Gearing up for the meeting scheduled to start in less than an hour.
The agenda (found here) is quite different from the work session last week. (Usually they are almost identical.) We never got the report from Teaching and Learning on student achievement, as Mrs. Tyson informed us that Dr. Beasley was not ready last week, so we'll hear that tonight. Beasley will also tell us about the new mathematics teacher training. Dr. Vonzia Phillips will give us the scoop on the instructional partnership with GA Tech on math/science instruction. Of interest, the board met once again on "personnel matter" today, so we'll see if they have anything to announce about the superintendent search. Also, Mr. Rodney Jenkins, our new Public Information Officer will give us his communications plan.
Download the minutes from the Budget Committee meeting (Item D-1) - they are interesting. The system was complimented for improving their auditing practices. "GDOAA noted significant improvement in the DCSD audit over the past three years due to better recordkeeping, improved documentation and better preparation on the part of DCSD."
We do have a big concern about the seemingly innocuous insurance policy up for approval (item H-4). It seems that Mr. Michael Florio (Human Resources) is recommending that we renew this policy without putting it out for bids. Interestingly, Mr. Charles Austin has been DCSS's commercial insurance broker for over 20 years -- which makes us wonder: Have we EVER put this policy out for bids? If not, then why are we paying Mr. Florio $104,460. plus benefits?
And, Leadership Prep is again asking for help with food services. Interestingly, exactly one year ago, they asked for the same thing. Click here to read my notes from that meeting. Those notes say, "Leadership Prep Academy asked for approval to use DCSS food service until they are able to secure their own. When Sarah asked where LPA was located, the speaker simply gave the street address." [I guess they didn't want to announce that they are located in New Birth Church - and we can deduce that they weren't able to secure their own food service yet?] Also, at that meeting the board approved promoting Ms. Michelle Jones, Felicia (Mitchell) Mayfield's daughter as Principal at Clarkston High School. Ms. Jones was promoted from Assistant Principal at Chamblee High School. I wonder if she was able to improve learning at Clarkston. Maybe Dr. Beasley will enlighten us.
Follow along - I'll take notes - you all make comments. See you at 6!
NOTES:
Cute video - first day of school. Mr. Moseley: thanks everyone for their support over the summer. Had a great first day. 96,148 students. Will increase. Monday will have a better number. Closed 8 schools. Converted 3 to k-8. 7,400 students have a new assignment. No one lost a job. 6,525 teachers. 22 vacancies. 99.7% staffed. Scheduling is going well. ESEA turnover causes incomplete schedules. Appeals process in CRCT still in process. Grounds look good. A/C is a challenge. Transportation - fewer drivers, better routing, good job. Dr. Berry - Title 1 did 'Herculean' job completing ESEA assignments. 22 sending schools 10 receiving - 33 ES, 486 MS, - 785 HS, - 1034 transfer requests. Museum School started Aug 1 - 197 students. DeKalb Prep - high school will open Aug 2012. Football starts Aug 25 - Tucker vs SW DeKalb. Channel 2 live. 5 more ESs received a safe routes to school grant. If you don't have an ESEA assignment yet, go ahead and report to your home school and await transfer instructions. You can call Dr. Berry's office.
Robbie Jenkins: Communications plan. Goal to articulate vision and goals. Increase public confidence by educating key groups. Build trust. Deal with credibility among target audiences. Use most effective means. We have the technology. Incorporate one message. Develop subject experts to do interviews. Recruit support from external partners. Media relation protocol. Create a repository for positive news stories and newsletter. [Does he mean like the great one the RIFd Julie Rhame used to produce called "Kaleidoscope"?] Facebook page and Twitter. [Julie tried, but was prevented from doing that by Lewis.] Pump information out. Monologue. (Info out only.) Launch in November. Help board members with communications. Crisis communications program. Predictive dialer system. [They used to do this...] Communications audit. Inventory & evaluate. Eliminate redundancy. Brand messaging. Editorial calendar. McChesney: We've abysmally failed at being proactive. Public doesn't know the 'facts'. Jenkins: My presence won't stop the negative press. Bowen: I struggle with not being aware of issues in the district. Board would like to have talking points - facts and district's position.
Beasley: Update on action plan for student achievement. PPT update. Reprioritizaion. T&L advisory council. Guiding coalition. Grassroots input and support. No district level mandates. All district level paperwork/reporting has been eliminated. Will monitor RTI - student engagement. Monthly meetings with operations. We will "proact" to remove any obstacles. Goals for AYP: 100% participation expected. 95% required. AMOs (Annual Measurable Objectives) - must work toward ensuring goals -- (see PPT). No more than 15% absent for more than 15 days. Graduation rate goal: 90%. Science will be a factor in ES. Increases are not keeping pace with state's target. Curriculum: guides have been updated. Online process for teacher feedback. Preparing a presentation for the board. Instruction: Instructional guide. Reflects best practices nationwide. Principals must work diligently. Focus on right work for right outcomes. [He runs through a lot of detail. Get his PPT for more info.] RTI: Response to Intervention - "where the rubber meets the road" - we must do a better job. Target reading & math. Will be able to drill down in the data for the first time. Renaissance Learning providing diagnostic reports. Monitor each campus' progress in reading. Data generated to assess if students are on target to pass the CRCT. Phasing out GHSGT - 2011 do not need to pass test: can pass related EOCT for the subject area of Graduation Test. All students have to pass GHS Graduation Writing Test. Entering 9th grade 2011-12 - required to take EOCT. Weighs 20% of grade. (Previously 15%) Not required to pass EOCT. Will eventually use EOCTs for AYP. State will determine which ones. Grades 3-12 will continue to use benchmarks. Including IB and AP. Grades 1&2 challenge is "bubbling" for students (teachers have to transfer answers currently.) 87% of incoming 9th graders taking integrated math. 13% discrete. Professional learning: Continue to focus on pedagogy & perceptual knowledge. Career Tech: 11 programs participating in industry certification. Over 5,000 students have been certified. RTTT: 2011-12 - Training year for common core. School imp grant: Towers, McNair, Clarkston -- turnaround funds. Transformation model. Secure resources, tech, staff to turnaround. HS Transformation Director is working diligently. Jay: Re: ESEA - go and visit your neighborhood schools. They are doing a good job. Don't 'run' - stay in your neighborhood school. Take advantage of the funds and programs at home. Edler: Agrees. [Although her children didn't attend their home schools.] Parents should determine what's best for their children.
SACS Update: Tyson: We're inside of 90 days for revisit. Next 2 months. By Aug 12, progress report submitted to legal for review. Draft to board by 9-1. Submit report by 10-1. SACS visit mid-Oct. We are 78% complete. On track. Employees will go through intense policy training. (Virtual training - will assess every employee.) CRCT; Cameras installed. One key to test storage room. Teachers rotate: don't test their own students. Ahead of schedule. Confident for full accreditation.
Moved H-4 (insurance contract) off consent agenda. To give staff time to address a public question. Will vote on it later.
Contract for Leadership Prep Food Service approved.
Item H-4. Mr. McChesney: Question - usually ask have you gotten other bids? But it looked like a strong arm. Mr. Florio will explain why this is a good contract (with no bids). If market goes low, we can lower. If rates go up, we can require that insurer stay at low rates of contract. Japanese earthquake, tornadoes, etc. Claims worldwide 3X greater. Looked like markets were increasing. So we're going to stay with the contract (no solicitation, did a market review). Found a 5-10% increase in premiums. Chartis asking 10-20% increases (we got a good deal last year.) Could have to pay $70-100,000 more. Broker recommended staying with current contract. McChesney - we should always shop and provide info to the public. The public is not privy to info we get. Jester: Market review means you compared scenerios, but didn't get firm quotes. Florio: no claims to exceed 40% of net premium and promise to not go to market to get a lower bid. Insurer wanted to be able to quote higher if necessary. Jester: If we were to rebid it would negate our current terms. Florio: Yes. Jester: Interesting. What's the commission structure for the broker? Conflicts? Florio: Broker paid by insurer. $1.5 million policy = 10% commission ($150,000). $700,000 range = 15% commission. ($100,000). Jester: What kind of service do we get for the money? Florio: Expertise, not time. They collect underwriting data to base premium calculations. They assist us in the products we want - our insurance is special like the museum rider (used to pay $50,000/year, now free), same with boilers, mold, extras... Florio: Not the least indication that we could get this coverage for less.
Passed all consent items unanimously.
Board comments
McChesney: Thank Ms Tyson, teachers, staff, etc to get ready for today.
Walker: Joins McChesney in commending our professionals. Go back to super: Raised the word 'triage' - term for determining the treatment depending on symptoms. Coaching wisdom: "Out of a losing season, you come back prepared for a new season feeling good." Join me in a feel good moment rather than a doom & gloom.
Womack: Personal privilege. 47 years ago at 11:00 a woman came into my life. We were married and we had 2 children. Oak Grove/Lakeside. 1995 lost our son to a brain tumor. Can't say enough about this person and what she's brought to our lives. [It's his anniversary.]
Jester: Jester kids had a great first day of school too. I do embrace the "feel good" but we have a lot to do to climb out of the hole we're in. Everyone needs to buckle down --- all of our problems are fixable. Cautiously optimistic. Appreciate all the hard work for a great opening day.
Edler: Charges the board with moving the board forward with integrity and ethics to set the highest standards.
Cunningham: Back to neighborhood schools. Understand choices but we have an obligation to our neighborhoods. Quality of life. Economic development. Visit the schools in your neighborhoods - they're good - very close to making AYP. You have a choice, but I hope that you'll take the time to invest in your neighborhood school to make it a first class place to get a first class education.
Sarah: Congrats to the Womacks. To stay together for more than a year or two is commendable these days -- especially if you're married to Mr. Womack! [She was joking!] We've got to put our arms around each other. That's the only way we're going to make it -- together. [Right on, Sarah!]
Showing posts with label Board Meeting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Board Meeting. Show all posts
Monday, August 8, 2011
Monday, July 11, 2011
Big Board Meeting Tonight!
Attend the board meeting or watch it live on Comcast 24 tonight at 6:00 pm. You can review the agenda by clicking on our link to "Meetings & Announcements".
MEETING MINUTES BELOW
===
6:00 pm
Ramona Tyson gives the inspiration... "it will take all of us to move this district forward". I just want to speak from the heart. I understand good and bad feelings about the low academic achievement, but you can't give up on us yet. Change is necessary and change will happen. Children need to know that we are inspired by the challenge and if we all come together we can be the change that we want to be. I have between 75-80 days left. I will not be idling. Change will be ready on day 1 of the new superintendent's term. We will talk with the community and the board about the change we want to make in the 90 days for the time after the 90 days.
RECOGNITIONS
1. Special Recognition ~ 2011 Jack Cooke Kent Scholarship Recipient Angelica Hairston who plays harp and violin
Presented by: Ms. Nancy T. Jester, Board Representative, District #1
CITIZEN COMMENTS
1. Jacqueline Sneed - Meadowview ES. Loves the place. Community is involved.
2. Loreen Booker-Brown - absent
3. Bernard Hicks - DeKalb Co Board of Health. Relationship with DCSS is very strong. DeKalb schools are a critical player in emergency preparedness. Esp in case of biological etc attack. Moseley, Freeman worked with him. Planning with DCSS has resulted in good ideas that will work. We can distribute in 48 hours.
4. Rev. David Richards - 3 pts, family, formal and social education. Served as a sub while in seminary. Saw a lot. Son graduated from Redan. 3.96 GPA. Area super pushed parents to push the children. Responsibility falls first to the family. Children must be obedient and prepared. Asking DCSS to tighten the reins on those who are not doing what they're supposed to do. $16 million in athletic scholarships but we have not heard about it. You must do a better job of advertising the successes.
5. Dr. Tom Keating - absent
6. Quenton Young - absent
7. Sylvester Hopewell - DeKalb County PTAs Men's Initiative. Mentoring resource. Educators, X military, X athletes, business people. Conduit for 100 Black Men. [Apparently they only help black boys.]
8. Connie Boone - Great schools start with a great principal. They must create great working environment. School buildings in devastating condition harm students more than anything. Meadowview is unacceptable. We appreciate the modifications being made this summer.
9. Elizabeth Laing - Ivy Prep parent girls school. Support of Ivy Prep Charter in DeKalb.
10. Melinda Lehrer - Anti-cell tower - part 2 - health problems. Issue of tower is separate from the issue of the towers. Phones are now known to cause harm. We don't know yet about the cell towers. Experts are battling. There is a condition - electric pulse hyper-sensitivity. Results are not in but there is persuasive evidence that the cell tower radiation is not helpful and in addition to all other toxic elements.
11. Felicia LaPoole - Ivy Prep proponent for DeKalb locations.
12. Scott Bonder - Co Pres Fernbank PTA. We've come through our hard times stronger. DCSS doing a great job at Fernbank and in the Druid Hills cluster. IB program is strong. Based on questioning. Type of teaching is Socratic. Thank you - you all deserve a giant thank you - especially our principal.
13. Linda Podger Williams - ESEA transfers. (aka: AYP) Meetings start tomorrow eve to develop plans. Every year administrators discuss a better option than traveling across the county. I'd like to hear a new plan tomorrow. I fear I won't. Last year was a disaster. 90 students from last year plus 40 more - will require more trailers. Establishing a better plan should be discussed all year to help students who need it.
14. Katherine Ferago - No Cell Tower at the former Medlock ES. 1 - no longer a school so it doesn't qualify for zoning 2. Plan is not thought out - long term ATT may not need it 3. Combined damage to the neighborhood is damaging. 4. Huge eyesore. 5. Real estate values damaged.
15. Pat Kemp - No Cell Tower in Medlock. Of the 12 proposed locations, we are the only one with a double whammy - cell tower and a closed school. School is closed and board has not committed to continuing to keep it a school. Board can't propose a cell tower using zoning exclusions if there is no school.
16. Judy McDowell - No Cell Tower in Medlock. House is 5 houses away. In no uncertain terms - no cell tower in our community. We have written you about this several times. Cigarettes were once considered harmless too. Do the right thing for the people of Medlock.
17. Joanne Massey - No Cell Towers on the Medlock property. Would hurt neighborhood and drive away private schools that might rent the school. Can you imagine a 150x60x60 cell tower in your yard? No studies have been done as to what this will do to the wetlands. Cell towers have nothing to do with education.
18. Barbara Dalton - No cell tower in Medlock. Why would the school board put this large structure on a property that is closed. That is reckless.
19. Nina Gilbert - Ivy Prep wants to partner with DCSS.
20. Kirstie Young - Ivy Prep parent. Wants a DeKalb campus.
Subs -
1. Willie Pringle - God is holding you accountable and holding us parents accountable. Take a look at what's really going on. A house divided cannot stand. The board and the administration are divided and that's why we don't have a superintendent. Our house is divided. Remember what it's all about - it's about the children.
2. Lillian Ryan - DeKalb Prep Academy (she has 4 people with her) Only she can speak. 3 years of effort for our petition. k-8 model serving all of DeKalb. Extended school day and school year. Thank you - we're looking forward to our partnership.
[* Idea - how about putting an Ivy Prep Academy at Medlock?!! These folks should talk.]
===
No reports from the committees. Tyson asks to include AdvancED on super's report. Remove Policy IBB. Remove Peachtree Hope Charter. Need time to review info. Adopted agenda with changes. Recess 10 min. Time for wine!
Whoa! No wine - looks like they're moving on straightaway.
Mr. Babst, internal auditor now talking about the audit dept. Conducted 33 school audits. Audit pCards monthly. Conducted 15 investigations. Consulting with bookkeepers. Implementing new cash mgmt system. Auditing Central Office business functions. Order based on risk. Planning an information technology auditor. 33% time in schools, 21% central office 13% investigations.... Intend to audit all high schools and middle schools. Will do construction and transportation audits. Also after school care audits.
Jester - have an update on the whistleblower hotline? email? A: We've been taking calls in our dept. Bid out service. Nearly have a contract with outside vendor to put in place in 30-60 days. Jester - will it include phone and email? A; yes. Also hand-written letters.
Cunningham: have we went back and looked at programs we already have in place as opposed to going out? A: yes, we're evaluating that to see if we can operate an ethics hotline internally.
Jester: Can you talk about high risk issues? Are you looking at our financial statements doing spot audits? Lines to audit committee and dotted line to super on your slide - can you explain your relationships? A: Talking about inherent risk - a lot of money - complex activities are high risk. We look at variances and business processes. A2: Have a direct line to BOE - specifically budget cmtee and dotted line to super. Review plans with super before bringing to the board. Jester: What about board members not on that committee? A: I can meet with board members. Obviously I report to the committee. If others want to talk about issues I can talk individually as my report is to the entire board. Jester: Due to SACS requirement? A: yes. They wanted a direct line to the board.
Woods: Yes, the rest of the board wants to know everything the budget committee knows coming from the auditor. Tyson steps in. Every month a standard template has given financial and human resources report. Now, you will get a monthly audit template (report).
Tyson: Status report on SACS/AdvancED. Will be posted on the website. Action #1 - GA School Bd assn will be here for a training on strategic devl. #2 - policy review - we are looking at every single policy. They are 10 years old and need reviewed. At 8/month, it will take 4-5 years. We will start a dedicated policy review meeting every month to move this faster (by June 2012). #3 - to ensure staff knows policy. Starting August we have 11 policies detrimental to employees - ethics, harassment, etc... All 15,000 employees will have to complete Illuminate training on policy.
OK - real break now!
Policy - policy - policy - check them out on the agenda. Womack is ripping through these -- good job Paul!
Budget - Turk - did he really say property tax collections were over projected budget by $14 million?
Yeah NANCY! She asked Turk to delineate the legal fees on separate line items - not just buried in admin costs!! She also asked if he could make notations for large variances (electricity was over by 57%) Turk seemed a bit defensive - "We monitor and check it in order to give you a clean report." [Are we to simply believe him??? Write it down Turk - you report to the board and to the people!]
Jamie Wilson - HR report. Vacancies - 6 more this year than last year at this time. Wish to be staffed at 99% when school starts. [To see who was hired and who retired, etc, download the HR report.]
Speaks: How is it looking for candidates - esp in critical areas of special ed and languages? A: it's all good Q: Teachers from consolidated schools? A: Placed all but 7 of the 450 affected.
SCW: We have had more teachers leave than last year. You've listed the reasons after interviewing them right? A: Yes. Q: Have other school systems had this kind of exit with their teacher pool? A: Gwinnett schools had 200+ vacancies so we're in line. Tyson: You lose teachers seeking higher pay, but our number of furlough days places us in 1st place in salaries in metro area.
Naming of Fernbank Observatory - McChesney. Named after Ralph L. Buice.
Stacey Stepney - Grant for Towers HS $1, 381, 000 - $310,000 to be used for Pearson achievement services.
RTTT - GA Dept of Ed identified Freedom MS as improvement model. NCS Pearson achievement $310,000.
Dr Berry -- Camp Invention - Oak View, Stone View, Chapel Hill & Stone Mt - $69,000
Sarah wants to ensure that kids learn Spanish. [Funny - she had the opportunity to hire a Spanish speaking superintendent and she said, "no"... Which is it?]
Ivy Prep - denied as recommended by Nicole Knighton. (Nancy voted for Ivy Prep - against Knighton)
Ivy Prep Young Men's Leadership Academy - recommended to deny by Knighton again . (all agree)
Media Arts Tech HS - recommended to deny by Nichole Knighton. (all agree)
[Seems interesting that a big reason to deny charters is a lack of a location - which is odd, when the school system is sitting on so many shuttered schools.]
Colman comes with her list of requests -- all approved. Check the agenda.
Everything after that passes. . . .
Until McChesney proposes to remove Meadowview, Brockett and Medlock from the cell tower proposal for 12 schools. Question by Elder to McChesney. Why? McC - we've heard from these communities and they've been clear, so I'm supporting their opinion. Speaks: is there a grace period so that other communities can speak up but haven't had the opportunity [audience claps and Womack admonishes them]. Is there a mechanism for other communities to let the district know that they have an issue? Tyson - no option other than to pull the item. Womack: isn't there a 6 month window? Donahue: T-Mobile has 6 months for [due diligence]. Jester: concerned about many things. I don't like the timing - we didn't get this till Friday. Didn't get financials. Term is too long. I favor an opt in rather than opt out for communities. There may be others we haven't heard from so I am reticent to support. Edler: Happy to speak on this matter - I've had concerns. Communities have cited health reasons. I rep district 7, but also entire county so I'm not one to pick and choose for health of a particular community. So if we take out 3, I suggest we take out all 12. [Applause and Womack again admonishes.] Lots more discussion. Roberts rules out the window. [Sorry - got distracted - missed some.] I think Edler took out all the others but Lakeside, Briarlake and Meadowview(?). I think Walker insisted on Roberts Rules. So Womack puts out original motion and takes off Brockett, Medlock and Meadowview. Vote. Passed 7-1.
Edler: Amendment to the motion. Remove the remaining schools we identified before: Jolly, Margaret Harris, MLK, Narvie, Princeton and Smokerise ES. Cunningham: we don't have towers at all in South DeKalb - we're losing signals left and right. We want towers. SCW: I agree. Meadowview is smack dab in the middle of a community. Cunningham can have towers since they have a lot of land, but Meadowview is in a community so yes, it needs removed from the list. Edler: It's not the school system's business to provide cell and internet service to the county.
Vote: on Edler's amendment - eliminates all towers. Motion fails.
Main motion with original amendment: Passes 6:2 (Edler & Jester dissenting)
eSIS - $660,000 final payment - [thank goodness] to of all people, Pearson
The rest pass - the IBM contract, the tax levy resolution [22.98 mills], etc.
9:40 pm
Adjourn!
MEETING MINUTES BELOW
===
6:00 pm
Ramona Tyson gives the inspiration... "it will take all of us to move this district forward". I just want to speak from the heart. I understand good and bad feelings about the low academic achievement, but you can't give up on us yet. Change is necessary and change will happen. Children need to know that we are inspired by the challenge and if we all come together we can be the change that we want to be. I have between 75-80 days left. I will not be idling. Change will be ready on day 1 of the new superintendent's term. We will talk with the community and the board about the change we want to make in the 90 days for the time after the 90 days.
RECOGNITIONS
1. Special Recognition ~ 2011 Jack Cooke Kent Scholarship Recipient Angelica Hairston who plays harp and violin
Presented by: Ms. Nancy T. Jester, Board Representative, District #1
CITIZEN COMMENTS
1. Jacqueline Sneed - Meadowview ES. Loves the place. Community is involved.
2. Loreen Booker-Brown - absent
3. Bernard Hicks - DeKalb Co Board of Health. Relationship with DCSS is very strong. DeKalb schools are a critical player in emergency preparedness. Esp in case of biological etc attack. Moseley, Freeman worked with him. Planning with DCSS has resulted in good ideas that will work. We can distribute in 48 hours.
4. Rev. David Richards - 3 pts, family, formal and social education. Served as a sub while in seminary. Saw a lot. Son graduated from Redan. 3.96 GPA. Area super pushed parents to push the children. Responsibility falls first to the family. Children must be obedient and prepared. Asking DCSS to tighten the reins on those who are not doing what they're supposed to do. $16 million in athletic scholarships but we have not heard about it. You must do a better job of advertising the successes.
5. Dr. Tom Keating - absent
6. Quenton Young - absent
7. Sylvester Hopewell - DeKalb County PTAs Men's Initiative. Mentoring resource. Educators, X military, X athletes, business people. Conduit for 100 Black Men. [Apparently they only help black boys.]
8. Connie Boone - Great schools start with a great principal. They must create great working environment. School buildings in devastating condition harm students more than anything. Meadowview is unacceptable. We appreciate the modifications being made this summer.
9. Elizabeth Laing - Ivy Prep parent girls school. Support of Ivy Prep Charter in DeKalb.
10. Melinda Lehrer - Anti-cell tower - part 2 - health problems. Issue of tower is separate from the issue of the towers. Phones are now known to cause harm. We don't know yet about the cell towers. Experts are battling. There is a condition - electric pulse hyper-sensitivity. Results are not in but there is persuasive evidence that the cell tower radiation is not helpful and in addition to all other toxic elements.
11. Felicia LaPoole - Ivy Prep proponent for DeKalb locations.
12. Scott Bonder - Co Pres Fernbank PTA. We've come through our hard times stronger. DCSS doing a great job at Fernbank and in the Druid Hills cluster. IB program is strong. Based on questioning. Type of teaching is Socratic. Thank you - you all deserve a giant thank you - especially our principal.
13. Linda Podger Williams - ESEA transfers. (aka: AYP) Meetings start tomorrow eve to develop plans. Every year administrators discuss a better option than traveling across the county. I'd like to hear a new plan tomorrow. I fear I won't. Last year was a disaster. 90 students from last year plus 40 more - will require more trailers. Establishing a better plan should be discussed all year to help students who need it.
14. Katherine Ferago - No Cell Tower at the former Medlock ES. 1 - no longer a school so it doesn't qualify for zoning 2. Plan is not thought out - long term ATT may not need it 3. Combined damage to the neighborhood is damaging. 4. Huge eyesore. 5. Real estate values damaged.
15. Pat Kemp - No Cell Tower in Medlock. Of the 12 proposed locations, we are the only one with a double whammy - cell tower and a closed school. School is closed and board has not committed to continuing to keep it a school. Board can't propose a cell tower using zoning exclusions if there is no school.
16. Judy McDowell - No Cell Tower in Medlock. House is 5 houses away. In no uncertain terms - no cell tower in our community. We have written you about this several times. Cigarettes were once considered harmless too. Do the right thing for the people of Medlock.
17. Joanne Massey - No Cell Towers on the Medlock property. Would hurt neighborhood and drive away private schools that might rent the school. Can you imagine a 150x60x60 cell tower in your yard? No studies have been done as to what this will do to the wetlands. Cell towers have nothing to do with education.
18. Barbara Dalton - No cell tower in Medlock. Why would the school board put this large structure on a property that is closed. That is reckless.
19. Nina Gilbert - Ivy Prep wants to partner with DCSS.
20. Kirstie Young - Ivy Prep parent. Wants a DeKalb campus.
Subs -
1. Willie Pringle - God is holding you accountable and holding us parents accountable. Take a look at what's really going on. A house divided cannot stand. The board and the administration are divided and that's why we don't have a superintendent. Our house is divided. Remember what it's all about - it's about the children.
2. Lillian Ryan - DeKalb Prep Academy (she has 4 people with her) Only she can speak. 3 years of effort for our petition. k-8 model serving all of DeKalb. Extended school day and school year. Thank you - we're looking forward to our partnership.
[* Idea - how about putting an Ivy Prep Academy at Medlock?!! These folks should talk.]
===
No reports from the committees. Tyson asks to include AdvancED on super's report. Remove Policy IBB. Remove Peachtree Hope Charter. Need time to review info. Adopted agenda with changes. Recess 10 min. Time for wine!
Whoa! No wine - looks like they're moving on straightaway.
Mr. Babst, internal auditor now talking about the audit dept. Conducted 33 school audits. Audit pCards monthly. Conducted 15 investigations. Consulting with bookkeepers. Implementing new cash mgmt system. Auditing Central Office business functions. Order based on risk. Planning an information technology auditor. 33% time in schools, 21% central office 13% investigations.... Intend to audit all high schools and middle schools. Will do construction and transportation audits. Also after school care audits.
Jester - have an update on the whistleblower hotline? email? A: We've been taking calls in our dept. Bid out service. Nearly have a contract with outside vendor to put in place in 30-60 days. Jester - will it include phone and email? A; yes. Also hand-written letters.
Cunningham: have we went back and looked at programs we already have in place as opposed to going out? A: yes, we're evaluating that to see if we can operate an ethics hotline internally.
Jester: Can you talk about high risk issues? Are you looking at our financial statements doing spot audits? Lines to audit committee and dotted line to super on your slide - can you explain your relationships? A: Talking about inherent risk - a lot of money - complex activities are high risk. We look at variances and business processes. A2: Have a direct line to BOE - specifically budget cmtee and dotted line to super. Review plans with super before bringing to the board. Jester: What about board members not on that committee? A: I can meet with board members. Obviously I report to the committee. If others want to talk about issues I can talk individually as my report is to the entire board. Jester: Due to SACS requirement? A: yes. They wanted a direct line to the board.
Woods: Yes, the rest of the board wants to know everything the budget committee knows coming from the auditor. Tyson steps in. Every month a standard template has given financial and human resources report. Now, you will get a monthly audit template (report).
Tyson: Status report on SACS/AdvancED. Will be posted on the website. Action #1 - GA School Bd assn will be here for a training on strategic devl. #2 - policy review - we are looking at every single policy. They are 10 years old and need reviewed. At 8/month, it will take 4-5 years. We will start a dedicated policy review meeting every month to move this faster (by June 2012). #3 - to ensure staff knows policy. Starting August we have 11 policies detrimental to employees - ethics, harassment, etc... All 15,000 employees will have to complete Illuminate training on policy.
OK - real break now!
Policy - policy - policy - check them out on the agenda. Womack is ripping through these -- good job Paul!
Budget - Turk - did he really say property tax collections were over projected budget by $14 million?
Yeah NANCY! She asked Turk to delineate the legal fees on separate line items - not just buried in admin costs!! She also asked if he could make notations for large variances (electricity was over by 57%) Turk seemed a bit defensive - "We monitor and check it in order to give you a clean report." [Are we to simply believe him??? Write it down Turk - you report to the board and to the people!]
Jamie Wilson - HR report. Vacancies - 6 more this year than last year at this time. Wish to be staffed at 99% when school starts. [To see who was hired and who retired, etc, download the HR report.]
Speaks: How is it looking for candidates - esp in critical areas of special ed and languages? A: it's all good Q: Teachers from consolidated schools? A: Placed all but 7 of the 450 affected.
SCW: We have had more teachers leave than last year. You've listed the reasons after interviewing them right? A: Yes. Q: Have other school systems had this kind of exit with their teacher pool? A: Gwinnett schools had 200+ vacancies so we're in line. Tyson: You lose teachers seeking higher pay, but our number of furlough days places us in 1st place in salaries in metro area.
Naming of Fernbank Observatory - McChesney. Named after Ralph L. Buice.
Stacey Stepney - Grant for Towers HS $1, 381, 000 - $310,000 to be used for Pearson achievement services.
RTTT - GA Dept of Ed identified Freedom MS as improvement model. NCS Pearson achievement $310,000.
Dr Berry -- Camp Invention - Oak View, Stone View, Chapel Hill & Stone Mt - $69,000
Sarah wants to ensure that kids learn Spanish. [Funny - she had the opportunity to hire a Spanish speaking superintendent and she said, "no"... Which is it?]
Ivy Prep - denied as recommended by Nicole Knighton. (Nancy voted for Ivy Prep - against Knighton)
Ivy Prep Young Men's Leadership Academy - recommended to deny by Knighton again . (all agree)
Media Arts Tech HS - recommended to deny by Nichole Knighton. (all agree)
[Seems interesting that a big reason to deny charters is a lack of a location - which is odd, when the school system is sitting on so many shuttered schools.]
Colman comes with her list of requests -- all approved. Check the agenda.
Everything after that passes. . . .
Until McChesney proposes to remove Meadowview, Brockett and Medlock from the cell tower proposal for 12 schools. Question by Elder to McChesney. Why? McC - we've heard from these communities and they've been clear, so I'm supporting their opinion. Speaks: is there a grace period so that other communities can speak up but haven't had the opportunity [audience claps and Womack admonishes them]. Is there a mechanism for other communities to let the district know that they have an issue? Tyson - no option other than to pull the item. Womack: isn't there a 6 month window? Donahue: T-Mobile has 6 months for [due diligence]. Jester: concerned about many things. I don't like the timing - we didn't get this till Friday. Didn't get financials. Term is too long. I favor an opt in rather than opt out for communities. There may be others we haven't heard from so I am reticent to support. Edler: Happy to speak on this matter - I've had concerns. Communities have cited health reasons. I rep district 7, but also entire county so I'm not one to pick and choose for health of a particular community. So if we take out 3, I suggest we take out all 12. [Applause and Womack again admonishes.] Lots more discussion. Roberts rules out the window. [Sorry - got distracted - missed some.] I think Edler took out all the others but Lakeside, Briarlake and Meadowview(?). I think Walker insisted on Roberts Rules. So Womack puts out original motion and takes off Brockett, Medlock and Meadowview. Vote. Passed 7-1.
Edler: Amendment to the motion. Remove the remaining schools we identified before: Jolly, Margaret Harris, MLK, Narvie, Princeton and Smokerise ES. Cunningham: we don't have towers at all in South DeKalb - we're losing signals left and right. We want towers. SCW: I agree. Meadowview is smack dab in the middle of a community. Cunningham can have towers since they have a lot of land, but Meadowview is in a community so yes, it needs removed from the list. Edler: It's not the school system's business to provide cell and internet service to the county.
Vote: on Edler's amendment - eliminates all towers. Motion fails.
Main motion with original amendment: Passes 6:2 (Edler & Jester dissenting)
eSIS - $660,000 final payment - [thank goodness] to of all people, Pearson
The rest pass - the IBM contract, the tax levy resolution [22.98 mills], etc.
9:40 pm
Adjourn!
Monday, June 6, 2011
Tune in to Comcast 24 at 6 PM
Big meeting tonight. Lots to discuss. Tune in to Comcast Channel 24, stream it on your computer by clicking here or just drive on over to the Palace and watch it live.
The Board of Education is expected to take action on the SPLOST IV joint resolution. To view the meetings, the proposals, the SPLOST IV proposed list of projects, and the facility condition assessments, click here and scroll down to "Updates".
Click our calendar icon to view the agenda or click here to access the eBoard agenda with supporting documents. We'll update this post as the meeting marches on (it will be long).
To view older minutes (through April) posted on the DCSS click here.
6:15: Awesome video produced by students. Called "I Need You" it featured students stating their needs for learning from every person involved in their education. These students tell us, "I need you to expect more from me and set high goals. It doesn't matter if I get a free or reduced lunch or am learning to speak the language or have special needs, I need you to believe in me. Teach me. Engage me. Care for me. Believe in me and I will learn."
6:20: Bowen promises a waiver to Museum and Peachtree Hope charter schools for one year. Schools can spend the year assembling their application for a DCSS sponsored charter.
CITIZEN's COMMENTS
* People are not hip to installing cell phone towers on school property.
* Zepora!!! She admonished the board for taking too long to look for a superintendent. She slammed them for looking for a "white" candidate because they think "you get more from whites"[!!!] Says, "We have the best in Ms. Tyson. Open your eyes and see what she's accomplished. Hire Her. Immediately. Permanently. The candidate that you're looking at has not been successful and his board has not renewed his contract. He is looking for a greener pasture and you are providing that pasture. Don't make that mistake." Then she goes on about budget recommendations.
* John Evans - my third grade grandson can't read. He failed the CRCT. He's on the list for Peachtree Charter cause they told me charter schools are better than regular. They told me to appeal his results. Why would I do that? He shouldn't go on if he can't read! He has LD and ADHD (Evans digressed and said that most black kids are labeled ADHD for some reason.)
* Advocate for Sky Haven and Meadowview
* Second advocate for the Museum School
* Peachtree Hope advocate thanks the board for special consideration - then goes on to reminisce about the Civil Rights Movement. "I went to sleep for 40 years and a lot of children today still need help." This charter school will help.
* Another Peachtree Hope advocate and his children.
* David Schutten: (ODE) Not spotlighting schools but there is not one place for parents to sit - unwelcoming. Some principals do a good job, others not so much. Understand budget cuts but disappointed. Disappointed that Womack would support a millage increase. 20/20 master plan. Says board never questioned 900 student schools but suddenly are questioning. Bait and switch. Understand Austin being rebuilt. Septic tank school needs rebuilt. McNair promises need to be kept. Dresden corridor - and Stone Mt predict enrollment drop due to anti-immigration bills.
* Theme school parent. "At the theme schools, we get it."
* DeKalb police are hosting a summer camp program. Summer PAL - summer athletic program. Added educational component. June - July. 4 weeks.
* Proud Cedar Grove parent - has seen some improvements, but Cedar Grove has not had major additions like an auditorium or cosmetology lab ("like Tucker and Lakeside") [??]
[NOTE: 7:20 - we're at an hour and we have 3 more speakers?!!]
* Sandy Purkett - Great Redan - PILOT program - earned $8 million in scholarships.
* Speaker states that SACS asked board to ensure they are following their own policies. In laying off (RIFs) board was supposed to use quality of employee. DCSS should strive to keep employees who have good servitude. She said her RIF was based on seniority, not job performance.
* Viola Davis (Unhappy Taxpayer) We are "anemic" - we need to stop redistributing wealth across the state. Her home was devalued from $160k to $78k. We need to demand what is due to us from the state. We can get it if we have a united front.
SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT
Tony Hunter: SchoolNet Update. Building level administrators have been trained in how to look at a global view of individual performance. Teachers subsequently trained. Can create individual school and district level benchmark assessments. PD Planner has been developed (Registers and tracks Professional Development-for all employees) Curriculum loading. Info accessible for SS and ELA. Working on math and science (July 1 deadline). Will also load common core standards. This tool will generate reports for RTTT. (A demonstration ensued.) Renewal of Instructional Data Mgmt System
Womack - Personal privilege. Tonight the board will approve the budget and tax levy. Addresses a misstatement on the part of a speaker (Schutten) - "Said I was supportive of tax increase - I am not. This board wants to do everything possible for teachers and staff - board took 10% cut - but Schutten doesn't appreciate. Has Mr. Schutten taken a pay cut? He needs to do that if he's criticizing the board." Point of order - (Donna) - asks that board members not address members of the public by name. [Blogger note: the rules are always read that the board will NOT RESPOND to speakers - Womack broke the rules. Tom should not have allowed that.]
Motion to increase taxes .5 mil. Donna moved for an increase to 1.0 mil - with a sunset in 2 years. Womack: county is looking at raising 2-4 mils. Won't vote for a tax increase. Period. End of sentence. Bowen pointed out that we have one of the highest millage rates and never put it back down in 9 years when times were good. Walker also declined to support. Jay is also concerned about county increase along with increase in water bills. Cuts are necessary to balance the budget. Won't vote for increase. McChesney endorses others points. We're in the 1st year of a 3 year water increase. Also Atlanta pushing us on a 1 cent transportation sales tax. Plus we're asking for SPLOST 1 cent sales tax. Most systems are limited to 5 mils -- we're one of the three highest in the state. In the real world, people are taking salary cuts, furlough days, getting laid off. Sarah: I think my fellow board members should recognize that all of us do not think the same way. Says, "If you don't agree, then don't vote but don't annihilate another board member. Think about how it effects another person the way you state your case (like, when you say, 'it doesn't make sense')." Womack: history of 25 millage cap: Due to DeKalb community college. Constitutional amendment from the state to raise to 25 mils. However, we have disposed of DeKalb college, but have not disposed of the tax. Donna withdraws motion. Turk has to read the original. Sets rate at 22.98 mils. PASSES. [This is going to be a long meeting.]
Back to the operations budget: $1 billion 235 million 105 thousand dollars. Donna asks for calendar modification of furlough days. Close schools over holiday break. Save on utilities. Allows employees vacation or sick days to use. [?] Tyson: Furlough days are a reduction in the work calendar by definition. That's the only way to capture savings. Turk: Value of sick leave or vacation day is not a budget savings. [Kind of basic Is there a reason they couldn't have discussed this before this meeting?] BUDGET PASSES. Unanimous.
Changed the name of the finance committee to include the word audit.
PASSES.
SPLOST IV Resolution: Tyson - wants to build an arts school at Avondale Middle. Shot down the idea to merge Hawthorne with Henderson Mill ESs. Moseley - November SPLOST referendum outlines $475 million in projects. Parsons study showed $3.1 BILLION in facilities needs. [is this above the $2 Billion we were told when we voted for SPLOST 1 years ago?] Jester - amendment - substitute language to say Dunwoody elementary school TBD instead of specifically naming Austin. Tyson: yield to attorneys on wording. Attorney says ok. Motion to write the language to say "for" an elementary school in the Dunwoody cluster. Bowen doesn't understand. Attorney explains - as written, a new school would have to replace Austin. New language gives more latitude. Bowen still questions. Walker questions the difference. Says, "Austin is not in Snellville, it's in Dunwoody." Tyson tries to clarify [this is beginning to look like an episode of Seinfeld] Walker still doesn't understand. Edler: The idea of not specifying a particular school is of concern to me. Says the spirit of this program is to identify 'projects'. That diminishes the work we are trying to do. Donna tells Nancy she's muddying the water. McChesney says it's clear - it creates flexibility. Does not preclude the named school but has a potential for an option because we don't know where numbers will end up. Seconded her motion. [Aren't they supposed to second things before they discuss?] Speaks understands the concept and understands comments. But says if things are in black and white, the citizens hold you accountable. So if there's leeway, it will just be in the Dunwoody area, not specifically for Austin. Is that interpretation the same for the other schools on the list? More discussion. Mosely says data shows that the Dunwoody area has a definite need for capacity. Staff recommended Austin due to it's low building score. Sarah mocks Jester for "picking" through projects. Says she'll do the same and have a "picking good time". Jay says no. Leave it as is. Motion Fails (6-3)
Jester - appreciates the time put into the SPLOST plan but is concerned about the time constraints. Voters should have more info and be allowed more feedback and discussion time. Special interest groups have been able to organize and advocate for their desires. There hasn't been time to make a formal building plan. Votes no but SPLOST IV Referendum PASSES (8-1) [This gives Coralwood their requested $10.6 million - click here to read our post on it.]
Turk - property taxes are above projections by $11 million [Really???!]
Turk: Annual tuition fee for non-residents: $3, 400+ (down from last year) Edler: Who pays? Turk: used for seniors who have moved, but want to graduate from the school they attended. Edler: Is it also an option for anyone to choose to attend DCSS? Moseley - it only applies to seniors.
Turk: Bank of America for 22 deposit accounts. Sarah: heard bad things about Bank of America on the news. Did you? Bowen: I would not admit it.
Wilson: Approve personnel for ALL 2011-12 contracts as recommended on the CD given to board members and in a binder in the board office.
Knollwood library - Target donation (>$5,000)
Contracts for web-based programs and other services (routine annual items)
Preschool special ed - 84 classrooms. Software to monitor progress. IDEA funds.
Gifted and professional dev online courses. Edler: do we charge the teachers for these online courses? No.
Stepney: College board - DCSS to pay for 9th grade PSAT exams - $95,000+
AdvancEd / SACS - yearly dues $72,600 (requirement) [!]
Annual Perkins Grant - Career/Tech ed
Communities in Schools of Atlanta - $885,000 for contracted services for 12 Title 1 high schools (Title 1 funds used) McChesney compliments the detailed info the board was given on this beforehand - would like to get this kind of info more often. Edler: Any volunteers or are they paid? All coordinators are paid but we do have volunteers.
Donahue: Capital outlay budget reallocations: [Bunch of them - check the agenda]
Chamblee HS - approve the new site [didn't realize there was a new site]
$52 million limit to Turner Construction
More money for the WBBC! Some kind of coolers... $802,000!!! Plus an additional MILLION for something else! Tyson explained in detail. [Didn't we just approve MILLIONS for this move last year?!! Here is a link to the project descriptions and here's a link to our original blogpost on the cost of the move.]
Replace the septic tank at Smokerise ES (the only one in the system)
New copiers for all schools next year!
Hunter: SchoolNet $900,000+; plus $179,975 for testing software;
Lakeside HS technology pkg: $705,000
Telecom equipment: Zeta technologies $221,000+
Adjourn!!
The Board of Education is expected to take action on the SPLOST IV joint resolution. To view the meetings, the proposals, the SPLOST IV proposed list of projects, and the facility condition assessments, click here and scroll down to "Updates".
Click our calendar icon to view the agenda or click here to access the eBoard agenda with supporting documents. We'll update this post as the meeting marches on (it will be long).
To view older minutes (through April) posted on the DCSS click here.
=====
6:15: Awesome video produced by students. Called "I Need You" it featured students stating their needs for learning from every person involved in their education. These students tell us, "I need you to expect more from me and set high goals. It doesn't matter if I get a free or reduced lunch or am learning to speak the language or have special needs, I need you to believe in me. Teach me. Engage me. Care for me. Believe in me and I will learn."
6:20: Bowen promises a waiver to Museum and Peachtree Hope charter schools for one year. Schools can spend the year assembling their application for a DCSS sponsored charter.
CITIZEN's COMMENTS
* People are not hip to installing cell phone towers on school property.
* Zepora!!! She admonished the board for taking too long to look for a superintendent. She slammed them for looking for a "white" candidate because they think "you get more from whites"[!!!] Says, "We have the best in Ms. Tyson. Open your eyes and see what she's accomplished. Hire Her. Immediately. Permanently. The candidate that you're looking at has not been successful and his board has not renewed his contract. He is looking for a greener pasture and you are providing that pasture. Don't make that mistake." Then she goes on about budget recommendations.
* John Evans - my third grade grandson can't read. He failed the CRCT. He's on the list for Peachtree Charter cause they told me charter schools are better than regular. They told me to appeal his results. Why would I do that? He shouldn't go on if he can't read! He has LD and ADHD (Evans digressed and said that most black kids are labeled ADHD for some reason.)
* Advocate for Sky Haven and Meadowview
* Second advocate for the Museum School
* Peachtree Hope advocate thanks the board for special consideration - then goes on to reminisce about the Civil Rights Movement. "I went to sleep for 40 years and a lot of children today still need help." This charter school will help.
* Another Peachtree Hope advocate and his children.
* David Schutten: (ODE) Not spotlighting schools but there is not one place for parents to sit - unwelcoming. Some principals do a good job, others not so much. Understand budget cuts but disappointed. Disappointed that Womack would support a millage increase. 20/20 master plan. Says board never questioned 900 student schools but suddenly are questioning. Bait and switch. Understand Austin being rebuilt. Septic tank school needs rebuilt. McNair promises need to be kept. Dresden corridor - and Stone Mt predict enrollment drop due to anti-immigration bills.
* Theme school parent. "At the theme schools, we get it."
* DeKalb police are hosting a summer camp program. Summer PAL - summer athletic program. Added educational component. June - July. 4 weeks.
* Proud Cedar Grove parent - has seen some improvements, but Cedar Grove has not had major additions like an auditorium or cosmetology lab ("like Tucker and Lakeside") [??]
[NOTE: 7:20 - we're at an hour and we have 3 more speakers?!!]
* Sandy Purkett - Great Redan - PILOT program - earned $8 million in scholarships.
* Speaker states that SACS asked board to ensure they are following their own policies. In laying off (RIFs) board was supposed to use quality of employee. DCSS should strive to keep employees who have good servitude. She said her RIF was based on seniority, not job performance.
* Viola Davis (Unhappy Taxpayer) We are "anemic" - we need to stop redistributing wealth across the state. Her home was devalued from $160k to $78k. We need to demand what is due to us from the state. We can get it if we have a united front.
SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT
Tony Hunter: SchoolNet Update. Building level administrators have been trained in how to look at a global view of individual performance. Teachers subsequently trained. Can create individual school and district level benchmark assessments. PD Planner has been developed (Registers and tracks Professional Development-for all employees) Curriculum loading. Info accessible for SS and ELA. Working on math and science (July 1 deadline). Will also load common core standards. This tool will generate reports for RTTT. (A demonstration ensued.) Renewal of Instructional Data Mgmt System
Womack - Personal privilege. Tonight the board will approve the budget and tax levy. Addresses a misstatement on the part of a speaker (Schutten) - "Said I was supportive of tax increase - I am not. This board wants to do everything possible for teachers and staff - board took 10% cut - but Schutten doesn't appreciate. Has Mr. Schutten taken a pay cut? He needs to do that if he's criticizing the board." Point of order - (Donna) - asks that board members not address members of the public by name. [Blogger note: the rules are always read that the board will NOT RESPOND to speakers - Womack broke the rules. Tom should not have allowed that.]
-BREAK-
Motion to increase taxes .5 mil. Donna moved for an increase to 1.0 mil - with a sunset in 2 years. Womack: county is looking at raising 2-4 mils. Won't vote for a tax increase. Period. End of sentence. Bowen pointed out that we have one of the highest millage rates and never put it back down in 9 years when times were good. Walker also declined to support. Jay is also concerned about county increase along with increase in water bills. Cuts are necessary to balance the budget. Won't vote for increase. McChesney endorses others points. We're in the 1st year of a 3 year water increase. Also Atlanta pushing us on a 1 cent transportation sales tax. Plus we're asking for SPLOST 1 cent sales tax. Most systems are limited to 5 mils -- we're one of the three highest in the state. In the real world, people are taking salary cuts, furlough days, getting laid off. Sarah: I think my fellow board members should recognize that all of us do not think the same way. Says, "If you don't agree, then don't vote but don't annihilate another board member. Think about how it effects another person the way you state your case (like, when you say, 'it doesn't make sense')." Womack: history of 25 millage cap: Due to DeKalb community college. Constitutional amendment from the state to raise to 25 mils. However, we have disposed of DeKalb college, but have not disposed of the tax. Donna withdraws motion. Turk has to read the original. Sets rate at 22.98 mils. PASSES. [This is going to be a long meeting.]
Back to the operations budget: $1 billion 235 million 105 thousand dollars. Donna asks for calendar modification of furlough days. Close schools over holiday break. Save on utilities. Allows employees vacation or sick days to use. [?] Tyson: Furlough days are a reduction in the work calendar by definition. That's the only way to capture savings. Turk: Value of sick leave or vacation day is not a budget savings. [Kind of basic Is there a reason they couldn't have discussed this before this meeting?] BUDGET PASSES. Unanimous.
Changed the name of the finance committee to include the word audit.
PASSES.
SPLOST IV Resolution: Tyson - wants to build an arts school at Avondale Middle. Shot down the idea to merge Hawthorne with Henderson Mill ESs. Moseley - November SPLOST referendum outlines $475 million in projects. Parsons study showed $3.1 BILLION in facilities needs. [is this above the $2 Billion we were told when we voted for SPLOST 1 years ago?] Jester - amendment - substitute language to say Dunwoody elementary school TBD instead of specifically naming Austin. Tyson: yield to attorneys on wording. Attorney says ok. Motion to write the language to say "for" an elementary school in the Dunwoody cluster. Bowen doesn't understand. Attorney explains - as written, a new school would have to replace Austin. New language gives more latitude. Bowen still questions. Walker questions the difference. Says, "Austin is not in Snellville, it's in Dunwoody." Tyson tries to clarify [this is beginning to look like an episode of Seinfeld] Walker still doesn't understand. Edler: The idea of not specifying a particular school is of concern to me. Says the spirit of this program is to identify 'projects'. That diminishes the work we are trying to do. Donna tells Nancy she's muddying the water. McChesney says it's clear - it creates flexibility. Does not preclude the named school but has a potential for an option because we don't know where numbers will end up. Seconded her motion. [Aren't they supposed to second things before they discuss?] Speaks understands the concept and understands comments. But says if things are in black and white, the citizens hold you accountable. So if there's leeway, it will just be in the Dunwoody area, not specifically for Austin. Is that interpretation the same for the other schools on the list? More discussion. Mosely says data shows that the Dunwoody area has a definite need for capacity. Staff recommended Austin due to it's low building score. Sarah mocks Jester for "picking" through projects. Says she'll do the same and have a "picking good time". Jay says no. Leave it as is. Motion Fails (6-3)
Jester - appreciates the time put into the SPLOST plan but is concerned about the time constraints. Voters should have more info and be allowed more feedback and discussion time. Special interest groups have been able to organize and advocate for their desires. There hasn't been time to make a formal building plan. Votes no but SPLOST IV Referendum PASSES (8-1) [This gives Coralwood their requested $10.6 million - click here to read our post on it.]
Turk - property taxes are above projections by $11 million [Really???!]
Turk: Annual tuition fee for non-residents: $3, 400+ (down from last year) Edler: Who pays? Turk: used for seniors who have moved, but want to graduate from the school they attended. Edler: Is it also an option for anyone to choose to attend DCSS? Moseley - it only applies to seniors.
Turk: Bank of America for 22 deposit accounts. Sarah: heard bad things about Bank of America on the news. Did you? Bowen: I would not admit it.
Wilson: Approve personnel for ALL 2011-12 contracts as recommended on the CD given to board members and in a binder in the board office.
Knollwood library - Target donation (>$5,000)
Contracts for web-based programs and other services (routine annual items)
Preschool special ed - 84 classrooms. Software to monitor progress. IDEA funds.
Gifted and professional dev online courses. Edler: do we charge the teachers for these online courses? No.
Stepney: College board - DCSS to pay for 9th grade PSAT exams - $95,000+
AdvancEd / SACS - yearly dues $72,600 (requirement) [!]
Annual Perkins Grant - Career/Tech ed
Communities in Schools of Atlanta - $885,000 for contracted services for 12 Title 1 high schools (Title 1 funds used) McChesney compliments the detailed info the board was given on this beforehand - would like to get this kind of info more often. Edler: Any volunteers or are they paid? All coordinators are paid but we do have volunteers.
Donahue: Capital outlay budget reallocations: [Bunch of them - check the agenda]
Chamblee HS - approve the new site [didn't realize there was a new site]
$52 million limit to Turner Construction
More money for the WBBC! Some kind of coolers... $802,000!!! Plus an additional MILLION for something else! Tyson explained in detail. [Didn't we just approve MILLIONS for this move last year?!! Here is a link to the project descriptions and here's a link to our original blogpost on the cost of the move.]
Replace the septic tank at Smokerise ES (the only one in the system)
New copiers for all schools next year!
Hunter: SchoolNet $900,000+; plus $179,975 for testing software;
Lakeside HS technology pkg: $705,000
Telecom equipment: Zeta technologies $221,000+
OTHER BOARD COMMENTS (2 minutes) No one had a closing comment.
Thursday, May 12, 2011
Notes from the board's May 9 business meeting
Below are some of my notes from Monday's business meeting. Business meetings are almost always a repeat of the previous week's work session, however, this business meeting was chock full of very enlightening new information. My notes are lengthy and will appear in two posts - one today and one tomorrow.
Quenterious Tolen (graduating student member of the board) – DCSS – a haven of comfort, hope and joy. Next Friday I will graduate with honors from Columbia HS – what I believe is the best education I could be offered. I have been esteemed at the honor of being on the DeKalb County board of education. Now I leave to you my final words of wisdom. I remind this county of the charge that it has. You have charges to keep buildings running, however today I remind you of your charge to educate. To educate means to empower students. Go back to what makes leading a school system worthwhile. That landmark is love. Where is that love? In power, popularity, prestige? I call upon all in DeKalb county to lay aside our differences and focus on the students. Never offer a complaint without offering a solution. We need a humble teacher to stand and lead us into the promised land of brotherhood.
Welcome Dr. Sylvia Hooker - Georgia DOE, Deputy Superintendent for School Turnaround
Presentation led by Dr Beasley:
DCSS - Recipient of $34 million in RTTT
$400 million in total to GA
Our Focus – Graduation from high school, teacher training (Class Keys, Leader Keys – new evaluation system) Data – Teach For America – Merit Pay – Address lowest achieving schools
4 core areas:
A - Recruiting, preparing, rewarding & retaining effective leaders & teachers (priority from Dr Hooker – support effective teachers and weed ineffective ones)
B - Adoption of standards (common core GPS)
C - Building data systems – teachers have 24/7 access
D - Turn around lowest achieving schools
A – Interviewed 99 candidates – selecting up to 75 Teach for Am candidates – select 2 teaching fellow – train to be APs – Will train at Columbia University
B – July 2010 – renamed to GPS – all will be addressed – Common Assessments being developed – implemented in 2014-15 -- Phase 1 – administrators, Phase 2 – teacher leaders, Phase 3 all teachers
C – Data system (Instruction Improvement System). To be seamless. All teachers have access and will use the data. Used p-20. State will use the data as well.
D – Turnaround schools – 4 intervention models: Turnaround, Charter EMO, School Closure & Transformation – We’ve selected the Transformation model. Have identified schools. Towers application looks good so far. Must ensure extreme instructional makeover – Clarkston & McNair implementing improvements now. STEM – all ES and MS make Science the 2nd AYP indicator in lieu of attendance beginning in 2013.
[NOTE; The Turnaround Model requires replacing the principal and removing at least 50% of staff]
Dr. Hooker – collaboration with the state
Board and super – it’s a pleasure to stand before you. You have shown that it’s not only head, it’s heart driving these initiatives. I encourage you all to listen to what Mr. Tolen mentioned. It’s about heart – what we need for turnaround.
20 schools in GA that we’re working with. DCSS selected Transformation. We’re in the right zone – headed for great things. I look forward to more students in the future like Mr. Tolen.
DeKalb county - $34 million. You bought into the following:
Summer leadership academy – required to attend. Rollout common core and evaluation standards. Keys – will be streamlined. Everyone needs standards-based instruction and assessment. Collaboratively with state DOE. Re-emphasizing the roles of school administrators – remove 'administratia' so that principals can get into the classroom. We also expect the students to do their part and step up their game in the next 2-3 years in this strategy. Seek to entice Teach for America teachers so that they decide to teach as a career. This district has asked me to look at candidates for the turnaround model. I expect great gains in these schools because I saw what the teachers want for the schools and I’ve seen the leadership ask for guidance. Yes, there will be struggles, but I don’t find a struggle working with DeKalb schools as you have asked me in on the front end.
Dr Walker – excited about this – I wish the governor would have appointed someone from DeKalb on this RTTT committee. He has someone from everywhere but DeKalb, and we got the money - but we don’t need it cause we have Dr Hooker.
[NOTE: DeKalb does have representation on all committees related to RTTT. I will post the input I received from the DOE communications officer in the comments.]
Mosely – Redistricting: closing 8 schools nearly complete. HR has developed procedures for reassignment. No staff member will lose a job. Scheduled and conducted meetings in each school for staff. Held meetings with principals to discuss plans for transition. Scheduled open houses for students and parents. Mailed 7000 letters over spring break. Installed a redistricting phone line for parents to ask questions. Plans to merge PTAs and transportation has reviewed bus routes. Athletics has a plan for relocating equipment. Collaborated with state for eligibility. Facilities has a decommission plan for each school. To Edler - Fernbank’s SST program (a countywide program with 200 slots) from Avondale MS will be a part of STT at new assigned school. Avondale’s ROTC program will move to Arabia HS. MIS moves all technology. Capital needs will address design needs of receiving schools. Voting precincts associated with the closed schools will also be reassigned. PreK lottery recipients at Sky Haven will attend PreK at Meadowview or McNair D&L. Funding will go to Rainbow and Allgood. Cunningham – community is confused about PreK assignments. Also asked about custodians, cafeteria workers and bus drivers – still have the same job reassignment process as teachers, etc. filling vacancies. To Jester – Dunwoody situation – changing the 4-5 academy to k-5. Dunwoody is more complicated due to grade level changes within the schools. Need to make sure we have the right teachers & administrators. Cunningham – what about block schedule? If they change how does that effect? Mosely – changing over the summer is no problem. Again, parents are confused on the subject. Edler – have we anticipated an increase in NCLB transfers due to redistricting and have we given thought to the annex situation which I find problematic. Beasley – we’ve decided already to move current annexes to main buildings and it’s not our intention to offer annexes in the future. Tucker MS at Stone Mt MS will exist next year, but will be phased out. Womack – when will we migrate from the block and go to the 7 period. Tyson – BOE put that on my plate when I took over and it’s been in the queue, but I haven’t had time to get to it.
===
For more info on the RTTT, visit this link at the GA DOE website;
http://www.gadoe.org/RT3.aspx
Quenterious Tolen (graduating student member of the board) – DCSS – a haven of comfort, hope and joy. Next Friday I will graduate with honors from Columbia HS – what I believe is the best education I could be offered. I have been esteemed at the honor of being on the DeKalb County board of education. Now I leave to you my final words of wisdom. I remind this county of the charge that it has. You have charges to keep buildings running, however today I remind you of your charge to educate. To educate means to empower students. Go back to what makes leading a school system worthwhile. That landmark is love. Where is that love? In power, popularity, prestige? I call upon all in DeKalb county to lay aside our differences and focus on the students. Never offer a complaint without offering a solution. We need a humble teacher to stand and lead us into the promised land of brotherhood.
Welcome Dr. Sylvia Hooker - Georgia DOE, Deputy Superintendent for School Turnaround
Presentation led by Dr Beasley:
DCSS - Recipient of $34 million in RTTT
$400 million in total to GA
Our Focus – Graduation from high school, teacher training (Class Keys, Leader Keys – new evaluation system) Data – Teach For America – Merit Pay – Address lowest achieving schools
4 core areas:
A - Recruiting, preparing, rewarding & retaining effective leaders & teachers (priority from Dr Hooker – support effective teachers and weed ineffective ones)
B - Adoption of standards (common core GPS)
C - Building data systems – teachers have 24/7 access
D - Turn around lowest achieving schools
A – Interviewed 99 candidates – selecting up to 75 Teach for Am candidates – select 2 teaching fellow – train to be APs – Will train at Columbia University
B – July 2010 – renamed to GPS – all will be addressed – Common Assessments being developed – implemented in 2014-15 -- Phase 1 – administrators, Phase 2 – teacher leaders, Phase 3 all teachers
C – Data system (Instruction Improvement System). To be seamless. All teachers have access and will use the data. Used p-20. State will use the data as well.
D – Turnaround schools – 4 intervention models: Turnaround, Charter EMO, School Closure & Transformation – We’ve selected the Transformation model. Have identified schools. Towers application looks good so far. Must ensure extreme instructional makeover – Clarkston & McNair implementing improvements now. STEM – all ES and MS make Science the 2nd AYP indicator in lieu of attendance beginning in 2013.
[NOTE; The Turnaround Model requires replacing the principal and removing at least 50% of staff]
Dr. Hooker – collaboration with the state
Board and super – it’s a pleasure to stand before you. You have shown that it’s not only head, it’s heart driving these initiatives. I encourage you all to listen to what Mr. Tolen mentioned. It’s about heart – what we need for turnaround.
20 schools in GA that we’re working with. DCSS selected Transformation. We’re in the right zone – headed for great things. I look forward to more students in the future like Mr. Tolen.
DeKalb county - $34 million. You bought into the following:
Summer leadership academy – required to attend. Rollout common core and evaluation standards. Keys – will be streamlined. Everyone needs standards-based instruction and assessment. Collaboratively with state DOE. Re-emphasizing the roles of school administrators – remove 'administratia' so that principals can get into the classroom. We also expect the students to do their part and step up their game in the next 2-3 years in this strategy. Seek to entice Teach for America teachers so that they decide to teach as a career. This district has asked me to look at candidates for the turnaround model. I expect great gains in these schools because I saw what the teachers want for the schools and I’ve seen the leadership ask for guidance. Yes, there will be struggles, but I don’t find a struggle working with DeKalb schools as you have asked me in on the front end.
Dr Walker – excited about this – I wish the governor would have appointed someone from DeKalb on this RTTT committee. He has someone from everywhere but DeKalb, and we got the money - but we don’t need it cause we have Dr Hooker.
[NOTE: DeKalb does have representation on all committees related to RTTT. I will post the input I received from the DOE communications officer in the comments.]
Mosely – Redistricting: closing 8 schools nearly complete. HR has developed procedures for reassignment. No staff member will lose a job. Scheduled and conducted meetings in each school for staff. Held meetings with principals to discuss plans for transition. Scheduled open houses for students and parents. Mailed 7000 letters over spring break. Installed a redistricting phone line for parents to ask questions. Plans to merge PTAs and transportation has reviewed bus routes. Athletics has a plan for relocating equipment. Collaborated with state for eligibility. Facilities has a decommission plan for each school. To Edler - Fernbank’s SST program (a countywide program with 200 slots) from Avondale MS will be a part of STT at new assigned school. Avondale’s ROTC program will move to Arabia HS. MIS moves all technology. Capital needs will address design needs of receiving schools. Voting precincts associated with the closed schools will also be reassigned. PreK lottery recipients at Sky Haven will attend PreK at Meadowview or McNair D&L. Funding will go to Rainbow and Allgood. Cunningham – community is confused about PreK assignments. Also asked about custodians, cafeteria workers and bus drivers – still have the same job reassignment process as teachers, etc. filling vacancies. To Jester – Dunwoody situation – changing the 4-5 academy to k-5. Dunwoody is more complicated due to grade level changes within the schools. Need to make sure we have the right teachers & administrators. Cunningham – what about block schedule? If they change how does that effect? Mosely – changing over the summer is no problem. Again, parents are confused on the subject. Edler – have we anticipated an increase in NCLB transfers due to redistricting and have we given thought to the annex situation which I find problematic. Beasley – we’ve decided already to move current annexes to main buildings and it’s not our intention to offer annexes in the future. Tucker MS at Stone Mt MS will exist next year, but will be phased out. Womack – when will we migrate from the block and go to the 7 period. Tyson – BOE put that on my plate when I took over and it’s been in the queue, but I haven’t had time to get to it.
===
For more info on the RTTT, visit this link at the GA DOE website;
http://www.gadoe.org/RT3.aspx
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
The October 4 Board Meeting
I've been out of town on a work-related event and see that you all have been discussing last night's very long board meeting. Here are some recaps from your comments I found to be very interesting.
"So they dropped the agenda item deciding the $50K vendors tonight. What on earth could the staff need to discuss with counsel? Maybe the fact that businesses on the list are not listed with the Ga. Secretary of State?"
Thank you Cere, Sandy and those who post on the blog. I know firsthand that the BOE received a lot of feedback on the agenda item, which would have sailed through if not exposed to sunlight on this blog.
The list itself is not a bad idea according to what my BOE rep. told me, but it was so poorly done, and hopefully Marcus Turk will have his behind chewed out by Tyson for trying to present such shoddy work.
Businesses not registered with the state? 7 law firms? Businesses that have actually dissolved? Judge Moore? Callaway Gardens?
C'mon Marcus Turk and Ramona Tyson, please prove that you can be good stewards of our hard earned taxpayer dollars!
===
I applaud Pam Speaks and Don McChesney for asking the questions that need to be asked. For too long this staff got away with hiding things in agenda items and placing them onto the agenda at the last minute so no one knew what was happening. Then if Clew said it needed to pass, it would be passed. Not any more!
The ineptness of the staff almost lost that supplemental funding for Gateway at no ones fault except for Tyson's and Moseley's. This leadership has to go! It's time for change, sorry to burst your bubble, Ernest Brown, Tyson is not the Super DeKalb needs. We need a new, no ties to deKalb Super and we need the resignations of Tyson, Turk, Moseley, Beasley, Thompson, Mitchell-Mayfield, Hunter, Ramsey and the rest.
===
When the attorney said that board members having no individual authority but only have authority when they act as a board, Gene Walker objected to the part where it says that board members should be focused on the entire school system. He wants to focus narrowly on his individual constituency. Apparently McChesney had the same concerns as Walker. So does Roberts, Cunningham, and Copelin-Woods. The attorney is suggesting that instead of the word narrowly the word only be used. (In other words, a school board member should not be only focused on their constituency. )
The state board is requiring these changes as they want school boards to be viewed as trustees.
Bowen made good points about school board members needing to be able to advocate for their districts.
The policies are about to be put on the table for 30 days. This is one to be commented on.
===
$2,600,000 in salary and benefits for the 21 members that directly support Dr. Audria Berry at the Office of School Improvement.
Compare that to something Don McChesney seemed to have a serious problem with -
Details
The DeKalb County Board of Education approved $30,837 in 2009-2010 for the purchase of K-12 science materials and supplies to support the district’s goal to increase the academic success of students in science for the 2010–2011 school year. These funds are used to provide resources for district-wide science goals. In addition, all local schools allocate funding for the day-to-day operation of science teaching and learning. Therefore, due to combined spending across the system from our 144 sites the district may exceed $50,000.00 from bid numbers 09-73 and 09-139.
===
OMG! Are you serious? We only spent about $30,000 on science materials and supplies last year for over 140 schools?!!! And what about the missing textbooks? The board approved over $7 million last spring for textbooks and yet to date, we are hearing of many schools that are without the much needed textbooks. We are in a crisis - our per student spending is not going to the student!
Monday, August 9, 2010
August 9 Board Meeting
This board meeting was short and sweet once again! That's two in a row!
Here are the bullet points:
Channel 24 showed a video montage of the first day of school. It was cute, but technically pretty bad. Bad music, bad lighting, bad editing. But a good message - the day went well at most schools.
In compliance with Board Policy GAG, Employment of Relatives, it is requested that the Board of Education approve the appointment of Ms. Michelle Jones as Principal at Clarkston High School. Ms. Jones is currently an Assistant Principal at Chamblee High School.
Ms. Jones is the daughter of Cabinet member Dr. Felicia Mayfield.
Leadership Prep Academy asked for approval to use DCSS food service until they are able to secure their own. When Sarah asked where LPA was located, the speaker simply gave the street address.
Then board members had their two minutes of free campaigning - ahem - open comments time. Here, I'll just insert, blah, blah, blah. Except that Jim Redovian made a heartfelt statement about young Blake Kuller, who as a rising 9th grader at Dunwoody high school after having looked forward to high school his whole life, lost his battle with MS and never got to attend Dunwoody. News like that is humbling and keeps things in perspective. For all our system's and school's faults that we tend to focus on here, we must remember that our schools have deep meaning and memory-making ability for our children. To miss the experience of high school altogether is heartbreaking. Our prayers go out to Blake's family.
Tom Bowen ended the meeting with a statement of hope. He wants the public to look forward to changes for the better. He is certain the board will step up to the requests from SACS, and utilize SAC's leadership to move our system forward in optimism for better days.
Here's hoping!
Here are the bullet points:
Channel 24 showed a video montage of the first day of school. It was cute, but technically pretty bad. Bad music, bad lighting, bad editing. But a good message - the day went well at most schools.
- Moseley reported that we have 93,764 students enrolled today, and expect that number to jump to 98,181 by Monday.
- We have about 6,500 teachers and 10 teacher vacancies.
- 1,577 students applied for an AYP transfer. Chamblee HS has 198 acceptances and Arabia (well, the annex of Arabia which will actually be at Lithonia) has 240. Moseley has decided to wait three weeks before actually sending these AYP students to these schools. (Not sure what that's about...)
- We are about to embark on a major board policy revision. A committee, which includes our attorneys, will evaluate all 247 current policies as well as look into needed policies to add. They will write new policies for topics such as ethics, purchasing, employee business activities, whistleblowers and Pre-K.
In compliance with Board Policy GAG, Employment of Relatives, it is requested that the Board of Education approve the appointment of Ms. Michelle Jones as Principal at Clarkston High School. Ms. Jones is currently an Assistant Principal at Chamblee High School.
Ms. Jones is the daughter of Cabinet member Dr. Felicia Mayfield.
Leadership Prep Academy asked for approval to use DCSS food service until they are able to secure their own. When Sarah asked where LPA was located, the speaker simply gave the street address.
Then board members had their two minutes of free campaigning - ahem - open comments time. Here, I'll just insert, blah, blah, blah. Except that Jim Redovian made a heartfelt statement about young Blake Kuller, who as a rising 9th grader at Dunwoody high school after having looked forward to high school his whole life, lost his battle with MS and never got to attend Dunwoody. News like that is humbling and keeps things in perspective. For all our system's and school's faults that we tend to focus on here, we must remember that our schools have deep meaning and memory-making ability for our children. To miss the experience of high school altogether is heartbreaking. Our prayers go out to Blake's family.
Tom Bowen ended the meeting with a statement of hope. He wants the public to look forward to changes for the better. He is certain the board will step up to the requests from SACS, and utilize SAC's leadership to move our system forward in optimism for better days.
Here's hoping!
Friday, August 6, 2010
The August 6 Called Meeting Re: SACS
 |
| Check out the new digs! (Photo from Ch46News) |
The first order of business was the SACS letter requesting that the school system provide input on a list of topics and evidence that it is in compliance with accreditation standards. The AJC published the letter two days ago which you can find by clicking here. The AJC reported that they acquired a copy of the letter from SACS after the school system did not respond to their request. Ramona Tyson defended her actions by stating that she had requested a deadline extension from SACS and was waiting for their reply before sharing what would be a new version of the letter with a new deadline. She also stated that she has three days to respond to media. That said, a simple acknowledgement of the AJC's request with the above explanation would have, in all likelihood, nipped any misreporting in the bud. Communication is absolutely key in every situation and I think it is one of the most important issues DCSS needs to work on. Like it or not, a superintendent is a very public figure, and as such must communicate regularly with the media or assign a spokesperson to do so. Since our spokesperson was part of the recent budget cuts, Tyson will have to take on this task herself. There's just no way around it I'm afraid.
Several board members made interesting comments regarding the SACS letter. Apparently, several of them accompanied Ms. Tyson to a meeting with Dr. Elgart at SACS on June 23. They were informed at that time that some issues have come up and that SACS would provide assistance and resources to help the system address these issues. Dr. Walker pointed out that SACS issued a letter a year ago stating that DCSS was doing well and then he added his personal opinion that the media does not "master the story" and asked the media to "please give us a fair shake". Womack attended the June 23 meeting and took away that these issues would never have come to the fore without the indictments of our top leadership.
All seemed to agree that they will push forward with these questions from SACS and use their results to improve the system. Tyson has put a 15-member team together to work on this project and promises a "forensic" review of all areas of concern. In addition, she will host a website as well as broadcast all meetings, which will all be open, on the subject.
The board also voted to begin the process of creating a RFP for search firms to submit proposals for a superintendent search. The board seemed unanimous in hoping to find a firm that will conduct a national search and that the firm will not hold a pool of candidates that they represent - they wish to find a firm that will strictly work for DCSS and seek the best candidate for the job, even if it requires recruiting someone from a successful system. The board will also set up a webpage that will track the progress of the search.
All good things. I have always prayed for the day that we will not feel compelled to "watch" our school system leaders. In this age of the internet and Google, the power of the people has become very strong and I think our school board has heard this message. They promise to respond with transparent internet access as well as open, broadcast meetings. Who knows - maybe someday they will even host a blog!
Monday, June 7, 2010
Monday June 7 Board Meeting
Oh no! Ok - I missed it - what happened? Let's have a collaborative report...
UPDATE -- Lynn Deutsch, an active DCSS parent shared her 3 minute speech she gave to the board at last night's meeting. I think her speech accurately reflects how most of us feel. Read on --
===
Good Evening. I am Lynn Deutsch, a DeKalb County parent and taxpayer. Like so many others, I am beyond frustrated with the current situation in DeKalb.
As Board Members, whether or not you believe you created this mess, you are responsible for turning this around. Right now, among both interested observers and the general public, the DeKalb County School System has no credibility.
First, you must order a forensic audit. Hopefully, this thorough examination of the system’s contracts, expenses, purchases, and much more will uncover nothing more than routine day to day operational expenditures. However, as many of you have stated to the media, major changes occurred without your knowledge. This Forensic Audit will give you a much clearer picture of how a billion dollars a year is being spent and afford you the opportunity to offer a transparent view of the finances of this school system to the taxpayers. In addition, having this done before a new superintendent is in place, offers that person some protections because any wrong doings or errors will be corrected before they assume their new job.
Second, you need to act like the indictments are a big deal. They are. Regardless of the outcome of the case, this is a real black eye to our school system and a reflection of, if nothing else, pure sloppiness in how things were getting done. This matters. It will impact the school system for months, and perhaps years to come. From the seriousness of possibly having accreditation impacted to the loss of potential donations from foundations, this is a mess that will linger. Get this system in order and get it in order now.
Third, you need to adopt a new P Card policy. At most governmental institutions, misusing a P card once may be grounds for firing, even if the misuse is accidental. Misusing multiple times, would certainly be grounds for dismissal. It is my understanding that the current policy in DeKalb is to remove the P card from the user for a set period of time. Enough said.
Fourth, I am greatly concerned that we remain a top heavy, inefficient bureaucratic organization. Concerned, but not surprised. It is time for you to change the Reduction in Force Policy. It seems to me, after sitting in budget hearings where there were many concerns expressed about cutting low hanging fruit, this is exactly what happened. In a few months when all the dust settles and school begins, I expect that there will be a continually growing outrage. Do you think you should have kept the core subject coordinators’ positions in math, science, reading and social studies? Have you looked at test scores in this system recently?
Fifth, speaking of test scores, our next superintendent should be someone with a proven track record of improving student achievement. We need an outsider who can come in and put a sharp eye to the challenges and barriers to student achievement in DeKalb and then come up with a plan to address them. From AYP status to SAT and AP test scores, DeKalb’s data shows there is a problem. Find the very best person to lead this system and help DeKalb students achieve more.
Do not let the children of DeKalb down. Their futures are in your very hands. Shape this system up now by shaking it up. Do what is necessary to make sure that we head back in the right direction.
Monday, May 10, 2010
The Amazing May 10 Board Meeting
Let's start - and this meeting was action-packed, so I'll try to bullet point my way through. Click the photo of the proposed budget cuts and print one out if you'd like to follow along. Items proposed as amended to the budget on the table:
- Kelli Wright told us that the Briarvista Montessori will become a hybrid model like Huntley Hills and Midway, offering regular education in addition to the Montessori.
- Womack proposed cutting only 100 paras instead of 200 and deleting the change to the 7 period day altogether from the budget. PASSED
- Cunningham proposed instead of cutting the magnet transportation completely (as has been the plan since last year when the hub system was implemented), to go to 9 hub locations instead of the current 18. Oddly, they simply cut the savings of that line item in half, but I just can't believe that was logical. The savings to implement the full transportation cut plan was $4 million - this change won't simply cut that in half - you still have to get drivers to fire up buses to make the trips, regardless of how many hubs you pick up from. Plus, there were other transportation cuts in that line item. This may be a net zero savings. But I did understand that if they save the magnet school points, but eliminate transportation, it's kind of senseless. PASSED (Although, I don't understand why Sarah voted on this at all, she had no idea where the satellite hubs were, she seemed totally unaware of their existence, and confused as to what she was voting on.)
- Jay also proposed cutting only 9 CTSS staff instead of 18 and only 30 media clerks instead of 59. PASSED.
- Walker proposed fewer furlough days (going with line item 40 instead of 42), going ahead and paying the TSA (using line item 36 instead of 35) and increasing the tax rate 1 mill. FAILED. (Although, Walker, Roberts, Cunningham and Copelin-Wood all advocated to increase property taxes.) This means that the cut will stick; ten month employees (teachers) will have 7 furlough days, eleven month employees will have 10 furlough days and twelve month employees will have 15 furlough days. The dates of those days have yet to be determined, but teacher furlough days must occur when students are not in school.
- The board also approved a voluntary board compensation reduction of 10% (proposed at 5% by Womack and raised to 10% by Redovian) to show support for the sacrifices they are imposing on teachers. Zepora vehemently opposed this, stating that "only the rich and famous will be able to serve". Sarah agreed with Zepora, but voted for it, since it is voluntary and she can choose not to do it. (Each board member must submit a request in writing to Tyson and Turk to implement the payroll deduction.) For those interested, the board pay is $1,500 per month plus $450 per month sent as an expense check plus an additional $4,000 travel account (which most don't use in it's entirety). I'm not certain if they receive healthcare or other benefits.
- The board also found out that the decision they made last year (per Dr. Lewis) to withhold contributions to teacher's TSA accounts was against their own board policy. They voted to consider a change to the policy (it must lay for a month and will be voted on in June) and promised to go back and make the contributions that were withheld last year against policy when they have the funds. Going forward, after the policy change in June, TSA contributions will once again be withheld next year.
- Here's a wild card: There was an agenda item asking to approve the cellular contract with AT&T. Zepora made a speech against this due to the fact that the AT&T community liasion is a member of eduKALB, the group formed by the DeKalb Chamber to vet and endorse new school board candidates. She claimed any new candidate would be beholden to AT&T due to the "company's" support of that candidate. Redovian and Cunningham agreed, but the AT&T contract PASSED anyway.
Overall, there was a lot of emotionally-charged discussion about the perceived disparities between "north" and "south" DeKalb schools. Sarah Copelin-Wood, Zepora Roberts and Jay Cunningham heavily complained on this issue (you might even call it political grandstanding). Oddly, Sarah keeps insisting that 82% of DeKalb's FTE (which basically means students) live in the "southernmost areas of DeKalb". Huh? Is she saying that only 18% of all of our 100,000 students live in central and north DeKalb? I do believe that she really thinks that ALL black students live in south DeKalb! (Even if they did, this would only account for 72% of all students.) That is so twisted—and so wrong. Later this week, I will dig through the task force data and report exactly where all of our students live.
That said, these three seem to agree that the schools in south DeKalb are inferior. They stated that all of the magnets and charters are in north DeKalb and all these poor south DeKalb children "have to get up at 5 am to ride a bus to a decent school, since they are ALL located in the north." (Seems they are forgetting about DeKalb Elementary School of the Arts, McNair Learning Academy, Wadsworth Magnet for High Achievers, Champion Middle, SW DeKalb Magnet HS, Arabia Mt High's Environmental Energy and Engineering Magnet Program, the new "Leadership Academy" Charter, etc, all in south DeKalb.) Jay made the weirdest point about this. While he pontificated about how they need to work on their under-performing schools, he implored parents in his district over and over to get their children to school on time and dressed appropriately.
To wrap up the meeting, Zepora went off during the board two minute comment time. She literally ripped into David Schutten, President of ODE (Organization of DeKalb Educators). She railed that "the board has no agreement to have to negotiate with him, yet he comes before them every month making false accusations". She called him "untruthful, untrustworthy, negative and disrespectful", stating that she thinks "he is getting bolder and bolder with his nasty antics". Interestingly, David Schutten is a member of that doggone eduKALB board. Hmmmm. I sense a theme.
=====
The final tally of the budget cuts was $104,473,918.00.
The final General Fund for 2010-11 was $746,636,912.00
The final Consolidated Budget was $1,037,292,826.00
To read the Megan Matteucci's report for the AJC, click here.
To read the meeting notes from the DeKalb Parent blog, click here.
Monday, May 3, 2010
The May 3, 2010 Board Meeting
I had the funniest feeling though, that the upcoming elections sparked this sudden desire to "postpone" this decision. Whatever the motivator, I do agree with the decision. It was a $2 million line item in a $115 million list of cuts and was causing waaaaaay too much distraction from the big task at hand. Let it be known though, that this does not mean that some schools won't close - some certainly will - it will just be later - rather than sooner.
Then, there was a whole bunch of boring stuff and suddenly Sarah (in full campaign mode) starting questioning every construction expense posed by Ms. Colman with more or less, "so what are you doing in southern DeKalb?" Further, she insisted that 82% of students live in southern DeKalb. I mean, I'm pretty sure that's what she was saying - I couldn't really follow exactly...
Also, there was a discussion at the end about the fact that the board is committed to working together to evaluate pretty much every single program, including America's Choice, to see if they are producing the promised results. If not - they will be cut. In doing so, I hope they heed the advice of one of tonight's citizen commenters, "Ask the teachers what they think!"
Monday, April 12, 2010
The April 12th Board Meeting
Oh Nooooooo!
===
Tonight's board meeting was, in a word, disturbing. I am disturbed because this board, even though the budget has been the focus of so many discussions and news reports, almost neglected to pass the "tentative, non-binding budget" due to their inability to get past random minutia that apparently, until tonight's meeting, had gone undiscussed.
The AJC reported the other day that Zepora Roberts stated, “I am on vacation. I have thought nothing about it,” said Roberts, the board’s vice chair. “I just got back from out of the country and I have no thoughts [about the budget].”
She wasn't kidding. In fact, she actually seemed as if this meeting was the first time she had looked at the budget. She even stated, "I received my budget last evening and looked it over today."
What?!! That thing has been posted on this blog since March 26th!
Zepora continued to have one hissy fit after another for the rest of the evening covering topics such as her opinion that the budget cuts are too focused on South DeKalb or the very long debate over the agenda item discussing the committee recommendation to name the Mountain Industrial Center "The DeKalb Schools Administrative and Instructional Complex". She lamented and whined about the fact that she wanted to change the name to the The DeKalb Schools Administrative and McGregor Instructional Complex (after an African-American leader in DeKalb schools).
Zepora went on to admonish the entire board and specifically the committee working on the ethics policy, led by Dr. Speaks, in her childish, tantrum-like complaint that "no one is listening to me!" She then listed her "issues" with 6 different line items on the proposed ethics policy, ranging from her desire for board members to be somehow be allowed to be involved in relatives getting "heard" by the superintendent in the event that they get in trouble. Then she demanded that the language of accepting gifts or gratuities over $50 be changed to include "knowingly", citing the example that if someone delivers flowers to her, she doesn't want to have to ask their worth. (The board actually decided to raise the amount to $100.)
And my favorite—she wanted to continue the practice she says is current board policy, of accepting up to $100 for a speaking engagement or serving on a panel in another district or city as a representative of the DeKalb school board. Paul Womack rightly pointed out that they already get $450 per month for such expenses, however, Zepora droned on about getting paid for her "service" to others. She won that one, but I kept wondering why the rest of the board continues to entertain her in discussion at all. We've all dealt with two year olds—the best way to handle a tantrum is to ignore it.
But beyond the basic premises of these ridiculous debates was the disturbance in my gut. These people argued, fussed and fumed over such deep issues as "define a reasonable person" or taking McGregor "off the shelf" or who exactly can benefit from the summer intern program (which in my opinion is a luxury giveaway program and should be cut). They had an extended debate as to the cost of a meal nowadays relative to the ethics policy discussion, culminating in Dr. Walker mocking Mr. Womack for thinking that $50 was plenty. ("Well, back in the day when you entertained for business, you could probably get a meal for $10—I'm glad you're not entertaining me!") Meow!
Worse, after initially not passing the "tentative, non-binding budget", (containing school closures and no tax increase) Ms. Tyson pointed out in no uncertain terms that the law states that they must operate under a balanced budget and that they are required to approve one by June 30 that can be operating by July 1. Further, the law states that the board must present the tentative budget at least twice for public review before final passage. This is serious. Luckily, they heard what Tyson said and changed their votes to approve the "tentative, non-binding budget".
There is a meeting scheduled this Friday to hash over the details and hopefully remove items like the one discussed on this blog and requested to be removed from the budget cuts by Paul Womack—the demand to reduce planning time for teachers on the 7 period day to only one period.
After fumbling around with her budget, obviously unprepared and uninformed, Zepora promised that she would "have it together by Friday".
Lord, I hope so.
==========
For more: Check out the AJC's report on tonight's meeting.
Saturday, March 6, 2010
The March 5th Board Meeting
Our friends at the DeKalb Parent blog have provided us with some very detailed minutes from yesterday's meeting. It would be SO nice if the school system would create their own blog and provide parents and citizens with timely, accurate information, but since they don't, we all have to work together to keep each other informed. Thanks so much for the hard work DeKalb Parent Blog team!
Click here to read the minutes in-depth. Below are some highlights that caught my eye:
It appears that the meeting started late due to an executive session beforehand. Then Ramona Tyson proposed a "not to exceed" 6.25% pay cut (by furloughs or salary reduction). Paul Womack questioned the limitation of the proposal - he has already stated publicly that the shortages faced by the system will increase significantly next year. We need flexibility in cutting costs quickly. There was also some confusion as to which proposal they were considering - there may have been two on the table - one at 5% and on at 6.25%.
I will quote the notes on what Redovian said - my favorite part:
There was conversation about the Race to the Top federal dollars about to be granted to Georgia. I hope the board is not banking on these funds. I attended a federal DOE meeting last month (and wrote about it in the comments here) where the methodology for acquiring funds was explained. Brad Bryant, our state board rep pretty much stated that DeKalb is not poised to receive what is called "Tier 1" funding. Apparently, there are many rural schools in the state with bigger problems and worse test scores than DeKalb. Our DeKalb BOE may wish to discuss the RTTT funding with Brad Bryant.
To download the March 5 FY2011 Budget Planning Powerpoint, go to this link at the DeKalb Parent blog. There is very detailed information on exactly where the cuts are proposed. Nice job, Ramona! There are additional budget plans and detailed proposals available here and approved budgets available here at the Superintendent's website.
Thanks so much, DeKalb Parent Team!
Click here to read the minutes in-depth. Below are some highlights that caught my eye:
It appears that the meeting started late due to an executive session beforehand. Then Ramona Tyson proposed a "not to exceed" 6.25% pay cut (by furloughs or salary reduction). Paul Womack questioned the limitation of the proposal - he has already stated publicly that the shortages faced by the system will increase significantly next year. We need flexibility in cutting costs quickly. There was also some confusion as to which proposal they were considering - there may have been two on the table - one at 5% and on at 6.25%.
I will quote the notes on what Redovian said - my favorite part:
Redovian: I can’t vote for anything to take away money for the teachers and counselors if we don’t give them anything back; we need to take away all the paperwork, reports, etc and let them teach. We have to take the load off of them and then they might be more supportive of the cuts, if assured they would have less paperwork. If we are increasing class sizes, reducing staff, we can’t take anything more from the teachers and counselors w/out reducing paperwork. I don’t want to see a counselor having to make a choice between helping a child and filling out district paperwork; kids are more important than papers.
McChesney (addressing Redovian’s comments): much of the paperwork is Federal related, no child left behind, etc.
Redovian: yes, much is, but we keep adding and adding to it; there is no coordination in the central office; no one is asking why and where is it going; there is lots of duplication. eSIS is not the teachers’ fault, but they are paying for it; will support the motion but will not vote on it in May if the other admin/paperwork cuts are not also included.
There was conversation about the Race to the Top federal dollars about to be granted to Georgia. I hope the board is not banking on these funds. I attended a federal DOE meeting last month (and wrote about it in the comments here) where the methodology for acquiring funds was explained. Brad Bryant, our state board rep pretty much stated that DeKalb is not poised to receive what is called "Tier 1" funding. Apparently, there are many rural schools in the state with bigger problems and worse test scores than DeKalb. Our DeKalb BOE may wish to discuss the RTTT funding with Brad Bryant.
To download the March 5 FY2011 Budget Planning Powerpoint, go to this link at the DeKalb Parent blog. There is very detailed information on exactly where the cuts are proposed. Nice job, Ramona! There are additional budget plans and detailed proposals available here and approved budgets available here at the Superintendent's website.
Thanks so much, DeKalb Parent Team!
Monday, February 22, 2010
Plan to attend these board meetings
The following BOE meetings that will happen this week - people really need to be there if they want to know what is going on with the budget.
NOTICE OF DBOE COMMITTEE MEETING - BUDGET, FINANCE & FACILITIES
The DeKalb Board of Education Committee on Budget, Finance & Facilities will hold a meeting on Wednesday, February 24, 2010 at 10:30am in the Superintendent's Conference Room at the DeKalb County School System's Robert R. Freeman Administrative Center, Building A, 3770 North Decatur Road in Decatur, Georgia. The purpose of the meeting is to review Board policies and system-wide operations as it relates to finance & facilities.
Meeting information can be accessed online by going to the Board of Education and Meeting Information website by clicking here.
There will also be a called work session of the full board on Fri. 2/26 at 10:30 am - more information to follow.
Both have been confirmed by email from the board secretary.
UPDATE: The new parent blog "DeKalb Parents United" has published their detailed notes from this morning's meeting.
And the AJC has posted this article on the meeting.
NOTICE OF DBOE COMMITTEE MEETING - BUDGET, FINANCE & FACILITIES
The DeKalb Board of Education Committee on Budget, Finance & Facilities will hold a meeting on Wednesday, February 24, 2010 at 10:30am in the Superintendent's Conference Room at the DeKalb County School System's Robert R. Freeman Administrative Center, Building A, 3770 North Decatur Road in Decatur, Georgia. The purpose of the meeting is to review Board policies and system-wide operations as it relates to finance & facilities.
Meeting information can be accessed online by going to the Board of Education and Meeting Information website by clicking here.
There will also be a called work session of the full board on Fri. 2/26 at 10:30 am - more information to follow.
Both have been confirmed by email from the board secretary.
UPDATE: The new parent blog "DeKalb Parents United" has published their detailed notes from this morning's meeting.
And the AJC has posted this article on the meeting.
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
The December 2009 Board Meeting
Much was discussed at last night's very, very long meeting, presented with a really bad sound system. Had the board not tabled several items, they surely would have gone on until the wee hours.
First, during the public comments portion, there were several speakers requesting a reversal on the board's decision to join Gwinnett County in suing the state of Georgia over its formation of the charter school, Ivy Prep Academy. People are thrilled with this middle school for girls and very sad and angered that the local systems are threatening to take it away. Dr. Lewis stated that he had nothing against the school, just the constitutionality of it's existence. I hope Dr. Lewis is considering the requirements for states to earn "Race to the Top" federal money – apparently Obama and Duncan are big proponents of charter schools and allowing them to exist will help open the flow of those dollars to the state.
Several bus drivers addressed the board regarding the cut-backs they have endured. It seems as though these loyal folks have taken the worst hit of anyone. One lady compared her cut in hours - resulting in a 29% pay cut ($1715/month to $1225/month) - to the 2% pay cut and two day furlough the transportation management has had. This really is a travesty. Our bus drivers are some of our lowest paid people in the system, yet are entrusted with our most precious cargo every day. Dr. Lewis promised to meet with the bus drivers and stated that Dr. Alice Thompson would set up that meeting.
Barbara Colman gave us the CIP update, highlighting several projects still currently in progress - Redan HS, Cross Keys HS, Tucker HS, Stone Mountain HS and Mountain Industrial Center. She presented a Powerpoint overview stating that they are currently working on 97 projects, 59 Local School Priority Requests, 51 ADA projects for a total of $351 million currently being managed. She did say that the new managers have visited several projects only to discover that they had been "under-scoped" - meaning all of the scope necessary for the project was not addressed in the plan. The lack of a replacement weight room at Avondale HS was an example. Ms. Colman will be meeting with the Avondale community tonight and the Cross Keys community tomorrow night to discuss their projects. Hopefully, she will be able to help those communities regain trust in the school system.
All in all, it seems that although expensive, the construction managers have really jumped in and taken charge professionally. Pat Pope's ability to make progress had surely been hampered by the fact that she had been living under a microscope for the past year - it must have been nearly impossible for her to get any work done with the District Attorney and the GBI monitoring her every move. Hopefully these new managers will be given the freedom and autonomy they need to get these projects done at long last.
Jamie Wilson presented a new software program by Gallup for evaluating principals and teachers called "Teacher Insight" and "Principal Insight". This software program appears to be capable of predicting teacher and principal success, based on more or less a personality test which determines their skills, talents and passions. This will help place teachers in the most appropriate positions, and may even result in helping to remove teachers who appear to not actually be well-suited for their job. At a cost of $160,000, which is funded by Title II money, the software will be a bargain if it delivers it's promises.
The board voted to table the resolution to limit the size of the board without much discussion. They also voted to table the proposed ethics policy with Walker angrily moving to table saying, "table it so we don't have to listen to it" and that it was simply in reaction to Kevin Levitas' ethics proposal for the board at the state level. He then publicly dressed down state rep Kevin Levitas for having the audacity to propose such a policy in the legislature, while citing his own legislative background as being much more vast and experienced. Walker's comments always speak for themselves, there's no need for us to say any more. To read about it, visit this article at Atlanta Unfiltered.
Additionally, the board voted to change the bylaws requiring that school councils or some other citizen review panel be allowed to interview a new principal for their school. The bylaw has been changed to only include interviews for principals hired from outside the system–the superintendent can place principals from within the system at his pleasure, without input from the public. They have accomplished this by redefining the word "vacancy" by now stating, "A vacancy occurs in the position of principal when the position is to be filled from applications submitted to the district and not from reassignment of existing personnel."
Other than that, Dr. Lewis tabled the plan to use the Elk's Lodge property for transportation since finding out that the property is in a flood plain. And the calendar issue endured much discussion. The start dates and the way the second semester backs right into a very heavy testing period are at issue. These tests determine AYP status, so ensuring that students are prepared and rested is vital to earning a good score. The calendar issue will prove to become very important as we move into national standards and testing.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Meanwhile, back at the Board of Education meeting...
Well, after the suspense leading up to Obama's speech today at noon, this meeting was a pretty dull ending to the day. The speakers all did a really nice job, but there weren't many of them. Kim Gokce spoke about an unusual topic - Cross Keys High School! (Good job, Kim!) He reminded us all to join him at the Waffle House for the dedication of Abu Bangura's jersey on SAT, SEPT 26 @ 2:00pm. Several very articulate moms advocated for recess. (One of them was a doctor.) They brought research to back their claims and suggested text for an amendment. Click here to sign their online petition. What Girl Scouts - very prepared!
As for the rest, I think I'll copy Kim's style and just bullet-point the whole thing.
• Three new positions were requested by Dr. Lewis and unanimously approved by the board: A new position has been created for Dr. Yvonne Butler as Executive Director, Corporate Wellness Program. Dr. Butler is a former Principal at Browns Mill Elementary School. Mr. Steve Donahue was promoted to Executive Director, Plant Services. Mr. Donahue is the former principal of Peachtree MS. And Mr. Tony Hunter was appointed Executive Director, Management Information Systems (MIS). Mr. Hunter is currently employed as Director, Management Information Systems (MIS).
Two things: If good principals are so hard to come by - why promote good principals into corporate jobs? And - why not actually hire someone with expertise in things like Corporate Wellness and Plant Services to fill those jobs instead of filling them with people trained in education?!! Sigh.
• Marcus Turk says our funds are low because property tax bills went out late. He says we will be on track when all is collected. Mr. Womack asked if we have money in a "rainy day fund", to which Mr. Turk replied, "Mr. Womack, it's been raining pretty hard for a while now."
• The topic of FTE's came up. Jay Cunningham questioned how we could allow some schools like Murphy Candler to have no art or music when others seem to have plenty. He said that some elementary schools are lacking a science teacher. Dr. Lewis pointed out that principals are free to spend their FTE's as they wish and that smaller schools cannot afford to employ art, music and PE teachers as each FTE equates to a $65,000 expense (including benefits). He went so far as to say that if we did that, we would be bankrupt in about 24 hours! However, Dr. Lewis suggested that 4 small schools can share a teacher if they use .25 FTE each. I think Jay has an excellent point and I think it could be time for the school board to step in and "redistribute the FTE's" so that every child has art, music and PE. This is just not right.
• Womack, McChesney and a couple of others requested that Pat Pope make all bids and offers available for them to review in her office before they vote on them at these meetings. She said she would but can't make them available to the public by law.
• Pam Speaks asked how we came up with the list of schools on the request for the state capital outlay. Pope said that the state makes that list themselves. Schools on the list are: Martin Luther King, Jr. High Facility Addition, Miller Grove High Facility Addition, Hambrick Elementary Facility Modification, Woodridge Elementary Facility Modification, Hawthorne Elementary Facility Modification, Glen Haven Elementary Facility Modification, Southwest DeKalb High Facility Addition and Modification
• The board deferred the vote on the requested waivers from the state because it was written for K-8 and the state has changed the form to K-12. They intend to request the following 5 of the 7 waivers sometimes allowed by the state when a system can show fiscal need:
Personnel Required
A waiver from this rule would allow DCSS some flexibility in employing personnel for positions according to the unweighted full-time equivalent (FTE) count that is shown on the midterm adjustment allotment sheet. Examples of positions listed in this rule are: school psychologists; social workers; school counselors; technology specialists; art, music, & PE specialists; and media specialists.
Minimum Direct Instruction
A waiver from this rule would allow DCSS flexibility in spending a minimum of 65 percent of the total operating expenditures on direct classroom expenditures or increasing the direct classroom expenditures as a percent of total operating expenditures by two or more percentage points over the previous fiscal year.
Guidance Counselors
A waiver from this rule would allow DCSS to waive the requirement that guidance counselors are engaged in counseling or guidance activities, including advising students, parents, or guardians, for a minimum of five of six full-time segments during the school day.
Class Size Waiver for K-8
A waiver from this rule would allow DCSS flexibility in complying with maximum class sizes and to capture FTE funds that would have been lost if a class was over the limit on the FTE Count Days.
Instructional Extension/20-Day Money
A waiver from this rule would allow DCSS some flexibility in providing an instructional program beyond the regular school day to address the academic needs of low-performing students.
Dr. Walker closed by saying that he was very proud of DeKalb County Schools for showing Obama's speech today and not bowing to public pressure as other school systems did. Jay Cunningham encouraged parents to join the school council and PTSA, to download the parent resource guide and enforce the dress code.
============
All in all, I felt that although it was boring, it was still frustrating. It really bothers me to hear Dr. Lewis fret over the fact that a full time classroom teacher is a $65,000 expense (including benefits) and then turn around and promote people into high paying administrative jobs. It bothers me that this board plans to request a waiver of the law that requires 65% of the budget to be spent in the classroom and one that would put more students in each of those classrooms. It bothers me that in the area of curriculum, we have our Asst Superintendent of curriculum, Gloria Talley, with her salary of $162,648.00 - 5 directors of curriculum instruction at a cost of $438,500.00, 72 "Instructional Supervisors" at a cost of almost $6.4 million - plus 473 "Instructional Specialists" totaling $23.9 million, yet we have children who do not have art, music and PE teachers - they're entitled to one of each - they shouldn't have to choose. I am bothered by the fact that our superintendent and board seem to cry "poor" when it comes to funding the classroom, but can always find the money to bloat the administration. Our children deserve better.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)