DeKalb’s Michael Thurmond: Getting our house and priorities in order
Michael Thurmond (AJC photo)
Michael Thurmond is the new interim superintendent of DeKalb schools.
By Michael Thurmond
The citizens of DeKalb County have placed great trust in me. They are looking for solutions, and I am determined to meet the challenges that face us. Those challenges are great, but our opportunities are greater.
Many have asked if one person can make a difference. This isn’t a job one person can accomplish alone. We must come together as a community and commit our energies and resources to restoring full accreditation for the DeKalb County School District. This must be our prime objective.
Our students have worked hard to win acceptance to some of the nation’s finest colleges and universities. They have qualified for admission to top-flight technical colleges and military academies. Others are graduating directly into the world of work. No “adult made” obstacles should stand in their way – especially when the threat of losing accreditation has nothing to do with their hard work and academic achievement.
All of us, in north DeKalb and south, white, black, Hispanic, Asian, conservative and progressive, must coalesce behind this single goal: winning unconditional accreditation and becoming a world-class educational institution.
No insurmountable obstacles stand in the way of achieving that goal. Our diversity has engendered disagreement, but our diversity is a strength, not a weakness. I am confident that the DeKalb County community will rally to the goal of improving education for 99,000 schoolchildren.
Just two years ago, citizens and parents pushed aside parochial concerns to approve a massive redistricting plan because it provided the best outcome for the district. We must regain that sense of togetherness and unity. We must cast aside “my school, my neighborhood, my district” parochialism and work together for what is best for the entire district.
We will get our financial house in order. It is not enough to blame the state — or the state of the economy — for our financial woes. We will squeeze every ounce of educational efficiency out of every dollar. We will embrace best practices – not just in classroom expenses but in legal fees, central office budgets or workers’ compensation costs – to ensure that every conceivable dollar that should be going to a classroom is getting there.
How can we do all that with a board of education that AdvancEd has said is a major part of the problem? Prior to accepting this job I asked each board member if they are willing to make the sacrifices necessary to lift us off probation and bring fundamental change to our system. All nine board members stated without reservation that they were ready and willing to meet the standards set by our accreditors.
They have 99,000 reasons to put “my district” concerns aside. They are determined to work together and make hard decisions – political and otherwise – in order to rebuild public trust.
With a new vision to fundamentally transform the DeKalb County School District, we will earn full accreditation. The quest to build a great public school system has already begun.
–From Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog
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130 comments Add your comment
bootney farnsworth
February 17th, 2013
9:59 am
@ another
you obviously have spent less than zero time around or on an HBCU. but I respect your right to be publically ignorant. party on.
having worked at GPC, and having my work take to several HBCUs over the eons I was there, not to mention places like Villa Rica, Summerville, and Andersonville, I can state with dead certainty two things
1-bad grammer is not exclusive to race. most HBCU students had a much better grasp of grammer and usage than their UGA counterparts.
2-you really gotta deal with your racial obsession. its true race is a major underlying issue in almost everything which occurs in Atlanta and must be aired out. but where you go……that’s a place I’ve no interest in visiting
bootney farnsworth
February 17th, 2013
10:01 am
Mike T aborted his chance to be heard on a broader stage when he came out so publically for the board.
he had his chance. not our fault if he blew it
bootney farnsworth
February 17th, 2013
10:06 am
@ Georgia
thank you for endorsing the failed and corrupt status quo.
you may be content to allow more generations of DeKalb kids to be underserved, more tax dollars wasted, and more nepotism and corruption to occur. you may even be happy with DCSS getting a SACS endorsement removed.
most of the rest of us, however, are not.
bootney farnsworth
February 17th, 2013
10:09 am
@ principal S
I would have been estatic if he’d said his goal was to plug the leaks and get the ship upright again.
whenever someone throws out things like “world class”, “best practices”, ect its obvious they have spend their time reading, not actually doing.
Anonymous in DeKalb
February 17th, 2013
10:49 am
Wonder if the new superintendent of schools entrusted his own children’s education to traditional public schools?
Wonder if our moderator will ask?
bootney farnsworth
February 17th, 2013
11:29 am
DCSS is already “world class. a “world class” joke
bu2
February 17th, 2013
11:31 am
At least 3 board members do have children in DCSS (Jester, Orson, Edler).
Married with (School) Children
February 17th, 2013
11:34 am
Beverly @ February 17th, 2013 9:21 am: “Catlady, shouldn’t that be, ‘How many superintendents is DeKalb taxpayers financing right now?’
I think Catlady was correct. In her sentence, the word ‘DeKalb’ is an adjective… drop it from the sentence and the sentence becomes “How many superintendents are taxpayers financing right now?”
BTW, I hope you continue to use your moniker. We need a constant reminder so that we will not fall for another charlatan!
GrD
February 17th, 2013
12:11 pm
@married with…it was a joke.
GrD
February 17th, 2013
12:25 pm
and the narcissists continue….hateful, venomous, blinded by their deeply ingrained anger, hate, and prejudices. ignoring the other ills and everything else. it will never end….but yes it will( the open borders). they contribute nothing, channel all the ills of their lives into hammering away on the keyboard their daily vitriol and diatribe.
Prof
February 17th, 2013
1:29 pm
Several here have asked the reasonable question about where Michael Thurmond schooled his own children, or if he used public schools for their education. Some quick Googling: he seems to have schooled his daughter Mikaya in either Athens, GA, or South Carolina, though we don’t know if it was in private or public schooling. Facts to arrive at this deduction:
He’s now 60. Born in 1953 in Clarke County (home of Athens), and educated at the U. South Carolina. Returned in the 1970s to practice law in Athens. Then in 1986 he was elected State Representative from Clarke County, an office he held till 1998 when he was elected Labor Commissioner.
It seems pretty evident that his first-hand experience with K-12 education, whether public or private, does NOT include DeKalb County. Make of that what you will.
Southern opinion
February 17th, 2013
1:56 pm
None of the citizens put trust in you. All this was done without any community input.
Wilbur
February 17th, 2013
3:15 pm
Thurmond’s calls for sacrifice might ring truer if he were sacrificing a bit himself.
Dekalbite@Prof
February 17th, 2013
3:59 pm
Woodward Academy – an excellent private school
Charles Douglas Edwards
February 17th, 2013
4:49 pm
We wish the Dekalb County Schools and Michael Thurmond the best of luck and success during these difficult times.
Dekalb County Schools has the potential to be one of the TOP school systems in Georgia.
Call Me Iris
February 17th, 2013
6:01 pm
This is really Private Citizen posting, just practicing the for registration change-over with the limbering of language. Sam, Shirley, or Jiang Janou. Hey, I saw my former student today, now an adult, walked right up to me and gave me a solid handshake. Wow. Felt good, affirmation.No nonsense. Stopped and visited a teacher friend today. Person is totally stressed out. The home is a shell of it’s former warmth. If I made a guess, this person is probably having thoughts of skipping state. Said they will see how it goes in the coming year. Currently lots and lots of stress, and over what? This is a person with glowing work reviews the prior year, but it all changes so quickly, based on politics. Strange predicament for a professional to be in. Of my five closest teacher friends, three of them have resigned this year. That leaves two, including this one I visited today.
Call Me Iris
February 17th, 2013
6:05 pm
“Getting financial house in order” is certainly welcome news, and a good indicator on the right side of the fence, as this is something that teachers can not do and depend upon higher administration.
concernedmom30329
February 17th, 2013
6:17 pm
It is better that he has no ties to DeKalb. That is a plus.
Prof
February 17th, 2013
8:25 pm
@Private Citizen. “…can anyone confirm, are they removing health-insurance supplementing from Georgia TRS retirement?”
TRS does not provide any health benefits for retirees. The State Health Benefit Plan, not available to USG employees, can only be continued after retirement if you’re already a member. This SHBP was technically insolvent as of 2010 (see http://www.mygrsa.com for details).
You may be referring to House Bill 263, providing that retirees pay the entire premium for their “school personnel post-retirement health benefit fund,” and I would guess relates to SHBP. So far, HB 263 has passed the House 2nd Readers.
Prof
February 17th, 2013
8:30 pm
Sorry–that website link is http://www.mygsra.com/shbp-changes
ShooShee
February 17th, 2013
9:01 pm
It’s pretty obvious to most of us – Michael Thurmond has gotten all of his information from Gene Walker. IMHO, we have been set up. It the Governor doesn’t intervene, we are going down.
Private Citizen
February 17th, 2013
11:57 pm
Even the great and powerful Dr. No was put down in the end. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVbTlfxd12I
teach one
February 17th, 2013
11:59 pm
Enter your comments here
jlmdra
February 18th, 2013
7:17 am
Emory University president James Wagner has apologized for a controversial column in which he called the deal between states which counted slaves as three-fifths of a person political compromise at its best.
Dekalbite
February 18th, 2013
9:24 am
I was at the Lakeside City meeting (Lakeside is trying to form a city) last week. The auditorium seats 600 and all the seats were taken by the time I got there so many people were standing including me. Time and time again the question came up – how can we get out from under the DeKalb County School System? What can Lakeside City do to correct this school system? The speaker, Mary Kay Woodworth, finally just had to say no more questions about the school system. That one question by far dominated this huge gathering.
YOU ARE SUPERMAN
February 18th, 2013
11:05 am
I very much agree with my fellow citizens. Thurmond is a snow job and it rarely snows in Georgia. So once again we find ourselves further handicapped by unethical practices by the school board. I first felt hopeful until I heard about his commitment to help the board.
We are superman and must demand that the governor wipe out this board ASAP. Closing school from one sector of the county was not accepted by that community. Why are schools getting face lifts(MLK) and (SWDHS) a fine arts facility on the backs of the southwest corridor? These new 10 plans will close even more schools in the same area. If the board or Thurmond was genuine all projects in the county not in progress would be frozen. They would focus on correcting the findings in the fiscal audit i.e. eliminate 40 million from central office. Review and then send Atkinson’s unqualified team packing. This will help the fiscal budget and start restoring employee morale. These two tasks are no brainers.
Pardon My Blog
February 18th, 2013
11:39 am
@Dekalbite – what we DON’T need is to form yet another city because the driving force would be all about schools. Don’t let them fool you into this, just adding more taxes to an already high tax bill is NOT what we need. These same people instituted changes at Lakeside and were behind Lewis 100% and then bailed, sending their kids to Private Schools when they saw the fruits of their labor!
Step 1 – Remove the Board and let the State step in.
Step 2 – Remove Thurmond, I think he was hired under false pretenses anyway.
Step 3 – Discontinue any more payments to Tyson, etc.
Step 4 – Petition the state to allow areas such as Lakeside and Druid Hills to become Charter Clusters, having their respective Boards made up of professionals and current parents that have skin in the game.
Be careful Mr. Thurmond, your total ignorance and ineptitude to do a good job is showing. And I do think we need an answer as to where his children actually went to school!
Prof
February 18th, 2013
12:18 pm
@ Pardon My Blog. Dekalbite has already told us yesterday at 3:59 pm: Woodward Academy.
Huntley Hills Tiger
February 18th, 2013
1:19 pm
“All nine board members stated without reservation that they were ready and willing to meet the standards set by our accreditors. They have 99,000 reasons to put “my district” concerns aside. They are determined to work together and make hard decisions – political and otherwise – in order to rebuild public trust.”
That sound you’ve heard repeatedly since he was hired until this was posted 2 days ago? The collective heads of virtually all that have a stake in DCSS exploding. I know mine did.
If you disagree with the idea that working to improve/save DCSS is mutually exclusive from saving the current board, I can only say that while I will always respect the right for any & all to disagree with me in public discourse, I have the equal right to point out you’ve been living on a different planet from me.
Golfer
February 19th, 2013
1:48 pm
THE BOARD NEED TO GO