Nancy Jester resigns from DeKalb school board

I am confused here…how do you resign from a board that you have already been removed from?

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Ah…I see…It will be interesting to see who else follows suit. Maybe Pam Speaks. We most definitely know who it won’t be.

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DeKalb County has become Clayton County and not just in re. the school board.

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Hats off to Nancy, who has had the best interests of the children at heart all along. She couldn’t stay without tarnishing her personal reputation. Maybe we’ll get lucky and Gov. Deal will find people who are equally qualified and not in it for the personal glory.

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I agree she is displaying dignity..but also eliminating baggage in case there is a Dunwoody School System.

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Maureen – what’s the link to the application to nominate someone for the Board? Please let people know how to submit a nomination, since today is the deadline.

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Nancy Jester and Don McChesney were about the only 2 members looking out for the interest of Dekalb Schools.

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[...] From the AJC Get Schooled blog: 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. [...]

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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.

Yesterday Ms. Downey said an appeal to the Governor for re-instatement was a waste of time – is this a tactic to make that a possibility?

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Way to go, Nancy Jester. At least ONE of the Dekalb BOE members has some honor and character. Contrast her with Eugene Walker. He is the bottom of the barrel.

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Not sure if anyone’s added this link but DSW has a post that explains the reasons why Nancy didn’t resign earlier:
http://dekalbschoolwatch.wordpress.com/2013/03/05/why-jester-and-speaks-did-not-resign-from-dekalb-school-board/

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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 you’d bothered to actually read the post before rushing into your lofty wisdom, she explains why she didn’t resign earlier.

But thanks for your amazing insight based on open mouth/brain stuck in neutral. We don’t have enough of that in DeKalb already.

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speculation that [Nancy] may seek higher office
Word on the street is the Dunwoody Council is privately en masse asking her to run for State Senate.

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@ Centrist
There is a reason for why Nancy decided to NOT resign earlier. She had her constituents in mind, as always. Read the article in DeKalb School Watch blog [dekalbschoolwatch.wordpress.com] or in Nancy’s own blog, What’s Up With That? [whatsupwiththat.nancyjester.com].

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2 words for you DeKalb county residents who care about your children….PRIVATE SCHOOLS!!!

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Nancy was a stand up board member who did great things, but I’m suspicious of her dedication to school choice. She definitely has an agenda.

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She was no dam angle but good for her .Walker needs to go along with her he is no dam good for Dekalb along with his friends.

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“For you liberals who hope this does not stand, please note what Ms. Downey herself posted above:”

All of the many liberals I know do indeed want this to stand, Centrist. Why are you so bitter?

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For all DeKalb county parents who care about your children….I have 2 words for you: Private Schools!!!

Trust me, your kids are worth it…

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All of the many liberals I know do indeed want this to stand, Centrist. Why are you so bitter?

Embarrassment. A counterattack provides an imagined diversion from the egg on his face.

See also Copelin-Woods, Sarah, et al.

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“I see Ms. Jester as a political animal obviously using her resignation AFTER being fired as a springboard to some (any) other political office.”

Maybe. And I see Walker as a political fat cat just feathering his nest and doing ANYTHING to stay in power so he can protect his kinfolk who are in danger of being RIFed.

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The biggest issues that faces DCSC is not who serves or don’t serve on the board, it is the low performing schools and the failure to address the academic needs of the children in these schools. This is something that SACS repeatedly failed to address, except in the context that good governance and leadership will lead to academic improvement. We currently have two school systems within our county and with the school choice programs another layer of schools within those systems. The children who need the most help are being discussed in this matter. None of the suspended board members managed our schools or taught in the classrooms. The one tool that is required to measure individual school progress, (consolidated school improvement plans) better known as CSIPS are mostly false, misleading and incorrect put together by cutting and paste. During Micheal Thurmond meeting last week at MLK High School, Romona Tyson was asked by a parent if the school system had two different curriculum and she said, no, ” but we do have a lower expectation for the children in south than the ones in the north”. This was witnessed by at least a hundred parents. It appears to me that the powers to be are only concerned about preserving accreditation for our best performing children and could care less about those that are struggling are attending struggling schools.

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The posters who are bitter and embarrassed here are the ones who thought the judge would overrule SACS and the Governor, and keep the board. The rest of us are glad this saga has moved on with applicants being reviewed for their qualifications. There is still the remote possibility that the Georgia Supreme Court will recreate this mess, but for at least the meantime we are rid of the self-serving incompetent Board.

Whatever Ms. Jester’s motivations were to resign – good. Guess better late than never. It will be up to politicians whether she gets appointed to another political office, or voters if she gets elected – but like Karen Handel, no doubt she wants something/anything in the political arena. They obviously have some community and media fawning/backing.

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@Centrist…Karen Handel came to mind to me as well. I applaud Ms. Jester but I do think there are other political motivations behind being able to say she resigned. This was not a stretch on her part at this point.

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Ms. Jester’s statement sounds like someone who is looking after number one!

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“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.

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Education will never get better until the leaders realize exactly what is wrong with our education.

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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?

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“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.

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“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.

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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

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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.

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aaah, Mr Georgia

doing what he can to keep women in their place since 10:45am 3/6/13

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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.

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“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.

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“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!

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“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.

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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,

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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….

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“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.

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“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..

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“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.

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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.

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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!

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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.

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@Maureen – Thanks. Wanted to make sure there weren’t any “unintended consequences” for what we all believe is the right thing to do: resign.

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@ 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.

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@home-tutoring…I can guarantee if at least 3 are not black, NAACP and every other race-based group will be marching in the streets proclaiming the whites planned a take over from the beginning. I don’t think the Governor will want to go there. I am not holding my breath that this will be based purely on qualification. Perhaps they will add a Hispanic since they are significant population in Dekalb schools.

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Pat and Mike No,she did not have concern for the children! If she had she would have not taken money from the school system for this legal mess!

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I certainly do not want to falsely accuse anyone, but Ms. Tyson was Marcus Turk’s (former CFO) direct boss. Marcus Turk was TERMINATED. Were there not any questions to Ms. Tyson as to why she and Mr. Turk were being “fuzzy” with the budget numbers, re: electricity and legal fees? Just ignorance or malfeasance???

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She is the only whte person to resign?

All the rest are black?

Oh well. The professional victims always hang on to the bitter end.

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Good answer, Ms. Downey. I now agree as you have outlined.

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““Ramona Tyson is heading up the school district’s response to SACS, or so she stated at the SBOE hearing.”

Surely not.

This was her report to SACS in 2010. Thousands of pages scanned in (not even typed), totally unorganized. I am not making this up – scanned documents – many are crooked pages – they didn’t even take the time to scan them properly (see link to report below).

PLEASE click on this report to see what was handed to SACS. Has anyone ever seen a report like this? No typing, just pages submitted by different departments, scanned in and saved:

http://dekalbschoolwatch.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/response-to-sacs-inquiry-july28-2010.pdf

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It is important to note that even a DBOE member like Nancy Jeter (who comes to the table with a conservative perspective) has, like John Trotter, serious concerns and criticisms about the role of AdvancED/SACS in its accreditation process evaluating the performance of DBOE members. In a December 28, 2012 posting on her “What’s Up With That” blog entitled “Process Versus Results – Accreditation By SACS,” Ms. Jeter reports attending a school board member training session conducted by AdvancED officials and asking the AdvancED officials “about how student achievement should factor into accreditation,” noting as she did that Georgia did not compare well in the recently released graduation statistics. This is her question followed by the AdvancED official’s answer:

“If processes are used effectively, but achievement results are not improved, what does that say about accreditation? What is it we’re accrediting? If it doesn’t correlate strongly with, or have a causal relationship actually, to results for children in achievement, then it is a…the whole process seems to dichotomize there and I’m concerned about that. Are we focused on process or are we focused on results?”

The AdvancED official responded: “As far as results…it is a process. Going through this process, the school or district will go through and lock on what’s happening. Accreditation is not based solely on student results.”

Ms. Jeter goes on to state: “So there you have it. And you pay for this process with your tax dollars and cede power over your property values to a concept administered by an unaccountable group, made up of educational bureaucrats. In the end, the process does not guarantee, judge or rank the quality of the results of the education provided to students in your school or district.”

“Our graduates – our frighteningly few graduates – cannot take process to the bank”

http://www.nancyjester.com/sacs/dec282012accreditation.aspx

Ms. Jeter gets it: the public school accreditation role which AdvancED/SACS has carved out for itself is flawed at its core. It does not properly evaluate how the school board’s behavior (which it has undertaken to evaluate) directly results in poor academic performance by the students in the system. Therefore, as the attorneys for Gene Walker and the school board have argued (and as I believe a conservative like Ms. Jeter would appreciate), suspending, and then removing public school board members who were duly elected by the voters in each of their districts pursuant to an accrediting process and report which is so fundamentally flawed constitutes a violation of the members’ constitutional rights, including Ms. Jeter’s rights. I would respectfully suggest to Ms. Jeter that she would have performed a better public service, better than just resigning, by rejoining the legal fight to retain the public office to which her constituents elected her by raising the issues about anti-democratic flawed role of AdvancED/SACS as she has done so eloquently in her blog. Ms. Jeter and the other board members should join together in the legal fight to stop the anti-democratic and unconstitutional process employed here to remove them from office. They should stay and fight to make the school system better for the students. And if they fail, they can answer to the voters in the next election. No one should surrender to this highly politicized, completely undemocratic process. A lot of folks died to preserve our system of democratically electing public officials in this country. We should not allow the will of the voters to be thwarted in this way, especially by an unelected and unaccountable group of bureaucrats like those in charge at AdvancED/SACS.

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Did we change the conversation to Michelle O?

Makes you feel like a REAL man to insult the President’s wife doesn’t it? My you Republicans are so cool. What’s next? Insult his little girls for the Big Man feeling again?

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It was recently observed that Bernie and Mountain Man were seen in a car together driving around Little Five Points and Mountain Man had a small megaphone pointed out the window saying, Shawty, Wanna ride? in a effort to reform himself and get the down low on the urban peoples. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lF4ny7KivzA

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RexDogma, Decatur Dad, et al
Jester is a joke? Please explain …. otherwise … you’re funny

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Fred

Not a Republican

BIG swing and a miss!!!!!!!!

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I hope Ernest Brown applied and is considered. He is bright, articulate, has kids in the system, understands finance, and is schoolhouse oriented.

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MD

Any chance that you can get a list, partial or nearly complete, of those 150 who submitted their applications for the DBOE? I’ve heard a few names, and have been mostly impressed

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Yay! I applied today!

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resign after begin fired??? hello?? it should work the other way around.

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Maureen…Who pays now for continued legal battles to the GA Supreme Court. IMHO now that these members have been removed their legal representation should have to be paid by the individual suspended members instead of the Dekalb County taxpayers.

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“resign after begin fired??? hello?? it should work the other way around.”

God, I hate having to say the same things over and over to people who apparently don’t have any ability to read or understand.

Nancy Jester was not fired. The ENTIRE BOARD (as a whole, excepting new members) was SUSPENDED WITH PAY. She still had the right to petition for reinstatement by the Governor. She has voluntarily relinquished that right and resigned her position. As should ALL of the suspended Board members. The remaining Board members will get their regular pay in spite of being suspended, and are carrying on a legal battle to be reinstated that is costing Dekalb county taxpayers LOTS OIF MONEY.

Do you understand now? Or are you a graduate of Dekalb County School System?

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Dunwoody Mom, the school board elections are in July, so the wait is not too far away. What do you think of Jester running for senate against fran? Or do you think we could encourage her to run for school board again?

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I think that the journalist at the AJC have done a terrible job in informing the citizens of Dekalb county regarding the “discord” at the school board. I have yet to understand what all of the fuss is about. People with different pov have a right to their own personel pov and to pursue the agenda they ran on during the election cycle. . .or is it that once elected, one has to “fall in line” and do what the state school board and the accrediting agencies want? If I really know what was going on besides “discord” maybe I and a lot other Dekalb citizens would understand more fully. So until then, I think all of this stinks!

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@Mountain Man, you are right, but you seem to be trying to educate people who won’t read all the facts before commenting.

BTW, I am a graduate of DeKalb, Druid Hills to be exact. So, your comment doesn’t hold water!!! LOL

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“Totally agree that SACS does seem to be part of the problem, maybe a large part”

I don’t understand why people keep blaming SACS. Did SACS make them employ their relatives? Did SACS cause them to pass and implement ILLEGAL deficit budgets?

If the only complaint against Dekalb BOE was its meddling in individual school affairs and you though Board members should have that right, you could blame SACS. In 1999, SACS put Cherokee County on probation for basically that alone. The citizens could have just blamed SACS but instead, they started a recall and forced the resignation of the offending Board member. If SACS puts a county on probation that has great student acheivement, and good budgeting, thenyou might have some reason for blame. But when SACS seems to be the ONLY one who cares about the corruption in Dekalb (the voters obviously don’t care), then I think your argument doesn’t carry much water.

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“BTW, I am a graduate of DeKalb, Druid Hills to be exact. So, your comment doesn’t hold water!!! LOL”

My wife is also a graduate of Dekalb County – Clarkston High School to be specific, and obviously she is not one of those I malign. Perhaps I should have said RECENT graduate of Dekalb County.

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“The AJC is looking at how this legal fight was approved in executive session. Stay tuned for that story.”

Ooooo, a teaser. I love cliff-hangers. Flush out the details ajc. Keep digging!

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My Beef with SACS

In 2007, despite RICO charges and corruption, SACS accredited DCSD giving them a glowing report saying “Effective leadership at all levels”, etc ….
http://www.dekalb.k12.ga.us/www/documents/sacs-casi-accreditation/sacs-casi-oral-exit-report-(2007).pdf

In March of 2011, SACS came in and gave DCSD some trivial things to work on
http://www.dekalb.k12.ga.us/www/documents/sacs-casi-accreditation/sacs-casi-special-review-team-report-(2011-03-03).pdf

In Oct 2011 SACS said DCSD completed 6 of the 8 things required to fix what was wrong in DCSD
http://www.dekalb.k12.ga.us/www/documents/sacs-casi-accreditation/advanced-dekalb-report-%282011-10%29.pdf

All of a sudden in 2012 everything blows up?? Not only that, their Special Review Report was relatively lame and unsubstantiated with documentation. Ironically, the only real meat was the data Nancy Jester uncovered about the electricity bills and the fraudulent budget.

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bigbill, very good points re SACS and its presumptions!

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“Dekalb (the voters obviously don’t care),”

My guess Mountain Man is you don’t live anywhere close to DeKalb County. If you did you would know how far from the truth that is. I live in Sarah Copelin-Wood’s district and most of the people I have been in contact with say they would never vote her back in.

Mountain Man, you are here repeating basically the same things over and over 20 times a day, we get it, there are certain types of people you hate.

Btw, recalls are out of the question, recall laws probably won’t allow them, and there is no time for them.

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Wasn’t it Judas who told where Jesus could be found? I don’t think that’s Nancy. Then again, no one wants to allow her to be called a whistleblower either. Not sure what to label her except as a citizen who tried…

@Georgia Man: What a ridiculous statement. FWIW – Nancy has a Master’s degree in finance and economics and did doctoral studies in the subject. Although she refers to herself as a ‘mom with a calculator’, she is a certified actuary and worked as one in the corporate world before choosing to stay home with her children. She’s every bit as smart as Gene. I would say that even Gene would agree with me.

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bigbill @ 12:49 is right on.

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@mountain man you seemed to ignore much of my post. If for nothing else, I am VERY GRATEFUL for the role SACS has had in this process to get rid of this board (6 of 9). I promise many of my efforts have been against this board, and hoping they could be elected out – at least many. Didn’t happen. I’m not entirely happy with the legal part of the process, and would love it if the other 5 resign, not holding my breath.

But accreditation by SACS seems to resolve primarily, if not solely, on evaluating the board. But what does that mean? until about a year ago, I thought accreditation meant something other than “your school board is, on the whole, comprised of raving incompetent dysfunctional knuckleheads, so we are going to reprimand & threaten the entire system.”

What did I think it meant? something along the lines of this (especially B & C):

“ac·cred·it

1: to give official authorization to or approval of:

a: to provide with credentials; especially: to send (an envoy) with letters of authorization

b: to recognize or vouch for as conforming with a standard

c: to recognize (an educational institution) as maintaining standards that qualify the graduates for admission to higher or more specialized institutions or for professional practice”

Source: Marriam-Webster Online Dictionary.

This seems to do more with in my mind standards of educational process & student achievement, as in “your degree is worth something” this school system is legit. Now I’m not sure exactly how DCSS would fare on such an evaluation, seems certain not so well compared to about 10 years ago. So the question is when did SACS get into the school board governance business instead of evaluating the school system quality of education business?

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Dekalb & catlady you sure can type faster than I can! Ditto ditto

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“Wasn’t it Judas who told where Jesus could be found? I don’t think that’s Nancy. Then again, no one wants to allow her to be called a whistleblower either.”

I don’t think of Jester as Judas, because Jesus wasn’t the bad guy committing crimes against the public. I DO consider her a whistleblower – she tried valiantly to change the system from within, but when they deliberately ignored her and the LAW, she went to the only agency that CARED and had power to effect change. She should have been protected under whistleblower laws.

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Mountain Man, you never did say where you live.

I don’t think Catlady lives in DeKalb either. The difference is Catlady seems to be genuinely concerned and knows her stuff. Dr Trotter I don’t think is from DeKalb either, but offers great insight. Both offer solutions.

You seem to be condescending with an agenda that has nothing to do with education. You are part of the polarization that keeps both sides firm in their little corners.

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dumbo

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“Mountain Man, you never did say where you live.”

I live in the MOUNTAINS. I HAVE lived in Cherokee county, in Cobb County, and a couple of other states. Never in Dekalb (although my wife graduated from Clarkston).

“You seem to be condescending with an agenda that has nothing to do with education.”

What agenda? I want to see students receive a good education, with particular emphasis on the lowest performing students getting at least a minimal qualifying education (read, write, do arithmetic). I am not usually too worried about the high-achieving students, because they seem to be taken care of. I have a particular grudge against trailers and I profess school choice because of the state of education in certain areas. I believe we spend a lot more money than we used to in the past with worse results because we don’t empasize the basics. Are those my “agendas”?

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“Btw, recalls are out of the question, recall laws probably won’t allow them, and there is no time for them.”

In 1999, we started a recall movement that led to the resignation of the Board member that had landed Cherokee County on SACS probation. We didn’t have to actually recall him (by the way, he was white, just to clear that up). Of course, that assumes that the Board member actually has enough character to step down. I am not sure Dr. Walker would step down until actually recalled.

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Plus you need time to work that summer job at Orange Julius in the mall & flirt with the babes. Wait that was about 30 years ago.

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A note to Mr. Thurmond, if you listen to Tyson one phrase comes to mind: “Stupid is as Stupid does”. And what is she doing still at the palace? I thought she was relieved of her duties after a year. Blood suckers, all of them.

I am a DeKalb resident, my husband a graduate of Lakeside in the seventies and two children graduates of Lakeside. We have witnessed the downward spiral! Time to clean house including Tyson. She is clueless as is Thurmond.

And I do hope the Board hires a different secretary since she is related to Walker and will be feeding him info.

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@mountain man actually my summer job was at a glue factory in Dalton, GA (insert dead horse joke here) & that was not as useful with the girls as any mall job, but it did pay me a bit & a served a very nice life lesson on why I wanted to go to college. Most summer jobs are good if for the reason alone. And actually I’m serious about that. Summer break taught me something.

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Ch 2 was just interviewing 2 potential board members. Somebody has at leat a partial list of applicants.

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Oops, “least”

Chamblee Dad

The administration calls those, “Portable Learning Unit”

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just erase the whole damn thing and be done with it.

if the voters of DeKalb wish to live in a third world environment….let them.

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Thanks for doing the right thing. Please counsel your colleagues on the board, including Mr Walker, to follow you lead, resign and move on and let the Governor do what your board failed to do…………

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“White people bend over backwards to have diversity and equality whereas black people tend to “payback” for years of historical discrimination instead of moving forward and leaving the past behind.”

Really Dixie Darling? Gwinnett County is about 50% white, barely half the population. How many non white school board members are there in Gwinnett? None. In fact how many elected federal, state and local officials are there in Gwinnett? One. How many non white department heads are there in the Gwinnett County government?

Oh, and how many non-whites has Governor Deal appointed?

Tell us all about this great white diversity.

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Chamblee Dad, I know a lawyer who decided he wanted to be a lawyer (professional work) after working in a boat building factory and seeing the guys inside fiberglass hulls (no ventilation) spraying fiberglass. Needless to say they did not have breathing equipment. I don’t recall if it was him or someone else who said there was a plastic boat (fiberglass) factory on the side of a highway and you could smell it a mile away as you were approaching.

I once saw an open-top rendering truck slowly ambling down the road.

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Let me try this again.

Here is what the 3 current board members wrote last month:”Under Georgia law, a quorum of at least five members is required for the DeKalb Board of Education to act. With only the three of us authorized to act by virtue of the federal court order, the DeKalb Board of Education will lack a quorum to conduct any business until such time as there is a decision in the legal matter.”

My question–if 2 board mbers, Ms. Jester and 1 other, resign and are replaced, do we not then have an operational Board?

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edited for time economy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6agXn3fVnRs#t=1m33s

Who wants to work under a government authority figure with distance learning credentials and a $200k+ salary. It’s crooked and it’s like working around crooks if you have the slightest ability of perception.

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Georgia will not ever have wide-ranging high performing students under the current system. Economically lesser kids are kept down and are kept in their place, guaranteeing a docile demographic who end up adults spending great amounts of time doing scratch off lottery tickets. Teachers who interrupt this system of caste are obstructed, as they do not fit the program mode. Principals who build schools that serve kids are removed. No one has the tools to get the job done and the head managers just ignore the topic. The fed make political interference and incoherence to harass what is left of the apparatus. There is a burble about charter schools, but I do not see any change on the horizon in the coming ten years. In most districts, the same power will reign, direct conscientious teaching will be treated as alien, and many will bare the rituals of outside interference and forced incoherence. There will be the featured “star” schools here and there. Everyone else will eat their mush and call it nutrition. High school students will exist the system at the first opportunity on or following the sixteenth birthday to get away from regimentation the offers little outside of social recreation at the price of high levels of scripted control. Teachers will not be able to choose their curriculum, but will be made to following the nattering details of a scripted system that is often in conflict with competent approach to their field of instruction. They will be supervised by bosses with adult behavioral and process rulebooks who have not worked in industry or arts of business and do not even know what is production, much less how to guide anyone in the direction of prosperity.

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First off, NO ONE I know would ever choose a label “Dunwoody Housewife.” Seriously? Try again. I would greatly appreciate evidence that the Dunwoody City Council has pushed/advocated/promoted anyone to run against Fran Millar. That seems like a diversionary comment from a few posters. Evidence, please? I would really be interested if our City Council suddenly became a PAC.

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@Mountain Man – You talk like a misinformed piece of trash. If you’d come out of that dirty trailer for a change, perhaps you just might learn that electricity was discovered years ago. If the truth be known, you’re probably a child molester. Just so you know, many of Dekalb County students are some of the best and brightest in the State of Georgia. We are extremely proud of our students here in Dekalb County and extremely happy that none of them are your kids.

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Is it just me or are all comments being moderated?

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@Dunmoody- I completely agree that in no way can I imagine the Dunwoody Council would advocate anyone to run against Fran Millar. I doubt anyone could provide evidence.

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Decatur Dad – why don’t you have someone explain to you what ad hominum means. You make a great representative for Decatur and for Dekalb County.

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Glad the system is being freed to move forward. Perhaps Ms.Jester’s efforts to expose budget issues were noble but, her responsibility as a board member goes far beyond exposure and blogging. Although worthy of correcting, the budget for Dekalb schools entails a great deal more than utilities. The truth of the matter is all of the former board members failed to adequately lead and demonstrate the required knowledge of educational issues and the full functioning of a school district. Exposing mismanagement and blogging about it falls short of serving as a competent board member. I would be very careful before assuming that there is a board member who stayed in their lane completely while serving the DCSD. i am sure there is enough blame to go around, some to a greater degree than others,but blame for ALL none the less. Let’s get a fresh start, for the sake of the children.

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mountain man – why don’t you have someone explain to you what “to catch a predator means”. I agree that I’m a great representative of Decatur & Dekalb County. Thanks for the compliment. And I think that you are a great representative of the back woods.

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@Decatur Dad, “Why do you think the State of Georgia is so screwed up?” It is due to dadgum liberals such as you! And would you really want to be connected with the likes of them?

Looks like we need to flush that toilet and fast!

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That mountain man, he’s cold like ice tea. Decatur Dad, I don’t exactly include Mountain Man on my valentine list, but why are you so territorial? You made you point and tell-off in the earlier post. Decatur / DeKalb is a diverse place. No need to be so unfriendly and exalt yourself as “thuh mayor” which is usually a little more welcoming. Now, go shut down the streets and make a “Rainbow Parade” or whatever it is you do over there. (ha ha). PS DeKalb county has several distinct demographics. I expect that you, whoever or whatever you are, are one of them. I doubt you have much in common with my business owner friend from Eritrea (ever heard of the place?) who knows how to make a very good cup of tea. hey take a chill pill.

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Hey Decatur Dad! Deal is only doing what the law called for. Nancy changed Dr. Walkers game, she will get hammered by few and celebrated by most. Fran Millar got some state funds reinstated to DeKalb, when Tyson’s crew missed a deadline. Vernon Jones… really! Vernon is one of the reasons Dunwoody & Brookhaven voters went city! Long, DCSS needs to cut all ties to Eddie Long. No more DCSS direct deductions from payroll tithes to New Birth and no funds for renting space, DCSS has lots available. Let us not even bring up his out of court settlements for the good bishops deeds. So after comparing your names I will stick with Jester, Millar, and Deal for now.

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As an employee of DCSS I am encouraged to see a board member finally do something that is really in the best interests of our students. Parents and teachers are fleeing DeKalb- I have stopped counting the number of teachers who are seriously considering leaving the county.
I live in the City of Decatur. Every house that I see go on the market in my neighborhood is under contract in less than a month. My salary sucks, but thanks to Lewis, Romona and Dr. A the value of my City of Decatur home is higher than ever!

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@Maureen- can you please clarify- Had Jester resigned before the judges Monday ruling, and the judge had ruled against Deal, would the other board members (Walker, etc) appointed her replacement? If not, who would have?

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“Dunwoody Housewife
March 6th, 2013
5:25 pm

Just wondering..why would Jester not run for State House where most of her constituents would be from Dunwoody area if she wants to help Dunwoody get their own school system vs the State Senate where her district area is much broader into Ptree Corners/Brookhaven/Chamblee?”

Tom Taylor is House Rep from Dunwoody and he is leading the charge for a Bill to,allow new school districts for Dunwoody, johns creek, Milton, peachtree corners, Brookhaven etc. He is doing the work of the people.

Fran Millar has not come out in support of a dunwoody school district and has not put in legislation in the senate, thus the reason many in dunwoody are seeking a replacement to Fran Millar. Not once has Millar been quoted or publicly said he wants a school district for dunwoody. He also did not put in a bill for city hood either and he cost the city a year on obtaining its parks.

Now you know why people are e ginning to question Millar and Jester is only person with name recognition to defeat him.

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If the people of Druid Hills would band together on this issue like they did on the redistricting issue, they could easily succeed in recalling Gene Walker. Easily.

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Educator for Life, I was chastising you for being crude toward someone voicing their legitimate opinion. See, I’m a populist and stand with the peoples. This sets me well apart from many Georgia education professionals who are content to join a mafia and reap from their elevated position to the commoners. And there are plenty of commoners who live in fear of this arrangement. Meanwhile, to an educated urban person, a school teacher is right above shoe-shine person at the airport. They’re a service person expected to do a job – a reasonable assumption. But somewhere along the way, superintendent with distance learning degree gets paid more than the vice president of the United States and they get this culty band of “follower” employees. The whole mess is tawdry, but the corrupted methods are at the top of the management structure. I’d sure appreciate someone above them in the power structure pulling rank and straightening it out. It is possible to put the Jack-in-the-box back into the box, but it takes some effort. And the likes of SACS are well content to keep the commoners dumb as a rock, which is probably their true strategic aim, being coordinated by rich in what has become a rich / poor system for the populace.

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@DunMoody come on, lighten up, “Dunwoody Housewife” takes me back to a the late 70’s/early 80’s & AJC columnist Rod Hudspeth, at least once a week he’d have a joke based on “Dunwoody Housewives” & frankly the punchline was based on the premise that while not “rich” in the manner of a Buckhead housewife, they were certainly spoiled & bored busybodies based on the standards of other suburban housewives in Atlanta area at the time – Marietta, whatever. The fact the moniker survives today . . . well take it how you will. Always seems to me that teasing that riles people the most is often is what hits close to home. You got jokes for Chamblee housewives, fire away, I’ve got a few we share amongst ourselves – my wife included. Can’t take yourself too seriously.

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@Private Citizen BUT you can’t quote or cite any outside source

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Oops! Wrong post.

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