Anonymous said...
Just left the Board Meeting at PCMS. OMG. Favorite moment: McChesney asking Talley WHY we're buying Language Arts textbooks when teachers have said they don't need them. She patronized him, dismissed him, basically told him in tone and manner that his question was . . . well, stupid. He pushed, she pushed back.
He's right. She's wrong.
$7 million on textbooks. Sigh.
Anonymous said...
WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is upsetting. This is not a need! I am a teacher and we cannot be spending money on things like this right now, unless the district is going to seriously cut positions. I do not see that happening either.
Having new text books will not get our students a quality education. The higher ups just do not get it.
Once again, our kids are going to be the losers.
Anonymous said...
Talley made it very clear that the textbooks will be purchased, no matter what the board thinks. What the heck?
Anonymous said...
Doesn't the BOE approve the expenditure for the textbooks? For $7,000,000 why aren't they looking at textbooks online? So sad that Gloria Talley says she knows nothing about technology. 20th Century leaders with 21st Century students.
Anonymous said...
McChesney asked "so you're telling me that this is done, even though we haven't voted on it?" She spoke lots of words but said nothing. Then scathingly said that the board had already approved a leased textbook program so they might as well pay for the textbooks. Cunningham mentioned electronic textbooks "in the future", but agreed with her, saying of course we have to stay current in the meantime.
Oh - and totally from left field - who is Alduan Tartt, who has been hired by the school system to lead a parenting seminar? I mean, a free breakfast and door prizes?! Who's paying for that? (And, FWIW, can we please stop referring to it as "Premier"?)
A complimentary breakfast will be served at 7:30 a.m.
Dr. Alduan Tartt, a practicing psychologist and accomplished author, community servant and humanitarian, is the keynote speaker. He will speak on the topic “Effective Parenting in Today’s Society”. Dr. Tartt will also present two workshops on parenting. In addition, a variety of workshops focusing on test-taking strategies will be offered to assist parents in the facilitation of student achievement.
The workshops include: Mathematics and Reading for all grade levels, Special Education, Early Childhood Workshops, and Transition from Elementary to Middle and Middle to High. Middle and High School students will have an opportunity to participate in a panel discussion with various community members. Poet Hank Stewart will be guest moderator for the panel.
Language translators will be available for some workshops and child care for school age children will be provided. We will also have exhibits featuring the DeKalb County School System, various community agencies, and educational companies.
Door prizes will be awarded at the conclusion of the conference!
For more information, call Jackie Marshall at 678-676-0376.
The Premier DeKalb County School System Office of School Improvement
Presents
The Year of The Parent
RAISING THE BAR!
Together We Can Make a Difference
A FREE half-day Parent Conference
Saturday, March 13, 2010 from 7:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Avondale Middle School, 3131 Old Rockbridge Road
Avondale Estates, GA30002
A complimentary breakfast will be served at 7:30 a.m.
Dr. Alduan Tartt, a practicing psychologist and accomplished author, community servant and humanitarian, is the keynote speaker. He will speak on the topic “Effective Parenting in Today’s Society”. Dr. Tartt will also present two workshops on parenting. In addition, a variety of workshops focusing on test-taking strategies will be offered to assist parents in the facilitation of student achievement.
The workshops include: Mathematics and Reading for all grade levels, Special Education, Early Childhood Workshops, and Transition from Elementary to Middle and Middle to High. Middle and High School students will have an opportunity to participate in a panel discussion with various community members. Poet Hank Stewart will be guest moderator for the panel.
Language translators will be available for some workshops and child care for school age children will be provided. We will also have exhibits featuring the DeKalb County School System, various community agencies, and educational companies.
Door prizes will be awarded at the conclusion of the conference!
For more information, call Jackie Marshall at 678-676-0376.
The Budget, Finance and Building Committee is now a CALLED BOARD MEETING and will take place at 10:30 on Friday, March 5 at the board offices - boardroom in Building A.
They will be discussing possible salary cuts and furloughs for teachers. According to the posted agenda, there will not be any public comment period. The agenda is available by clicking here.
PLAN TO ATTEND!
237 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 201 – 237 of 237@ Anonymous 8:57 pm
"I just checked with the crew of high school students (all AP/gifted type) who are here in a study group and they can't recall ever seeing a FSC teacher in their classes."
Well, Anonymous 8:57 pm, you must be in the northern part of the county because Anonymous 8:57 pm says:
"Many FSC teachers spend much of their time at high schools in the southern part of the county.
It would be a tragedy for DCSS to let these teachers go..."
Looking at fall, 2009 EOCT scores in the southern part of the county:
Biology:
Georgia pass 64%
DeKalb pass 52%
Cedar Grove 46% pass
Clarkston 37% pass
Columbia 52% pass
Lithonia 50% pass
MLK 29% pass
McNair 35% pass
Elizabeth Andrews 36% pass
Miller Grove 46% pass
Redan 50 % pass
Southwest DeKalb 57% pass
Stephenson 72% pass
Stone Mountain 50% pass
Towers 41% pass
Physical Science:
Georgia: 71% pass
Cedar Grove 50% pass
Clarkston 78% pass
Columbia 62% pass
Lithonia 70% pass
MLK 27% pass
McNair 42% pass
Elizabeth Andrews 49% pass
Miller Grove 57% pass
Redan 57% pass
Southwest DeKalb 72% pass
Stephenson 69% pass
Stone Mountain 74% pass
Towers 62% pass
Does it look like the FSC teachers are making an impact in the southern part of the county?
@ Anonymous 9:20 pm
Which is why Title 1 expenditures need to be decided in the local schools instead of used as a "piggy bank" for the Central Office to pay for pet projects (America's Choice, Springboard, Instructional Coaches, etc).
Control of the purse strings, doling out millions of Title 1 dollars as the DeKalb administration hires a loyal cadre of Instructional coordinators, Instructional coaches, and buys expensive learning programs is a very valuable political tool.
Principals and teachers at the local Title 1 schools' level would be more like local PTA boards in high income schools, spending for equipment and services that benefit their particular student population.
Title 1 funds are meant to "level the playing field" for poor schools. Title 1 dollars should follow students to the local schools like gifted funds follow the gifted students in schools.
These millions of dollars have been subject to politics of the worst sort.
A FSC teacher who is spread over several high schools, periodically, cannot make up for poor teaching day in and day out at the local school. Problem is, DCSS won't remove any of those local teachers. In fact, they can't even find qualified teachers to hire so they turn to temporary foreign hires.
As with all DCSS "evaluations" there are no pre and post statistics, comparisions to how kids do without and with, before and after a certain intervention. One time pass rates are not informative. In the same vein, decisions about how to spend money or run programs are not evidence-based.
Most DCSS high schools are holding fast to the 4x4 block schedule but has anyone actually studied whether outcomes have improved? Who is to say that the failing EOCT scores aren't the result of the 4x4 block. I can tell you that the kids in a block class DO NO learn a full year's worth of material. This is evidenced by performance on SAT subject tests, where kids on the block have not learned all the material for the full year course. This has huge implications for kids applying for private colleges and scholarships. Seems likely that the same is true for EOCT. The kids on block may not have learned all the material.
The problems are too deep and too complicated that they can't be blamed on FSC.
Has anyone considered cutting athletics? Why are academic programs targeted first?
Going back to the AP comment -- private school AP classes are under 20 kids per class. At Lakeside, we were in AP classes wtih over 33 kids per class for many different classes and the current principal had been talking about not offering any AP with fewer than 15 or 16 kids per class. I think that there is a possibility that many "gifted" offererings will be eliminated in favor of AP because you are restricted to 20-22 kids per class in "gifted" classes whereas with AP classes you can "sardine" the kids at 34 or 35 per class and pretend to be servicing them at the advanced levels (secret: you're not but you need to know the right questions to ask).
@ Anon 10:08, at Druid Hills, we have had several occasions where a gifted class "became" an advanced class because the enrollment was too high. Some of these classes had 33+ kids in them.
I am a scientist with a master degree and sure wouldn't take a job teaching physical science at a DCSS high school, for a mere $40,000 a year. It is easy to blame teachers for low EOCT scores but the average student in physical science class in Dekalb county is not interested in learning.
Anonymous @9:08pm...
"Can we get Ms. Tyson and the Central office to admit this?"
Please refer to tonight's AJC article on how Ramona Tyson is remaining in "daily contact" with Crawford Lewis. He is still making decisions and Tyson is simply reading his script. If he is on a leave of absence, why is he weighing in on the budget at all? Wasn't the point of naming an interim so that the district could avoid all of the drama, put it behind, and move on? Apparently not. Just another example of how the school board refuses to make the tough decisions. CL is on leave & they name someone who will keep the status quo and not rock the boat. Additionally, believing that the Central Office has power to do anything that is not already part of CL's plan is fruitless. CL made the decisions. CL punished those who disagreed with him. CL has someone in position now to carry out his wishes. If CL doesn't sanction it, it won't happen. I guarantee it.
Also, the "Tyson was leading the front on budget cuts before Lewis left" quote in the AJC is laughable. Watch how many of the budget questions she answers at the meeting tomorrow and how many she defers to others. There's nothing wrong with a CEO/Superintendent not having all of the answers, but for that person to pretend to be an authority on all things business is sad.
The school district is no better off than it was last Wednesday. It may even be in a worse position.
@ Anonymous 10:35 pm
There's where you are wrong. Very few students are uninterested in learning - if they are in the right learning environment.
You can't spend all of your money on support and admin personnel like DCSS as you steadily decrease the pupil teacher ratio, mandate teaching programs not supported by teachers, and let your schools get into the worse possible environmental circumstances.
1st way - the DeKalb Way:
Cram too many students into a school built for less students, give teachers 30+ per class, make sure there is little in the way of cutting edge science equipment and adequate or working technology, give teachers a lot of extra paperwork so they don't have time to plan or set up labs, and then ask them to teach from a script. This is the reality for many of our students.
2nd way - the right way:
Take those students out of that environment and put them in a low pupil teacher ratio class, ensure they have access to abundant technology and science equipment and clean and well designed classrooms with good teachers who know their subject matter. Then allow the teachers the freedom to design lessons they know work for kids.
It's not the kids. It's the environment. You can't spend 50% of your budget on personnel who aren't teachers and have a decent environment for students.
@ Anonymous 9:54 pm
I'm not blaming poor science scores on FSC. But is this institution helping increase science scores?
Is Fernbank Science Center worth the millions taxpayers spend on it? Would those millions be better spent in science classrooms across the entire county.
We've heard from many parents with students in AP classes of 33 or more students. Could this money be spent lowering the pupil teacher ratio so these kids could really get what they more from AP science classes?
@Anon 10:58
Watch how many of the budget questions she answers at the meeting tomorrow and how many she defers to others. There's nothing wrong with a CEO/Superintendent not having all of the answers, but for that person to pretend to be an authority on all things business is sad.
I've attended all of the budget committee meetings, and Ramona Tyson was the one answering specific budget questions. Lewis couldn't keep straight the numbers of parapros that were funded by county dollars vs. state dollars. Ms. Tyson clearly knew more of the details than Lewis did.
I'm a big fan of the Fernbank Science Center, but the facility itself is a drain. FSC needs to become a private/public partnership. There are so many federal and foundation grants, and other funding sources available, but the school system is incompetent when it comes to grant writing. Even the Atlanta school system has figured out how to work with corporations.
FSC needs to be affiliated with the school system, but not dependent on its ineffective and morally corrupt leadership. Heck, it's down the street from the Centers for Disease Control and Emory University, yet there is little partnership between them.
Get FSC a board of people like Marshall Orson and Ernest Brown, some local science/biotech/health-related business leaders, and even some retired politicians like Stan Watson, Gale Waldorff and Jim Tysinger, and it could become a self-sustaining entity that could flourish, instead of floundering under the Lewis administration and current Board of Education, who absolutely have no vision.
Dr. Lewis is going to regret recommending Ms Tyson to fill in for him, especially when the Board finds she is more competent in doing the job.
I think Ms. Tyson's past record as head of MIS and the person who brought the parents and teachers eSIS is working against her. MIS personnel grew to 291 employees costing $24,000,000 in salaries and benefits. This is $82,500 on average per MIS employee - considerably more than teachers. Please ask any teacher the level of service they and their students receive from the technology department.
I think Ms. Tyson will know the numbers, and she is certainly well spoken. I don't think she will make any concrete changes that will help ensure we have more teachers in the classroom than admin and support.
In fact, I predict Ms. Tyson will recommend DCSS cut teacher positions by not filling them,adding more students to each class, institute furlough days for all, continue with expensive, scripted learning programs such as America's Choice, Springboard, and Instructional Coaches. I think in general she will continue with the policies Dr. Lewis has put in place and has proposed.
I hope I'm wrong, but Dr. Lewis didn't pick her as an agent of change. And he did hand pick her. Paul Womack, BOE member, told the AJC that she was recommended by Dr. Lewis.
So keep writing your BOE members about not using an increase in the pupil teacher ratio by cutting teaching positions or adding students to the classroom in order to balance the budget.
Encourage the BOE to cut, consolidate and outsource on the admin and support side (6,500 employees in admin and support) before they touch our classrooms.
Great resource for science teachers, parents and students. They have some great programs:
http://eeingeorgia.org/
http://www.eeweek.org/
National Environmental Education Week (EE Week) is the largest organized environmental education event in the United States. EE Week increases the educational impact of Earth Day by creating a full week of educational preparation, learning, and activities in K-12 classrooms, nature centers, zoos, museums, and aquariums. By participating in EE Week, you encourage your students to make a difference in their schools, homes, and communities!
HEY Ramona/Crawford/BOE: Y'all better cut all the fat, waste and bloat out of the Central Office and Ramona's MIS is you have the gall to cut teachers salary by 6.25percent.
And you better darn sure cut all administrators by more than 6.25 percent. And it's time to contract out so many things like HVAC, info. systems, etc.
What's that noise? Hundreds of veteran DCSS teachers running to update their resumes.
http://www.ajc.com/news/dekalb/dekalb-teachers-pay-could-349934.html
DeKalb teachers' pay could decrease 6.25 percentBy Megan Matteucci
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
11:34 a.m. Friday, March 5, 2010
DeKalb County teachers could see their pay decrease as much as 6.25 percent next school year.
The school board voted unanimously Friday morning to issue about 8,000 contracts to teachers, principals and other certified staff for next school year with the option of a pay reduction or furlough days. The pay cut is capped at 6.25 percent.
DeKalb schools must cut at least $88 million from its budget for next year. The board is scheduled to approve the budget in May, but teacher contracts must be issued before April 15.
“This does not bind the board to take any particular action, it just binds the board to leave the door open,” board chairman Tom Bowen said.
Parents and teachers, please look at this. No wonder we can’t get teachers.
Position: Mechanic, Air Conditioner/Heat (HVAC)
Educational requirement: High school diploma or GED
Experience: 3 years
Salary: $43,111 to $58,665
Position: Teacher, Science, Language Arts, or Social Studies
Educational requirement: College degree
Experience: 3 years
Salary: $ 42,288 (salary for a teacher with 3 years of experience)
$ 58,248 (salary for a teacher with 20 years of experience)
$ 59,376 (salary for a teacher with 30 years of experience)
Below is the job description on PATS for HVAC personnel (DCSS currently has 5 openings):
“The Mechanical Maintenance Department is seeking a qualified HVAC Mechanic. The minimum requirements include a High School Diploma or GED equivalent. A minimum of three (3) years experience in HVAC installation and control systems is required. Two (2) years experience in industrial or commercial HVAC is preferred.
Position: Mechanic, Air Conditioner/Heat
Salary: $43,111.20 to $58,665.60”
Chime in teachers and tell us the service you get from HVAC. Their position requires a high school diploma and 3 years experience. Most of you will NEVER make the salary an HVAC employee makes.
The BOE wants to cut teacher salaries and teacher positions. Now you know why outsourcing is a great idea. If this doesn’t make you want to write your BOE members, I don’t know what will.
Gee, if we offered a vocational tech school, maybe we could supply people for these jobs!! There are a lot of college-educated people going "back to school" to learn a trade - and this is why!
Each classroom in the schools get to go to Fernbank one time each semester. If more is available, as a teacher, I am not aware of it. The hands on programs are great. The planetarium needs updating, and isn't as educational as I would prefer.
It would be ashame and a great loss if the district gets rid of Fernbank, but budget decisions have to be made. I hope that if they do away with Fernbank, that America's Choice, Esis, and other useless programs go along with it.
We cannot save everything and there are things that should go before Fernbank, however Fernbank isn't going to raise our property values or give our kids a better education visiting a couple times a year.
Regarding increasing classroom pupil teacher ratio:
If the BOE were really concerned about class sizes and ensuring teachers could provide individual help for struggling students, they would have cut, consolidated and outsourced in every area but the classroom. I think we need a BOE that puts the classroom first.
Please email your BOE members and also email our new interim superintendent Ms. Ramona Tyson.
Ms. Tyson's email is Ramona_Tyson@fc.dekalb.k12.ga.us. I'm sure she would be like to hear comments from DeKalb parents and taxpayers regarding the budget proposals
Is Montessori really worth keeping? Let's see the evidence that Montessori leads to improved outcomes.
NO TAKE HOME CAR'S FOR ANY SCHOOL RESOURCE OFFICERS!!!
Actually, the public deserves to see a list of every DCSS employee who has a take home vehicle!!
@anon 5:02
agree with the need for objective validation for montessoris; however, i was impressed by some of the statements that were made at the meeting earlier this week
if they can exist in the dcss structure and it is an equitable distribution of resources, go for it
a bigger issue that the board does not have the guts to take on is the magnets. those parents are more vocal than than the montessori parents and the board members are afraid of them - there is your real case for " show me the numbers" as i understand it, they have not done any follow up studies on the magnet children to show that the class ratios, etc make any difference ( just ask the county ) - that is the real violator of inequal distribution of resources
i am not trying to pull down their empire, i actually love the concept , i just have an issue that all the qualified students cannot have that level of services and the other students in the county lose resources because of it
Robert Walker, please speak.
Phil 1:3
For objective validation of the success of the magnet high schools (eg Chamblee HS, SWD HS, IB, even DSA), take a look at EOCT, SAT scores, AP test scores, number of National Merit Semi Finalists, and college acceptances.
For objective validation of the students in magnet programs, take a look at their standardized test scores in their home schools before they were enrolled in the magnet program. Their scores were as high in their home schools as they are in the magnet program.
Please take a look at EOCT, SAT scores, AP test scores, number of National Merit Semi Finalists, and college acceptances of gifted and high achieving students in the regular schools in DCSS. You will find them equally impressive.
I taught high achievers and gifted for 11 years in DeKalb County in low income, middle income and high income schools. Gifted and high achievers will be gifted and high achievers not matter where they go to school. They're just concentrated in one location in magnet programs. That's the real secret to success in magnet schools.
Fact is, DCSS does no real scientific and objective evaluation of any of their programs so it is impossible to know if the programs are improving anything. People were swayed about Montessori by remarks from vocal parents, not by any hard evidence. The program costs $600K, not a small sum, compared to some of the other things that are being cut. DCSS is unwilling to learn by studying successful models in other states. This is why GA is last in education, and will never be able to compare to Maryland, Massachusetts, Illinois, Colorado, etc., etc.
Every kids needs to have the opportunity to be challenged to the greatest extent possible. Education in not and should not be "one size fits all."
Lets be honest (or awake) about the real benefit of charters, Monte's, themes.
THEY ARE INITIATED TO KEEP PARENTS FROM FLEEING THE PUBLIC schools.
Read between the lines from the ladies at Huntley Hills--they are really just saying that more neighborhood kids are staying. That's the value, folks.
You want an objective measure--count neighborhood kids "before Monte" and "after Monte". Does it improve scores? It's the fastest and most effective improvement that can be made.
@The Mommy, Mar 2, 06:58
"Title 1 monies cannot be used to replace what the school district is required to spend. Each year, the Feds audit Title 1 spending and schools. DCSS must be in compliance or the funding is revoked."
We may met that criteria--but the Feds aren't asking the right questions.
How about--"how is it that DeKalb has so many Title 1 students and schools?"
(It's an industry folks, just like prisons)
Title 1 is just an incentive for schools to manufacture more Title 1 students in a jurisdiction.
It is simple--just two ways of many:
(1) recruit people to sign up for free and reduced lunches;
(2) Invite people from other counties to fill seats.
(3) Help insiders build more apartments aimed at low-income residents--or downgrade market apartments to low-income subsidies.
This is the biggest racket DeKalb has going--and its been going for ever.
Unfortunately, the DOE doesn't look at this, it will take the FBI and US Justice Dept.
(they ain't coming for obvious reasons).
I long to teach in an environment where there are truly no excuses. No excuses for bullying. No excuses for why students are not learning. No excuses for disruptive or violent behavior. No excuses why the ceiling leaks. No excuses period.
I long to teach in an environment where the teachers, administrators, and paras are also studying, learning, and practicing the craft of teaching by reading and studying the latest research and figuring out how they can use this knowledge to improve their classroom instruction.
I long to teach in an environment where administrators put the needs of the children they are serving above those to keep a job, realizing that if DeKalb doesn't want quality they don't want or need me.
I long to teach in an environment where parents care more about what their child is learning and not what grades they are earning.
I long to teach in an environment where I have the real materials that I need to do my job and not fancy computers, smart boards, and programs that I do not have to use properly or that my children are not ready to use as they do not know the basics.
I long to teach in an environment where the state standards are the minimum of knowledge a child should learn in that grade level and the not the only thing.
I long to teach in an environment where honesty is the rule and not the exception. The lying on lunch forms, about gas, construction projects, why bullying students stay, why bad teachers stay, is a crime and not only ultimately effects the children, but also the entire integrity of the system and worker morale.
I long to teach in an environment where students with disabilities are helped and given instruction that meets their needs for their disability and allows them to return to the regular education classroom.
I long to teach in an environment that realizes that quality instruction trumps giving students months of CRCT practice before the test.
I long to teach in an environment where I look forward to going to work every day, because the building is clean, the ac/heat is going to work, I don't have to worry about mold, or why I am constantly sick and cannot get rid of the illness that I had before Christmas break, got rid of during Christmas break, and had return the first week back after Christmas and continue to have now.
I long to teach in an environment where I am trained by the professional and not a fellow teacher who has had a training lasting several days long that is boiled down to 45 minutes, is unsure of how to present the material to us, and does not fully understand what she is teaching herself because things weren't working right for her when she was training to train us or she wasn't able to get her questions answered because she was trained by someone from the board who was trained by the company.
I long to teach in an environment where teachers teach and treat their students the way they would want their own child to be treated and talked about.
I long to teach in an environment where poor teaching, and poor attitude about the children we are serving is not tolerated.
I long to teach in an environment where students know that every day is a fresh day and that no matter what happened before, they are still loved and will be treated with respect.
I long to teach in an environment where I would want to send my own child to that school because I realize that learning is the priority and that he will indeed receive the quality education that he not only deserves, but that I want for him to be able to succeed in the future.
I long to teach in an environment where teachers aren't talking about the latest newspaper headline, but the break through that they have made with a difficult child.
I love to teach in an environment where students are put first when making a decision.
I long to teach.
Title 1 is a racket in every school system that qualifies for it across the country. It isn't just DeKalb, it is no worse nor no better here.
This is a federal entitlement (the free breakfast/lunch part) that the feds are afraid to more closely regulate by requiring proof of income.
To the teacher at 7:59 AM who posted the eloquent poem - I pray that you sent it to each member of the board. If not, click the link on the home page just above the recent comment on the right hand side and send an email to the entire board. Your comment is very powerful.
My point about objective data to support magnets.... Nada Nothing that the county does to track sustained gain from all of that county money spent on a small percentage of lottery winners. And the scores, really, is that a surprise ? Magnets are a county created, high test scoring school. Do you think it is so we can all feel premiere?
I never had too much of a bone to pick with magnets or montessoris despite the inequities. But, the time has come. How in the world to you get the board to listen to a very simple and obvious fact. DCSS cannot and should not afford specialty programs at the expense of other children, Please, Please, let Ms Tyson and the board know that it is an outrage to raise the number of children in our classrooms while we fund magnet classrooms at 1-18 !
Another comment comparing AP at at least one private school versus public school (DeKalb in particular) -- we were just invoiced for the 2 AP exams our child is taking in May to the tune of $178 ($89 per test) - can't take the test without us pre-paying for it (even after our large tuition payment) -- guess who is paying these test fees in DeKalb? Ever see an invoice for your child -- for those of you who have high school kids in DeKalb who have taken AP classes -- for the test fees? Have they earned enough credit to place out of the class in college (if they are now old enough to have gone through this process)? If so, how much did you save on that college course? Worth $89?
Another DeKalb HS story -- I just heard that a teacher gave keys to an out of district kid to the locker room, kid went into the locker room and ransacked locked lockers and stole things and poor mom isn't getting getting anywhere with admin. getting her child's stolen cell phone and other property back or the name of the kid who was given the keys. Kid is in fear of being beaten up if s/he complains too loudly -- mom doesn't know what to do... (this is in one of our "good" schools). PS -- this happened to my kid a few years ago at the same school.
UPDATE: Here is a link to the press release about this event -
http://www.dekalb.k12.ga.us/newsroom/press/pdf/2010-03-26.2010-04-02.Title_I_Conference_Provides_Parent_Resources.pdf
"The morning began with keynote speaker Dr.
Alduan Tartt, psychologist, motivational speaker
and author of The Ring Formula: How to Marry
Mr. Right. A dynamic speaker, Dr. Tartt urged
parents to be involved in their children’s lives.
“We have to get back to doing family because we
are losing our kids,” he told the attendees.
“Parenting is something you have to figure out,
trial by fire. I want to help the parents out by
helping them to understand that it is important to
go back to doing family: set high expectations,
hold our kids accountable, love and praise them
so they can get back on honor roll and we can
establish our kids as leaders.”"
gavirtualshool.org website does NOT WORK PROPERLY.
lowell@speakeasy.net
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