The task facing Michael Thurmond: Save the system from taking a nose dive
David Schutten
David Schutten, president of the Organization of DeKalb Educators, wrote a column on the challenges facing new superintendent Michael Thurmond from an educator’s perspective.
His essay will be part of a package in the Sunday op-ed pages on DeKalb Schools. Please check out the entire package Sunday.
By David Schutten
Michael Thurmond is a proven and accomplished leader who has undertaken a daunting, difficult and perilous job as interim superintendent of the DeKalb County School System, a system that appears to be in a tailspin.
Much like the passengers on US Airways Flight 1549 crashing into the cold waters of the Hudson River, I feel as if I am on DeKalb Air Flight 2013 crashing into the granite face of Stone Mountain. In the midst of the tailspin we have switched pilots.
As Stephen Dolinger, president of the Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education and former Fulton superintendent, stated, Michael Thurmond possesses three of the qualities of a successful Superintendent: 1. Great leadership skills; 2. Political savvy; and, 3. Excellent management skills.
I am personally not bothered by his lack of experience in education. There are examples of great and successful superintendents like the late General John Stanford, who had little or no experience in education before he became the Fulton and later Seattle school chief.
He faces many daunting tasks. The first is leading the school board and the school system off of probation. To accomplish this he must have the full cooperation of the nine members of the DeKalb school board. The board members must learn to work together.
I heard each of them testify before the state Board of Education that they would and could work together to move the system off of probation. However, three weeks later, they were unable to muster a simple majority to elect a chair. What I find disheartening is that Dr. Gene Walker, who remains chair on a 4-3-2 vote, does not recognize this as a symptom of their inability to function as a whole. He and any other board member that do not understand the nature of the problems DeKalb faces should resign immediately.
Employee morale is at an all-time low. We are hemorrhaging good teachers and administrators to other school systems. People can go to some neighboring school systems and receive significantly higher pay checks. DeKalb teachers and other employees are working harder with fewer resources. This is not an easy problem to fix given the current dismal financial state of the school system.
But if something is not done soon, DeKalb will have few veteran teachers left. Employees are making far less than they did five years ago. Couple this with the loss of the Tax Sheltered Annuity promised to employees when DeKalb left the Social Security system, and you have a looming disaster that has already started.
We must find a way to bring class sizes lower. Students, parents, and teachers are frustrated by the increase in class size. Kindergarten classes of 29 without a paraprofessional will result in long-term negative consequences for our children.
Students, parents, and teachers are also frustrated by the myriad of tests to which students are subjected. There needs to be far more time devoted to learning, and far less time devoted to testing.
School administrators must be encouraged and rewarded for using shared decision making. Morale is much higher in those Title 1 Schools where many staff members had input into the Title 1 as opposed to those in which the principal and a few people developed the budget. The knowledge and experience of professional educators must be honored, nurtured, and valued. Encourage people to express their opinions and give suggestions.
We must impress upon students and their parents the importance of coming to school, and coming to school on time. There are too many parents who do not see the importance of this. Also, a little bit of time teaching younger students to become organized will pay off later. Have you looked into the lockers of middle school students recently? Students must also be taught to value their textbooks and other resources. When you walk into many high schools and middle schools, you see text books laying in front of the school, in the hallways, gym, and cafeteria. Parents must play a role in this.
The sooner we realize that young children cannot sit still for long periods of time, and adapt our teaching methods to take this simple fact into account, the more successful they will be. This is another reason class sizes must be lowered. We set up children for failure when we do not give them time to move around. Also, parents must help in teaching children self-discipline. In too many classrooms, one or two students disrupt the learning environment for twenty or more other students.
One issue that is out of the control of anyone in DeKalb is the TKES evaluation system for teachers. The sooner the Georgia Department of Education realizes it is impractical and unworkable, the sooner administrators and teachers can concentrate on delivering quality instruction instead of spending so much time on window dressings such as posting the standards. Is a kindergarten student or first grade student capable of reading them? How is the time spent on this improving instruction? And the evaluations are far too time consuming.
The promotion policies and procedures must be fair and transparent. Former Superintendent Cheryl Atkinson made strides in reducing the nepotism, but questions still haunt the school system about the fairness of promotions. The school councils must be brought back into the process of selecting school administrators. They should not have the final say, but they should have input and the opportunity to meet the candidates. Too often the assignment of school administrators appears arbitrary and capricious. All prospective administrators should be required to be required to take and achieve a high score on a writing test before being eligible for promotion.
Finally, the citizens of DeKalb need to take a break from cynicism, negativity, and constant criticism. It appears that we have a large percentage of people who are hoping leaders, teachers, and students will fail, instead of rooting for them and helping them to succeed. Instead of constantly pointing out what is wrong, take some time to make things right. Stop believing everything you hear. Stop taking everything anonymous bloggers post as the truth. If their opinion has merit, they would be willing to put their real names behind their statements. Volunteer to read to students and tutor them. Help a primary student learn their basic math facts and vocabulary.
It will take everyone in DeKalb to come together to bring the system out of the tailspin in which we find ourselves. We all bear responsibility. Each of us must do our share. If you are not willing to help, stop constantly criticizing those of us who are working each day to make a difference in the lives of DeKalb’s children.
–from Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog
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167 comments Add your comment
dekalbite@David
February 17th, 2013
5:41 pm
This is from the ODE website:
“At one point ODE membership dwindled to 25 brave souls. ….Today we represent approximately 1,700 DeKalb County School System employees including teachers, paraprofessionals, custodians, bus drivers, secretaries, cafeteria workers and administrators. We are now the largest local teachers’ organization in Georgia.”
When Ms. Tyson considered outsourcing some custodial care, the AJC quoted that teachers did not want that solution. The quote came from ODE, not from teachers yet it was stated as if it came from teachers. Instead teacher attrition was allowed to leave teaching positions unfilled, and that meant class sizes increased for teachers (NOT good for students) and there were more furlough days for teachers.
It seems that with so many non teaching positions represented, ODE endorsement of cutting, consolidating and outsourcing those non teaching positions would prove problematic to your organization.
Did you originally represent teachers and then added all these other non teaching positions?
Married with (School) Children
February 17th, 2013
7:05 pm
David Schutten @February 16th, 2013 8:07 pm – “Most decision makers do not even read anonymous blog posts, let alone take them seriously.”
How’s that working out for you & DCS?
Jane Doe
February 17th, 2013
7:07 pm
No, my real name is not Jane Doe. Surprised? I have been a DeKalb educator for many years. I know exactly what happens to employees in DCSD when they speak the truth.
I begin my first blog entry with a question. How did Michael Thurmond get hired as interim superintendent? I, too, am concerned about his lack of experience in the field of education. Otherwise, his credentials seem to be okay. However, the fact that his biggest plus is that he is a friend of Dr. Walker disturbs me greatly. One of the requirements of SACS is that the board cease their bad habit of hiring with nepotism and cronyism in the forefront. So, not only are they unable to come to an agreement over simple decisions as who will become the board chairperson, but also, they are unable to follow the other requirements put forth by SACS. No wonder Thurmond supports retention of the board. He is making a lovely salary in his retirement that he will invest wisely for his second retirement. Too bad DeKalb educators have no retirement to live on, unless they are married. DeKalb teachers will look forward to another year of furlough days, lower salaries, and paying for favorite employees to get their doctorates.
Private Citizen
February 17th, 2013
7:08 pm
I think the posting identity thing is a personal decision. I still remember back is around 2003 when the mood was wound up so tight, if you had an opinion at work, your were toast, you were questionable goods. I still thing for someone working in the workplace who does not own their own business, etc. posting with name is big trouble, but like I said, it is a personal decision. As far as IP addresses and the like, like the rest of the modern world that feels the call to safely use the internet, I will likely use a paid VPN service to route my internet activity. The one utility advantage I see of registered proper email is to receive notification or communication. It has occurred to me that a threaded discussion would be nice, or email notification of someone replying to you, but it is not for me to question and seems there is a lot of good communication occurring. W. Casey, I like your pioneer spirit, I also know that any job available from hardware store worker up to government services means that someone in HR will do a search for your internet activity, check your credit record, criminal background check, physical test for drug testing and who knows what else. Of these, doing the web search is the only one that does not cost money, you can be assured it is a part of hiring. Oh pity for that to be such a determinative thing.
On a different note, can anyone confirm, are they removing health-insurance supplementing from Georgia TRS retirement?
Private Citizen
February 17th, 2013
7:20 pm
I seem to recall Salman Rushdie getting recrimination for something he wrote, threats on his life, dissolution of marriage due to having to leave home and live in safe houses. I know at least one academic author who had to move his residence because of threats (from persons entirely unrelated to him) due to something he published. I am not saying weblog posts are such serious business, but there is ample recent example of authors getting serious blow-back due to what they publish.
And in the USA, there is always the concern of the “no fly list.” Real neat thing, that. When a person is on it, they are stopped from flying and then told “we can not tell you why you are on the no fly list.” According to reports, this is mostly affecting Arab peoples, and in at least one example used as a dirty trick to allow the person, an academic, to leave the country for an academic conference, and then prohibiting their return. Sure hope they didn’t have any pets at home. It is really shameful and needs to stop. Obama should step to the plate and clean it up, this big-power with no-due-process. People should take an interest. “Man Banned Mid-Trip by No-Fly List Gets Stranded in Hawaii” http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/10/left-behind-by-no-fly-list/
Private Citizen
February 17th, 2013
7:32 pm
Check out this name from the first page of the “no fly list” and the behavior categorization chart. And this disclaimer, ha! The data (”the Data”) displayed herein is provided “as is” with no warranty whatsoever, neither express nor implied, and no claims are made regarding its accuracy, veracity, or suitability. http://www.no-fly-list.com/details/Ammar_Aarts
Be nice if you could put such a disclaimer on your work! Maybe they need to port some of that TKES/LKES over to the TSA !
Private Citizen
February 17th, 2013
7:37 pm
The TSA is an independent, non-government organization and is in no way affiliated with any branch of any government, corporation, individual or other entity
Just like AdvancED / SACS!
Private Citizen
February 17th, 2013
7:47 pm
Maybe AdvancED is a little smarter than the TSA. http://postimage.org/image/41tb8yddn/
Hero Not Zero
February 18th, 2013
3:05 pm
Just a few juicy details from Teachers could easily change things around in Dekalb County Schools. Unfortunately, Dekalb County School Employees are contracted by Law not to communicate with the Press concerning Dekalb County Schools. Therefore, the Public is completely uninformed about the Failings of Dekalb County Schools to support their Students and Teachers, and High Level Bureaucrats are left alone to Profit and Pillage! Case in Point: Teachers who were making $40,000.00 a year Since 2006 are working with a $2,500.00 a year pay cut, and are now making $37,500.00 a year for the past two years. Both the new and the old Superintendent are making $275,000.00 a year with a $750.00 a month car allowance, and a $2,600.00 a month expense account. This is criminal when teachers are reaching into their pockets for students in order to provide Pencils, Notebook paper, Hand Soap, and Teaching materials. Custodians around the County buy their own Cleaning Solution to mop School Floors. Where is the Humanity and the Logic, instead of the Greed!!!!!
Dr. John Trotter
February 18th, 2013
5:59 pm
@ David Shutten: Let me clear up few matters…since I have been out of pocket for a few days. (My father is seriously ill in the hospital.) First of all, you have no idea of the relationships that Norreese Haynes and I and others on the MACE Staff have with the Central Office in DeKalb. No idea. We have been working with the Central Office staff there for years. We have filed, no doubt in my mind, perhaps hundreds of more grievances for teachers in DeKalb over the last 18 years than ODE has filed. We have represented hundreds of teachers in hearings, but what is more telling is the fact that so many of our cases are worked out today before the hearings. This is telling. People don’t just give you stuff because they like you; it is because they respect you and have a healthy fear for what you do and are willing to do. And let me hasten to say that what we do is legal, but it sometimes is quite onerous to administrators.
As far as picketing goes, how would you know how effective it is since I can’t remember ODE ever picketing a principal? Heck, the principal in all likelihood is an ODE member. Five percent? I should say so because administrators certainly hardly ever represent more than five percent of the total staff. And, I believe that ODE represents everyone…from the custodian to the superintendent. Total conflict of interest. Incredible. David, I know because I worked at GAE for six years. I know firsthand about the conflict of interest. This is why when MACE was founded, it was founded only to represent the classroom educators.
About what county MACE hails from? David, the MACE corporate office has been located in Fayette County for nearly 11 years. But, the membership of MACE stretches from the Tennessee border to the Florida border and from the Alabama border to the South Carolina border. You know nothing about the membership of MACE because the MACE membership is strictly confidential. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. It was MACE which was on the street in front of the DeKalb Central Office picketing about “systematic cheating” and claiming that DeKalb was “a Gangsta System” while you guys were playing footsy with the Crawford Lewis Administration.
David, I would advise you to not to try to address MACE matters until you become familiar with some facts. The Crawford Lewis Administration tried to “ban” me from the school system and I think that it was responsible for trying to “ban” me from another public institution where Lewis was giving a speech. Usually the powers-to-be don’t try to “ban” someone if they are not afraid of that person. David, I don’t think anyone has ever accused me of being some administrative lackey.
Dr. John Trotter
February 18th, 2013
6:01 pm
@ David Shutten: Let me clear up few matters…since I have been out of pocket for a few days. (My father is seriously ill in the hospital.) First of all, you have no idea of the relationships that Norreese Haynes and I and others on the MACE Staff have with the Central Office in DeKalb. No idea. We have been working with the Central Office staff there for years. We have filed, no doubt in my mind, perhaps hundreds of more grievances for teachers in DeKalb over the last 18 years than ODE has filed. We have represented hundreds of teachers in hearings, but what is more telling is the fact that so many of our cases are worked out today before the hearings. This is telling. People don’t just give you stuff because they like you; it is because they respect you and have a healthy fear for what you do and are willing to do. And let me hasten to say that what we do is legal, but it sometimes is quite onerous to administrators.
As far as picketing goes, how would you know how effective it is since I can’t remember ODE ever picketing a principal? Heck, the principal in all likelihood is an ODE member. Five percent? I should say so because administrators certainly hardly ever represent more than five percent of the total staff. And, I believe that ODE represents everyone…from the custodian to the superintendent. Total conflict of interest. Incredible. David, I know because I worked at GAE for six years. I know firsthand about the conflict of interest. This is why when MACE was founded, it was founded only to represent the classroom educators.
About what county MACE hails from? David, the MACE corporate office has been located in Fayette County for nearly 11 years. But, the membership of MACE stretches from the Tennessee border to the Florida border and from the Alabama border to the South Carolina border. You know nothing about the membership of MACE because the MACE membership is strictly confidential. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. It was MACE which was on the street in front of the DeKalb Central Office picketing about “systematic cheating” and claiming that DeKalb was “a Gangsta System” while you guys were playing footsy with the Crawford Lewis Administration.
David, I would advise you to not to try to address MACE matters until you become familiar with some facts. The Crawford Lewis Administration tried to “ban” me from the school system and I think that it was responsible for trying to “ban” me from another public institution where Lewis was giving a speech. Usually the powers-to-be don’t try to “ban” someone if they are not afraid of that person. David, I don’t think anyone has ever accused me of being some administrative lackey.
You can got to MACE’s website and compared it to the ODE-GAE website and see the difference in what each organization stands for.
Joan Nelson Hood, Atlanta,GA
February 19th, 2013
12:16 am
One day, in the very near future, we will begin to realize that no matter how many times we change superintendants and school board members, the problems that plague our PUBLIC schools are ones involving society, socio-economics, and morality. If all schools were successful and produced great test scores and successful students, any superintendant’s position would be secure.
Depending on the community where the school is located, the problems will be either great or small. In some schools, low test scores are often blamed on teachers when they should be blamed on weak or ineffective parenting. Too many parents today provide little to no support in their children’s education. In some cases, the children themselves display little effort and accountability for their own learning. When will everybody see the light? Acquiring a good education in public schools does not always involve how much money is spent for what a child or a school needs!! If this were the case, many of us from the 60s and 70s, who often learned from inferior or outdated books, would not have graduated fron high school, college, law school, or medical school. We had something to prove: to ourselves, to our parents, and to society! Something has certainly changed!!
For example,there are many new, fabulous, and state-of-the-art schools in neighborhoods in southwest Atlanta, an area where 60% (or more) of the households are considered middle class. Parents who can afford to do so, enroll their children in private schools, charter schools, or schools on the northside of town. And, to be honest, I can’t say that I blame them. Some of the behaviors that take place in schools are totally out of control. The problem stems from the fact that a major housing project was closed in northwest Atlanta and the people from this location were moved to brand new apartments in the area of this school. A school that at one time flourished now hardly ever makes adequate scores on major state assessments. Although there are obviously exceptions, many of the children who have been transplanted from the culture of housing projects to one of a quiet suburb have problems adjusting. In most cases, so do their parents.There are fights almost every day, sometimes more. Many of the children have difficulty acclimating to the calm and more controlled environment of the suburbs.Some need mental health counseling, some need conflict resolution lessons, at the least, anger management classes. Many who come from the housing projects (or Section 8 housing) of the 21st century are not the same children who came from the housing projects of the 60s and 70s. No, they are not like Thelma, JJ, and Michael Evans of Good Times who had parents that supported them in their educational endeavors!! Many of these children, if allowed, can actually disrupt the nucleus of a school. They step from their buses angry. They are consistently placed in ISS (in-school suspension) or OSS (out-of school suspension). Some are placed in handcuffs by the campus police officer because they refuse to obey and respect him. There are too many people today who have a litany of excuses for children who come to school with behavior problems and other more serious issues that impact their ability to learn. They seem not to realize that there are actually other students who want to learn. Many more subdued students are being robbed of valuable class time due to the negative behavior of some of their classmates.
As a retired teacher with 32+ years of experience, I can see why teachers today are forced to take mental health/sick leave days. Critics of public schools should visit a few. That way, they would see that teaching some of the students in the classrooms of the 21st century is a very daunting task!
AlthoughThurmond is a smart man and has a proven track record of his successes, it doesn’t matter a hill of beans who occupies the not so coveted positions of superintendant or school board member.
Private Citizen
February 19th, 2013
5:15 am
Dr. Trotter, You must admit that your methods are unconventional and unique, even artistic. Pardon me for generalising, but one thing I enjoy in Georgia are some of the hard get-it-done characters, who are very very few, but know how to apprise a situation and have a strong demand for honesty. It is really a survivalist mindset, what to do when the flood comes, the quick effective answers to save lives, so to speak. Good luck with your dad.
Private Citizen
February 19th, 2013
5:22 am
Hero Not Zero, Completely excellent job showing the proxy of executive compensation compared with teacher and custodian pay, combined with teachers and custodians (that’s new) using their own money to buy supplies. I’m really at a loss how this executive compensation thing got going. It started with big corporate salaries, and now government managers shamelessly are doing the same thing, where they executive is paid a multiplier of the worker salary. With those extras, it sounds like each month the superintendent is paid pretty close to the annual salary of a teacher. I’m really left at a loss over this, how to reverse engineer it or affect positive change, so to speak. I know this, it makes it where I do not want to work in such an environment. The effect is managers parade around like royalty based solely on difference in income. I’ve seen too much of this. It does not lead to working together. It is a caste system.
Private Citizen
February 19th, 2013
5:33 am
Joan Nelson Hood, My experience with hood rats is that (at the risk of generalising) generally have no concept of private property. For example, to many successful people, how ownership is a basic and early priority in life, a goal to work for and to work extra for. Career renters do not have this goal. It is almost like I can divide up my friends based on “property owner” and “non property owner.” It is just a wholly different mindset.
Beverly Fraud
February 19th, 2013
7:37 am
“We have represented hundreds of teachers in hearings, but what is more telling is the fact that so many of our cases are worked out today before the hearings. This is telling. People don’t just give you stuff because they like you; it is because they respect you and have a healthy fear for what you do and are willing to do.”
Kind of had the feeling Dr. Trotter would (rightly) weigh in. I will also tell you what is very telling (teachers can confirm). Administrators will often bring in PAGE to speak, often bring in GAE to speak; almost never mention MACE.
Kind of like Truett Cathy referring people to the USDA on the Chick-fil-A website, but PETA-not so much LOL
Dr. John Trotter
February 19th, 2013
2:43 pm
Thank you, Private Citizen…and you too, Beverly Fraud.