2011 began, for many of us anyway, with a slight sense of optimism that change was coming to our dysfunctional DeKalb School Board. State Representative Mary Margaret Oliver was introducing local legislation (HB 22) to allow the citizens of DeKalb to vote to reduce the size of the school board to either 5 or 7 members.
You can read the entire legislation here:
Fast forward, two months, and little to nothing has been heard about this bill. I thought perhaps we had missed it because of all the chaos surrounding redistricting. However, while the bill has the support of many legislators, several seem to be working to hold it up and prevent it from being passed.
Thousands of DeKalb citizens participated in the redistricting discussion, sending emails, attending meetings, making phone calls, etc. I am imploring all who did, and even those who didn’t, to get involved in this issue. Sending an email AND making a phone call will show your representatives that this is important to you. It will make a difference.
Here is how. Below is a list of all the DeKalb Delegation members. If you are unsure of whom your STATE rep and senator are, go here:
Representative Pat Gardner (D) District 57 404 656-0265 (office)
Representative Simone Bell (D) District 58 404 656-0325 (office)
Representative Gloria Tinubu (D) District 60 404.656.0220 (office)
Representative Tom Taylor (R) District 79 404.656.0152 (office)
Representative Mike Jacobs (R) District 80 404 656-0152 (office)
Representative Elena Parent (D) District 81 404.656.6372 (office)
Representative Scott Holcomb (D) District 82 404.656.6372 (office)
Representative Mary Margaret Oliver (D) District 83 404 656-0265 (office)
Representative Stacey Abrams (D) District 84 404 656-0220 (office) stacey.abrams@house.ga.gov
Representative Stephanie S. Benfield (D) District 85 404 656-7859 (office) stephanie.benfield@house.ga.gov
Representative Karla Drenner (D) District 86 404 656-0202 (office)
Representative Michele Henson (D) District 87 404 656-7859 (office) michele.henson@house.ga.gov
Representative Billy Mitchell (D) District 88 404 656-0116 (office)
Representative Howard Mosby (D) District 90 404 656-0287 (office)
Representative Rahn Mayo (D) District 91 404 656-6372 (office)
Representative Pam Stephenson (D) District 92 404 656-0126 (office) pam.stephenson@house.ga.gov
Representative Dee Dawkins-Haigler (D) District 93 404 656-0287 (office)
Representative Randal Mangham (D) District 94 404 656-0126 (office) randal.mangham@house.ga.gov
Senator Curt Thompson (D) District 5 404 463-1318 (office)
Senator Emanuel Jones (D) District 10 404 656-0502 (office)
Senator Fran Millar (R) District 40 404 463-2260 (office)
Senator Steve Henson (D) District 41 404 656-0085 (office)
Senator Jason Carter (D) District 42 404 463-1376 (office)
Senator Ron Ramsey, Sr. (D) District 43 404 463-2598 (office)
Senator Gloria Butler (D) District 55 404 656-0075 (office)
Feel free to email the entire DeKalb Delegation. (You can cut and paste multiple email addresses, just separate them with a comma or semi colon or whatever function your email provider requires.)
I would like to think that all the different groups that advocated for changes to the various redistricting and school consolidation plans would work hard to get this legislations passed. (Though I am not calling names, SCORE, Fernbank, Dunwoody, Flat Rock, etc… )
What should be in the email? The email should be in your own words and should stress the importance of passing HB 22.
Since the expansion of the DeKalb County Schoool Board from 7 to 9 members, DCSS has:
- Had its superintendent and chief operating officer indicted;
- Been placed on advisement status by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools;
- Had to censure several board members;
- Seen SAT scores plummet, in 2004, the SAT mean Math score in DeKalb was 459 and in 2010 it was 442. In 2004, the SAT mean verbal score was 464 and in 2010 it was 449.
- Had one of the lowest “make AYP” rates of any school system in the state
- Spent over 15 million dollars in legal fees in a lawsuit that may not result in that much if won;
- (and any thing else you can think of…)
- In metro Atlanta, the most successful school districts have school boards with 7 or fewer members.
- A smaller school board will incur fewer travel expenses, salary expenses and possibly legal expenses.
- A smaller school board will be easier for a new superintendent to work with.
(Breaking news -- Senators Millar, E. Jones and Carter filed a bill in the senate that would effectively do the same thing as HB 22. You can find this bill here,
http://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/en-US/displaybill.aspx?BillType=SB&billNum=226 and you may want to mention it in your emails.)
94 comments:
Thank you for posting and for the reminder. I will contact all these legislatures and let them know that 5 members is the way to go IMHO. If we want to get our school district back on the right track, this will be the most effective way to do it. No decent superintendent would want to have 9 bosses.
There is no way the superintendant can be effective with 9 people on the BOE -- the only area BOEs with 9 are: city of Atlanta, Clayton County and DCSS. Which are the only systems with problems? you got it! The most effective systems have smaller school boards. The Board desperately needs to shrink. Please, please, please, heed this post and pester away.....
I contacted 2 of them already - Rep. Jones and Rep. Oliver. I'll contact the rest of them.
Cere,
You might want to make a link like the BOE members email link, so one email goes to all of them.
Hi all, Although it's a good idea to email with one click, this group is probably too large. The more email addresses in your email, the higher the chance it will end up in a spam box. For this one, we think it's best for you to email your reps individually or in batches of a few at a time - ensuring their timely delivery.
This issue is important. There are a few options on the table - but truly, our legislators have no idea how we feel on any issue unless we tell them. You'd be surprised how impactful an email or phone call can be! I've found that legislators really do like to hear from their constituents - so don't be shy!
BTW - what ever became of the "regions" or "zones" or whatever the Blue Ribbon Task Force recommended several years ago (after MUCH research and hard work). I recall (and looked forward to) the system was going to be set up in regions (5 or 6) and that schools within each region would have more open attendance lines - allowing for open school choice within your entire region. Lakeside, Tucker and Druid Hills were to be a region I vaguely recall.
Seems this old Task Force idea could be resurrected along with a board rep for each region (I vote for 5)... Why reinvent the wheel? Citizen groups worked very hard to recommend a direction for the school system - and their hard work somehow got swept under the rug. I say - let's shake it back out!
@ Cerebration
I'm very concerned about the "region" idea. That was instituted under Hallford. Each area superintendent had his/her own large cadre of support personnel. That's when the Central Office began to swell. And the regions kept getting different area superintendents so no one was ever really responsible.
So now we focus on yet another issue that will not solve the numerous problems! It doesn't matter how many bodies you put on the school board. We will still have problems at all levels of DCSS. We will still have politics affecting outcomes. We will still have legal issues that will, at this pace take years and mountains of money to resolve. We will still have the cancerous, invasive tendrils of friends/family and others so deeply rooted into the infrastructure they can not be removed.
BOE's have outlived their marginal usefulness!
Time for a major paradigm shift in school governance.
Jim Bohica Ben Dover
There is a growing body of research that indicates that school boards are a barrier to effective school reform. This is a national issue and one that is complicated to fix. In Georgia's case, for example, the state constitution would have to be changed.
In the meantime, reducing the size of the DCSS board of ed is a step in the right direction...
How many local representatives need to sign on to the legislation? I believe the number is 10, but that may not be correct. Which have indicated they will support it?
My understanding is that she has the 10 -- not sure which ones though.
The bill is probably being held up to protect the job of Dr Walker, which carries along his numerous relatives.
Maybe Jay Cunningham as well...
Just received this reply from email sent to Senators:
Emanuel Jones "Thank your for your interest in SB 226. As you may know, this bill has passed the senate and is in the House. Please send this request to all members of the House of Representatives that represent DeKalb County, Especially the Chair of the House Delegation, Rep. Howard Mosby."
I understand that Mr. Mosby may be the hold up and that the reason may be that it is because he may be dating one Jay Cunningham's sister -- so friends and family may be intervening once again. So, while I don't have proof -- yet -- of what it is I am posting (this is the beauty of the "anon" post) -- that is one of the theories currently circulating. If you know anything... one's curiosity is up and if this is really true, it is disgusting. The children and taxpayers deserve better.
This is what I sent -- more or less -- Dear Rep. Mosby: The Children and Taxpayers of DeKalb County deserve for HB22 to be passed. There is more than ample evidence that a 9 member school board is dysfunctional. The counties with 9 member school boards are having the most problems: Clayton, City of Atlanta and DeKalb. HB22 will work to address the problem in DeKalb. It is more workable and more cost effective and will let the superintendent get his or her job done for the benefit of the children. DeKalb County Schools was a much better system before the board was expanded to 9 members. 9 is too many. I urge you to put any and all potential personal conflicts and feelings aside and do what it is in the best interest of the children and taxpayers of the county. We are watching and paying attention. The children deserve better.
Is no one but me concerned that with a smaller Board the votes of reason and high expectation in DeKalb may be drowned out by the votes of those who just vote for familiar names or relatives or those who make outlandish promises?
Just look at who was re-elected and think about it.
I feel like my current Board member is responsive to me, not in voting or promising things but in responding to e-mails and considering neighborhood concerns. This knowledge will be diluted if we go from 9 to 5 districts. Without the Super-Districts every Board member will strictly be looking out for their region.
Please, someone convince me otherwise!
@ 12:10 pm
This would most likely be unethical as far as SACS is concerned and as far as the legislature is concerned. Here is a link to the Georgia House of Representatives Ethics committee:
http://www1.legis.ga.gov/legis/2009_10/house/Committees/ethics/gahethic.htm
Posters please share with us Rep. Mosby's response to your email. I just sent him one.
Here is his website:
http://www.howardmosby.com/
Here is his contact information:
(404) 244-3972
howard.mosby@house.ga.gov
DCSS fell apart when we expanded the BOE from 7 to 9-- all of the functioning systems are 5 or 7 BOE members. If we can't function with 5 or 7 we need to be completely disbanded. The role of the BOE is not to "respond" to you individually -- the role of the BOE is to run the system as fiduciaries for the entire system -- for all 95,000 school children and not for their individual friends, family, and personal interests. The fewere there are, the more voters they have to be responsive to and the more likely it is that they will have to really and truly serve as fidiciaries. If they are all "at large" we may have a prayer of having a functioning system that might actually educate kids and not just serve as a jobs program....
Amy Powers and Marshall Orson of Fernbank: Here is the perfect opportunity to prove that the Fernbank PTA is not just about Fernbank "getteing their's" and then keeping hsh about the rest of the mess that is DCSS.
Let's see you two help lead the way to get Fernbank leading the charge to downsizing the board.
Despite Dr. Gene Walker's unethical promise that he would not allow your district lines would not be changed, you two and the Fernbank PTA have to realize that he is not capable of leading a billion dollar entity.
Marshall and Amy, let's see if you are truly "all in", or just in it for Fernbank.
http://www.ajc.com/news/dekalb/decatur-city-schools-earns-872107.html
The City Schools of Decatur earned high marks from the Southern Association on Colleges and Schools, or SACS, during its accreditation review. The agency renewed the district’s accreditation with a “highly functional” rating and praised the governance and leadership. Decatur should continue its focus on teacher training and interventions to support student success, according to the agency.
GREAT NEWS!! No more Jeff Dickerson defending DCSS without disclosing he was getting paid big bucks by DCSS!
http://blogs.ajc.com/radio-tv-talk/2011/03/11/waga-tvs-the-georgia-gang-a-stable-force-on-tv-over-three-decadesn/
Former AJC editor Jeff Dickerson, a self-described moderate who does crisis communications public relations work, recently left the show after 23 years. “It was a good ride,” he said. Given one of his clients is the Atlanta Public Schools, which is embroiled in a test cheating scandal frequently discussed on the show, he said “it was getting awkward what I could say or couldn’t say.”
I can see a lot of people like to see people get involved. Volunteer PTA presidents get personally attacked for getting involved.
Its one thing going after an organization. Its one thing when someone who has run for office (Orson ran for schoolboard) is attacked. But its really over the line going after volunteers personally.
Requirement for PTA president in Dekalb County:
Be willing to have your personal e-mail address posted on the internet.
Be willing to be personally attacked in a verbal manner on internet blogs.
Take blame for any action the PTA takes that anyone disagrees with (which is every action).
The personal attacks have been going on for some time, especially here, and it really is over the line.
Anon 4:52 PM
The situation with the DCSS board is untenable. While I certainly can understand your concern, change is necessary.
Fewer districts should mean a superintendent who can actually get the job done.
Who would take the DCSS job now? Who can be successful?
My vision is that a smaller board results in stronger board members who have to do their homework and get the job done. No more hiding behind each other and no one knowing you aren't prepared.
We need board members in DCSS to operate differently. Reducing the number is the first step in that process.
I want to know when and why the school board went from 7 to 9 members in the first place? What has changed since that time? Where can I find background info.
The lines were changed because some board members represented areas with virtually no students, and others represented 10s of thousands of students. In addition, the at large seats were changed from north south to east/west in an effort to bring more unity to the system.
The idea was that more representatives would make the school system better.
On every measure you can think of, it has appeared not to have worked.
I don't read the comments to Fernbank as personal attacks on Marshall and Amy. Everyone knows that Walker promised Fernbank no redistricting. Put aside your jealousy, the poster knows that they are a powerhouse for their district and can rally support for a smaller BoE. If you're a PTA President you need to get thicker skin.
I think the hope for this post was that those who rallied for their neighborhoods during the redistricting discussions would continue that momentum and rally for the legislature to reduce the size of the school board. We'd love to see that energy continuing to support this effort!
Do you remember where MMO first announced her legislation? I would suggest that Marshall Orson has been working on this since its inception.
@7:41 and 5:03
That was one of the milder comments. There have been a number that were a lot more negative and more personal.
I don't know if it bothers her or if she does have a very thick skin. I just don't think its useful to encouraging public participation to personalize things. A lot of people would just say, "I don't need this."
There's a difference between being a PTA officer and running for the school board or some other political office. The latter know they are going to get some pretty tough criticisms.
Anonymous, 5:15
"Congratulations to The City Schools of Decatur for earning high marks from the Southern Association on Colleges and Schools, or SACS, during its recent accreditation review."
How ironic is it that one of their five board members is Julie P. Rhame, the same Julie Rhame that was DeKalb's Executive Director of Public Relations, the same Julie Rhame that was let go by DeKalb's interim superintendent. Maybe Crawford and Crew should have listened to her and let her do her job!
Regarding the leadership of Fernbank's PTA, they invited a heap of criticism on their heads when they signed on to a letter overtly encouraging their parents to drown out the voices of any that opposed their talking points at input workshops. I'm sure they didn't intend for that e-mail to be broadly distributed, but it went a long way toward making their true agendas known. As I've said before, it's one thing to loudly advocate for your own position, and quite another to steamroll everyone else.
If DCSS stops paying board members their would not be near a many issues that there are today.
Seems to me that many PTAs in the district have forgotten what the PTA is meant for. Parents and teachers working together for the sake of the children. Many PTAs in DCSS are trying to run the schools and school system. This must stop, if we are ever going to be a quality school system once again.
@7:38
That is NOT what the letter said. It said to sit together so their own points wouldn't be ignored. It also specifically said to note other's issues.
I read someone say they went to 3 meetings and 3 different groups hijacked the table and ignored the minority. The issue is small group dynamics. Any of you ever watch Survivor? The charette system leads to situations where one or two or a group tend to take over and ignore the rest. I've been in numerous management simulations and rather than working as a group, most of the time, one group takes over. You'll sometimes see it start to work that way in juries, but since everyone's vote counts, people usually have to start listening (if you ever get on a jury-DON'T get in a hurry-listen-or you could be there a long time).
I don't think it matters if you have 5 or 7 or 9 or 15 board members if you have a group that is similar to the one now and a superintendent similar to a Lewis or a Hall. You've still got the group dynamics that certain personality types are going to try to run over the rest. You need people who will ask why and will stand up and say stop and are articulate and prepared. I support this simply because it gives us a chance to get a fresh start and a different dynamic.
An even bigger issue than the types of people involved, there needs to be a way to get information out during elections to more than just a group that goes to debates, if any. It was really hard to find out about the candidates last fall. The AJC covers too much area to give good coverage. And there weren't a lot of good choices in some of the races. So if you don't have good choices and good information to the public, you never know what you will get.
Amy Power: "Control the pen, control the mike, or better yet, both. Each table will have a "scribe" -- be it. Each table will have a "reporter," who will speak for 2 min. -- be it."
I was respecting Fernbank's organization and commitment to their kids until I watched them steamroll other parents, take the microphone and ignore consensus points that pertained to school other than Fernbank, and reiterate the same talking points over and over again. Were they the only school doing this? Probably not, but from my firsthand perspective and from MANY people I talked to they were the most blatant. Was every Fernbank parent doing this? No, I witnessed some great team players who contributed to the dialogue and made the Fernbank points as well. And later I talked to Fernbank parents who were ashamed at how their leadership handled itself.
When I saw the email with the above quote it made the disrespectful powerplay at the input sessions make sense. A forceful email asking parents to help protect the interests of their school is appropriate from a PTA president. But when it targets the parents of other schools instead of administrators or elected officials a significant line is crossed.
Fernbank got its way. But it didn't need to shout over other schools -- it already could whisper in the ears of the board. Fernbank didn't succeed because of the above email, it succeeded because its parents are well-connected, well-resourced and well-lawyered. By taking over a process designed to give voice to the community they proved that the only thing they weren't was well-mannered.
I await the chorus of "others schools were doing it too" and wonder if the vaunted Fernbank curriculum might need a little tweaking if they don't understand why that is not a valid or compelling argument.
This is my very first blog post. While I agree that the size of the BOE is too large and should be reduced, I am more concerned about an issue that seems to have dropped off the radar screen: the superintendent search. I have a queasy feeling that DCSS is about to punt and put forth Tyson as the default candidate. We need to put pressure on the BOE to prevent that from happening.
Reducing DCSS board is a great idea, that means that the last new board members would be first to go right??????? it funny that the North end got what they wanted and appeared to be satisfied and now there working on reducing the board. Just remember that board member #1 will be effected by your decisions here.
We really aren't hearing anything about the superintendent search. I, too, would like to see the school board hire someone from outside the system. We need some new ideas and a new approach. Ms. Tyson has given her best to the job she was handed, but it is time for someone new to take over.
The way you bloggers complain I wouldn't apply for the position as the superintendent of DCSS. No one will come into a raciest county like DCSS if fear of being sued. Most of the bloggers here operate with a double edge sword, and very cut throat. You will never be happy with anyone as the superintendent for D.C.S.S. It's a shame that you can't look at the person and what there doing, for looking at the color of there skin. Ms. Tyson has done a great job of turning things around, so my take on this is let her do her job. It's interesting to me that all of the North end folk stated that they wanted to see a change for all in DCSS. The night the BOE made the decision to close 8 eight schools, and they made sure that the North end Schools remained the same status, I feel that you all lied and where is your accountability as tax payers,for all of the children? even Ms Jester stated that she would help she didn't.
@9:57
I was at the big general meeting where this was discussed. There was not even a hint that people should be anything but respectful. In fact, several times they mentioned that others were facing more serious issues such as school closure and that everyone should be respectful of what those people were dealing with. And they specifically mentioned to note other's points. The e-mail was an afterthought, sent out at the request of one parent in the audience. There was no grand conspiracy to steamroll others. Obviously, it sometimes happened. But that has to do with individual personalties who didn't respect the process. It didn't come from anything the PTA leaders said or implied in that meeting or that e-mail. I was unable to attend any of the meetings, so I didn't see any of the behavior, but as I pointed out above, unfortunately, its common in those type of group settings. I suspect they were organized because they saw that type of behavior last spring and didn't want to get steamrollered themselves (none of it made much sense until I read these blogs about how the charette sytem worked in practice). Its why DCSS should really try to get outside facilitators at each group in these type of meetings or figure out some other way to get comments from groups of 1000 people.
I'm relatively new to this area and so don't have ties to these people other than the school. Certainly they were advocates, and I wasn't at any of the charettes, but I personally never saw anything by the PTA leaders other than efforts to treat others with respect. They aren't personally responsible for the good or bad behavior of 600 parents.
Anon 11:31:
"Ms. Tyson has done a great job of turning things around, so my take on this is let her do her job."
Would love to see you list Tyson's actual accomplishments.
"The night the BOE made the decision to close 8 eight schools, and they made sure that the North end Schools remained the same status, I feel that you all lied and where is your accountability as tax payers,for all of the children?"
Tell that to the students and parents at Medlock.
I didn't exclude Medlock at all, the issue is this the North end was only concern about themselves... They still lied concerning advocating for all of the students. I feel that the BOE should have closed down three or four schools not eight. This would have happened if the entire county would have pitch in and truly advocated for all of the students, instead of certain clusters? On yesterday Dr. Elgart at the call meeting he stated three times that SACS never recommended for DCSS to close down these schools? this is a sad day, I realize that no one is perfect, however as a full size district that says they are truly caring for the students, only a few schools would have been close not eight.
Haven't seen this posted yet, from decaturmetro
Decatur, GA (2011) – On Wednesday, March 9th the Southern Association on Colleges and Schools (SACS)/ AdvancED Quality Assurance Review (QAR) team reported the findings of their district assessment to the Decatur Board of Education. Based on their comprehensive review of the district, the team recommended that City Schools of Decatur should remain an accredited district. The QAR team praised the district on the standard of governance and leadership, stating that “board members and the superintendent have a strong, positive, collaborative relationship,” earning the district a rating of “highly functional” – the highest possible rating.
“I am thrilled with the report made by the Quality Assurance Review at our board work session,” said Decatur Superintendent Dr. Phyllis Edwards. “It gives me great pride for our district to be referred to as ‘remarkable and phenomenal’ by the reviewers and to have the positive working relationship of our board to be recognized as exceptional.”
Hey the North paid dearly in the last CLew "redistricting". The unincorporated DeKalb area lost a neighborhood school, which in turn ran the other two schools over capacity and the addition of "learning cottages".
Clew messed up Dunwoody early on pitting neighbor against neighbor with his "sharpie" line re-drawing. Then at the last moment, under pressure, he changed Dunwoody Elementary into a 4th & 5th Grade Academy. However, the other schools remained over capacity. I never figured that one out. Good leadership I suppose.
Today, I celebrate DCSS every time I drive by on of their "closed" properties, the old Shallowford ES/Chamblee MS, it's becoming the biggest eyesore in Dunwoody. To add insult to a poke in the eye, it sits at the corner of a major intersection. Every time I drive by I chuckle.. they should place a plaque congratulating Clew, Pope and the current Palace Guard of being great stewards of our tax dollars.
Color me skeptical of this entire plan as long as we have the former Super's leadership still in place. It's time we move forward without the old palace bunch. Sure they're doing something, they had to! I sure wish we could take over the Palace like the unions have taken over the capitol building of Wisconsin.
The taxpayers need to take the system back from the corrupt, that have nearly driven our system in the abyss of mediocrity.
Dr. Walker gave a clear and cogent explanation of school closings last night outlining one area of our district where the number of students had decreased from 27,000 to 16,000. He pointed out that thsat region would continue to suffer unless people wanted to reside there and the school closing concentrated in that area made sense in light of the dramatic decrease in enrollment and went on to say that the closing might improve the remaining schools so that people would chose to live there. Donna Edler then spoke saying that if she had seen his data she would have voted differently last week. On the other hand SCW then differed I think-she was not as clear as Walker.
One area I do have to commend the district on was the amount of data on their website regarding redistricting. If Elder had looked at that data she would have seen that area had 68% capacity and nearly half of the 11,000 empty elementary seats. It also had virtually all the empty HS seats.
This is a condemnation of both the administration, which is supposed to inform the whole board, and Elder, for not finding readily available information on such an important decision.
@ anon March 15, 2011 11:31
As a black woman, teaching in central Dekalb (where most closures will take place) I am offended by your accusations of racism. The fact of the matter is that the north end of the county had their turns at school closings, and presently, many of these schools are bursting at the seams. In the area that I teach, there is a school serving under 300 students! Many others aren't near capacity. Closures and redistricting were necessary. No need to bring race into this. I also differ in your opinion of Ms. Tyson. I will think she has done a good job when she lets go of some of the corrupt central office leaders and supports innovation at the school house level and commits resources to see it happen.
Per Stone Mountain Redan Patch, the other sponsors of the bill HB22 besides Ms. Oliver:
Karla Drenner Avondale Estates
Stephanie Benefield Atlanta
Mike Jacobs Atlanta
Pat Gardner Atlanta
Those 5 sponsors are all from a group of contiguous districts in Central Dekalb.
Probably hard to get 10 of 19 to sign offwhen 7 districts are physically (not sure about population) mostly outside of Dekalb County.
Almost all of DeKalb's representatives cross county lines. It is clear that in the last reapportionment, the state legislature went to lots of trouble to make sure that there would be as few as possible democratic districts.
As I was putting this piece together, I was shocked, that we have 19 representatives and that almost none of them simply represent DeKalb.
I emailed every one of the members using the email links provided in this post and expressed my support for 5 BOE members. It is extremely important for anyone who wants to see a new BOE to do this. Please put the links on Facebook, your blog (if you have one), other blogs like Get Schooled, and in emails to your friends and neighbors.
Just to let you all know, that local legislation like HB 22 isn't subject to the same requirements that state-wide legislation is and therefore, doesn't have to cross over today.
I hope everyone is busy emailing and calling.
My understanding is that there are the 10 votes to support this but that someone is blocking the voting on this legislation.
Mosby is the 'someone' and he is the head of the DeKalb delegation
Does the someone blocking the legislation have personal or family ties to the DCSS administration or BOE?
Possibly...
Stacey Abrams also needs convincing, so please email her your reasons. She's now the minority leader of the House and holds more power than she did before. When I heard back from her, she was concerned about how the lines would be redrawn and black vs. white.
She's missing the big picture about the inefficiencies of having too many board members and the inability to attract a decent superintendent. We have to remember that student achievement has gone down since we added two extra board members, but corruption has gone way up. Regardless of how the lines are redrawn, this will still be a majority black school board (as it should be )since it's reflective of our large majority black county population.
What everyone (black, white, Hispanic, Asian) needs to be asking is - how are our students doing? And if you look at which group of students is suffering the most, it's our African American students. No one should be satisfied with this fact. Drastic measures need to be taken now before they fall any faster.
@ Anonymous 12:10
"I understand that Mr. Mosby may be the hold up and that the reason may be that it is because he may be dating one Jay Cunningham's sister -- so friends and family may be intervening once again. "
I don't know anything about that, but election records show that Howard A. Mosby donated to Jay Cunningham's Board of Education campaign in September so I gather he is a supporter of the current BOE staying just the way it is.
See page 4 of this pdf:
http://web.co.dekalb.ga.us/Voter/reports/boe10/JesseJayCunninghamSept2010.pdf
How can it be a white/black issue when only 10% of the students are white? About 72% are black and about 11% are HIspanic.
http://www.doe.k12.ga.us/ReportingFW.aspx?PageReq=102&CountyId=644&T=1&FY=2010
Who determines how the new districts would be created for 7 or 5 Board members? Is that a legislative piece? If so, Abrams would have some say in that although her concerns totally miss the point. Guess her thought is it is better to keep what we have and continue to decline than to do something different?? If you always do the same thing, you always get the same result.
The county gov't has five commissioners and two super district commisioners, divided equally by population. Just use those. Pretty darn easy.
Mosby needs to remove himself from this issue, he clearly has a conflict of interest.
Odds on him doing this?
Is the hypothesis that all the ills mentioned in this posting are directly due to the number of board members? If you buy into this numerology then I suggest the number 6. It is a perfect number (the sum of its factors). On the other hand one might suspect that any number would be OK provided that the voters who elected them were well informed and diligent. I suggest that any time we blame the board the real culprit is us.
It is the quality, but it also the quantity. Nine is too many....
Odd number is important so there is a tie breaker - otherwise you may never approve or veto anything.
Yesterday was crossover day downtown. Anyone know if that had any impact on this?
As I understand it, local legislation isn't impacted by the crossover requirement.
I see the PTA president at Fernbank as not being so innocent at all. I have never seen a forum where a candidate was not asked any questions or one candidate was allow to run the debate or polical function event when two candidate were invited. It was totally shameful how the PTA President turned the district 9 political debate or function basically over to Dr. Walker to more or less run. I was there and saw it myself. It was obvious the PTA parents running the forum at my school already had sold out to Dr. Walker. I was so embarassed to see Ms. Smith treated so rudely. There was nothing fair about that forum at all. The PTA had already worked a deal however a few parent spoke up and indicated they did want to hear from Ms. Smith. However, Dr. Walker did not want to give up the microphone as this was his time to shine and it was apparent the PTA President was fine with the situation. Some of us at Fernbank do not like what we saw being done regarding re-districting. Dr. Walker made his promises right there to the Fernbank PTA and he come through for them. However when things like this happen the President of a PTA puts themself in a political place to be judged by others.
I have older children and had been at other forums at Fernbank and I never saw one ran like this one was run. Before the forums were very respectful of all candidates and gave all candidates equal time to answer questions. This forum was shameful because of the apparent deal behind closed doors.
Maybe Mosley needs replacing. Maybe we should go after him if he does not act soon. We can raise money and find a great candidate who is interested more in the interest of our children.
It is Mosby not Mosley - they are different people. Rep. Howard Mosby is rumored to be the hold up here, people. If you have the time, send him an email tomorrow encouraging him to let this bill come up for a vote.
I shared this thought with legislators today -- I'm sharing with you as well:
This morning I chaperoned the Henderson Middle School’s 8th Grade (DeKalb County) band students to “festival” – a competition to judge the band teachers at McNair High School. I was bitterly reminded about just how few checks and balances the DeKalb County school system has in place for the use of taxpayer money and how little correlation there is between “beauty” expenditures and “actual education.” I encourage you to take a field trip. Spend just a few hours on both sides of DeKalb County’s high schools.
Evidence: McNair – built, I believe, under SPLOST II (this is the one with the major litigation that has been all over the FCDR) – there is art that would make the mouths of many colleges and corporations water… stallions that cost $25,000, wood paneling and floors, the band room the kids did their sight reading test in had a form of art on all the walls, the ceilings were approximately 20 feet high, the landscaping was rolling and lush, there were bricks all over and broken Moen faucets in the bathrooms. The kids test scores? Where do they go to college? What percentage graduates high school (from the start of freshman year)? What percentage, once at college, then takes remedial classes? Any “check” or “balance” on how the SPLOST construction funds were spent by the “caretakers” of the taxpayer money on this project (or on the Central Office “redo” which is pretty palatial if you were to go check it out -- $20,000 chairs in place there…)? Who is looking out for the taxpayer in these spending situations?
Evidence: Lakeside or Chamblee High Schools: no working up to date (or code) science labs (labs are currently being done with some teachers in very old trailers), no sanitary plumbing, 2 lunch lines that cannot process the kids through lunch (the new schools have 4 lunch lines), mold in various parts of the building, inadequate lighting for testing, small, dank library and gym, dirty, floors, smells of urine. Academics: one of the best in the county, one of the best in the state and ranks in the top 1000 nationally (at one time 106 nationally).
Any correlation – no. McNair was built with SPLOST dollars with lots of “pretty” “extras” instead of following some common sense or legislative “rules” that would have insisted that all schools had working “basics” – or even a “standard” floor plan -- such as adequate cafeterias and toilets and modern labs for science in the 21st century. Instead tens of thousands of tax payer money went to other things at McNair that shouldn’t have been. Why? Because the School Board does not handle their jobs as fiduciaries for all school children in the county. They insist on handling their role as mini-fiefdoms to obtain jobs and contracts for friends and family and to maintain their elected positions. This is harming kids across the board and costing billions of dollars to the tax payers. If you were to follow the board of ed meetings, month after month, I think you would be shocked at how little time is actually spent actually discussing education and strategy… it’s all about spending millions and that’s mostly on programs and not people in the classrooms really working one on one with the kids. We need to start to re-vamp how we do things so that our elected officials understand, by design and otherwise, that they are fiduciaries of tax payer money and that they have a duty to the kids and the tax payers, before any and all others. Once these kids reach 16 and leave school and have lost their ability to be educated, society has someone else to care for on the street, in jail or ….. where exactly are they if they haven’t been educated? Many of these kids have had babies by then. If almost half of all of the kids in the metro area are not being educated, where will we be in ten or twenty years? Do something to fix the DCSS Board of Education. Please! For the children who deserve to have adults looking after their best interests rather than their own best interests.
Anon 8:50 - What are you talking about? As a former Fernbank PTA president myself I can attest to the fact that the forum you refer to was run with the same decorum as every other forum the school has hosted.
@ anonymous 10:18
"Rep. Howard Mosby is rumored to be the hold up here, people. If you have the time, send him an email tomorrow encouraging him to let this bill come up for a vote. "
How much influence does Jay Cunningham have on his holding up this bill?
Election records show that Howard A. Mosby donated to Jay Cunningham's Board of Education campaign in September.
See page 4 of this pdf:
http://web.co.dekalb.ga.us/Voter/reports/boe10/JesseJayCunninghamSept2010.pdf
I was there definitely and I definitely thought the forum was not a bite fair. The forum was totally about if Dr. Walker would save the school district lines for the school and he said he definely would. I did not get an equal opportunity to answer hardly any questions at all.
Thanks for saying something about it.
I have been in other forums at Fernbank as a candidate and they were extremely fair. This forum with Dr. Walker was not at all fair. I do not know who to blame. I just know it was totally unfair.
@themommy
You need to blame the Democrats for drawing the Dekalb County lines. They did the last redistricting in 2001. Since they did it, you probably have it backwards. They mostly likely used Dekalb Democrats to dilute Republican areas outside Dekalb.
Coming from an urban district in another state where there was an effort to spend renovation money in all parts of the district, I was shocked what bad condition the facilities appeared to be in across North Atlanta, both in APS and DCSS. Everything just looked rundown and reeked of neglect. And with the stories of ceiling leaks and broken bathrooms that don't get fixed, the inside seems to be worse than the outside.
Sorry Ella, I disagree.
I was also at the Fernbank Forum to hear you and Dr. Walker speak. Personally, I think Dr. Walker is as crooked as a three dollar bill. And yes, he hogged the mic, and yes, he blantantly promised not to touch FB. We all saw that, and many of us were quite aware that Dr. Walker was just telling us what we wanted to hear.
And yet... you did not do yourself any favors. You appeared to be completely unaware of *any* of the issues unique to FB and unaware about FB as a school in general. You were visibly rattled by Dr. Walker hogging the mic, and didn't seem to be able to effectively get it back. If you can't make yourself heard against one other person, how can you make your voice heard on a board of 9? And why should we have voted for someone who doesn't seem to know *anything* about us? You seem like a very nice person, and clearly passionate about education...but unfortunately, you lost lots of votes all on your own that night.
"You appeared to be completely unaware of *any* of the issues unique to FB and unaware"
Unique to Fernbank??
That is the re-occurring them to Fernbankers.
What is unique to us...who cares about any other school!
Board of Education members need to think of the district as a whole, and not focus on every "unique" need of individual schools.
Anon 12:24, do you want a BOE member who is focusing on your "uniqueness", or is looking at the macro-view? We already have BOE members who micro-manage.
Good for you Ella, for not falling into the same trap that Gene Walker did.
Below is an email from Mary Margaret Oliver. Does anyone know who the legislator was who withdrew his name? Was it Rep. Howard Mosby who donated to Jay Cunningham's campaign last fall? (see comment in this post March 14, 2011 11:34 AM)
If he is letting a personal relationship influence his vote, the House Ethics Committee should know this:
House Ethics Committee Chair:
Joe Wilderson
404.463.8143
joe.wilkinson@house.ga.gov
http://www1.legis.ga.gov/legis/2009_10/house/Committees/ethics/gahethic.htm
"HB 22 relating to reduced DeKalb School Board size has been advertized as required in The Champion, and MMO formally presented the bill to the DeKalb delegation, and obtained the necessary number of signatures from the DeKalb delegation for the bill to pass as local legislation. Unfortunately, one member removed his name as a supporter immediately before the Committee meeting and other options for passage are being researched."
Mobley never had his name on this bill so it wasn't him, but I suspect that he is behind the scenes manipulating this...
March 18-12:24
Every candidate who goes to a forum expects the person who is running the forum to run the forum fairly and give equal time to all the candidates at the forum. The person running the forum is suppose to be in charge of monitoring equal time given to candidates for questions. As a candidate I should have never been put in a situation where the microphone was hogged by Dr. Walker. It was not Dr. Walker's place to take charge of the forum. It was not my place to have to have to fight for the microphone and make a scene when the forum was ran so one-sided. It definitely showed me a different side of Fernbank than I had ever seen before. I do not dislike Dr. Walker. He just took advantage of the situation he was given. The forum was ran inappropriately and maybe this was to assure Dr. Walker came out looking good because of the promises he had already made. Maybe it was just that someone did not know how to run a forum correctly. This was by far the worse forum I have ever seen or ever been a candidate in.
I was treated with such respect at South DeKalb High School. I was given equal time. There was nothing equal or fair about the way the Fernbank forum was ran.
I never got into the district 9 race thinking for a second I would win the race. I got into the race to give people a choice as no one else would run against Dr. Walker. I did not deserve the treatment I received. However, this has nothing to do with all the great Fernbank parents and all the great citizens who live around Fernbank. I am just being critical of how this particular forum was ran. I would not recommend any candidate go there without having alot of tough questions answered by the individual in charge of the forum.
And in Ella's defense, and she will never let this stop her or even tell anyone, but she does have a disability. Gene Walker is a hulk of a man and has a history of bullying females.
Ella should have been treated in an equal manner as Walker. It seemed at the forum that the moderator and other Fenbank insiders already knew that Walker was going to publicly promise that he wouldn't let Fernbank's district lines be changed.
I am not ashamed of being an individual who has limitations. One of my limitations is that I am very ADD-H and this was a very tough situation for me. Individuals who are ADD-H have this sense of fairness and being in this situation really bothered me. I still have that little girl in me that wants to be extremely impulsive and I can get mad on occassion. However, I kept my cool overall. Someone may have been trying to push my buttons. It was a very unfair situation. I am glad that Fernbank parents got what they wanted. I can totally understand their concerns. I sincerely can. I can put myself in their situation. However, I also can put myself in the situation of other parents from other local schools and I can never show favortism over one school to another. One school is not more important than another school.
"One school is not more important than another school."
Words to live by. Except if you're a Fernbank parent. Or Fernbank parent who threatens to sue if she doesn't get her way.
Maybe someone who is an attorney for the school system who has access to my school records or a school board member knew about my disability and was using this to try to get me to react by having a forum like this. Who was the person in charge of the forum? What does her husband do? What would be the relationship? Why would they be so interested in making sure Dr. Walker won the election.
The election was much closer than I expected. I did very well at the South DeKalb Forums. They were very fair to me. It was a central school that did not play fair. I have not understood this to this day. The previous forums at Fernbank that I have attended were extremely different than this forum and so professional just like the forums in South DeKalb. Why was this forum so different than any forum I have ever been in or ever seen? I would hope no one would play political games like this. However, I still do not believe all the promises were made that were made before the district lines were even announced. Until politics are out of the school system to this extend some schools will always get treated differently and this is not a good thing for the entire county. However, I respect Fernbank and all their parents as I really do not think this was their fault. It was the fault of a handful of people. I do not blame the Fernbank community or school. They have their interests and needs. They want what is best for their children like we all want what is best for our children. You cannot fault anyone for that.
However, I can fault the way this forum was ran. There was nothing appropriate or fair about it. I would have been better off not showing up. If I had known how the forum would have been run, I would not have shown up. I am way too proud to have to set through a set cirus like that.
Oh please - you were just out of the loop Ella. Womack and McChesney had been saying for a year that Fernbank needed to be "broken up". Womack has had it out for the school ever since he returned to the board. Walker showed up early at the meeting and asked parents what their concerns were and low and behold, being split up topped the list. How convenient - he could support Fernbank and stick it to Womack all at the same time.
As for how the forum was run, you were absolutely given equal time to answer questions, you just did not give answers that were as lengthy as Dr. Walker's. You were simply "out-politicianed".
http://richardrossiblog.com/2010/08/are-bright-kids-suffering-in-dim-high-schools/
http://richardrossiblog.com/2010/08/are-bright-kids-suffering-in-dim-high-schools/
I was at that forum and it was a simple Q and A format. People tried to ask questions applicable to both, but Walker answered first (with and without the mic) and longer. Then, making it even worse, after he answers Ella would often say she agreed with Walker. I think she semmed nice, but when I was given a choice between two candidates that basically agreed with each other I decided to go with the one who knew how to take over a meeting, be heard. Ella could easily have given different answers and disagreed with, or at least given a slightly modified answer with a different view point, for every point Walker made and it would have been fair and a more interesting debate.
I guess Walker was taking a lesson from the Fernbank PTA regarding redistricting:
"Process Points to Follow:
1. Be on time, or better yet, be early.
2. Sit at a table (8-12 roundtops) with 1/3-1/2 Fernbank people.
3. Control the pen, control the mike, or better yet, both. Each table will have a "scribe" -- be it. Each table will have a "reporter," who will speak for 2 min. -- be it.
4. When you get to "Option 3," be clear and concise. Use Fernbank as an example of the larger theme -- e.g., not breaking up long-established neighborhoods, moving kids to different programs, supporting larger schools.
5. When you hear a point that is consistent with our position, go ahead and applaud."
I don't think anyone in DCSS could go against Fernbank parents when they have set out their position. They are content to let everything stay the same. As long as the Central Office and the BOE leave them alone, they are content. They're like a mini-school system.
Walker is smart enough to know Fernbank voters would swing things in his favor, and Ms. Tyson is smart enough to not rock that boat.
March 25, 2011 8:05 AM
I was not aware being that rude and bulling the microphone is being a good politican. However, apparently some of the Fernbank parents like you think this is appropriately as long as you can get the promises you want.
However, I also understand your concerns. But I do not think your concerns are more important than any other school in the county. I think they are just as important but not more important.
I would be embarassed if I ever saw any PTA officers run an event like this that I was associated with. I am actually a big girl and winning the race would never mean enough to me to make me behave in such a fashion.
Celeb knew to start with how I felt. She knows I never thought I would win the race. However, I did expect equal treatment at forums or question and answer sessions and I definitely did not get it at Fernbank.
I think they individual who were there have made it perfectly clear there were no ground rules and Dr. Walker even decided who would ask the questions. He took over and ran the whole show. Now if he was running the show and not the PTA, how could that have been fair to any other candidate whether it was someone else or myself. It couldn't have been ran fairly and the right way.
It is time we reduce the size of the school board so politics are not so important and so the board can actually focus on the day-to-day operations of improving the education of all our children in Dekalb County.
This is a perfect example of the political problems on the school board and just that promises like this need to be made in an election is not right and not fair to all the children of DeKalb County. This is really not the fault of the parents at Fernbank. It is the fault of not having an ethic committee other than the schoolboard itself which monitors the school board members behaviors.
Post a Comment