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
Dunwoody Mom
July 10th, 2012
2:46 pm
Maureen, I’ll be most anxious to hear your thoughts after the debate. I have to say I’m not sure any of the “new” BOE candidates are much better than those currently on the Board and that is a sobering and sad thought.
yes i am worried
July 10th, 2012
3:00 pm
Please, please ask the following question.
As a board member, will you be able to make decisions which may benefit the school system but may be viewed as negative changes by your own community? During the school closings, redistricting and consolidation discussions, we saw over and over again, that members of this board cannot put the needs of the whole above the needs of the parts.
Another question, will you take a pledge to avoid all back room deals, promising to hold discussions in the sunshine and not make horse trades for what you want?
Dunwoody Mom
July 10th, 2012
3:02 pm
“Would you be able to make decisions that are unpopular with your constinuency, i.e. school closings, consolidations, personnel decisions, but that are necessary to provide a comprehensive education for DCSD students”?
yes i am worried
July 10th, 2012
3:08 pm
Dunwoody Mom said it better than I did.
Maureen Downey
July 10th, 2012
3:09 pm
@Dunwoody, I may incorporate some of your version in my similar question:
Did the school board cave to public demand when it closed only eight schools — despite staff recommendation and compelling attendance projections justifying the closing of 14 schools?
How would you balance the demands of parents — who want to pay less taxes while pushing for more programs and smaller classes at their local schools — with the demands for balancing the budget and making sound fiscal decisions for the county as a whole?
bu2
July 10th, 2012
3:23 pm
How do you feel about stand alone magnet programs such as Kittredge ES, Wadsworth ES and Dekalb School for the Arts vs. incorporating those programs in existing schools?
Dunwoody Mom
July 10th, 2012
3:37 pm
Excellent, Maureen!!
Dekalb resident
July 10th, 2012
3:41 pm
How would you justify to the public the posting of almost 50 non-teaching positions, many of which have starting salaries over $50,000, while cutting teachers and increasing the millage rate.
If you can’t justify it to the public, what would you have done differently that you are willing to follow through on if I choose to elect you?
The Deal
July 10th, 2012
3:46 pm
“What are your specific plans to provide constant, accurate, and honest communication to your constituents and the district?”
“Are you willing to fight against established political, religious, or other entities to ensure DeKalb students are at the top of the priority list for all decisions?”
Old timer
July 10th, 2012
4:05 pm
I have heard the same comments about employees being let go…….very unprofessional…
My2Cents
July 10th, 2012
4:25 pm
Please explain if we will continue to have foreign teachers (on visa) in the classroom teaching core subjects when local resident teachers are being laid off.
tony
July 10th, 2012
4:34 pm
IF these board members truly care about the children of dekalb county then why do they continually run for reelection? they have failed this county !! they have not helped the failing schools and have destroyed the few schoos that were successful. if they really cared about the county every damn one of them would quit!!!
Tired
July 10th, 2012
4:35 pm
What is the PRIMARY role and intent of the Fernbank Science Center? Is it to provide a field trip destination for schools in the region? To develop curricula for DeKalb schools? To develop training for science teachers? No one seems to know.
Married with (School) Children
July 10th, 2012
4:36 pm
Maureen,
My spouse is a DPS Employee.
The first day of school is August 13 –only one month away from now– and the district is in complete disarray. All of DPS’s Service Center workers were let go, so there are no workers left to do the painting and other summer-time maintenance work that needs to be done in order to have the school buildings ready to go on August 13.
An assistant principal told me that principals are finding out that some of their staff (mostly Paraprofessionals, I think) have been fired only when the fired staff tell them they’ve been fired! Seriously! The principals only learn of these when their fired employees call and tell them that they received termination letters in the mail (Real classy, Superintendent Atkinson).
The Principals and Assistant Principals themselves have not been given their signed contracts, so they are not sure if they should even be in their school buildings right now. (A termination letter might be awaiting them in their home mailbox.)
Many of the principals do not even know who to report to since several Area Superintendents were demoted/replaced. Some (All?) of the principals have not yet been assigned to the new Area Superintendents The schools open one month from now and the basic chain-of-command is not yet in place!
Around the district, there are many vacancies for teachers, but nobody actually has the authority to fill those vacancies! This is absolutely insane – teachers come back to work on August 6, a mere three and a half weeks from now. My understanding is that there will be a job fair (for displaced teachers) later this week, but that just shows how screwed up things are – the district is holding a job fair just three weeks before the teachers need to be in place in the schools, ready to go!
The District also fired all of its translators yesterday – I wonder how much that move will cause the district, once the inevitable class action lawsuits get filed.
catlady
July 10th, 2012
4:57 pm
Sounds like it is a true mess. Suggest no one vote for incumbents.
bootney farnsworth
July 10th, 2012
4:58 pm
so very sorry to hear DCSS is laying off. I know from sad experience (GPC 282) it won’t be the bloated and redundant middle management, but the hardworking “expendables”
dekalbite
July 10th, 2012
4:59 pm
Since there are so many more admin and support positions than teaching positions, why is it that teaching positions, the personnel that ensure students master content (the only reason for the school system to exist and taxpayers to pay school taxes), are considered the LEAST needed and the MOST expendable? Teaching positions are the ones the DeKalb administration and the BOE have been eliminating for the last 4 years. We will be down around 1,000 teachers thanks to Lewis, Tyson and now Atkinson – of course with the support and approval of the BOE. The admin and support side has not lost 1,000 employees while the teaching side has been decimated. This is called “balancing the budget on the backs of the students”.
If they could figure out a way to RIF the students, the DeKalb BOE would be doing that as well.
bootney farnsworth
July 10th, 2012
5:00 pm
maureen,
if you can get the board to answer DeKalb resident’s question, please take your show on the road to GPC and ask it there.
dekalbite@Tired
July 10th, 2012
5:02 pm
Fernbank Science Center still gets $3,000,000 for personnel next year although bus transportation funding to and from the center has been eliminated. What’s up with that?
EduKtr
July 10th, 2012
5:02 pm
Not too far in the future school boards will have been made extinct (along with their outrageous failings) by parental choice and the free market.
Enjoy the comedy while you still can!
bootney farnsworth
July 10th, 2012
5:02 pm
@ catlady
+1. none of those bozos deserve another term.
bootney farnsworth
July 10th, 2012
5:04 pm
@ dekalbite
don’t give them any ideas.
Anon
July 10th, 2012
5:08 pm
Maureen,
I remember last year when you published a very insightful essay by a teacher in DeKalb, I think. He/she called us an “education ghetto.” Many students in classes all around DeKalb spent a lot of time reading and discussing this educator’s contribution. Maybe you should ask the candidates are we more or less of an “education ghetto” than we were last year?
dekalbite@Maureen
July 10th, 2012
5:09 pm
“How would you balance the demands of parents — who want to pay less taxes while pushing for more programs and smaller classes at their local schools — with the demands for balancing the budget and making sound fiscal decisions for the county as a whole?”
Correct me if I’m wrong, but doesn’t the state cap this property tax millage rate at 25 and we just went to 23.98? Another mill will bring in about $15,000,000 and then we will have no more increases per state law is the way I understand it. $15,000,000 will not solve DeKalb’s financial woes.
“The tax rate will rise to 23.98 mills. The extra mill will bring in an additional $14.8 million, but the average homeowner will still pay less to the school system than last year because of falling property values.”
http://www.ajc.com/news/dekalb/dekalb-school-board-approves-1475396.html
tony
July 10th, 2012
5:10 pm
there was a wonderful small elementary school in my childrens district, all it took to nearly destroy the school was ONE apartment complex in which some are government subsidized… apartment dwellers destroy schools and neigborhoods. they pay the least in property tax and do the most to destory the school and the area
I'd rather not say
July 10th, 2012
5:12 pm
Two questions for the candidates:
1. What do you think needs to be done to reduce the level of rancor that has been displayed by the current board members?
2. What would you do to reduce the level of administrative, non-teaching staff to redirect much-needed resources to the schools?
redweather
July 10th, 2012
5:57 pm
2. What would you do to reduce the level of administrative, non-teaching staff to redirect much-needed resources to the schools?
Great question, but no matter what anyone says in response, it isn’t going to happen.
Ned
July 10th, 2012
6:01 pm
What will you do to make DCSS finances more transparent? [I think there's some speacial term people use for this but it escapes me]
bu2
July 10th, 2012
6:19 pm
@Ned
On-line checkbook.
Tired
July 10th, 2012
6:33 pm
DCSS is headed towards a Clayton-like threat of losing accreditation. What two steps would you recommend for immediate implementation to prevent that from happening?
dekalbdad
July 10th, 2012
6:45 pm
Start with Fernbank 3M cut 50%; then install year round school starrting 2013-2014 and beyond. Mandate parents to volunteer their time (24 hours/month) for copying, correcting papers. Input grades, hall, parking monators, etc. Have students do campus beautification day for community services.
catlady
July 10th, 2012
8:38 pm
I think the Board ought to commit to rethinking the whole school system. Figure out how many teachers are needed. Then, parapros for sped, prek, and wherever else needed. THEN, go to one principal per school, one AP per school, one secretary, one data person. DON’T PUT THE NEXT LAYER IN AT ALL! (The area snoopervisors (thanks, Dr. T).) Next, a minimal number in each CO section. Start at one per section. Add a few underlings, as needed. DO NOT ASSIGN NAMES TO ANY OF THE POSITIONS EXCEPT ATKINSON. Give everyone at the CO a T shirt that says, “Dekalb, doing more with less, all the way to the top.”
Stop thinking about cutting POSITIONS, and think instead about how many people are ACTUALLY NEEDED to support what the teachers are doing. (For example, everyone can type their own letters, and file their own memos) Then, fill half those positions.
Organizations are very resistant to cutting off their arms. So start with the basic body, and figure out a minimal number of positions, working as hard and as many hours as the teachers do, it will take to accomplish the job. No more long lunches, gettting together with girlfriends, etc. Focus on supporting the education of the students, with as few non-teachers as possible!
dekalbite@catlady
July 10th, 2012
9:08 pm
You are so right. DeKalb needs to adequately fund the classroom and then use what is left over to fund the admin and support. If you do not have the money, do not fund the admin and support position or buy that learning program.
Instead, DeKalb has been trying to figure out how to save the structure that has been created over the last decade with an emphasis on preserving jobs. When teachers left the system, their positions were not filled, other teachers absorbed their students (aka – increasing class sizes), and the money saved was used to preserve the admin and support positions.
MB
July 10th, 2012
9:09 pm
Agree with much you say catlady, especially about Central Office. They are SO sure to not give schools more teachers than they earn. How about cutting back CO staff to what is earned there? See the System Allotment here: http://app3.doe.k12.ga.us/ows-bin/owa/qbe_reports.public_menu?p_fy=2000 DeKalb earns, for central administration: 1 superintendent, 6 asst superintendents, 1 secretary, 1 accountant, and some VT/SW, psych and SpEd folks. Everybody else (not Fed funded) can go home.
However, does EVERY school need an assistant principal? Every school certainly doesn’t EARN an assistant principal.(The system earns state funds for 133 principals and 155 assistant principals.) Can one principal and assistant principal handle 995 kids but one principal can’t manage 350? Does every school NEED a FT data clerk? If one can manage a school of 2000 students, why can’t one split days between 2 schools under 500?
Even though DeKalb EARNS state funding for 169 media positions, they want to ask Dr. Barge for a waiver on minimum staffing. Do they plan to refuse the state funds that would follow those media specialists they are RIFing? If they RIF all of their media clerks and only have media specialists part-time at some schools, guess they need to return the state money for folks they’re not placing!
http://www.ajc.com/news/dekalb/school-media-centers-to-1476000.html
As has been noted here before (ad nauseum), WHY are all of the politically-placed central administration staffers KEEPING their jobs, while teachers, media specialists, and parapros, who interact with children in the schools throughout the day every day, being removed from the employ of DCSD?
sara
July 10th, 2012
9:20 pm
Please start a discussion about the way people are being informed about their terminations. Also, staff members are not allowed to contact any member of the superintendent’s cabinet or BOE members. For those of us living in the county, that does not make sense. We can vote for these people, but we cannot speak to them. There are no discussions, No phone calls, We get e-mails that tell us what we are supposed to do. There is no organizational chart. Try calling HR. No one answers. Try to send an email. No one answers. None of the 12 month people that are working each day have a contract or have been told how much they will be paid. No one knows the days that staff reports. AP’s and Counselors are not at school now. The schedule has been done. Now that people are finding out that they do not have jobs, someone will have to redo the schedules. People are warned not to say anything. How are we ever going to attract high quality staff members. The friends, sorority and family network is sill in place.
Old timer
July 10th, 2012
9:23 pm
Ok..I Would vote against any incumbent..
Criminal Minds
July 10th, 2012
9:47 pm
Dekalb sounds like APS. Employees whose jobs were abolished were not told anything just left to their own decision making regarding their lives going forward. They weren’t told anything or provided any written documentation and all types of legal recourse is in process as it should be. I hope the districts have to pay out so much money that they shut down and never forget what has been so unjustly done to children and the taxpayors.
Fred in DeKalb
July 10th, 2012
10:10 pm
Dekalbite my friend, this structure you are referring to was created during at the end of Freeman’s superintendency. He expanded the central office when he created the regions, each with an instructional team. Hallford could have sent those people back to the schools when everyone realized this was not wise but he did not. Brown came in and began making changes to the Central office however he also questioned several sacred cows that some in the community wanted protected. As a result, citizens conspired with the Board and some in the Central office to get rid of him. Lewis was selected as the super and he grew the Central office also.
Unfortunately this is the kind of insight that those that run DSW don’t want anymore. Dekalbite, you should ask why this type of clarification is being censored. Doesn’t it help when you understand the history of how we got to where we are today?
Anon
July 10th, 2012
10:42 pm
Fred,
I must say that you are nothing if not a diligent apologist. Who cares about the past when it is so apparent what could — and should — be done to begin at least to right the capsized ship? The bottom line is the central office is not being cut down to the bone the way it needs to be while, as usual, the classrooms are bearing the brunt of the ongoing crisis.
I have a suggestion. Give us our own system in north DeKalb and see how less bloated it will be than its counterpart in south DeKalb. One should educate all students, regardless of demographics. At the same time, however, one should not ignore the fact that corruption in local government seems to mushroom out of control when a certain demographic gets unchecked control. Unfortunately, it is the minority kids who suffer by far and away the most.
P.S. I have to assume that you know or at least know of the regional superintendents (and their secretaries, and their coordinators, and their executive assistants, and thieir supervisors….). The fact that you would blithely use the past to suggest that their continued existence is somehow justifiable makes you a hypocritical apologist. And then, of course, there is Tyson’s continued employment. But I guess since Freeman and Hallford aka “the man” did something similar it’s all good.
Fred in DeKalb
July 10th, 2012
11:00 pm
Anon, take a look at Dekalbite’s post at 9:08 pm. I merely expounded upon their comment about the past by putting it in proper context. Fact of the matter is that Brown was the superintendent 10 years ago (DeKalbite mentioned the structure created over the last decade) and he was reducing the size of the central office.
Brown also raised questions about why small schools were allowed to exist when the state funding did not provide support for the staffing DeKalb choose to do. There were citizens that were protective of their small schools and saw Brown as the person that might end them. This situation DeKalb finds itself in is not all on the past Boards but citizens also who wanted some things to remain status quo. There is enough blame to go around.
By the way, the Central Office has been significantly reduced. As I’ve pointed out many times, unless an employee is attached to a school, they are considered part of the Central office. Dr. Atkinson re-coded many of the employees in the central office to the schools they actually work in. This was part of the reason the Central office looked much larger. That includes employees at the Sam Moss Center.
I’ll share this link once again that those at DSW don’t want many to know about regarding the Central Office reorganization. You’ll notice they staffing size of the Central Office has been reduced by over 3,000 employee, mostly due to employees being reassigned to schools.
http://www.dekalb.k12.ga.us/www/documents/budget/presentation.pdf
Pardon My Blog
July 11th, 2012
6:56 am
If the primary function of a school system is to provide the best education possible for the students, then should that not be the top budgetary item? to provide competitive salaries to attract the best teachers and to provide the funds necessary for materials to teach? I think that the priorities of the system need to be revisited. There are too many items left in the operating budget that could be trimmed to get the system back on target. There are too many salaries (non-teaching, non-education related) that are way out of line for the position starting with the Superintendent on down(and remember when you look at salaries, the whole compensation package must be considered such as travel, insurance, housing, etc.). Perhaps if the system were run like a private business and had to provide a desirable product in order to stay in business, we would not be having this discussion at all!
Anonymous
July 11th, 2012
7:26 am
Maureen, could you provide a summary of last night/s forum? I would love to hear what the candidates actually said and also your impressions.
I agree with Dunwoody Mom that the info some of the candidates have posted about how they would go about things gives me no hope. They sound very similar to what we have now though of course they don’t see it that way.
Thank you.
cgregister
July 11th, 2012
7:41 am
I think one of the questions that needs to be asked of all who are running – can you/will you think of Dekalb has a whole county, not north/south, and treat everyone equally? As a voice for your community, you need to apply that voice as 1 part of the whole county.
I worked in DCSS for over 30 years and really didn’t want to retire, but we are continually going backwards in salary, losing good, hard working employees and all those buffoons on the board can do is blow hot air. They knew several years ago that things were not right and they are just now demanding an audit? Why was this not done about eight years ago? I am ASHAMED to say that I worked for this school system.
Dekalb Resident
July 11th, 2012
8:34 am
The reorganization for MIS is an absolute joke. Not one BIG salary employee was touched. I followed the link above listed by Fred In Dekalb and it shows staffing for MIS going from 190 to 164.
Please know those impacted were only the CTSSs that were housed in the local school house. The CTSS is the lowest paid employee in MIS. They are also the individuals on the front lines making sure the antiquated equipment is working for the teachers and students. In addition, those CTSSs that were assigned to elementary schools were all removed from these schools and those teachers will have to wait for someone to be dispatched to their school to fix their problems.
I just don’t get it DCSD!!
Miss Management
July 11th, 2012
8:47 am
“I am sending a note to Walter Woods to ask about this.”
Um, I heard Walter was Riffed too.
Dekalbite
July 11th, 2012
8:57 am
Enter your comments here
LOGIC
July 11th, 2012
9:25 am
@Fred
Do you really think that a 6% cut is “drastic?” The movement of positions to the schoolhouse is just a shell game. Atkinson and Co. need to cut 30% and show us the numbers. We are now spending another $330K in interest to borrow money to keep this sad ship going. Hopefully Perrone knows how to calculate interest unlike our last CFO.
Atkinson is being very sloppy with every aspect of DSCD and even her highly paid inner circle confidantes with their upcoming raises are not making it any better. The layoffs, the budget, the calendar, etc. She has only been here a year.
The state needs to take this over. Even at the candidate forum last night, very few people inspired a big change. A quick google of the District 6 candidates shows that we have more of the same coming our way.
Married with (School) Children
July 11th, 2012
9:32 am
More Layoffs! The following Item D.1 on the agenda of the School Board’s Called Meeting for today (7/11/2012) at 12:30 PM:
Requested Action
Pursuant to Board of Education Policy GBKA (Personnel Lay-Off), it is requested that the Board of Education approve a Reduction in Force Plan to not exceed 120 paraprofessional positions and 250 teacher positions as a result of the FY2013 approved Budget. This action is necessary due to a 2 student increase in class sizes and the restructuring of the Pre-Kindergarten program.
Anon
July 11th, 2012
9:33 am
Fred,
Did you work as a spinner for big tobacco, pharma, health insurance companies, BP?
It’s pathetic. It really is.
Outside auditors recommended slashing over 130 AP’s. What happened there? Show me a DCSD AP and 5 will get you 25 that what you have is a barely literate individual who got a job because of who they know, not what we know. So what if CO jobs have “reverted” to the schoolhouses? What about all of the unnecessary, high-paid positions that remain, such as the area supers (a complete waste of money — what, exactly do they do? have you ever dealt with one — they’re embarrassing) and the auxiliary positions that go with them? What about Atkinson’s “chief of staff” and “cabinet”? What about the ridiculous curriculum coordinators, the “coaches,” now probably renamed something else in conjunction with the next canned fiasco — “Success for All”? The list is endless — see the comments above about MIS.. Why is Ramona still drawing a paycheck and for what, exactly?
Roberts, the ex-board member with the two daughters in high-paying jobs, did warn at a meeting that, if they weren’t careful, they’d wind up with a “white person.”
My neighbors and I and many others we know no longer want to pay for this never-ending train wreck. Go run your own schools as you see fit. Leave ours alone.
May God grant us the ability to change the Constitution so that we can save our children.
Yes. The South has a bad history and mistreated blacks. No. This history does not justify the continual use of “racism” to ignore deep corruption in a community that is now dragiing the whole county down.
Married with (School) Children
July 11th, 2012
9:35 am
Here’s the link to the posted Meeting Agenda I quoted above:
https://eboard.eboardsolutions.com/Meetings/ViewMeetingOrder.aspx?S=4054&MID=26285
Click on the horizontal “AGENDA” on the left side of the page, then click on item “D.1 Approval of Reduction in Force Plan”. That will get you to the text that I quoted above.
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?
@Fred in DeKalb
July 13th, 2012
6:16 pm
Why doesn’t the DeKalb administration just start their own blog instead of always sending you guys to post on this blog and DSW? If you want to get your point of view across, just start your own blog.
Question – If you start an official DeKalb County School District blog, will you let anyone and everyone come onto the DeKalb website and express ALL of THEIR opinions?
Fred in DeKalb
July 13th, 2012
7:05 pm
I can’t speak for the DeKalb administration however it is fair to speculate that they would not want to dedicate someone ( a non teaching position) to monitor and screen comments. Some might not be suitable for public consumption. Would that be a good use of taxpayer dollars? I say no.
This blog allows differing opinion, with some discretion. No one as answered yet why DSW does not. I actually agreed with recent comments posted by dekalbite on DSW and have acknowledged that in the past. I think they share insightful information however also believe they rely too much on data that has not been validated. Perhaps since dekalbite is a friend of DSW, they can get away sometimes presenting information out of context. I think that was true of some of the data (gotten from the state website yet provided without validation by the state) about FSC they presented.
Fuhslultlak
July 19th, 2012
9:41 pm
What we’ve been subject to over the last a few years has caused some individuals to question ‘Can we trust Microsoft?’
Blessed is he that has found his work; allow him to ask no other blessedness.
The meek shall inherit the Earth, although not its mineral rights.