Sunday, August 8, 2010
Latest blather on the indictments
If anyone is interested, today's AJC hosts yet another article about Pat Pope/Reid. Now, we are treated to a journey into her past, highlighted with a photo of her as a high school cheerleader and interviews with her former teachers. (Yawn.) So far we have probed as much as I think we all care to probe into the details of this woman. Just get the trial on the road please. We really want to move on.
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47 comments:
While I agree that citizens probably want the trial to happen sooner rather than later, it does provide additional personal insight to Reid that we probably did not know. I read about a driven woman who wanted to succeed in a male dominated industry. I'm sure her gender and skin color made it tougher to be accepted however it seems that she had success as the article referred to her as a rising start in the construction industry.
The recent Shirley Sherrod situation should have taught everyone about rushing to judgment without having all of the facts and both sides of the story. All we know now are the allegations that have been reported by the AJC and from the deposition. We have not heard her side of the story. I'm willing to hear it before passing judgment on the allegations. Remember, Ms. Sherrod was asked to resign before her side of the story got out.
Yeah, but many of us have dealt with Ms. Pope/Reid/Whatever before and the lies and the arrogant attitude were there the whole time. I have no doubt that, had she not been indicted and let go, she would have done even more damage to DCSS than was done in order to enrich herself and her friends. Furthermore, Ms. Sherrod showed, according to those who worked with her and whose behalf she worked, dignity and compassion. She used her political clout for good.
Comparing Pat Reid/Pope to Ms. Sherrod is ridiculous, and shows that you never were personally exposed to the corrosive character of Pat Reid/Pope. Few of us who had dealt with her were surprised when the story broke.
Some prominent members of this blog even gave her the benefit of the doubt, for a while. Then they learned what we all knew. No one's rushing to judgment here.
Ms Sherrod was smeared by a biased, wing nut for the purpose of discrediting the government and stirring up racial problems.
Ms Pope/Reid was indicted by a grand jury.
These two incidents (Sherrod and Pope/Reid) have nothing in common.
Very poor (misleading?) analogy.
As someone who has dealt with Pope/Reid, she was always incredibly arrogant, rude and condescending. She absolutely hated having to deal with school parents and principals. She never listened to anyone else and she was always right in her mind. Convicted or not, Thank the lord she'll never work for DCSS again.
It's hilariously ironic that Crawford Lewis was the one who invited her to work for DeKalb, and her shenanigans brought him down (along with his questionable gas usage for his DCSS vehicle and his to booty call trips with DCSS staffers to two resorts while his wife was at home battling cancer on his DCSS p-card).
Thank you anony 4:33 you are so right. Pat is a cold hearted person and she only cares for herself. If lewis had listen to some people that wrote him letters maybe this would not have happen, but then we did not know he was in on it. Pat and the other three need to go to jail no question in my mine. The four took from children and for that jail is the place for them.
I went shopping today and watching the parents in the stores trying to get what there kids need with little money made my heart ace. This should not be with all the taxes we pay. So don't asked me for any sympathy for those clowns.
We are living in some very hard times and the money they went to parties, trips, cars, gas,etc should have been helping our children. Pat and the rest of the clowns hell is to good for you.
Anon 5:19,
Do you know what an indictment is? It is a formal accusation that a person has committed a crime. It does not say they are guilty, just an accusation. Was Shirley Sherrod accused of something that caused her superiors to ask her to resign? Some might call that an indictment though not by a grand jury.
The post at 4:17 in no way compared Pope/Reid to Sherrod, just the situation. With both indictments, we have not heard the other side of the story. When we did with Sherrod, we found out the story was out of context. At this time we have not heard from Pope/Reid thus don't know how this will turn out. All we have is the indictment/allegations.
Yes, anon 6:05, I think we all are VERY aware what an indictment is.
I think you are very confused if you consider a legal indictment the same thing as a smear job (doctored clips posted on a website in order to make someone seem racist.)
If you believe Pope/Reid is not guilty, was a wonderful employee of Dekalb or whatever, good for you, but lets leave Sherrod out of it, shall we? The two situations are not analogous at all.
Anon 6:21, actually the point is that in this great country, EVERYONE is INNOCENT until proven guilty. It has nothing to do with race, color, creed, religion, personality or whether we like someone. There is always a presumption of innocence.
Ms. Sherrod was only brought up because MANY presumed she was a racist based on the clip initially provided. Admittedly I was one of them. When the full story came out, I like many, had to do some self reflecting based on my initial assumptions.
Pope/Reid has been indicted and we have not heard her side of the story. Those are the only facts that exist at this time so she should be presumed innocent until a jury of her peers decides otherwise after hearing the facts of the case along with her side of the story. Can you agree with that?
Are there any comparisons between Morcease Beasley and Pat Pope out there? Do they share important personality traits? I assume that Beasley wins on financial honesty here. Those who have known the two or worked for both: what say you?
Anonymous 5:33 PM
I also went shopping with children today to buy school supplies and was amazed at the same thing.
Parents cannot afford basis supplies for their children now.
However, I can also say this is the first time in years that I was worrying about the same thing. Will my husband have a job next week? What is going to happen with the economy? When are things going to turn around and get better?
It is hard to feel sorry for individuals.
It is hard to feel sorry for Ms. Pope after seeing parents stuggle so.
A blogger above said:
"Ms Sherrod was smeared by a biased, wing nut for the purpose of discrediting..."
This may not be a basis for comparison to Pat Pope/Reid, but it is a comparison for many similar DCSS stories. Innocent people have been framed and thrown under the bus ... and no one was interested in hearing their side of the story.
We've been underemployed for 2 and a half years. We find it interesting that the school supply list gets longer and longer. I am also outraged that teachers remain responsible for so much in their class rooms. I thank God that our PTA have enough funds to be able to provide each of our teachers with a stipend so they can go out and supply their rooms with the necessities. We also have parents that help with additional help. Even more this year since the half of our Para Pros have been laid off.
One thing for sure, I DO NOT feel sorry for Pope/Lewis or anyone else on the BOE or in our former Super's cabinet. They are a bunch of immoral lackeys who should resign immediately. Like a poster on another blog said, these folks are like a cancer, until every cell is eliminated the cancer is NOT gone.
Tyson, Turk, Moseley, Thompson, Mitchell, Ramsey, Beasley, Guilroy's and Edwards as well as other friends and family, we know who you are and we are watching you closely. Do the DeKalb taxpayers a favor and resign, until this happens it's business as usual at the DCSS.
Folks let's give our media some great video Monday at the Board Meeting and protest and have signs with, Zepora says "I'll slug you!" Sticks, stones and slugs might break our bones but our BOE days are numbered. Vote the bums out this November. We must outnumber the members of New Birth!
After reading the AJC article about Patricia Berry/Clark/Pope/Reid it is evident that she has not been able to have a stable relationship her entire adult life. Her first life partner is serving back to back federal prison sentences for insurance fraud and attemted murder. She owed back state and federal taxes in the early 90's in Illinois. She then filed for bankruptcy with 10 times more debt than assets owned. All of this happened before she moved to Atlanta for a fresh heist/start. She used her experience in a defunct/bankrupt construction company in Chicago to get a job with a well respected Atlanta company Beers Construction. (I would love to see her resume that she submitted to get that job!) That is where she first met David Moody, CEO of CD Moody Construction. One of the construction compaines associated with the entire corruption and misuse of funds with DCSS. How he has avoided any charges and indictments boggles my mind. Did he accept a plea bargain? Also, someone please tell me that Pat Reid's assistant, Cointa Moody, who is also under indictment is not related to this guy!
Then she meets a fundraising official from Morehouse College, marries him and was divorced with 24 months. Another failed relationship. He isn't discussing anything about her and has distanced himself as far from her as possible. So far he is the least affected by her. A couple of years and employers later she meets the infamous Tony Pope, her next accomplice / victim. She went to work for his architecture firm as VP, COO. Only 8 months after she left his firm to work for DCSS, his firm owed over $350,000 in federal taxes. Now she faces up to 115 YEARS in federal in federal prison.
She sounds like she was a great kid, but she has lied, cheated and failed in every aspect of her adult life.
As Anon 6:05 stated previously, "All we have is indictment/allegations."
I for one can't wait to hear her side of the story.
I suggest DCSS should do criminal and credit background checks on all current and future employees.
This is currently a federal and state law/requirement to be employed in any financial services industry. Any person who can't handle their own finances or abide by the laws should not be employed by the taxpayers and entrusted with the well being of our children. Much less our tax dollars. Has anyone heard of Dekalb County Commissioner Sharon Barnes Sutton?
I apologize for the lengthy, time consuming post, but I had to get this off my mind before my kids start school tomorrow in an overcrowded, underfunded, understaffed wonderful elementary school here in Dekalb. I will support my kids and their school to the fullest. Just like every other parent on this blog.
Good night and god bless.
We do have a legal system where people are considered innocent until proven guilty, even those who are jerks, arrogant, and insensitive. Or downright offensive. Thank goodness you don't have to be cool and popular to receive a fair verdict, although people with charm probably do better even there.
On another note, as a teacher in DCSS, I am sorry for what lies ahead in the next few weeks for parents as they discover the full impact of all the cuts. Crowding, shortage of supplies (now many schools have told teachers that we won't be reimbursed if we purchase supplies out of our own money). For many classes, you just can't accurately estimate how much of certain supplies you'll need, especially in science classes. Especially when you suddenly receive 3 new students midway through an experiment...Many teachers are saying, "we just won't be able to do it" without least reimbursement for small but necessary purchases. With no raises for 4 years and now a salary cut, there is simply a limit. We will do our best and we feel that we and parents are on the same team. It's just that we're playing against the Board and the Administration--and they make all the rules!
Pope/Reid what ever, thought she was Pharaoh and she wanted every one to neal as the Hebrew Slaves did. Well moses came along and party the sea and set us free. I am just glad that she will never work for dekalb and i truly hope she goes to jail for the rest of her life. Working for her was pure hell. She left so much pain that some people may never get over it.The things she did affected the homes of many. I have seen the things with my own eyes takeing jobs from people who did not deserve to lose there job. So let the trail begin.
By the way we have all had bad things to happen in our lives , but it does not give you the right to steal from children or any one else. Pat made her choices so deal with it.
If parents and teachers were on the same team as Teaching Science in DeKalb suggests, parents would have pushed for either a millage increase or additional program cuts. The fact is that revenues declined due to the current economic situation. In fairness to the BOE and administration, they had nothing to do with that. Add to that increases in utilities and supplies, cuts had to be made.
With declining revenues and increasing operating expenses, what would you suggest the BOE do? What DCSS is facing is being repeated across the metro area and country.
The BOE had nothing to do with the economy going south. However, they had everything to do with their hiring of people who had no idea what they were doing, paying them 6 figure salaries and when they had a chance to correct it 4 years ago, after the Ernst and Young audit, they decided to turn a blind eye on Crawford Lewis, who squashed that audit and now they are paying for their poor decisions.
That audit discovered that our central office was bloated and we could cut 15 million dollars of salaries, instead Crawford cut 1 million, took the audit offline and told the BOE that all was well.
This BOE also allowed Clew & Tyson to lay off Para Pros However they kept the waste in transportation, they kept wasting taxpayer money with friends and family on the payroll, friends and family who had no business working at the Central Office.. They also took SPLOST money meant to improve schools and built a palace on Mtn Industrial that will have nothing to do with improving our childrens education.
The taxpayers of deKalb are on the same team, it's the bloated Central Office and BOE who is not on the OUR team. Good grief, did Robert Moseley, Alice Thompson or Ramona Tyson write the last post? It really doesn't matter, however if you work for DCSS please resign!
I would suggest to the BOE to cut spending on frivolous items and NOT raise taxes. Geez, six figure salary for a wellness director who has two other jobs? 6 figure salary for a person, who is daughter of a former BOE member, to run a cable access channel? 6 figure salary for an "ethics attorney" who does not list his job at DCSS, but is a state senator and who did a lousy job recognizing that CLew and Pope were robbing us blind?
This is not a time to raise taxes on DeKalb taxpayers. It's not Moseley who wrote this, it had to be Eugene Walker, he loves to raise taxes so he can raise his expense account so he can go to dinner in nicer restaurants.
Well, here's a thought about Pat Pope's fate.
She's hired BJ Bernstein to defend her. Excellent attorney with a proven track record of running rings around the hapless DeKalb DA's office.
I'm now willing to bet a significant amount of money that Pat Pope beats the rap and walks free.
The best the taxpayers can hope for is if BJ cuts a deal with the DA for Pat to testify against CLew. Otherwise, CLew will probably beat the wrap as well.
THEN the BoE can hire him back to be the superintendent of our premier DeKalb County schools!
@ Anonymous 11:13 pm
"With declining revenues and increasing operating expenses, what would you suggest the BOE do? What DCSS is facing is being repeated across the metro area and country. "
When I first saw this coming and my son, a DCSS teacher asked if it would affect the classroom, I said no - the Central Office and Support was so overstaffed and overpaid that they could easily cut those areas before they cut classrooms, and that's what they would be forced to do. Boy, was I mistaken. We have less teachers than we had in 2004, but thousands more in admin and support. Mrs. Tyson puts our Central Office numbers at 1239 and our teachers at less than 6500.
Please look at the average salary discrepancy for the 2008-09 school year (we've lost over 300 teachers since then):
*534 Certified DCSS administrators (2009 average $91,296)
*939 Certified Support ($65,653)
6,886 Certified Teachers ($54,586)
*These certified personnel represent 1473 employees that hold teaching certificates but never teach a child.
(source: Ga DOE http://public.doe.k12.ga.us/ReportingFW.aspx?PageReq=102&CountyId=644&T=1&FY=2009)
America's Choice is $8,000,000 and is coming up for renewal.
Another $8,000,000 a year goes for the 80 non-teaching Instructional Coaches who are needed to support America's Choice.
DCSS spent $11,000,000 for eSis and SchoolNet, technology that has not delivered the benefits Mrs. Tyson told the BOE it would. We're still on the hook for more money as we struggle to pay for these systems.
Springboard is $1,400,000. I imagine that will also be spent this year to continue another expensive scripted learning program teachers do not support and has not proved beneficial for students.
62 non-teaching Instructional Coordinators account for over $7,200,000 a year in salary and benefits.
13 non-teaching Literacy coaches cost approximately $1,000,000 in salary and benefits.
48 non-teaching Graduation Coaches
costs around $3,500,000 in annual salary and benefits.
Fernbank Science Center costs DCSS around $7,000,000 a year and has only 28 teachers.
There are 61 employees alone in Human Resources representing over $4,500,000 in salaries and benefits. And this figure does not include maintaining the automatic sub finder or the MIS employees devoted to programming, etc.
A good start would be to review the 2004 Ernst and Young independent Compensation and Classification audit that Jim Landry, the auditor's consultant, said showed 2,400 non-teaching personnel were being overpaid by approximately $15,000,000 a year.
I think there are many way to trim. Thank you for asking.
Anon 11:13, this is the most exposing accounting of the waste and fat at the administrative level of DCSS I have seen. Where did you get this specific information? When is the BOE meeting tonight?
Thank you Anon 11:59!! Great summary of the waste and graft. It has NOTHING to do with the economy. It has EVERYTHING to do with the tens of millions the Lewis administration has spent on a bloated, overpaid non-teaching bureaucracy and ridiculous and unproductive mega-purchases such as America's Choice, eSIS, etc.
Read that 11:59 post again, Anon 11:13 PM. Also, we have a much less productive and competent administration and staff because family, friends, sorority sisters/fraternity brothers, and New Birth Church members have been hired and promoted not because of merit, but because who they are and who they know. Jamal Edwards, Frankie Callaway and Yvonne Butler being examples No. 1, 2 and 3.
E-mail everyone you know and tell them to watch CBS 46 at 11 pm tonight! Then check ebay for "I'm Gonna Slug You" t-shirts!!
Nice list Anon. 11:59! I'm glad I read that this morning instead of last night. That list would have given me nightmares.
I love this program called America's Choice. Obama does not want anyone to have any choice! He defunded the schools in DC, that were making the difference. I am convinced that all the Dems want to do is fund their precious unions so at election time they can fund their campaigns.
DCSS & BOE the gig is up! We're watching and WILL hold you accountable. Maybe we can take advice from Zepora and if you do raise our taxes to line your pockets we just might "Slug you" right out of office....
Good grief! STOP THE SPENDING!
Look at the top AJC DeKalb vent:
http://projects.ajc.com/vent/metro/dekalb/2010/08/09/#949910
"I'm Gonna Slug You" will live forever!!
Anon 11:59 put together a good list however...
*Yes there is fat in the central office (and elsewhere in the district). Personnel cuts were made however citizens seem to want certain people cut instead of those deemed to be excess. As with any personnel cut, you get rid of the person but not the tasks they perform. What happens to those tasks, they go on the plates of employees that remain. More cuts are needed in this area but what impact will it have on customer service and employee productivty?
*America's Choice is funded with federal tax dollars and does not come out of the DCSS operating budget. If you simply eliminated that program, what would you do to replace the resources you no longer have? What impact would that have on student learning unless you replaced it with something else? Your points about the value of the program may be right on but eliminating it and replacing it with something else could be a net zero with costs. Perhaps the Instructional Coaches could go into the schools to help with the student-teacher ratios and provide greater value.
*Fernbank was brought up before and there was a storm of criticism on this blog about possible cuts to it. Being pragmatic, it seems as though it should be cut but how do you measure the true value Fernbank provides for DCSS and the surrounding community?
*Most would agree that a good start would be to review the 2004 Ernst and Young independent Compensation and Classification audit however it is woefully outdated and needs to be performed again. A few years ago Dr. Lewis suggested performing this again at a cost of about $750,000 The Board at that time balked citing the expense. Surprising there was not an outcry from the community because they say it as an expense rather than investment. Can we say shortsighted???
Long and short, there are institutional behaviors in DCSS that have much history. While many say they want change, when change can directly impact them, everyone begins screaming and complaining and justifying why there program/personnel/area should not be touched. The squeaky wheel is alive and well in DeKalb.
We have the BOE we have because citizens are not engaged enough to want to make a difference and vote for people that can represent their interests. In most cases, it is easy to sit back and complain about what others should be doing. Let's see what the turnout will be in November. I'd like to be wrong on this.
Good post Anon 11:59 PM. You summed up many of our discussions in one swift comment.
Two points - Yes, we DEFINITELY want and need another audit. This is a great question to ask candidates - are you going to push for an audit to identify salary bloat?
And the point we always maintain about America's Choice and other "supervisory" programs is that we think things worked better when that Title 1 money was spent on support teachers directly in the classroom. We think it's quite obvious that we need to use that money to offer double-time on reading and math to struggling students in Elementary and Middle schools. They are obviously not getting the early education they need, as we watch them crash and burn in high school.
The Central Office personnel cuts were minimal, at best! Plus, your comment about what do we do with the programs when we defund them. What are you talking about? If you don't fund them, you do not do them, sounds simple to me.
We have so many programs at the DCSS, I guarantee you that the BOE can not describe half of them.
We want responsible spending and we want any spending to be done for the classroom and the teachers. How hard is that to understand?
Effects on customer service? We don't have customer service now, out of the central office. Emails go unanswered, we're called names for bringing up problems. We're threatened when we come with facts in hand about certain programs. So please DCSS needs to improve customer service, however, I think taxpayers would be happier if we did not see the nepotism and cronyism that runs rampant in our system.
I can't wait to see the Channel 46 piece tonight, Reporter Wendy Saltzman needs to continue to ask the tough questions, even if she does get slugged by Zepora Roberts.
@ Anonymous 6:37
Sources:
DCSS website
Georgia DOE
State of Georgia Salary and Travel audit 2009
All state and local information posted on the Internet by the various governmental bodies and departments.
Thanks Anon 9:22! Let's keep the flow of information going!
48 non-teaching Graduation Coaches
costs around $3,500,000 in annual salary and benefits.
You don't know much about how education works. Graduation coaches are state mandated and funded positions. DCSS had no choice but to have them.
I think there are many way to trim. Thank you for asking.
Federal dollars , Title I, pays for America's choice and even if you didn't use it then it would be spent in some other formula way- so you can't "save money" by not having America's choice.
One of the threelaws of Thermodynamics is that there is no free lunch in nature. The truth is that if we cut every wasted penny out of the budget, we'd still need more. The great American myth is that we can cut taxes and have more services. Let us cut ourselves into prosperity.
The way we fund our schools now has actually led to this mess we have. Our graduates become our leaders of tomorrow. Just as the leaders of today were produced by these underfunded schools. Teach for America takes only the best-none of whom are certified as teachers-and they produce the best results. Once we start really respecting education, pitch in, and stop complaing maybe we will return to being a nation where education matters rather than a nation obessed with Lindsay Lohan.
Hey Anon 12:21 (or DCSS Central Office administrator):
Yes, we could save a ton of money but not spending Title 1 funds on Sh$% like America's Choice. Title 1 funds are allowed to be spent on a large variety of items, including computer labs. Principals should be allowed to have say in Title 1 spending, and they should be directed to schools instead of the Central Office.
However, the Central Office mafia, Crawford Lewis, Ramona Tyson, Marcus Turk, Bob Moseley, Gloria Talley, etc. saw millions of federal dollars and decided to add to their power base. The last thing we needed were millions spent on America's Choice, the trip to California for AC traning, etc.
Title 1 monies should and could be focused on spending in the schools. But our BOE allowed the Lewis administration to manipulate Title 1 to their own personal agenda's. It's no coincidence that DCSS spent millions on America's Choice after a top Central Office administrator was hired by AC.
The Central Office is agressive with dismissing parents like myself who question the wasteful, massive, silly expenditures of Title 1. Guess what? The parents are almost always right. The Central Office and BOE would keep Title 1 spending completely out of the public purview if they could.
Paul Womack is as crazy as Zepora:
http://www.myfoxatlanta.com/dpp/news/local_news/DeKalb-Schools-Face-Major-Challenges-20100809-am-sd
Just saw the CBS 46 Zepora video. OMG!
Is it "I am going to slug you" or "Im gonna slug ya"???
All I'm saying is Tom Bowen better step up on this one.
@ Teaching Science in DeKalb
I can't even imagine trying to run a lab with 36 students. That doesn't sound safe.
@ Anonymous 12:05
Post 2:
Why couldn't DCSS counselors take over some of the responsibilities of the Graduation Coaches? After all, teachers have been asked to take on more students and more responsibility. We have 267 counselors for 140+ schools. These counselors cost us $22,500,000 a year in salary and benefits. $84,269 per counselor versus the average teacher's pay of $65,000 (source: State Salary and Travel audit and DCSS Interim Superintendent proposed 2011 budget cut spreadsheet).
Another area that is redundant (i.e. Social Workers and Counselors both perform these functions) is the Parent Resource Centers program. There are 73 employees staffing the Parent Resource Centers and they cost $4,500,000 in salary and benefits. One of the Center coordinators is the daughter of a BOE member - a touchy subject judging what happened on TV.
MIS is another department that we do not get good value from. This department has 290 employees (although some lower paid schoolhouse employees were recently laid off) and costs around $19,000,000 a year in salary and benefits (around $65,000 per employee). This department gave us eSIS and SchoolNet. Consider that DELL does all the installations and major repairs for the computers and ActivBoards, and you have millions more in SPLOST funds.
Let's also look at DCSS Security:
Gwinnett County Schools with 150,000 students to our 100,000 has 49 Security personnel for a cost of $2,500,000 in salary and benefits. This is an average of $51,000 per Security employee.
DCSS has 218 Security employees at a cost of $12,500,000 in salary and benefits to serve 40 schools. This is an average of $57,300 per Security employee.
(source: State Salary and Travel audit)
Please don't take my word for this. Look these figures up yourself by going to the website below and exporting the DCSS personnel compensation spreadsheet to an Excel document so you can sort, autosum and analyze these figures. The BOE our administration have these figures.
Now parents/taxpayers do too:
http://www.open.georgia.gov/
Title I funds could be used to hire extra teaching staff. Smaller class sizes help struggling students. A good teacher doesn't need a scripted program to identify where a child needs help. She needs time to work with that student.
I think we need to hyphen Mrs. Tyson to Ramona Tyson-Lewis. She probably still has him as #1 on her speed dial..
@ Anonymous 12:05
"You don't know much about how education works. Graduation coaches are state mandated and funded positions. DCSS had no choice but to have them."
I started teaching in a classroom in 1971 and finished as a teacher support employee so I do know a little bit about education.
My information comes from reputable sources such as local and state websites and recognized news media, and I only post positions.
I'm not "out to get" Graduation Coaches. I just think that the classroom is where our students spend 95% of their academic day, so cuts should come from the classroom only after as many cuts as possible to non-teaching positions. The BOE has given our superintendent the leeway to go to 36 students in high school math, social studies, science and Language Arts, and up to 39 students in the other subjects - a recipe for disaster for our students.
I do not think we will find the public anxious for tax increases after the gross mismanagement of our school system dollars.
Graduation coach funding was substantially cut by Perdue. Please reference how Whitfield County addressed this budget cut:
"An $8.6 million funding plunge spelled the end last year for Whitfield County's nine graduation coach posts, system spokesman Eric Beavers said......After considering what was best for students, we chose to exchange the nine graduation coach positions for teaching positions to keep teachers in the classroom," he said. "We were able to place five of the nine graduation coaches in other positions throughout the district."
http://www.allbusiness.com/education-training/education-systems-institutions/13989557-1.htm
I never saw the cheerleader picture ... where was it?
Click the words "today's AJC" in the original post and it will link you to the article. It's an old black and white photo. Click on it to see a larger version.
@ Anonymous 12:05 pm
"48 non-teaching Graduation Coaches
costs around $3,500,000 in annual salary and benefits.....You don't know much about how education works. Graduation coaches are state mandated and funded positions. DCSS had no choice but to have them."
I started teaching in a classroom in 1971 and finished as a teacher support employee so I do know something about education.
Graduation coach funding was substantially cut by Perdue. Please reference how Whitfield County addressed this budget cut:
"An $8.6 million funding plunge spelled the end last year for Whitfield County's nine graduation coach posts, system spokesman Eric Beavers said.......After considering what was best for students, we chose to exchange the nine graduation coach positions for teaching positions to keep teachers in the classroom," he said. "We were able to place five of the nine graduation coaches in other positions throughout the district."
http://www.allbusiness.com/education-training/education-systems-institutions/13989557-1.html
I seem to remember that the state funding for graduation coaches was cut, and DCSS has to pay them now. Check the budget debates from this past spring. The salaries were cut and the number of coaches was cut, but those remaining are still on the payroll.
DCSS just doesn't get it. How does the administration intend to keep the public informed about the SACS Response, the single most important issue facing the District ever?
If you want to see the detailed response, DCSS encourages you to file an Open Records Request, and pay $625 plus $14/hr for copying expenses for a copy of the filed document. Am I to assume this isn't already in electronic format and could be put on the web site or e-mailed for virtually nothing? Haven't the taxpayers already paid enough to the this thing put together in the first place.
Follow this link to the DCSS web page description:
http://www.dekalb.k12.ga.us/www/documents/sacs-casi-accreditation/dcss-response-to-sacs-casi-request-for-information-(2010-09-09).pdf
DCSS's new improved Open and Transparent policy is as closed and opaque as ever.
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