Here are bios of the six new DeKalb board members. Impressive credentials by any standard.
Here are the bios of the six new board members from the governor’s office.
Both these bios and Gov. Nathan Deal’s comments at the press conference that just ended indicate that the selection focus was on a fresh start and on a board that could work together. Deal noted that several of the appointees have experience in mediation.
The board will be sworn in at 1 p.m. today, so DeKalb can now hold meetings and take action.
As I noted in my first blog on the six, I have seen Thad Mayfield in action; he headed the 20-person citizen panel that reviewed school enrollments and recommended closings three years ago. I thought he did a good job, and the panel was fair and efficient. (That the school board didn’t act on its recommendations is fodder for another day.)
The statement and bios:
Gov. Nathan Deal today announced the names of the six new DeKalb County school board members.
“I tasked the nominating panel with finding excellent board members who will put the school system back on track toward full accreditation, and the panel performed a Herculean task with a quick turnaround so that the board could get back to work on behalf of the county’s students as soon as possible,” Deal said. “We had many outstanding community leaders offer themselves for service, and the high caliber of the candidates reflects well on the county. I faced an enviable problem: It was difficult to choose between so many great applicants. I truly believe that the board members will do an incredible job for DeKalb County. The volunteers who served on the nominating panel and as my liaisons to the county school leaders have given of themselves, and they have made a tremendous difference. I cannot thank them enough for their service.”
Acting on the recommendation of the State Board of Education, the governor suspended six members of the DeKalb school board In February. He then appointed a panel to nominate replacements and tapped Brad Bryant and Robert L. Brown to act as his liaisons to the DeKalb board and Superintendent Michael Thurmond. The nominating panel received a total of 403 applications and interviewed more than 60 applicants before narrowing the list to six finalists.
The new members of the DeKalb County school board, who will be sworn in at 1 p.m. today are as follows:
John Coleman
District 1
John Coleman
Coleman is a strategic planning manager at Invesco. Previously, he held a variety of leadership roles at McKinsey & Company. He also serves on various nonprofit boards. Coleman has a master’s in Business Administration from Harvard and a master’s in Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School. He resides in Atlanta.
Michael Erwin
District 3
Michael Erwin
Erwin is a U.S. Navy veteran and has been a research assistant at Duke University Medical Center and the University of South Carolina. He has worked for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries Services and is past chair of the NOAA fisheries committees on fish species and fish diseases in Maine and South Carolina. In 2008, he earned a Ph.D. in Biological Science from the University of South Carolina. He has been a member of the faculty at Georgia Gwinnett College since 2009 and teaches undergraduate students in biological science. He graduated from North Carolina Central University with a bachelor’s in Biology and a master’s in Biological Science. Erwin resides in Decatur.
David Campbell
District 5
David Campbell
Campbell is a senior manager with Georgia Power, where he supports the company’s energy conservation efforts. He is a certified public accountant with managerial experience. Campbell received a degree in Business Administration from Albany State University. He is a former chair of Leadership DeKalb, a member of the DeKalb 100 Black Men and an active member of St. Phillips AME. He formerly served on the Stephenson High School Council and resides in Lithonia.
Joyce Morley
District 7
Joyce Morley
Morley is the chief executive officer of Morley and Associates and is a nationally known public speaker and trainer. She is a certified counselor, a trained mediator and serves on several local and national governance boards. Morley has a doctorate in Counseling, Family and Worklife from the University of Rochester. She received her specialist’s and master’s degrees in Counseling Education from the State University New York College at Brockport, and a bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education from the SUNY College at Genesco. A Stone Mountain resident, Morley has lived in DeKalb County for more than 22 years.
Karen Carter
District 8
Karen Carter
Carter serves on the faculty of Georgia Perimeter College where she is chair of the Business and Social Science department. She received a bachelor’s degree in Speech Communications from Denison University and a law degree from Ohio State University. Carter has served as a classroom teacher and has held several senior administrative roles in the field of education. She is a graduate of Leadership DeKalb and is an active community volunteer. Carter is a resident of the Lakeside Community.
Thad Mayfield
District 9
Thaddeus Mayfield
Mayfield is a senior partner with FOCOM, Inc., a Georgia-based business development firm. He holds a master’s degree in Business Administration from Mercer University and received a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Tougaloo College. He co-chaired the successful Friends of DeKalb Education SPLOST IV Campaign and is an active member of several business and civic organizations in the metropolitan area. Mayfield is a resident of Lithonia.
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383 comments Add your comment
p
March 14th, 2013
7:09 am
no hispanics or asians – sorry cross keys and chamblee! political correctness matters more than fair representation
winstonchurchhill
March 14th, 2013
7:18 am
Comments are well taken. Governor Deal made one of the biggest mistakes he could have done in his life. The people who voted those members in as School Board Members had the duty to recalled them; not Deal. He might have put people in but it serves a nasty message that people vote don’t count and he, Deal has suspressed them, (the people vote.) In fact, the look’s at this as one man clearly not follow the laws. There is a new storm on the way here to Georgia, and SACS is behind this whole thing…creating lies and wanting to take money for this and that….watch how this story play out and all for nothing. Parents, your children will not make As nor will they be better off with new members on the board……….in fact, they all look to be like people following a set of make up rules by Deal….now you all can do the math.
Mountain Man
March 14th, 2013
7:28 am
The proof is in the pudding. Let us see what these Board members REALLY accomplish.
On a side note, I heard that DCSS was operating under a “balanced” budget this year. Is that using utility figures from past budgets or from actual usage? What amount is budgeted fro legal fees (which will be high this year)? Then you have the illegal deficits from past years to pay off. And hopefully create a reserve fund for when unexpected things happen.
Mountain Man
March 14th, 2013
7:31 am
“While they can’t regulate the home environment of the child, they can require a stricter code of acceptable behavior at school and enforce it. ”
Hear, hear! I agree with that with one small change: “they can hire a superintendent who will require a stricter code of acceptable behavior at school and enforce it.” Remember, Boards don’t RUN the schools, they establish policies, hire the superintendent, and formulate the budget.
Mountain Man
March 14th, 2013
7:33 am
“Most children do not go home and study today so as teachers we have had to change the way we teach. We have had to review material over and over again for mastery to occur. ”
You are correct, Ella. At least in South Dekalb County.
jack webb
March 14th, 2013
7:41 am
thank god for governor deals not being intimidated by NAACP AND THERE RACISM…THAT GOOD GOVERNORING FOR ALL NOT JUST SOME
Pride and Joy
March 14th, 2013
7:55 am
Randy Rand made an interesting comment. He said they were chosen for the content of their character and not race. Neither is true. Governor Deal made it very clear he replaced suspended board members with candidates of the same race.
Nancy Jester, the only white board member, was replaced by a white man, the only new white board member. All five other suspended board members were black as are all their new replacements.
Deal’s priorities:
Race first — he said so.
Qualifed second — had to have some real education and experience.
Character Third — I’m sure the governor checked backgrounds adn wouldn’t have allowed any major criminals to be appointed.
So, no revisionist history, please. Facts are facts.
Mountain Man
March 14th, 2013
8:02 am
Pride and Joy is correct – I doubt that the resumes and interviews were conducted “blind” and out of the top six, five happened to be black. Unless the pool of applicants was disproportionally black. Some preference was given to “qualified” blacks. Which I have no problem with. By replacing unqualified blacks with qualified blacks, Deal makes the argument that this has nothing to do with skin color. I wish this Board the best of luck – you have a hard row to hoe, but I think you are up to it. Some painful decisions await – but that is the truest test of leadership. The one that our Federal Congress is failing right now.
dcb
March 14th, 2013
8:03 am
The greatest issue faced is simply one of first recognizing, and second defining and convincing the media first with the public to follow that the Board’s job is governance, not operations. Then the issue will be to see if the Superintendent and his operational leadership team, including principals, are doing their job. All the above will take some time. The greatest question therefore, in my mind, is will the AJC and other media outlets let this sequence happen? Or will the ink that it is given be premature? For where the media goes, so goes the forces of public opinion.
Jack Sartain
March 14th, 2013
8:06 am
I see that there are now board member qualifications which should be very helpful– NOW let’s see how the chemistry works among the new board .
RexDogma
March 14th, 2013
8:24 am
As far as Pam Speaks goes, she needed to go a long time ago. I noticed she did not send her kids to neighborhood schools, but to Lakeside and School for the Arts. Maybe that is a board perks or typical politics in GA. Also how fishy elections were this past year when you had multiple candidates in a few seats and no run-offs. Just interesting.
Bob
March 14th, 2013
8:37 am
Another group that just wants to add something impressive to their list of accomplishments on Linkden. These people look good on paper which makes the governor look good. We would have liked to have seen committed concerned parents on the board making decisions how this board making policies that make things better for their children and other children in the communities. No one can be more passionate about fighting for the school than parents of children attending. It doesn’t take business owners that have no children in the public school system, or top managers from Georgia Power, a company that already has our community on it’s knees to take another opportunity. We talk about nepotisim and favoritism from the previous school board that was dismissed, here we find a Georgia Power manager being selected by a committe that had Georgia Power management on the nominating panel.
I say that we as a community prepare to take our schools back and our state back come election time. When we talk about moving failures out of office, we need to move an insensitve governor for his failures. A governor that doesn’t realize that there are hundreds of thousands of “qualified” minorities in our communities that are more than up to task to take on the issues of our commuinites. Of course one can look at his staff and understand that it’s a very difficult task for him to find any.
I’m just really tired of getting sefish greedy politicians, self promoting egotistical opportunist that have nothing but selfish agendas to make the decisions in our schools and government. This game was a fixed game!
AnonMom
March 14th, 2013
9:06 am
We’ve long needed BOE members who don’t “need” the $20k salary… I don’t think that it should be a paid position at all … it creates the wrong incentives. It draws the wrong candidates for the position. Take a look at the Decatur system… their BOE is not paid. Their BOE doesn’t treat the position as a full time job – it isn’t supposed to be a full time job — it’s supposed to be advisory — its supposed to set policies and guide and do t he budget and hire and fire the superintendent. That’s it. The problem is that DCSS has had a BOE for so long that has abused and misunderstood the proper role of a BOE (and to me has utilize their roles for personal and family gain) that this role has morphed that most of the county doesn’t fully understand what an effective board looks like… the current members as they now stand may be able to transform the system to get us back to a strong, functioning, healthy system. I say “may” because there are still many members of the “friends and family” plan around — on the Board, in the central office and in employment and until house is fully cleaned it won’t happen and there is still an election on the horizons and, sorry folks, I don’t trust the process and the voters at this point — our children deserve a board such as the one that was just appointed. They deserve a chance to see if they can make things better for the kids. Society as a whole can only hold their breaths to hope that the children they are there to ecducate get their futures back so that maybe many fewer of them will wind up behind bars and on welfare….
mamaj
March 14th, 2013
9:07 am
@ Jack Webb
Too bad the new school board, or teachers for that matter, didn’t get to your grammatical errors and sentence structure in time.
@ Bob
You hit the nail right on the head.
AnonMom
March 14th, 2013
9:08 am
Also, I do think it would have been better (but not in line with the NAACP’s demands to the governor, which may have led to even more litigation….) for there to have been someone from the Latino and/or Asian communities represented on the new BOE — I think they are forgotten about — and a BOE that has now “retired” 4 women and 2 men has been replaced by 2 women and 4 men but as I have said, I am very impressed by their bios and I want to give them a chance to see what can be accomplished.
DeKalb Inside Out
March 14th, 2013
9:22 am
Full Time Jobs
All these people have full time jobs. Do they have the time to serve the public and the board? I heard on the radio Elgart plans on meeting regularly with the new board.
Can these people take off from work 1 or 2 days a week in addition to communicating with their constituency? I sure hope so.
Aside from the press conference yesterday, has there been any communication from our new board members?
jack webb
March 14th, 2013
9:22 am
well some have a mother and father and some have baby mom and baby daddy===grammatical errors and sentence structure in time on that
Mary Elizabeth
March 14th, 2013
9:23 am
@ Ronin, 6:43 am
Please read my 10:57 pm post of last evening. You will see that I, too, can see the advantage of having those with financial acumen on a school board. Those with educational acumen and financial acumen, whom I mentioned in my post, will not necessarily be the same persons. However, I do not want those with business acumen on the school board, who may be in the majority, to insist upon a business model being filtered into the classroom in which testing will be misused and overused. Testing should be used for instructional/diagnostic purposes primarily, which will not foster an environment of fear and intimidation. However, the testing of students primary to determine a teacher’s pay or job security will create fear and intenseness in the classroom, which will not be beneficial to students.
Jim
March 14th, 2013
9:29 am
Wow, the NAACP has been real quiet since yesterday. We probably will not hear from them again until after another school system of predominantly black children has failed.
mamaj
March 14th, 2013
9:32 am
So, now what? From now on does this mean that the citizens of Dekalb County don’t ever have to worry about voting for school board member again, or do we vote, only to have the will of the citizens ignored, and let the all powerful Nathan Deal appoint them once again? Yes, I am still stinging from the way it was carried out, and it has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with the ineptness of the former school board members–the issue for me has more far reaching implications than that.
jack webb
March 14th, 2013
9:41 am
the six old DeKalb board members need to be charge with child neglect and in dangering the kids were the NAACP HELP THEM six old board members
Bill Mantis
March 14th, 2013
9:56 am
Isn’t it interesting that individuals like Trotter always have the simple answer for the complex situation. SACS is fraught with challenges, but to blame Clayton and Dekalb’s woes on that organization defies all measures of integrity and/or insight. Be wary of those who are always seeking to stir it up, tear down, defend the underperformers and attack those bold enough to take a stand and try something different. Don’t give up on your children, Dekalb. Demand that this new group work together for the benefit of the little ones.
Dekalb Father of Two
March 14th, 2013
9:59 am
I have a few questions,
1. Where is the $16M the board borrowed for text books that were never purchased?
2. Why did the new headquarters cost $33M in an existing building? All they needed was new partitions and network installation and to move the furniture over from the old building.
3. Why did the six new roofs they installed last year average $3.4M each? Usually such work is in the $300-600K range.
4. Where did the savings from the cuts in teacher pay and increased class sizes go?
5. Where did all the county borrowings go? It’s a pretty typical executive scam to siphon off revenue and replace it with borrowings.
I think it’s pretty clear that the ex-members are not fighting to keep $18K a year jobs because they need them or that they care very much about their constituents.
They are fighting to keep the MILLION$ they have been grafting from the system for all these years and while shortchanging our kids.
I hope the MBA’s on the board implement a thorough forensic audit, find the money, and put these grafters in jail where they belong. This includes the two elderly white guys we just voted off who worked hand in glove with the rest of them to get their snouts in the gravy trough.
Mary Elizabeth
March 14th, 2013
10:22 am
@ Ella, 6:27 am
“Whether our students graduate with a good education and are knowledgeable is our product.”
====================================================
I agree with you fully on that statement, Ella. I felt strongly about teachers’ personal responsibility to students’ success even when I began teaching in 1970. I did not need to be mandated to assume my responsibility to my students. That feeling of responsibility sprang from my own conscientiousness toward my students because I was a professional. I did not need to be treated like a child, as if I would not produce results unless I was threatened to do so in fear of my job, if I did not “produce.”
I believe a school’s environment of academic excellence is better handled through inspiring teachers and in educating them in mastery learning techniques and how to address the individual instructional needs of students, rather than through threatening them with job or pay loss if they do not “produce.”
Let me give you an example. I had one of the lowest student failure rates in my high school because I looked closely into the diagnostic test scores (and initial grades) of the approximately 150 students I was assigned in the first days of my classes, each semester. If I felt a given student was misplaced in my Advanced Reading class, I would call that student’s parents immediately and talk with them about my findings. I would talk with the student about my findings. And, I would talk with the student’s counselor. Almost invariably, given the in-depth instructional knowledge I had gathered and shared of that student’s functioning level, they all agreed that that student would be better served by being reassigned to a Personalized Reading class until his/her reading skills improved enough to register, later, for Advanced Reading. By doing the preliminary diagnostic footwork – in the beginning days of each semester, although it took much time and knowledge – I helped many students function on their correctly placed instructional levels throughout the semester rather than remain in my Advanced Reading class on their frustration levels. Thus, I helped to ensure the instructional success of all of the students who came to my attention – either those in Advanced Reading or those reassigned to Personalized Reading. My precision of instruction, based on knowledge and care, also contributed to a greater possibility that they would successfully graduate from high school.
No administrator had to threaten me with job security in order for me to teach with that degree of care and specificity with each student I encountered. I believe that that is the type of educational model that we need for teachers, not a business model based on fear. I found, in my active years of teaching, that most teachers are conscientious toward their students’ success, but many do not know how vital it is to ensure the correct instructional placement of students. This takes teacher training to achieve, not threatening the jobs of teachers. Those teachers who are not conscientious toward their students’ success, should be removed, but their removal should be based on factors beyond simply their students’ standardized test scores.
Bottom line: Schools should be places full of the joy of learning and of the nurturing of academic and emotional growth of all students, not places of fear and intimidation, which often will exist in the business world.
Name One
March 14th, 2013
10:25 am
Maureen and the ajc: Please, please take a close look at Thad Mayfield and Friends of DeKalb SPLOST campaign. This group refused to list their names. It was Amy Powers, Marshall and a few others, and they refused to disclose their names to the public.
They spread misinformation, such as a vote for SPLOST would reduce the school board from 9 to 7 members. They ignored the years of SPLOST mismanagement by the Sam Moss Center staff, and even the elephant in the room, the Pat Pope indictment directly related to SPLOST spending.
Thad Mayfield is bad news, and deserves to be “under the microscope”. I only hope the rest of the new BOE members catch on quickly to his shenanigans.
Dr.EB
March 14th, 2013
10:38 am
I am still trying to catch up on the happenings in Georgia politics after being out of the state for a number of years. (This is very much a political issue.) The board members may have had to go. My problem is with the process of how they were removed. Then again I do not trust the governor on a number of issues. I cannot forget how he was one of the 33 southern republicans to vote against the extension of the Voting Rights Act.
I especially like the comment (@ 9:14) by Mary Elizabeth. I have been in the classroom and in private industry and can tell that there are distinct differences between the areas.
DeKalb Inside Out
March 14th, 2013
10:41 am
Friends Of DeKalb Members
Include: Marshall Orson, Jim McMahan, Thad Mayfield and Amy Power
Correspondence With School District
http://dekalbschoolwatch.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/summary-of-orson_drake-communitynet2.pdf
DeKalb Schools Inside Connection
Friends of DeKalb worked closely with Barbara Colman and Dan Drake on the inside.
Mary Elizabeth
March 14th, 2013
10:44 am
P. S. to Ella -
Ella, you said: “Most children do not go home and study today so as teachers we have had to change the way we teach. We have had to review material over and over again for mastery to occur.”
That statement implies, to me, that you may be reviewing the material you teach “over and over again” to your whole class rather than reviewing your students through forming subgroupings within your class. If that is the case, I would urge you either to diagnostically test your students on a reading test, such as the Nelson Reading Test, or if that is not possible, then to look up each student’s reading comprehension score on the last standardized test he or she took. Chart all of your students’ reading comprehension scores from high to low, and then subgroup your students into three subgroups within your classes based on those scores. Some groups may need to review “over and over” again for mastery to occur, but others may not need that type of intense drilling for mastery to occur. You might also assign your students to subgroups based upon your students’ scores on the tests you give them on your course’s content. Those who score in the A/B grade range may not need so much review for mastery to occur, but those in the C/D range may need more review – as you say, “over and over” again. Those in the F range may be misplaced in your class, or they may have emotional/social problems which need to be addressed through their counselors.
In other words, I would urge you to think in more specificity with your students than reviewing the whole class “over and over again” for mastery to occur, if, in fact, that is what is now occurring. I write this with all goodwill toward you, only to try to be of help you, and certainly not to be critical of you. You, afterall, were conscientious enough to write me a heartfelt post on this blog. I well see that and, as a result, I imagine that you are an excellent, caring teacher.
DeKalb Dad
March 14th, 2013
11:21 am
For all of you whining about how the board was removed, what alternative method do you suggest that made the changes quickly before accreditation is lost? The clock is ticking and government beaurocracies are not known for acting or moving quickly. Hurricane Katrina and Super Storm Sandy are great examples of how quickly government reacts.
The old board, and many before them, simply did not care about what was happening to the education our kids were getting. Obviously, it was about lining their own pockets while taking care of friends and family.
The DeKalb School System is in a dire situation, which required dire action. The state and the governor took that action. No, it is not a good thing when elected officials are removed from office by anyone other than those who elected them. Deal was not alone in this action. The state board voted unanimously to recommend the suspension of the six board members. Let us please give the new board a chance to get things right. If Deal were a democrat, I seem to think there might be a little less whining going on and more applause for taking quick action and trying to move the board in the right direction.
bu2
March 14th, 2013
11:23 am
I keep hearing these comments about lies and misinformation on the SPLOST. We ARE getting the board reduced to 7 members. Its just taking 2 years longer than we thought. To EVERYONE’s surprise, the legislature did a sloppy job of writing the legislation and Dr. Walker threatened to sue (seems to be a recurring theme) if his position was eliminated. So it couldn’t be done right away, but it is being done.
Yes SPLOST III had poor oversight. That’s why there is a committee from the public overseeing what is being done on this SPLOST. There is a 12 member “Citizen’s Oversight Committee” with a variety of backgrounds that is designed to provide the expertise lacking last time around. It has regular meetings and has its agenda and minutes posted on the DCSS website.
OriginalProf
March 14th, 2013
11:28 am
Several here have commented that this board does not have any Asians or Hispanics, and I too was rather disturbed by this since these minorities are definitely part of the South DeKalb demographics. But then I looked at the list of 63 candidates interviewed that Maureen posted awhile back, and wonder if self-selection was to blame. How many applied? I checked the list for surnames that seem Asian (Pacific Rim or Indian subcontinent) or Hispanic, and only find one who might be Pacific Rim Asian: Long Tran.
I know that there are activist groups to get these minorities more politically involved; and perhaps they should also focus on this important area of local politics: the county boards of education.
bu2
March 14th, 2013
11:31 am
@Dekalb Dad
I made the same argument for giving the then “new” board time in January. There were 3 brand new members and 2 who had just been elected 2 years before. The clock is now ticking and the 6 have to quickly get up to speed. There is now no continuity on the board or in the superintendent’s office.
For now, they just need to get moving and hope the Supreme Court doesn’t invalidate their appointment.
DeKalb Dad
March 14th, 2013
11:35 am
I would agree the new board deserved at least somewhat of a chance. Unfortunately, the board could not elect a chairperson. Walker had proven he could not even run a board meeting effectively, so I am not sure where leadership was going to suddenly emerge from.
This group will have to get up to speed quickly and I don’t think having so much new blood, including the superintendent, is a bad thing.
DeKalb Inside Out
March 14th, 2013
11:50 am
SPLOST Oversight Committee
http://dekalbschoolwatch.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/summary-of-orson_drake-communitynet2.pdf
Thad Mayfield, Marshall Orson and DCSD Staff have been together” for a while. Now it’s official.
From: Thad Mayfield
Sent: 10/04/11 12:03 PM
To: Marshall Orson
Subject: Re: SPLOST -
I know, but you will benefit from the extra data so that you can shape it the way you want it, show elected officials who may attend, and respond to any questions you may get offline. Some of the ELPC benefits are from county wide projects, which wouldn’t necessarily line up with cluster data, like technology, security, and ADA.
Thad
From: Marshall Orson
To: Thad Mayfield
Cc: Amy Power, Daniel E. Drake
Subject: Re: SPLOST -
For the purposes of what I would like to say at the meeting–I need it to be simple. In the Lakeside Cluster, we will spend X including the following…. In the DH cluster, we will spend Y including a
Message 10/7/2011 10:05 AM
From: Marshall Orson
To: DeKalb County School District Staff
Subject: Re: Proposal to Establish the “Citizen’s SPLOST Oversight Committee”
Comments:
1. I would nix the 12 alternates–this wills tart to look like a committee of 24 which is unwieldy.
2. Section 2.2–drop the line on “advisory only”–its true but meaningless and detracts from the idea this is suppose to be robust oversight
3. I think its a bad idea to prohibit the committee from communicating directly to the public. In fact, given that the meetings are open to the public and so they are communicating with the public, the language sends a message that we really do not mean for the committee to have oversight.
4. Why 4 years for the term–its a 5 year program. Are you really going to switch people for a year?
5. The committee and/or chair should control its agenda–not the District.
6. “Select” or “recommend” an independent auditor–the language in the By-laws does not match what you say below
Josh, this is a good effort. However, if this is not seen as a robust, independent, above district influence process–I believe it will drag SPLOST down to defeat. My take away from the Stan Watson breakfast–oversight is an issue everywhere in this county. I also believe that the lawyers will push back on the foregoing–but they work for the district! The politically astute thing is also the right thing in this case–even if the lawyers do not love it.
home-tutoring parent
March 14th, 2013
11:56 am
You have a new school board. Racially “proper”, decently well “higher educated”.
Dr. Trotter is howling.
He’s really educated. Except, why didn’t he earn his law degree from Emory, and graduate Order of the Coif?
dekalbite@Mary Elizabeth
March 14th, 2013
11:59 am
“Those with educational acumen and financial acumen, whom I mentioned in my post, will not necessarily be the same persons. ”
Why not? I was a regular ed teacher in elementary and middle school for 10 years – large corporate sales and also worked for a small venture capital firm for a decade – and then taught for another 20 years. My background in business included many classes to learn to read income statements and balance sheets in order to make the most cost effective recommendations for my customers. I put those skills to work selling to customers in a very practical way as I had a quota to meet. At one point, the small firm I worked for depended on the income I brought in to keep its small work force employed.
I encourage every teacher that can to leave the classroom and do an extended stint in the business world. If you return to teaching, you will have a completely different viewpoint of what your job is in the classroom. I toured many a manufacturing center and office complex while gathering data to make recommendations for large technology systems for major companies at the largest firm in the world and at the very small business I worked at. I saw what low level skills and lack of education brought to those people on the plant floors and in rabbit warren offices – low pay and mind numbing work – I walked many times along the manufacturing floors where the people were paid by piecework seeing how I could make recommendations to streamline the organization and make it more productive even at the expense of eliminating worker positions. Many of the facilities I toured are no longer in existence as those jobs, as poorly paid as they were, got shipped to other countries. That taught me I needed to look at education for my students as a way to get a job that has some security and allows some measure of personal freedom.
Looking at students as potential workers is not a bad thing because when you don’t have the skills to get a job, your life is completely changed and not for the better. IMHO – that is the number 1 thing we need to be doing for students – getting them to a place where they can be gainfully employed and financially secure.
Maureen quoted Boyles “It’s not that schools shouldn’t prepare students for their futures, he says, “but students — not business interests — should determine what those futures include.” I respectfully disagree with his statement. Business creates jobs and jobs allow us to pay the rent and provide food, clothing, shelter and medical care to ourselves and our families. Business is the engine that drives our economy, and the more you know the better you can control your destiny rather than let this impartial force dictate your future.
It’s a shame business experience is seen as mutually exclusive from educational experience. In the best of all possible worlds, our superintendents would all have business experience and educational experience.
Pride and Joy
March 14th, 2013
12:06 pm
About Trotter’s claim that suspending the board is eliminating democracy.
Horse sheet.
No one is above the law, including the President of the United States.
When voters elect any official, the official is obligated to obey the law just as any other citizen or visitor to these United States.
PRESIDENT Nixon broke the law. He was legally voted into office but then he broke the law (Google Watergate scandal if you’re under 30). Even though he was legally voted in, he was legally taken out of office — he resigned before he could be fired through the impeachment process.
So just because an official gets elected, doesn’t mean he or she can break the law and get away with it.
Everyone — EVERYONE must obey the law., regardless how popular he or she may be with his or her constituents.
home-tutoring parent
March 14th, 2013
12:12 pm
Your schools aren’t that good. Emory has a good 4 year from freshman matriculation to earning a bachelor’s degree rate, 83%. Not top-notch, but okay.
Then you go to your public universities, UGA 55% 4-year graduation rate, that’s the best you have.
Pride and Joy
March 14th, 2013
12:20 pm
I wish everyone would read “Iwish”…
All that money the school board wasted could have been spent on text books. It is insane that a child cannot bring home their text books. I brought my books home everyday and that’s how I learned.
Instead of paying legal fees for Eugene Walker and his gang, that money should be spent on text books with a caveat…if you lose it, you bought it. My teachers marked the sides of the book with a number and assigned a number to the kid and kept it in her grade book. At the end of the year I was required to brng the bring the book back or I had to pay for it.
I’m sure the school doesn’t allow books to go home because kids lose them or don;t bring them back to school. I never had that problem.
And on a side note, Iwish, were you educated in GA? Perhaps at APS or Dekalb? Your poor grammar undermines your argument. People sound uneducated and ignorant when they cannot use English correctly. Iwish, your subject and verbs don’t agree. When speaking of a single entity, you use “has,” when speaking of more than one you use “have.” You also don;t use past tense. If an event has already occurred, one uses past tense, not present tense. A parent is “concerned” not concern….
Even if your child cannot bring home a book, you can teach your child to speak common, everyday English correctly. Using English incorrectly shows you are uneducated and when uneducated, one will have very little earning power.
I am certain Mary Elizabeth can point you to a good site or a book in your public free library that you can check out and learn to use grammar correctly so that your child will have a better future.
Chamblee Dad
March 14th, 2013
12:26 pm
@Home Where you going with that? Graduation rates the primary measure of quality of education?
Mary Elizabeth
March 14th, 2013
12:40 pm
@ dekalbite@Mary Elizabeth, 11:59 am
Mary Elizabeth: “Those with educational acumen and financial acumen, whom I mentioned in my post, will not necessarily be the same persons. ”
DeKalbite: “Why not?”
=======================================================
DeKalbite, those differing talents can be incorporated within the same person, as your post illustrates. That is why I carefully incorporated the phrase, “not necessarily,” within my statement.
I, myself, had worked within the business world for five years before I received my B.A. degree in English and began my teaching career at age 27.
Charles
March 14th, 2013
12:44 pm
Great group – can we give them the option now of hiring a new superintendent? Mr. Thurman represents the outgoing board – this group need to be able to name their own professional. Mr. Thurman would serve the county well if he tendered his resignation – and let the new board rehire him or choose someone qualified.
jerry eads
March 14th, 2013
12:47 pm
This may be an argument for (say) a county commission to appoint school board members rather than have them elected. Perhaps people of sufficient competence to run a school system can’t stand the dirt and ugliness of political election.
Ray
March 14th, 2013
12:58 pm
Dekalb Inside Out:
Why do you bash Orson and Mayfield for working to get SPLOST passed for DeKalb? Do you actually think that DeKalb would be better off now if SPLOST had lost last time around? I don’t know anyone in Atlanta who has kids in Atlanta area public schools, and who is serious about keeping their kids in Atlanta area public schools, who actually wanted to see SPLOST lose — who thought that cutting funding for public schools in Atlanta would be a good thing. So why do you bash those who actually got off their butts and worked for its passage? Are public schools something that you believe should be supported or not? Why do you cast those who supported a sorely needed funding source for our public schools as somehow evil??
The Deal
March 14th, 2013
1:55 pm
Ray, the opposition to SPLOST IV was based on the gross mismanagement of prior SPLOST projects to the point of RICO charges, poor quality construction that had to be repaired and replaced, questions over prioritization, questionable contracts, little or no documentation, and a promised but not delivered SPLOST oversight committee . I don’t think that is unreasonable.
Add to that the fact that there were obviously some political dealings going on behind the scenes (as evidenced by emails between the Friend of DeKalb leaders and the SPLOST-related staff within the school administration), misinformation spread by a group that stood to benefit directly from SPLOST IV (new Fernbank building moved to the top of the list), and no school leadership changes on the horizon at that point.
It is now water under the bridge, and there is nothing we can do about it now. The relevant recent news is that Thad Mayfield was obviously involved somehow, and now there are 2-4 members of our board (Orson, McMaham, Mayfield, possibly Johnson) who have worked together on underhanded, behind-the-scenes deals.
bu2
March 14th, 2013
2:27 pm
I skimmed those e-mails. Doesn’t appear to be anything underhanded about it (except maybe how it all got printed off someone’s computer on 11/8/12). Looks straightforward. And I’ve not seen any misinformation except for the mistaken faith in the legislature to write decent legislation. But in fact, the board IS being reduced, just not in the time frame expected.
As far as behind the scenes, it seems every e-mail poor Ms. Powers sends out ends up in public. Political strategy isn’t discussed in public meetings.
If there is anything questionable about the list, its the Austin Elementary school in Dunwoody being on the list. Its far and away the newest building being replaced (by 7 years) and the only one not rated poor.
Dunwoody Mom
March 14th, 2013
2:41 pm
bu2, always conveniently forgets to add that Fernbank received a very substantial renovation in 2005.
concernedmom30329
March 14th, 2013
3:08 pm
SPLOST should have failed to send a clear message about mismanagement. It could have been voted on later, once the system had a clear path to better management.
Austin was questionable, but Jester actually asked for a new elementary school for the Dunwoody/Chamblee/Brookhaven area to relieve overcrowding and what she got was a new Austin. She voted no to SPLOST because she couldn’t get Board to acknowledge real needs in those areas, which is space. I was at the meeting when vote was taken. I know of what I speak.
Please tell me how Fernbank will be filled. Right now only has 500ish neighborhood kids and another 100 transfer students. Do you envision 300 transfer students?
Ray
March 14th, 2013
3:19 pm
The Deal:
What did Orson, Mayfield, McMahan, and Johnson do that was underhanded? What did any of them have to do with past mismanagement of some projects? Are you really for improving the public schools, or really just for cutting the public schools?
Atlanta Media Guy
March 14th, 2013
3:22 pm
The DCSS ties that bind! We need to watch these four.
Here is a question… Should the new board of 9 elect a new chair? The new members did not vote for Johnson, so the majority of the BOE did not vote for Johnson.