DeKalb’s Michael Thurmond: Getting our house and priorities in order

Mr.Thurmond, many will appreciate your coming forward with your proposed plans for improving the status of the current Dekalb County School System we do welcome that information from you. However during one of your first ON camera comments to a WSB-TV reporter prior to accepting this responsibility, you clearly stated you were called upon to “HELP”. And that you were willing to honor that request on behalf of the many children and parents of Dekalb county. one can only take you at your word given after those remarks.

What surprised many in the community and myself was that you were quickly hired in short order. The other most surprising occurrence, was the lucrative pay package that was offered and accepted by you. We all are aware of your many successes as a public servant and we thank you for it. However, you have taken on a position as school superintendent in a school system in a crisis situation.

As the school superintendent in a good system where there is no crisis requires a whole different skill set of knowledge and experience when things are going well. what concerns me and many in the community are what guarantees are you willing to assure to the community,parents and employees that under your Leadership things will improve and to what level. Right now many see you as just another political opportunist Georgia politician getting a favor from some hidden inside deal.

To put it bluntly, Many feel YOU do NOT Have any SKIN IN THE GAME! but yet you are being compensated handsomely and quite well even after you have departed voluntarily or requested. You are currently being compensated as if you have all of the necessary required qualifications for that position as clearly stated in the school employment policy for employment for all others who came before you and will come after you. There is clearly a sense of unfairness as you might expect. There is a sense of YOU being given a free ride and special treatment at taxpayors expense, when in the REAL world such a compensated deal would never be offered or expected.

I and many others in the community would like to see a little balance of parity. You may very well be successful and with good intention as you stated and we all hope that process will occur as stated. However, what are you willing to offer in return, if it does not?

Many of the parents,employees and taxpayors of Dekalb County would certainly feel better if you have some financial skin in the game. After All, the risk primarily rest 100% with them. As it stands, you will be paid an above average compensation even if you fail and without any taxpayors recourse.

Being that you have actual very limited real life experience and expertise in the management in the education arena, why not offer a reduced salary compensation package for now, until those proposed results materialize as you expect or plan to occur. This offer would go a long way with all parties that you are serious and know that you are sincere with your offer to “HELP” as you stated. We are not asking you to take a zero sum pay package because we like you must make a living for our families. However, unlike you we would never see such a pay package without experience in the private sector. That type of arrangement NEVER happens! EVER!

So Sir, I would like to challenge you to be true to your word when you stated that YOU are being called upon to HELP and that you are more than truly willing and able to provide that HELP. Think about what you may offer to the Taxpayors,community and employees concerning this very important issue regarding compensation. I would say wee can start with a 50% reduction of salary with an incentive’s built in, stating if you succeed as stated and as you expect you will be paid the full contracted rate at a later date. However if you fail, to forgo all the unpaid amounts along with the pay amounts after termination or resignation. A offer that every taxpayor of Dekalb county currently expects from his or her would employer as well as any other Dekalb county education employee.

I would say set some measurable goals to be reached clearly, easily understandable with actual results produced. This requests seems only fair many would say certainly in light of the above circumstances as stated by you and as well as this comment. This peace offering, if you will would go a long way of instilling confidence and sincere belief to all involved that you are serious about this challenge and you too are willing to put some real skin in the game. What do you SAY?

• Link
• Report this comment

“winning unconditional accreditation and becoming a world-class educational institution.”

Nobody who has honesty and integrity would utter the words, “world class” in regard to DeKalb. It’s completely inauthentic, and nothing more than pandering to the lowest common denominator.

DeKalb will not be anywhere remotely near “world class,” and to utter otherwise is to be nothing short of a liar.

• Link
• Report this comment

” We must come together as a community”

$275,000.00 a year for this? No Mr Thurmond! The Dekalb School Board is SUPPOSED to be in charge of the school system. Thats what they are PAID for.
Why bring ‘diversity’ into the picture? The problems with the Dekalb School board is WITH how they run things. They FAILED. This is not about diversity or race but FAILURE.
If this is the level of MR Thurmonds thinking and reflects his ability to act, then his efforts will not suffice.
The Dekalb School Board has members that do not belong to one race. The Board has FAILED.

• Link
• Report this comment

“The citizens of DeKalb County have placed great trust in me.”

No, we have not.

• Link
• Report this comment

Another:

Mister Thurmond, PLEASE
Fight for the real stake-holders
NOT the B.O.E.!!!!!!

• Link
• Report this comment

I have to wonder what has happened to “A real leader leads by example.” We must tighten our belts while those in power loosen theirs.

• Link
• Report this comment

The “people” of DeKalb County did not place their trust in Mr. Thurmond. The board did. The board hired Thurmond and they can fire him. The “people” are going to wait and see what they get.

Parents don’t care much about the system or the district. They care about their children. If you would garner their support, you need to care about them too. So far there is not much evidence that the BOE does. Caring about the kids not the system, not the front office or the politicians is the only way to move this forward

To be successful the leadership is going to have to stand up to the race driven parochial interests of some groups in the county. You will likely have to call them out in public and truly speak truth to power. Your biggest problem is going to be finding courage for your board. Heaven knows they have not had any yet.

BTW, SACS is your friend. It’s the only hammer you have to force the board to act constructively. Without the pressure from SACS, this situation would be infinitely worse.

• Link
• Report this comment

the citizens of DeKalb did not place great trust in you. Gene Walker did.

you can try to kid yourself, but you can’t kid us

• Link
• Report this comment

@ pardon

running interference for the board IS his job.

• Link
• Report this comment

@Beverly Fraud – yeah, it seems we get all this lofty talk and it is one thing to set goals but they should be realistic goals. Start with achievable goals and go from there.

@Pardon this isn’t about poor goal setting because nobody in their right mind would set “world class” as a goal for DeKalb. This is about, at the very fundamental core of your being, exposing yourself as one who is willing to blatantly lie to the public, because you are getting paid well to do so.

Pure and simple, it’s a lack of integrity.

• Link
• Report this comment

Where is the plan? I feel like I just read a “stump speech”.

• Link
• Report this comment

Make gof on your promise of fiscal efficiency by firing all the folks on the payroll who have jobs because I’d their relatives. Start with Philandria Guillory, who makes a six figure income in a job for which she is unqualified, and which she got because her mother, Frances Edwards, was on the school board. She isn’t even n the board, and yet, she still has a patronage job.

It is a time for dramatic gestures. Enact a nepotism policy, immediately. Let the public and the accreditors know you are serious. Nothing less will work. We have heard the platitudes for years. Lets see if you are serious about reforming this system.

• Link
• Report this comment

Mr. Thurmond,

Allow me to state up front I was opposed to your appointment. We have met a couple of times and I found you to be very engaging and funny. I have no doubt you would be an asset to most places. Regretfully, not here, not now.

Yet here you are, and be default, here we are as well. In the spirit of facing life head on, I accept you are now the man on the ground. I will list my concerns about your appointment below. Not to be critical (yet acknowledging these items are) but to outline them in just so many words. It’s my hope you will face these challenges head on with deeds and not more buzzwords.

1-you were appointed by a board the community has no trust in. Further , you seem to have a strong political connection to them, and to Dr. Walker in particular. It sends a very strong signal you are there to protect the failed status quo, not correct it.

2-you have no educational experience. Law firms, for example, are rarely run by people who are not lawyers. This sends a loud signal the board who appointed you has no intention to allow someone in place with the background to scrutinize their actions correctly.

3-like any good politician, you use platitudes where actual nouns are needed. Particularly the ever popular “diversity”. “Diversity” is not what DeKalb needs now – it has it already. What it needs is excellence and leadership. The ethnic and political divisions within the board are a matter of record.

4-in your early statements, you seem to be confused as to what your role is supposed to be. You are not supposed to be there to assist, support, and advocate for the board. Yet you have already spent a disproportionate amount of time doing exactly that. Since even SACS has stated the board is at the heart of the worst of the DCSS problems, your actions indicate you will contribute to these problems, not work to improve them.

5-I can not stress enough our concerns about your connection to Dr. Walker. To the average observer, this seems like an episode of the Sopranos. If you are to have any credibility, you must act quickly and decisively to disprove this notion.

6-please do not lecture us on “parochialism” considering how you got this position. To be very blunt, sir, until your actions show otherwise, your appointment is the height of parochialism.

7- it is easy to say we must get our financial house in order. Deeds are called for, not words. Outline a plan, make it public, act on it. For it to have any resonance with the community it must start with cutting the corrupt and bloated central office. It must also include a forensic accounting of
the last several years, and must be done by an agency with no ties to the system, the county, or any member of the board. I would encourage you to formally request the GBI to do this, since it very probably will end with some people being escorted out in handcuffs.

8-your appointment is classic nepotism. This must end, and since the administrative structure can’t help themselves, it needs to be codified in writing. In short, stated rules.

9-call for all the board members, including Dr. Walker to voluntarily step down over the summer so a new board can be chosen. The current board is a cancer, and must be completely removed if the DCSS is to survive.

I bear you no ill will sir. You are simply the wrong man in the wrong position at the worst possible time. But even this stated openly, you have the opportunity to prove us wrong. It will require courage, audacity, and leadership. It will not be easy, and probably will get ugly.

Can you be that man?

• Link
• Report this comment

Well, everyone knew Thurmon was an adept politician and a good speaker. Let’s meet again in 90 days and see if these are platitudes and empty words or if Mr Thurmond has any substance.

…and I think most folks are of the opinion that any plan by Thurmond that doesn’t include a wholesale cleaning of the central office staff is merely more of the same “business as usual” that has plagued Dekalb for the past 20 years.

• Link
• Report this comment

DeKalb has the lowest student achievement rate in the metro area even compared to demographically similar school systems. From a system that paid our teachers the highest compensation in metro area we now pay our teachers the lowest salaries even as we have the highest property tax rates in the area. Our students are packed into classes that reach to 40 students in many high schools. We have spent tenfold on security, legal fees and parental involvement programs compared to other school systems. We have spent close to $100,000,000 in the last decade for expensive educational programs (High Schools that Work, Read 180, Springboard, America’s Choice, Success for All, etc.) that have produced no positive educational results. We are still spending $3,000,000 on Fernbank Science Center for 21 non teaching positions to support 20 teachers who are almost always in the schools. We spend tens of millions a year for non teaching personnel who are certified to teach but do not teach – e.g. Coach, Coordinator, Supervisor, Manager, Director, and Superintendent, etc.. There have been no studies showing all of these non teaching positions have had any impact on raising student achievement in DeKalb.

We have made teachers a minority in number while we have increased the non teaching side exponentially. We pay our mechanics that require a high school diploma more than our physics teachers with PhDs. Many students go to schools with no soap or toilet tissue in the bathrooms unless parents pay for it. Teachers and students are asked to use glue and tape to repair their textbooks even as money was “allocated” for the books but no one knows what happened to them.

Here are some positive ideas:

1. Lower the pupil teacher ratio to under 30 students for every middle and high school teacher and under 25 for elementary teacher in grades 4 and 5 and much lower than that for primary grades.

2. Ensure the classrooms are clean, the toilets work and have soap and toilet paper, and students have textbooks

3. Allow teachers to spend Title 1 funds on what works for their classrooms

4. Make sure the technology we have spent so much money on works for teachers and students

5. Place our teachers’ salaries on par with the other metro systems and reinstate the TSA contribution

6. Update the DCSS website to post :

a. The titles and Salary Schedules for all non teaching positions

b. An Organization Chart with titles and personnel names

c. An online check registry

In short, after the classrooms that contain the students and teachers are adequately funded, hire the administration and any other ancillary positions. Make all positions, salary and expenditures transparent to taxpayers.

Lewis, Tyson and Atkinson came out of their time at the DCSS helm with their reputations in tatters because they could not move students forward. All of this budget talk is meaningless unless you can do your MAIN job – increase student achievement. That is why the school system exists. Please use the INVESTMENT (tax dollars) you have been given to create a decent RETURN (increased student achievement). You will truly be a hero if you can do that.

• Link
• Report this comment

@bootney…totally agree…but this is DCSS and you know this will not happen.

• Link
• Report this comment

When we have an illness, we expect a doctor to give us the truth and tell us what can be done.

Dekalb has an illness. I don’t want to hear about trust, opportunities, and obstacles. I want to hear about specific actions.

No matter how much we citizens and employees in the county come together, only the super and the board can do the following:

1. Eliminate Tyson’s position and save us almost a quarter million.
2. Dismantle the Leadership Academy and salvage the small amount of RTT funds we still have for things students need: textbooks, translators, after-school programs.
3. Implement a fiscally and environmentally responsible calendar. If we needed to reduce last summer’s central office work schedulte to a 4-day work week to save $250,000 in electricity fees, then we absolutely cannot afford the extra cost incurred in running busss and cooling schools at the end of July and in the first week in August.
4. Reduce class sizes by putting all certified educators back in the classroom. Right now all academic data coaches and instructional coaches can begin working with small groups of students. We should already have the “data” to offer this “differentiated instruction.”
5. Dismantle professional learning. We can partner with Georgia State, Mercer, Emory, Oglethorpe, and Agness Scott.
6. Eliminate any PR contracts. Thurmond is a gifted orator, and our students’ success is all the PR we need.
7. Give teachers back one work day this semester. Have academic data coaches, instructional coaches, and the army of instructional supervisors teach classes by rotating schools or disciplines.

• Link
• Report this comment

Mr. Thurmond, let DeKalb parents decide who is talking the most sense in offering solutions.

Give parents more choice options — starting with more charter schools — and let a free marketplace lead us out of the morass yesterday’s leaders have consigned our children to.

You have 99,000 reasons to ensure DeKalb won’t continue along the road to failure.

• Link
• Report this comment

@ outdated

that’s (IMO) a problem overdue to be dealt with. it is possible to have supers who also have teaching experience. we just have to demand it – easier said than done, I know.

I have long called for a standard of x-many years in the classroom before qualifying as Vice Principal, Principal, ect. same should go for supers.. ideally it would be a teacher or principal who has an MBA to get the best of both worlds.

if I follow correctly, a good leader doesn’t necessarily need experience in anything but how to lead. step one is surround yourself with competent, quality people. step two is to let them do their jobs.

which is why there are so very few good leaders and so many crappy mamagers

• Link
• Report this comment

Wow, not one single positive comment. The man has been hired less than a week and has not had a chance to do anything and every single comment is negative or in support of something someone else said negative. I’m not saying he shouldn’t be held accountable, but for god sakes stop making him already accountable for what other people did. He can’t get rid of the school board. All he can do is ask them to step down. They hired him, not the other way around. Why don’t the parents try to go higher in the state to get rid of them. Heck sue them. People sue for everything else. Sue them for fraud and financial mismangement. Now I don’t know if he is the best person for the job, but at least let him take a seat in his office before blaming in for the continuation of past ills.

@ Bernie..while what you said was well stated, it was a little aggressive towards someone that hasn’t really done anything to you or the system. Yes I know the situation is abysmal…. but dang.

• Link
• Report this comment

sorry, existing, not exiting. wishful thinking on my part

• Link
• Report this comment

@dekalbteacher
I agree that we need specific actions. Thurmond’s letter is a bunch of platitudes. We had 18 months of drifting with Tyson and the last year with Atkinson has got us nowhere. We need actions, not feel good speeches. He needs very quickly to come up with priorities and actions for next years budget. Where’s the beef?

• Link
• Report this comment

Lose the French cuffs Mr Thurmond.

They make you look like a dandy.

• Link
• Report this comment

DeKalb Schools is vortex that could easily suck Mr. Thurmond’s political aspirations under if vocal taxpayers/parents see no budgetary or student achievement results. If he has any future political aspirations, he needs to ensure the success of this appointment. Public relations does not impress parents when their children are sitting in overcrowded classrooms, and the teachers are telling them that they need soap and toilet paper and textbooks and working computers. There is nothing more vocal or organized than parents who are upset over their children, and no amount of PR can counter that. If he has any doubts about the need to deliver on student achievement and fiscal responsibility, he need only to look at the reputations of the last three superintendents of DeKalb. Even actions that showed they meant well were overlooked when DeKalb Schools could not get its fiscal house in order and show academic progress at the same rate as other school systems.

• Link
• Report this comment

Seriously, is it logical to ask this man to bite the hand which feeds him? I have a fondness for dealing in reality, not fantasy. So we can probably move on from calls for him to ask his employer (the board) to resign. Now for the reality – since no one believes that the central office is not top-heavy, start all over again with examining it and culling it. The smartest person can’t figure out the net effect of last year’s “cuts” to the CO, especially when many of them were moved to the schoolhouse in the name of “pushing resources closer to the classroom”. If class sizes are still large, what good did it do to “push resources”? We need an answer to this.

The district has no money. It will take a long time to recover from this blunt fact. Even if the picture becomes rosy this FY, the district will have to satisfy the prior year’s red ink first. That doesn’t bode well for restoring much of anything, sadly. The teachers’ backs are being broken. Assuming we can’t touch the prior years of TRS take-away because it is in litigation, maybe there can be a budgetary goal of putting it back, if only by a fraction, for upcoming years. And I hope that somebody is at the capitol and in the Finance office figuring out how to keep teachers from absorbing any potential health and welfare benefit increases. This is budget season. In a matter of weeks a budget will be presented – as will teacher contracts. We don’t have time for fluff. Be realistic. It’s all about headcount. Reduce headcount. And do it without touching actual teachers in actual classrooms. By week’s end, there will be 50 different definitions of “classroom teacher”. For example, Interrelated is classroom – and we must follow the law. But get the definition of classroom and protect it – then cull everything else.

To examine instructional programs is to state the obvious. Look at the various scheduling models and make a decision which is sound for students and don’t believe what hype is fed about how things are working so well. Give counselors and API’s time in their schedule to plan the semester – and stop allowing schedule changes sometimes as many as four weeks into the semester.

Student discipline. Where to begin? We need to face facts. No one can legislate parental involvement and eliminate apathy, but we can ensure the right of the learning student to have an uninterrupted day and we can stop putting teachers in a pickle when they insist that Johnny disrupts their class. I know it is difficult. But there MUST be some way to balance this. People aren’t running to schools out of their neighborhoods because they are so much worse, whatever that means. They run because their children deserve to be in a learning environment where their peers don’t torture them or otherwise interrupt – well – everything. I’ve run into a few mean and hateful teachers who really need another career path – but the vast majority is made up of caring teachers who deserve to not be insulted by having to put up with bad behavior. Try looking at some of the shuttered properties and repurposing them as “alternative school lite”. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth, but stand firm. In the end, parents will need to face hard facts about what their babies really do in school. I’ve seen some heinous behavior toward adults in the buildings. It’s really a shame that the adults have become so conditioned to this behavior that they don’t bother to call the kids on it. Whip us parents into fervor with helping out at home. If the district doesn’t have the resources to provide critical services, partner with those who can (Dept of Community Health, etc.) The school district partners with Juvenile Court but in the wrong direction. If a student incurs an infraction and you have him hauled into Juvenile Court, then the DA (or the parent!) should pay for his “program to get him back on the straight and narrow”. (STARS) Not the district.

Finally, be willing to lose your job. It’s the only you can do your job.

• Link
• Report this comment

“You have 99,000 reasons to ensure DeKalb won’t continue along the road to failure.”

Can we please stop the charade?

Simply put 275,000 > 99,000

• Link
• Report this comment

Will the AJC be willing to ask any of the tough questions the bloggers have raised about specific suggestions?

Remains to be seen…

• Link
• Report this comment

I simply want to know how these people sleep at night when some teachers can’t because they are working second jobs to make up what DeKalb County is stealing out of their pay checks. Who cares about the teachers. Also I have the same level of education that Mr. Thurman has and Mr. Walker didn’t call me.. I have been trying to move up for eight years and I can’t get an interview because of all the good old boy relationships going on in the County.

• Link
• Report this comment

A great deal of anger here. Perhaps Mr. Thurmond didn’t/doesn’t know how much the DeKalb public knows about the internal politics here.

My own advice for him is not to under-estimate the DeKalb taxpayers and parents.

• Link
• Report this comment

I once heard JC Watts describe character as doing the right thing, even when no one is looking.
well, Mike, damn near the entire state is watching.

be a hero? be a political lady of the evening? worse, be nothing at all?

your choice.

• Link
• Report this comment

Dekalbite’s comments regarding Thurmond asking the board for “sacrifices” are quite astute. I’m wondering though how the board members took their quarter-million-dollar hire asking them for sacrifice.

• Link
• Report this comment

Thurmond is from Athens and So am I. I know him. He’s super shady, not to be trusted.

• Link
• Report this comment

“Wow, not one single positive comment. The man has been hired less than a week and has not had a chance to do anything and every single comment is negative or in support of something someone else said negative.

Parents/taxpayers are upset because their perception is that Mr. Thurmond has close personal and professional connections with the Board Members who hired him while SACS has already said BOE member misbehavior is what has DeKalb Schools on probation. Going to the State BOE to plead the BOE members’ case that they do not need to be removed makes it seem he is more interested in preserving their administrative positions than moving students forward academically or addressing scholl system fiscal problems.

This same administration has not only been responsible for DCSS being on probation (that is clearly what SACS says), but it has also set all of the practices, policies, and procedures for the system and approved all of the funding expenditures that have had the result of DeKalb students not achieving at the same rate as their peers in demographically comparable school systems (look at scores for comparable school systems).

Three superintendents in the four years before Mr. Thurmond thought DeKalb’s problems were PR problems and acted accordingly. Perhaps parents/taxpayers can be forgiven for being somewhat skeptical.

One easy way for Mr. Thurmond to gain the trust of taxpayers is to post the Job Titles and Salary Schedules for non teaching personnel the way other school systems do. DeKalb Schools is the ONLY system in the metro area that posts NO titles or Salary Schedule information for non teaching personnel for taxpayers even though our non teaching personnel comprise the lions share in personnel numbers and compensation cost. This would be a good start in transparency and so easily done. Human Resources has all of the information. All they have to do is upload it. That could be done in the next week. Here is what it SHOULD look like if Mr. Thurmond wants to see how Forsyth does it:

http://www.forsyth.k12.ga.us/Page/35819

• Link
• Report this comment

.Please hire technology literate media specialist that know how to use up to date technology. We need media specialists that collaborate and teach not ones that just sit behind the desk and check out books to students. We need some one that is familiar with the common core standards.

• Link
• Report this comment

I think Mr. Thurmond’s educational inexperience is showing. He just approved the appointment of a principal to move from one school to another in the middle of the year leaving the first school with a substitute principal for the rest of the year. What person with educational experience would do that ? I guess the students and parents of the Oak Grove community are disposable.

• Link
• Report this comment

Does Mr. Thurmond have children? Did they attend DeKalb Co. schools?

• Link
• Report this comment

@ Just Saying: Regarding the upcoming hearing on the 21st, Mr.Thurmond said,“I will articulate the facts and make the case on behalf of the DeKalb school district at the hearing on Feb. 21. I look forward to the opportunity.”

This is probably just ONE reason why Mr. Thurmond has not received many positive comments. It would appear that this was his strongest qualification for the job as interim superintendent. The person most likely to get the BOE off the hook. Other than the 300,000+ in salary and benefits, why is he trying to help the entity that is most detrimental to DCSD accreditation? I believe some people were willing to give him a chance until he opened his mouth and out came Eugene Walker’s voice. Also, Mr. Thurmond writes that each board member has “stated without reservation that they were ready and willing to meet the standards set by our accreditors.” Well, if they were going to do that they should have and would have done it before now. Besides, Mr. Walker says they haven’t done anything egregious so that must be true as well. Right?

Let the BOE speak for themselves. Mr. Walker seems able to speak for himself- especially when comes to offering excuses. It is time for this board to answer for their actions. Mr. Thurmond should be speaking to AND for the students, parents, employees, and taxpayers who have been and still are adversely affected by the ineptitude, fiscal mismanagement, and malfeasance of our school board “representatives.”

• Link
• Report this comment

I think Bernie’s analogy of drinking buttermilk after the expiration date (isn’t that how they make cottage cheese?) is a good one. Certainly Mr. Thurmond’s blog piece is a drink most of us can’t swallow. But he has to start somewhere, doesn’t he? Read his appeal. There’s really no major errors in spelling or punctuation, and he does inspire confidence in the fact that he is an outsider who satisfies none of the criteria demanded by every single commenter on this “Get Schooled” (which is a play on “get screwed”) blog; which means: he’s perfect. As long as everyone is offended, then I’m encouraged. Let this good man wave his wand around for a few semesters and then we’ll all decide if he’s been a wise choice. But so far, after reading his calming appeal, and contrasting it with the barely-justified comments, I gotta go strong with Mr. Thurmond.

Let he who is without spin text the first no.

• Link
• Report this comment

The only thing Donald Trump ever said that I agree with is that “one million dollars is no longer a lot of money”. STFU about the money Mr Thurmond is getting. If you’re so simple that you think that you deserve more money for your own work than your employer is willing to pay you, then I’ve got a work-at-home scam-spam-sham to sell you. Go to I’matotalmoron.com and click click click.
Oh, brother

• Link
• Report this comment

If I hear the word diversity one more time I honestly think I will vomit. Diveristy is so far down the list of what Dekalb needs (or needs to be talking about) it’s comical. Somewhere along the way the libs slavish devotion to the artificial concept of diversity blinded them to the attributes they really should be seeking in leaders – you know, the old-fashioned ones like competence, commitment, integrity and accountability. But instead of those things we get “diversity”. Isn’t that special.

• Link
• Report this comment

Why don’t you give a SAT test to every board member. those who can’t score high enough to get into Tech/UGA should be immediately fired and sued for the recovery of all the past salaries paid … easy enough. That should leave only one or two incompetent’s remaining.

• Link
• Report this comment

It is my view that until the current DeKalb County School Board is completely discredited and abandoned- very little will change in the System. The Board is the problem. Very few can truly identify that Dr. Atkinson generated the lack of confidence that became characteristic of the people the System is supposed to serve. However the Board is accomplished in the scorn it has attracted.

• Link
• Report this comment

Naysayers are a dime a dozen. Give Mr. T a chance and then crucify him

He was given a chance Jack; then his first action was to state he would defend the board.

Says it all right there.

• Link
• Report this comment

Mr. Thurmond,
We teachers know what your appointment, and inaugural speech mean……we’ve heard it soooooo many times before. (My 40th year). The ‘Palace Privileged’, attempting to hang on to their jobs, will demand even MORE from overworked classroom teachers, to satisfy your demands.
Here’s how it works:
1. The incompetent Board threatens the Super. (Super Mannequin)
2. The ‘Super Mannequin’ threatens the ‘Palace Privileged’.
3. The ‘Palace Privileged’ threaten principals, and classroom teachers.
4. More testing, data collection and inane paper work is demanded of teachers.
TESTING IS NOT TEACHING!!!!!
DeKalb teachers are mad as hell at being expected, for soooo long, to make the Palace crew “look good”.
Any questions???

• Link
• Report this comment

I know I haven’t been in this fight for as long as some of you (only 7 years), but I might have reached my breaking point with this latest action (hiring Thurmond and threat of lawsuit). DCSD has been in some state of flux for the entire school career of my oldest, and I’m just not sure how much more of her time I want to spend waiting for one shred of evidence from the board or administration that students and their academic achievement are their number one focus. Sometimes I think, what more of a sign am I looking for to get out? How much drama and fury do I want to continue to allow into our life? None of DCSD’s problems are accidents, and they are all man made. There are people out there who don’t have to spend one minute questioning the motives of their school leaders. How freeing would that be? I just don’t understand the type of person (our board members) that can continue to live in denial that they are not wanted. I will retain hope until the hearing this week. We’ll see what happens.

• Link
• Report this comment

“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.” That made me laugh out loud in disbelief.

For those who want to “give Thurmond a chance.” You know it really is ok to say someone is lying, when they are in fact lying.

And it is ok to question someone’s integrity when they are in fact lying.

Sorry if that sounds harsh, but it is what it is…

• Link
• Report this comment

Lots of criticism here of “world class” as a goal. I guess everyone would have been happy if he had said, “we are going to bring DeKalb schools all the way up to mediocre.”

Actually, Yes, that would have been better because it would at least be in the realm of possibility.
What he did say was like a new Pee Wee football coach saying, “We’re going to win the Super Bowl next year.”

• Link
• Report this comment

If you are vice-president of the United States, your salary is $230,700. Thurmond is making $275,000. It should be NO surprise to the county that the citizenry is skeptical.

• Link
• Report this comment

I also ound Mr. Thurmond’s comment regarding redistricting at odds with the facts. In DeKalb the last redistricting was extremely contentious and the very definition of “parochial” as each faction squared off against each other.

Who was Mr. Thurmond getting his information from? Better to do a little research and read about what happened in DeKalb’s last redistricting effort:

“…..attendance boundaries, the process bogged down into a yearlong battle with rowdy meetings and allegations of racism.
Now, with more changes underway, officials seem headed for more controversy. But this time parents won’t have a year to boil over.”
http://www.ajc.com/news/news/dekalb-school-redistricting-plans-to-be-in-place-b/nTPfC/

“Fight over DeKalb redistricting will be ugly”
http://southdekalb.wordpress.com/2011/01/21/fight-over-dekalb-redistricting-will-be-ugly/

“Hundreds Attend DeKalb Redistricting Meeting”
http://www.wsbtv.com/news/news/hundreds-attend-dekalb-redistricting-meeting/nJQz3/

“DeKalb’s redistricting plans have come under fire from communities across the county. ”
http://www.11alive.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=175552

DeKalb ended up with much less redistricting than the consultant recommended and the our budget needed and the BOE’s solution was to increase class sizes.

Gwinnett redistricts constantly with very little controversy, unlike DeKalb. One reason Gwinnett has such little controversy is that all of the schools in Gwinnett are pretty standard in the services they offer students. Art, music, band, class sizes, size of school, teacher competency, technology, discipline, facilities, etc. are consistent from school to school. The services and opportunities students get in a school in a low income area are consistent with what you get in a high income area. That is not true for DeKalb.

I guess redistricting which we sorely need is up to you now Mr. Thurmond.

• Link
• Report this comment

“Naysayers are a dime a dozen. Give Mr. T a chance and then crucify him.”

What was that line from the movie (Judge Roy Bean, I think. Maybe it was Evil Roy Slade?):

“We’re going to give you a fair trial, then hang you.”

• Link
• Report this comment

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

• Link
• Report this comment

@ 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.

• Link
• Report this comment

DCSS is already “world class. a “world class” joke

• Link
• Report this comment

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!

• Link
• Report this comment

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.

• Link
• Report this comment

None of the citizens put trust in you. All this was done without any community input.

• Link
• Report this comment

Woodward Academy – an excellent private school

• Link
• Report this comment

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.

• Link
• Report this comment

It is better that he has no ties to DeKalb. That is a plus.

• Link
• Report this comment

Sorry–that website link is http://www.mygsra.com/shbp-changes

• Link
• Report this comment

Even the great and powerful Dr. No was put down in the end. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVbTlfxd12I

• Link
• Report this comment

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.

• Link
• Report this comment

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.

• Link
• Report this comment

@ Pardon My Blog. Dekalbite has already told us yesterday at 3:59 pm: Woodward Academy.

• Link
• Report this comment

THE BOARD NEED TO GO

• Link
• Report this comment