Does the state law being used against DeKalb board cede too much power to SACS?
In his passionate closing statement before the state Board of Education on Thursday, attorney Bob Wilson hearkened to fallen soldiers, the flag and the Constitution in an effort to save the jobs of his clients, veteran DeKalb County school board members
“I look at that flag back there and I think about the young men and now the young women who lost their lives defending it. For what? Freedom of speech, the right to vote, they are right at the top, ” Wilson told the state board at the end of the 14-hour hearing. “The ballot box must be given huge, huge deference in this county. If it is not, we are lost.”
A former DeKalb district attorney and one of the two attorneys tapped by Gov. Sonny Perdue in 2010 to probe CRCT cheating, Wilson didn’t land a winning punch with this powerful imagery.
A unanimous state board voted to recommend that Gov. Nathan Deal suspend the DeKalb board. The state board wasn’t impressed with what one member called DeKalb’s “deathbed repentance,” telling the six members that their history of dysfunction outweighed their promises of change.
But Wilson may get to give the speech again and perhaps to a more receptive audience.
On behalf of the DeKalb board members, he filed suit in Fulton County Superior Court and in U.S. District Court arguing the law allowing the governor to oust school board members in troubled districts is unconstitutional. A hearing in Fulton Superior Court on Thursday could restrain the governor from proceeding on the suspensions. A hearing in federal court is scheduled for Tuesday, but Wilson requested it be rescheduled because the transcript from the state board hearing will not be ready.
In turning to the courts, DeKalb joins six Sumter County board members who challenged the law in November and forestalled their removal from office.
Deal will announce Monday at 11 a.m. whether he will follow the state board’s lead and suspend the DeKalb board. (On Friday, Wilson asked the federal court for an injunction to stop Deal from acting on the state board’s recommendation. Will post if the court issues that temporary restraining order.)
“Removing elected officials from office is a serious duty, not undertaken lightly,” the governor said in a statement Friday. “That responsibility, however, pales in comparison to the importance of assuring the credibility of students’ education.”
There are legitimate questions about empowering a governor to unseat school boards that the courts — and all Georgia voters — ought to consider:
Among them:
•The law provides for removing board members without any showing of any wrongdoing or even a lack of discretion.
•The law cedes unprecedented and almost absolute power over elected officials to a private accrediting agency, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. The law specifies that boards can be removed by the governor after being put on probation by its accrediting agency. In this case, that agency is SACS, which has been far more troubled by 5-4 school board votes than by chronically low test scores and faltering academics. As Nancy Jester, one of the DeKalb board members recommended for suspension, noted about the SACS criteria for accreditation: “You can be a school board of distinction, but the student achievement can be abysmal.”
•Why should the governor have the power to remove school board members for ineffectiveness yet pay no heed to crazy city councils and loose-cannon county commissions? There are many dysfunctional elected bodies around the state whose antics, while also not criminal, are irrational and damaging. (Some might cite the General Assembly as an example.)
•The law could be challenged for not only being unconstitutional, but incomprehensible. Last month, the state board told DeKalb emphatically that the law required all school board members, regardless of tenure, must be removed. Thus, DeKalb’s three brand-new members would go, too, if suspension were recommended. It was “all or nothing,” according to the state board.
However, at the start of the state board hearing last week, the Department of Education attorney reversed positions, saying the three newcomers wouldn’t be ousted because they had no role in DeKalb’s fall from grace with SACS. But the DeKalb board members elected two years could make the same argument, especially since it was conceded by SACS that DeKalb’s management problems go back a decade. Yet those two-year board members were recommended for removal.
•The big beneficiary in this debacle may be the governor, who gets to make a political decision that will widely be seen as heroic: removing the controversial DeKalb school board. Even if the courts overturn the law, it won’t be a loss, as Deal really doesn’t want to run the DeKalb schools.
Several speakers at the board hearing declared it was a “new day” in DeKalb. But many of the old problems — racial and economic divides, a ravaged real estate market, a growing underclass — remain. And it’s not apparent that a hand-picked school board will be enough to solve them.
–From Maureen Downey, the AJC Get Schooled blog
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201 comments Add your comment
Truth in Moderation
February 23rd, 2013
3:45 pm
Regarding SACS, all citizens should read Advance-ed’s account of how they took over these accrediting agencies:
http://www.advanc-ed.org/company-overview
I looked everywhere to see if Advance-ed is a 501c3 charity, but I couldn’t find the info on the website. However, their web address is “.org” and SACS was originally a 501c3 so my opinion is that it IS.
SACSCOC is a 501c3, as indicated on this website:
http://www.sacscoc.org/pdf/Annual%20Reports/AnnualReport2009-2010.pdf
Here is the IRS’s definition of a 501c3 charity:
http://www.irs.gov/publications/p557/ch03.html
REMEMBER, A CHURCH WAS THE ORIGINAL 501C3 CHARITY. Then came the Rockefeller, Carnegie, Ford, etc. Foundations.
Question:
Why would a 501c3 CHARITY gain PERMANENT LEGAL STATUS AS ARBITER OF DEFINING THE STANDARDS OF A PUBLIC SCHOOL????????????
Wilbur
February 23rd, 2013
4:00 pm
Without SACS, the parents of Dekalb would be powerless against the corruption and incompetence of the Board. This sad dysfunctional drama has gone on too long. Is there any evidence that this board, left to its own will serve the children or the taxpayers of the county?
Thank goodness that there is some force that in such extreme cases of destructive malfeasance that the Board can be replaced.
I would be very careful about feeding the fires of race and politics here. Jason Carter and the democrats are walking a fine line. It would be very easy for Deal and the state BOE to walk away and leave you to clean up your own mess. Imagine if the governor issues a statement on Monday to the effect of “you broke it, you bought it”. It would be politically easier for him but bad for the children.
Truth in Moderation
February 23rd, 2013
4:17 pm
“I would be very careful about feeding the fires of race and politics here.”
The deafening sound of crickets from the NAACP regarding this case is QUITE SUSPECT…..
Beverly Fraud
February 23rd, 2013
4:19 pm
Without SACS, the parents of Dekalb would be powerless against the corruption and incompetence of the Board.
You right Wilbur; it’s not like parents have the right to vote or anything…
Get your point Wilbur, but if you want to experience real powerlessness let AdvancEd and their ilk get their hooks in with their agenda.
Truth in Moderation
February 23rd, 2013
4:24 pm
Regarding SACS, all citizens should read Advance-ed’s account of how they took over these accrediting agencies:
Just google advance-ed company overview
I looked everywhere to see if Advance-ed is a 501c3 charity, but I couldn’t find the info on the website. However, their web address is “.org” and SACS was originally a 501c3 so my opinion is that it IS.
SACSCOC is a 501c3, as indicated on this website:
Just google sacscoc annual report 2009-20010
Here is the IRS’s definition of a 501c3 charity:
Just google irs publications p557 ch03
REMEMBER, A CHURCH WAS THE ORIGINAL 501C3 CHARITY. Then came the Rockefeller, Carnegie, Ford, etc. Foundations.
Question:
Why would a 501c3 CHARITY gain LEGAL STATUS AS ARBITER OF DEFINING THE STANDARDS OF A PUBLIC SCHOOL????????????
paulo977
February 23rd, 2013
4:28 pm
MARY E….’Could that Governor, conceivably, remove members of that School Board from office so that students in that school district are indoctrinated into the Governor’s particular political ideology?”
____________________________________________________________________
Of course ….. We have not ,in this red state, still internalized what democracy is all about , have we?
hind tit
February 23rd, 2013
4:47 pm
Just look into where the fed money that was suppose to go to class rooms ended up but was spent on the boe building. And why not a recall to clear this up. They can’t argue with the people that elected them. Just face it, they made a mistake and now is the time to fix it.
dekalbite@hind tit
February 23rd, 2013
5:17 pm
“Just look into where the fed money that was suppose to go to class rooms ended up but was spent on the boe building.”
True. There is the matter of the $30,000,000 they spent last SPLOST to build a beautiful new Central Office while schools have leaky roofs and torn up tracks.
The rules are made so that recall is extremely difficult. And certainly since they are elected by district, one district cannot do anything about recall in another district.
Truth in Moderation
February 23rd, 2013
5:38 pm
Well, this is interesting. Look where Advance-ed is located:
AdvancED
1866 Southern Lane
Decatur, Georgia 30033
Truth in Moderation
February 23rd, 2013
5:54 pm
Here are the seven Advance-ed standards by which schools are evaluated:
Vision and Purpose
Governance and Leadership
Teaching and Learning
Documenting and using results
Resource and support Systems
Stakeholder Communications and Relationships
Commitment to Continuous improvement
Truth in Moderation
February 23rd, 2013
6:03 pm
WOW!
I looked at their building on google street view….IT’S A MANSION!
See for yourself…
Mary Elizabeth
February 23rd, 2013
6:06 pm
Paulo977, 4:28 pm
“Of course ….. We have not ,in this red state, still internalized what democracy is all about , have we?”
==================================================
We must remain ever-thinking, conscious citizens in order to sustain our invaluable democratic republic for future generations, Paulo.
living in an outdated ed system
February 23rd, 2013
6:21 pm
@Beverly Fraud, the problem is not SACS. That is an argument you cannot win. The problem is an incompetent board. Lets not deflect blame for what ails DCSS.
Angela
February 23rd, 2013
6:44 pm
DCSS is a HOT MESS and will continue to be a hot mess. The govenor should step in and dismantle the board and I hope that it happens like yesterday. DCSS just like all other school systems within the US are mandated by both the United States Education Department and their state’s DOE. Perhaps, WHEN the state takes over the system we can find some sense of taking education back to educating instead of politics. But, education has always been political even prior to Horace Mann and the passing of public edcation for all people.
OriginalProf
February 23rd, 2013
6:55 pm
**Formerly Prof for more than a year on this blog, I find that someone else has registered under that name with AJC–not me. So now Prof is OriginalProf.**
However you may feel about SACS now, Georgia chose it as the accreditation agency for its schools. It seems to me that you can’t change the rules after you’ve started playing the game.
sam123
February 23rd, 2013
7:13 pm
Besides the DCSB there are layers of problems from the organization of the county office all the way down to the schools. We need a superintendent from another successful district to come in and reorganize the school system.
We also need teachers to explain what all the problems are. Cheryl Atkinson did this and made some changes. I really don’t know what all the issues were with her.
We did not have any financial problems in DCSS until Dr. Hallford retired. After he left, the financial sovency of Dekalb went down the drain.
I wish that we could have Dr. Alvin Wilbanks, former Dekalb principal and superintendent of Gwinnett to come over and reorganize things for us. They have more students than we do and somehow they have got it together. They have a lot of minorities but somehow their intervention for at risk students is more successful than ours is. That is the first reason that we need someone that knows how to make things happen which is in the best interest of the students.
Beverly Fraud
February 23rd, 2013
7:18 pm
@Beverly Fraud, the problem is not SACS. That is an argument you cannot win
@Living, it’s isn’t an argument I’ve tried to win. Can you point to anything I’ve written that even remotely defends Eugene “Clown Central” Walker?
But if you think fixing the board is going to fix public education in DeKalb…
Truth in Moderation
February 23rd, 2013
7:52 pm
Yep. The more I look at that google street view over in Decatur, IT LOOKS LIKE IT COULD BE IN SANDY HOOK!
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2012/1218/Sandy-Hook-shooting-s-glare-illumines-cracks-in-mental-health-care-video
bu2
February 23rd, 2013
8:04 pm
@sam123
I agree. With Atkinson, her high level experience had been in abysmal districts-some of the worst in the country. Now after Kansas City and Lorain, she can add Dekalb to her list. The 2nd candidate in the threesome that dropped out (Duron?) had experience in good districts. He’d been in a big city district in the Houston ISD, a suburban district that was one of the best in the state in Clear Creek and a big diverse very good suburban district in Ft. Bend as well as a small town district Longview that he was superintendent before he became a candidate. He may have had some baggage, but his background was excellent for this district.
We need someone who has experience with districts that do things well, not just with similar districts that don’t do things well.
indigo
February 23rd, 2013
8:14 pm
I like what a lady said at a board public meeting.
She pointed out that, if you work for a corporation and are fired, you normally don’t hire a lawyer to get your job back.
Truth in Moderation
February 23rd, 2013
8:38 pm
DeKalb school board, YES YOU CAN!
You can follow in the footsteps of the Prez ($ 93,496.74) and the NAACP (since they are not helping) and hire the BEST to turn around your PR problems…..
http://www.bluestatedigital.com/about
Mr. Georgia
February 23rd, 2013
8:57 pm
Please conduct a real investigation into how Eglert came to power at SACS and how its the only show in this and many other towns in the country and you will see the truth, I dare you!!! Look what his decision to yank Clayton County’s accreditation did. It wreck the home values and made the economic conditions worse, when things were already terrible and hurt a lot of children. Many could not get scholarships or had to make concessions when it came to furthering their education. Boards and elected officials and any elected body functions poorly at times, jsut take a look at the state house, but no one threatens to unseat them over rumors and poor communication.
CompetenceNotDiversity
February 23rd, 2013
9:32 pm
This entire thread makes me weep for my country. Wrasslin’ analogies, blaming the accrediting agency, race-baiting…what a bunch of morons. I see now how we ended up with the Board we did for the last decade. Those who can will leave or opt for private school. Those who cannot will be condemned to circle the drain with the rest of the bottom-feeders. God help us.
Truth in Moderation
February 23rd, 2013
11:06 pm
@CompetenceNotDiversity
“Those who can will leave”
I have a suggestion, “head west young man!” It doesn’t get any better than Feinstein’s Promised Land. Lots of milk and honey…..if you play the market right. I hear ITT Educational Services is a hot stock right now. Just ask Blum Capitol Partners LP.
My2Cents
February 23rd, 2013
11:23 pm
Get them out! Stop making me – my taxes – pay for so many stinkin lawyers! This is an EDUCATION system – not a job entitlement system. FOCUS.
Truth in Moderation
February 23rd, 2013
11:26 pm
“This is an EDUCATION system – not a job entitlement system”
Public education? You sure had me fooled!
Tim
February 24th, 2013
1:35 am
Dr. John Trotter– “AdvancED does not answer to anyone in Georgia – certainly not the People of Georgia. Mark Elgart, its CEO, prances around like he is some 17th Century prince, who has some divine right to issue educational edicts at his capricious and arbitrary whim.”
Ha Ha! I couldn’t have said it any better. Mark Elgart prances around like some 17th Century prince. I mean seriously, who does this unelected hatchet man think he his?
Maureen Downey– “The law cedes unprecedented and almost absolute power over elected officials to a private accrediting agency, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. The law specifies that boards can be removed by the governor after being put on probation by its accrediting agency. In this case, that agency is SACS, which has been far more troubled by 5-4 school board votes than by chronically low test scores and faltering academics.”
Maureen, everyone needs to re-read that paragraph. How can anybody support SACS or the horrible 2011 law that gives the governor this sickening amount of power? I don’t understand why SACS is so obsessed and upset with 5-4 votes. Each member can vote however they want! It’s like SACS wants all school board members to hold hands and sing Kumbaya. That’s all they are concerned with. Student achievement? Who cares. They just want the school boards to be lovey dovey. It’s ridiculous. Almost every case that comes before the Supreme Court results in a 5-4 vote! So using Prince Mark Elgart’s logic, our Supreme Court is completely dysfunctional and incompetent. Why? Because they have a difference of opinion.
Truth in Moderation
February 24th, 2013
2:02 am
Here is Dr. Mark A. Elgart’s Advance-ed bio:
http://www.advanc-ed.org/executive-leadership
Beverly Fraud
February 24th, 2013
3:05 am
As Tim say, everybody would be wise to reread Maureen’s paragraph below:
Maureen Downey– “The law cedes unprecedented and almost absolute power over elected officials to a private accrediting agency, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. The law specifies that boards can be removed by the governor after being put on probation by its accrediting agency. In this case, that agency is SACS, which has been far more troubled by 5-4 school board votes than by chronically low test scores and faltering academics.”
And to those who say one is “blaming SACS instead of the board.” Nope, some of us are saying the sole focus on the board is causing many to miss the big picture of how SACS appears to be more focused on political power plays than on helping students learn.
Unless you feel SACS trying to restore a board chair who actively conspired with Beverly Hall to cover up cheating is somehow in the “best interest of children.”
Maureen, can a reporter at the AJC ask him some of the tough, yet legitimate questions that have been asked on this blog? We’ve already laid the groundwork!
Dr. John Trotter
February 24th, 2013
7:35 am
One day — and I hope soon — we will look back on this era of public education in Georgia as the Dark Days of BackwardED. We will see clearly that public education in Georgia was SACed by the Vandals from Alpharetta. In my opinion, SACS has caused nothing but harm to the educational systems of Clayton, Warren, Sumter, and DeKalb. What will be glaringly clear to us then is that predominantly black school boards and systems were disproportionately SACed by SACS whereas the predominately white school boards and school systems (e. g., Fulton, Gwinnett, and Cobb) were allowed to engage in all kinds of unethical and illegal infractions with impunity from Elgart the Hun. We will, I hope, blush with embarrassment at the stupidity of turning over the approval or disapproval of our public schools to one biased man and organization. This epoch of public education will, I again hope, will be as embarrassing as looking back on separate water fountains in Kirven’s Department Store in Columbus, Georgia. Yes, I am old enough to remember seeing the two fountains right beside each other, one nice and well-built and the other small and dingy. This was “normal” back then…just as some think that it is “normal” to allow Prince Markie to prance around in his royal pajamas as he yelps his childish and immature disapproval of certain school boards because cannot “play nice” with each other. Please, never let Mark Elgart enter into Washington City because the members of the U. S. Congress and the U. S. Supreme Court never “play nice.”
I wonder if Mark Elgart’s children or nephews and nieces attended some of the war zones schools that he would only be concerned about “school board governance.” Why is he only concerned for this? Obviously, this is so easy deal with. The real rather intractable problems in public education might actually require someone to roll up his or her sleeves and get his princely attire ruffled and soiled. Plus, it’s really about control, isn’t it? I think that Prince Elgart is caught in the power that the General Assembly of Georgia stupidly gave him. Yes, the General Assembly was stupid in ceding this power to a person who seems rather rapacious in wielding disproportionately this power. Perhaps the Church Fathers of Georgia Politics knew exactly what they were doing, thinking, “What we can’t control at the ballot box, we will control through our little willing prince.”
Pardon My Blog
February 24th, 2013
7:50 am
While everyone is so busy pounding on SACS what we are missing is that they have been able to bring to this fraudulent group before the State so something can be done. As long as anyone is able to put their name on a ballot for an elected office without having to meet a list of criteria, we are going to continue to have this debacle, especially in DeKalb where voting has been somewhat questionable since Vernon Jones opened the county doors to Katrina “refugees”. Is SACS perfect? I don’t think so but we do need to have an organization in place to provide checks and balances.
Dr. John Trotter
February 24th, 2013
9:07 am
Please forgive the typos in my previous post. Hadn’t had my coffee yet. You guys have a good day!
DeKalb Inside Out
February 24th, 2013
9:18 am
What does ‘Accreditation’ even mean anymore? University of Virginia and many other schools providing top notch educations are being threatened with probation or a loss of accreditation.
Dr. John Trotter
February 24th, 2013
9:54 am
DIO: I am sure that ole Thom Jefferson is turning over in his grave over SACS’s threat to take away its accreditation there. I am sure that he is not a fan of Mark Elgart. Again, I think that SACS’s threat here was about the Board of Regents talking about firing the President of UVA. SACS = Still Advocating for Cronies (e. g., university presidents) and Superintendents.
Truth in Moderation
February 24th, 2013
10:02 am
@Attentive Parent/Invisible Serfs Collar
What do you make of this “self-assessment”?
http://esu17advanced.wikispaces.com/Self-Assessment
Truth in Moderation
February 24th, 2013
10:10 am
@Dr. John Trotter
Why don’t you put legs to your discourse?
AdvancEd (SACS) is a 501c3 CHARITY! I’m sure the IRS has detailed info on how they are running their organization. Please explain how a CHARITY, with VOLUNTEERS, can wield such power Constitutionally?
living in an outdated ed system
February 24th, 2013
10:20 am
@Beverly Fraud, I did insinuate that fixing the board will fix DCSS. There is NO magic bullet to reform the school system – it is indicative of the problems that most urban school systems are suffering from. However, part of the problem is governance, and it needs to be fixed. You can’t go blaming SACS for the problems of DCSS. They have done that themselves. Fixing a school system is going to be messy any way you slice it. This process is going to be painful and it will take time. But I will say UNEQUIVOCALLY that if the board members try to drag this out in the courts, they are only thinking of themselves and not the children. There is bi-partisan support for their removal – why they are “suspended with pay” is beyond me.
We need an intervention, and NOW. We also need some experienced educators helping transform DCSS, but like APS, no one will want the job when you have such a dysfunctional governance structure. It’s a vicious circle – and so very sad.
dekalbite
February 24th, 2013
10:22 am
So Thurmond and Johnson are going to bat for them and apparently they are trying to push through as much as they can in anticipation that they may be ousted by the governor. The word is they will try to raise our millage rate (we are at 24.75 so they can only raise it .25). They know the governor has called a press conference for 11:30 so they are rushing a meeting for 9:30 am – no doubt to approve money for their lawsuits. Nice to give the public less than 48 hours notice, but then the meeting is not about students or taxpayers. I emailed Dr. Johnson and my BOE rep my opinion of this:
“This just in:
February 23, 2013
NOTICE OF DEKALB BOARD OF EDUCATION CALLED MEETING
The DeKalb Board of Education will hold a called meeting at 9:30am,
Monday, February 25, 2013, in the J. David Williamson Board Room in the
Robert R. Freeman Administrative Center at the DeKalb County School
System’s Administrative & Instructional Complex, 1701 Mountain Industrial
Boulevard, Stone Mountain. Immediately following the called meeting, the
Board of Education will adjourn to the Cabinet Room for an executive
session, for the purpose of discussing legal matters.
The meeting agenda is attached. Meeting information can be accessed
online by going to: http://www.dekalb.k12.ga.us, click on Leadership, go to
eBoard Home Page and click on the date for the meeting agenda\information.
Sincerely,
Dr. Melvin Johnson, Chair
DeKalb Board of Education
c: Members, DeKalb Board of Education
Mr. Michael L. Thurmond, Superintendent
Administrative Cabinet
Public, Press & Media Relations
Sutherland, Asbill & Brennan, LLP
Alexander & Associates, PC
+++
Meeting Agenda
A. CALL TO ORDER
B. ROSTER
C. ADOPTION OF AGENDA
D. ACTION ITEM
1. Approval of Deficit Elimination Plan
E. ADJOURN TO EXECUTIVE SESSION
F. ANNOUNCEMENTS
G. ADJOURN”
Truth in Moderation
February 24th, 2013
10:24 am
@Pardon My Blog
“While everyone is so busy pounding on SACS what we are missing is that they have been able to bring to this fraudulent group before the State”
The only thing that counts, in a nation with the rule of law, is DID THE SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS BREAK ANY LAW?? Someone posted earlier that a state attorney said they did, regarding their handling of funds. THIS IS WHAT SHOULD BE PURSUED! WHY ARE THEY NOT BEING CHARGED? SACS was just a distraction to get the foolish to give up their right to elected representation, THE REAL AGENDA. Read all about it. Google Deliberately Dumbed Down Charlotte Iserbyt. She has documented these plans since the 1970’s. Her documents came from the U.S. Department of Education, where she worked under the Reagan Adm. EDUCATE YOURSELF!
living in an outdated ed system
February 24th, 2013
10:24 am
Restating my last comment because an important word got missed in the first sentence.
@Beverly Fraud, I did NOT insinuate that fixing the board will fix DCSS. There is NO magic bullet to reform the school system – it is indicative of the problems that most urban school systems are suffering from. However, part of the problem is governance, and it needs to be fixed. You can’t go blaming SACS for the problems of DCSS. They have done that themselves. Fixing a school system is going to be messy any way you slice it. This process is going to be painful and it will take time. But I will say UNEQUIVOCALLY that if the board members try to drag this out in the courts, they are only thinking of themselves and not the children. There is bi-partisan support for their removal – why they are “suspended with pay” is beyond me.
We need an intervention, and NOW. We also need some experienced educators helping transform DCSS, but like APS, no one will want the job when you have such a dysfunctional governance structure. It’s a vicious circle – and so very sad.
Truth in Moderation
February 24th, 2013
10:28 am
@Dekalbite
Well this proves one thing. The Board is not dumb.
dekalbite
February 24th, 2013
10:31 am
Here is what we paid lawyers last year. We are on track to pay $13,000,000 this year. It appears that we must pay an additional $30,000,000 in law fees if we shut down that major lawsuit (or just go on accruing tens of millions – win win for lawyers and lose lose for DeKalb children):
SUTHERLAND ASBILL BRENNAN LLP $2,530,906 PURCHASED PROFESSIONAL AND TECH SVCS
ALEXANDER & ASSOCIATES $1,062,509 PURCHASED PROFESSIONAL AND TECH SVCS
KING & SPALDING $713,716 PURCHASED PROFESSIONAL AND TECH SVCS
ELARBEE THOMPSON & TRAPNELL $555,247 PURCHASED PROFESSIONAL AND TECH SVCS
GOODMAN MCGUFFEY LINDSEY & $57,743 PURCHASED PROFESSIONAL AND TECH SVCS
ALEXANDER & ASSOCIATES $402,589 PURCHASED PROFESSIONAL AND TECH SVCS
CF BROCK AND ASSOCIATES LLC $34,477 PURCHASED PROFESSIONAL AND TECH SVCS
WANDA S JACKSON PC $35,000 PURCHASED PROFESSIONAL AND TECH SVCS
FOLTZ MARTIN LLC $32,178 PURCHASED PROFESSIONAL AND TECH SVCS
Look at the agenda above and then look at who the lawyers are at the emergency “called” meeting.
Source for payments to legal firms 2012:
http://www.open.georgia.gov/
(click on Other Expenditure>Payments>use drop downs for 2012, Local Boards of Education, DeKalb County Board of Education, Funding source select ALL
dekalbite
February 24th, 2013
10:58 am
Please try to attend this meeting and also write the BOE members. Here is a link to write your BOE members all at one time:
http://dekalbschoolwatch.wordpress.com/
(Scroll down and on the right hand side of the page you will see:
Email the Board of Education
CLICK HERE to Email the entire DCSS Board of Education as well as the superintendent.)
Here is a link to Michael Thurmond’s email address if you want to ask him about this meeting:
michael_l_thurmond@fc.dekalb.k12.ga.us
Dunwoody Mom
February 24th, 2013
11:06 am
The question of why the DeKalb BOE has not been investigated is one that needs to be answered by D.A. Robert James. 2 separate Grand Juries recommended a special Grand Jury be established to investigate the BOE. Why has this not been done? Why has the D.A. continued ti ignore a Grand Jury recommendation?
Again, the State of Georgia is clear that the responsibility to educate public school students lies with the state. If State officials feel local BOE members need to be “impeached” due to dereliction of duty, then I believe the Governor has that right.
paulo977
February 24th, 2013
11:10 am
Mr. Georgia…’Boards and elected officials and any elected body functions poorly at times, jsut take a look at the state house, but no one threatens to unseat them over rumors and poor communication.”
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Very well said ….this action to suspend the members is clearly anti-democratic . The electorate ought to have been allowed to go through a process of deliberating and deciciding how they would vote next . Remember here in Georgia it has taken a longer time than in northern states to journey towards democratic ways of doing things!!!
Dunwoody Mom
February 24th, 2013
11:16 am
That anyone believes this BOE is being unseated due to “rumors and poor communication” has no clue about what has been going on with DeKalb County Schools and its BOE.
dekalbite
February 24th, 2013
11:24 am
(Monday’s 9-25) Meeting Agenda
A. CALL TO ORDER
B. ROSTER
C. ADOPTION OF AGENDA
D. ACTION ITEM
1. Approval of Deficit Elimination Plan
E. ADJOURN TO EXECUTIVE SESSION
F. ANNOUNCEMENTS
G. ADJOURN”
This meeting on Monday proposes to eliminate the deficit (which BTW – running a school system deficit is against the law)
Cutting services less than two weeks after he has been appointed superintendent and has been so busy trying to save BOE members (who are responsible for the school system deficit) jobs seems to go after the budget with a hatchet rather than a scalpel. If ANY of our superintendents and BOE members who approved these deficits had really tried to cut where in smart ways (i.e. least impact to the classroom) they would have seen that they couldn’t just take the easy way out and make broad cuts to teacher compensation and increased class sizes for children to balance the budget. Balancing the budget without harming the classroom takes time and input from teachers who inhabit the classrooms (e.g. – what services in DCSS work for their kids and what services do not work for their kids). Critical thinking skills and novel approaches need to be tried. An utter absence of the above is why we are in the shape we are in now and Johnson and Thurmond propose to run a quick chop, chop on the budget – more of the same we do not need.
Beverly Fraud
February 24th, 2013
11:26 am
Well it’s clear Eugene Walker, aka Clown Central, can’t do much for the students of DCSS. But perhaps a contentious, nasty lawsuit, played out like a train wreck in the public eye can shed some much needed SUNLIGHT on Markie Mark Elgart and the minions of SACS.
Isn’t it ironic that the privateer supporters who passed Amendment 1 might end up doing their best good not by having students bypass school systems like DeKalb, but instead bypassing organizations like SACS.
Beverly Fraud
February 24th, 2013
11:29 am
CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE:
In going back and reading the original post, I must admit Maureen gave a no holds barred (yes one more ‘rassalin metaphor) account of issues concerning SACS. Tough, fair and legitimate questions-lets hope the AJC will ask them of Markie Mark.
INDEED!
Dunwoody Mom
February 24th, 2013
11:31 am
Trying to make SACS the issue here is clear deflection. We’re done with deflection whether it be the continued attempt by arrogant blowhards to “blame” SACS or the “race card” several BOE members still try to hang on to.