Can the DeKalb school board reinvent itself in 30 days?

every school board, supt., principal, all county school administration and their office staff should be reviewed and downsized to a point where their county taxpayers can afford them. their salaries are in line with that of our governor and in some cases with that of the president of the usa. it is outrageous what we pay these people and their staffs as well as what we pay them in perks—cars/homes/credit cards/etc. the average citizen/taxpayer can’t afford this —nor do they themselves get any such gravy trains including retirements and healthcare. colledge/school/state govt/etc employees should not receive much better benefits and retirement than the taxpayers. it just should not happen.

• Link
• Report this comment

They could start by firing their Superintendent Atkinson.

• Link
• Report this comment

No, they can not reinvent themselves in thirty days and they don’t even know where to start. When certain board members came forward they portrayed how incompetent they were. I think that is when the state board said that they could not wait until April 30th to make a decision….these people need to go. It is too bad that the new members and some competent board members could be included in the dismissal of the board. I agree with Walker. They are on there way out.

• Link
• Report this comment

No.

• Link
• Report this comment

I second that with an emphatic “No!”

The Dekalb County School District is corrupt across so many dimensions. From the Board to schoolhouse administration a culture of corruption has thrived. The students and the teachers are the victims.

No one, not the local Board, not the State Board, not the Governor, not the neanderthal State Legislature, knows what teachers endure day to day in the Dekalb meatgrinder to achieve an elusive “Victory (snicker) in the Classroom.” And to pay this hot shot attorney to represent the Dekalb Board before the State Board (and other hot shot attorneys to sanction their dirty work), teachers have their lost pay, their future retirement income, and their commitment to a noble calling.

If Deal doesn’t do it, karma will.

• Link
• Report this comment

We and I do mean we are NOT SIGNING CONTRACTS for this animal circus of idiots. They are going to be shocked at how many people give those contracts right back to them. Who wants to stay around and not know if the school district is going to remain accredited? Besides, if you work in a district that has lost its accredidation your time does NOT go toward your retirement. So you are underpaid and no retirment credits…Really? And rumor has it that we will be getting another pay cut next year to make up the deficit. So, I guess that means that the teachers are going to have to pay for the missing book money…Please, these people are CRAZY!!!!!!

• Link
• Report this comment

Here’s a short recap of today’s hearing: http://tucker.patch.com/articles/dekalb-board-of-education-submits-consent-agreement

• Link
• Report this comment

I hope they can’t reinvent themselves. They don’t have the skill to do what really needs to be done. They are like plumbers trying to do brain surgery or a cable technician trying to be a dentist.

The only thing they have time to do is work all of the angles of their political connections and try to use influence to change enough minds on that state board.

There is no way that the people who created this mess can get us out of it. Three members does not a new board make. It doesn’t even really change the historical voting pattern.

• Link
• Report this comment

Get the Cell Out, I understand that the board can’t remove anyone other than the superintendent, but the rest of the motley crew need to go. If just the board goes, and the palace isn’t cleared as well, than nothing will change, as much that is wrong with the board is also happening in the palace and has for sometime.

I don’t blame teachers for not signing contracts. That really needs to happen, so that tax payers, board members, and people in charge of education at the state level understand how big of a problem we really have here.

We can’t expect the kids to care about their education, when the adults running the show show them time and time again that they don’t care about them.

• Link
• Report this comment

@getthecelloutatl… You sound very un-informed in your statements. To say that the district shouldn’t go wireless is the most ridiculous thing I think Ive heard on here in a while. You can’t be serious. Name me one district that has a regret of moving to a wireless platform? Your either to old to know what wireless is or means or your just ignorant and really don’t know better. AMAZING!!!

• Link
• Report this comment

Having been at the hearing today and having twangs of sympathy for these representatives who have become part of my weekly soap opera, I really had to remind myself that we were there for the children. God Bless, Dr. Walker who held his own and made some good points, but each board member fell sadly short of inspiring any of us that they know how to lead or can actually be taught. Again, I was sad to see Ms. Wood have to answer so many questions. We know she has been reelected because she does love the children and speaks from the heart when it comes to taking care of her district’s children. Sadly, she did not present herself as knowledgeable or capable to help drive such drastic change. Mr. Cunningham made valid points about all the distractions the Board deals with – RICO indictment of CLew, Heery-Mitchell, superintendent searches, etc. HOWEVER- they have been dealing with these issues for years and have not shown proof of reaching out to their chain of command to be proactive. They collectively helped drive the district into the ground because they were being reactive and not proactive as everything crumbled around them.

Ms. Speaks stayed above so much of this but that makes her guilty too because she has been there so long. Ms. Jester was just a random experience. Her dissertation did little to show that she was capable of collaborating and her praise of Atkinson day after the big plagiarism story was strange.

The newbies had little to offer.

I hope that the State BOE gets details from SACS on details. I hope they ask for each member to disclose each and every relative in the system, review all the votes and call for interviews from the PTA Councils who have seen the indiscretions first hand. When monies raised help pay for toilet paper and hand sanitizer, there is a problem.

Can you imagine what we could have if another 10-20% of our tax dollars went to the teachers and the students? We may bring our teachers back to what they were making 5 yrs ago – adjusted for inflation and new payroll and social security taxes.

I look to learn from history and Clayton scares me and I do not take the Governor’s ability to unseat or suspend this board lightly. I do think that DeKalb is capable of finding interim members to help draft the policies needed to get the school system back on track. We believe in local control, our schools and our teachers, but we are tired of waste and the fact that our children are bearing the brunt of the mismanagement and lack of children. As Ms. Barrs confirmed with each member, all of the longer-term members have completed training for the last two years at least. Thinking that we can have these folks stay on and drive success is pretty far-fetched.

I would ask the State BOE how much are they and the state willing to sacrifice when DeKalb is home to the CDC and Emory. This embarrassment has gone on too long and a chain of command needs to be established to help systems as large as DeKalb not to get to this point. If they sacrifice our children, public education will die a precipitous death in metro Altanta.

• Link
• Report this comment

the dekalb board–beyond hope—totally corrupt to the core. the entire board’s looking out for themselves, hoping to cash in big with deals and favors with all that taxpayer money—classic atl government. It just never changes in this crooked city.

• Link
• Report this comment

No, they can not reinvent themselves (over night become competent; wise; honest/ethical; mature; committed to excellence; desire to improve all of DCSS and not just serve their favored minions; exhibit expertise, knowledge, ability and a desire to fix problems, find solutions, and don’t fix blame; demonstrate that they are more concerned about the good of the community/students and NOT their own power, prestige, outer apparel and flashy automobile)
The problems in DCSS have to do with more with lack of integrity, character and ingrained morality on the part of leaders (and the electorate) than anything else.
DCSS can not be fixed.

• Link
• Report this comment

I watched most of this hearing via web feed. Walker was unimpressive, defensive, and combative. Copelin-Wood was so unimpressive that the state board did not even bother to follow up with further questions. Jester gave the impression that she possessed some understanding of things but also admitted that she is powerless amongst those who are entrenched in power. Again, Copelin-Wood was just so bad! She has to be removed at once! You could not see it on the feed, but the meeting had to be stopped for a moment because of some kind of disruptions from the gallery. Apparently “noises and facial gestures” were disrupting the meeting and the chair had to address them on the record. The vote was delayed to ensure “due process”. It was difficult to watch but you couldn’t help but stare at it like a bad wreck on the perimeter.

• Link
• Report this comment

Will BOE members please stop with the “I’m doing this because I love the children”. You should be doing this because you are competent at managing a budget of nearly a billion dollars. If you love children go volunteer at a school. They have very few teacher assistants anymore due to your gross financial mismanagement.

• Link
• Report this comment

The morale is so low at our school. The latest AP to get their online Argosy degree wants to be called “Doctor.” Sure. We all got emails with the excited congratualtory message: “Dr.”So and So”, has accomplished…blah blah woof woof. As if it meant anything whatsover. The system is shot full of these phoney time serving careerists with their phoney online degrees from top to bottom. The board is just the visible layer of a dumbed down system with dumb administrators, all in the dum dum club. Pay is great, though, I hear.
You just realize, after working for a profit most of your life, that these mopes could do absolutely nothing else. Phoneys. Yeah, right, I’m going to call you “Doctor Mope”, from now on. Not this lifetime.

• Link
• Report this comment

Anyone want to wager that in the unlikely event one of the board members does get ousted, there will be a discrimination lawsuit filed?

• Link
• Report this comment

Well, well, well…

It appears that the State Board of Education has already been given its marching orders…get rid of the DeKalb Board of Education. It looks like a done deal…and Mrs. Atkinson didn’t even show up for the meeting.

Let’s see now. If SACS wants to continue to be the Union for Superintendents (remember that SACS stands for Still Advocating for Cronies and Superintendents), then perhaps it ought to visit Bibb County. The school board keeps voting in 4 to 4 split decisions all night…like it did last night. I hear that Superintendent Romain Dallemand left with security last night. His so-called “Macon Miracle” is more like a “Macon Nightmare.” It is a joke, and the teachers hate it. But, we don’t hear from SACS about this situation, do we?

Or, do we hear from SACS in Cobb County where the school board members fight like cats and dogs…over such great and heavy issues like school calendars. Ha! Or, what about their 57 illegal school board meetings? Nah…no big deal because this is “advisor” Glenn Brock’s home school board. After all, he is apparently Mark Elgart’s best buddy when it comes to accreditation, right?

I remember when Clayton County’s all-white 11 person school board used to scrap and fight all night (well after midnight!) over all kinds of issues. The late Larry Foster who used to sit on the State School Board as well as serve as the attorney for the Clayton County Board of Education was right there in the mix. Did SACS ever come calling? Nah. Never heard from Mark Elart and SACS back then. And the school board survived until the next election…and the children got along admirably.

I remember the Greene County Board of Education being split and fighting big time over the Lake Oconee issue and the push for a new charter school out there. Yeah, it just worked itself out O. K….like it is supposed to without SACS or any other outside influence group meddling in the local affairs.

What about when ole Alvin Wilkinson in Gwinnett County didn’t file the required report for about 45, 000 serious disciplinary incidents with the State? Did Mark Elgart and SACS rush in or even issue a feint warning? Nah. No big deal. After all, this is the “Great Gwinnett,” and even Eli Broad recently issued a reward for Gwinnett being such a great “urban” system. Ha!

Apparently, for SACS to get involved, the issues have to be laced with race. Ouch! Some will get fighting mad about this statement. But, you know that I am just going to tell the truth. You see…when things can’t get worked out politically (because one side doesn’t have the requisite votes), well, then you call in SACS. Let SACS do the “dirty work.” Heavens to Betsey! DeKalb is now on “SACS probation.” Surprise, surprise! Hey, we now have to get the Governor involved! Our kids’ future is at stake! Those kids who made a perfect score on the SAT at Chamblee High School need the Governor! No, they need Mark Elgart and SACS to stay at home in Alpharetta! That’s what they need! They don’t need any more outside influence groups getting involved in the real politick of the DeKalb County Board of Education. The triumvirate of SACS-Governor-State Board will screw things up big time…beyond all recognition. This “cure” is worse than any conceived “ailment.” They will make it so that no parent in their right mind would ever want to move into DeKalb County and place their babies in the DeKalb School System. The DeKalb School System will become even more of a hiss and a byword.

Let Mark do it. Let Mark do it. Let Mark Elgart do it now! Let him destroy one more school system…one more community! I bet that no matter what…Mark Elgart would NEVER, NEVER put the Fulton County School System “on probation.” Heck, he’d have to face too many mommas in the Produce Section of the Alpharetta Publix. They would be white with anger! Have you ever seen white anger?! Ha! It can be pretty nasty. Like it was over there at the Marietta Square a few years ago…when the locals strung up ole Leo Frank in the Townsquare…not far from the Big Chicken. They were so mistakenly caught up in anger that they drove on old dusty roads all the way down to Milledgeville to wrestle him out of the local jail down there and brought him “home” to Marietta! Amidst an atmosphere of Bar-b-que and fiddlin’, they hanged Leo Frank amid great celebration.

White mob action can be very nasty. Very nasty. I have seen it personally. Up close. Directed right at me. Just because I helped a few folks get elected to a school board. I remember telling a wild, clamoring mob, foaming at the mouth with vitriolic racism: “The first redneck who lays a hand on me will find his a*s in jail!” I think that this very direct statement shocked many in the audience, both black and while – and the reporters too! The “reporters” reported that I used “profanity.” I just used language that rednecks understand. They understood me, and they understood that I was not afraid of their getting in my face, shouting, pushing up against my body, etc. The Jonesboro police officer repeated that I had a right not to be pushed and that I was right in that if anyone laid a hand on me, that they would be going to jail.

Yes, yes, yes. I have seen the mob action many times. It’s pretty much race-based. When white folks acted or still act fools on the school board, I have never seen SACS darken (no pun intended) the door. Clayton County is a classic example. When the school board was split down the middle with Republicans and Democrats (all white, mind you), it was a better show each week than Georgia Championship Wrestling, but I never saw Mark Elgart in the stands eating popcorn. Never. He never showed up. Just let those crazy white folks in Clayton County work out their own problems. Boys will be boys, and girls will be girls. That’s just ole Clayco. They’ve always been a little crazy about their politics down there, even though they have Spivey Hall! Ha!

Well, I could go on and on and tick off some more people, but let me go get another cup of coffee. Oh, by the way, did you notice how arrogant-looking these appointed State Board member were yesterday? All stuffy and full of self-importance. Heck, they are just appointed people. Yes, appointed. They haven’t been elected to jack-sh*t. So, they gave a lot of money to someone’s campaign and got themselves appointed. So what.

• Link
• Report this comment

The “tell” was that the board members spent time defending themselves, instead of addressing the problems. Should have sent the recommendation on to the governor immediately! And the new board members, all they needed to say was, ‘You know I took office a few weeks ago, but I am committed to moving this board forward.” That they said more is also a “tell.”

Atkinson also should be dismissed, but I guess that is up to the new board.

• Link
• Report this comment

This present BOE cannot even begin to change in 30 days. The culture of the BOE (past and present) and this school district is too entrenched. To borrow a phrase from another DCSS parent, It’s time to “reset” DCSS. A new BOE, a new Superintendent and a brand new educational system in this county, (I think Nancy Jester’s Portfolio District bears a look). Even with a new BOE and Super, the same issues will still be before us.

I attended the hearing for a few hours before I had to leave to go back to work. I do believe that the State BOE and others got a first hand view of the total dysfunction and lack of grasp of the issue that characterizes this BOE and that is why they did not approve the agreed upon 11-point Consent Degree. Dr. Walker clearly had no grasp of reality and I believe he did a lot of damage to his credibility and that of the BOE (if they had any); I thought Pamela Speaks did ok with what she had to work with. Marshall Orson spent his time reminding the State BOE that he and 2 others were new to BOE; admitted he had visited “his” schools. I left as Jay Cunninham began to speak.

Note: to Dr. Walker and Marshall Orson, you are to represent all students, not just “your” districts. A point brought out in the SACS report, that obviously even the new members did not grasp.

• Link
• Report this comment

Is there a reason to put inconvenient heavy Digital Rights Management on public meeting videos posted for the public to see? Are you afraid someone is going to make a rapper spoof edit? Or is it prohibited for people to have a copy? Real Player proprietary format – What a Pain in the Neck. Call A Chiropracter! Owe! This is like sending people to a toll both in Utah in order to see the video, and tell them to bring some quarters.

• Link
• Report this comment

@Dunwoody Mom – there you are. Does Jester represent all districts, or just Dunwoody?

• Link
• Report this comment

Others in other arenas have been given a time limit, but that is because the ability may have been there but the results were not reflective of it. This board, on the other hand, does not (as a unit) have the cumulitive ability from the get go. The very things (nepotism, etc.) that have been mentioned above re-enforce that. As so many on this blog and others have pointed out, qualifications on an education front are not necessarily a pre-requisite for election to a school board. The election of often incompetant people is a reflection on the population. Apparantly, the attitude of “keepin’ it real’ is much more important than the education of the kids. You may deduct what you will from my statements, but this board and school district in general are a mess!!

• Link
• Report this comment

A “mob” Fred? Really?

• Link
• Report this comment

@Dunwoodymom – After reading the testimonies in the blog yesterday, I have to admit this is one of the few instances in which I tend to agree with you.

• Link
• Report this comment

If the state get’s removes the school board, who replaces them! You bring in a crew who knows nothing about running the school system or do you let the state run your local school? As an elected official who do you represent, the people who put their faith in you by casting their vote for you or the county as a whole. If infighting is a big deal then we need to remove every congressman in the country, we need to shut down the local, state, and federal governments. Do they make all the right decisions, appropriate money in all the right places? Everybody can’t have their way, it’s gonna be disagreements when you are trying to get what’s best for your constituents. These are the people we elected to run this system, if they are not doing their job, come election time get rid of them. I don’t think this is a matter for the state to decide but for the people of Dekalb to do what’s best for the county.

• Link
• Report this comment

Currently the video is OFFLINE. I called the help number. It takes about a week? for them to edit it (removing dead air time?) and compile and then put link to archive page http://www.gadoe.org/External-Affairs-and-Policy/State-Board-of-Education/Pages/Webcast-Archive.aspx

Currently it is UNAVAILABLE and will be for “about a week…”

• Link
• Report this comment

“We don’t have people taking money.” Well Dr. Walker when friends and family are hired for too much money for too little experience then yes people are taking money from the school system. Members of the BOE may not benefit from it but they do nothing to stop it either.

• Link
• Report this comment

If Clayton county is any indication, then the jerks who make up the Dekalb school board will take the “its not me, its him/them” attitude right to the end. Their hubris prevents them from making any meaningful permanent change. What is it about school boards that attracts/creates these mini tyrants?

I am just glad that Georgia has a way to expediently remove them.

• Link
• Report this comment

Are they using Real Player because it is part of church culture? http://www.sljinstitute.net/%5Csermons%5Cnew%20testament%5Cgeneral%5Chebrews%5Chebrews29%5Crp_template.html Maybe someone speaking in “thee” and “thou” (which is a translation from the original) might note that the “eternal message” is being delivered by obsolete software that was invented pretty recently.

• Link
• Report this comment

@Sandy Springs Mom
Your comment is not only irrelevant, its untrue. I know plenty of Emory and CDC employees with kids in Dekalb schools. Since you are in SS, you wouldn’t know.

• Link
• Report this comment

“Leadership” degrees are like Scientology. Countries with strong governance are throwing Scientology out of their country, or treating them as for-profit business not as tax-exempt church. Or banning them as criminals.Check it out. It’s like a list of who has their act together and who does not: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientology_status_by_country

I wish there was a similar document for “leadership” degrees, where they are accepted and where they are banned.

• Link
• Report this comment

@bu2 – The majority of professionals I know who live in the inincorporated area of Druid Hills, Toco Hills, the Medlock Park area and the Briarcliff corridor have moved their kids into private schools in the middle of this school year. The conditions in DeKalb County schools have gotten that bad that quickly.

More importanta than the people who already live in DeKalb, absolutely nobody wants to move to DeKalb County and have their kids go to these schools. There is a reason Decatur homes sell quickly and for top dollar. The difference between the price paid for a house on the northeast side of the Ponce/Lawrenceville highway split and the southeast side, or, for that matter, the north side and south sides of Pharr Rd is hundreds of thousands of dollars. The houses are similar. The schools are different.

• Link
• Report this comment

@wondering allowed – thanks for the update on what your friends are doing. I’ve lived in Dekalb since 1984. I’m not thrilled about the current state of our local government or school board, but I’m not ready to pull up stakes and head for the northern suburbs just yet. We are looking at our options for middle school and beyond. Meanwhile, my children attend, in my opinion, one of the best elementary schools in Georgia. Despite the system’s current failures, we have a strong principal and our students are high achievers.

• Link
• Report this comment

This Board will not change in 30 days, heck, most of them were parading around in front of the media saying they back Clew 100%. This dysfunction has been going on since at least 2002 (you really see the ineptitude when your child starts High School). They have been able to cover up many poor decisions by Lewis and others, favorability, inept staff, etc. and continue to do so.

The whole Administration needs to go, not just the Board. Central office is a joke and there is so much waste. Clean house, review salaries, check certifications, hire people who truly have the experience and qualifications for the position. Perhaps two districts make a lot of sense especially since issues are so different in the Northern side of the county as opposed to the South side.

Bottomline, don’t give them 30 days. The Board, all of them, are a big joke with the biggest clown being Eugene Walker. Then the State should take steps to get a decent Superintendent in here. Let’s do something positive for DeKalb!

• Link
• Report this comment

@Wondering
Are you talking about Ponce and Scott St. (as opposed to N. Decatur and Lawrenceville)? If so, that isn’t what the AJC reports on real estate prices are showing. They show that section of Dekalb doing well.

As far as Decatur, we bought about 4 years ago and looked closely at a lot of areas. For some reason I don’t understand, the city of Decatur significantly underperformed the real estate market in the 5 or 6 years prior to that time. It looked primed to takeoff, but it still hasn’t happened.

And I don’t know of anyone who has left our school in the middle of the year except for moving out of the area. Most large private schools don’t admit in the middle of the year.

Most everyone is pretty pleased with the elementary school. Everyone evaluates what to do with middle school. Urban districts just do not do middle schools well.

• Link
• Report this comment

You don’t live in DeKalb and your children don’t go to school in DeKalb so your words don’t carry a lot of weight with the citizens who live here and send their children to DeKalb County Schools.

DeKalb has many beautiful areas that are safe and close to all the amenities that a big city has to offer. Perimeter Mall as well as the Emory and CDC areas are economic powerhouses that feed the tax base of Georgia. We have Arabia Mountain and Stone Mountain which are beautiful parks and many more instances of lovely green space in DeKalb. I can be downtown visiting the High Musem in 15 minutes even in rush hour or dining in Midtown in the same amount of time. There are many advantagges to living in DeKalb. The main disadvantage is the school system, and that cannot be overstated as a disadvantage. Actually, neighborhood schools in the affluent areas of DeKalb have maintained their high academic standards, and for many years the seedy underbelly that passed for the administration of the the school system did not appreciably affect those areas. DeKalb Schools was a “Tale of Two Systems”. The Great Recession and NCLB helped rip the veneer off the incompetence and inequity that is DeKalb and accelerated a process of decline due to unbelievably poor management and active investment in everything but the classrooms. As the affluent and in some cases formerly affluent areas of DeKalb began to experience “the DeKalb Way” in their schools up close and personal, parents were forced to become more vocal and more active.

Advising citizens to move from DeKalb or place their children in private schools are not workable solutions for the 98,000 children in DeKalb who depend on public education. DeKalb students are not less intelligent, the teachers are not less hardworking, and the parents are not less involved than other systems with similar demographics. There is nothing inherently wrong with our children. Many of us do not want to throw up our hands and give up on a decent education for the majority of our children.

• Link
• Report this comment

Altanta Media Guy EVERYONE AT THE PALACE MUST GO!

…to Six Flags!

• Link
• Report this comment

My neighborhood is filled with CDC and Emory employees who send their children to the local schools and yes it is the Lakeside area. It’s not called the Clifton Corridor for nothing. Lakeside is bursting at the seams since so many younger people have been moving into the neighborhood as the retirees and older folk move out.

• Link
• Report this comment

@ Astropig: If SACS would consistently apply its so-called standards, this would be interesting. But, SACS never does. Never. SACS always arbitrarily and capriciously applies its so-called standards. You don’t see SACS coming down on the foolishness in Cobb, Fulton, or Gwinnett, do you? Don’t try to say that is does not exist. It does.

“Crooks”? Are we really calling the school board members “crooks”? A little hysteria, don’t you think? If they are indeed crooks, then you don’t need to be calling on SACS for help you; rather, you should call on the District Attorney.

Nothing will change. I have seen it so many times before. You can’t get politics out of politics. By definition, a seat on the DeKalb School Board is a political position. Pure and simple. The same stuff goes on in Griffin-Spalding, Hart County, Hancock County, Richmond County, Muscogee County, Jackson County, Clarke County, White County, just to name a few. Politics will always be on the school boards and in the school systems. The difference in DeKalb? Too many influential and politically-connected (with the Governor’s Office) people still live in DeKalb. They can’t get their way anymore, and they are mad as heck about this. When the school board was still majority white (about five years ago) and hired the incapable Crawford Lewis, no one raised a stink…because, I think, the influential folk on Lullwater and in Dunwoody still trusted the school board. When the black got a little “darker,” that trust went out the window.

Get mad at me again for telling you the truth. I love seeing your reactions. Ha!

• Link
• Report this comment

Are my comments still being “moderated”? Ha! Mr. Filter keeps my comments at bay.

• Link
• Report this comment

Concernedmom, you say “no parents in Dekalb demand more.” My experience has been that parents in Dekalb have been demanding more for at least a decade. Teachers give us and our students all they can and then some while working in horrible conditions with next to no resources; some administrators, not all, actually do all they can to discourage these parents (our board chairman refers to them as “disgruntled”) in hopes that they will leave the system.

• Link
• Report this comment

@ Dunwoody Mom: I think that I am the only one who will tell the truth. This stuff only happens when white folks can’t get their way in school systems which have a majority black school board. I have seen so much foolishness going on among majority white school boards (Fulton, Cobb, Gwinnett, just to name a few), but SACS doesn’t respond to calls for help. I have read where parents say that they have written to SACS, but they got no response from SACS. Sorry, DM, but I am just stating the obvious.

• Link
• Report this comment

@ Dr. Trotter, I am disappointed in you for bringing color into this conversation. The problems with DeKalb are not one color or group, the problems are with South DeKalb, Fernbank parents, and everyone in between. Everyone is out for their child, and no one is looking at the big picture. This is the biggest problem with DeKalb.

Everyone wants their special programs, reguardless of cost, number of kids, and countless other things that need to be looked at when making decisions. No one is caring if the kids in the regular schools throughout the county get a good education. If the teachers are able to teach kids in over crowded classrooms, or if we continue to pass kids along who have limited skills and are now in middle school on a 4th grade level.

No Dr. Trotter, this is not a white, black, Hispanic, Asian, green, purple or blue issue. This issue is about ADULTS caring about ADULTS, and not giving a darn about the children that they are paid to educate.

I have only been in DeKalb for 6 years. Taught in it for 3, having taught in other places around the country, and DeKalb was the worst teaching experience I have ever had, and frankly I’ve worked in much tougher places, but the lack of care and concern for the children is appalling. I wouldn’t send an animal to a school in DeKalb. We have stayed because we are underwater in our home, my husband has a nice commute to work, and I can homeschool my son. We are seriously thinking of selling the house for whatever we can get, ruining our credit, and moving to another location with better schools, less drama, and a longer commute for my husband.

You bringing up color really disgusts me, and is part of the reason why I want to leave DeKalb. I grew up in a very racially mixed area up North, and have friends of all backgrounds to this day from elementary and high school. I don’t see black and white. I see dysfunctional adults who are out for their friends, family, and themselves, and the children are a last priority all together. That goes for the two new school board members as well. I asked Orson to his face if he was going to be for the entire district or just our area, and he told me the entire district, and I didn’t see that in the hearing yesterday. One cannot understand the problems without visiting the schools, but you need to visit all of the schools, as each school has it’s own unique problems.

DeKalb won’t change until people stop talking about race and start looking with clear vision at the real problems. This is not Black or White, it’s about dysfunction and trying to get the most out of the district for those that you know. It happens in the county government as well. It’s pervasive in DeKalb, and really is no better than the Chicago politics that I saw when living in Chicago and that I see often happening now in Washington, except that those in DeKalb aren’t suave enough to cover their tracks.

• Link
• Report this comment

@ DM. Race is very relevant. It is the obvious thing that is going on by calling in SACS, The Guv, and the State Board. Get out there and help elect candidates of your liking. That’s how the process of democracy works. I hate gnostic take-overs. I hate oligarchies. I hate incompetence just like you do. But, more than incompetence, I hate seeing the powers-who-be circumvent the democratic process. Hey, I voted for Romney, but he didn’t win, did he? I didn’t pout and call upon the U. N. to take out President Obama. (For the record, I voted for President Obama the first time.) I didn’t like his economic policies and the government take-over of healthcare. So, I voted for Romney this past election. But, guess what? President Obama got the most votes, and he is still the President. Bully for him. He will be inaugurated for his second term. Quite historic, I think. But, I still didn’t vote for him.

If I lived in DeKalb, I would probably not vote for many of the incumbents. But, I would be recruiting candidates and/or helping challengers. I wouldn’t be calling on SACS or the Governor for help. Get off the couch and put up signs until the wee hours of the morning. Do the hard and dirty work to get elected or to get others elected. This is all that I am saying.

There is a pattern. SACS responds to the influential people who can’t get their way at the ballot box. SACS is as inconsistent as the day is long. SACS is a tool used by the influential…just like the old convict lease system was used right after the Civil War to take care of the “labor problem.” Only the wealthy and well-connected profited from the convict lease system. It was race-based…just like SACS is. Race has always been intricately woven into the very fabric of American politics…from the days of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787.

By the way, my great, great grandfather, Robert A. Alston, was the only State Representative in DeKalb in 1879, and he was murdered at the Georgia Capitol in the process of trying to outlaw the convict lease system. He is buried in the old Decatur Cemetery, and his antebellum home, the second oldest house still standing in Atlanta, is located on Alston Drive in front of the East Lake Country Club. Back in the day, he pretty much owned all of East Lake (about 400 acres). My grandfather, Robert Alston Trotter, Alston’s first grandchild, was born in Meadownook (the Alston house on Alston Drive). His cousin, Dr. Wallace Alston, was President of Agnes Scott College for 22 years. Others relatives lived in DeKalb for years. My brother and I both taught and coached in DeKalb County a few years back. I have a few connections to DeKalb, and I may just move back over there one day. Now this ought to stir up some mess! Ha!

• Link
• Report this comment

“Which excuses would you like to give to those who grow up speaking English, go to English schools and still can’t make it? Look at the examples around them – parents, communities, role models.”

@ LOGIC: How can I respond to your line of “reasoning”? I am just advocating a respect for the democratic process. It appears that you have opted for an “appointed” process. Why would you expect me to give an excuse for anyone, much less the type of parents whom you are apparently describing? Is it my responsibility to give an “excuse” for anyone? I think that your rambling belies your deep-seated feelilngs about certain people in DeKalb. I am sorry that you feel this way. No one’s actions are my responsibility except my own, be they in DeKalb, Newnan, or Brazil.

I just offer up my opinions about what is driving this debate about calling in outside influence groups like SACS.

• Link
• Report this comment

It seems obvious that after listening to the statements of the board members and questioning them, the state board members knew there was no hope of any improvement coming from this crew (Nancy Jester and the three new board members excluded). They seemed to only be concerned with protecting themselves when the inevitable taxpayer-funded lawsuit occurs. Perhaps the board should try a hail mary and fire Dr. Atkinson, whom they shouldn’t have hired in the first place.

By the way, I’m bothered that the plagiarism incident seems to be old news so soon after it was made public. If the board instructed Dr. Atkinson to fire Dr. Taylor (by the way, does anyone know where his doctorate is from?), would that be viewed as meddling in personnel matters by SACS?

And AMG, we would have to improve a whole lot to get to “mediocre.”

• Link
• Report this comment

@sandyspringsparent: You obviously don’t know people who live around Druid Hills HS (it’s not NORTH Druid Hills HS by the way).

• Link
• Report this comment

I don’t believe any significant changes can happen in 30 days. However, I am also concerned with who will replace the board members if they are let go. What are their backgrounds? Are they even qualified to be on the board or are they politically connected? Too many questions that are unanswered at this point. I do hope the board realizes it is time for a change and at least are wise enough to make an attempt to implement the requested changes by SACS. I kept my son out of DCSS for years because of these issues. Now he is attending Arabia Mountain HS and doing very well. I would really hate to have to go back to sending him to a private school and continuing to pay a large amount of my property taxes for the public schools. I should not have to pay for private school and public school. I have no intention of moving my family to another district because DCSB can’t get their act together. I think giving them until the end of the school year would make sense. If things have not improved by then, everyone including the superintendent should go and start fresh. If it means students will start and end the school year a little later, it is worth it. Our kids are worth the effort and deserve a quality education no matter what part of DeKalb they reside in.

• Link
• Report this comment

One of the things that struck me while watching and listening yesterday was how several of our board members struggled with language. They not only had trouble communicating their thoughts, they seemed to have trouble grasping the ideas communicated by SACS and by the state board members. This must be a huge handicap when trying to fulfill the responsibilities of a board member. Dekalb has many challenges, including a large population of students from low-income households, immigrant households,and households with low levels of education. We don’t need to be handicapped by school board members who can’t communicate adequately, much less effectively.

• Link
• Report this comment

@ Dr. Trotter

I have not said that they have broken laws, even though it seems evident that laws have been broken. Just look at Grand Jury presentments to see the breaking of the laws. I have said that they cannot execute their duties for which they were elected.

Soooo…look at the SACS report to see where they did not execute their duties. How I enjoyed typing those words.

Have a wonderful and blessed weekend down in Brazil and let those of us here in DeKalb worry about our communities.

• Link
• Report this comment

@concernedmom30329 I’m pretty sure that the reason we’ve come to this point is because parents have “demanded more.”

• Link
• Report this comment

@ LOGIC: I didn’t think that they had broken any laws. You just don’t like them and the way they operate, right? SACS is a joke. I’ve read one too many SACS reports already. Full of errors and terribly written. You would think that someone making around $400,000.00 in salary and benefits from public monies would hire someone who could write decently and cogently, if Mark Elgart himself can’t write so well.

SACS is just an end run. Get SACS to say that the board is “deficient,” not upholding the fake “standards” of SACS, standards, by the way, which are egregiously applied in the most arbitrary, inconsistent, and capricious manner. SACS? I still say that it stands for Still Advocating for Cronies and Superintendents.

I will have a good evening (almost 6:00 PM down here). Thank you. Plan on watching the fourth and final night of the story of Luiz Gonzaga. A great story, by the way, of an unlikely musical legend here in Brazil. Then, tomorrow I may head on over to Copa to join some American friends from St. Louis who are down for a wedding. Lawrence wll finally tie the knot with Deborah from Brasilia but not before a fun vacation with the St. Louis Gang in Rio. Of course, I’ll have to join Americans watching the Falcons-49ers game at Blue Agave, owned by Jason of California.

Don’t put your hope in SACS, good folks. SACS is a false god. SACS is like BAAL that the Israelites were often tempted to worship…instead of Jehovah. Didn’t Elijah call down fire from Heaven? Or, was that his mentee-prophet Elishah? I get these two prophets confused sometimes. Their names sound so much the same. All of those Old Testament prophets were considered crazy as bed bugs by the people of their day, especially that Jeremiah! Didn’t the Good Master query those in his day: “Which of the prophets did your forefathers not stone?”

• Link
• Report this comment

Qualifications
In response to a proposal that educated people run the country, William F. Buckley said I’d rather be governed by the first 100 names in the Boston phone book.

Credentials don’t equate to results. Look at the resumes of the DCSD board over the last few years:

Paul Womack – Bachelors from UGA, VP of Trailways, President of Georgia Courier, VP of First Financial Group (Fortune 400)
Bowen – BS Accounting, Attorney and CPA, Director of U.S. Transaction with Hewlett Packard, JD from Georgia State University, College of Law
Redovian – BA degree in Finance from Ohio University, President and Owner of Atlantic Southern Products

That’s the first three I looked up. They sucked and would be way above any bar we set.

• Link
• Report this comment

If they haven’t broken any laws, then the law is not sufficient to govern operation of school districts; the law should be more specific. This may be the real core of what is going on.

“You must take the horse to water once a day or you go to jail.”
“I didn’t take the horse to water.”
“Well then, you go to jail.”
“I’ll take the horse to water.”

• Link
• Report this comment

@Pardon My Blog
Can you give examples? I think you may be confusing Walker with Cunningham.

• Link
• Report this comment

And Disgusted’s comments apply to Nancy Jester and Eugene Walker, as far as comprehending the issues. Both are intelligent, well educated people who don’t seem to grasp criticism when it relates to them.

• Link
• Report this comment

@Bill and Ed, ha! A broken clock is correct twice a day? I guess anything is possible when we’re discussing DeKalb County, right?

• Link
• Report this comment

@ Pardon: I believe that I asked about criminal actions on the school board. Heck, I have been falsely arrested and incarcerated on four occasions. Hence, my little respect for “authority,” much less any jackleg gorup like SACS. Charges against me are summarily dropped due to lack of evidence. One time a hardheaded prosecutor just “dead-docketed” the file. Pretty much the same difference. I was waiting with baited breath to go to court. Ha! Now that would have been a show…but not before the illustrious depositions. Anyone who knows me knows that depositions would have been my thing in this crazy case of a principal having me arrested in APS.. With all the cheating going on at the time, no wonder they were scared of me! Ha!

Yes, I think that you might confused Dr. Walker with Mr. Cunningham, for that matter.

by the way, I might be inclined to agree with William F. Buckley, but the telepnone book appointees would still be appointees, and I’d still want them to have to go through the rigors of a campaign.

• Link
• Report this comment

Why are election campaigns perceived to be any less political and prone to error or corruption than appointments? There’s corruption in both processes. The throat to choke in an appointment environment is the elected official who appointed them. Plus, appointed ones can be removed a lot more easily than elected ones.

• Link
• Report this comment

The Deal
Correct … DCSD board and admin … suck, suck, suck. I’m saying

1. SACS isn’t accurately reporting any of those issues.
2. SACS didn’t swoop in for any of those reasons.

What do you like about the report or see as accurate?

• Link
• Report this comment

DIO, what I listed above is straight from the report. I agree with everything they said that I listed there. Other things they listed as issues that I didn’t list, I don’t have personal knowledge of, but 1) that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen 2) at this point, I wouldn’t doubt anything from this group of jokers.

Is it complete? No. Does SACS have “authority” over everything that is wrong? No, but that isn’t SACS’s fault.

Again, just glad to have our board members (who are part of the problem, not all of it) on the hot seat. They literally have never been in this type of hot seat. Nice to see the tables turned.

• Link
• Report this comment

The Deal
Yeah, nice to see somebody give the DCSD board the what-fer … sort of.

Back to the SACS report. The “Indicators” are what SACS is basing it’s report on.

Indicator 2.1 – Coralwood shuttle issue, Policy DJE Issue.

Indicator 2.2 – The board argues with each other. The board shows distrust in administration.

Indicator 2.3 – Board members overstepping bounds and strong arming teachers and principals (This is accurate but hardly why DCSD is where it is).

Indicator 2.4 – The use of “I” and “me” are unacceptable

etc …

You agree with this SACS report? Which indicators? Yes, DCSD board and administrators need to have their butts dragged down to the gold dome, but not because of the SACS report.

Note: Please use these sources as references: Coralwood Shuttle and Policy DJE

• Link
• Report this comment

State board member Linda Zechmann commenting on how often Orson mentions he is brand new: “Everyone needs to be aware that is not relevant to this body. We are charged to look at your board as a whole. I want to make sure you don’t belabor that point because it is meaningless to this body.”
________

This is twilight zone material. Mr. Orson and two other board members were just elected to the board — campaigning on a platform of change and ousting incumbents — and were just sworn in and started with the board LAST WEEK. Then one of the first things they must do is report to the State Board for this hearing where they are disrespected and impugned with the alleged misdeeds of their predecessors, and Ms. Zechmann tells Mr. Orson it is “meaningless” to the State Board that Orson and the other two board members just started last week. If that is not twilight zone material, I don’t know what is. No wonder it’s hard to get good people to run for school boards. But hey, at least they make a whopping $18,000 per year.

• Link
• Report this comment

But it is relevant to whether the SBOE ignores the will of the political process and disenfranchises the voters. Zechmann was as oblivious to that as Dr. Walker was to the concerns of the SBOE. Its also relevant to whether the board can make changes when 1/3 is brand new.

• Link
• Report this comment

bu2, the board is following the law. If you have a problem with the law, take it up with your legislators, not the state BOE. If your legislators voted “yes” and you don’t agree with them, then vote against them next time. If the current board decides to challenge, then so be it. The state BOE has a responsibility to act according to the allowances they are given, and, right now, that is the law. Should they just not act simply b/c they are scared they would be challenged?

• Link
• Report this comment

Ah, now I understand. You’re one of Orson’s friends. It all makes sense. Orson, Jim, and Melvin all ran knowing that DeKalb was on advisement and theoretically, they were aware that the system had only declined since then, so it was at their own risk. SACS also arrived for an investigative visit in October and issued their probationary status prior to their taking an oath of office. When they took their oath of office in early January, they entered into a system they knew was on probation, didn’t they? I don’t feel sorry for them; they knew what they were getting into.

I’ll say it again since you obviously didn’t read it the first time: the state BOE only has the power to remove the entire board. As such, they need a hearing with the entire board. Are you suggesting that the state BOE hold a hearing to remove the entire sitting board while excluding three members from even giving a statement? THAT would be a kangaroo court.

If you don’t like the process, take it up with your legislators. The state BOE is only following the protocol they are required to by law.

• Link
• Report this comment

That Zechman may have been disrespectful to the new members is not relevant. That she was disrepectful to the voters is offensive.

• Link
• Report this comment

bu2, I said that same thing above. The fact that the board has new members is only relevant if they think 3 new members will have a positive effect given the evidence (SACS report) that they have to work with.

But I completely disagree with your “disrespectful to voters”. The state BOE did not make the law. If anyone was disrespectful, it was your legislators. I happen to agree with it, but if you don’t, you only have your legislators to blame. The state BOE was required by law to hold the hearing. If, in their experience, they determine they want to recommend that the governor remove them, that is fully within their rights and responsibilities. Are you expecting the state BOE to either violate or ignore the law?

Take it up with your legislator, and stop blaming the state BOE. They are not the villains.

Orson, Melvin, and Jimmy Mac should be setting up chats with the Governor, since he is the only one, under the law, who can pick and choose.

• Link
• Report this comment

Bu2
Where you at the hearing? Ms. Zechman’s tone and body language indicated to me that she was simply frustrated and distressed about the situation. It wasn’t personal to Marshall.
With the exception of the three new board members, this crew has had multiple warnings and chances. Almost all of them said this was a “wake up call.” Are you kidding me?

From a previous post, I realize you are relatively new to DeKalb. You haven’t been around enough to understand that at nearly every election there are new members of the DeKalb Board. Most of them start off as good people (Womack and Walker are big exceptions.) but almost none can really be effective. It is the culture of DeKalb.

Since the selection of Crawford Lewis as superintendent, DeKalb School boards have thrived with a weak leader because they can get what they want for the schools in their districts. You have no idea, I suspect, how prevalent this behavior is, especially among the S. DeKalb Board members. (In fairness, a few years ago, there were several N. DeKalb board members who behaved the same. I won’t name names, but one’s Daddy was the superintendent years ago.)

What I believe is that a mostly appointed board, perhaps with some specific standards and qualifications, would do a better job. Keep the three newly elected members and add to them professionals with no relatives who work for the systems, day jobs, and a college or technical degree.

i will end with this — yesterday three board members fell asleep during the hearing — Cunningham (who was ill), Walker and poor Copelin-Woods.

We need a change. I am sorry you think we can wait two years to get it.

• Link
• Report this comment

If you take the names and individuals out of it, it would be productive to look at organizational structure and how specific is the law defining their duties. This is public money, after all. Maybe the law needs to define the mission statement and specific duties, not generalised, and basic chain of command management structure to go with it. As the public, we should be readily able to see an organizational chart and body of law to go with it specifying duties and methods. Any activity veering from that should be address immediately per individual action. There appears to be way too much collective responsibility, lack of individual accountability, and a generalised duty/method that is open to exploit due to non-definition. The extent of the current situation is in great part due to poor definition of duties and immediate attention to individual accountability to perform duties for which salary is paid. This is pretty simple stuff and it seems to be lacking, not there. If the public or state takes so little responsibility for defining what they are paying for, and requiring basic individual accountability, then the expected result will be something unwoven.

• Link
• Report this comment

concerned parent: First of all, there are quite a few people in DeKalb who are either old or ignorant or even both, but that would not justify hostility toward them, would it? I wouldn’t ordinarily waste time responding to someone who obviously does not wish to engage in intelligent dialogue, but the grammatical errors in your post were too many for me to ignore.

“Your either to old to know what wireless is or means or your just ignorant and really don’t know better.” How many errors do you see in this sentence? Surely they cannot all be attributed to typos, can they?

Perhaps we can just chalk it up to your inability to receive a quality education, in which case it isn’t completely your fault, but you really shouldn’t go around advertising your shortcomings that way.

As for the school systems that have “gone wireless” as you have put it, I would like to put the question back to you. Provide me with a single school system the size of DeKalb that has transitioned their entire system to e-books, I-Pads, cell phones – whatever you want to call it. If you would step outside your own assumptions for a moment and actually attempt to do the research yourself, you will find that there are none. There have been some smaller test markets but even they were wise enough not to try and roll out such a plan to their entire district without any solid research to prove that the investment up front is actually a wise business decision and without any evidence that it helps improve learning in any way. Regardless of the way they deliver the coursework to you, nothing will help if you do not actually read the words and try to retain the information. That’s learning. Everything else is just a distraction to getting our schools focused on education instead of obsessed with inanimate objects or new construction projects. The spending spree is about to come to an end, so it isn’t really the best time to try to be innovators. We would be better served if we just tried to see what things have worked elsewhere and then just try to do that.

Now, I’m guessing you probably do not pay property taxes here, but I do so I have a right to be concerned about how my money is being spent and, in light of the fact that teachers and school house employees are losing their jobs and classes are overcrowded, I would much prefer to see money reinvested in our own communities (plural) to help these issues that are having a negative impact on the quality of education we are able to provide the students, such as yourself. And, as much as you may enjoy using a computer that doesn’t need a power cord, there really is no educational benefit to it. Wireless is merely a method for delivery of content. Books can deliver that same content and have been for decades, so I have yet to hear how a big investment in devices makes sense, especially when they are more likely to get lost, broken, stolen or be used to play games, or cheat instead of helping kids learn like they should be doing.

With that being said, there are other big issue about wireless when it pertains to children, that is if you are talking about routers placed inside the school buildings that would allow any device, including personal devices and school issued ones, to access the school system’s fiber optic network, which was paid for with SPLOST III dollars, without a physical cable.

But, you do not have to take my “old” or “ignorant” word for it. Please, check out any of the links below and read the very recent statements that have been made by the EPA, FDA and even the American Pediatric Association. They are all very reputable groups in the U.S. that have released statements urging schools to remain on wired networks due to the potential health effects in children which include difficulties with concentrating as well as trouble sleeping.

It’s fine if you want to take these kinds of risks for yourself, but an entire school district should be a little more cautious when they are making blanket decisions that will affect thousands of children. Even if they believe the science is not certain, they still have an obligation to err on the side of caution. You cannot force all children to go to school and then fail to provide them a safe environment in which to do so, unless you are Communist, I guess.

The 2012 BioInitiative Report

The Report is the work of 29 independent scientists and health experts from 10 countries. The independent research group Powerwatch says of the Reports contributors “they hold 10 medical degrees (MDs), 21 PhDs, and three MSc, MA or MPHs. Among the authors are three former presidents of the Bioelectromagnetics Society, and five full members of BEMS. One distinguished author is the Chair of the Russian National Committee on Non-Ionizing Radiation. Another is a Senior Advisor to the European Environmental Agency.”

One of the Report’s contributors, M. Herbert, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School comments: ” While we aggressively investigate the links between autism disorders and wireless technologies, we should minimize wireless and EMF exposures for people with autism disorders, children of all ages, people planning a baby, and during pregnancy.”

Now, I know I’m no assistant professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School, but I am a parent and I have a lot more faith in the report from these folks than I do in the information the DeKalb Board of Education is using to base their decisions on, which is probably nothing more than the information given to them by the vendors that the Superintendent is getting her kickback money from. I’m not saying that is going on for sure, but she sure is happy holding up a “Netbook” which is a poor quality Chineese knock off product from Lenovo, a company that took customer service jobs out of Atlanta a few years ago to move them over to a town near Charlotte, NC, Dr. Atkinson’s former school district.

And, if you like playing games and are excited about getting a school system cheap laptop, think again about what else they can do with it. They have already said the computers will have tracking devices in them and they will probably be able to read all your emails and text messages, too. If you like being watched or tracked, then good for you. I’d rather keep my rights to privacy, free speech and protect my child’s health and education while hoping my tax dollars will be used to pay for products or jobs in my own county or state instead of being sent to other areas or other countries.

But, that’s just me. What do I know, right? Here are just a couple links for now:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/120379327/Safe-Schools-2012-Wireless-Iniative
http://www2.aap.org/visit/cmte16.htm

• Link
• Report this comment

“The “mom with a calculator” has a degree in economics and was an actuarial consultant.”

So being ignorant of financial matters – i.e. not being able to read an income statement or a balance sheet excuses BOE members from culpability. Shouldn’t Dr. Lewis and subsequently Ms. Tyson been able to understand basic financial management? Why was Dr. Lewis paid close to half a million dollars in salary and benefits and Ms. Tyson paid $300,000+ in salary and benefits if they were so woefully ignorant of accounting principles? After all the BOE hired them. Are we to excuse all of the administrators (superintendents and BOE) who ran a billion dollar a year enterprise into the ground while utterly failing to deliver the one product they absolutely were supposed to deliver – student achievement. If you can’t understand basic accounting principles, why would you take on a job that requires those skills in order to make your organization successful?

• Link
• Report this comment

Ray
The system was headed towards probation before the election. DCSS was already on advisement. While I can’t speak about Dr Johnson, I know that Jim and Marshall knew what they were getting onto.
If Don had been reelected, I imagine you would be first in.line to call for the board’s removal.
The Governor can and probably will.keep the newly elected board members.

• Link
• Report this comment

Your either to old to know what wireless is or means or your just ignorant and really don’t know better.” How many errors do you see in this sentence? Surely they cannot all be attributed to typos, can they?

Just one error involving the contraction: you + are = you’re.

• Link
• Report this comment

The Deal, thank you.

GETtheCELLoutATL Don’t forget about the mother of all cell phone towers located on South Moreland Ave approaching I-285. You drive past that thing and your cell phone signal strength is at 50 BARS!!!

Plenty of city have wireless for the whole city. It’s called “muni-wifi” (municipal wi-fi) and is useful for police and EMS as well as the general public. The places where they don’t have it is because the wireless service providers go crying because it destroys their market. For example, I know some very poor people who are paying $190./month for 2 phones for a little internet connection and phone service. Meanwhile, some very rich cities, each person pays $5./month and you have muni-wifi. USA has really high connectivity cost related to other developed countries.

Wi-fi in schools? The cost is absolutely minimal, since it is a closed system, just using wireless routers. Actually, it would cost a whole less less than running wired connection. Health risk? I took some interest related to bee colony collapse but I think it has more to do with pesticides than rf – radio frequency.

• Link
• Report this comment

anyone who thinks race doesn’t play a factor in this mess is fooling themselves. and for the most part must not be long term residents to the area. those of us to have been here 30+ years have watched this farce play out in slow motion.

it probably doesn’t play out on the simple yes or no world so many try to live in, but it -race- is the underlying factor of EVERYTHING in Atlanta politics.

back in the late 70s and early 80s, signs exhorting votes to “vote the black slate” were common in parts of DeKalb county. and our current idiot mayor Reed all but said in so many words to vote for him to keep the white woman out of office.

a perfect example is the last POTUS election. it was common to say race played a part in white people voting for Romney, since they went for him about 60-40. nothing was said about black people going roughly 90-10 for Obama.

selective outrage, selective vision.

at the political level, race is the undermining issue of all things in DeKalb county. deal with it.

• Link
• Report this comment

anyone who’s been here long enough will remember Andy Young, when in a pinch, resorting to saying the problem were the (his words, not mine) Smart Assed White Boys.

• Link
• Report this comment

Hey Bootney, What do you get when two brothers who run a gym in London start playing with writing lyrics at the front counter of the gym and decide to make a song? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39YUXIKrOFk

• Link
• Report this comment

@dekalbite
I was referring to the way DIO was calling Jester a simple Mom with a calculator, when in fact she was financially savvy. Its rather misleading and insulting to others for Jester to call herself that.

Board members should be competent. Its unbelievable to me that Ms. Copelin-Woods spent 10 minutes of the board time not understanding, after 12 years on the board and 12 years of budgeting, the difference between a negative fund balance and a negative cash balance. She still didn’t grasp it, but the CFO manage to assuage her concerns about there being a negative cash balance. Its unacceptable that noone seemed to realize Tyson was ignoring the budget.

I want to see a lot of these people gone. But so do people from 5 of the 7 districts. The democratic process should be respected.

• Link
• Report this comment

“I want to see a lot of these people gone. But so do people from 5 of the 7 districts. The democratic process should be respected.”

I like my rep Jim McMahon as well, but if the entire BOE has to go, then that is part of the democratic process. I’m a liberal Democrat but I abide by the laws this conservative legislature passes. Replacing the BOE is the Governor’s prerogative by law if their accreditation is a a certain level. That’s democracy in action too. Although we can pick and choose which laws we agree or disagree with, we don’t get to pick and choose which laws we follow.

• Link
• Report this comment

@bu

the citizens have had multiple chances to fix this and they chose to return the same or similar set of fools. frankly the citizens of DeKalb are the main problem here – they have chosen to say this is OK with them.

essentially the DCSS mess is a result of mob rule. and our republic is designed to protect us from mobs.

• Link
• Report this comment

Gene Walker may have a PhD, but he is indefensible.

Here are some headlines about Gene from Access North Georgia:

Parole board member on trial for sexual harassment

State paid $190,000 to settle earlier sex harassment suit

Streat’s lawyers file another motion on AG
Lawyers for Sen. Van Streat are seeking “detailed affidavits” from Attorney General Thurbert Baker and two others they accuse of conspiring to destroy official records.

Suit accuses parole board member of sexual harassment

Walker was also a state legislator who stepped down after four terms, alledgely asked by the leaders of the State Democratic Party.

And this is great from Gene:
“CrossRoadsNews – DeKalb state senators question School Board members”
Henson asked about alleged misappropriation of $12 million in textbook funds. Walker said an audit by KPMG accounted for all funds and blamed allegations on rumors by disgruntled parents or employees.

• Link
• Report this comment

bu2, are you kidding? Donna Edler is an idiot. Melvin Johnson is an insider. You can try to make it sound better than it is, but we all know the facts.

• Link
• Report this comment

@@not defending Dr. Walker’s performance, just challenging the comment calling him a fool.

@the Deal We all know your OPINIONS. But since Donna Elder got a BBA at Kansas and Master’s at Wisconsin and is a CPA, I don’t believe she is an idiot. Is she always well prepared for board meetings? No. But she’s not an idiot.

I will agree there are two people who are unqualfied to be on the board. And there are others I wish weren’t there, but they aren’t fools and idiots.

• Link
• Report this comment

What is the concentration area of Walker’s Ph.D, Physical Education? And sexual harrassment(EWWW!) Sarasota? is that the program that allows you to do your defense on the phone? This is a joke! Counting down til school is out…4, 3, 2, 1!!!!!Yaaaaay! Free at last…No racial epithet intended…

• Link
• Report this comment

Not Walker — Miller County Wishful thinking perhaps?

• Link
• Report this comment

@concernedmom,
Jester didn’t engage in questionable behavior in redistricting a few years ago. You know that. She came on the board in the middle of the process. The end result was strikingly similar to the first set of options presented by the staff to the board. The only people that had issues with it wanted to keep the 4-5 academy for their own strange demographic reasons. Everyone knows that the end results were good and we have very strong elementary schools in that cluster now. What is questionable is why the staff did nothing to address the various zones in the Cross Keys feeder pattern. They never presented one idea to make that better.

• Link
• Report this comment

@exteacher – yeah, I guess doing the right thing, abiding by the rules and law, etc. are acting “white”? The mantra seems to be do what you want and beg for forgiveness later.

• Link
• Report this comment

bu2, definitions:

Fool: a person lacking in judgment or prudence
Idiot: a foolish or stupid person

I think most of our board fits these definitions. But bury your head in the sand and hope for more time that our children don’t have.

• Link
• Report this comment

bu2

I strongly believe the three newly elected board members will be reappointed. I desperately believe that the rest need to go.

You seem to think that Redovian and McChesney were horrible. They weren’t. (Womack was.) They got snookered by staff on occasion and redistricting took a terrible tole on McChesney, but unless the whole (or nearly the whole) board is acting as one, nothing is going to chage. The system is fundamentally flawed. A board member may ask a great question but the majority of the board won’t support him/her in finding the answer. Why? Because they need to protect their version of the status quo. (Be it attendance zones, new construction, certain hires, etc) This is a system that works on some strange pay back method.

I would like to think, and I am impressed with those appointed in other systems, that the Governor would look to see what was needed and appointed appropriate folks.

I know I have said this before, but you are very new to this and you live in a school district where parents can raise the funds to make up the differences from system funding shortfall. You also have said that you may be public only in elementary. For about 95,000 other students in DeKalb, their reality is very different. Every bad decision made by the system is like another little cut towards a fatal wound. Most system families don’t have options other than public k-12.

I sense your desperation to keep Marshall and the other newly elected officials. Keep in him. See how you feel about him in 2-4 years. But don’t insist on keeping everyone else.

IT ISN’T WORKING.

• Link
• Report this comment

@ bu

1- you assume much, and incorrectly. that however, is your problem.
2-I see no evidence of change, just wishful thinking on your part. history is not on your side.
3-I’ve been living/working/going to school in DeKalb for nearly 40 years. you?
4-you seem to have a serious dog in the fight about saving certain behinds. why?
5-my responses come from hard learned history, including changeover in personnel before. yours seem to be wishing on stars and reflexive defensiveness
6-no real, tangible evidence of a cultural change of the voters in DeKalb exists
7-you’ve flat run out of time.

• Link
• Report this comment

Replacing the board and Super for 18 months isn’t going affect permanent change. Superintendents and BOE members have come and gone over the last 10 years. 5 years from now we will be in the same place.

• Link
• Report this comment

While I don’t agree with Dr. Trotter’s analysis, you can’t deny he is right about one thing. The people who have lost in elections or votes are the loudest calling for intervention to overturn the votes of the people. The more Republican areas that were behind the Jester/McChesney group are some of the shrillest.

• Link
• Report this comment

ConcernedMom
Without major changes in 5 years we are destined to be in the same place we are today. We MUST have local control. Those models include Portfolio District, district wide independent charters and independent school districts. We are wasting our time and our children’s education demanding anything less than a local control model. “We” have leverage over the board and administration for the first time.

• Link
• Report this comment

ConcernedMom
Dr Jester can’t do it alone. She would need the help of the gold dome. They can step in like they did in APS. They can tell the administration and board to adopt a new system or get kicked out … that’s the leverage. If it’s in a consent agreement, the state will continue to have the leverage.

An appointed board is much more likely to be progressive and less territorial than an elected one. – You have high hopes for the potentially appointed board. The state will loose all leverage. If the DeKalb Delegation has any say, the board will be worse than it is now. At best we will be right back where we are in 5 years.

Kick out the DeKalb BOE
The BOE will hire topshelf lawyers to sue the state and it will get ugly. If the state wins, a bunch of white people will kick a bunch of elected black people out of office. That won’t go over well. I would expect South DeKalb to elect even more divisive BOE reps. There is no happy ending going down that path.

Please email Dr Jester and ask for her opinion. Please post it here.

• Link
• Report this comment

Impeachment
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impeachment
Impeachment is a formal process in which an official is accused of unlawful activity. We are more likely to recall the BOE. A recall election is usually initiated by voters and can be based on “political charges”, for example mismanagement, whereas impeachment is initiated by a constitutional body (usually a legislative body) and is usually, but not always, based on an indictable offense.

• Link
• Report this comment

I’m referring to the SBOE board removal. They will technically be suspended with pay for the next 2 years.

• Link
• Report this comment

[...] chief Cheryl Atkinson, who is already on shaky ground with her school board. (And, of course, the board itself is on shaky ground, which is why DeKalb is teetering on the brink of [...]

• Link
• Report this comment