fat excuse not to teach.
I naively assumed a teacher would be at the head of the classroom and teach the students while they used the computer. They do not at APS. They sit there with their headphones on, the computer on and they get ignored.
This is not what technology was intended to do.
So more of this lame approach is not what DCSS needs by Dr. Atkinson.
Good Mother
August 29th, 2011
1:14 pm
The bankruptcy is scandalous. Anyone who cannot manage their financies with a huge whopping salary that big (270,000) does not deserve a job as superintendent of education in any place. If she and her husband cannot handle their own money, I sure don’t want her handling mine.
Remember the Children
August 29th, 2011
1:17 pm
@Geter in the Gym. Wonderful post. I would just add that also looking on are the spirits of those old-time black teachers who saw their teaching of black students as a Mission to keep the childrens’ intelligence growing and their spirits intact, even in the crushing society around them.
They were not in it for the money.
quantivious's mama
August 29th, 2011
1:41 pm
i hope her contract has a clause where she has a trial period. and ummm, hen-pecked, maybe we can hook up!
quantivious's mama
August 29th, 2011
1:44 pm
@mr. geter in the gym, i have much respect for you. and @remember the children, let us go back a little further and also remember those who taught slaves to read and write under threat of death.
MamaH
August 29th, 2011
8:04 pm
@Berny – You seem to be one of few who knows that there can be quality at every school with the resources that each school gets. Don’t mean to generalize but you are probably one of the few volunteers at that school. DCSS has an HR department that does not necessarily send to the principals the most qualified teachers that apply, they have to fill a certain criteria which usually comes down to race, religion (NB) and friends and families. Frankly I have been appalled at some who have a teaching certificate.
I still firmly believe that the BoE has now put the final nail in the coffin of DCSS. Dr. Atkinson is in over her head and only seems to know how throw ideas out there and to see if any stick. If accreditation is lost, I say the taxpayers sue the members of the Board that voted for her. If she leaves before her contract, then those said Board members should be responsible for her buyout.
Ronin
August 30th, 2011
9:00 am
MamaH, you may be right. Only time will tell as far as the “final nail in the coffin.”
Given the prior record of Ms. Atkinson’s school performance under her governance, I find her appointment highly questionable. As to the Dekalb County BOE that voted to extend her the contract for employment, I have one statement. May fortune favor the foolish.
The Deal
August 30th, 2011
9:51 pm
And what a great example of leadership we had when three board members walked out while fellow board members were speaking. Oddly, they didn’t walk out while Pam Speaks was speaking. And Edler came back in time to ramble like she always does. I cannot wait for November.
veronicadekalbteacher
September 3rd, 2011
9:38 am
To: The Dekalb County School board members,
I was in a school that had Promethean boards in every classroom and 4 student computers — in addition to a computer lab. That school was closed. I am now in a school where very few classrooms have Promethean boards,(my room does not have one), and there is only one student computer. Even though, as some people have mentioned, technology doesn’t equal student acheivement, it sure does give students more access to information and gives a visual picture of what they are learning, Additionally, the interactive component of the smart board helps to engage the students and give them a focus, which helps them to retain information better. My classroom in this school is a little more than half the size of my former classroom and I have more students this year. Please explain the logic in closing a school that had a larger student body, more technology, and bigger classrooms than many of the schools that remain open. Board members, were you thinking of students when you arbitrarily closed 3 schools in the same area? Were yhou thinking of the students when you decided that they would be bussed to schools out of their neighborhoods? Were you thinking of the communities that now have no elementary school within close proximity to their homes? I guess the big question is were you thinking?
I remain disappointed in the board and I have no confidence in the decisions you make. I sincerely hope this new superintendent will be able to work effectively …….but that remains to be seen.
A very disappointed teacher