DeKalb candidate forum went well
I moderated a panel of 11 DeKalb school board candidates last night, which had a full house.
It was at 6:o0 p.m. at Westwood College, near Northlake Mall. (Details of event are here.)
In the meantime, I have received several emails on how poorly DeKalb is informing laid-off employees that they no longer have jobs. Two weeks ago, the school board approved 412 layoffs of paraprofessionals, media clerks and specialists, interpreters, school resource officers, central office workers and bus monitors
The AJC is reporting that the DeKalb board meets today and the topic is reduction in staff.
Just heard from someone who wrote:
“I was with a friend going to the county office to complete her retirement papers because her job has been cut. The office was crowded with people, many paraprofessionals and some media specialists, trying to find out whether or not they still have a job. The board/administration has not yet even sent out the letters informing those who are being terminated. My friend found out when another employee at her school happened to be out at the county office and was told to call her and tell her she no longer had a job.
This is a despicable way to notify employees, some who have been valued employees for many years, that they no longer have a position. Will there never be responsible leadership in this county’s school system?
I am sending a note to Walter Woods to ask about this.
See you at the panel if you can make it.
–From Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog
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103 comments Add your comment
Dr. Craig Spinks/ Georgians for Educational Excellence
July 11th, 2012
9:37 am
When was the last time that the DCBOE underwent comprehensive financial, personnel and efficacy audits conducted by competent, disinterested, out-of-state entities?
bootney farnsworth
July 11th, 2012
9:42 am
@ Dr. Craig
about the same time the USG has – never that anyone knows of.
bu2
July 11th, 2012
9:48 am
@Fred
While I don’t often agree with you, I hope you continue to contribute online. You are clearly knowledgable and present a viewpoint that contributes to discussion. But yes, the new DSW moderators seem to have an agenda and don’t want dissenting opinions as demonstrated by their comments about you and their rant on TG.
bootney farnsworth
July 11th, 2012
9:56 am
question:
when GPC made its RIF decisions, it was done internally by (mostly) the same people who assisted Tricoli in destroying the school fiscally. the staffing bloat which Rob Watts indicated was part of the issue was the explosion of middle managment was not touched. the worker bees were.
DCSS seems to be intending to follow the same course of action.
since the problem is mismanagement of taxpayer money, why are the foxes allowed to guard their own henhouses? why is there not a requirement for the participation of an neutral third party in making these decisions?
catlady
July 11th, 2012
10:04 am
It sounds like more of the same for Dekalb. With a new, outside superintendent, looks like they could rebuild the schools from the bottom up, instead of just protecting people at the top.
Earlier commenters are right–a school of 350 does not need a AP. I taught at one for 15 years with no AP AND the principal taught a class every day! We had a principal and secretary, 1 janitor, and 4 lunch room ladies. That was IT!
The school of 650 that I am at now has a principal, an AP, a secretary, a counselor, a speech teacher, a data person, a bookkeeper, and a general support person. We could do without at least 2 1/2 of these. We tried sharing the data person and bookkeeper with a next door school this past year but it did not work so well (on purpose?)
As teachers are doing more with less, so should the rest of the operation. Those area superintendents, etc, are just more people to get in the way of educating the children. If your superintendent is doing her job, there is no need for this extra layer!
Dekalbite@Anon
July 11th, 2012
10:09 am
“What about the ridiculous curriculum coordinators, the “coaches,” now probably renamed something else in conjunction with the next canned fiasco — “Success for All”?
Lol
Now renamed Academic Data Coach
They keep up with the data that teachers provide. Must be a LOT of data to hire a full time person at a school. I guess teachers don’t need to plan for 39 students and grade their papers as much as they need to provide data to the Academic Data Coach.
Salary:
$40,963 – $80,798
Only 3 years of classroom teaching experiences required
Here is link to the job posted on PATS:
https://pats.dekalb.k12.ga.us/
Click on – By Job Titles (left hand menu bar)
Scroll down and click on – Coach, Academic Data
Click on the number below any of the schools listed to see what the Academic Data Coach
Note that the position does not entail ever instructing students or even modeling lessons for teachers. Never interacting with students seems to be a prerequisite for this job. Just remember that our children are sitting 39 to a class to pay for these non teaching personnel and more millions for the scripted learning program Success for All that they have been hired to support. A rose by any other name smells the same.
Dekalbite
July 11th, 2012
10:20 am
Why is it that under the Republican governors and legislatures Georgia has seen such a huge increase in highly paid non teaching positions in every county including DeKalb? The Georgia DOE has also seen an unprecedented increase in personnel – obviously all non teaching.
M. Anne
July 11th, 2012
10:20 am
Transportation is far away from being ready to start school. No one knows who exactly they report to. They have decimated the mechanics laying off 15 when they were already understaffed by 8. They got rid of 2 hero trucks which means if your bus breaks down there will be no one to come to your aid. They have yet to figure out how they are going to get the buses distributed to drivers for the first day. They seemed to have laid off anyone who actually knows the nuts and bolts of running transportation for the school. I am a bus driver and I worry about over-crowded buses that will suffer mechanical breakdowns because there are not enough mechanics to properly service the buses. For the past two years we have been told not to even measure the tread on our tires because there is no money in the budget for new ones. While I realize cuts had to be made, they seem to have pushed the layoffs down to the people who actually deal with the children: teachers, parapros, bus aides, drivers, etc. Balancing the budget on the backs of the children is never the answer. But obviously, the powers don’t want to undo the fattening of the admin staff that happened under Lewis. You know what they say, *hit rolls down hill.
But the teachers that are left and the paras and the drivers will report to work and they will do their very best to further the education of the children of DeKalb County. So when parents’ tempers flare because the bus is late, his child isn’t getting his needs met at school, or any other complaints, remember that we are the ones that are left. And we are doing the very best that we can.
Nikole
July 11th, 2012
10:20 am
I actually welcome a data coach. He/she should be able to fill out bubble sheets for my primary kids, take my tests and create the bubble sheets for me and scan my tests. They should also assist in creating interventions and assessments for RTI. All of these tasks took up TOO much of my time in previous years. If they do these things I welcome them.
Married with (School) Children
July 11th, 2012
10:31 am
Anon @ 9:33 am and Dekalbite @10:09 AM both mention the “Success for All” (http://www.successforall.org) program. This is a crappy “one size fits all” program to improve READING scores on the standardized tests. The base program does *not* address Math scores, just reading. Superintendent Atkinson brought it with her from the Lorain County schools..
“Success for All” was extensively critiqued in Jonathan Kozol’s 2005 book “The Shame of the Nation: The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America”. Here is the Wikipedia page on the book:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shame_of_the_Nation
It is a real tragedy that DPS has bought into the program. You would never see Gwinett or any of the other high-performing districts buying into it because those districts know about STEM.
DCSD Science Teacher
July 11th, 2012
10:42 am
It would be great if the AJC, the only paper in town, could perform some kind of investigative journalism regarding how employees in DCSD are being treated. The reporter assigned to the school beat says the paper does not use anonymous sources except in rare cases, therefore does not receive any real information about what’s happening to employees and serves as a mouthpiece for the administration. Without anonymity, journalism is hobbled: who would speak out in public about all of this mess with his or her job potentially on the line? The corruption in DCSD benefits from opacity: newspapers should help expose the truth.
The Deal
July 11th, 2012
11:14 am
At this point, the slashing has been so tilted in favor of keeping personnel who do not interact with students that I would be in favor of truly scrapping the entire system and building up one school at a time. If each school is lead by a competent principal and staffed with competent teachers, there is very little need for any additional administration. Let’s see what Dekalb can do with just schools and maybe a 30-person central office. Seriously. I have reached the end of my rope with this group, its inability to communicate what is going on, and its bad decisions in the face of common sense and ignored audit results.
catlady
July 11th, 2012
11:15 am
2 of the four links for my county’s CRCT scores do not work!
Pardon My Blog
July 11th, 2012
11:16 am
@M. Anne – simple answer is to do away with transportation, period. Save some money there!
bu2
July 11th, 2012
11:49 am
@DCSD Science Teacher
AJC had no trouble with anonymous sources trying to undermine the possible hiring of Cox as superintendent. Or at least undisclosed sources.
Dekalbite@Nikole
July 11th, 2012
12:09 pm
“I actually welcome a data coach. He/she should be able to fill out bubble sheets for my primary kids, take my tests and create the bubble sheets for me and scan my tests”
IMHO – The fact that in the 21st Century students are still filling out “bubble sheets” for these benchmark tests and then teachers are “scanning them in” is an indictment of the way technology is NOT being used in DeKalb. Students should be able to spend 10 to 15 minutes in a computer lab taking a benchmark test and the results for each child should be accessible to that teacher on her teacher computer (or even at home) within an hour. Instead we are hiring expensive personnel ($40,000 to $80,000 a year + benefits) to fill out “bubble sheets” and “scan” in the results.
This is not a difficult task to automate if the Central Office personnel understood the process of providing real time data. This is the way other school systems handle the real time data collection.
M. Anne
July 11th, 2012
12:09 pm
@Pardon My Blog
That would seem to be the answer to a lot of people. But the truth is, a lot of the kids in the county need transportation to school. Their parents rely on Marta or car pools and cannot get their kids to school. That is just the way it is. Special Needs kids have even a tougher time when they live in the south and the school they need to attend is in the North. Perhaps they should institute a ‘transportation based on need’ policy, but that doesn’t solve the problem this year.
catlady
July 11th, 2012
1:13 pm
For schools that are “neighborhood schools,” doing away with bus service might make sense. Out here in the country, where all kids are bused into town, not so much. Although, I have noted, mama can’t come to a conference because she “don’t have a way,” but mama seems to get to the tanning bed, beauty parlor, and fingernail salon okay, while her child is on free lunch. Gotta save money somehow, I guess!
Dekalb needs to rebuild the system, from the bottom up!
Options
July 11th, 2012
1:23 pm
Sorry I missed the opportunity to submit a question, but here is one I would really like to hear asked to the board:
Why should I keep my kids in the DeKalb Public Schools?
I know it may be a bit silly think that they would even care since they get my tax money if I send my kids to DPS or not, but it is a question that any business gets asked by its customers daily. This is what pushes me more and more towards supporting full on school vouchers and competition.
If you have an elected board that really has no more interest in making it to their next election, why do we think they will do anything to improve things (ie…superintendent over-sight, wise spending, true goal oriented learning, etc….).
Insanity is repeating the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
DPS, case in point.
bootney farnsworth
July 11th, 2012
1:29 pm
what needs to happen – but won’t:
the citizens of DeKalb need to issue a vote of no confidence on the entire BOE.
next, demand a federal investigation into the whole of DCSS: hiring, finances, a full blown RICO investigation. bring in the IRS, GBI ,everybody.
insist on full accountability, regardless of party, race, origin, orientation, whatever.
once the whole system has been completely scrutinized for wrongdoing, and the guilty punished…bring in a independant consulting group from somewhere like Iowa with a mixture of
business and educational professionals to determine what is needed and what isn’t.
then reboot the system based on their recommendations, and hope we have a decade or two before this crap starts up again
bootney farnsworth
July 11th, 2012
1:31 pm
so which is more important to DeKalb: bus service or Fernbank
LOGIC
July 11th, 2012
1:52 pm
This BOE and district structure will lock us into perpetual 5-4 gridlock or 4 to 3 gridlock when the Board finally shrinks.
The system is irretrievably broken and I support the vote of no confidence, but have little faith in our governor and state superintendent to intervene when they are part of the problem. How did the state auditors not catch all the budgetary mistakes? I guess they can’t calculate interest either. SACS has not done nor has it ever done its job. That entire company needs to be dismantled and reprimanded by the federal government. SACS Oversight is a complete joke.
Miss Management
July 11th, 2012
2:03 pm
@LOGIC: SACS Oversight is an oxymoron.
No one is going to do a damn thing about this mess. Time for that Constitutional Amendment! Right now, there is a whole half of the county enduring taxation without representation. Their reps are powerless. But they pay a majority of the tax bill. The only fair solution is to break up the system.
yes i am worried
July 11th, 2012
2:29 pm
Logic
The state auditors simply look at the books, what is recorded and look for record keeping errors. There is no way they could know about the missing categories. In fact, Turk probably took steps to make the books look especially good.
We do know now why there has been so much resistance to a forensic audit in DeKalb. Those are the types of audits that tell you what you need to know.
Dunwoody Mom
July 11th, 2012
2:46 pm
There is a difference in the auditing of financial statements (which is what the state requires) and a Forensic Audit, which is usually undertaken when fraud is suspected. This is a concept that Sarah Copelin-Woods fails to understand. I am tired of her, and Eugene Walker’s, nonsense at every BOE meeting that the State would have found something wrong with the DCSD audit if there were some problems.
LOGIC
July 11th, 2012
2:59 pm
I agree, but something like interest on municipal bonds is a standard line item for county and other muni entities. Knowing that DeKalb is not the first with issues, you would think that there would be more substantive checks on the books.
I agree with a full, forensic audit, but it will just cost taxpayers more money. How do we get these clowns out of here and not spend even more money on them? I love the diversity in DeKalb and have been here for decades, but enough is enough if the people driving the education bus are Walker, Cunningham and Copelin-Woods.It is time for something drastic.
I would also like to have a full audit of the companies. I think that there are a lot of shady connections between subsidiaries of religiously affiliated institutions like New Birth that need to be brought to light. DCSD should not have ANY dealings with religiously affiliated institutions, let alone lease property from them.
Dunwoody Mom
July 11th, 2012
3:10 pm
Here is a link to the 2011 Year End audit that was apparently and signed off on by the auditors on June 7th, so I’m not sure how much influence the new CFO would have on the report. Once I get some time I would like to see if it differs from the previous year’s audit in terms of data reported.
https://www.audits.ga.gov/rsaAudits/downloadRef.aud?refNumber=14867
Dunwoody Mom
July 11th, 2012
3:11 pm
@Logic, with the financial mess of this school district, I do not understand how any BOE member would not want to partake of a forensic audit to find out what happened to the money the BOE (and public) were told was on hand.
LOGIC
July 11th, 2012
3:28 pm
@Dunwoody Mom
Completely agree with you. It does make all of them look bad, esp. when you have Edler, a CPA, Jester, an actuary, and Bowen the tax guru for HP. Knowing how poor the math has been regarding the HM lawsuit and what DSCD “could get.” it is so easy to understand why they don’t want a forensic audit. Did we ever get the one from a few years ago?
You would think that the state would have some jurisdiction to come in due to all the issues and seize the books and do it. I looked at the financial report and interest is a line item as I suspected. How did Turk get away with it last year?
I agree with breaking up the system, but we have more counties and school districts than any other state in the union. We are a mockery in the state of GA and a part of the mockery that is the state of GA!
Really trying hard to identify the win and to get back to the basics of schools run by competent principals who know how to run a school and educate kids. It was a pretty simple and effective system before we got data coaches, curriculum coaches and offices for improvement.
Can we just take the budget $$ and divvy it up amongst the schools and eliminate the central office all together?
Would it be worse than what we have now???
Dr. Craig Spinks/ Georgians for Educational Excellence
July 11th, 2012
4:10 pm
Dunwoody Mom,
With all due respect to the GA Department of Audits and Accounts, GAPubEd agencies need to be scrutinized by the FRESH, DISINTERESTED EYES of competent, independent, out-of-state entities.
another comment
July 11th, 2012
4:56 pm
School Districts shouldn’t be any larger than 1-2 high schools and should have an all volunteer elected school board. That way you do not have the overhead bloat, everything is done at the schoolhouse level. 2-3 districts share a Vo-tech school and Alternative school.
@bootney 1:31
July 11th, 2012
5:09 pm
“so which is more important to DeKalb: bus service or Fernbank”
Clearly bus service to magnets and special programs is more important than having functional libraries in the schools.
Vince
July 11th, 2012
7:28 pm
All I want is a calendar…some knowledge of when the furlough days will be taken, when staff returns, etc….
Married with (School) Children
July 11th, 2012
7:38 pm
Did anyone catch Board Member Paul Womack’s comment during today’s board meeting (July 11) — apparently he said that DPS is so disorganized that the district should push back the opening of the schools by 10 days.
I was not able to watch the meeting myself, so can anyone confirm that he actually suggested that?
Georgia and education not compatible
July 11th, 2012
7:38 pm
@ Dekalbite 10:20 Fabulous question why has there been an increase is non teaching personnel with the Republican/conservative leadership?
Also, why does DeKalb still encourage “bubble sheets?” An answer could be that they are providing job security for someone.
NWGA Teacher
July 11th, 2012
8:00 pm
Bubble sheets?
I teach at a Title I school. Except for CRCT and the writing exam, our kids take standardized exams in the computer lab. Results are available within a day or so. Why are Dekalb students using bubble sheets?
GotBusted
July 11th, 2012
8:40 pm
Yes, I got busted. I WAS one of the “underlings” that was fired. I guess you could put it that way. I received a termination letter Friday. I never received a phone call to say “Come in for an exit interview to discuss your options”. I never received an email to say “We are sorry, but..” And yes, I have put in quite a lot of years with this county. Vomit is a good word here for both of us. Me because that’s the way I feel. YOU because you would if you knew what I knew about dekalb, the board and how this county is run. MIS should be gutted. That was Ms. Tyson’s baby and she’s been petting it for many years. She has a lot of friends and family over there and she’s definitely taking care of them. Yes, there should be an audit of the county with a special focus on how business is done with technology companies, hiring practices, pay scales and why isn’t new technology within the schools used? I know many elementary schools that don’t use the scores of laptops and ipads they have. They just sit in closets. Thousands of dollars of equipment sitting unused. Now you bring up bubble sheets? I have to laugh. If parents don’t get out into their schools and look at what is going on, this mess will continue. DeKalb voters were fools to vote for splost! I know I did not because I know what goes on! How is that money used anyway?
dekalbite@NWGA teacher
July 11th, 2012
8:45 pm
“Why are Dekalb students using bubble sheets?”
Because for all the tens of millions spent for technology, students in the schools have very little access to computers, and DCSS has never been able to figure out the programming to make the benchmarks automated.
bu2
July 11th, 2012
9:44 pm
And the board is incompetent. Tom Bowen himself said that regarding the theft from the construction program. There were the silly battles between board members. And most of all, there was Sarah Copelin-Wood who is a total financial illiterate. She’s been through many budgets and spent about 10 minutes because she didn’t understand the difference between Fund Balance and Cash Balance. She was trying to make sure DCSS had enough money to pay its bills for the month, but kept asking about the Fund Balance. Its a horrible embarrassment to the county and to her district that she is on the board. And then we have the convicted thief Cunningham put in charge of the budget committee (he stole from McDonald’s when he managed one in the 80s). Elder is new and an improvement over what was there before, but everytime I’ve seen her she seems in over her head. Its just hard to believe a county of 700,000 people can’t do better.
All 3 of those got elected 2 years ago. We are voting on Bowen’s replacement and 3 other incumbents (Speaks, McChesney and Womack).
Rich30084
July 11th, 2012
10:21 pm
@ m. Anne…this sounds like a major lawsuit to me….if proved:
For the past two years we have been told not to even measure the tread on our tires because there is no money in the budget for new ones. While I realize cuts had to be made, they seem to have pushed the layoffs down to the people who actually deal with the children: teachers, parapros, bus aides, drivers, etc.
Georgia and education not compatible
July 11th, 2012
10:28 pm
@ gotbusted I am so very sorry and you are right about MIS. Outside of the IT people that work in the school (who got downsized and fired), that department was pretty much left alone.
dekalbite
July 11th, 2012
11:13 pm
Dr. Atkinson brought in her own person to head up MIS. So why do we have a Chief Information Officer to head up MIS and also an Executive Director of MIS? Who actually heads up the department?
GotBusted
July 12th, 2012
7:05 am
@dekalbite, I (formerly WE) wondered that every year. Never could understand why MIS has never been audited. Money spent there could have saved the county. Money spent now on Tyson could help. Money spent defending!!! Clewless could help. Parents MUST get into the schools. Volunteer if you must, but keep your eyes open and ears to the whispers and you will see where the leaks are in this county. Of course, some of the tom-foolery is quite evident when the board meetings are broadcast (or you attend). I am now seriously considering moving to another state. Lock, stock and barking dog. I have had it with “stupid”.
Pardon My Blog
July 12th, 2012
7:17 am
With all the disorganization, back biting, backroom deals, corruption, ignorant Board members, and an unqualified Superintendent, where is SACS? where is the State DoE? While school must go on, if this doesn’t call for a complete audit (not by friends and family) and a complete house cleaning I don’t know what does. And by the way for every teacher laid off, there should be at least two central office people gone.
Howard Finkelstein
July 12th, 2012
8:14 am
“This is a despicable way to notify employees, some who have been valued employees for many years, that they no longer have a position. Will there never be responsible leadership in this county’s school system?”
LOL…seems the immature public sector employees fail to understand the concept of personal responsbility…LOL
Dr. Craig Spinks/ Georgians for Educational Excellence
July 12th, 2012
8:25 am
“After all has been said and done, much more will have been said than done.”
Fred S. Davison, D.V.M., Ph.D., former UGA president
HappyTeacher
July 12th, 2012
8:48 am
As a former employee of Dekalb Co. schools, I am elated I left before the TRUE storm. I worked at a school where the principal was weak and incompentent. He allowed the assistant principal to bully teachers, students, and parents. She was immature, hateful, and incompetent. I felt sorry for the teachers who wouldn’t speak up in fear that the so called “administrators” would retaliate against them. At one point, the school was producing academically sound students. From what I have heard, the school is in real trouble due to poor leaders. I am so grateful I moved on. My husband and children tell me that I am much happier since I left Dekalb Co.
M. Anne
July 13th, 2012
12:20 pm
@bootney farnsworth…what is more important: science center or Friday night football???
dekalbite@M. Anne
July 13th, 2012
2:30 pm
Which is more important – OVER 39 students to a science and math classes or Fernbank Science Center?
Fred in DeKalb@dekalbite
July 13th, 2012
4:14 pm
Which is more important – respectful dialogue with differing opinions and perspectives or full censorship? Why does DSW choose the latter?