Friday, September 2, 2011

Calling All Those of Quixotic Hearts: A Windmill, Ahem, a Public Meeting Regarding "2020"

"I've been a soldier and a slave. I've seen my comrades fall in battle or die more slowly under the lash in Africa. I've held them in my arms at the final moment. These were men who saw life as it is, yet they died despairing. No glory, no brave last words, only their eyes, filled with confusion, questioning "Why?" I don't think they were wondering why they were dying, but why they had ever lived. When life itself seems lunatic, who knows where madness lies? To surrender dreams - -this may be madness; to seek treasure where there is only trash. Too much sanity may be madness! But maddest of all - -to see life as it is and not as it should be." - Miguel de Cervantes

Like Cervantes' great hero from La Mancha we cling to our dream and ride to joust the windmills of change for DCSS ... I am sharing this because I think it is important and I think the "plan" is far from optimal or equitable. Please attend but just in your own street cloths and with your own opinion or verbal lance - not collectively coordinated, colored t-shirts or worn out mantras. Thank you! :)

see:  http://www.dekalb.k12.ga.us/www/documents/strategic-plan/community-engagement-session-for-strategic-planning.pdf

"The DeKalb County School System is re-establishing a strategic planning process and invites you to participate! It is vital that we hear from our stakeholders on the future direction of the school district before the plan is developed.

What: A Community Engagement Session to gather input from stakeholders
When: Tuesday, September 20, 2011, 6:00 p.m.-9:00 p.m.
Where: The DeKalb County School System Administrative and Instructional Complex (AIC) Auditorium, 1701 Mountain Industrial Boulevard, Stone Mountain, GA 30083
Who: All DeKalb County School System stakeholders are invited to participate.

To Attend: Please RSVP by calling 678-676-0023 or by email: research@fc.dekalb.k12.ga.us

If you need an interpreter in order to participate, please notify us of your specific needs when you RSVP.

An on-line survey will be available for those who can’t attend the meeting. A link to the survey will appear on the district’s website immediately following the meeting."

10 comments:

Cerebration said...

It's Deja Vu all over again!

Anyone who attends, please print out and share a copy of the 2020 Vision created by participants on this blog. We already spent a lot of time, energy and tears creating it. We don't need to discuss much more than what is printed in 'our' vision:

“Without a vision, the people perish…”

Anonymous said...

Sorry to say but this nothing but a sideshow for SACS. A Strategic Plan is one of their requirements. Once completed this will sit on a shelf and draw dust just as all the other strategic plans of DCSS have done.

Joseph Hunt said...

Can you install some sort of Facebook-like "Like" button for the posts and comments?

Cerebration said...

Hmmm. I don't think so with Blogger. I know you can in WordPress. Kim is the techie - Kim? Anyone else know? I guess I could use some tech support!

Anonymous said...

No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.

-- Albert Einstein

Anonymous said...

A revitalized and efficient DCSS

To dream the impossible dream

Atlanta Media Guy said...

How many stinkin' strategic plans do we need? Sounds like some money is about to become available. Can anyone say Obama Stimulus 2? Could it be a SPLOST IV on steroids?

Anonymous said...

In defense of a strategic plan to paraphrase the the chesire cat if you don't know where you wan t to go there it doesn't matter which direction you take

Alice continued "Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?'
`That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,' said the Cat.
`I don't much care where--' said Alice.
`Then it doesn't matter which way you go,' said the Cat.
`--so long as I get SOMEWHERE,' Alice added as an explanation.
`Oh, you're sure to do that,' said the Cat, `if you only walk long enough.'"

And that reminds of this blog.


"`But I don't want to go among mad people,' Alice remarked.
`Oh, you can't help that,' said the Cat: `we're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad.'
`How do you know I'm mad?' said Alice.
`You must be,' said the Cat, `or you wouldn't have come here.'
Alice didn't think that proved it at all; however, she went on `And how do you know that you're mad?'
`To begin with,' said the Cat, `a dog's not mad. You grant that?'
`I suppose so,' said Alice.
`Well, then,' the Cat went on, `you see, a dog growls when it's angry, and wags its tail when it's pleased. Now I growl when I'm pleased, and wag my tail when I'm angry. Therefore I'm mad.'"

Cerebration said...

You're exactly right Anon. This blog does not have an end goal. Our only mission is to "Watch" and report on what we see and hear so that more people will have knowledge of what is happening within our very closed school system -- so that the criminal issues that occurred in the past will hopefully be harder to achieve and we will help save the school children tens of millions of dollars in legal fees.

Mad? Well, there are opinions on that regarding this blog - either way. But then again... you know what they say about opinions....

BTW -- anyone -- and I mean ANYONE -- is free to start up a positive, cheerleading, PR-based, rah-rah blog about DCSS at any time! It literally takes 5 minutes to set one up.

Anonymous said...

The school should get the lion's share of the lease money. Otherwise, it's just like Title 1 funds - the money is spent on the Central Office and very little trickles down for the schools to use in the classrooms. Shameful.