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
Chamblee Dad
March 14th, 2013
3:31 pm
@bu2 around 2-3 weeks ago, we seemed to be on the same general page that we should not yet give up on DCSS, but should resist the idea of pushing to leave for new city schools, and reject the idea that it’s too little too late to get it turned around. Our message seemed to be similar – let’s give the new interim super. time to work with a new board, in whatever form it takes, and don’t assume we will fail. Let’s work to improve DCSS for all the kids in all parts of DeKalb.
But now you seem to be much more an apologist & defender of the efforts of those already on the way out, or those we most certainly are gone soon. I am to the point to tell people “get over the past – let’s fix the future – not forget the lessons of the past, & we still have push to remove any & all still in the central office that were responsible for it – and prevent it from happening again.”
But it’s not like it wasn’t a disaster, it was. And unless fixed, the budget, SACS, central office bloat (Tyson Match, etc) will destroy us. And as Dunwoody Mom has said repeatedly, class sizes HAVE to be addressed.
And we need this board to hire a new super. as quickly as they can, I say the summer would be ideal to start in earnest, after the budget is basically locked it. No dragging on for 18 months, do it right, short list it & get to work, maybe by late fall we have our person.
Chamblee Dad
March 14th, 2013
3:35 pm
Budget locked in . . . I think early on, THAT will be the early 1st of this board, cleaning house, if based on legit audit will take some time to get going full force, this budget process starts now. Cutting people will be part of it, yes – better not be anyone in a classroom
The Deal
March 14th, 2013
3:41 pm
Ray, I think private citizens (Orson and Power) exchanging emails with key senior administrative staff on decisions and direction is underhanded, especially when they refer to other meetings they have held that are obviously more than normal parent/citizen Q&A. In fact, I don’t know of any other citizens who have lengthy discussions and in-person meetings regarding strategy with senior level staff. Most in-person access to senior staff is done in brief discussions after community and board meetings.
One of the emails not pasted here has Orson asking central office administrators for their personal emails. I’m guessing this wasn’t to send them an evite to his kid’s birthday party.
I am in favor of honest, open, ethical school administration in public schools. I think the board we have is an improvement, but it obviously has its political operatives. I don’t seek to undermine any good work they do, but I also don’t intend to just let them do whatever they want, particularly based on their past actions. Thankfully we have thousands of parents who are much more engaged than they ever have been. It isn’t just a small group of watchdogs anymore.
DeKalb Inside Out
March 14th, 2013
4:03 pm
Dekalb Inner Circle
My point with those emails is the inner circle, friends and family. It’s an extension of the dekalb school’s royal families: Edwards/Guillory and Mayfield. They are running DCSD and keep promoting each other. The circle includes, but not limited to:
Crawford Lewis – ex Superintendent
Frances Edwards – ex Board of Education
Melvin Johnson – Board of Education
Marshall Orson – Board of Education
Jim McMahan – Board of Education
Thad Mayfield – Board of Education
Felicia Mayfield – ret. Deputy Superintendent
Ed Bouie – ex head of I.T. Dept.
The Links
Crawford Lewis
Charged with RICO. Promoted Felicia Mayfield to Deputy Super. Frances Edwards was his board chair.
Frances Edwards
Frances Edwards is the mother of Philandra Guillory. Philandra was Director of DCSD Public access channel with no experience. Philandra’s husband, Frances’ son-in-law, David Guillory, was Director of transportation with no experience. Crawford Lewis was Superintendent that put Frances’ daughter and son-in-law in their positions. Frances’ son, Jamal, had a no show job for a year.
Melvin Johnson
Campaign Contributors – Wynndolyn and Ed Bouie, Felicia Mayfield.
Marshall Orson
Friends of DeKalb with McMahan and Thad Mayfield
Jim McMahan
Friends of DeKalb with Orson and Thad Mayfield
Thad Mayfield
Related to Felicia Mayfield. Ran Frances Edwards campaign for BOE in 1998. Friends of Dekalb.
Felicia Mayfield
Deputy Superintendent under Crawford Lewis.
Ed Bouie
First wife HR Exec. Second wife, Wendolyn Bouie, promoted to Deputy Super under Crawford Lewis. Ed and Frances were infamous for promoting notable family members
bu2
March 14th, 2013
4:10 pm
@Chamblee Dad
Just pointing out to those who say there were no alternatives. I hope the court doesn’t overturn Deal. That would be a mess. I’m not defending those gone at all. I had hope for the 5 newest members to make a difference (Orson/McMahan/Johnson/Jester/Edler). Now I hope the 9 new members do. But there’s no question that having no continuity and no history creates challenges. There will be things that will tend to fall through the cracks (not that things like budgets, state filings, SACS responses, tracking textbooks, …. didn’t before). If you’ve ever worked at a business with a big turnover, you would understand. Its going to be difficult for the new members and Mr. Thurmond.
As Ray says, I don’t see anything underhanded or dishonest about supporting SPLOST. I think its good that McMahan/Orson/Mayfield were working to support what they thought would benefit the schools. And I did NOT vote for it. I think this villifying of those who disagree with you tends to give us the low quality of people in public service that we often get. I know I’ve had friends say, “Who would want to subject themselves to that?” The number of good people with thick enough skin is limited. Even PTA board presidents get villified on the internet. Its bad enough that they have to deal with angry parents. So I thank those 400 or so who offered to be board members and the 9 who are. And Speaks, Jester and Edler as well, even if I believe they could have been more effective.
Chamblee Dad
March 14th, 2013
4:15 pm
@AMG Per Board Policy “The Chair and Vice Chair of the DeKalb County Board of Education shall be elected during its first meeting each January. The Chair and the Vice Chair shall be elected by a majority of the members of the Board and shall serve for a term of one year. In the event that a Chair and Vice Chair are not elected in January, the existing Chair and Vice Chair shall continue to serve until a successor is elected. A vacancy created by death, resignation, or other cause shall be filled by an election for the remainder of the one-year term.”
Vacancy created by resignation – To me Johnson & McMahon should step down & allow new votes to happen. If they still win, I’m fine with that. I don’t really think the removal of the majority of the people who voted for you constitutes “other cause.” At least not technically, but as a gesture of doing it right from the start, it should. Holding that election would be the very 1st test – an indication of true “functional”, as opposed to “dysfunctional.”
Chamblee Dad
March 14th, 2013
4:18 pm
@AMG Side note of interest – they are in the process of pulling the old board info. off the websites. Already gone off the main website, except district listing, the e-board website “about us” still has “tiles” with the old board names, but no more picture & bios. And those were still there around noon.
No new e-mails for replacements yet, and Walker & other 5 still in the staff directory.
Alas, no meetings on the schedule yet . . .
bu2
March 14th, 2013
4:32 pm
@Concerned
Given that the population has grown 50% in 10 years, it really shouldn’t be too hard. The school had over 900 students in the early 90s before the population aged. Its getting younger again. People keep repeating the false statement that there was a renovation. There was a gym and about 3 classrooms added in one wing. I would ignore this stuff, but several of you keep repeating it, and it can cause people to have even more suspicion than they already do in the board.
Chamblee Dad
March 14th, 2013
4:40 pm
@bu2 I get the general point that chaos will ensue, I hope it’s organized chaos. But chaos? the past few years there was more chaos in the classrooms & impacting our kids, especially the last 2 with budgets balanced on the backs of the school house. Seeing a principal brought to tears before this year started, that showed me how much this budget directly hurt the education of our kids. She wanted so badly to take care of “her babies” – she loved everyone, and somehow I swear she knew all 500 by name, but the system wouldn’t let her do it. It was killing her. Her staff too.
So shame on so many of those clowns. Start working on your resumes.
I didn’t have too much hope for the newer 5 – I do have more for the 9, even if it costs us Jester & Speaks – not so much Edler, she had been pulled to the Walker crew.
And hey, splost 4 – I voted FOR it, on the theory that it would punish the kids more than teach the board a lesson – and despite my fear some $$ would be mismanaged, some will anyway – it is govt. so the taxpayers punished too (including me). But the list of things needed is real, I know my ES does need things & is listed as getting a little bit, but we have pretty new MS & soon new HS (long overdue beyond measure), so I can’t really complain too much. BUT I never did think & still do not think Fernbank getting a new school before anyone else makes sense, that’s nuts.
Let’s keep up the positive thoughts & real support with action, me? still mainly at the local school level. But vigilance is in order, every step of the way.
As for “falling through the cracks” I’ve got a few I’d like to see fall ASAP – Tyson 1st – and Dekalb Inside Out has put forth a good roadmap to start on the rest.
Get to work, board, get to work!
DeKalb Inside Out
March 14th, 2013
5:00 pm
Underhanded SPLOST
Correct thread this time … Fernbank was obviously given preferential treatment…
This data comes from “Proposed Organization (Dec 6, 2012 Version)”. It’s the current 2013 school year utilization and the projected 2017 school year utilization. Of the schools listed below, Fernbank is the only one getting relief. Nice to be at Fernbank. Sucks for the rest of you.
School Utilization
School……………….SY 2013…..SY 2017
Fernbank ES…………..117%………84%
Vanderlyn ES………….145%…….155%
Dresden ES……………126%…….125%
Ashford Park ES….…..124%…….136%
Cary Reynolds ES……124%…….127%
Woodward ES…………124%…….127%
Dunwoody HS…………122%…….143%
On a side note: North DeKalb can thank Fran Millar for most of his schools being over 100% utilized in 2017. There will be a generation of children, not in Fernbank, that spend their educational lives in trailers. Alas, that is another story.
–DIO
Atlanta Media Guy
March 14th, 2013
6:52 pm
@Chamblee Dad…I am 100% with you on the new BOE election, should be first order of business.
@DIO…Frances Edwards son Jamal hid out at my kids school for 6 months, parents caught him after WSB did an interview with Clew and he said there was no nepotism. Frances son got a raise initially and a few weeks later, Clew realized it should have been voted by the BOE, since it involved Frances kid. When the parents at the school saw the sons face and heard of the raise, we went right to Franzoni, Dis. 1 and told him the son was still doing his old job. It took from October to the Holiday break to finally have someone do something. Several were ready to hit the media and then Clew intervened. Tyson was head of MIS and she had no idea Edwards had not shown for his new job, 6 months! $15k raise. Thanks DIO….now that more folks are watching we must remind them of the last decade of decadence at the Palace.
Bob
March 14th, 2013
7:32 pm
Thank you DeKalb Inside Out for the info.
Linda
March 14th, 2013
8:03 pm
DeKalb Inside Out – you’re my hero. That’s some great information. Orson and crew cannot be trusted.
Concernedmom30329
March 14th, 2013
8:05 pm
BU2
Fernbank’s enrollment actually shrank a bit this year (in terms of resident population). I know three families who were at Fernbank in 11-12 and are not there this year. When communities reach a certain level of affluence, families have choices.
You can go here to see some data:
http://www.dekalb.k12.ga.us/planning
Concernedmom30329
March 14th, 2013
8:07 pm
When you look at the link I sent, Fernbank had 100 students from other school districts this year and 100 the year before. It seems to be that their overcrowding problem is easily solved.
DeKalb Inside Out
March 14th, 2013
8:28 pm
Atlanta Media Guy, et al.
It’s now or never!! I can’t do this alone.
Thurmond, Orson and Johnson just got backup from Mayfield. The other new board members don’t know the first thing about DeKalb County Schools and administration (why would they).
1st Board Meeting
The board is going to get a 200 page packet 2 or 3 days before the board meeting. It’s going to have budget, HR, spending requests etc. Is the new board going to know what to look for? Are they going to be able to recognize a hiring quid pro quo? Are they going to dig and see that substitute teachers weren’t budgeted for? Heck no. Thurmond is going to sing kumbaya and then request spending $500K on flux capacitors. The board is going to assume they are on the same team as the administration.
Worse, I hear the board is going silent. They are going to be told that a functional board has little to no communication with their constituents. They are going to be threatened with loss of accreditation and board ethics violations if they communicate too much. (I hope I’m wrong about this part.)
DeKalb Inside Out
March 14th, 2013
8:35 pm
One more thing before I put my kids to bed. 2 schools in South DeKalb at 40% utilization are getting a new school. Fernbank just got a $10 Million renovation a couple years ago. Thanks Fran Millar.
DIO … out
Concernedmom30329
March 14th, 2013
8:42 pm
Before they can be threatened with a board ethics policy, they have to have one. They don’t. I suppose we will see one presented soon. I hope it has teeth.
DIO, I am more optimistic than you. First, I have some faith that Thurmond wants to come out of this unscathed, and will do his best to turn things around. Second, the new board members are no dummies and will be sharper than you are giving them credit for.
The thing to watch is who is gone from the central office come June or July when contracts expire.
Concernedmom30329
March 14th, 2013
8:44 pm
Bu2
Orson was/is never going to work with Jester and vice versa. Their core politics are too different and their objectives to different as well. Without disclosing to much, lets just say that Orson’s plan for success never included Jester.
home-tutoring parent
March 14th, 2013
8:59 pm
You have a good board. Can it transform DCSS schools? Check back in 2016 for results.
Name One
March 14th, 2013
9:42 pm
http://dekalbschoolwatch.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/summary-of-orson_drake-communitynet2.pdf
Wow, wow, wow!
As employees of the school system, Dan Drake and barbara Coleman were not allowed to work with the Friends of DeKalb Education to promote SPLOST IV. Their actions are clearly illegal., and they should be held accountable.
There is no way Marshall Orson would have been elected had these e-mails of his behind the scenes manipulations been made public.
Same with Thad Mayfield. No way the governor would have selected him if these e-mails were made public.
Hoping the AJC sicks an investigative reporter on this. This is a scandal with a capital ‘S”.
Pat and Mike
March 14th, 2013
10:24 pm
@ Name One
The e-mails you mention were and are public. Check out the DeKalb School Watch archives. They have been there for months — the result of an Open Records Request. The Governor and his “hand-picked panel” did NOT do their due diligence.
Robert Brown is Bad News
March 15th, 2013
8:37 am
Why did the governor pick Robert Brown to be involved with DCSS in any manner??
He was the architect for the SW DeKalb High School expansion that was budgeted for $9 million, and eventually cost $21 million. And he is involved in the mess regarding the county CEO’s indictment.
And there’s this:
From crime Magazine, Dec. 25, 2012
“The Emory University Whitlse Blower”
Meanwhile, the deal negotiated between Grady Hospital and Emory University stipulated that Emory University get paid about $50 million yearly to operate Grady Hospital. This appeared to be a good deal for Emory University and it seemed as though Emory was negotiating largely with itself, Murtagh explained to NIH investigators. Since Grady Hospital is a public hospital, that $50 million fee that was negotiated by Emory University would ultimately be paid by taxpayers.
The conflicts-of-interests didn’t stop there. Robert Brown was also an important member of the Grady Hospital Board. He was not one of those who also had direct ties to Emory University. Instead, Brown routinely used his position on the Grady Board to steer business to his architecture firm, RL Brown and Associates. In 2002, for example, his company received a lucrative multi-million dollar contract for architectural work as part of a Grady Hospital expansion.
Brown was finally forced from the board in 2009.
DeKalb Inside Out
March 15th, 2013
9:52 am
Don’t forget Robert Brown is the CEO of a construction company. DCSD has themselves some construction projects coming up. If Frances Edwards is the queen then Mayfield is the King of the Friends and Family network. DeKalb County Schools … “Quid Pro Quo in Every Classroom”
http://dunwoodytalk.blogspot.com/2013/03/moving-forward-or-backword-in-dekalb.html
“One of the warrants authorized investigators to get lists of phone numbers for incoming and outgoing calls at a Decatur architecture firm, R.L. Brown and Associates. “
bu2
March 15th, 2013
10:44 am
@Chamblee Dad and DIO
I made a concious decision to not vote on the SPLOST. I didn’t trust the then current board to spend the money wisely and didn’t want to give them a vote of confidence. Bowen had said they were incompetent to manage the projects in SPLOST III and it was possible 8 of the 9 would be back (all but Bowen). I didn’t believe a 1 year delay would hurt. But I did believe the projects were good and didn’t want to be the vote that defeated them or discouraged them from trying again.
bu2
March 15th, 2013
10:58 am
The major project list included:
District I
Chamblee HS built 1963 rated unsatisfactory, overcrowded
Austin ES built 1975 rated poor, overcrowded
District II
Henderson MS addition to relieve overcrowding
Fernbank ES built 1958 rated unsatisfactory, overcrowded
Pleasantdale ES built 1968 rated poor (Austin wasn’t the only one not rated unsatisfactory, but was the newest), overcrowded
Smoke Rise ES built 1969 rated unsatisfactory
LIvesey ES was closed (1971 Unsatisfactory, 357 student capacity) and consolidated with Smoke Rise
District III
Rockbridge ES built 1972, unsatisfactory
Stone Mountain built 1954, unsatisfactory was consolidated with Rockbridge in a larger school
Redan HS add seats to relieve overcrowding
District IV
MLK add 600 seats to relieve overcrowding
SW Dekalb add 600 seats (this ones a head scratcher-they are currently at 100% capacity and aren’t growing)
District V
Gresham Park 1958 unsatisfactory
Clifton 1967 poor, small capacity school and Meadowview 1961 unsatisfactory small capacity school are consolidated into the new Gresham Park (old one was closed 2 years ago)
Peachcrest 1961 poor
Kelley Lake 1963 poor small capacity school and, indirectly, Wadsworth 1958 unsatisfactory small capacity school were consolidated into new Peachcrest (old one closed 2 years ago). Wadsworth’s magnet program was moved into Knollwood whose students are moved into the new Peachcrest.
McNair MS 1958 unsatisfactory
bu2
March 15th, 2013
11:13 am
It makes sense to give all the students in the old buildings in the central part of the county (Districts II and V) a satisfactory facility rather than prioritizing good facilities in the north that have some students in trailers. And if they would fully utilize Dunwoody ES (which has the lowest SES in Dunwoody) and move the magnet program out of Kittredge (which is disproportionately used by Dunwoody and Brookhaven area students) a big piece of overcrowding would be taken care of in the northern part of the county.
bu2
March 15th, 2013
11:20 am
Without names, the sequence of the schools being replaced:
1st group
built 1958
built 1958
built 1954 and 1958
built 1961 and 1967
built 1963
2nd group
built 1954 and 1972
built 1968
built 1969 and 1971
built 1975
Its pretty logical when you take out territorialism and prejudice.
bu2
March 15th, 2013
11:55 am
I took lots of classes in trailers. Its not that big a deal in most cases. If you have covered walkways to the school, its pretty much like a regular classroom. When its like Inman MS where they take up all the play space it gets to be a problem. When its like at Fernbank ES where its down a hill and they have to interrupt instruction and send the kids to the gym on stormy days (because they can’t send them out in thunder and lightning to the bathrooms), then it gets to be a problem.
But for the most part, having a bad facility for all the students, is far more important than having to deal with trailers. And so, other than the SW Dekalb addition, it looks like a pretty reasonable list.
Atlanta Media Guy
March 15th, 2013
1:53 pm
bu2..It is a good list! Being a resident in Brookhaven-Chamblee and my kids going into Chamblee Charter High it was a tough vote. I did not want to see another delay to the new CCHS building, however after the $55 million spent on the Palace, which was never on any SLOST list, I did not want to trust that BOE or staff with another bag of money.
Between that vote, redistricting the BOE from 9 to 7, lost audits, no transparency, racist hiring techniques using leaks to discredit a REAL candidate, which includes Walkers secret meetings and the many missed deadlines and shoddy work by staff, it was time to scream WAIT! I honestly feel that many voters wanted to tell the BOE to get their act together before another bag of bucks was unleashed on the friends and family!
Concernedmom30329
March 15th, 2013
9:45 pm
bu2
Is Fernbank really overcrowded if you only factor in kids from the attendance zone? Also, Chamblee High is getting a much needed new building but has a residential population of less than 800 — how in the world is it ever going to be filled?
We have too many middle and high school seats in S. DeKalb. Building a new McNair middle is probably a waste, but no one was willing to talk about those tough decisions in the build up to SPLOST IV. (The overcrowding of SWD is easily resolved by moving the magnet school into an underutilized building, but these are the kinds of decisions that are impossible to make in DK. I hope that this new board can make difficult and challenging decisions.)
Data source:
http://www.dekalb.k12.ga.us/planning
AnonMom
March 16th, 2013
9:30 am
Part of the problem with DCSS is that we (as a system) don’t know what a “functional” and truly “operational” system is supposed to look like — the BOE and the operational parts of the system don’t really know what their roles are supposed to be…. If the shift, which will be painful, particularly for folks (both on the inside and outside — involved parents who are used to getting things they want) can be undertaken to move DCSS into a truly “functional” system where all “working parts” perform in the way they are supposed to — where all roles are performed in their proper “fiduciary” capacity looking out for the 100,000 school kids and the taxpayers without conflicts of interest; in proper advisory and “worker-bee” roles — this really would, I think, be a huge improvement. The BOE is not supposed to run the system… it is not supposed to be a full time job. Someone (Maureen?) should do a comparison of what the differences are between the Decatur, Dekalb & Gwinnett (maybe add in Fulton, Cobb, etc) BOE in terms of numbers, meetings, salaries, etc. — maybe it’s too big a project — but my sense is that people would be surprised at how dysfunctional the DCSS BOE is and how that has related to the fact that the roles have been so compromised.
Prince Vondell
March 17th, 2013
8:42 am
This is the way School Boards in Ga. needs to be formed. Appointments to the boards in Ga. brings the best minds together for excellence in the schools that are needed. At least if the elected process stays in place the, at least the requirement of a degree. And make parents responsible for their children’s action , and then we may start moving forward in the spirit of excellence in education in Ga.