Nancy Jester resigns from DeKalb school board
Nancy Jester has resigned her seat on the DeKalb Board of Education. She was suspended, along with her five colleagues. so she was on her way out anyway.
But she is no longer a party — unwilling as she says she was — to the court challenge being led by her former board colleague Eugene Walker. So, while Jester’s actions here may be symbolic, they do undermine the legal fight to stop the suspensions and the appointment of replacements by the governor.
Her decision also helps in the public relations department as DeKalb voters are weary of this drama and want to move on. Jester seems to have a lot of good will in DeKalb and this act will only enhance her standing, setting her up for a successful return to the board if she chooses to run in the future. (There is already speculation that she may seek higher office. )
Jester told AJC political reporter Greg Bluestein that she intends to continue her education advocacy and push for broader school change including greater choice.
“We invest in failure all the time. All we do is give more money. All that does, with that extra dollar, is you just bought more failure. I support the portability of state funding to other public options, whether it’s an independent charter or another district,” Jester said.
Echoing her guard rail theme from the state board hearing, Jester said, “How do we put up more guard rails to prevent a county like DeKalb from slipping into the abyss for years? And I think it’s insane that school districts aren’t required to have more reserves and that they’re allowed to build giant deficits.”
Bluestein asked her: Will others follow her lead today and resign? (Speculation is that Pam Speaks may resign today as well.)
“I don’t know what the others will do. I know that some of them feel strongly about the legal issues. … I hope that we don’t have a long protracted fight over the issue, but there might be. And I don’t think that’s very healing for the community. That’s one reason I wanted to resign – it distracts from the focus on kids and taxpayers,” said Jester.
I am getting copied on emails that folks are sending Jester. Here is an excerpt from one:
You are so bright and you wanted to do so much for DeKalb County’s schools. We needed a strong financial leader. I am sorry the majority of the board put their own personal interests ahead of the children. With all the discord, I hope that an ethical code of conduct will be developed for the board. I hope standards are set. We need people on the school board who demonstrate their support of education by their actions and not by rhetoric.
Let us hope that something positive comes from such lessons learned from years of dysfunctional management of our school. You were only there a short time and you tried hard to enact some changes. Thank you for taking the high road and resigning. You are to be commended for your leadership and courage in a difficult situation. The money spent on lawyers would do so much if it was directed towards the classroom. Best of luck to you in your future endeavors. I hope you will run again for office.
Here is Jester’s letter to constituents explaining her decision and her timing:
I am writing today to express my gratitude and sincere thanks for the opportunity to serve you during the last two years. Please know how much I appreciate your supportive words, calls and prayers. I am proud of the work I did to expose the deceptive budgeting practices and bring a parent’s perspective to the board.
In the upcoming weeks, I’ll be blogging about various educational issues, legislation and events of importance to DeKalb and our state. We have so much work to do together. As always, I remain steadfastly committed to being an advocate for children and taxpayers.
I look forward to seeing new faces on the DeKalb Board. I hope the new board and administrative team will reflect on what I said at our February board meeting about reforming our district. My remarks are available on my blog.
For clarity, I wanted to resign from the board in advance of the hearing in February, but refrained from doing so because of the pending court case. If the ruling had gone the other way, the remaining board members would have remained on the board and they would select my successor. I wanted to prevent that. I am more comfortable with the Governor and his team selecting my replacement.
Additionally, it is a matter of public record that I voted “no” on February 1st, to the hiring of the attorney to pursue the board’s legal challenges in the first place. I did not support in any way, the filing of legal action and I expressed my opposition in board meetings. Because the court has vacated their previous stay, the board members subject to the Governor’s executive order are now, no longer on the board. Once the Governor appoints new members, the board will have a quorum and be able to meet. At that point, the board will be able to make decisions regarding the use of district resources.
I hope that the next chapter for DeKalb schools brings about a reformation that begins to fulfill our obligation to our children. I hope this next chapter offers the taxpayers a product worthy of their investment. Thank you again for allowing me to serve you. I look forward to working with you to promote ideas and strategies that will empower parents and teachers and improve the educational lives of children.
–From Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog
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233 comments Add your comment
TAJ
March 6th, 2013
10:47 am
Ms. Jester’s statement sounds like someone who is looking after number one!
Mountain Man
March 6th, 2013
10:50 am
“She will never be the intellectual equal to Dr. Walker and others who are more prepared to lead and she could not stand the fact the because of her complexion she was not granted any favor or special treatment.”
So you admit that the Board discriminated against her because she was white?
I still believe that Mr. Georgia is Walker’s son-in-law.
Dekalbite@Centrist
March 6th, 2013
10:51 am
“Nice symbolic gesture, but would have been more than symbolic had she done it before she was removed from the Board after a Hearing and confirmed by judge.”
If Nancy had resigned before the court case when no one knew how it would to, the ousted BOE members would have returned and picked her successor. Nancy voted no for the lawsuit and its funding because she was willing to “fall on her sword” so to speak to get 5 competent BOE members on the Board. When she was overridden, she stayed to see how the court case would play out because she didn’t want the ousted members to return and pick her successor – do you think would have picked someone like Nancy? Here’s a link to her website. Look at the financial analyses she has done. These financial analyses are one reason SACS who had drug it’s heels with regards to DCSS had to act. Her numbers showed the gross financial mismanagement that was going on.
I urge all commenters to go through her financial analyses and explanations of budget items. She had to have devoted hundreds of hours in analyzing the data and posting it in readable form for DeKalb taxpayers. In particular, look at the funding and documents links. She has kept her constituents as well as the rest of the county(she’s not my Board rep) well informed. What other BOE member on any school board in the metro area had made so much information public?
http://www.nancyjester.com/
She has called for an online check register and a forensic audit and all of the other items that make up financial transparency. We were fortunate to have her. I don’t agree on some of her favorite issues like the emphasis on charter schools and parent trigger laws, but that’s okay. She logically states her reasons for supporting these issues and her passion for financial solvency and driving dollars to direct instruction for children has been so massive and consistent that it overwhelms any areas we might disagree on.
I am convinced no one with her financial acumen, dedication to making data driven decisions, and emphasis on teachers and students will be picked by Governor Deal.
Mountain Man
March 6th, 2013
10:53 am
I would like to see the comments that Ms. Jester made at the BOE meetings about the utility costs being underestimated. I would then like to compare the actual utility costs to those contained in the budget at that time. I would also like to see the comments and the final votes of the other BOE members at that budget meeting. Let’s bring some FACTS to the table!
Maureen Downey
March 6th, 2013
10:54 am
@DeKalbite, I am hearing some sharp folks applied for the open DeKalb seats. With more than 150 applicants as of yesterday and likely a last-minute surge today, I think you will see some smart people appointed to the board.
Maureen
Dekalb74
March 6th, 2013
10:56 am
Good for you Nancy Jester! You’ve got my support for your future endeavors.
“One down 5 to GO”! Citizens UNITE lets step up the heat.
I’m anxiously awaiting a comprehensive cronyism list. “Lets keep it simple” for the likes of Eugene P. ‘Gene’ Walker, Sarah Copelin-Wood, Jesse ‘Jay’ Cunningham Jr. and Donna G. Edler.
We could run an expanded Genealogy search for these four board members cross referencing that with employees of DKSS both administrators and teachers.
The brutal street gossip asserts that these four have facilitated the hiring and employment of as many as 300+ unqualified friends, relatives and associates to drain the County School bank coffers.
Surely there is a criminal act in there somewhere. Lets dispose of these 4 permanently.
Derwood
March 6th, 2013
10:58 am
Education will never get better until the leaders realize exactly what is wrong with our education.
Mountain Man
March 6th, 2013
11:01 am
“She has called for an online check register and a forensic audit and all of the other items that make up financial transparency. We were fortunate to have her.”
Pretty smart. The Board Chairman with a DR. in fromt of his name did not call for this. Maybe becasue he was scared of what they might find.
Concernedmom30329
March 6th, 2013
11:02 am
Mr. Georgia
Are you kidding me? Walker’s intellectual ability. At each and very budget hearing, he would “proclaim” that things weren’t as bad as people were making them out to be in DeKalb. The economy was better and the tax revenues would be higher than projected. He suffered from delusions of grandeur and was doing his best to will things better and try to get folks to forget his own checkered past.
The Children of DeKalb have suffered because of him, as have the homeowners and taxpayers. When is the last time a major company relocated to DeKalb, outside of Perimeter Center?
Dekalbite@Mountain man
March 6th, 2013
11:04 am
Enter your comments here
Mountain Man
March 6th, 2013
11:05 am
“Education will never get better until the leaders realize exactly what is wrong with our education.”
Exactly right, Derwood. That is why I am constantly blogging about the BASIC things I think are wrong with most systems: lack of discipline, attendance, social promotion, lack of support for teachers, no-b*lls administrators, funds siphoned off for SPED programs, parental apathy (or conversly, helicopter parents), and student lack of belief in education.
Mountain Man
March 6th, 2013
11:08 am
“When is the last time a major company relocated to DeKalb, outside of Perimeter Center?”
When was the last time a company relocated to SOUTH Dekalb.
Mountain Man
March 6th, 2013
11:11 am
“When was the last time a company relocated to SOUTH Dekalb”
Probably has something to do with ” but we do have a lower expectation for the children in south than the ones in the north”. (Ramona Tyson). By the way, why was SHE there.
Mountain Man
March 6th, 2013
11:14 am
What we need is a “student trigger law”. One that would keep students from pulling the triggers on the guns that they bring to school.
Ned
March 6th, 2013
11:14 am
Maureen * Mt. Man:
Didn’t the ’surviving three’ say something about not being able to carry out their duties because a minimum of 5 is needed? What I am getting at is that if we had 2 resignation-openings replaced we would have 5 even w/out worrying about replacing the 4 others, and therefore the BOE would be more able to do some of its necessary business. I could be wrong, but I thought that was what they said
DunMoody
March 6th, 2013
11:14 am
@Maureen, some Tweets are suggesting that Nancy Jester’s resignation will immediately trigger a special election. True? And how does that impact the substitute board and timeline?
bu2
March 6th, 2013
11:15 am
Scary part is that Ms. Tyson is probably who Thurmond is leaning on for advice.
If there are lower expectations for the southside, well, Ms. Tyson WAS our superintendent for a year and a half.
DeKalb Inside Out
March 6th, 2013
11:16 am
Electricity Bill – Budget
http://whatsupwiththat.nancyjester.com/2012/09/13/114/
Jester spent the better part of last year saying the budget was fraudulent. Every board meeting she asked about electricity and legal bills and every meeting she was shut down by the Walker 5. The Walker 5 walked out on her in the middle of a board meeting while she was speaking up on these issues. I saw her on the news talking about it, read about it online … etc …
I can’t confirm any conversations she had with SACS or what documents she handed over to them.
bootney farnsworth
March 6th, 2013
11:19 am
aaah, Mr Georgia
doing what he can to keep women in their place since 10:45am 3/6/13
Georgia
March 6th, 2013
11:20 am
That’s right. Walker did try to say that Dekalb was “close enough” to success. Well, close only counts in horseshoes and snark grenades.
Dunwoody Mom
March 6th, 2013
11:20 am
Ramona Tyson is heading up the school district’s response to SACS, or so she stated at the SBOE hearing. Thurmond, it appears, does not have a clue who to turn to for assistance.
Tucker
March 6th, 2013
11:20 am
Thank you, Ms. Jester. You have once again demonstrated that your integrity and wisdom distance you from the rest of the board. Governor Deal should re-appoint you.
Mountain Man
March 6th, 2013
11:20 am
“Some things she simply could not understand, like budgets and reserve funds.”
Are you KIDDING, Mr. Georgia?
She was the ones pointing out holes in the budget.
I guess it was all the others that REALLY didn’t understand the budget, since they ran an ILLEGAL $14 million deficit last year!!! Anyone who voted for that budget should be prosecuted for felony fraud.
bootney farnsworth
March 6th, 2013
11:23 am
the last major business initiative in south DeKalb I remember was Stonecrest Mall.
I’ve never been there myself, but have heard they have had trouble with “wilding” and have a high turnover rate for occupants
Mountain Man
March 6th, 2013
11:23 am
“Ramona Tyson is heading up the school district’s response to SACS, or so she stated at the SBOE hearing. Thurmond, it appears, does not have a clue who to turn to for assistance.”
If Thurmond were serious, he would call in Nancy Jester to help him with the budget. Oh, I forgot, she is the wrong color. How silly of me!
Decatur Dad
March 6th, 2013
11:24 am
So now we want to make Nancy Jester a hero, huh? In my opinion, she’s a “Judas” of the worst kind. I never did trust that woman and always felt that she had hidden motives. Good riddance!!
Mountain Man
March 6th, 2013
11:25 am
“Walker did try to say that Dekalb was “close enough” to success. ”
I think he meant to say that Dekalb county was slightly closer to success that Clayton County.
dekalbite@Mountain man
March 6th, 2013
11:26 am
“I would like to see the comments that Ms. Jester made at the BOE meetings about the utility costs being underestimated. ”
You are in luck. You can see the Board discussion on video. One of the main complaints that SACS had about the budget is the consistent underestimation of costs like attorneys and electricity. They really slammed DeKalb for this as a good part of the deficit came from these underestimation of costs that were really quite consistent. Nancy alerted them many times about this. They used her data in the SACS report to put DeKalb on probation and then turned around and said she should not have been emailing them this information – do you see the irony here?
From Nancy’s blog:
“7.11.11 Board meeting @ 1:31:48 on the recording of the BOE meeting I note the variances in the budget concerning electricity and legal fees. Mr. McChesney supports me.
10.03.11 BOE meeting @ 1:04 on the recording I ask about legal fees; @1:05, I note that I continue to “harp” on the electricity issue as we are more than $1 million over-budget; @1:06:11, I ask why we aren’t preparing better budget assumptions; @1:06:39 I am mislead about the reasons the overage has occurred.
1.19.12 BOE meeting @ 1:46 I bring up electricity again. Mr. McChesney supports me. Other BOE members try to prove me wrong, saying that the increase is due to rate increases.”
http://whatsupwiththat.nancyjester.com/2012/12/
Below is a link to the videos. Scant minutes are kept on BOE meetings even though we have TWO Board secretaries (one of which is Walker’s daughter in law at $69,000 a year in salary and benefits – source is State Salary and Travel Audit) so you really have to view the videos. Nancy tells you exactly where on the video to view her speaking on the electricity costs so you don’t have to plow through the entire video.
http://www.dekalb.k12.ga.us/pds-tv24/index/video-on-demand
Maureen Downey
March 6th, 2013
11:26 am
@DunMoody, Just sent your question to both Gov’s office and DOE. My understanding is that Jester was no longer on the board under the 2010/2011 law due to the suspension and the governor has the power to replace her.
Maureen
Principal Skinner
March 6th, 2013
11:28 am
MG has to b satire. There’s no way that anybody could actually believe the things he said. Kudos for the hyperbole MG. Well played.
If not…………..he is definitely a relative, or Palace employee who is shaking in his boots because there will soon b people who will look at his position and say, “There’s no need for this person. They are not intelligent whatsoever, and don’t have the children in mind at all.”
home-tutoring parent
March 6th, 2013
11:28 am
Maureen, and your readers, you gals and guys have an opportunity to think of a new paradigm. Can you envision three different elementary, middle and high school systems? Atlanta has a lot of really smart people, actually some brilliant people, see if you can draw upon their talents.
I don’t live in Georgia, but I’d be happy to move there, if you want to do transformation-education, and want some bodies.
I think you need to divide your school system into three school systems: Math and hard science (physics, chem, biochem, engineering), liberal arts including evolutionary biology, and vocational studies.
The first division might attract mostly white males, with some white females, and some black and Hispanic males and females who have math/science talent. It’s not gender and race “balanced”. So what? Instead of promoting “equal diversity”, how about prescribing excellence as your strive-to-achieve standard? Chips fall where they may.
My son is teaching physics overseas. “Physics Firsrt” to 9th graders, algebra-based physics to 1oth and 11th graders, AP Physics C to a small number of 11th and 12th graders.
He recently contacted me, “Dad, I need to teach my AP Physics C students calculus.”
I told him, “You need to teach them Archimedes’ principles.” Not Newton or Leibnitz. You have to go before them, to knowledge that they discovered.
“Let’s approximate the area of a circle, by drawing a circle, and inscribed and circumscribing squares, and then serially making higher-side-number polygons, and seeing how their areas more, and more closely approximate a circle’s area.”
I tutored a wonderful math-minded kid, in my mind he was a genius. Anyway, his 6th grade teacher was trying to ingrain, Area of triangle = 1/2 base x altitude. She had no clue how this was derivable.
Most elementary school teachers are total math dumbos. It’s true. Ask your kid’s teacher, “What is 39 x 39, do it in your head.”
It’s subtraction, 40 x 40= 1600, 40 x 39 requires a 40 takeaway, now take away a 39.
“I never learned that multiplication involved subtraction.” You didn’t have a competent math teacher.
A lot of people don’t want to study Archimedes.
“I don’t want to understand calculus”.
Okay, I get it. To learn calculus, I had to study 4 hours a night. “I don’t get this, to oh, this is interesting,
bootney farnsworth
March 6th, 2013
11:28 am
@ mountain,
(tongue in cheek, here)
you really think a mere woman could understand the mind of an intellectual and ethical giant like Gene Walker?
she should be at Mr. Walkers home acting like June Cleever and hoping Gene will come home and allow her to rub his feet and bring him his beer.
(tongue out of cheek)
in a blog where we often see the strangest things, that one was a doozy
james
March 6th, 2013
11:28 am
classy way to go…at least she can say she went out on her own terms instead of the asinine way Dr. Walker and the other are going to go….
Maureen Downey
March 6th, 2013
11:29 am
#To DunMoody, From governor’s office on reports that Jester’s resignation possibly triggering special election:
“It does not trigger a special election. The process simply moves forward.”
Mountain Man
March 6th, 2013
11:30 am
“So now we want to make Nancy Jester a hero, huh? In my opinion, she’s a “Judas” of the worst kind.”
So why do you call her a “Judas”? Because she rightfully pointed out problems with the budget? Yes, she may have had other “Republican” agendas, but from a budget standpoint, it seems like she was right on target. Can you prove me wrong? See my 10:53 post.
bootney farnsworth
March 6th, 2013
11:31 am
@ home
thank you for your offer, but us ignant southerers will figger this hear problem out fer ourselves.
I am curious about one thing: who homeschools you?
dekalbite@Maureen
March 6th, 2013
11:32 am
“I think you will see some smart people appointed to the board.”
That’s really welcome news. It’s just hard to believe that any BOE member with Nancy’s financial acumen will take the time to post their analyses. Her website was such a tremendous resource for anyone who wanted to look into the financial affairs of our tax dollars..
bootney farnsworth
March 6th, 2013
11:33 am
can’t help but wonder if Nancy is betting on the Dunwoody school system as an outcome of this mess
Mountain Man
March 6th, 2013
11:34 am
“Scant minutes are kept on BOE meetings even though we have TWO Board secretaries (one of which is Walker’s daughter in law at $69,000 a year in salary and benefits – source is State Salary and Travel Audit)”
Here you go, Mr. Georgia – need to tell your father-in-law that he needs to quit fighting his suspension.
Decatur Dad
March 6th, 2013
11:34 am
I totally agree with Mr. Georgia in that Nancy Jester is a complete phony. She had absolutely no business on the Dekalb County School Board in the first place. I always thought that she was a bit spacey.
Chamblee Dad
March 6th, 2013
11:35 am
On yesterday’s thread I posted:
“#1 Some people actually do the right thing for the greater good, Jester in particular, could hold a press conference & outline why she is doing it, under her own terms, a chance to perhaps not leave in disgrace – much like her comments to the GA BOE. And if 1 or 2 did, call for the others to join them, perhaps some would (not talking Walker). Probably 99.9% unlikely, I wouldn’t expect it”
I think Speaks is more likely than not, the others? I’m not holding my breath.
The replacements, if they get seated, will create a whole new story – hopefully one that focuses on the entire system, accreditation, budget, true financial audit, cleaning out central office, transparency (god would that be nice!) & primary of course – student achievement; and not on breaking it apart.
If people have been calling for it for years, as they have, if we actually get it, get back in the loop & give it a chance. That’s what I’m planning on doing, if given a chance.
bootney farnsworth
March 6th, 2013
11:36 am
something I’ve been wondering about for some time now….
where is ole Red Meat Fran in all this mess?
he’s never had a problem tell us and the rest of Georgia how useless we are. but when it occurs in his own county, in his own district……suddenly he is quiet as a mouse
Atlanta Media Guy
March 6th, 2013
11:37 am
The very person who was the catalyst in getting DCSS into the ditch, is now heading up the response to SACS. When she was interim, she still is folks, she sent 10,000 non-searchable pages to SACS. She was Turks boss, status-quo of the Clew Crew was her directive! How can anyone expect change when the leaders who led us into the muck are still around……… Mr. Thurmond clean out the Palace! Tyson has her golden parachute secured……..Tyson must go!
bootney farnsworth
March 6th, 2013
11:38 am
anybody who totally agrees with Mr Georgia is Mr Georgia posting under a different name
home-tutoring parent
March 6th, 2013
11:43 am
Gene Walker is gone. Now your problem is building. Do you know why multiplication is often done most efficiently using subtraction?
New board members, I can guarantee you 3 will black.
Dunwoody Mom
March 6th, 2013
11:53 am
If Michael Thurmonds wants to even begin to have a conversation about regaining trust of the parents and teachers, he must rid the Central Office of any Crawford Lewis and Cheryl Atkinson “insiders”. A fresh, clean slate is needed across the BOE and across the Central Office personnel. If we are dealing with Ramona Tyson after all of the nonsense that went on during her interim administration, the system is beyond doomed.
DunMoody
March 6th, 2013
11:57 am
@Maureen – Thanks. Wanted to make sure there weren’t any “unintended consequences” for what we all believe is the right thing to do: resign.
Mr. Dekalb County
March 6th, 2013
11:59 am
I’m curious about why Mrs. Jester was dismissed if her record was so lofty. I just wonder if SACS comes in and and makes a derogertory report on the whole board or do they look at the individuals on the board a credit them based on their body of work. If she was indeed the whistle blower and she had such a good record then why are they not keeping her with the other three. It doesn’t sound right so please explain it to me.
Chamblee Dad
March 6th, 2013
12:00 pm
@ Dunwoody Mom Tyson in charge of the SACS response – Yikes! know it would be a long list, but Ramona Tyson would be the FIRST person who should be escorted out of the Palace. Those of you who think her term as interim wasn’t too bad, you weren’t paying close attention. It was a relatively silent killer, until the budget #s were revealed on her way out. I can’t think of a single reason she should still be there.
big picture
March 6th, 2013
12:04 pm
Was Tyson the one who had the idea for “Triage,” which relied, in part, on using gifted kids to teach kids who weren’t understanding material? Pretty sure she was. Didn’t think gifted kids should be pushed to their limits. Didn’t think struggling kids needed qualified personnel to help them. Yeah, I”m not happy she’s still in charge.