Interim Superintendant Tyson, described herself as a dedicated DCSS professional of 22 years who had experience with IBM at the request of the DCSS administration. She noted her commitment to her family, especially as a mother of two elementary school aged children. She stated that her goal was to do the best job possible while staying focused on the core business of DCSS and the students of DCSS. Specifically, she shared her goal to rebuild the trust of all stakeholders and especially the morale of DCSS employees.
She noted the pressing matter of balancing the budget for FY 2011 by June 30. DCSS BOE must approve a balanced budget noting the dire circumstance of the current economic situation. After the budget is approved, school consolidation must be addressed, and then the transition issues of current students in addition to preparing for the new students. This all must be done with a “laser-like focus on day-to-day operations.”
Ms. Tyson noted that there is presently an $88,000,000 shortfall and a DCSS proposal to reduce spending by $115, 000,000. This greater cut is in anticipation of historical state education funding cuts that occur during the summer time and negatively impact county budgets. While, DCSS prepares budgets, Ms. Tyson highlighted that ultimate decision making rests with the DCSS BOE.
Ms. Tyson spent some time clarifying information about DCSS employees. She noted that there are 15,859 employees of whom 13,873 are FT and 1986 are PT. She noted that 14,620 are school based employees and 1239 are in the central office which translates to approximately 7.8 % of central office employees. Of the central office employees, 982 are paid out of the general budget with local dollars and 257 are paid with federal dollars. Proposed budget reductions include the lay-offs of approximately 152 central office positions by 6-30-10.
While noting that budget reductions are necessary, compliance issues must be met to ensure funding and adherence to laws and standards. Ms. Tyson reiterated that her administration and the board would address these matters. Even after initial cuts, Ms. Tyson noted the on-going need to examine the central office structure from a business perspective in order to determine the need for additional cuts.
Interim Superintendant Tyson directed the audience to examine the school consolidation plans that are posted on the DCSS website http://www.dekalb.k12.ga.us/redistricting/. She noted that because of 11,000 empty seats in DCSS there is a corresponding loss of state entitlement dollars which places an undue burden on the district. She noted a recommendation to transition from middle and high schools having 2 planning periods per day to one planning period (i.e. from a 7 period day to a 6 period day) as a significant cost saving recommendation. Additionally, she noted that during this trying time that testing integrity has been a priority.
For the next 3-6 months, an uphill climb will continue with distractions. Ms. Tyson reiterated her commitment to improve integrity and keep distractions separated from the core business of education. She noted that the BOE will be communicating with the media and that she will be focusing on day-to-day operations.
Plan to attend the next ELPC meeting and ask Ms. Tyson to respond to questions regarding the progress of her promises.
Emory Lavista Parent Council
Join us at 9:15 am
(refreshments begin at 8:45 am)
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Oak Grove Elementary School
1857 Oak Grove Road, NE
Atlanta, Georgia 30307
Our guest speaker Ms. Ramona Tyson,
Interim Superintendent for DeKalb County Schools,
presents the State of the System
===
UPDATE: Ms. Tyson has already visited with the Dunwoody-Chamblee Parent Council. Dunwoody Mom has a report available at her blog, Dunwoody School Daze.
36 comments:
I'd like to know . . .
The BOE canceled payments to the Alternative Retirement System (at least for teachers) only later to find out that it was in breach of their own rules. They then promised to repay what was owed. Has this been done? What about the interest that would have been earned in these accounts?
Here's another question - from the Q&A minutes after the meeting (available at ELPC's website).
The priority will be to protect the services closest to students while conducting a forensic audit to examine programs that are not working.
Is a forensic audit in the works???
They are going to pay back the funds when they can. I think interest will be included... when they can pay it back.
At the Sept board meeting, the appointment of an auditor who will report to the Board is suppose to be announced.
I think people would trust an independent auditor first and foremost. I know the organizational chart says the auditor will report to the BOE, but on PATS the superintendent was listed as the position that the person reports to.
Ms. Tyson made sure that all the high paid salary employees at the central office were able to keep there jobs. (friends and family) The lay-offs involve all low salary employees. I know that the cuts were something that had to be done, but i do not beleave it was done fairly. The numbers don't come out as they should have. I know nothing will be done about this as i worked for the system and the friends and family always win.
Let me guess. The new auditor will be the CFO of New Birth.
I assure you, nothing has been done to address employee morale. If anything, it's worse this year thanks to Beasley (et al) and the new ideas. I'm all for the accountability (DCSS obviously needs it), but it's currently only focused on the teachers who are not the ones that broke the law. I'm afraid the system is going to implode.
Get a grip, employee morale had already taken a hit due to a combination of pay cuts, furlough days, and not having the retirement funded. Yes, the additional paperwork requirements adds to the frustration but low morale was already in place.
Why does everyone keep forgetting that the reasons school employees took a compensation hit because of the current mortgage crisis along with poor money management from past years. The school budget went down over 10% from the previous year.
I don't recall many citizens asking for a tax increase so that teachers can get a raise or at least not lose as much money.
These crooks who run DCSS are not getting another dime of my money until they become responsible. Wasting money on programs that have NO return on investment and do not help the students or teachers in the classrooms is ridiculous.
Dr Walker keeps wanting to raise my taxes, for their own pockets. Sorry guy, no more money until you can account for the 1.2 Billion you are spending this year. The build a palace that helps not one student in DCSS but it sure keep their posteriors more comfortable. They have AC, $2K chair and $35K lighting systems. How about enough books for the students? Enough seats for my kids to sit in? Conditions in the school are deplorable, excepot for those nice new buildings in some parts of the county. DCSS has gotten too large for these inept leaders to manage. They keep throwing money at programs, they say will help our kids, but the scores continue to plummet, more schools failing.
The money needs to reach the classrooms, until that happens nothing is going to change.
I'm not fan of Dr. Walker but I recall him asking for the tax increase so that they could hold onto additional paras and try to fund the teacher retirement.
Has anyone bothered to look at the human resources reports from July and August? You will see the list of people that got laid off, many from the central office. Some of you seem to be on a witch hunt after certain people rather more than anything else.
A tax increase was not needed to keep paras. The district needed to get rid of more of the higher paid administrators who are part of the friends and family program, but were unwilling to do so.
The problem is not having enough money, it is using the money that we have in a wise and sensible way that benefits the children. Our district is not willing to do this. They want to keep the status quo and raise the taxes, which is not going to solve any problems
This Board of Education will not hold her or any administrator accountable. So anything you hear from Tyson, Moseley, etc. is just "background noise".
@ 10:52 I'm lol because as I was reading the posts I was thinking the exact same thing. The auditor will very likely have ties to New Birth somehow, somewhere, sometime. It is business as usual for DCSS.
What people don't understand..is that they count all the maintenance staff at Samm Moss as administrative personnel, so they make cuts there and keep the bloated executives who do not do anything for the county.....
THERE IS NO NEED FOR ANY TAX INCREASE!!
This administration has wasted tens of millions. Look at the Ernst & Young salary survey. Look at the army of unproductive instructional whoever's. $2000 chairs and $300k for BOE TV lighting. Look at eSIS, America's Choice, etc. GET OVER IT! We do not need any tax increase, just a budget and administration that spends every penny wisely with a focus on the school house.
Anon 8:01 DeKalb is not in the business of employing people, but in educating our children and many in charge of the system and living in the district forget this. Our district expenses for employees is way out of line with the number of teachers in our district.
We have maintenance employees who BS instead of do their job. We have AC people who do not know what they are doing and therefore cannot fix the broken AC in our district, instead they pray that the weather will change and people will forget that it is not working. We have highly paid employees who are not truly qualified for their job and making way more money than any teacher with their experience. We have coaches who are paid more than any teacher, which is not done in any other district that I know of and I have teacher friends who are coaches across the country and they are paid on the teacher scale and have the same requirements that the teachers have.
Until our district is right sized and the people who do not know what they are doing are gone, we will have the same results. Our current situation isn't working for anyone other than the highly paid employees.
Taxes do not need to be increased. Money needs to be spent in a frugal way that benefits the children and not the pockets of employees.
Sam Moss can go. They aren't able to keep up with their work or get things fixed in a timely fashion. This can be shown time and time again. We have gotten rid of the people that knew what they were doing via Pat Pope and are left with the riff raff.
I don't care how Sam Moss employees are counted, as many are expenses that the district cannot afford to keep.
I think a review panel needs to assess the qualifications of hired central office personnel from top to bottom. There are too many waisted positions just riding/hiding out on the taxpayers dollars. These dollars should be used to purchase books/supplies/hire proper AC workers...etc.
Where is the sense of logic..even though they laid off in the central office the last two RIF cycles..however please note that the folks laid off were not a member of any DCSS family/friend. Those laid off salaries didn't scratch the surface of some of the overpaid individuals sitting in Title I, HR, OSI and a few other key locations in the central ofice palace.
There is so much waste in all areas of DCSS central that must be addressed from the mileage (workers running from central office to schools/parent centers),purchasing new equipment (chairs/desk, electronics (most of which goes unaccounted)), mail out of irrelevant information with bogus mailing addresses.
This all impacts the DCSS bottomline in a huge way. Please don't think these little charges doesn't add up because they do and have effected the DCSS bottom line.
So if they really want to audit something....let them begin with a company from out west that doesn't have a vested interest in DCSS or the state of Georgia.
The company should be impartial and can make the necessary cuts to staffing and find ways to run DCSS on a real budget like it's taxpaying citizens. they should learn to live on less as the citizens of Dekalb.
Instead of hiring a PR person they should take care of the immediate needs...fix the outpouring of money.
We're not on a witch hunt! We just want more fiduciary responsibility by our Central Office. Our MIS is a disaster, they move servers and yet do not tell anyone. Teachers update their websites for hours and yet, they disappear the next day. The Sam Moss Center has 60,000 work orders and stacking up everyday! HVAC systems not working, schools in disrepair, leaky roofs, mold and mildew everywhere The list goes on and on. They have a 1.2 Billion dollar budget. How come Gwinnett has fewer central Office employees, yet have a well run machine? Why do we pay a daughter, of a former BOE member, a 6 figure salary for a job where a comparable manager in the private sector, here in Atlanta, is paid 40% less? Why do we purchase America's Choice, or whatever it is, with NO return on investment?
Come on! They build a 30 million dollar palace, that will not help one student in the system and yet kids are sitting on floors, having to share text books and find computer systems woefully antiquated with no end in sight?
We have way too many managers and not enough lower level personnel to do the work! If our leadership was more transparent with OUR checkbook and didn't try and hide behind their high altitude/attitude dais in the Palace Board Room and stop threatening the very people they are suppose to serve then maybe I'd be willing to have my taxes raised. But I refuse to pay for Dr. Walker's expensive lunches, Clew's three tanks of gas a day, Clew's used cars, friends and family who are not qualified for the jobs they have been hired to do and books written by DCSS leaders, paid for twice over using OUR tax dollars.
A little sunlight on this BOE and the "Superintendent's cabinet" would be like a disinfectant, something DCSS has not bought for the school house in years. Smell a DCSS bathroom lately?
Our BOE members, Tyson, Turk, Moseley, Beasley, Thompson, Mitchell-Mayfield, Berry, Ramsey, Tucker, any Guilroy or Edwards family member, any sorority or fraternity member and any New Birth riff raff are NOT good stewards of OUR tax dollars. They do not deserve another dime and personally they all need to resign.
I was just thinking if they were all fired, New Birth might go under, since they would lose a lot of 10% tithes of these folks. We have an inept leadership and they do not get it! They never have gotten it! The only thing they need to get is a PINK SLIP!
Even if your kids are in schools that have been renovated, it's no guarantee that all is well. Under Pat Pope construction was shoddy. How many HVAC renos are working correctly?
Even if your kids are in schools that have been renovated, it's no guarantee that all is well. Under Pat Pope construction was shoddy. How many HVAC renos are working correctly?
In the end, Walker was only bloviating about a tax increase (campaigning really). In the end, he voted to keep magnet transportation over keeping parapros in regular classrooms. Do not listen to their words -- pay attention to how they actually vote.
The persistent and strong ties to New Birth are more troubling than the family hiring and nepotism. This is a public school system. DCSS should have no ties to any type of organized religion, period. Who cares about SACS - These church connections could take DCSS all the way to the Supreme Court.
I agree with 8.43 a.m., "Too many managers and not enough lower level personnel to do the work."
You can see that some of these high level jobs were created for family and friends. Several directors in one department. In the private sector, they have one director and lower level managers or co-ordinators. How many of these directors were laid off - none?
Check out some of these salary increases from 2003-2009
Name--2003--2009
Lewis, Crawford--111,665--287,991
Lewis, Harold--51,276--109,385
Tyson, Ramona--99,960--165,035
Mitchell, Felicia--94,732--125,284
Yvonne Sanders-Butler--85,428--112,956
Berry, Audria--83,008--116,314
Turk, Marcus--74,188--165,035
Moseley, Robert--104,255--165,039
Thompson, Alice--99,810--124,049
Moody, Cointa--32,773--92,192
Guillory, David--70,574--114,639
Guillory, Philandrea--64,392--114,627
Wilson, Jamie L, Jr.--85,902--165,035
Freeman, Timothy --104,973--124,049
Cere your salary post is appalling! I am going to have my 5th grader figure out a percentage increase for each person..
They have some real problems at sam moss. one they have a person who was a plumber, he is now a admin over the plumbing, hvac dept., carpentry and electrical. He has no special training and no education back ground in these field. The person in the warehouse in charge was a deliver person for furniture. The lady over text books came in as pope's admin assistant and then pope put her over the dept with a high paid salary after only a year. She has no training in that field. There was a dept that would take all emergency work orders and make sure that some one would go out to the schools. Pat got rid of the entire dept and the print shop. (lay-offs) They have a former principal in charge of the entire building.
Pope should never been in charge of the building she never even tried to find out what any of the people did and got rid of the people that did. But then she was so busy stealing money from our children.
When they did the lay-offs they included the sam moss center as the central office and this was a way too lay-off the low paid salaries out there and not lay-off the friends and family at the central office.
Know this the central office over paid friends and family will never be touch. We have to get a new board and a super who owes no favors. Lewis had many, many people he owed to get to be the super.
Does anyone know who now does the printing for DCSS since the DCSS printshop personnel were laid off?
Is it, by chance, now being done by the Processing Center?
@ Be True to Your School 6:35
Here are the BOE notes on who dos the printing. BTW Hugh Carter, former President Jimmy Carter's cousin, is the CEO of Darby Printing, one of the vendors chosen. Are they doing what they committed to do (see below):
System-wide Printing and Copier Services Contract Award
Rationale
To approve the award for various firms for System-wide Printing and Copier services.
Quick Summary / Abstract
Presented by: Ms. Patricia A. Pope, Chief Operations Officer
Summary
The award of this contract will provide for a safe and healthy learning environment by providing printing and copier services for all K-12 facilities and administrative centers.
Details
.... The awarded offeror(s) will be responsible for all standard activities necessary to ensure the success of the Program based on the Owner’s Criteria and Narrative Scope of Work; including, but not limited to, furnishing all personnel, equipment, and supplies necessary to comply with DCSS’s requirements for printing and binding services; typical printing industry services (typesetting, design, developing, color separations, offset/copy printing, bindery services such as stapling, laminating, padding, and stitching is required); monthly service reporting of printing activity at each school and/or facility is required; turnaround times should be available within 24 to 72 hours upon request of the school system; and online ordering.
Requested Action
It is recommended that the Board approve the award to various firms for system-wide printing and copier services. Interprint Communications, Darby Printing Company, Lyte Enterprises, LLC dba Minuteman Press, and Accurate Printers, Inc.; have all been deemed the most responsible and responsive offerors whose proposals are the most advantageous to the Board based on the evaluation factors, for the system-wide printing and copier service project.
See, here's the thing. DCSS is off on another HIRING round of "Instructional Coaches". I'm a DCSS teacher. The conventional wisdom in the upper echelon seems to be that AYP results indicate that TEACHERS" aren't doing their jobs well enough, and that's the reason why so many schools can't meet AYP requirements.
The truth about this is that another layer of coaches helping all us idiot teachers teach better isn't going to improve anything.
The FACT is that teachers are so completely over-burdened with the "process" of teaching, that actually DOING any teaching is taking a back seat.
For instance, I have to create a formal and very detailed weekly lesson plan that references standards, identifies all students with special needs, lists specific activities I plan to do, lists the resources I'll need, and outlines nearly every minute of my time in the classroom.
Then, every day my whiteboard must have my daily plan written on it, GPS standards posted, agenda for each class, homework listed and essential questions highlighted.
In addition, I must provide detailed documentation on the learning styles of each of the nearly 100 students in my classes, where they are falling short, why I think they are falling short, what I've done about it, and what I plan to do next about it.
On top of that, I must keep meticulous records of all parent contact made for more than 3 tardies, more than 3 absences, disciplinary action, tutorial assistance provided, makeup work assigned, grade recovery attempts allowed and remediation plans.
For those students who are failing my class, I must document my continuous response to their lack of progress.
And just in case that wasn't enough to keep me busy... I have to take attendance for each class on the computer, PLUS keep hard copy records of my own, grade papers and enter grades in the computer PLUS keep hardcopy records of my own, and file a never-ending stream of reports to our school administrators... who all think that it's no big deal to ask teachers to something else more often than I care to tell you.
The redundancy and wasted time and effort is extraordinary. The red-tape is frustrating and without repeal.
And oh yeah... I also teach students... when I can find the time.
See, here's the thing. DCSS is off on another HIRING round of "Instructional Coaches". I'm a DCSS teacher. The conventional wisdom in the upper echelon seems to be that AYP results indicate that TEACHERS" aren't doing their jobs well enough, and that's the reason why so many schools can't meet AYP requirements.
The truth about this is that another layer of coaches helping all us idiot teachers teach better isn't going to improve anything.
The FACT is that teachers are so completely over-burdened with the "process" of teaching, that actually DOING any teaching is taking a back seat.
For instance, I have to create a formal and very detailed weekly lesson plan that references standards, identifies all students with special needs, lists specific activities I plan to do, lists the resources I'll need, and outlines nearly every minute of my time in the classroom.
Then, every day my whiteboard must have my daily plan written on it, GPS standards posted, agenda for each class, homework listed and essential questions highlighted.
In addition, I must provide detailed documentation on the learning styles of each of the nearly 100 students in my classes, where they are falling short, why I think they are falling short, what I've done about it, and what I plan to do next about it.
On top of that, I must keep meticulous records of all parent contact made for more than 3 tardies, more than 3 absences, disciplinary action, tutorial assistance provided, makeup work assigned, grade recovery attempts allowed and remediation plans.
For those students who are failing my class, I must document my continuous response to their lack of progress.
And just in case that wasn't enough to keep me busy... I have to take attendance for each class on the computer, PLUS keep hard copy records of my own, grade papers and enter grades in the computer PLUS keep hardcopy records of my own, and file a never-ending stream of reports to our school administrators... who all think that it's no big deal to ask teachers to something else more often than I care to tell you.
The redundancy and wasted time and effort is extraordinary. The red-tape is frustrating and without repeal.
And oh yeah... I also teach students... when I can find the time.
amen, 12:59; i have to do what you do; in addition, my weekly/daily/minute by minute lesson plans must also include remediation plans for students who may not be successful the first time through; and don't forget the statistical analysis i have to do every week of every major assessment which includes question by question stats of how many got correct, missed, and how they will be remediated; and this is all due "or your contract may not be recommended for renewal next year." (quote provided by our principal); and like you, every few days, when i can get a moment, i teach.
@ Anonymous 12:59 and 7:30
No wonder teachers are leaving the classroom positions that teach math, science, language arts and social studies, the basic subjects that get assessed by AYP. It must feel like punishment to be in regular education.
Surely you know that the DCSS administration is deflecting the blame from themselves to the classroom teachers. They have too many admin and support personnel, too many non-teaching certified personnel, and have run too loose a ship outside the schoolhouse. Ms. Tyson, Dr. Beasley, Mr. Moseley, Dr. Mayfield, Dr. Walker, Ms. Copelin-Wood, Mr. Redovian, Ms. Roberts, Mr. Womack, etc. think if they place all of the responsibility on the teachers, they don't have to right their own ship and it can be business as usual.
EVERY student deserves:
1. A safe and clean environment
2. A competent teacher in a reasonably sized classroom
3. Access to abundant cutting edge technology and science equipment
NONE of these factors are under a teachers' control. ALL of these factors are controlled by the admin and support personnel. This administration and BOE have failed miserably in all 3 initiatives. Now they're scrambling to see who they can blame. Being the lowest on the totem pole, teachers are an easy target. They've tried to put the blame on students as well (they wring their hands and moan "if only we had a better class of students"), but there's those pesky parents to contend with.
For further updates from the Dunwoody-Chamblee Parent Council community meeting check out these blog reports -
Written report from Dunwoody School Daze -
http://dunwoodyschooldaze.blogspot.com/2010/09/notes-from-dcpc-meeting-of-9110-here.html
Audio clips at Heneghan's blog -
http://dunwoodynorth.blogspot.com/2010/09/audio-of-dunwoody-chamblee-parents.html
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