DeKalb school chief releases audit to the public. Read it and let’s discuss
UPDATED Wednesday morning: As promised, Dr. Atkinson has posted the audit. Go here to read it.
UPDATE at 3:30: I just spoke to DeKalb Superintendent Cheryl Atkinson who says she plans to release the forensic audit on the district website within the next 24 hours or sooner. She explained that the audit is only a draft and subject to change. She said she is overriding the attorney’s view that the document is privileged in its draft form since it already has been leaked to the media.
Atkinson said her goal was never to keep the audit from the public. She is sending the draft audit to board members now and then will post. She wants parents to understand that this is only a draft from the auditors and changes may be made.
Parents in DeKalb County Schools are among the most dissatisfied in metro Atlanta, in large part because of a string of ineffective leaders, one of whom ended up in indicted.
New school chief Cheryl Atkinson arrived a year ago and cast herself as a change agent. She pledged a new era of openness, but the failure of her administration to release a much anticipated forensic audit undermines all her promises of transparency.
I am not sure why public officials continue to evade the state’s open records law, as they usually lose when challenges are mounted.
I also noted that the county is losing its law firm. AJC reporter Ty Tagami reports: The DeKalb County school board voted Monday to hunt for a new lawyer after learning that general counsel Sutherland Asbill & Brennan had resigned.
I would suggest DeKalb look for a lawyer who knows and understands the open record laws. I would also suggest that DeKalb Schools release the audit to its taxpayers or expect increasing suspicions and an even greater lack of confidence in Atkinson and her administration.
A long-awaited forensic audit has been delivered to the DeKalb County school system, and it may help explain why officials there have had to cut so deeply in the classroom.
Some of the central office staff eliminations the school board ordered in 2010 were not carried out, the audit says. For that and other reasons, the system wound up paying $20 million more than budgeted for central office salaries in fiscal year 2010 and $29 million more the next year, according to the audit, which was obtained by Channel 2 Action News.
District officials refused to release the document, which is labeled as a draft addressed to Superintendent Cheryl Atkinson, Thursday. System spokesman Jeff Dickerson refused to comment, saying the audit was exempt from public disclosure under a part of the law that holds accountants’ work as “privileged.”
An expert on Georgia’s open-records law, however, said DeKalb has no legal right to keep the audit from the public.
“The code section pertaining to an accountant’s notes does not trump the state open-records act,” said Hollie Manheimer, executive director of the Georgia First Amendment Foundation. “In this case, the audit given to the client — a public school system — should be disclosed.”
The audit, which was produced by the firm KPMG and leaked to Channel 2 Action News, says the board ordered the elimination of 150 central office positions in May 2010 for an expected savings of $11.5 million. Records from the school system’s finance and human resources departments differ about how many of those jobs were actually cut. Of 109 people listed by human resources as laid off, 56 remained on the payroll in different jobs, either because they were rehired or reassigned, the audit says.
The 31-page document notes plenty of other issues, including excessive fees for a line of credit, the way money was transferred between accounts and how retirees got watches and who paid for them.
Amy Trocci, a mother from Tucker with three children in the system, said she has suspected for years that mandatory central office cuts weren’t happening. Instead, she said, officials have cut teachers. “I don’t think there’s a school in the county that isn’t feeling the pain now,” she said. She said she wants ongoing oversight of spending rather than an occasional audit.
–From Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog
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169 comments Add your comment
Mountain Man
November 13th, 2012
7:32 am
Can’t cut those “friends and family”. The reason they don’t want to release the report yet is because it contains damning evidence,and they have to get their stories straight before they release it to the public.
So the school board ordered cuts to be made and the administrators didn’t do it. That would fall under the category of “gross insubordination” to me, which should result in immediate termination. If my boss told me to do something, and I deliberately refused to do it; I would be fired immediately when he found out.
Entitlement Society
November 13th, 2012
7:34 am
Why would any self-respecting teacher want to work in this system? What a sham. Talk about priorities being out of whack. In DeKalb it seems to be #1 – Admin #2 – Admin, and so on… Where do teachers and their students fit in?
Mountain Man
November 13th, 2012
7:34 am
Let’s see, we have to make cuts – should we cut administrators or should we cut teachers – the ones who are on the front lines of education. Easy decision – let’s get rid of teachers. Can’t have too many Generals.
Gifted Girl
November 13th, 2012
7:36 am
As a parent of two children in the school, a former high school mathematics teacher in the county, and as an alum of the Lithonia High School in DeKalb County, I cannot tell how disgusted I am by the current state of affairs in DeKalb. I do not understand why it is that this school system cannot seems to remember that the students come first. That they are in the “business” of educating kids. Its seems that the new superintendent is instead of being the “change agent” she touted herself to be is “more of the same” that we’ve had over the past 10 years or so. How a system can go from one of the good ones to one of the worst ones in this short span of time is just beyond me. I sincerely wish that everyone would JUST GET OVER THEMSELVES!!!!!! Its about the kids.
Mountain Man
November 13th, 2012
7:36 am
“Where do teachers and their students fit in?”
At the bottom, of course. If the Board of Education does not fire every administrator, then the State needs to remove the entire Board and another needs to be voted in.
Retired Teacher
November 13th, 2012
7:37 am
Why is anyone remotely surprised at this?
This is the type of thing that teachers have been stating on this bloc for a LONG time now. Administrators are protected creatures. Teachers and those who have direct contact with students such as parapros are expendable.
Mountain Man
November 13th, 2012
7:39 am
In a way it still is the fault of the Board of Education. When they ordered the central office cuts, did they insist on having a list of the people cut and make sure that their orders were carried out?
Dunwoody Mom
November 13th, 2012
7:50 am
Everytime we think the School District can’t sink any lower, they do. Of course, the SACS report is due soon, so we may be in for another “jolt”.
The school district might as well go ahead and release before they are paying further legal fees in fighting an Open Records request. Dr. Atkinson is violating the law in this case.
Principal Skinner
November 13th, 2012
8:03 am
It’s so cute that some people actually believe that things will start changing now. Bless your hearts, but sorry, nothing is going to change in DeKalb. It will only get worse. Liberals can’t believe that a school system, run by liberals, is a COMPLETE FAILURE and thusly, will not push for accountability
Lee
November 13th, 2012
8:10 am
“System spokesman Jeff Dickerson refused to comment, saying the audit was exempt from public disclosure under a part of the law that holds accountants’ work as “privileged.””
As a CPA, I am not aware of any law that provides for the work of an accountant to be “privileged” in a case such as this. The only time I have conducted privileged work was at the direction of an attorney, in which case, the work was privileged under the “Attorney Work Product Doctrine”. There are some Accountant/Client privileges with regards to tax advice, but those privileges are very narrow in scope.
That said, the CPA is bound by Accounting Standards, which prohibits the disclosure of client information except under certain situations. Those standards are similar to the teacher standards of not disclosing student information.
The district, as the customer of the CPA, is free to disclose the information at will.
Or, in this case, they are free to obfuscate and wind up in court in an open records request. Hey, it’s only taxpayer money….
alm
November 13th, 2012
8:10 am
I thought they had 2 law firms already.
Even if the state took over and a new board was voted in I don’t know that we would get a better one. Sadly, DeKalb voters don’t have a good track record when it comes to the BOE.
Lynn43
November 13th, 2012
8:17 am
Principal, This has nothing to do with liberals. I’m (I guess you could call) a liberal, but if I were the superintendent, I would solve this problem, pronto. I’ve been in every area of education for 62 years and would jerk the “bejesus” out of this train wreck. Maybe I should apply to be superintendent.
Attentive Parent/Invisible Serfs Collar
November 13th, 2012
8:37 am
Much like Beverly Hall, the Central Office administrators understand just how much curriculum and instructional practices are being driven by political considerations. The model is supposed to be life employment as long as the desired policies are implemented. Policies that have nothing to do with education in the traditionally understood sense and everything to do with reimagining a radically different American society.
Must then protect those with the scheming blueprints from the ire of the taxpayers. Taxes to fund an Insurrection is just not a good PR strategy.
sneak peak into education
November 13th, 2012
8:44 am
The parents and teachers in Dekalb should blitz call the head office and demand that the audit is released. Dekalb County Board of Educ and Cheryl Atkinson are only furthering the damage to the school district.
Centrist
November 13th, 2012
8:53 am
Administration in public school systems ALWAYS trump the front line when cuts are necessary. Most teachers aspire to move to the cushy and protected administrative arm – for good reason.
The audit won’t be (officially) released until there is too much pressure not to release it – but the leaks, the obvious reluctance to release, and common knowledge tell the sad story. Cronyism/business as usual.
Dunwoody Mom
November 13th, 2012
8:53 am
I had real concerns when the hiring of Dr. Atkinson was announced. Many of us voiced those concerns to BOE members – several who publicly ridiculed us for our concerns. Sadly, guess who was right?
I had hoped that Dr. Atkinson could make good on her “new day in DeKalb”. But, all we have is same ole, same old.
Bill & Ed's Excellent Adventure
November 13th, 2012
8:58 am
The AJC is getting a bit sensational on DCSS, but it’s pretty troubling that the system has been in crisis mode for like four years now. There’s definitely damage control going on if Jeff Dickerson doesn’t have some smooth, dismissive comment to make. I almost threw up when I saw him on the GA Gang last month dismissing parents who were upset about the calendar change. Conflict of interests much Jeff?
Dear Jeff and Sup. Atkinson, you have serious transparency issues and that’s just one of Dekalb’s smaller problems…
bootney farnsworth
November 13th, 2012
9:04 am
its really very simple. DCSS is engaging in a game of chicken, happy in the knowledge that 99 times out of 100 the public will blink. experience has taught them if they can keep dancing long enough, the public will be distracted by something shiny.
bootney farnsworth
November 13th, 2012
9:06 am
why doesn’t the AJC sue for the release?
APS pensions......Really!
November 13th, 2012
9:14 am
Maureen….could you check into this?
Looks like Atlanta Board of Education’s pension fund is one of the worst funded plans in the US. So what does that mean for APS moneywise. Money somewhere has to pay for this underfunding…or the fund goes belly-up…. and soon if it’s only around 17% funded.
http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2012/11/the-20-worst-funded-government-pension.html
Atlanta Board of Education Fund–only 17.4% funded.
Once Again
November 13th, 2012
9:17 am
I just want to believe, I just have to believe, everything just has to be ok with the prisons/schools I send my children to everyday otherwise I would have to take personal responsibility for the poor decisions I have made regarding their education, the blind faith I have put into this failed system, and the undying support I continue to have for a system that has brought american children from the highest global rankings to below some third world countries.
So they want to believe? And what if the report shows exactly what everyone knows…that DeKalb schools are a complete failure? After the gnashing of teeth, the cries for “investigations”, the calls for “reform”, virtually every parent will gleefully put their child back on the prison bus the next morning and continue to “believe” that the education/indoctrination they are getting is ok.
The smart ones of course have already pulled their kids out and are homeschooling them or doing what it takes to afford a private school choice.
Tucker Guy
November 13th, 2012
9:26 am
I have observed that Dekalb County Schools under Dr. Atkinson either ignore open records requests or make up ridiculous costs to prevent the filer from continuing. Go read what the response was to the Dekalb School Watch II open records request about how many administrators get cars. They won’t end up in court fighting one.
My question is why doesn’t the AJC ever follow up on information forwarded to Ty about issues that are current? The malfeasance stories are always about past years.
Why not a story about how special education students were left without services during testing?
Why no stories about how some high school classes has over 50 students in them (some sitting on the floor) for over a month?
Why no mention of the hiring freeze when there are schools with no special education teachers to serve the students?
concernedmom30329
November 13th, 2012
9:27 am
The question is — what are they hiding. The AJC has the report and I would hope that they and WSB would go line by line and look for every smoking gun there is. The information already released is both damming and mind boggling. However, references to irregularities in the purchasing policy are probably a bigger issue for whomever was a beneficiary of those purchases.
I suspect that Atkinson is reluctant to hold anyone accountable.
Mountain Man
November 13th, 2012
9:28 am
“The smart ones of course have already pulled their kids out and are homeschooling them or doing what it takes to afford a private school choice.”
And now have the choice of creating a charter school as an end run around the failing DeKalb School System.
Pardon My Blog
November 13th, 2012
9:28 am
I opposed the hiring of Atkinson, have called for a complete dismissal of all BoE members and have said that it is time for the State to step in and reorganize and run the system until intelligent and qualified people are found to run it. It would also not be such a bad idea to split the system into two smaller systems. I would like to see the audit results before (1) they have a chance to “tweak” the results and (2) they accidently “lose” it!
Snuffy Smith
November 13th, 2012
9:34 am
Maybe the problem is with the School Board. If rotating “superintendents” isn’t doing the job, maybe we’re rotating the wrong folks.
Erica Long
November 13th, 2012
9:40 am
Are we still supposed to be surprised that the Charter School referendum passed overwhelmingly in DeKalb?
Bryce
November 13th, 2012
9:44 am
Why doesn’t the AJC print where the administrators received their degrees from. Most of these administrators have degrees from third tier levels if they actually exist.
Clean house.
bu2
November 13th, 2012
9:49 am
Lee is right. There is no accountant privilege.
They are probably hiding it to protect board members and Tyson (is she STILL on the payroll?) from embarrassment.
Atkinson should terminate anyone who deliberately flouted board policy, not that I expect that.
indigo
November 13th, 2012
9:50 am
They could release the audit.
But it’s easier to:
1. Layoff more teachers
2. Raise property taxes
3. Continue, along with their “friends and family” to sit on their fat rearends, do just a little work and collect large salaries.
I’ll let you guess which is most likely to happen.
Lynn43
November 13th, 2012
9:51 am
The best suggestion so far has been to divide the system. It is too large. Much better results will come from 2 or 3 smaller systems.
bu2
November 13th, 2012
9:51 am
Dekalb actually seems to have been reasonably receptive to charter schools. If they were going to fight them, they would never have allowed the Museum School in Avondale.
George
November 13th, 2012
9:56 am
This is a dam but Look at the facts something is wrong here this is just a dam SHAME .If someone is stealing please put their ass in JAIL.
Dr. John Trotter
November 13th, 2012
9:57 am
@ Dunwoody Mom: SACS won’t do anything but huff and puff with DeKalb. Heck, look at Atlanta…worst cheating scandal in American public education, according to The New York Times, and Mark Elgart and SACS did essentially NOTHING. SACS is a joke. A complete hoax.
bu2
November 13th, 2012
9:57 am
And the question becomes-Why did the legal counsel quit? Was the school district asking them to do something unethical? Or were they involved in something unethical already? Or is the school district wanting to do something unethical and forced them to resign? Its unusal for a law firm to walk away from a big contract.
bu2
November 13th, 2012
9:59 am
This is another example of the incompetency of the school board. Why weren’t they insisting on answers as to why the district was over budget?
Dunwoody Mom
November 13th, 2012
10:03 am
@bu2 – those were my questions. Why would a law firm walk away from $3 milllion/year contract before the contract has even expired? There’s just a whole lot we don’t know. And knowing what we do know, that thought is oh, so scary.
Disgusted in Dekalb
November 13th, 2012
10:07 am
And what is one of SACS’ biggest complaints about the DCSS board? That it asks too many questions of the school system. The opponents of the charter school amendment warned that it would take “local control” away from the parents and taxpayers. This type of financial mismanagement and lack of transparency has gone on for years, with board members either too incompetent to discern it or committed to perpetuating it (Nancy Jester excepted). We have no control, which is why we overwhelmingly supported the charter amendment.
Private Citizen
November 13th, 2012
10:19 am
This is a pertinent and excellent approach to things, focusing on audit. Impressive. Thank you.
One of things I learned from Harvard forum video on New Orleans charterization is that there are excellent and capable outside consultant firms who are expert at analyzing events and doing “audit.” It would make a lot more sense for the state DOE to be commissioning the services of outside firms to audit or otherwise analyze the management structure of a school district. Expecting a county school system to do an audit and them publish their findings seems problematic in several ways. Doing it from the state level would also restore some mission to the state DOE in place of their redelivering initiatives from afar and then doing this sort of auto-fronting auto-marketing for these same initiatives, i.e. saturation testing, NCLB, RTTT etc.
The main conclusion of the Harvard discussion video on charterization of New Orleans schools is that state-level audit is the most important thing. This is what they arrived at after an hour of discussion covering many topics.
________________
Meanwhile, if there is an existent audit of Dekalb County schools, yes, absolutely, the document should be public. When did school districts get the idea that they could play hide-the-document? It seems many do this sort of sociopathic forgetting that they work in a government structure, not private business. Their finance documents are the property of the public and should be viewed on demand. Why is the public waiting on this information? Does Private Citizen have to drive to the courthouse and spend $50. to sue them to release their audit?
The real story is that this needs to be done from the state level, and that there are excellent companies available to be hired for this type of analysis.
Private Citizen
November 13th, 2012
10:21 am
That’s real leadership, to draw some clear lines and get things done according to principle.
Private Citizen
November 13th, 2012
10:24 am
bu2 This is another example of the incompetency of the school board. Why weren’t they insisting on answers as to why the district was over budget?
Surely you jest. I know a guy who did some time in a no-fence country-club federal prison. He said everybody in there “didn’t do it.”
Private Citizen
November 13th, 2012
10:30 am
I think the SACS regulation method of K-12 is peculiar and obsolete. If they were running a shipyard, half their ships would be sinking. I think we need some “marine services” from the state level, old school chain of command, write policy and follow the law. The current system is that the state are propaganda delivery artists and they have a side company to ride soft over the mess. Must be nice to subcontract your responsibilities and then put the golf clubs in the trunk on the way out the driveway. There are likely outside organizations who have influenced this existent system that has basically removed boundaries of states doing their own housekeeping.
John Konop
November 13th, 2012
10:37 am
It is sad because the district has a lot of potential via the location. This district could transform itself with a proper plan and I would suggest the following:
1) Team up with college and tech schools in the area to create the best joint enrolment options in the state
Create a home school/public school option
2) Team up with colleges an use a creative intern model for tutoring and classrooms
3) Ask for waivers for No Child Left behind 4 year college and out requirements
4) Team up with the business community for internship/jobs for high school students
5) Create a co-op volunteer program with community and parents to help with mentoring kids and cleaning up the schools
6) Create a mentoring program with vibrant business community in DeKalb
7) Create a special at risk pool of students and seek volunteer help with the above groups and use the media to help promote the program
Shar
November 13th, 2012
10:48 am
For a change, the Board is not directly accountable for this latest outrage. With that in mind, the entire Board should immediately order the release of this audit and, if it does indeed show that Atkinson and her administration insubordinately disregarded the direct order of the Board, she should be put on a probationary status right away along with her cabinet, with terminations beginning in 30 days if the layoff numbers are not met.
It’s a rare chance for the Board to show strong action in cleaning up a problem for which they are not at fault. Seize it!
RCB
November 13th, 2012
10:49 am
Dr. Atkinson has to go. She is no more competent than the 2 or 3 preceding her. Her previous record is not sterling, so WHY was she selected? I think we ran out of candidates and she was the last one standing.
Ernest
November 13th, 2012
10:53 am
Lee’s comments intrigued me so I decided to ask a contracts lawyer for their opinion. Given the article above, their opinion is the school district is not obligated ‘at this point’ to release the audit because it is still a draft. Once it becomes final, without question it should be made available to the public. This contracts lawyer is not familiar of GA law with respect to opens records and drafts so take that into consideration also. They also commented that though the media has a ‘leaked’ copy, they are under no obligation to share it.
I’m not surprised by the initial findings. It will be interesting to find out the justification given to not reduce personnel levels. Did some people retire unexpectedly and those that were scheduled to be RIF’d take some of those positions or did Board members get involved in personnel decisions after making a public vote to reduce headcount?
Returning DCSS Parent
November 13th, 2012
10:54 am
@John Konop
I like the way you think. Your suggestions are excellent and can be implemented with very little disturbance to the teachers or students. Of, course, your thinking is logical and ethical so DCSS would totally disregard your suggestions. We need answers from DCSS and we need them NOW!
Although Dr. Atkinson was not the superintendent in 2010, she should find out who is responsible for not making the required cuts to the budget and they need to explain why they didn’t make the cuts or pack their things and move on to another job, not in DCSS. I am fed up with the ineptitude and obvious disregard for the taxpayers of DeKalb County. This kind of crap is why I voted yes for the charter school amendment. Our children deserve better!!!
DunMoody
November 13th, 2012
10:54 am
bu2: yes, DeKalb has approved charters, including conversion charters like Peachtree Charter Middle School, but they do not allow the charters to utilize the autonomy written and approved into the documents. One of many reasons I supported the Charter amendment was to have a recourse available to charters laboring under the punitive and exploitative DeKalb School District administration.
The Deal
November 13th, 2012
10:55 am
This school system is like an episode of “Infested”. Even when they do hire an exterminator, sometimes the family just has to walk away and let the rodents or insects or snakes have the house.
At this point, I am done focusing on our board and administrators. Obviously they are like drug addicts, addicted to our tax money and fully aware that no agency or official has any power to do anything to them. Nothing is going to fix them.
I remain appalled that our state legislators do not at least try to do more to remedy this situation legislatively. They claim they will be outvoted by their rural counterparts who have an inferiority complex with respect to the metro counties, but at least get an attempt on the books. The constitution needs to be amended to allow for smaller school districts. There needs to be a parent trigger law for schools and school systems. There need to be laws in place to require annual audits. Public schools should no longer be funded by property taxes.
Any or all of these would send the rats who have made their nest at Mountain Industrial go scurrying to another state that coddles its local school systems like we do now.
Concernedmom30329
November 13th, 2012
11:03 am
Ernest
Your logic doesn’t work — if someone retired and someone else stepped in, then a position would still be eliminated. There was no reduction in salaries and probably no real reduction in force.
Private Citizen
November 13th, 2012
11:08 am
sometimes the family just has to walk away and let the rodents or insects or snakes have the house.
Ugh, no.
Bill & Ed's Excellent Adventure
November 13th, 2012
11:11 am
It’s important to point out that Atkinson inherited all of this…I’m not really thrilled by her, but it’s going to take longer than a year to clean up the mess that is DCSS. I assume Tyson was supposed to implement these cuts to the Central Office, especially since she gave herself a nice pay bump. Atkinson isn’t helping her cause by waiting to release this and trying to hide the reality of Central Office bloat from the public. Unfortunately, these festering issues were caused by the Lewis adminstration and continue to fester under Atkinson.
catlady
November 13th, 2012
11:11 am
Why didn’t this come to light before the election, so that those who are NOT providing the leadership a school board is supposed to provide could be summarily dismissed by the voters? Ms. Downey, can you get a date for this audit?
Ernest
November 13th, 2012
11:12 am
Concernedmom30329, you are right, that logic does not work. The easiest way to determine if reductions were made would be to look at the salary and benefits actuals month by month. There should have been a 2-3 million dollar difference from June to July, assuming an overall wage reduction of 24-36 million dollars annually. After that, one should look at a month to month comparison, this year versus last year. I wonder if Board members have the ability to review this?
Disgusted in Dekalb
November 13th, 2012
11:19 am
Maureen, you refer to “parents” in your heading (assuming that you write your own headings), but the mismanagement and failure of the Dekalb County School System affects everyone in the county, particularly property owners, and should be of keen interest to us all.
Beverly Fraud
November 13th, 2012
11:21 am
From Erica Long
Are we still supposed to be surprised that the Charter School referendum passed overwhelmingly in DeKalb?
Given that DeKalb is a charter (no pun intended) member of The Four Horsemen of the Incompetence it’s no surprise at all.
WTF
November 13th, 2012
11:22 am
BOE hires 3 bad Superintendents in a row. Nothing changes.
catlady
November 13th, 2012
11:25 am
Also, how about a look at who was kept, perhaps by moving them into another position, and those persons relationships to board members, etc. I am betting we might just find that some in positions to be eliminated were moved and kept on because they are family members or close associates of family members of board members. After all, that is how it seems to work in Dekalb.
Private Citizen
November 13th, 2012
11:26 am
At the risk of being wordy, the Atkinson lady seems like a nice person for running “education” side of things, but this may be a different territory than doing large scale financial control / analysis. A lot of managers (principals) are in this dilemma. Education care and nurture on my side of the fence, heavy budget / finance responsibility on the other side of the fence. It might make more sense to separate the two and have the state / outside audit making the call on structural budgeting, organization structure. Similarly, regional Georgia graduate schools of education seem to have zero emphasis on analysis of greater management, avoid the topic, redirect students with this interest. Better to have them whip up some cream pie of Dewey or somesuch. A lot safer for a state university.
Ernest
November 13th, 2012
11:47 am
Clarifying my comment at 11:12, comparing June to July would catch the reductions in 10-11 month staffers, comparing July to August would catch the reductions in 12 month staffers.
K From Da Wood
November 13th, 2012
11:58 am
We can thank the HS parents from the 2001-03 era! When the entire community banned together to oust the newly hired Superintendent Brown because he wanted to implement uniforms in high schools, that marked the beginning of the end and made a clear statement about what really mattered in DCSS. Lewis was named superintendent and immediately began rewarding his friends with promotions to Area Superintendents. In the process removing quality principals and administrators from the schools where they were needed. You got what you asked for….
Dunwoody Mom
November 13th, 2012
12:20 pm
Something to remember about the recent so-called Central Office “reorganization and RIF’s”….Say, you eliminate XXX number of Central Office positions, but those are overwhelmingly low-salaried positions. Then some highly-paid positions are hired, you could virtually eliminate any savings with regards to savings. It’s better to look at the dollars saved rather than the number of employees RIF’d.
indigo
November 13th, 2012
12:21 pm
RCB – “I think we ran out of candidates”
And white ones need not apply.
Private Citizen
November 13th, 2012
12:22 pm
Upon seeing the Dekalb County schools audit, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vaKS13QM4-M
Frustrated Dekalb Parent
November 13th, 2012
12:26 pm
K From Da Wood – How did the 2001-2003 community band together to oust Dr. Brown? We need to band together now to get new leadership but how? Screaming and complaining to the “leadership” has not worked. Neither has counting on elections for new board members when the incompetent ones outnumber the competent ones on just about every important vote. What other recourse do we have?
Don't Tread
November 13th, 2012
12:28 pm
Sounds like the DeKalb schools are being run on the same model as the Federal government (and the politicians are running the same worthless slogans to get elected). What possibly could be wrong with that?
Charter Peachford
November 13th, 2012
12:40 pm
Did the FBI ever catch that criminal Nathan Deal?
Charter Peachford
November 13th, 2012
12:45 pm
Isn’t it ironic that President Reagan championed the idea of local governments controlling public eduction, and now we have Conservatives who want to move administration further up the bureaucratic flagpole?
They want to administer charter schools from the state level. Why not the federal level while you’re at it. Why not just have one national curriculum that you stream in on computers from Washington every morning? And these clowns have the nerve to call other people Socialists. What a joke!
Wondering
November 13th, 2012
12:51 pm
Someone needs to file the suit for violation of the Open Records Act. There are no exceptions for accounting records, and the acceptance of a ‘Draft’ is simply an attempt by the school system to avoid public disclosure. Sam Olens has been a champion for open government before. Maybe a simple letter from the AG to the Superintendent will stop this nonsense.
bootney farnsworth
November 13th, 2012
12:52 pm
@ catlady
why didn’t this come out earlier?
for the same reason we always get interesting relevations after a presidental election.
to much information the public doesn’t “need to know”
ch
bootney farnsworth
November 13th, 2012
12:55 pm
stuipd laptop….picking up where I accidentally cut myself off
choosing to devulge information which runs contrary to self interest goes against the political grain.
bootney farnsworth
November 13th, 2012
12:56 pm
what people need to remember is Cheryl is doing exactly what she was hired to do.
sustain status quo at all costs.
Disgusted in Dekalb
November 13th, 2012
1:05 pm
Bootney is right (as he often is). The majority of the board members most decidely did NOT want a change agent when they hired Dr. Atkinson.
lahopital
November 13th, 2012
1:07 pm
Did I misread the article? I thought it said the ELECTED board cut the budget, but the hired help, the super, et al, did not make the actual cuts demanded by their boss, the board. It seems that the hired help is the problem this time, not the board.
Call Me Missouri
November 13th, 2012
1:17 pm
This is why the employees at the local schools have had to sign several rosters for employment verification. The schmucks at the Palace probably have NO IDEA WHO IS WORKING WHERE!!! God help us all, especially our children. BTW, when is the DA going to get a grand jury and start investigating the lies and malfeasance. Let’s not gloss over the part about money transfers between accounts- big red flag, folks.
Flabberghastedforsure
November 13th, 2012
1:31 pm
Failure to release the draft of the forensic audit “undermines all her promises of transparency”. So do lots of her other actions: advertising parent roundtables as opportunities for questions and answers; giving 3 central office staff members raises “because they have taken on extra work”; requesting a $50,000 raise for Ron Ramsey; quietly disappearing the internal auditor; her request for a new car while “surplusing” 3 cars; pushing a balanced calendar because of brain drain while ignoring the “9 month brain drain” of block schedule, placing the former HR director in a principalship, telling the BOE that approval of Successful for All was to allow the conversations to begin at the local schools and then cramming it down those school’s throats without the required vote, requesting Race to the Top funds for 8 administrators to get a PhD…. Need we go on?? And all the while, parents have called out for help from our legislators, SACS, the DA, DeKalb business leaders, our BOE to vote her requests down; parents have tried to shine light on these kinds of things for years only to be ignored; If the BOE asks questions, they are accused of meddling, if they don’t approve everything the super brings, then the super can claim she isn’t successful because they didn’t support her..and the BOE doesn’t get answers to the questions they do ask – you only need to watch 1 BOE mtg to see that – or they get an answer that is incomplete, misleading or born of incompetency.
Mountain Man
November 13th, 2012
1:40 pm
And all of y’all opponents of Amendment 1 were worried about the STATE commission and charter schools being run by for-profit companies. Looks like the local control is just as bad as the worst case scenario of yours.
Mountain Man
November 13th, 2012
1:44 pm
Good thing that DCSS was not run by those greedy, FOR-PROFIT companies, right, Mary Elizabeth?
Mel
November 13th, 2012
1:45 pm
Somethings STINKS in the Dekalb!!
Entitlement Society
November 13th, 2012
1:47 pm
Right on, Mountain Man!
alm
November 13th, 2012
1:49 pm
Omnishambles
http://www.ajc.com/ap/ap/top-news/oxford-chooses-omnishambles-as-word-of-the-year/nS46T/
Marney
November 13th, 2012
2:01 pm
“Local control” Maureen…you may love it in Decatur, but we don’t all live in your world. In the “best of all worlds” this wouldn’t be happening, I am tired of comfortable optimists ignoring it or worse, benefiting from it. Your sudden notice and outrage the week after your constant defense of local Boards of Education being the ideal entity in which we may comfortably place our trust to make decisions on who should be able to offer public education feels like crocodile tears.
DeKalb Inside Out
November 13th, 2012
2:39 pm
Question – If the Superintendent and administration aren’t following OCGA code, what are the sentencing and punishment provisions?
I don’t see where a school administration has to do anything the board asks it to do.
Calendar Dad
November 13th, 2012
2:39 pm
The new Oxford Dictionary word for 2012 – OMNISHAMBLES – somehow seems appropriate!
Mountain Man
November 13th, 2012
2:43 pm
” If the Superintendent and administration aren’t following OCGA code,”
It is not that they are breaking the law – it is that they are not doing what they were told to do. One of the prime responsibilities of the BOE is to hire/fire the superintendent. It is the Superintendent’s job to make sure that the BOE’s instructions are carried out. The BOE should inform the Superintendent (Atkinson) that she had better have a good report that all who carried out these transgressions have been fired themselves – or else she will be immediately terminated and a new Superintendent will be hired.
Judith Austin
November 13th, 2012
2:50 pm
When I started teaching in Dekalb the year was 1984. Dekalb was known to be the best school system anywhere around the Atlanta metro area. I retired a couple of years ago and when someone asks me now where I taught I am embarrassed and almost ashamed to tell them what system. I always preface the answer with….”when I started there and for many years after that the quality and leadership of the system was one could represent with pride but now….” Thought court case for Lewis was finally ready to be on schedule for Sept. 2012, court/class action suit concerning discontinuing pension contributions without properly being timely informed was to come up in Oct. 2012…..and more messes, more screwups, more deception just continues to come forward at record speeds. What’s next? I know charter schools could eventually wreck the system but if the system and those employed by it can’t be cleaned up/ cleaned out and the citizens of this county can’t get action that will start over with a pure and clean slate and move directly to a system to be proud of….one who places the education of students FIRST and FOREMOST, then perhaps for the sake of our individual children we need to make another choice.
Mountain Man
November 13th, 2012
2:58 pm
Didn’t I read that the annual budget for legal expenses was $1 million and they have been spending $10 million per year? And now they want to fight to keep this audit report from the public? Are we going to have to file a lawsuit to get the truth, a lawsuit that will cost Dekalb even MORE in legal expenses?
fondu
November 13th, 2012
3:07 pm
Teachers see the effects of the shamefull and criminal conduct of our school board and administration, on student achievement. Watch as the graduation rate tumbles. Couple that with decreasing pay(due to negligence), furlough days, no raise in six years, discontinuation of health care contributions, illegal discontinuation of the TSA contributions, and rampant apathy it’s a wonder Dekalb has any teachers left at all. But we continue to stay and teach your kids for less and less, and the last parent conference nite I had zero parents.
Dunwoody Mom
November 13th, 2012
3:43 pm
Just saw your update, Maureen. Glad Dr. Atkinson changed her mind about releasing the audit.
DeKalb Inside Out
November 13th, 2012
3:47 pm
Mountain Man
1. Dr Atkinson has been telling my DCSD friends and that the board’s instructions have been followed. She spread false numbers around internally to show how the board’s instructions were being followed. So, all lies referenced in that KPMG audit are by Dr Atkinson’s command.
2. Dr Atkinson is the best Superintendent DeKalb can get. She has fired many of the “Friends and Family” of the South DeKalb mafia (Turk, et al). So, the honest board members won’t vote to let her go. No way the Walker 5 will allow another Super in that doesn’t follow the South DeKalb mafia’s instructions. And … the Walker 5 will grow into the Walker 7 in Jan.
Dr Atkinson is, therefore, untouchable. We might be able to put public pressure on her or shame her into doing things. But if she’s not breaking the law, she’s untouchable.
Rick L in ATL
November 13th, 2012
3:57 pm
Maureen, Marney is right–when Bev Hall was circumventing the Open Records law (even using a private gmail account to conduct official business so she would be able to plausibly deny using her work email to handle controversial documents), you knew about it but you let your personal affection for her sway your judgment. To this day you still have not publicly acknowledged your disastrously poor journalistic decision-making during the entire 3-year period in which Hall’s con artistry was on vivid display to the rest of us.
So, yeah, it’s a little late in the game for you to start with the whole “I’m shocked–SHOCKED!” thing now.
You know, people make mistakes. Journalists make mistakes. It wouldn’t bring about a Mayan cataclysm for you to just say yeah, you know what, I did misjudge that incredibly evil, morally bankrupt child predator, and I wish I hadn’t. Go ahead, you’ll feel better.
BlahBlahBlah
November 13th, 2012
3:59 pm
We are so grateful we sold our house in Dekalb County last month. It’s like getting one of the precious lifeboats on the Titanic.
Claudia Stucke
November 13th, 2012
4:01 pm
A few years ago, during a meeting I attended with several other teachers, School Board member Paul Womack condescendingly told us that we lacked the financial expertise to deal with or question certain particular issues, reminding us several times, “I am the former CEO of a multi-million-dollar company” as evidence of his fiscal prowess. Earlier this year, when a gaping hole was found in the school system’s finances, his attitude was considerably more humble (and I quote from his statement as broadcast on the local news): “I just don’t know what happened.” Oh, the irony.
Beverly Fraud
November 13th, 2012
4:12 pm
If the AJC had only been this determined back in 2001 when Paul Donsky blew the lid off the widespread, rampant cheating in the Atlanta Public Schools.
But I guess at the time, it was more comfortable for the AJC to “believe the narrative” than it was to perform their duties as a valued member of the Fourth Estate.
Still, glad to see the AJC continuing their role as “watchdog.” Particularly encouraging to see they give no quarter to former AJC staffer Jeff Dickinson as he continues to play fast and loose with the truth as a hired Mouth Organ for DCSS.
Pride and Joy
November 13th, 2012
4:49 pm
Mountain Man is spot on when he says “Good thing that DCSS was not run by those greedy, FOR-PROFIT companies.”
Traditional public schools in the metro Atlanta area ARE RUN FOR PROFIT.
YET — they still don’t teach.
I’m ALL FOR for-profit companies running schools as long as they can teach.
Dekalb needs to be broken up into much smaller distrcits, at least three, so that LOCAL communities can really vote for their own boards. Southern Dekalb voters are running Dekalb into the ground and we Northern Dekalbers are paying the bill.
Student Advocate
November 13th, 2012
4:50 pm
If this doesn’t get the head of HR canned, it’s hopeless. Where does the buck stop? Enough of playing this shell game. Teachers are on to these antics, and we knew this about ‘ no cuts at the palace’ before this latest headline…it just demoralizes the remaining competent teachers even more. DCSS needs an HR leader with some cojones, and proper background, too – not some mail order doctorate degree. Many quality HR individuals out of work now. We need a new slogan – DCSS – Deceiving Citizens, Staff and Students for decades. Victory in every administrators’ designer purse – at least that will give us a laugh. C’mon Cheryl, write some REAL pink slips, please!
Pride and Joy
November 13th, 2012
4:56 pm
fondu “and the last parent conference nite I had zero parents.”
Ever thought of scheduling conferences by phone and send documents via email — do you schedule conferences only during 8 to 5 when most parents are at work?
I’vde been to many parent-teacher conferences. Last year, my child’s teachers was late to ALL OF THEM. She always had some excuse. When I schedule a 7:30 a.m. conference, I expect to be seated and talking to the teacher at 7:30 a.m. Yet, ALL of the conferences, the teacher breezed in the school’s door at 7:40 and by the time we actually sat down to talk it was 7:50 and all the kids were clamoring to get in.
If you are genuinely prompt and you are genuinely scheduling conferences during times when parents can actually attend and they don’t show up — then for goodness sakes, do SOMETHING DIFFERENT.
Be creative. Use phones and email.
Beverly Fraud
November 13th, 2012
4:57 pm
Rick in Atl makes a very good point. Turns out it’s not JUST Beverly Fraud after all.
You know, it’s been said that Beverly Fraud has a certain “provocative” way that holds a certain painful mirror of truth up; one not always ready to be eagerly acknowledged.
Still Maureen, when you look at (as we know you will) Rick in Atl’s straight to the point comments, one cannot but conclude he makes legitimate, valid points.
While not offering a total mea culpa, at least the AJC’s Jay Bookman did acknowledge a willingness to “believe the narrative” rather than accept what Paul Donsky was reporting way back in 2001.
We’ve been told time and time again that the AJC wasn’t influenced by the “bidness” community to shill for Hall. Thus if it wasn’t an outside influence that forced your hand then why not a simple acknowledgment: Why not just admit (to paraphrase football coach Dennis Green’s famous rant) that “Hall wasn’t who she said she was” and that your almost unequivocal support (even pushing for her to remain AFTER the cheating scandal broke for “stability”?) was in fact not not warranted?
If anything won’t that specific action give you more credibility when you call on people like Cheryl Atkinson to come clean?
Really
November 13th, 2012
5:03 pm
@ DunwoodyMom Dr Atkinson never changed her mind its a draft. Do you know what Draft means? Let use some common sense here. Even when she releases the audit it won’t be the final so why would she release a draft.
Dr. Craig Spinks/ Georgians for Educational Excellence
November 13th, 2012
5:15 pm
Forensic audits of all GA’s publicly funded preK-12 agencies by competent, disinterested, out-of-state firms are essential to restore public confidence in the efficiency of our state’s educational agencies. Of course, the release to print and electronic media throughout our state of the unredacted results of these audits would be another essential step in this trust-restoration process.
The Deal
November 13th, 2012
5:20 pm
If and when she releases the audit, can we not all just sit back and be so happy and grateful that she did? The point is what is IN the audit. $20 million and $29 million OVER budget for central office expenses??? What is that?
Beverly Fraud
November 13th, 2012
5:34 pm
Why is Ronald Ramsey allowed to double dip, collecting his full DCSS salary, why spending 40 days a year in the General Assembly?
Where is the AJC on this one?
RCB
November 13th, 2012
5:37 pm
I guess I wasn’t the only one to send an email to Dr. Atkinson.
Goodteacher
November 13th, 2012
5:55 pm
Dr. A is as crooked as the rest. What they are doing in the county office is criminal. Teachers that are staying are teachers that need their jobs. Go to a new system and you run the chance of being last hired and let go as soon as budget cuts hit. SFA is a sham, the entire month of Oct. was lost to testing. ELL students are not being served. Our heat is not on yet (they do not turn it on til after Thanksgiving) I wonder if it is warm in the Palace. AJC is just as guilty because they have known all along that Dekalb was and is running a crooked game. Teachers have had a paycut every year for the last 5 years. They took us out of SS and started a retirement fund that they have now quit paying into. Insurance …no help there. Yet Dr. A is driving a new car, has a raise, and has employed her friends while keeping the other criminals employed. The children are suffering, the teachers are stressed beyond belief, my taxes are going up and my home value is going down….Do we have anyone that will step in and stop this madness?
dekalbed
November 13th, 2012
6:10 pm
This teacher is continually frustrated by the number of adults-central office employees, school administrators, SACS officials, and board members-who ignore the very problems this audit proves. Our students wallow in over-crowded classes and have access to fewer programs while over-paid, indept adults profit.
indigo
November 13th, 2012
6:44 pm
“this is only a draft and changes will be made”
I’m sure we can definitely count on that being done.
Pride and Joy
November 13th, 2012
6:49 pm
Dekalbed says it right “Our students wallow in over-crowded classes and have access to fewer programs while over-paid, indept adults profit.”
What is particularly frustrating is when teachers complain that schools are not “fully funded.” Schools are fully funded. Schools have more than enough money, especially Dekalb County. The problem isn’t a lack of money, it’s how it is used and stolen and misused and abused.
My taxes in Dekalb went through the roof. We fought back and won but the steady mantra of “more money, more money” is like a monster demanding human sacrifice.
I understand teachers aren’t getting the money and I understand school houses and students aren’t getting the money — but teachres need to look and criticize their own bureaucrats for stealing the money and misusing it instead of bashing we parent tax payers that we aren’t paying enough nor doing enough.
I pay two sets of property taxes AND send my kids to private school and it is killing me. I am emptying my retirement funds because Dekalb and APS schools are pathetic. There rae some good teachers in them but they are fighting an uphill, losing battle.
Teachers needs to realize that we parents aren’t the enemy. Their own “leaders” are the enemy. Crooked, lying bureaucrats with my money are the enemy and they need to go — vote em out!
I’ll continue to lobby for charters to get away from the thieves — and all good teachers will have a job in them.
clem
November 13th, 2012
7:12 pm
ever follow a car with educator plate in dekalb. if they teach as bad as the drive…
red herring
November 13th, 2012
7:27 pm
It is my belief that the state of ga. should perform the same type review that was performed in dekalb and either require the counties to follow the recommendations of the audit or lose some of their state funding. From all I have read in the AJC over the past several years our county schools are top heavy—way too many administrators and at way too high salaries. We need our education dollars to go to teaching our kids and not to overpaid administrators and their staffs. Hopefully charter schools will help bring some of this change –most private schools already run their schools with minimal administration costs (esp. compared to the administration costs in public schools). Our state colleges that receive tax payer dollars should also have their administrations put under a review.
Call Me Missouri
November 13th, 2012
7:44 pm
@ Pride and Joy 4:56pm You make a valid point about conference by phone. However, please know that some (and I mean more than a few) students are in a household without a working cell OR home phone. These are the some families that do not have computers or internet access at home and the parents may work jobs that do not communicate with employees via email. Some teachers send letters home with students or via snail mail and hope for a response. I am sorry that your child’s teacher is inconsiderate of your time. Just know that Fondu is probably frustrated, too. Let’s not judge all teachers by the actions of a few. There are some excellent educators in DCSD who really want their students to achieve and value parental involvement and feedback- if they can get it.
Jan
November 13th, 2012
7:51 pm
Before the audit can be release, we all need to put on our rose colored glasses. See!!! Now things don’t look so bad. In fact, everything is just dandy!
Pride and Joy
November 13th, 2012
8:37 pm
Call Me Missouri — the issue is that a teacher cannot expect parents to be able to have a PT night and everyone shoow up. I didn’t hear that teacher say she made ANY attempt to try to reach the parents any other way.
I know there are poor people and I realize some parents don’t care but to your point — you cannot paint any group as lousy. Too often, it’s the teachers who bash the parents as if all of us are pathetic.
RCB
November 13th, 2012
9:14 pm
What I don’t understand is I thought an audit was an audit. I’ve never heard of a “draft” of an audit. What is its purpose? Is this common in education? (I’m not, so I don’t know).
Mom of 3
November 13th, 2012
9:30 pm
RCB-,It is customary to have a draft 1st. This is not an education thing. It is an audit thing. That is why this is so important. KPMG is a highly respected firm that audits all types if industries. This may be one of the times the system is treated as any other entity would be. We should be able to see exactly what is going on because competent people have audited and prepared the report. This will not be the the same type of poor preparation that we are used to seeing from the county.
RCB
November 13th, 2012
9:57 pm
I guess I’m not trusting what happens between the draft and the final report.
Atlanta Media Guy
November 14th, 2012
12:08 am
Tyson should not be allowed in the Palace tomorrow. Heads should roll immediately, time to do what should have been done over a year and a half ago as Tyson continued the Clew Crew gravy train. Board Chair Walker even mocked citizens for questioning if the cuts had been made. Did you read the auditor had trouble finding minutes to meetings…had to clean my screen when I read that. There is so much more to come out. Time for whistleblowers to start singing. This is almost criminal. Central Office 20 million and 29 million over budget for 2010 and 2011 respectively..
Tyson must resign NOW! HR needs to be fundamentally transformed, boot everyone out and start anew! Total Palace Cleaning needed!
Atlanta Media Guy
November 14th, 2012
12:21 am
We can all rest easy… DeKalb District Attorney James says the DCSS BOE and staff can police themselves. No Grand Juries needed…. Really………….
Sandy Springs parent
November 14th, 2012
1:31 am
My child has an ADD and is on a 504 plan in Fulton. In have told them repeatedly they must mail my child’s report cards to me via snail mail to my house, not book bag. Do not send anything you want signed home with her, I will not get it. She refuses to let me go through her book bag or planner. We have gone over it repeatedly in her therapy sessions, that I pay for. But she shuts down on the doctor if confronts her repeatedly. now today she discovered on line that a vet makes $200-300k a year. So after taxes she will have a monthly income of $24,000. She started asking me what are mortgage, utilities and expenses where, and then decided after she asked me what the most I ever made, that she could life pretty well on that. She could even have a husband who worked from home, so he could watch the baby. She also decided that she definitely didn’t want to be a music teacher. Told her she just had to get all A’s to get into Vet school. So maybe she will do better.
but why can’t the schools send the report cards home. They send the SPLOST crap home.
Private Citizen
November 14th, 2012
6:04 am
Just to say, at the best schools I’ve attended (and I’ve attended some rather good schools, sorry if that makes anyone uncomfortable) there were no parent conferences. My parents never went to a school for anything ever and wanted it that way. Meanwhile, every kid went to college and most with advanced degrees and distinction. Working as a teacher I was introduced to this “parent conference” fiasco, I call it “the gurgling seance.” What do people expect of us? Staying until 8pm with a line of parents seated in the hall for their time with the seance – no my idea of fun. I think parents and students should have a little stronger sense of themselves and not need all of this “counseling” support to talk through the “support issues” and “what can be done” to further their kid. What can be done? Read some books and do your work!
And just to say, in successful high end environments, school teachers are hardly any source for anything. In poverty environments, teachers are waaaay up there on a pedestal or something. Personally, I’m not interested in the role playing, and I think it would be healthier and more productive for parents and families to sort of get their act together and leave teachers alone. Many say “Call the family….” This is now a requirement of work review. Well, if you have 140 students and you are spending your time “calling the family” your teaching is going to be a vacant joke. And I know the difference.
Private Citizen
November 14th, 2012
6:15 am
Pride and Joy Sorry you are paying double because you want something good for your kids. It sounds impossible and you are raiding your savings to do it. Maybe you can locate a good quality charter school (?) and have a little relief on the pay-out, get something for what you are paying for.
I don’t know any teachers who villify parents, not one.
Private Citizen
November 14th, 2012
6:44 am
Sandy Springs parent In a perfect world, report cards should be digital.
Pride and Joy
November 14th, 2012
6:45 am
Bootney wrote “the public will be distracted by something shiny.
I am the public, Bootney, and i am not distracted by something shiny. to say so means you think the “public” is stupid.
I am the public and I am not stupid.
Dunwoody Mom
November 14th, 2012
6:51 am
I quicky skimmed over the draft. It’s astounding the amount of financial incompetence and malfeasance went on in just that small time frame. What, if any, penalty is there for using SPLOST monies for non-SPLOST items?
catlady
November 14th, 2012
6:55 am
So, she still hopes to convince the auditors to change the audit, or marshall ways to “prove” it is wrong. Wouldn’t time be better spent in compliance with what they promised?
Pride and Joy
November 14th, 2012
6:56 am
Excellent question “What, if any, penalty is there for using SPLOST monies for non-SPLOST items?”
This should be a crime punishable by jail time.
I vote no on SPLOST because the people receiving SPLOST steal it and spend it on things it wasn’t intended for.
The bureaucracy in metro Atlanta schools absolutely cannot be trusted.
catlady
November 14th, 2012
7:00 am
SSP: Sorry to be cold, but it isn’t the school system’s fault you have no control over your child.
Private citizen/GM/P and Joy: I don’t say this lightly, but I simply don’t believe you.
fondu
November 14th, 2012
7:32 am
Teachers at my school don’t decide when and how parent conferences are scheduled, the administrators do. My personal phone number is on every syllabus.
Entitlement Society
November 14th, 2012
8:03 am
@ Sandy Springs Parent – our private school is able to send report cards digitally. Not hard to do and more secure. Surprised public schools are still printing them when we hear teachers complain that they don’t even have enough copier paper to go around!
Lee
November 14th, 2012
8:16 am
Okay, the code section referenced in the article is OCGA 43-3-32 Ownership of Accounting Work Papers; Confidentiality of Communications to Accountant
The code above does two things:
1. Any work papers, schedules, datafiles, etc remain the property of the accountant and cannot be disclosed to third parties except with the consent of the client.
2. All communications between accountant and client are privilege and the accountant cannot be compelled to testify with regards to the communications in a court of law, or other regulatory proceedings.
There are several exceptions, including the report is not considered privileged under this code section.
Most likely, Dekalb spokesman Dickerson was interpreting the DRAFT report to be part of the communications between accountant and client. In a strictly legal sense, he is probably correct. Draft reports are the initial communications of audit results and are subject to change.
In any case, the concept of “privilege” only applies to the accountant. The client is free to disclose any information they have at.
By trying to use Privilege as a means to block disclosure, Dekalb only muddied the waters and made it appear they were trying to hide something.
AnonMom
November 14th, 2012
9:31 am
Here are some things to ponder (1) why were the budgeted changes not made? (I don’t really believe that Tyson/Atkinson really ever had the authority to make them.. I think there are others with the real power preventing such changes…. ) (2) How many budgets are there (I understand that the BOE didn’t really know that the changes weren’t being made… (e.g. the costs of the non-changes were being buried into other costs… e.g. electricity … and when certain BOE members were to question why certain of these costs were out of line, they were the ones mocked); (3) why aren’t forensic audits and long tax returns (a l a charitable organizations) absolutely required of public, tax funded entities, such as school boards on an annual basis? (4) Let’s be very clear about what the school system is supposed to be about and send the FBI in to investigate (e.g.why is the DA still languishing with his investigation?) — the school system is about the use of taxpayer money to educate children so that they have a future in society that is something better than prison… it is not (let’s repeat, not) about jobs for central office employees at the highest possible salaries — it is about educating children in the schoolhouse at taxpayer with the use of taxpayer funds. In Dekalb the emphasis appears to be on the maximization of salaries for central office (regardless of skill and qualifications for employment). So when does the real investigation of abuse and “takeover” by the state occur so that the children may actual get what they are supposed to get from the expenditure of taxpayer’s money?
Lee
November 14th, 2012
9:42 am
Below is the link to the audit report:
http://www.dekalb.k12.ga.us/www/documents/news-and-info/press-releases/KPMG-draft-audit.pdf
A quick scan of the document, but a few things jumped out at me:
1. The district has several bank accounts, which is a common practice. However, they also used numerous banks – at least six banks in addition to the primary bank (Bank of America).
2. Transfers to/from a “closed” account.
3. No support for transactions.
4. Transactions booked to invalid accounts.
5. Lack of reconciliations between accounts.
In the accounting/auditing world, the above are considered “red flags” for fraud. Taken together, they constitute a lack of internal controls over financial transactions.
Dunwoody Mom
November 14th, 2012
9:46 am
I wonder if the final audit will be turned over to D.A. Robert James – who will then call a grand jury who will recommend an indictment and Robert James will, again, ignore the wishes of the grand jury.
Lee
November 14th, 2012
9:47 am
Clarification:
My use of “account” may be confusing.
Item #2 refers to a bank account.
Items 4&5 refer to accounting codes.
DeKalb Inside Out
November 14th, 2012
11:07 am
AnonMom,
You’re on the right track, but your choice of words doesn’t characterize the situation accurately:
why were the budgeted changes not made? (I don’t really believe that Tyson/Atkinson really ever had the authority to make them.. I think there are others with the real power preventing such changes…. )
The Superintendent is the ultimate authority. The board members can ask her to do things, but she doesn’t have to. The board can pass motions and order her to do things, but ultimately she doesn’t have to. She can, which is the case at DeKalb, get A LOT of pressure from various groups to do their bidding. Those groups can tell her they have the votes to fire her. Those groups are very persuasive. Here’s a secret … they don’t have the votes.
So, Tyson/Atkinson were/are the ultimate authority. If Tyson/Atkinson believe those groups don’t have the votes to fire her, there is nothing anybody else can do to stop them.
Dunwoody Mom
November 14th, 2012
11:20 am
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if there existed a Superintendent that would tell all of the “special interest groups” to shove it. I’m going to do what is best for the students of this district. I am NOT going to increase class size, I don’t care how many non-school based employees I have to RIF. I am NOT going to lay off teachers, I don’t care how many non-school based employees I have to RIF.
Sadly, as in DCSD, the students and teachers, are the last people these school BOE members and school admin types think about. Instead, oh, we’ve got to cut the budget, let me see how many students I can cram into a classroom and how many teachers that would let me RIF.
PSDad
November 14th, 2012
11:31 am
A couple of observations
1) Pay close attention to the last line in the first paragraph of the cover letter to the report: “We have completed our forensic accounting and investigative services for DeKalb County School District (DCSD or District) as outlined in the May 15, 2012 Engagement Agreement. This report to you represents our final report with respect to our services.
In my experience, most forensic audit or due diligence reports that are prepared for something other than a transaction or financial reporting purposes, will never go from “DRAFT” formant to “Final”. I have prepared dozens of these reports and marked less than 10 as “final”. I’m sure that this report will never go final.
2) It appears that the scope of this audit was limited to specific areas of inquiry and the report only reflects observations from sample transactions were pulled from each account and tested or reviewed. Based on the results of this limited audit, if a true comprehensive forensic audit were conducted across all accounts I suspect that the resulting report would contain hundreds of pages of examples of mismanagement and fraud.
3) The author of this report did not expect it to be review or released to the general public. The document contains grammar errors, spelling errors, and a general lack of rigour that I would expect from a product that had been vetted by a senior audit partner and the typical internal review process.
Dunwoody Mom
November 14th, 2012
11:53 am
Yep, the cover letter indicates that is a final report. But, there is a DRAFT Watermark. There are a couple of places in the audit where it mentions having receiving information from the school district, but it does not mention what that information is. Is KPMG going to reissue the report with those updates?
Dunwoody Mom
November 14th, 2012
12:03 pm
The document also indicates that KPMG investigated only those items DCSD requested them to “assess”. It makes one wonder what other items there are TO assess. Still, all in all, it does not appear to delve too deep into the financial mess that is DCSD.
Private Citizen
November 14th, 2012
12:45 pm
PSDad You make a real contribution. Thank you.
Claudia Stucke
November 14th, 2012
3:07 pm
@Pride & Joy and Missouri–I just left teaching two years ago, and we were required to make phone calls home (and document each call in a log) in addition to e-mails and notes home. Although most parents (but not all) have Internet access to see their children’s grades online (via the “Parent Portal”), we were still required to mail hard-copy documentation and make phone calls to the parents before we were allowed to enter a failing grade on a student’s report card.
Private Citizen
November 14th, 2012
4:21 pm
Claudia It makes to notify parents of failing students. I’ve just seen the whole conference and phone thing go way beyond that, as if we are caretakers or counselors in addition to being teaching. Point is, a lot of conferencing goes round and round on kids who do not pick up the ball. It seems like I’ve had ten conferences on some kids instead of something a little more concrete. This sort of “facilitator” thing can de-power teachers. It can turn into “let’s make a deal” or somesuch. The multi-conference thing probably has something to do with trouble-making kids staying in the classroom for good, bad, or otherwise. Had one of these determined kids – very bright, ended up repeating grade level due to behavior and wanting to play. Conferences did not help and we sure had enough of them. (file in the: “you can’t win everything” file).
Private Citizen
November 14th, 2012
4:22 pm
pardon the dropped words. moving too quick. “It makes sense to… “
FORMER DeKalb Parent
November 14th, 2012
5:14 pm
This is confirmation that I’m sooooooooooooooooooo GLAD we LEFT DeKalb County!! We short sold our house, and got the heck out of there!!! I just hope and pray they dont pull the accreditation, but sadly, you and I both know,, that is highly likely.. Good luck to yall that stayed!! CRAZY!!!!
Pride and Joy
November 14th, 2012
7:11 pm
Claudia Stucke — sounds like a good plan to me.
Communication is important.
Pride and Joy
November 14th, 2012
7:16 pm
catlady, of course you refuse to believe me. I am a parent and all we parents are just lazy good for nothing liars and all public school teachers are saints.
Dekalb parent
November 14th, 2012
8:18 pm
I read the report – twice.
The audit only focused on 7 areas that the DCSD identified. (My guess is that the new CFO picked these areas because he kept seeing discrepancies). The audit is draft- there are several areas where the author indicates that they are waiting for additional information.
Yes it confirms that despite a big show before the BOE, the former acting superintendent in 2010 did not furlough or eliminate 150 staff from the central office as promised. The auditors seem to find lots of sloppy accounting although not all the instances reflect misconduct.
The audit identified a number of items paid for with SPLOST III funds, including a $1.6M payment to SchoolNet. I don’t recall this being on the SPLOST III list, but these lists usually include technology so I don’t know if this is illegal. However it is suspicious that this vendor was first paid from the General fund then on the last day of the fiscal year, the expense was charged to SPLOST.
The auditors also questioned whether the fee paid to Merchant Capital for placement of a large textbook financing device was excessive. In addition, like most tax payers I thought the $23M was to fund future textbook purchases only to learn that a good chunk of the money was used to pay for past textbook purchases.
Overall, it looks like lots of sloppy accounting, shuffling funds between accounts and lack of documentation or BOE approval of large expenditures.
Atkinson has taken a lot of bashing and deserves if for her own shenanigans with transferring hundreds of positions from the Central office payroll to the school payrolls and then claiming to SACs that the positions were “eliminated.” However, I give her credit for bringing in a real CFO (please don’t leave) and releasing this audit. I also give her tons of credit for opposing Gene Walker’s weekly insistence that the school system go into more debt by borrowing against the future tax collections.
AnonMom
November 14th, 2012
8:58 pm
I understand that the “buck stops here” with the superintendent. I also believe that Tyson was being sold a bag a bull to get her to “cooperate” with forces on the BOE and, therefore, was given limited authroity to really act — e.g. they told her that the job was really only a very ’short term’ one and that they were actively seeking a replacement — I think that they really weren’t they wanted status quo and got status quo and she was cooperating — had she known what the end result was going to be I’m not entirely covinced it would have played out the same way (but I could be wrong). I think Ramsey does not have the kids best interest at heart and he’s been promoted up rank and file and this is not good for DCSS. I recall to eveyone’s attention that 2004 audit — remember it? We asked and asked about it… it showed that many, many foks were over paid back then (some under paid but many over paid). Then Dr. Brown was bought off (tax payer money) at 150% of contract about 15 months before his contract would have expired according to terms (he’s “forgotten” most things about this time….). Dr. Lewis took over and the audit has disappeared… it couldn’t be found… not even the accounting firm had it. An audit was supposed to be performed every 3 years… this current audit is the first one since then. It shows real problems with fiscal responsibility and integrity. Between 2004 and now, there’s been a major recession — the worst one since the 29 crash … but salaries have escalated…many for folks not qualified for the jobs they’re in. But, it’s okay — it’s taxpayer money. Scores have plummetted. That’s okay too — it’s just about jobs… right? The kids don’t matter at all. It’s okay if the media doesn’t dig. It’s okay if the FBI and US attorney doesn’t dig. It’s just okay becuase folks kept their jobs.
Private Citizen
November 15th, 2012
9:57 am
In tight budget time, it is appropriate to cycle capable directors to jobs in the classroom working with the kids. I am not an advocate of throwing people away, children of adults. Generally, one should use the cycle of attrition to shape the work force. In plenty of countries, workers have their jobs for 50 years and consideration of worker wellness is a part of management. This neo-liberal “you’re going to have five careers in your lifetime” is not how it is done in most developed countries.
Private Citizen
November 15th, 2012
9:58 am
children or adults
Dunwoody Mom
November 15th, 2012
3:14 pm
The audit has been removed from the DCSD website. According to Jeff Dickerson KPMG “made” the district take it down. Exactly, how could they do that? That was an audit paid FOR by the taxpayers of DeKalb County.
worried citizen
November 15th, 2012
3:35 pm
Because it contained bank account numbers?
Maureen Downey
November 15th, 2012
3:36 pm
@Dunwoody, The AJC has a short story on this:
http://www.ajc.com/news/news/local/now-you-see-it-now-you-dont-dekalb-audit-back-unde/nS7Nf/
bu2
November 15th, 2012
5:42 pm
They may have been concerned that a report with their name on it that was not final was being made public. But they couldn’t MAKE DCSS take it down.
Teacher Reader
November 15th, 2012
6:36 pm
The audit was not a complete audit of the finances of the school district? I thought that we were paying for a full audit of the finances of the district, not just a few chosen areas. We paid a great deal of money for selected areas, over paid as always. The company should be embarrassed that there are spelling and grammar errors in anything sent to the district.
I’m not sure what is going to be the final straw until someone comes in and makes some real changes in school board members and administration. I’m convinced that everyone other than teachers needs to be fired and totally new people need to be hired, with less employees needed in secretaries, administrators, and other support personnel.
Dekalbite
November 15th, 2012
8:11 pm
Well, that was not very smart. Once in cyberspace, always in cyberspace. Here it is at the link below – as easily accessible as if it were on the DCSS website except now the school system has raised additional taxpayer concerns and suspicions.
http://dekalbschoolwatch.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/kpmg-draft-audit.pdf
They don’t seem to understand that the moment anything is posted it cannot be retracted. Sadly, they live in a 20th Century world in the 21st Century. This is one of the main reasons DeKalb Schools has such huge problems.
Dekalbite
November 15th, 2012
8:13 pm
http://dekalbschoolwatch.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/kpmg-draft-audit.pdf
Ernest
November 16th, 2012
12:23 pm
Dunwoody Mom, I spoke to a few friends that are lawyers. According to them, the audit was still a draft and property of KPMG thus did not belong to the school district. Until the final copy is turned over, the school district did not have the right to make it available. As a result, KPMG requested that it be removed from the public website.
Something another lawyer mentioned to me earlier that I reference, this audit was leaked to the media. Has anyone asked questions about the person that leaked this? I wonder if they would be subject to litigation by KPMG, if it was determined who did this?
Dr. Atkinson was obviously reacting to the media reports in posting the draft audit to the website. Could this be another case of ‘Wag the Dog’?
DeKalb Inside Out
November 16th, 2012
12:43 pm
Ernest,
The second sentence of the KPMG report reads “This report to you represents our final report with respect to our services.”
Also, I haven’t seen the contract or statement of work, but all work products are usually owned by the client.
Ernest
November 16th, 2012
1:22 pm
DeKalb Inside Out, the document had a ‘Draft’ watermark throughout which overrides that statement. The document is not final until KPMG indicates that and removes the ‘Draft’ watermark. At that point, it becomes property of the customer, in this case the school district. You should also read the 3rd paragraph of the cover letter. There is no misunderstanding what that paragraph is saying. I have also seen where that paragraph is removed what the document is final.
I work on contracts quite a bit myself and we include language that is ‘final’ in the document while it still is a red-lined version. It is not final until all parties agree it is final.
DeKalb Inside Out
November 16th, 2012
2:07 pm
Ernest
Do you expect a final public version of this KPMG audit? Before all this publicity, I don’t think KPMG was going to produce a final version. I speculate the results of this audit were originally not intended for the public.
Ernest
November 16th, 2012
2:55 pm
DeKalb Inside Out, that is a GREAT question! I would expect some time of report about the audit would be made available to the public. Would it be a summary or detail report? I don’t know. Citizens rightly have an expectation to view the contents of a final audit so questions can be asked of remedies to any problems found. This situation became confusing because of the leak to the media and subsequent public discussions.
That’s why I made the ‘wag the dog’ comment because this episode served more as a distraction, in my opinion. It will be interesting to see what if any impact this will have on the SACs report. I expect we will see it the week after Thanksgiving so as not to possibly ruin anyone’s holiday.
Ernest
November 16th, 2012
2:56 pm
I meant to say some ‘type’ of report…….
PSDad
November 16th, 2012
3:09 pm
Ernest. A contract should not be compared to an audit or advisory oprinion. A contract is not final until it is signed by all parties to that contract, without those signatures a contract that is marked “final” is really meaningless. An audit report, a due diligence report, a advisory opinion etc. require a much higher standard of care becuase it these reports provide professional advice or an opinion that is typically actionable. In professional services a “final opinion” is just that, which is why it isn’t uncommon to see “DRAFT” on documents that are final but will never be marked as such. A summary of my earlier observations:
1) Pay close attention to the last line in the first paragraph of the cover letter to the report: “We have completed our forensic accounting and investigative services for DeKalb County School District (DCSD or District) as outlined in the May 15, 2012 Engagement Agreement. This report to you represents our final report with respect to our services.
In my experience, most forensic audit or due diligence reports that are prepared for something other than a transaction or financial reporting purposes, will never go from “DRAFT” formant to “FINAL”. I have prepared dozens of these reports and marked less than 10 as “final”. I’m sure that this report will never go final.
2) It appears that the scope of this audit was limited to specific areas of inquiry and the report only reflects observations from sample transactions that were pulled from each account and tested or reviewed. Based on the results of this limited audit, if a true comprehensive forensic audit were conducted across all accounts I suspect that the resulting report would contain hundreds of pages of examples of mismanagement and fraud.
3) The author of this report did not expect it to be review or released to the general public. The document contains grammatical errors, spelling errors, and a general lack of rigour that I would not expect from a product that had been vetted by a senior audit partner and the typical internal review process.
Dekalbite@Ernest
November 16th, 2012
4:54 pm
“Has anyone asked questions about the person that leaked this? I wonder if they would be subject to litigation by KPMG, if it was determined who did this”
That’s a good question. A corollary would be that confidential details regarding the superintendent negotiations were leaked yet no one pursued legal or ethical action against any of the BOE members who did this. Nor did the Board ever do its promised investigation as to which Board members leaked confidential information regarding the superintendent negotiations to the press. Since the BOE members who leaked this confidential information to the press felt they were under no obligation to publicly confess and indeed asked the press to keep their sources confidential, how hypocritical would it look for them to encourage KPMG to press charges against this “leaker”? Doing so would be tantamount to saying – it’s okay for us BOE members to leak confidential information to the press and be protected as confidential sources, but it is not okay for anyone else to leak confidential information. The BOE set a precedent when they leaked confidential information and then refused to investigate or confess who did this. In a way you can say they actually sanctioned such behavior by engaging in it and then de facto condoning it by stonewalling taxpayers and then doing no investigating. Like Ceasar’s wife the BOE should be beyond reproach. Instead they modeled poor behavior (leaking confidential information to the press to get what you want accomplished) and then refused to own up to it.
Another question would be – did KPMG receive any taxpayer money for this report? Did they receive any expense money or deposits, etc.? Aren’t the taxpayers the clients? Are the taxpayers not allowed to see ALL of the data collected – raw or final? After all, KPMG was or will be paid for their data collection efforts by the taxpayers. I can’t imagine what taxpayer (or taxpayer group) would want to pour through all that data, but it does belong to the taxpayers. Just IMHO
Dekalbite
November 16th, 2012
9:02 pm
Reading the opening summary it does indeed appear that even though this report was paid for by taxpayer money the intent was that the data and conclusions drawn from the data for only for “member of management or …..the DeKalb County Borad of Education”. Was KPMG told that the data collected and summarized by taxpayer dollars was not to be made available to taxpayers? Or did they assume that this data and summary paid for by taxpayers should not be made available to the people that were directly paying them for services rendered? And they did say this was the “final report”.
http://dekalbschoolwatch.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/kpmg-draft-audit.pdf
Concerned Teacher and Citizen
November 17th, 2012
12:49 am
There are so many positions that are listed on the PATS employment website on the DCCS website. Over 50 schools have vacancies. I have never seen so many openings. If you want to work in Dekalb, the jobs are there. These are people leaving or retiring ASAP. Many teachers and administrators are leaving mid-year due to changes in TRSGA legislation.
worried citizen
November 17th, 2012
9:16 am
http://www.ajc.com/news/news/dekalb-among-several-school-systems-in-georgia-sho/nS8RX/
Posted: 5:23 p.m. Friday, Nov. 16, 2012
“Besides DeKalb, which the state said had a $14.5 million deficit…”
District officials did not return calls for comment, but DeKalb school board Chairman Eugene Walker questioned the state’s findings.
“I don’t understand what you mean that we had a deficit,” Walker said, adding he thought there was a surplus. “So the $57 million I thought we had didn’t exist?”
The deficit was calculated from numbers the DeKalb system provided to the state, Austensen said. “In theory, it could be wrong, but if it’s wrong, they’re out of compliance with their reporting.”
Ernest
November 18th, 2012
6:13 pm
Dekalbite, sorry for the late reply as this was another ‘Soccer Saturday’. Congratulations to TYSA for sponsoring another great tournament this weekend.
From your previous posts, I know you like reference-able links and information. Google the following:
O.C.G.A. 43-3-32(b)
This is the state statute that KPMG cited when requesting the audit be moved from the DeKalb Schools website. It clearly states this is ‘privileged’ communications. I don’t know there can be any misunderstanding as to what this means.
The point I raised with my question regarding the leak and ‘Wag the Dog’ is that the media knew this. They knew the DeKalb community would be outraged when they heard the audit, albeit a draft, was available. They ignored the statute. I have a strong suspicion that a Board member leaked this to the members of the media (who else would have it after the draft was made available) for the purpose of embarrassing Dr. Atkinson. This distraction worked as when the community found out about it, she made the draft available despite Sutherland advising her otherwise. She had to remove it once the KMPG lawyers demanded it be removed. What media member would want to give up a ‘leaky’ school Board member given the climate in DeKalb? Jeff Dickerson gave a good summary of the events on the Georgia Gang.
Also, your comments on the DeKalb School Watch blog regarding Dr. Brown is correct. Another insight is that he implemented the uniform policy because several Board members asked him to do so. He thought there was a mandate for it however found out otherwise once he got here. Too bad citizens let the Board run him off because he was making the necessary changes needed to the organizational structure of the Central Office, among things. He was also attempting to implement a standardized salary structure since one did not exist.
Ernest
November 18th, 2012
6:17 pm
My last comment did not go through. Could it be because it was submitted over the weekend?