DeKalb election results: Mixed message on school board

If Melvin Johnson wins, DeKalb is toast. He is clearly biased and supported by former central office employees who are so angry at the changes that Atkinson is making. They wanted the status quo of the system being a jobs program friends and family It is a shame that he is even in the race and doesn’t bode well for the system if he were to win.

• Link
• Report this comment

Darn straight I voted against McChesney.

• Link
• Report this comment

I voted the way I did and enacted my own form of term limits. It is possible to get more diversity and more reasonableness by just changing the players every now and then. I still do not vote republican, but a change in the dems does change thinking and doing.

• Link
• Report this comment

I am very surprised all the the ones with an (I) beside their names were not thrown out!

• Link
• Report this comment

The runoff is August 21. Three weeks from yesterday. Please visit my website, http://www.votejimmymac.com for more information regarding my campaign. Thanks to all my supporters and for my fellow candidate, Jim Kinney for endorsing my campaign. Thanks for joining my campaign and together we can make a difference, we need new leadership on the school board!
Jim McMahan
District 4 DeKalb County School Board Candidate

• Link
• Report this comment

I will definitely be there August 21 with a vote for McMahan. I can’t believe Womack got that many votes especially after he said he supported Lewis 100%, etc., etc. Well, he did state the he is “god” so…..

• Link
• Report this comment

Now if we could have a special election to get rid of Eugene Walker, Sarah Copelin-Wood and Jesse Cunningham (not to mention a non-renewal of the current superintendents contract), DeKalb Schools may stand a chance!

• Link
• Report this comment

oldtimer

Pam Speaks opponent was horrible and send the most divisive mailer I have ever seen in a school board race. What is frightening is that the race for that seat was as close as it was.

• Link
• Report this comment

My goodness!! When is jay Cunningham’s term up? he may very well be the emabrrasmment of the entire school board.

• Link
• Report this comment

There is rarely a revolution in U.S. politics. Nancy Jester and Donna Edler were new BOE members in 2010. Orson is new in 2012. Perhaps McGill and/or Womack will be new in 2012 as well after the runoff.

Donna Edler trailed Zepora Roberts in the general election by 7% (about the same as Denise McGill trails Melvin Johnson right now) but won in the runoff with 74% of the vote. Nancy Jester was only 7% ahead of Jim Redovian in the general election but won with 67+% in the runoff compared to his 33%. Runoffs can produce very different results from the general election.

If one or new members win in the runoff, that would be 4 or 5 members that are new out of 9. Shorter of revolution, but faster than evolution.

• Link
• Report this comment

But Edler and Jester are consistently on different sides of issues and Orson is going to find it difficult to figure out which side to be on — he publicly criticized Jester on several occasions and clearly wants to spend on special programs, so to me he will more aligned with Walker et all than Jester and Speaks.
If Johnson wins, we really are in trouble. At the end of the day, what McMahan offers is a different temperament than Womack, I suspect they will vote virtually the same.

• Link
• Report this comment

Jim McMahan will bring a new voice, a different voice, to the
board. Womack is eighty years old…. it’s just a fact that his time
has come and gone. Thanks for the service, but it’s well past time
for new ideas and perspective.

• Link
• Report this comment

The torture continues with the 8/21. I am still floored that Speaks won by such a narrow margin when she is one of the few qualified and normal individuals on the Board. I am glad McChesney lost, but we all need to watch Orson and his special interest groups. He has yet made one comment showing that he is in it for the county. Walker knows that he can throw him the Fernbank bones and get him to side with him to do things that are detrimental to the county as a whole. If McMahan (up until a few months ago a District 2 representative) could very easily be swayed by Orson and that is a dangerous bloc on the Board. Womack has made sense on a good number of things, but can’t overcome the stupid acts of supporting Lewis and Heery Mitchell.

My biggest overarching concern is the support Johnson got in District 6. The entire county needs to rally around Denise McGill and do a grassroots campaign to ensure he doesn’t win. He is part of the worst Old Guard and “Friends & Family.” We have do everything we can to avoid his placement on the Board.

So, I hope the strategy is to start breaking up this Board. The executive compensation discussion from Monday shows how dysfunctional and crooked these people are.

• Link
• Report this comment

Pam Speaks is by far the most trustworthy, dedicated and complete member of this BOE. Had her opponent not used such lowly, racist tactics against her, then Pam would have had a much more solid victory. The opponent wouldn’t even show up at forums, but had the audacity to send racist and politically charged mailers.

• Link
• Report this comment

I tried to post this on DSW but that blog is really going downhill and will only post from people who support their narrow view so I’ll give Maureen’s blog a go.

There was a man as near Fernbank as he could get waving a McChesney sign around. He was approached by one mom with her kids and when she told him he was there illegally he gave her a single-finger wave. He told another lady to shut up. Don’t know who he was, but I’m glad he made it out because he really solidified the vote against McChesney. Thanks for the making the effort.

McChesney only carried 3 precincts in district 2 – he won Sagamore by 2 votes and Briar Vista by one. Marshall Orson won north Avondale, Medlock and Laurel Ridge by a wide margin. Whether people voted FOR Marshall or AGAINST Don, the numbers sent a pretty strong message in district 2.

Hopefully the run-offs will turn out equally well in favor of Jim and Denise; the DSW endorsement didn’t help Don a whole lot.

• Link
• Report this comment

Had Dr. Speaks faced a legitimate opponent she might have lost as well. McChesney’s loss has nothing to do with how he votes, he had everything to do with the gerrymandering of the lines for Marshall Orson plus the fact that voters in N. DeKalb seem the most likely to hold incumbents accountable. His constituents didn’t want a tax increase, didn’t like the budget, etc and he voted against all those things.

• Link
• Report this comment

What’s the status of plans to reduce the board to 7 or fewer members?

I couldn’t agree more with the comments about Dr. Speaks’s vile opponent. I think it was at least partially because of a general anti-incumbent attitude that she did so well–and that Mr. Orson won.

• Link
• Report this comment

Why is the media overlooking the huge victory for the parents and residents who have fought to keep cell towers off school grounds? http://www.GETtheCELLoutATL.org

More than 60% of the voters answered “No” on what many considered to be a “trick question” that didn’t work out for the telecomms the way they had expected!

• Link
• Report this comment

This school board has been made up for a long time of people whose primary goal is to promote their own special interests, i.e., special programs, jobs for families and friends, etc., There has been little though to what is best for the students of this district – and it has shown in the academic data. Yesterday’s results do not change this one iota. I have given up hope….I will continue to support those schools in my area, but that’s it. If voters in this county want to continue with the status-quo of a sub-par education for their children, well, then they’ve made their choice. I am not sure what else can be done to wake them up.

• Link
• Report this comment

Womack does not deserve to sit on the board of education as he has explicitly disrespected his constituents by approving, rather pushing through cell tower construction on school grounds, without properly informing applicable communities, and once such communities were advised in his district, he did not care to even listen to what are suppose to be his constituents.

Womack must go!!!!!!!!!

Vote McMahon!!!!!!!

• Link
• Report this comment

No one should be surprised at DSW’s biased slant and editing of opposing remarks. It is a mouthpiece for Jester and McChesney, short on facts, but long on innuendo, slander, libel, and character assassination. One of the reasons McChesney list is that DSW endorsed him so strongly. I know, I live in District 2. Let’s all hope that their endorsements of McGill and McMahon don’t kill them off. DSW is just a small group of dysfunctional idiots with little influence outside of their clique. Marshall Orson and the people of District 2 proved that. Paalleease! McChesney carried only one precinct by a substantial margin, and one his other two by one and two votes. The people who support DSW are marginal idiots! People with a brain ignore the morons who are their regular posters. Just think what would happen if they invested the time and energy they spend posting ignorant statements on DSW in the schools. They might actually make a positive difference. Advice to McGill and McMahon, put as much distance as possible between you and the idiots on DSW if you hope to win. Case Closed.

• Link
• Report this comment

“McChesney only carried 3 precincts in district 2 – he won Sagamore by 2 votes and Briar Vista by one. Marshall Orson won north Avondale, Medlock and Laurel Ridge by a wide margin”

Where did you get your information on the precinct votes. Do you have a link? I would like to see the precinct votes since I’m interested in where we need to concentrate our efforts in District 4. Many thanks for the information.

• Link
• Report this comment

Good Evening everyone, I am catching up on email as well as reading blog comments…

I was endorsed by DeKalb School Watch II- and I feel this was a wonderful accomplishment as I did not realize the number of people who are involved with this site. Some subject content can appear one-sided, but there are years of knowledge and history in that group that is invaluable. I have also been endorsed by the following organizations:

Georgia Association of Black Women Attorney’s
eduKalb
All are equally important to me as they represent multiple sectors of DeKalb county. I am extremely proud to have received those endorsement. Although there is no true Teacher Union here (ODE does not count)- MANY of the educators support me, and have done so financially. I have been blessed by their generosity. @ Crawford Lewis- Donations 100 and under are not reported by name. The teachers in my community know what I am about, they have seen me in action, and I support them every way I can. I am proud to know that they support me and are behind me.

I DO NOT have any political endorsements- I am HAPPY to not have any association of that level behind my name.In my opinion, a political endorsement equates to speculation…. that speculation leaves you open to scrutiny.

It is my hopes that people look at me, my integrity, and my service in my community over the last 15 years- Knowing that I am the pwrson who keeps her word and works in the best interest for all,,,,,

• Link
• Report this comment

http://web.co.dekalb.ga.us/Voter/pdf/Results_07312012.pdf

BOE results start on Page 876.

• Link
• Report this comment

I am happy Pam Speaks won because her opponent’s calling post brought up the north/ south inequities which immediately turned me off. She clearly is not going to represent the entire district. Pam has a sensible head on her shoulders.

We need to focus on retired families and parents without students to inform them that Paul Womack needs to go. Please email and hit the pavement to ensure a change in District 4.

• Link
• Report this comment

There will be no improvement in DeKalb County schools until the entire board, superintendent, and top 2 levels of administration are gone. In other words, there is no hope for this system. Instead of working within the schools (futile effort), I’m going to advocate for vouchers and changing the state constitution to allow new districts.

• Link
• Report this comment

@ Pumpkin
You did not get published on DSW — not because of your slimy and questionable content, but because you had already posted under 3 different names, which we have asked you not to do. Pick one name and stick with it.

• Link
• Report this comment

@Pardon My Blog
South DeKalb BOE members are beloved in their community and are doing exactly what their constituency wants them to do. Given the tyranny of the BOE majority, we are lucky the Dr Walker gang picked Dr Atkinson.

• Link
• Report this comment

I just moved out of DCSD but not before I voted against Womack.

• Link
• Report this comment

@Returning DCSS parent, I hope for you that AMHS does the job, but I fear DCSD has reached the point where they are intent on destroying every good thing about our schools.

@Smoke Rise Mom, I predict Smoke Rise Prep will be a model for many communities in the years to come. Now we need to work to get our tax dollars back into our own pockets so that we can enrich our children’s education in the way we see fit, not to overpay executive directors.

It’s not like any of us can move. No one is moving here.

• Link
• Report this comment

“DSW is just a small group of dysfunctional idiots with little influence outside of their clique.”

So why are you still reading DSW?

Marshall Orson and the Fernbank community are very smart, very affluent and very politically connected. It’s not the deficits of DSW as much as the assets of the Fernbank community that made the difference in this election.

“any intelligent and informed citizen knows that election results by precint are available at the county elections office.”
Well, color me stupid and uninformed because I would truly like to know the link you are going to for this information. It is really hard to see your comments as credible if you can’t provide the source.

• Link
• Report this comment

http://www.11alive.com/video/default.aspx?bctid=1763076912001&odyssey=mod|newswell|text|FRONTPAGE|featured

• Link
• Report this comment

@Dunwoody Mom – Come on now DM! This is one of those times when you are way off. You just expressed your concerns about Marshall Orson focusing on a narrow band of issues but praise Nancy Jester for doing the same thing! And then the implication that parents in other districts don’t care about what is happening…I’m a little disappointed! Rise above the DSW 2 party lines – you’re smarter than that!

• Link
• Report this comment

Someone previously posted link to election results. DSW would be far ore credible if they put their namesans contact information behind their so called research. What’s the point of hiding if you are legitimate?

• Link
• Report this comment

“No one should be surprised at DSW’s biased slant and editing of opposing remarks. It is a mouthpiece for Jester and McChesney, short on facts, but long on innuendo, slander, libel, and character assassination.”

The appropriate title for the blog would be “Friends and Family of Don and Nancy.” I’m glad Nancy Jester is on the school board, but they almost worship her. Its ridiculous.

There actually is a lot of good info, but the hypocrisy and bias is so extreme its just amazing. The childish posts about Don losing are hilarious. I didn’t think they would make themselves look so bad. The one district McChesney won by a good margin was the one where, to the detriment of other schools and the school district as a whole, he did a favor for 100 students in that school and got them redistricted to a HS that was perceived to be better. Yet you hear all the nonsense about Orson being interested only in the school he happened to be representing as part of their PTA while McChesney was on the school board and worked for 100 students to the detriment of other schools in his own district 2.

• Link
• Report this comment

Look at DSW before Nancy Jester ran and after she ran. There’s really no difference in the tone and tenor. All of the posts are archived so it’s easy enough to do.

No one resents Fernabnk for their involvement in their school and community. The resentment lies in the influence they wield as they shape school board decisions that sometimes negatively impact the rest of the students in the county.

Orson has been in the forefront of these parent groups. Can he turn his political will to work for all students evenin it doesn’t fit in with Fernbank’s plans? He has championed special programs and schools while our regular education students sit at up to 40 to a class. He has publicly called for tax increases while DeKalb has the highest tax rate in the metro area, and many formerly affluent taxpayers are struggling to keep their homes.

There is a reason why DSW is read so widely. It everything was fine for students in DeKalb, there would be an infinitely lower number of posters, readers and commenters.

• Link
• Report this comment

@Pumpkin
August 1st, 2012
3:41 pm

Here’s why your post did not get posted at the DSW2 blog: Because they don’t allow rumors and stories to post as fact. Sadly, obviously, the AJC does not uphold the same standard. DSW2 constantly requires data to back up accusations, although, many opinions are posted as such as long as they are framed as ‘opinions’ and do not defame anyone who is not a public personality. Anyone could say anything about anyone or make up any kind of random story if your kind of comments were allowed to go unchecked. This is very hard to do as people are generally pretty ruthless on the blogs. They usually have some kind of agenda as well and we found many of them to be ‘team’ tagging that agenda. It’s disheartening and basically why I have given up a majority of my blogging as well as my Polly Anna idea that anything could be fixed or changed. It’s extremely difficult to dissuade people from posting nasty ‘rumors’ and ’stories’. I know, I personally deleted hundreds such comments on the original DSW blog.

• Link
• Report this comment

Additionally, I and my fellow bloggers on the original DSW never advocated for simply ‘closing’ programs. We only advocated for equity in spending. Programs are great – as all students are not the same – however, that should not give carte blanche to overspend on some students, while cutting back on others. We have some unbelievably expensive, tiny programs in DCSS. However, the outrageous pushback we experienced from those who protect their special programs at ANY cost was astounding. I came to the conclusion that there are very few people in DeKalb who truly seek equity. Well, let’s just say, they’re all for “equity” as long as their kid or their school doesn’t have to give up anything to provide that equity to others.

• Link
• Report this comment

@Cere -

Sadly, I agree with you about focusing on your own schools. If parents are able to reach out to one another across school lines, however, it will benefit the schools and the students – if something is working at your school, it might work for the next school as well. It could be the back door to local control – ignore the BOE and the administration and just get ‘er done.

All politics IS local.

• Link
• Report this comment

@Cere
Your objectiveness is lacking by the current moderators. Moderators set the tone by their choice of topics. Maureen appeared to me to have an agenda to prove there was a fair amount of blatant racism and ran a bunch of topics that generated a lot of hateful comments and she chose to do very limited moderation. Finally, she apparently realized (or her bosses realized) that what she had generated was not constructive and she started doing more filtering and moderating on such comments.

The current DSW2 moderators insult people who disagree with them and choose more topics that show their extreme opinions. And fact supporting is limited to those who disagree with them. For example, one writer flat out lied and claimed the person interviewed about McChesney’s sexist e-mail was a “Fernbank lawyer.” The fact is that person had no connection to Fernbank Elementary or Druid Hills HS. Bizarrely enough several people gave a thumbs down to someone who merely pointed out that it wasn’t true.

• Link
• Report this comment

Cere and no mas are completely correct. Expecting the 5 board members who see DCSS as a “Jobs-and-Transfer-of-Wealth Program” is like expecting a pig to fly — never gonna happen. Trying to convince those 5 to do the right thing is like trying to teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time and annoys the pig.

The African-Americans who have DCSS in a death grip dislike whites, but they dislike poor blacks more. So, they lie to their constituents and tell them the source of all their troubles are greedy North DeKalb parents — when in reality the greed is entirely with the “Fab Five,” keeping their friends-and-family on the DCSS gravy train. The dog-and-pony show at the beginning of each board meeting is designed to be a smokescreen, obscuring DCSS’s failure to educate the students in a school system that is majority black and run by a bloated and incompetent majority black administration and school board.

What the Fab Five bullies and their accomplices in the majority black administration are counting on is for everyone else to “play nice” and spend time in a useless attempt to bring everyone together “for the whole.” Cere is right: “Focus like a laser on your own schools. Demand as much funding from the money that’s left after the administration pilfers it and demand as much autonomy within your school building as possible.”

Or maybe it is just time to break up DCSS into 2 or 3 manageable independent school systems where honesty is possible and successfully educating students is an achievable goal.

• Link
• Report this comment

This is true Dekalbite. No one gets their info exactly correct 100% of the time. But the beauty of the blogging community is the pool of knowledge and information. Any misinformation is usually quickly corrected by someone who knows the truth of a matter. MOST of the bloggers are intelligent, caring, stable people who really want to improve our schools. But then, there is a small group (trolls) who use the blogs to forward their agendas by posting as several different people appearing to agree with each other or posting hostile comments (even threats) about others thus hijacking the conversation away from the focus at hand. This is purposeful and I have wondered at times if it isn’t coming from paid operatives within the system or a political group. They are very hard to fight and the worst thing you can do is engage them in an argument. That’s why we just used to flat out delete their comments. Watch out for trolls. Recognize them and ignore them. Stay focused on your original conversation.

Onward to the runoffs! Be sure to vote August 21st!

• Link
• Report this comment

Cere, you know how much I respect you, but DSW2 has become an unbearable community to be a part of, so I have chosen to distance myself from it. The new moderators, one in particular, is intolerant of views with which he/she does not agree. I was verbally taken to the woodshed by this particular moderator. No one deserves to be addressed in such a manner. It has taken on a tone that everything within the school system is bad and must be taken down. Yes, there are many, many issues that we are all aware of, but there is still much good in the district and that is what I choose to focus on. You cannot build up if you are trying to tear down at the same time.

Hope all is well with you Cere.

• Link
• Report this comment

Yes, people are wasting their time trying to wean the Fab 5 Board members and the Friends and Family off the trough of public money. DeKalb is and will continue to be a Jobs Program for the incompetent and well connected. They are simply a cabal of professional parasites and will stop at nothing to get their hands on their share of pork. They cannot resist looting the school systems budget. Can anyone say “I smell BACON”!!!!!

• Link
• Report this comment

I like Marshall — I think he’s bright and articulate and has great ideas. I respect his education and background as an attorney. That being said, I think that Don, who I did not like when he went on the BOE and did everything tha Paul wanted him to do, really did do a good job of preparing for meetings, reading about the issues and trying very hard to learn about the various issues involved and trying to do what he believed was best for the district as a whole. He had his heart in Sagamore and made some promises there that he kept but overall, to me, who really did not like him, I thought he tried to look out for all of the children at a time when doing so was very difficult. I think the e-mail he sent for the meeting with Dr. A was dumb and unnecessary but I don’t think he was such a bad member of the BOE. There are much worse.

• Link
• Report this comment

The DSW blog did, has done and continues to do, an unbelievable of getting information some “sunlight” — if there was such a vehicle around when Dr. Lewis tookover and at the beginning of SPLOST 2 … DCSS may not currently be on the verge of being bankrupt. If, the legislature were to pass legislation requiring that all p-card and check register transactions be posted on line perhaps all transactions would get the “sunlihgt” that they too deserve and the corruption could finally start to be minimized. At least the DSW blog has started to make people start and take notice of what has really been going on. Everyone should give Cere a big “thank you” and pat on the back — the blog went a long way towards exposing lots of wrongs in the face of heavy opposition.

• Link
• Report this comment

So true. I often cite my hometown in Ohio, which has excellent schools. Teachers there are paid very nearly six figures. They are treated with great respect. And they attract the best and brightest teachers who do an amazing job with each and every student in their classrooms. This includes art, music, sports, dance, work-study, career exploratories. languages, sciences and AP courses. I will say that their taxes are higher than ours, but not exponentially so and certainly nowhere near places like New Jersey. It’s possible to do an excellent job in education as long as you put your main focus on teachers and students and let the rest follow as support of the teachers.

In my work, we do a corporate exercise called “My Five Big Rocks” where you put 5 rocks in a jar and name them as your most important parts of your life and work. Then you fill in with smaller rocks and stones until the jar is full. It’s a conscious choice to name your focus and stick to it. In DeKalb, we are filling the jar with small stones and rocks leaving little room for our 5 big rocks — our teachers. That is what needs to change – equitably across the system. Everything else will follow.

• Link
• Report this comment

when my children were still enrolled in DCSS schools, the teachers were feeling the pressures of a dysfunctional school system. These pressures were being felt by my children in the classroom — ultimately, my husband and I decided to spend our retirement on private school and we pulled them out. Meanwhile, the pressures being brought to bear on the teachers in the classroom have only escalated in the years since we left (youngest has been out 2 years — oldest 4.5) — there are many more kids in each class (and mine were entitled to gifted staffing) — planning time has been reduced and the curriculum changes every odd year or so… even the most sainted of the teachers can not fail to take these pressures out on the children while their salaries have declined year by year. The focus of the system has been on corruption, friends and family and not on the children in the classroom who desperately need the adults in charge to give them their futures. The scars left by teachers taking their frustrations out on them — hour by hour — in overstuffed classrooms can last a lifetime. On the contrary, a good year, with an incredible teacher, in a classroom where learning takes place during the 6-8 hours the child is there at an appropriate pace and level can also leave its mark and make a positive impression for a lifetime. One can lead to college and grad school and the other other to welfare and prison. DCSS is heading our children down the wrong path. Society will continue to pay the price — we have only just begun.

• Link
• Report this comment

You’re exactly right, Ernest. Parental involvement is high in my hometown. However, not as you might think. Parents are very active in extra-curricular, but no so much during the school day – you don’t see many parents in the building during school hours. (In contrast, Oak Grove’s hall are streaming with parents, which is what makes that school so successful.) But back at home, teachers are trusted to get the job done. That said, some parents are trained to help tutor early readers as these schools have deemed good reading ability JOB #1 and work very hard to identify and help early strugglers.

All in all, there is basically a skeletal administration, with most of the finances going toward high quality teachers, great buildings, supplies and equipment. Everything is focused on student achievement and all around education: be it the arts, physical ed, traditional core, and vocational/career tech.

The arts education is remarkably better than here. You absolutely would be blown away by these kids high school plays.

I’ll tell you what the big difference is: There are plenty of resources to go around. My family in Ohio would be mortified to be asked to bring in basic supplies like paper towels and copy paper to school. The schools in my hometown do not want for anything. They have quality teachers, fantastic support staff, art, music and PE in all grades and very nice, well-maintained buildings. They do not grapple with the fighting over scraps and power groups in conflict like here in DeKalb. In DeKalb, there are far, far too few resources and a gap in even basic supplies that cause us to look like a third world country fighting over the rice bags delivered by Unicef. Just like in corrupt third world countries, FAR too much is used up at the top, leaving far too little for the classroom.

A major component to their success, I believe, is their size. Almost all of the smaller towns have fantastic systems in the north and midwest. The local control and small (volunteer) school boards deal only with school issues at hand – they don’t have the corruption and saturation of inept employees. But then, when you get into the big city school systems, you get into crime, family and poverty issues along with the corruption that occurs with enormous budgets. They also have a nearly impossible time finding good teachers – no one worth their salt likes to teach in those environments.

DeKalb is split that way – it’s like a small, city districts in some areas (that still have to deal with corrupt, inept leadership however) and inner-city, rough schools and poverty-minded thinking in others (case in point, the guns brought on property by adults at Arabia last year, and Towers open house yesterday.)

• Link
• Report this comment