DeKalb ought to ensure its accreditation response is done in full public view
UPDATE at 5 p.m.: I received a call from a concerned DeKalb parent saying that the AJC misrepresented what actually was decided at last night’s meeting about how the district should respond to a warning letter from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.
So, I checked with the news reporter who covered the meeting and he told me that the entire board will not meet on this issue. Instead, a team is being formed.
AJC reporter Ty Tagami said: “The process is this: a team comprising the board chair, vice chair, Atkinson, senior staffers and at least one community representative will draft a response. They’ll run that draft by the board members, but not in a public meeting. Then, they’ll send it to SACS. None of that will happen in public.”
Members of the DeKalb school board often portray themselves as populists, but ducking behind closed doors to discuss the system’s accreditation is not the way to promote community trust.
Given the deepening level of public distrust, school chief Cheryl Atkinson and the board should never waffle on transparency and open government. I would opt for opening the “process,” no matter how it is done, to the public.
I talked today to Dr. Atkinson and believe that she wants transparency and better communications. So, look for updates on this matter.
The DeKalb County school board approved a closed-door process Wednesday for responding to allegations of mismanagement.
The public will not get to see discussions about a letter last week from accrediting agency AdvancEd that accused members of the school board of overstepping their authority in some areas, such as hiring, while failing to exercise oversight over finances and other key responsibilities.
“The goal is to be as open and transparent as possible,” school board Chairman Eugene Walker said before leading the vote for a process that leaves the public outside the door.
Parent Michelle Penkava sat dumbfounded in the audience. “They just held a public meeting to say this is not going to be a public process,” she said.
Board members said they were merely acting out of respect for AdvancEd and its subsidiary, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. “I don’t think SACS wants this in the newspaper before it goes to SACS,” board member Paul Womack said.
But Mark Elgart, president and chief executive officer of AdvancEd, said in a telephone interview after the hastily called DeKalb meeting that “no such courtesy is necessary or required.” He said the process for responding was up to DeKalb.
System spokesman Jeff Dickerson defended the process, which was recommended by Superintendent Cheryl Atkinson. He said the school system effectively opened the process by holding Wednesday’s meeting in public. The board could have met in a private executive session or merely passed around drafts of their response among themselves, he said.
Georgia law allows few exceptions to the state Open Meetings Act. Officials can meet in executive session to discuss legal matters, land acquisitions and personnel matters. It’s unclear whether a letter containing allegations about mismanagement would fit any of those exclusions.
Parent Molly Bardsley said she was “frankly a little surprised that this is all going to go on behind closed doors, because part of the problem SACS is addressing is what goes on behind closed doors.”
–From Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
198 comments Add your comment
Just Terrible
September 7th, 2012
1:36 pm
Dr. Akinson is terrible…the board members are idiots…and SACS should have been knocking the door down years ago! Dr. Atkinson only has a limited amount of time to hide behind the fact that she just got here…the only thing making her look like she has half a brain is that the board is even dumber than she is. SMH. Let’s get rid of all of them and start over…since they have had some turn over in positions, you would think that these fools would listen to the cries of the voters. Guess they really are that simple minded.
DeKalb Teacher
September 7th, 2012
2:06 pm
Give up on changing the board. For example
District #5 BOE Race in 2010:
Kirk Nooks – B.S. and M.B.A from Mercer and Ed.D. from George Washington
Jacques Hall – Perimeter College student
Cunningham – functional illiterate and convicted felon with high school education
2010 BOE election results
Jay Cunningham – 64%
Jackques Hall – 24%
Kirk Nooks – 12%
Starik
September 7th, 2012
3:31 pm
DeKalb could be an interesting experiment in preserving racially integrated schools. The days when white parents would remove their kids from the public schools because a few black kids attend are long gone. The kids’ racial attitudes are colorblind to an amazing degree, especially considering the history of Georgia and DeKalb, the county where the 20th Century KKK was founded. The AJC could pursue a Pulitzer with an honest, unbiased analysis of the process by which racially integrated and academically successful schools become, in the words of black kids, white kids and Hispanic kids, “ghetto schools.”
Observe Tucker. The Tucker CDP “Census Designated Place” has a population of 27,581, with 22.5% under 18. The population is 63.0% white, 22.3% black, 7.4% Asian and 10.6% Hispanic with 5.9% below the poverty line. http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/13/1377652.html
Tucker High School is now 11% white, 69% black, 7% Asian and 9% Hispanic with 57% “ecomomically disadvantaged.” The school rank is now 116th of 160 in Atlanta and below 10th in DeKalb County. The football team is excellent.
The Deal
September 7th, 2012
3:47 pm
The schools in the Tucker area (like many other areas) do not reflect the community in which they are located. I’d like to see a clear map of the flight to private and homeschools across the county.
DeKalb Teacher
September 7th, 2012
4:26 pm
North DeKalb is integrated. Segregation is alive and well in South DeKalb. The powers that be have gone out of their way to segregate themselves. For example, at the premier Arabia Mountain 995 out of 1011 students are black. It’s an excellent magnet school and hardly a reflection of the general population.
concernedmom30329
September 7th, 2012
5:45 pm
BU2
The recall effort needs leaders. The highly invested Druid Hills community is the perfect place for the effort to start. Two years is to long for the students of DeKalb to wait for any change on the board. Recalling Walker (not nearly as hard as it sounds) would send a clear message to the current and future board members. Are you a Druid Hills area resident?
You would need fewer than 12,000 signatures to get the recall petition approved. Marshall Orson got 8000 votes — that would be a great start. (I also suspect that most who voted for McChesney would sign as well.)
Where is our District Attorney
September 7th, 2012
9:58 pm
In May of this year, District Attorney Robert James said that the school board should be investigated after the grand jury made the recommendation to him. SO WHAT IS HAPPENING WITH THAT?
Mandella1099
September 8th, 2012
2:33 am
“Hasta lavista. We won’t be returning to these blogs. All the best to all of you.”
Hey DSW@ – Don’t let the door hit your [rear] on the way out….
AnonMom
September 8th, 2012
1:56 pm
The Lakeside feeder pattern is very racially diverse — about 50 countries; all races; all religions — whites are about 30-35%. Blacks and Whites put Asians and Hispanics into different categories — it’s very interesting. Adults and their children treat the issues very differently. My children have been “colorblind”. When we pulled my oldest to a religious dayschool for high school, he really missed the diversity. A friend of mine — minority — stated to me at one point that her son didn’t know he was black. When they reached high school and merged with kids from other parts of the county, many of the “local” minorities were “given grie” for “being white”…. it’s really quite fascinating but also sad.
Dunwoody Mom
September 8th, 2012
6:44 pm
One of the things I have valued with regards to my children’s education has been the diversity of their schools. To borrow a line from Pamela Speaks, I don’t require that my childrens schoolmates “look like them”. I hope that my husband and I have brought up our children to be “color-blind”.
Dekalbite
September 8th, 2012
7:34 pm
DSW became too much of a non paying job for Cerebration who has a paying job. No one person wanted to take on the enormous task of running a blog that has grown so exponentially in readers and commenters. I’m assuming most of the DSW2 moderators who run the DSW2 blog also have paying jobs. DSW2 cannot be compared with Get Schooled which is run by a paid moderator. IMHO – DeKalb is fortunate to have a forum where DCSS employees, taxpayers, students, and parents can comment.
Dunwoody Mom
September 8th, 2012
8:26 pm
Cere was able to run DSW on her own without being rude, dimissive and, at times, intolerant of views that differed from hers.
Dekalbite
September 8th, 2012
9:47 pm
Since Cere could not find anyone who would take on the responsibility of running a very time consuming free blog and yet wanted to keep the information and comments flowing regarding DeKalb Schools, she turned the blog over to a conglomerate of people. That is the touch of multiple personality disorder that pervades the blog. You have rubbed up against one of those personalities that disagreed with you in an abrasive manner as have I. The other option is to shut DSW down completely since no one person is willing to take on an all consuming job like this for free. Is that a better alternative. I guess the tens of thousands of people who read and hundreds who comment on DSW2 might be disappointed in that alternative although the DCSS administration would probably be thrilled with the prospect.
Dekalb Citizen on Fire
September 9th, 2012
6:22 am
This systematic atrocity of public trust is exactly why we need to encourage “all” to exercise their voting power in “all” elections.
Dekalb BOE has lost their way…sold out to political corruption. They no longer deserve the label “educators”.
Dekalb Res.
September 9th, 2012
9:30 pm
In the past there were some awful comments about CC and talking down on the students, the schools, the people that live there. Now it is happening in Dekalb!! Now What?? and i doubt this will be the last county.
Pardon My Blog
September 10th, 2012
5:43 am
What SACS should really do is, instead of taking away accreditation and punishing the students, they should recommend that the State step in and remove the BoE and the administration. They should also recommend that criminal charges be pursued because, as someone pointed out, the DA in DeKalb has already stated that there is evidence of wrongdoin
Dunwoody Mom
September 10th, 2012
7:12 am
Here is a link to a statement released by Pam Speaks, Nancy Jester and Don McChesney:
http://www.pamspeaksforkids.com/2012/09/09/advanceded-sacs-letter-our-thoughts/#comment-38
DeKalb Teacher
September 10th, 2012
8:12 am
Some DeKalb board members have made a statement clarifying recent board actions regarding the latest letter from AdvancED/SACS to the DeKalb County School District.
Dunwoody Mom
September 10th, 2012
3:29 pm
There is obviously a disconnect from what the AJC reported and what BOE members are reporting.
What happened to the K-12 Alerts from DCSD? This would have been a perfect time to report the “real story” to the stakeholders. Does Jeff Dickerson not know how to author an email and hit the “SEND” button?
Dekalbite
September 10th, 2012
7:58 pm
And Ms. Speaks, Ms. Jester and Mr. McChesney are reminding the taxpayers of DeKalb that the governor can intervene if DeKalb is placed on probation I.e. we do not have to wait until DeKalb loses accreditation before the governor can step in and make changes to the BOE. So parents/taxpayers need to keep the valid complaints coming to SACS. SACS needs to feel the pressure to treat DeKalb like any other system. SACS needs to take some ownership of approving a leadership that has led DeKalb into a horrendous and avoidable financial rmorass. This has been disastrous for students, and SACS needs to bear part of the responsibility for the draconian decline in DeKalb student achievement.
John Hope
September 11th, 2012
7:28 am
I also posted below on the DSW2 blog. murphey attended the meeting and posted their thoughts on DSW2.
After reading the letter more critically, I found the following statements interesting,
After we receive the draft of the District’s response, we will request a Board meeting to hear from our fellow Board members and vote to accept/reject the draft response. This meeting will be public and all Board members will have the opportunity to discuss the District’s response letter.
I agree with murphey that this statement is curious. murphey also commented in the hold your horses blog that Womack brought up that meeting on the letter will then make it a public document before SACS sees it. According to murphey, this was validated by the lawyer. Should Board members publicly discuss an inquiry developed by their employee about their alleged mismanagement? What purpose would this serve other than to possibly embarrass Board members.
The issues that were raised in their letter have been concerns that we have publicly discussed at Board meetings and shared with various officials. Indeed, we have been the whistle blowers regarding some of these issues.
This may answer the question about the first comment. They are publicly acknowledging being whistle blowers on their fellow Board members. These same 3 members also voted against hiring Dr. Atkinson. It this a ruse to set her up to cause further division with Board members?
This is all very strange especially given what we saw in the Board meeting on Monday night.
Dunwoody Mom
September 11th, 2012
8:05 am
@John…I watched the entire BOE meeting last night – yes, almost 4.5 hours long. I caught a few subtle digs from Dr. Walker and the pulling of the Declaration with regards to the Charter School amendment last night at the last second was really, really bizarre.
As much as I hate to say it, I have to agree with Dr. Walker, that Nancy Jester can make her feelings known about the amendement, but the remainder of the BOE cannot? Did legal not vet this Declaration beforehand?
Dunwoody Mom
September 11th, 2012
8:07 am
Here is a copy of the “Declaration”. As a parent and taxpayer, I totally support this declaration and see nothing in his wording that should be an issue, unless you are a supporter of the Charter School Amendement.
https://eboard.eboardsolutions.com/Meetings/Attachment.aspx?S=4054&AID=402562&MID=23960
John Hope
September 11th, 2012
8:24 am
@Dunwoody Mom, I saw parts of the meeting and also found the pulling of the Declaration bizzare. Like you, I also support it. I also thought citizen comments by Marcia Coward and Ruth Primm were appropriate. I support Charter Schools that are approved by a local Board or as a result of an appeal to the State Board. I don’t approve Charters created by a panel of appointees by politicians. Why not create a panel to help public schools that are not succeeding?
I also think Marcus Turk will have to answer for the state of the budgets for the past few years. It was apparent Dr. Walker was trying to protect him but it may be a lost cause. It makes you wonder if Marcus may be a possible witness against Dr. Lewis and blame him for why things were done the way they were. That trial needs to happen soon.
Dunwoody Mom
September 11th, 2012
8:31 am
Yes, John, Ruth Primm’s words were especially on-target.
Yes, it seems Dr. Walker was trying to protect someone with his, at times, pointed questions to Mr Perrone – who has an herculean task in trying to right the financials of DCSD, which will not be done overnight or in a few months. It’s good to know Mr. Perrone is in constant contact with the GADOE. Paul Womack also made mention of a Budget meeting this Friday in which the State DOE Finance individual will be on hand. I have not seen the meeting posted yet, though.
John Hope
September 11th, 2012
8:42 am
Womack also mentioned a policy change by the State Board in 2004 to use the accrual method for budgets, to match what they are using. For what ever reason, DeKalb was still using the cash method. Walker was quick to confirm that nothing illegal was done in not making this change.
I think Womack and Jester both had a good time clarifying that things were not done properly with the budget. I like when Jester pointed out that utility actuals have been running 15 to 16 million for the past 5 years yet the budgeted amount was just over 10 million. Walker attempted to defend this with a feeble attempt of mentioning utility efficiencies however it did not explain why this was done for 5 years running. This resulted in at least 25 million of overspending.
Womack may have lost his seat but he will probably try to do what he can to clear his name as the budget committee chairman. I believe Turk may have to be sacrificed to do this. If that happens, the house of cards known as DeKalb Schools may come tumbling down.
Dunwoody Mom
September 11th, 2012
8:54 am
You’re right, John. As much as we have “obsessed” over the latest SACS issue, the biggest threat to our school district is the disastrous financial situation that it faces.
John Hope
September 11th, 2012
9:02 am
I posted my comments here not knowing if the “angry’ personality on DSW2 would not post my comment. We’ve commented for over an hour and it still has not appeared over there. Maybe because I pointed out Jester was one of those that contacted SACS about her fellow members? Maybe it will appear later. That was once a great blog when Cere ran it and allowed reasonable, differing opinions.
Sumter
September 11th, 2012
10:17 am
@john hope, @dunwoody mom, “disastrous financial situation” IS the SACS issue. Come to think of it, it has been Jester’s issue all along too. I watched the meeting last night and that wasn’t the first time Jester has made those comments. She’s been making those comments for a long time so I guess she is a whistleblower.
Here’s Mark Elgart’s quote from the paper about keeping the process closed to the public, “…chief executive officer of AdvancEd, said in a telephone interview after the hastily called DeKalb meeting that “no such courtesy is necessary or required.” So perhaps Jester is picking up on that and making sure that the public is kept informed. Elgart seemed to smack down the legal suggestion to get it to him first before the public.
@john, you asked “what purpose it would serve?” I think the answer is justice and truth. I think we also have to accept that it is Jester, McChesney and Speaks that have been the most supportive of Atkinson when she makes changes.
DeKalb Teacher
September 11th, 2012
1:19 pm
Legal was saying that the BOE and/or DCSD as an organization can not take a position on the Charter School Amendment. Any individual can campaign until they are blue in the face like many BOE members did for esplost.
GTCO-ATL
September 11th, 2012
3:48 pm
A couple of things we have been wanting to get clarification on. Maybe someone here can help… first off, the comment about the committee Atkinson plans to use: AJC reporter Ty Tagami said: “The process is this: a team comprising the board chair, vice chair, Atkinson, … ” but we also read where the team was comprised of Walker and Womack. What’s going on here? Womack is NOT the vice chair. He held that position when Bowen was chair. Right now, unless we missed something, Bowen is the Vice Chair. So, where has he been? We can’t just let someone who has been essentially given a no confidence vote by the taxpayers (Womack) to step into the vice chair role out of the blue, can we??
And second… we noticed a descrepency in the budget that, if corrected, would mean we have been in the black all along. The “other expenses” were shown as equally around $45 Million but then written in the summary as $99 Million. Did anyone else see this?
GTCO-ATL
September 11th, 2012
4:01 pm
By the way, comments and discussion are welcome on our website any time and we update our content almost daily. We are following all the issues surronding the board since they chose to rope us into this nightmare with the cell tower issue. We were forced out of our neighborhood school and we are still mad about it, so we welcome all who wish to bash, trash, dish and spill the truth, lies and rumors until we can get to the bottom of this mess and return our schools to what we have heard were at least decent enough to supply toilet paper and prevent children from being molested on the school bus, but even that sounds like a fairy tale of days gone by.
GTCO-ATL
September 11th, 2012
4:02 pm
w w w GETtheCELLoutATL dot ORG
DeKalb Teacher
September 12th, 2012
9:24 pm
Nancy Jester (http://whatsupwiththat.nancyjester.com/wp-admin/) is going public with everything regarding the SACS letter. She has released Dr Atkinson’s response to SACS along with her comments and the other board member’s input.
DeKalb Teacher
September 12th, 2012
9:34 pm
http://whatsupwiththat.nancyjester.com/ … that’ll work better … combined the URL from too many websites when cutting and pasting.
Dunwoody Mom
September 12th, 2012
10:10 pm
So, do you think we’ll see the responses of the other BOE members? Nah….
I am fairly certain we will see a SACS investigation come out of this as there is really no response Dr. Atkinson can give to such an open-ended letter from Elgart.
Dunwoody Mom
September 12th, 2012
10:12 pm
FWIW, Dr. Atkinson’s Response to SACS was sent out via DCSD K12 Alert Notification system.
John Hope
September 13th, 2012
12:08 am
I spoke with someone who wondered if Elgart is playing a game of chess with DeKalb. The thought is he knows Dr. Atkinson can’t ‘tell the whole truth’ about her bosses in a response, especially if they will review the response and comment before it is sent to SACS. He will look at her response, look at the information provided by members of the community, including Board members, then decide for a full investigation. The full investigation will result in the school district going on probation, allowing the governor to intervene.
If you believe in conspiracy theories, this is an interesting one.
Dunwoody Mom
September 13th, 2012
6:49 am
John, I’m not sure one has to believe in conspiracy theories to believe that Elgart is “playing chess with DeKalb”. This whole scenario is bizarre. Why would a letter which contains vague, at best, accusations against the BOE be addressed to Dr. Atkinson? Elgart is not a stupid man, he would have to know that her response would be exactly as her response was. How does Dr. Atkinson address accusations and situations when those are not spelled out in the letter from SACS?
I am going to view this as a hopeful sign that SACS is now going to do what they should have done 2 years ago and put this system on probation so that, perhaps, outside help can be given to the students of this school district.
Prof
September 13th, 2012
12:39 pm
@ Dekalbite, DeKalb Teacher, John Hope, Dunwoody Mom, et. al.
I live in Fulton County, so this situation doesn’t immediately concern me. But I’d like to know what you make of the 11:31 am news story that Superintendent Atkinson sent a letter Sept. 12 to SACS in which she “outlined 16 initiatives she’s taken since becoming superintendent less than a year ago to address budgetary, staffing and other issues.” How might this fit into the “chess game”?
First Time TV Board Meeting Watcher
September 13th, 2012
12:47 pm
How can the DCSS Board Chair continue to run the third largest school district in the state’s board meetings without even pretending to follow Roberts Rules. http://www.robertsrules.com/
Is there not a parliamentarian to shut these folks down when they are out of order? After the public comments the Board Chair, Dr. Walker admonished citizens about getting their facts straight. Dr. Walker even said no comments were allowed after public comments but that he had something to say. He went on to complain on and on then when he finished he said, “I rest my case.”
Last I checked the DCSS Board Room is not a court room and Dr. Walker is not lawyer.
This Board and particularly the Board Chair does not appear to know, understand or to be able to clearly articulate how funding sources specifically Title I and Title II are received, allocated and managed within school systems. There are really clear guidelines that are monitored at the local, state and federal level.
http://www2.ed.gov/programs/titleiparta/index.html
http://www2.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/esea02/pg19.html
DeKalb Teacher
September 13th, 2012
2:29 pm
Miss Management on DSW has a good take on Dr Atkinson’s response.
I’m curious to find out SACS’ real intentions. The rumblings for kicking SACS out have increased ever since the Clayton County debacle. Is Elgart trying to keep his job and play CYA or is he going to expend some political capital and help DeKalb Schools out?
Neither Atkinson nor Elgart named names in their respective letters. At least one BOE member will have to go if this ship is to be truly righted.
John Hope
September 13th, 2012
2:58 pm
@Prof, a good chess master can anticipate the moves their opponent will make, based on their move. I believe sending the letter to Dr. Atkinson was the first move by SACS. It wasn’t sent to the Board members. As I stated earlier, I believe SACS knew the kind of response they would get from Dr. Atkinson. I don’t think SACS believed how the response would be drafted would become a public conversation. Their pre-emptive counter move were the interviews with Elgart where he stated concerns about all nine Board members. He probably has documented evidence to support his allegations on most Board members.
Jester, McChesney and Speaks want the response to be discussed publicly. They stated this in their letter and put their comments on the response in the public domain. I see this as a challenge to other Board members to do the same. It will be interesting to see if other Board members do so. It will also be interesting to see the final letter that goes to SACS as this one is a draft.
I think the next move by SACS will be an investigation. I am assuming they have convincing evidence of possible misconduct by Board members. If this assumption is true, I believe the school district will be placed on probation, giving the governor an opportunity to intervene. This allows SACS to wash their hands of any further penalties. SB84 allows the governor to take action without the school district losing accreditation. Given the governor has his own challenges, it will be interesting to see if he takes action.
There are moves that will happen than are hard to predict given some of the unexpected moves that happened. I think this blog discussion is an unexpected move as more people as wondering about SACS intentions with the letter. Comments are still being posted one week after the AJC article. It will be interesting to see how this develops over the next few months.
Prof
September 13th, 2012
9:59 pm
Thanks to both Dekalb Teacher and John Hope. That link by Miss Management is certainly plausible. This also interests me because SACS oversees the USG accreditations, and I’ve always found it quite professional and solid. Interesting situation, especially when you’re not a DeKalb resident, I have to say.
Dunwoody Mom
September 14th, 2012
6:47 am
@ DeKalb Teacher, you wrote: Legal was saying that the BOE and/or DCSD as an organization can not take a position on the Charter School Amendment. Any individual can campaign until they are blue in the face like many BOE members did for esplost.
But yet, this week the Atlanta Public Schools Board of Education passed a resolution opposing the Charter School Amendment. All School Boards in Georgia must adhere to the same rules, so why was APS BOE able to pass a resolution when it supposed not allowed?
DeKalb Teacher
September 14th, 2012
11:05 am
@ Dunwoody Mom
Dr Walker, GSBA, Georgia PTA and many BOE reps across the state are profoundly against the charter amendment (separate convo if you disagree).
Dr Walker is very anxious for the DeKalb BOE to pass a resolution against the amendment. At this past BOE meeting on 9/10, the passage of this resolution was the last item on the agenda. When this item came up, a Sutherland lawyer stood up and asked that it be removed from the agenda. As previously explained by Sutherland regarding SPLOST IV, it is improper to use school resources to influence voters on these matters.
The Georgia School Boards Association has presented a resolution to school boards statewide. Gwinnett and a number of other school boards are using the GSBA as cover to pass the resolutions. I expect Dr Walker to do the same.
I’m no lawyer, but I’m going with Sutherland attorneys over GSBA on this one.
Dunwoody Mom
September 16th, 2012
5:10 pm
When this item came up, a Sutherland lawyer stood up and asked that it be removed from the agenda.
No, he actually ran down to the podium – I was watching the meeting online. Also, this item had been on the agenda for days. It was on the agenda when the agenda was adopted at the beginning of the meeting. Why wait until the last second to pull the item?
In my view, a Board of Education should have the right and duty to formally announce their opposition to legislation that will further erode the financial capabilities of a school district.
Dekalbite@Prof
September 16th, 2012
6:58 pm
“This also interests me because SACS oversees the USG accreditations, and I’ve always found it quite professional and solid.”
But the situations in DeKalb and APS would belie that belief. SACS is loath to criticize DeKalb which then puts students in an untenable situation. SACS should be about the quality of education for students – i.e. does the school system set the stage for student achievement. This is an organization that has lost credibility as they have not put the education of students as their focal point.