SACS to DeKalb: We’re coming next month.
In a letter today, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools informed DeKalb Schools that it intends to pay a site visit Oct. 17 -19 to address its ongoing concerns over governance and leadership and resource and support systems.
Addressed to Superintendent Cheryl Atkinson and signed by AdvancED president Mark Elgart, the letter states that while the school chief has outlined reforms under way in DeKalb, SACS remains concerned that the system’s problems “could have a significant, negative impact on the capacity of the system to realize the many improvements that are the focus of these initiatives. Consequently, AdvancED has determined that an on-site investigation is warranted and necessary to evaluate the adherence of the DeKalb County School District to to the Accreditation standards and/or practices.”
That review team will then recommend whether DeKalb’s accreditation status should be “continued accreditation, advised, warned, probation or dropped.”
The Elgart letter comes today in response to Atkinson’s contention that DeKalb is moving ahead on many of the agency’s concerns. The school system is “on advisement, ” a step below full accreditation.
In a letter sent to DeKalb on Aug. 28, SACS said it had received dozens of complaints from a broad spectrum of people in the county — parents, public officials and school staffers — who alleged everything from mishandling of the budget to undue board influence in hiring.
It was that letter that prompted a response from Atkinson on how the system was moving forward.
As the AJC reported:
Atkinson outlined 16 initiatives she’s taken since becoming superintendent less than a year ago to address budgetary, staffing and other issues that predate her tenure on the job. Fixes that are either under way or complete, she wrote, include: a still in-the-works forensic audit of the district’s financial records by the outside accounting firm KPMG; restructuring the central office; delivering a new curriculum in line with new common core standards, and establishing an internal legal affairs division to manage and reduce legal costs.
“We are working daily to make huge strides to sustain continuous improvement and to provide the best education possible for the students of DeKalb County, ” Atkinson wrote. “Progress is ongoing and we have not stopped working on any concerns. Some issues may take longer than others to resolve, but we are continuously striving to achieve excellence on all SACS standards.”
–From Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog
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84 comments Add your comment
Dunwoody Mom
September 18th, 2012
3:29 pm
Dr. Walker really, really doesn’t want an investigation….Things that make you go, Hmmmm.
School board chairman Eugene Walker said there is an obvious lack of collaboration on the board, but he said he sees no reason for an investigation.
So, it’s ust a “lack of collatoration” that has caused DCSD to be on a financial cliff? Right….
http://www.ajc.com/news/news/local-education/accreditation-agency-to-investigate-allegations-of/nSD2S/
Get Real
September 18th, 2012
3:59 pm
@Flabberghastedforsure you must have been RiFed or cut LOL.
Ernest
September 18th, 2012
4:17 pm
Dunwoody Mom, I found Dr. Walker’s comments ‘interesting’ however realized that as Board chair, he had to say that. To say otherwise would suggest he believes there has been Board misconduct. He’s been a Board member since late 2008, which covers most of the period of the utility expenses being under-budgeted. Though allegations have been made about his relatives that work for the school district, I don’t think any were hired after he became a Board member.
Take a look at Board Policies BH (Board Code of Ethics) and BHA (Board Member Conflict of Interest). I think these will be referenced during the investigation. They can be found at:
https://eboard.eboardsolutions.com/ePolicy/Listing.aspx?S=4054&Sch=4054&C=B
Maureen Downey
September 18th, 2012
4:20 pm
To all, The AJC has a new story up on the SACS letter. Here is an excerpt dealing with the board chair’s response:
Disgusted in Dekalb
September 18th, 2012
4:22 pm
@flabberghastedforsure, the Board didn’t want a strong leader.
bu2
September 18th, 2012
5:05 pm
@Ernest
We really need a nepotism policy. Everything must be disclosed (Walker keeps saying he doesn’t know of any-and he has a relative (?in-law) who works at the board meetings). And there should be a two year grandfather clause on anyone above teacher level. After that, either the board member or employee needs to leave.
Marney
September 18th, 2012
5:06 pm
Maureen So Atkinson returns your call and you are charmed. Then why has Ty never been allowed an interview with her? Maybe, just maybe, it is too important that you continue believing in the sanctity of local control…at least until the AJC has influenced as many voters as possible to vote no on the charter amendment come Novenber.
bu2
September 18th, 2012
5:09 pm
@Buggs
The best thing Gwinnett could do would be to give back the $100 million Dekalb gives them.
Its astounding to me that Dekalb is one of the biggest payers in school equalization and Gwinnett is the largest receiving county. That formula makes no sense. Its also circular. A higher tax rate indicates you have more ability to pay (one of the factors) and you have to have a higher tax rate because you are giving money to other counties. Gwinnett has a lower tax rate in part because they get $140 million in subsidies from the rest of the state. It makes no sense whatsoever.
Beverly Fraud
September 18th, 2012
5:13 pm
SACS; aren’t they the ones that just accredited the government of Somalia based on its “effective maritime management”?
Dunwoody Mom
September 18th, 2012
5:17 pm
@Ernest = Dr. Walker could and should have said what you said earlier…that we welcome the investigations…there have been too many distractions to the district’s job of educating our students, etc., etc.,
Flabberghasted4sure
September 18th, 2012
6:09 pm
@ get real, nope, neither applies. LOL
@ disgusted, BINGO!
Dr. John Trotter
September 18th, 2012
6:14 pm
I hope that no one thought that my earlier thoughts this morning were in defense of the DeKalb County Board of Education. I actually think that this school board and the school system appear pretty hopeless at this point…just like Atlanta’s. But, what did Zeus Mark Elgart and SACS do in Atlanta? Nothing. Nada. Not a darn thing. Why? Because the Big Mules apparently didn’t want ole Markie to do anything substantive. They just wanted him to get the irascible school board members who weren’t going along with Beverly Hall’s circus to fall back in line. What they (and their joke of a “blue ribbon” commission) didn’t take into account was Governor Sonny Perdue’s dandruff being raised by the Hall Administration’s arrogant and recalcitrant attitude. So, ole Sonny just lowered the boom on the Atlanta Public Schools (APS) and made it undergo a real investigation. We know what this uncovered…the biggest public school cheating scandal in the history of American Public Education, according to The New York Times. What did SACS do? Just sat on its thumb and looked stupid.
SACS won’t really do anything to DeKalb County either. Why not do something about the DeKalb School System’s flagrantly and egregiously violating the Grievance Law (OGCA 20-2-989.5 et seq.) or the Duty Free Lunch Law for elementary teachers (OCGA 20-2-218)? Why not do something about the unconscionable behavior of the students who often curse out teachers in front of all other students with apparent impunity? Or, what about the students’ assaults and batteries against the teachers? These things are conveniently swept under the rug while Zeus Mark Elgart piously and hypocritically prattles away about “collaboration” among school board members. I am currently reading Bob Woodward newly-released book, “The Price of Politics,” which is about the gargantuan struggle of the Democrats and the Republicans on Capitol Hill in their fights over the federal budget and how they interacted with the Obama White House. These were real fights…you know, like democracy ought to occur. There wasn’t much holding of hands and singing of Kum Ba Ya.
This “collaboration” standard is a joke. It takes away genuine debate. Debate among elected officials sharpens each side’s arguments and exposes them in the calcium light. I have no qualms about arguing and bickering on the school board. This is the American way, and I don’t know what planet Mark Elgart got off from thinking that everyone on the school board has to be exact replicas of Dale Carnegie and Amy Vanderbilt. I rather like the rascals like Hosea Williams and D. F. Glover. The problem that SACS apparently has with people like these are that the few and the select effete and elite who are not elected to anything but who really want to run everything behind the scenes (perhaps over grilled salmon and asparagus at the Piedmont Driving Club) don’t like these elected rascals. They are too irascible and pay no attention to this self-appointed gentry of Atlanta. SACS is a tool of these people. This is what is happening. It’s all about the money.
What is the difference between the Atlanta Board of Education and the DeKalb County Board of Education? The Royalty of Atlanta – those residing on Tuxedo or Habersham or West Paces Ferry – still have a modicum of influence in APS. These people don’t send their children to the Atlanta Public Schools; their children and grandchildren attend Westminster, Marist, and Pace. But, they are concerned about taxes and who gets the contracts with APS. The only Buckhead business who seems to be getting any good business from the DeKalb Board of Education is the King & Spalding Law Firm. It appears to be making millions defending the school board in a case which, if the school board had just worked out a negotiated settlement with the construction company over change orders, etc., perhaps it could have saved millions of dollars in legal fees. And, of course, the Alston & Bird Law Firm has made a few bucks defending former superintendent, Crawford Lewis. Now, ole Glenn Brock and his firm, Brock and Clay of Marietta, have gotten in on the act. It appears that everywhere SACS goes snooping around, Brock and Clay ends up with a legal contract with the school board. Does Glenn convince the school board members that he can get the school board off the hook with SACS? Hmm.
You guys have heard me say this until you are probably sick of me saying it: It’s all about the money. It’s about who controls the money…who gets the very lucrative contracts. I don’t think that SACS gives a rat’s behind about any kid living off Candler Road going to Toney or Tilson Elementary Schools. And, to tell you the unvarnished truth, it ain’t any business of Mark Elgart and his phony and private (with absolutely no accountability to the voters of Georgia) organization that is little more than a union for superintendents and a tool of the self-perceived and Sea Island-hopping “gentry” of Georgia who the voters of Covington Highway, Redan Road, or Dresden Drive vote for as their school board members. If they talk and squawk and stand on their heads and spit nickels, this is done with the imprimatur or opprobrium of the voters of DeKalb County. Mark Elgart, SACS, and the Governor’s Office need to butt out of the DeKalb County School Board’s business…just as it needs to butt out of the business of all school boards. The voters in a democracy will hold their elected officials accountable, and if you don’t like this set-up, then you need to openly and transparently call for a return to the earlier days when appointed grand juries appointed school board members (and in many counties and cities, the superintendents too). I much prefer a messy, loud, inefficient and perhaps hilarious democracy than trust my money or my future or the future of my children in the hands of an oligarchy which apparently thinks that it has some divine right to rule over the “common” man because it was fortuitously born in “the lucky sperm club.”
Call Me Missouri
September 18th, 2012
7:03 pm
We have been down this path before. SACS came, blew some smoke, and nothing changed. I think things actually worsened because SACS did nothing, so the BOE and super felt like they could continue to rob and cheat the children and employees (not Friends and Family)of this school district without impunity.
I will believe that SACS is going to do something when I see it on the news, when certain BOE members are sitting on the curb of Mountain Industrial in front of the palace, when we are no longer paying for two superintendents, or funding the Friends and Family Plan, and indictments are handed out like candy on Halloween to those so truly deserving to join C-Lew at the local jail. I just hope this visit will prompt long overdue action by the state and the DeKalb District Attorney to thoroughly investige what has gone on for YEARS now and continues to happen right now.
bootney farnsworth
September 18th, 2012
7:07 pm
@ Bernard
get a life. quickly
bootney farnsworth
September 18th, 2012
7:09 pm
the only people who profit from a SACS visit is Home Depot’s paint department
AnonMom
September 18th, 2012
7:26 pm
the “elite” in Dekalb send their kids to the same private schools that the “elite” in APS send theirs to… the “influence” isn’t quite as strong because the voices have been silenced. There are not as many businesses in Dekalb to infulence the policies either… APS has the “benefit” of having many more businesses present than does APS so they have a louder voice. As the DSW blog screamed about the millions being spent on attorneys and the unaccounted for budget items, and the lack of an audit being published and produced, those who favor “friends and family” stood idly by and let it happen. SACS is comlicit — it recieves hundreds of thousands of dollars each year to accredit and to consult with the system. I can’t fathom why it likes “collaboration” and “agreement” — that works in homogenous environments — when you have a large, urban system, that spells “FAIL” — you have no hope for success becasue the board isn’t going to be homogenous, the students aren’t , so the policies aren’t — you need discord in order to discuss and to reach positve outcomes for positve growth — all “entiteis” have disagreement — it’s how they’re handled that is “enlightening” — not that they don’t happen — that’s “Stepford” — not a billion dollar system of any sort. Again — who is looking after the taxpayer’s money and the school kids? Why is it that nowhere on the “radar screen” is the actual quality of the education that has taken place for there to be an issue of “accredidation?” Where is the state? Where are the feds? in all of the discussions of “should the feds be involved” and “who should pay” why is no one asking about why we are spending so much unaccounted for money in such a fashion without any “check” or “balance” in such a manner? Again, foxes guarding the hen house in such a way to siphon off as much money as possible and in no way actually looking to actually educate the children.
Dunwoody Mom
September 18th, 2012
7:33 pm
Shoudn’t we have a better idea of “where all of the money” when the KPMG audit is complete? Will this audit be complete enough to determine if financial malfeasance has taken place?
Dunwoody Mom
September 18th, 2012
7:34 pm
sorry, s/b “where all of the money went”.
Janey
September 18th, 2012
8:07 pm
@Bootney, I want more of your comments. I wish you would do a blog. I always look for your posts. SACS is visiting Georgia Perimeter College NEXT WEEK and there has been no news coverage at all. Perimeter is the third largest institution in the university system and there’s nothing about the visit. The audit was supposed to be out in late August and we haven’t heard anything. Is the university system holding it back until after the SACS visit? Good luck Chancellor Huckaby. Here’s a link to the start of a series of articles with Dr. Tricoli – http://www.championnewspaper.com/news/articles/1961ousted-georgia-perimeter-president-discusses-legacy–1961.html
Dr. John Trotter
September 18th, 2012
8:14 pm
Don’t put too much faith the audits of the big audit firms. They tend to find what they know that their bosses (those who hired them) want them to find. This is a ruse too. Remember Arthur Andersen and ENRON?
The Deal
September 18th, 2012
9:25 pm
Call Me Missouri, that was perfect.
bu2
September 18th, 2012
9:42 pm
@Dr. Trotter
What messy discussion? That’s the problem at DCSS. Its just like APS. The power brokers quietly make decisions behind the scenes (or leak info to AJC) while the non-power broker board members do next to nothing. And of course, the board members are incompetent. Thank goodness Roberts, Bowen, Womack and McChesney are gone, or soon to be gone. But we still have Woods & Cunningham, the two most embarrassing ones. Elder seems to be in over her head and Walker is just interested in who gets the money.
@bu2
September 18th, 2012
10:22 pm
Melvin Johnson was just elected to replace Bowen. The electoral district lines just redrawn ensured he could run to replace Bowen as he opted out of the BOE to run for a DeKalb commissioner position. Johnson is a retired Deuty Superintendent supported by the south DeKalb power brokers. He was and is an insider who will ensure the status quo of family and friends.
Disgusted in Dekalb
September 19th, 2012
12:19 am
I too would welcome a Bootney Blog!!!
Beverly Fraud
September 19th, 2012
6:17 am
I can see, based on the above post, why Mark Elgart appears to want no part of a legitimate debate on the role on SACS or its potentially damaging effects on public education in this country.
concernedmom30329
September 19th, 2012
6:18 am
@bu2 is on the money with his assessment. I fear that expectations are too high for the new board members. Did anyone read the article in the AJC on Sunday about county commissions around the state and how much money commissioners are spending on staff and their expense accounts? DeKalb commissioners spent the most per resident than any other county in the metro area. DeKalb as a county is a mess.
specialneedsmom
September 19th, 2012
7:27 am
I’ve made several calls and sent numerous emails on. Shalt of the special needs students in DCSS. They are continuously violating the IDEA Act and some administrators have falsified do uments and lied on the record at Student Relations. I contacted an attorney and the Office of Civil Rights. I pray they address the service delivery of special education as well as the illegal disciplinary practices against special needs children. Gross civil rights violations occur in the district daily.
AnonMom
September 19th, 2012
8:39 am
I understand that to belong to NB, the members must use pay roll deductions for 10-15% of their salaries — if this is true — then any member with a county or school position had that percent of their salaries, automatically forwarded to that entity — I understand that this may have been going on for the past 4-6 (or more) years… while the salaries of these employees had been artificially inflated (by a lot over and above market during a recession)… this where money could have been walking and the power structure maintains power and influence… but it’s hard to track. Long has a network of 150 or so churches… so it’s complex but it takes unwinding by someone interested but it would be quite interesting and not uncovered so quickly by a big-8 (or 4) audit but needs other types of investigation….. (e.g. I also understand that no other entity received the same treatment).
Dunwoody Mom
September 19th, 2012
1:50 pm
OT, but Maureen, you’ve probably seen those tweets from the GABOE re: State Education Finance Study Commission…apparently school districts receive $15.00 per student that goes to Central Office Staff – I had no idea. The commission has passed a proposal that this would go away and move those funds into technology.
If I understand this, DCSD was receiving over a million dollars from the state for Central Office staffing?
Dekalb worker
September 20th, 2012
12:39 pm
Dr. Atkinson doesn’t know what she is doing! How can you take race to the top money and pay for principals to get a PH.D, which means they will get a raise also. On one end you say there isn’t enough money to pay for teachers and bus drivers, and then you give bonuses to administrators and pay for them to go back to school. She has done nothing to help the county since she has been in office. I thought she would help make a difference; however I am sadly disappointed by her leadership. Every person on the board should be replaced, including Atkinson. I say DeKalb teachers take a note from those in Chicago. If Atkinson can hire family members then why can’t she pay bus drivers, counselors and teachers their appropriate salaries?
fedup
September 20th, 2012
9:07 pm
What is sad is that we allow abuse at higher levels to take place. From incompetent district officials such as the superintendent and board members to incompetent principals who never come out of their offices but strut around like peacocks. It is a shame that this atrocity is done at the expense of chidren who are culturally and educationally deprived. DeKalb has many teachers who are capable of leading the county, but they will never get the opportunity to lead. It was the largest punch in the face when Atkinson stated on the news that those already with degrees in DeKalb were incapable of leading the county. Soon there will not be a competent teacher left because most of the good teachers are trying to leave the county in groves. She is sifting out and what will be left will be those that can’t leave but whose hearts will be somewhere else. How can she find money for what she wants to implement, but has no words or consideration for teachers whose pay has been severed at her control. I hear she is afraid to come to work that she works from disclosed places, yet she continues to make poor decisions backed by the board. What a waste and a shame. I am also disappointed in the level of professionalism displayed in Atkinson’s inability to communicate effectively. Rewatch the news from yesterday and you will agree. Why do prfessionals have to learn from secondary sources what directly affects their lives. This situation is just as worse than the previous administration. Atkinson has butchered this county. Everyday we watch the news in fear that something else has happened that is critical to our lives. God help us soon.
Katie
September 21st, 2012
9:58 am
Shame on DeKalb…If they are being reviewed for financial mismanaged why would the superintendent unfairly offer free education to only 8 people and not to the entire staff? There is so much favoritism in DeKalb. There are 4 people in accounting that are relatives. The principals hire their relatives all around the school. It is hard to tell because they use their maiden name. You will never get a fair interview in DeKalb because family and friends already fill jobs that are posted. They hired teachers that were friends without a valid license, some of the teachers have not passed the required teacher test.
Fred in DeKalb
September 21st, 2012
8:53 pm
Katie, who are the teachers hired without proper credentials? You should report this to the PSC right away so this can be addressed. Our children’s education is at stake. Surely you want to rectify this right away for the sake of the children.
Fred in DeKalb
September 21st, 2012
8:55 pm
Dekalb worker, what family members of Atkinson have been hired? There are nepotism policies in place to prevent this. Please provide this information to the media so she can be exposed for violating policies.