It may be time to pay that piper.
Read this article by Ty Tagami at the AJC:
Suit could cost DeKalb millions
The school system in DeKalb County experienced a setback in a lawsuit brought by employees that could someday cost taxpayers tens of millions of dollars, yet a top official says he’s unaware of plans to set money aside in case the county is forced to pay.
Superior Court Judge Clarence Seeliger ruled in October against DeKalb’s claim that it was immune to a lawsuit over suspended payments to a supplemental retirement fund for teachers, bus drivers and other employees.
The case is on appeal, with hearings scheduled for April. If the school system loses the appeal, the lawsuit will continue in the DeKalb court system. So far, the case involves only two plaintiffs, but they are seeking class action status. If it is granted and if the county loses the case, taxpayers could be compelled to make back payments to the thousands of employees in the retirement plan.
The school system had been paying into the plan since 1979, but suspended payments in 2009 because of a budget shortfall. A teacher and a school counselor sued last March, charging the suspension was a breach of contract. They are demanding the restoration of all payments for three years and counting. It’s unclear how much the total could be.
The only calculation available in the court record is for the 2009-10 school year, when DeKalb was scheduled to pay $26.5 million into the tax-sheltered annuity plan.
Assuming the annual contribution — about 6 percent of each employee’s pay — didn’t change much, the total could exceed $50 million, said John Salter, the lead attorney for the plaintiffs.
Yet school board Chairman Eugene Walker said he knows of no plan to save money for the possibility of a payout.
That's the word from the former finance chair who is now our board chair.
Click this link to read the rest...
Showing posts with label budget cuts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label budget cuts. Show all posts
Monday, January 23, 2012
Sunday, January 15, 2012
How Much Should DeKalb Schools be Spending for Security?
School year 2004-2005:
DeKalb Schools employed 164 Security personnel to serve 97,282 students.
School year 2010-2011:
DeKalb employed 204 Security personnel to serve 95,481 students.
The charts below compare DeKalb School System’s current number of and expenditure for Security personnel with other metro Atlanta school systems (* references demographically similar systems).
Every Per Pupil dollar spent for Security is a Per Pupil dollar NOT spent for Instruction.
Comparison Summary (including benefits calculated at 20%):
DeKalb County Schools – 95,481 students – $10,844,887 for 204 Security personnel
Security Cost per pupil - $114
*Atlanta Public Schools (APS) – 48,805 students - $5,126,593 for 282 Security Personnel
Security Cost per pupil - $105
*Clayton School System – 49,551 students - $1,020,186 for 180 Security Personnel
Security Cost per pupil - $21
Gwinnett County Schools – 159,814 students - $2,755,802 for 48 Security Personnel
Security Cost per pupil - $17
*Rockdale County Schools – 15,582 students - $101,582 for 5 Security Personnel
Security Cost per pupil - $7
Fulton County Schools – 89,920 students - $4,292,198 for 66 Security Personnel
Security Cost per pupil - $48
Cobb County Schools - 106,619 students - $2,313,225 for 44 Security Personnel
Security Cost per pupil - $22
*Marietta City Schools - No expenditure in school budget for Security personnel
Marietta City Schools contracts with the Marietta City Police Department for 191 days of SRO services
SALARY RANGE BREAKDOWNS by District
*DeKalb County Schools – 95,481 students – $10,844,887 for 204 Security personnel
Salary Range Number of Security Personnel in Salary Range % of Personnel in Salary Range
$100,000+ 5 2%
$90,000 to $100,000 5 4%
$80,000 to $90,000 11 5%
$70,000 to $80,000 22 11%
$60,000 to $70,000 25 12%
$50,000 to $60,000 20 10%
$40,000 to $50,000 80 39%
$30,000 to $40,000 22 11%
$20,000 to $30,000 4 2%
$10,000 to $20,000 3 1%
Less than $10,000 7 3%
Total Personnel 204
*Atlanta Public Schools – 48,805 students - $5,126,593 for 282 Security Personnel
Salary Range Number of Security Personnel in Salary Range % of Personnel in Salary Range
$100,000+ 2 1%
$90,000 to $100,000 1 <1%
$80,000 to $90,000 1 <1%
$70,000 to $80,000 2 1%
$60,000 to $70,000 1 <1%
$50,000 to $60,000 9 3%
$40,000 to $50,000 8 3%
$30,000 to $40,000 19 7%
$20,000 to $30,000 53 19%
$10,000 to $20,000 85 30%
Less than $10,000 101 36%
Total Number of Personnel 282
*Clayton School System – 49,551 students - $1,020,186 for 180 Security Personnel
Salary Range Number of Security Personnel in Salary Range % of Personnel in Salary Range
$100,000+ 0 0%
$90,000 to $100,000 0 0%
$80,000 to $90,000 0 0%
$70,000 to $80,000 0 0%
$60,000 to $70,000 0 0%
$50,000 to $60,000 0 0%
$40,000 to $50,000 0 0%
$30,000 to $40,000 1 <1%
$20,000 to $30,000 15 2%
$10,000 to $20,000 22 18%
Less than $10,000 142 80%
Total Number of Personnel 180
Gwinnett County Schools – 159,814 students - $2,755,802 for 48 Security Personnel
Salary Range Number of Security Personnel in Salary Range % of Personnel in Salary Range
$100,000+ 10 21%
$90,000 to $100,000 11 23%
$80,000 to $90,000 0 0%
$70,000 to $80,000 0 0%
$60,000 to $70,000 1 2%
$50,000 to $60,000 1 2%
$40,000 to $50,000 1 2%
$30,000 to $40,000 3 6%
$20,000 to $30,000 8 17%
$10,000 to $20,000 7 14%
Less than $10,000 6 13%
Total Personnel 48
*Rockdale County Schools – 15,582 students - $101,582 for 5 Security Personnel
Salary Range Number of Security Personnel in Salary Range % of Personnel in Salary Range
$100,000+ 0 0%
$90,000 to $100,000 0 0%
$80,000 to $90,000 0 0%
$70,000 to $80,000 0 0%
$60,000 to $70,000 0 0%
$50,000 to $60,000 0 0%
$40,000 to $50,000 0 0%
$30,000 to $40,000 0 0%
$20,000 to $30,000 3 60%
$10,000 to $20,000 1 20%
Less than $10,000 1 20%
Total Number of Personnel 5
Fulton County Schools – 89,920 students - $4,292,198 for 66 Security Personnel
Salary Range Number of Security Personnel in Salary Range % of Personnel in Salary Range
$100,000+ 1 <2%
$90,000 to $100,000 3 5%
$80,000 to $90,000 8 12%
$70,000 to $80,000 16 24%
$60,000 to $70,000 19 29%
$50,000 to $60,000 10 15%
$40,000 to $50,000 2 <3%
$30,000 to $40,000 3 5%
$20,000 to $30,000 1 <2%
$10,000 to $20,000 1 <2%
Less than $10,000 2 <3%
Total Number of Personnel 66
Cobb County Schools - 106,619 students - $2,313,225 for 44 Security Personnel
Salary Range Number of Security Personnel in Salary Range % of Personnel in Salary Range
$100,000+ 1 2%
$90,000 to $100,000 0 0%
$80,000 to $90,000 1 2%
$70,000 to $80,000 3 7%
$60,000 to $70,000 7 16%
$50,000 to $60,000 14 32%
$40,000 to $50,000 14 32%
$30,000 to $40,000 1 2%
$20,000 to $30,000 0 0%
$10,000 to $20,000 2 5%
Less than $10,000 1 2%
Total Number of Personnel 44
*Marietta City Schools - No expenditure listed for Security personnel
Contract with Marietta Police Department for 191 days of SRO service
*Demographically comparable school systems
Sources:
Open Georgia (Salary and Travel Reimbursements):
http://www.open.georgia.gov/
Georgia DOE (Report Cards for Districts):
http://www.doe.k12.ga.us/ReportingFW.aspx?PageReq=102&StateId=ALL&T=1&FY=2011
Monday, August 22, 2011
Are Contraction and divestiture in the cards for suburban county school systems—Keller, Texas bus fees may be small potatoes
By Tom Doolittle
I saw the following blurb the other day in an Agora investment newsletter:
“In Texas, the Dallas suburb of Keller is about to charge parents who want to put their kids on the school bus. The charge will be $185 per semester for one child, $135 for the second.”
Add that to the plethora of news items regarding city bankruptcies, police force cuts and closed libraries while Federal support goes the way of tea in Boston’s Harbor. http://5minforecast.agorafinancial.com/crises-close-to-home
The reality of economic contraction is only beginning for public services. Sooner or later, today’s form of “austerity” will be viewed as nickel and dime operating cost reductions. When the State of Illinois pawns a toll road to an off-shore company for a garage price, that’s a distressed asset sale, not an operating cost reduction. So will suburban school systems face asset liquidation and departmental closures—particularly where people are moving out, getting older and may shun public education in droves?
DeKalb is already leasing emptied school space to charter schools, but for other reasons than revenue. How long will it be before student reductions in some areas attributable to a variety of population “dislocations” force DCSS (and the government) to look at divestiture and shrinkage for it’s very survival? Will suburban public school systems be forced to face the fact that they have bought, built and tried to maintain too much “stuff” over too wide an area—including bus transportation?
The fact is, school transit systems represent a quirky American luxury. Only in America do you have a single-user transit system that is idle twice the time it is used daily—and only used fully less than nine months per year. A nation in bankruptcy may need to give up such an entitlement. That is, particularly when alternative modes exist. Here’s something I got from a friend when I told her about the Keller decision:
“One of my friends moved to Australia for a couple of years... ALL the children ride public transportation to school there. The buses and trains are full of students in the mornings and afternoons. It works out just fine.”
School busses, like much of our government “systems” will hold until the very end because they represent an amalgam of unsustainable entitlements for all special interests involved (mostly in the private sector). All assumed unassailable in the 20th century, property tax revenue, bond financing, militarily subsidized fuel prices, the under-the-radar school bus lobby, kids deemed their own social class…get the picture? Of course, you’d say that’s what makes America “special” in its own right. True—also unique is a federal government that can print new money and have the world accept it. Unfortunately, like expense reduction, the news from DC is that the Federal Reserve may also pass into obscurity. Soooo many things will change.
You might say that a modern industrialized nation should provide transportation for primary and secondary school students. Maybe, but fundamental questions should now at least be on the table, such as: are school students’ transit needs much different than the general public’s? Consider how school bus routes would accommodate the crushing perfect storm of the end of neighborhood schooling—open transfers (some even county to county), charter schools, home schooling and subsidized private schools. Busses (and transpo departments) would be but a bellwether for school facilities in general—say bye-bye to schools in neighborhoods that residents and visitors won’t touch with a 10-foot pole.
Many might find the following scenario a tad extreme, except we already are seeing it, primarily from the newly immigrated—our growth demographic and most self-sustaining. I lived in Georgetown, Guyana for the equivalent of my 9th and 10th grade years. All students availed themselves of what was essentially “mass transportation” in the Third World. All private enterprise: bicycles, shared taxis, jitneys and walking. Consider how much these will proliferate among all populations when more of us are living more compactly (coming to a suburb near you), in expanded cities and self-financed enclaves like CIDs and horrors—subdivision homes turned to duplexes or generally housing several families. “Density” is very cost-effective for individuals and public infrastructure.
Cities will probably increase their boundaries to comprise most of a county—once again, hopefully rendering Georgia’s record-breaking number of constitutional “county units” a Sheriff’s Office formality. One can envision a urisdiction that will more resemble its rural roots than a 20th century build-out. Such a county has little demand for services. Shared city schools would become quite probable.
The clear message is that schools and government should be planning for massive “dislocation”: of how people live, where they live, how they make their money and how much money they make. The “worst case” for public agencies must be considered as likely a scenario as returning to any sense of 20th century “normalcy”. They should be wondering whether the unincorporated county areas will actually have comprehensive services at all.
Alternative(s) planning is preparation—just as in emergency management. It could make a changing order more “orderly”.
I saw the following blurb the other day in an Agora investment newsletter:
“In Texas, the Dallas suburb of Keller is about to charge parents who want to put their kids on the school bus. The charge will be $185 per semester for one child, $135 for the second.”
Add that to the plethora of news items regarding city bankruptcies, police force cuts and closed libraries while Federal support goes the way of tea in Boston’s Harbor. http://5minforecast.agorafinancial.com/crises-close-to-home
The reality of economic contraction is only beginning for public services. Sooner or later, today’s form of “austerity” will be viewed as nickel and dime operating cost reductions. When the State of Illinois pawns a toll road to an off-shore company for a garage price, that’s a distressed asset sale, not an operating cost reduction. So will suburban school systems face asset liquidation and departmental closures—particularly where people are moving out, getting older and may shun public education in droves?
DeKalb is already leasing emptied school space to charter schools, but for other reasons than revenue. How long will it be before student reductions in some areas attributable to a variety of population “dislocations” force DCSS (and the government) to look at divestiture and shrinkage for it’s very survival? Will suburban public school systems be forced to face the fact that they have bought, built and tried to maintain too much “stuff” over too wide an area—including bus transportation?
The fact is, school transit systems represent a quirky American luxury. Only in America do you have a single-user transit system that is idle twice the time it is used daily—and only used fully less than nine months per year. A nation in bankruptcy may need to give up such an entitlement. That is, particularly when alternative modes exist. Here’s something I got from a friend when I told her about the Keller decision:
“One of my friends moved to Australia for a couple of years... ALL the children ride public transportation to school there. The buses and trains are full of students in the mornings and afternoons. It works out just fine.”
School busses, like much of our government “systems” will hold until the very end because they represent an amalgam of unsustainable entitlements for all special interests involved (mostly in the private sector). All assumed unassailable in the 20th century, property tax revenue, bond financing, militarily subsidized fuel prices, the under-the-radar school bus lobby, kids deemed their own social class…get the picture? Of course, you’d say that’s what makes America “special” in its own right. True—also unique is a federal government that can print new money and have the world accept it. Unfortunately, like expense reduction, the news from DC is that the Federal Reserve may also pass into obscurity. Soooo many things will change.
You might say that a modern industrialized nation should provide transportation for primary and secondary school students. Maybe, but fundamental questions should now at least be on the table, such as: are school students’ transit needs much different than the general public’s? Consider how school bus routes would accommodate the crushing perfect storm of the end of neighborhood schooling—open transfers (some even county to county), charter schools, home schooling and subsidized private schools. Busses (and transpo departments) would be but a bellwether for school facilities in general—say bye-bye to schools in neighborhoods that residents and visitors won’t touch with a 10-foot pole.
Many might find the following scenario a tad extreme, except we already are seeing it, primarily from the newly immigrated—our growth demographic and most self-sustaining. I lived in Georgetown, Guyana for the equivalent of my 9th and 10th grade years. All students availed themselves of what was essentially “mass transportation” in the Third World. All private enterprise: bicycles, shared taxis, jitneys and walking. Consider how much these will proliferate among all populations when more of us are living more compactly (coming to a suburb near you), in expanded cities and self-financed enclaves like CIDs and horrors—subdivision homes turned to duplexes or generally housing several families. “Density” is very cost-effective for individuals and public infrastructure.
Cities will probably increase their boundaries to comprise most of a county—once again, hopefully rendering Georgia’s record-breaking number of constitutional “county units” a Sheriff’s Office formality. One can envision a urisdiction that will more resemble its rural roots than a 20th century build-out. Such a county has little demand for services. Shared city schools would become quite probable.
The clear message is that schools and government should be planning for massive “dislocation”: of how people live, where they live, how they make their money and how much money they make. The “worst case” for public agencies must be considered as likely a scenario as returning to any sense of 20th century “normalcy”. They should be wondering whether the unincorporated county areas will actually have comprehensive services at all.
Alternative(s) planning is preparation—just as in emergency management. It could make a changing order more “orderly”.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
What is in the Best Interest of DeKalb Schools' Core Business of Educating Students?
This is the question Ms. Tyson and the DeKalb Board of Education should have been asking as they made budget cuts.
Consider this recent article in the Atlanta Journal Constitution regarding how Marietta City Schools is avoiding budget-cutting impacts to instruction as they consider what is in the best interest of their students.
Marietta City Schools is a diverse school system of 8,000 students with 50%+ African American, 30%+ Hispanic, and 15% White. 74% of Marietta City School students are classified as Economically Disadvantaged (a greater percentage than DCSS), and 11% as Students With Disabilities (also a greater percentage than DCSS). Every regular education school in Marietta City Schools is a Title 1 school.
Every school in Marietta City Schools made adequate yearly progress, and the entire system of Marietta made AYP in 2008-09 and 2009-10. Is there a correlation between improving student achievement and keeping your core business intact when you make budget-cutting decisions? Read what the Marietta City Schools superintendent Emily Lembeck says about her decisions to “protect what happens in the classroom”. Posters have said that they want a superintendent from a school system the size of DCSS. Is that more important than a fiscally responsible superintendent with a solid track record in moving students forward academically?
AJC article published June 20, 2011:
“Marietta City Schools plans to cut its budget 4 percent through belt-tightening measures that include outsourcing 22 custodial positions. There are no furlough days or teacher layoffs planned.
Superintendent Emily Lembeck said that could change if the system doesn’t receive the funds expected from state and federal sources. Last year’s budget was based on a revenue shortfall of $5.9 million.
The district’s Board of Education will vote on the 2012 budget at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the school headquarters at 250 Howard St. A public comment hearing will be held a half hour before the meeting. The $74.5 million budget is $3.1 million less than last year’s.
The proposed budget for the fiscal year starting July 1 will eliminate a food service warehouse position, consolidate two bus routes and use $3.4 million in reserves. Two alternative and special education facilities will be combined at one location. The city system has 11 schools and 8,000 students.
School officials said the budget process has been challenging since 2008. Lembeck said privatizing custodial jobs was a difficult decision based on the economy, which has driven school systems to look at business and staffing practices.
“It becomes more difficult to protect what happens in the classroom without looking at some services that are not directly related,” Lembeck said. “Reducing days of instruction through furloughs and larger class sizes is not in the best interest of our core business of educating students.”
Marietta City Schools started outsourcing custodial jobs seven years ago through attrition. Schools spokesman Thomas Algarin said increasing the privatization will save the district $223,242 a year. Thirteen head custodians will continue as school employees and those left will have to apply to ICS Contract Services in Atlanta for custodial work after June 30.
Many other school systems have outsourced jobs to save money. Joe Edgens, executive director of facilities for the Nashville Public Schools System, said his district privatized about 618 custodial and 44 ground services positions in 2010, saving the system $5 million to $6 million a year. Nashville has 78,000 students and a proposed 2012 budget of $670 million.
http://www.ajc.com/news/cobb/22-custodial-jobs-will-981629.html?cxtype=rss_news_128746
Consider this recent article in the Atlanta Journal Constitution regarding how Marietta City Schools is avoiding budget-cutting impacts to instruction as they consider what is in the best interest of their students.
Marietta City Schools is a diverse school system of 8,000 students with 50%+ African American, 30%+ Hispanic, and 15% White. 74% of Marietta City School students are classified as Economically Disadvantaged (a greater percentage than DCSS), and 11% as Students With Disabilities (also a greater percentage than DCSS). Every regular education school in Marietta City Schools is a Title 1 school.
Every school in Marietta City Schools made adequate yearly progress, and the entire system of Marietta made AYP in 2008-09 and 2009-10. Is there a correlation between improving student achievement and keeping your core business intact when you make budget-cutting decisions? Read what the Marietta City Schools superintendent Emily Lembeck says about her decisions to “protect what happens in the classroom”. Posters have said that they want a superintendent from a school system the size of DCSS. Is that more important than a fiscally responsible superintendent with a solid track record in moving students forward academically?
AJC article published June 20, 2011:
“Marietta City Schools plans to cut its budget 4 percent through belt-tightening measures that include outsourcing 22 custodial positions. There are no furlough days or teacher layoffs planned.
Superintendent Emily Lembeck said that could change if the system doesn’t receive the funds expected from state and federal sources. Last year’s budget was based on a revenue shortfall of $5.9 million.
The district’s Board of Education will vote on the 2012 budget at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the school headquarters at 250 Howard St. A public comment hearing will be held a half hour before the meeting. The $74.5 million budget is $3.1 million less than last year’s.
The proposed budget for the fiscal year starting July 1 will eliminate a food service warehouse position, consolidate two bus routes and use $3.4 million in reserves. Two alternative and special education facilities will be combined at one location. The city system has 11 schools and 8,000 students.
School officials said the budget process has been challenging since 2008. Lembeck said privatizing custodial jobs was a difficult decision based on the economy, which has driven school systems to look at business and staffing practices.
“It becomes more difficult to protect what happens in the classroom without looking at some services that are not directly related,” Lembeck said. “Reducing days of instruction through furloughs and larger class sizes is not in the best interest of our core business of educating students.”
Marietta City Schools started outsourcing custodial jobs seven years ago through attrition. Schools spokesman Thomas Algarin said increasing the privatization will save the district $223,242 a year. Thirteen head custodians will continue as school employees and those left will have to apply to ICS Contract Services in Atlanta for custodial work after June 30.
Many other school systems have outsourced jobs to save money. Joe Edgens, executive director of facilities for the Nashville Public Schools System, said his district privatized about 618 custodial and 44 ground services positions in 2010, saving the system $5 million to $6 million a year. Nashville has 78,000 students and a proposed 2012 budget of $670 million.
http://www.ajc.com/news/cobb/22-custodial-jobs-will-981629.html?cxtype=rss_news_128746
Friday, December 31, 2010
Study Questions Seniority-based Teacher Layoffs
At last month’s DCSS Board Meeting the Professional Personnel Layoff policy was changed to incorporate performance, rather than length of service, as the primary criteria for implementing a Reduction In Force. For those of us who plan to hold Ms. Tyson to her promise to rid DCSS of bad teachers and administrators, the following article, highlighting a study from the University of Washington, is of particular interest. This study concludes that deciding teacher layoffs based on seniority has a significant impact on student’s abilities to learn. If you notice, in bullet #2, I have highlighted the word “Improvement”. For those that worry about using test scores alone to evaluate teachers, the word “improvement” should have a significant meaning here.
Here are some highlights from the study:
Sound familiar?
Read more: University of Washington Study Questions Seniority-Based Teacher Layoffs
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Sent by Dunwoody Mom
Here are some highlights from the study:
- A study of Washington state teachers has found that deciding layoffs based solely on which teachers have the least seniority has a significant impact on students' ability to learn, adding to a growing chorus calling for schools to take a hard look at union contracts dictating who gets to keep their jobs.
- Actual layoff notice list with a list of teachers who would have been laid off using a measurement of effectiveness known as "value-added," in which teachers are judged by the improvement of their students on standardized tests.
- Using teachers' past performance, the researchers predicted the performance of two hypothetical school systems: one in which the teachers receiving notices had actually lost their jobs, and one in which more than 1,300 of the lowest-performing teachers had been fired instead.
- Dan Goldhaber, lead author of the study and the center's director, projected that student achievement after seniority-based layoffs would drop by an estimated 2.5 to 3.5 months of learning per student, when compared to laying off the least when compared to laying off the least effective teachers. If your bottom line is student achievement, then this is not the best system," Goldhaber said.
- The research found that using a strict seniority system for layoffs has a variety of other consequences, including:
- — School districts lay off more teachers to meet their budget goals because junior teachers are paid less.
- — Some districts lay off teachers in high-demand and hard-to-fill areas such as special education.
- — Seniority-based layoffs disproportionately hit schools where the most needy kids are and the least senior teachers usually work.
Sound familiar?
Read more: University of Washington Study Questions Seniority-Based Teacher Layoffs
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Sent by Dunwoody Mom
Thursday, December 30, 2010
They Just Don't Get It
DeKalb school workers could lose jobs to outsourcing
Our Central Office proves once again they do not "get it". We've talked at length on this blog about outsourcing, especially for DCSS MIS/Information Technology (which DCSS spends an obscene amount on money on with poor customer service and little return on investment) and landscaping (which the Sam Moss Center has never done well). Many local and county governments, and school systems, outsource info. technology and landscaping in some form or another. Heck, DCSS MIS still spends millions a year with Dell for the tough IT work, even though there are over 200 MIS employees in DCSS.
But we all know taxpayer dollars are wasted the most from having waaayyyy too many Central Office administrators and support staff, even as the system's enrollment has actually slightly decreased over the past few years. So we have fewer students, but more bureaucrats, support staff, assistant principals, etc.
-
The Office of School Improvement needs to be completely ELIMINATED with those staff members put back in the classroom. And as an additional benefit, morale would improve as teachers won't miss being harassed about not having pretty enough bulletin boards!
-
It would save the system millions and show that this Board of Education and our well compensated Interim Superintendent are serious about focusing on the school house, not the Mountain Industrial Palace with its $2,000 chairs. Not only do we spend approx. $15 mil per year on the Office of School Improvement, they are directly responsible for making some of the largest purchases by the school system, like America's Choice. And their training and travel budget is obscene (why do they need to have trainings at Callaway Gardens??$$$). I'd love for one of the new BOE members to ask some questions of Dr. Audria Berry regarding all of the training and travel by her and her staff, and also demand she show how the OSI provides return on investment to the system.
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DeKalb-defends-teacher-training
But the DeKalb County School System has decided to use stimulus money to attend a four-day conference sponsored by America's Choice, which a schools spokesman calls "a great thing." The organization's Web site describes it as a "solution provider," that offers "comprehensive, proven solutions to the complex problems educators face in an era of accountability." The Web site also says America's Choice has "an unparalleled history as a national thought leader." School spokesman Dale Davis told Channel 2 Action News investigative reporter Richard Belcher that 184 principals, instructional coaches, district staff and teachers are scheduled to attend the conference in Hollywood. We found that the primary conference hotel is the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel and Spa. Davis said the school system will spend $91,500 for conference registrations and another $291,400 for hotels, flights, meals and incidentals. That's a total of $382,900 in federal tax money. In an email, Davis wrote, "I am happy that you are expressing interesting in this training opportunity for our employees. We are focused on student improvement. America's Choice is in partnership with the district to help improve the academic success in 40 of our lowest performing schools."
Well, the big news today is that the Central Office is going after custodians. We've discussed here before about outsourcing some custodial duties, as there are many very good local companies like Jani-King who could perform some of those services overnight and take off some staff off of payroll and pension.
Many schools, especially elementary and middle, really do need one custodian present during the school day, definitely for the lunch room—but for deep cleaning restrooms, mopping hallways and classrooms, vacuuming, etc.—contracting with a company like Jan-King to do these tasks overnight makes sense. This plan should provide cost savings and in some cases improve the cleanliness of schools. School custodians should be supervised by Sam Moss staff, and not principals. Some principals hold custodians to high standards, and some do not. It's hit or miss across the system with good, mediocre or poor custodial service.
My best buddy Jeff Dickerson is still on DCSS payroll, as we get this from the AJC (article linked above):
“The objective is not to eliminate employees, but to save taxpayer dollars,” DeKalb schools spokesman Jeff Dickerson told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Wednesday.
School officials said the outsourcing is still a proposal and the amount of potential savings was not available this week.
However, the proposal could mean layoffs. Dickerson said about 700 jobs would be impacted. Board chairman Tom Bowen said the proposal impacts 900 jobs – 600 custodians and 350 at the school service center.
Dickerson said the district “strongly encourages vendors to give preference to existing employees,” and it is too early to determine who would retain employment.
I applaud Tyson, Bowen and crew for exploring outsourcing, but again, the Central Office always looks for the lowest paid staffs (who do a lot of the grunt work) for budget cuts, and NEVER looks at itself:
"Earlier this year, DeKalb cut about 250 jobs as part of budget cuts, including nine custodians and 19 maintenance workers. DeKalb schools have already outsourced its communications department to Dickerson and Cohn & Wolfe."
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When the Central Office outsourced communications to Cohn & Wolfe, while apparently also paying Jeff Dickerson, it retained one current employee, Philandria Guillory, daughter of former BOE member Frances Edwards, even though Philandria had no prior experience in anything communications/tv/broadcast-related. She now runs the DCSS tv station with a $114,000+ salary.
-
The Central Office and BOE deserve praise for looking at cost-cutting, but it needs to look at itself first.
-
Release the 2004 Ernst & Young salary audit. That audit estimated that six years ago we overpaid administrators and non-teaching staff by $15 million annually, and it's certainly even more now.
-
Look closely at DCSS MIS. It's the area where you hear the most amount of complaints from teachers. It may be the system's worst performing department (DCSS Transportation is a close second). This department is screaming for a forensic/personnel/performance audit. This is the department (when headed by Tyson) hired former board member Frances Edwards' son (Philandrea's brother) Jamal, who mostly avoided reporting for work for over 6 months. He is still on the IT payroll, having earned $57,977.11 last year.
-
Look closely at the DCSS School Police Dept., with its two chiefs, four administrative assistants and nine detectives. High schools and middle schools need School Resource Officers. But what do they do in the summer and winter breaks? Can retired county police officers be used at middle and elementary schools on contract, so they are not on the pension plan? And why is there so much computer theft (Henderson Middle!) at schools, many thought to be "inside jobs", when we have such a large school police dept. with 9 detectives?
-
Look closely at school-based Parent Resources Centers, a favorite place for hiring friends and family of BOE members and administrators. How is their performance measured? Why in the heck do PRC staff members (of which Zepora's daughter is one) make more than veteran teachers? Which schools really need them? What do they do during summer and winter break? Can they be part-time employees? Can they be staffed by retired teachers or social workers paid a decent wage on an hourly basis/no benefits? Schools have counselors and PRC staff...is that redundant?
-
DCSS must reduce cost. But the Central Office, Supt. Tyson, Tom Bowen and the BOE still fail to focus on the school house, as there are more administrators and staff than there are teachers. No one wants to "outsource" librarians, cafeteria workers, or school office admin assistants. We want the non-school bloat addressed.
-
The focus needs to be put back on the school house. Pay principals more than Central Office bureaucrats. Look at MIS, landscaping, school police, and parent resource centers for cost savings and improved productivity and performance.
-
Look at yourselves, DCSS Central Office. We remember you proposing to spend hundreds of thousands to replace the Palace's parking lot (which is fine by the way) and fancy lights for BOE meetings. Tom Bowen and the BOE always seem to find money for the Palace and Central Office's every want and desire. Properly funding teacher's retirement and STEP increases? Not so much.
-
Let me be clear: A bloated, overstaffed Central Office will no longer be tolerated by the public. The first department to completely eliminate is an easy one: The Office of School Improvement.
-
I hope that Donna Edler and Nancy Jester will help lead the charge to downsize the bureaucracy. And we will support them vociferously to do so!
===
Maureen Downey is also discussing this at her AJC blog Get Schooled.
Our Central Office proves once again they do not "get it". We've talked at length on this blog about outsourcing, especially for DCSS MIS/Information Technology (which DCSS spends an obscene amount on money on with poor customer service and little return on investment) and landscaping (which the Sam Moss Center has never done well). Many local and county governments, and school systems, outsource info. technology and landscaping in some form or another. Heck, DCSS MIS still spends millions a year with Dell for the tough IT work, even though there are over 200 MIS employees in DCSS.
But we all know taxpayer dollars are wasted the most from having waaayyyy too many Central Office administrators and support staff, even as the system's enrollment has actually slightly decreased over the past few years. So we have fewer students, but more bureaucrats, support staff, assistant principals, etc.
-
The Office of School Improvement needs to be completely ELIMINATED with those staff members put back in the classroom. And as an additional benefit, morale would improve as teachers won't miss being harassed about not having pretty enough bulletin boards!
-
It would save the system millions and show that this Board of Education and our well compensated Interim Superintendent are serious about focusing on the school house, not the Mountain Industrial Palace with its $2,000 chairs. Not only do we spend approx. $15 mil per year on the Office of School Improvement, they are directly responsible for making some of the largest purchases by the school system, like America's Choice. And their training and travel budget is obscene (why do they need to have trainings at Callaway Gardens??$$$). I'd love for one of the new BOE members to ask some questions of Dr. Audria Berry regarding all of the training and travel by her and her staff, and also demand she show how the OSI provides return on investment to the system.
-
DeKalb-defends-teacher-training
But the DeKalb County School System has decided to use stimulus money to attend a four-day conference sponsored by America's Choice, which a schools spokesman calls "a great thing." The organization's Web site describes it as a "solution provider," that offers "comprehensive, proven solutions to the complex problems educators face in an era of accountability." The Web site also says America's Choice has "an unparalleled history as a national thought leader." School spokesman Dale Davis told Channel 2 Action News investigative reporter Richard Belcher that 184 principals, instructional coaches, district staff and teachers are scheduled to attend the conference in Hollywood. We found that the primary conference hotel is the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel and Spa. Davis said the school system will spend $91,500 for conference registrations and another $291,400 for hotels, flights, meals and incidentals. That's a total of $382,900 in federal tax money. In an email, Davis wrote, "I am happy that you are expressing interesting in this training opportunity for our employees. We are focused on student improvement. America's Choice is in partnership with the district to help improve the academic success in 40 of our lowest performing schools."
Well, the big news today is that the Central Office is going after custodians. We've discussed here before about outsourcing some custodial duties, as there are many very good local companies like Jani-King who could perform some of those services overnight and take off some staff off of payroll and pension.
Many schools, especially elementary and middle, really do need one custodian present during the school day, definitely for the lunch room—but for deep cleaning restrooms, mopping hallways and classrooms, vacuuming, etc.—contracting with a company like Jan-King to do these tasks overnight makes sense. This plan should provide cost savings and in some cases improve the cleanliness of schools. School custodians should be supervised by Sam Moss staff, and not principals. Some principals hold custodians to high standards, and some do not. It's hit or miss across the system with good, mediocre or poor custodial service.
My best buddy Jeff Dickerson is still on DCSS payroll, as we get this from the AJC (article linked above):
“The objective is not to eliminate employees, but to save taxpayer dollars,” DeKalb schools spokesman Jeff Dickerson told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Wednesday.
School officials said the outsourcing is still a proposal and the amount of potential savings was not available this week.
However, the proposal could mean layoffs. Dickerson said about 700 jobs would be impacted. Board chairman Tom Bowen said the proposal impacts 900 jobs – 600 custodians and 350 at the school service center.
Dickerson said the district “strongly encourages vendors to give preference to existing employees,” and it is too early to determine who would retain employment.
I applaud Tyson, Bowen and crew for exploring outsourcing, but again, the Central Office always looks for the lowest paid staffs (who do a lot of the grunt work) for budget cuts, and NEVER looks at itself:
"Earlier this year, DeKalb cut about 250 jobs as part of budget cuts, including nine custodians and 19 maintenance workers. DeKalb schools have already outsourced its communications department to Dickerson and Cohn & Wolfe."
-
When the Central Office outsourced communications to Cohn & Wolfe, while apparently also paying Jeff Dickerson, it retained one current employee, Philandria Guillory, daughter of former BOE member Frances Edwards, even though Philandria had no prior experience in anything communications/tv/broadcast-related. She now runs the DCSS tv station with a $114,000+ salary.
-
The Central Office and BOE deserve praise for looking at cost-cutting, but it needs to look at itself first.
-
Release the 2004 Ernst & Young salary audit. That audit estimated that six years ago we overpaid administrators and non-teaching staff by $15 million annually, and it's certainly even more now.
-
Look closely at DCSS MIS. It's the area where you hear the most amount of complaints from teachers. It may be the system's worst performing department (DCSS Transportation is a close second). This department is screaming for a forensic/personnel/performance audit. This is the department (when headed by Tyson) hired former board member Frances Edwards' son (Philandrea's brother) Jamal, who mostly avoided reporting for work for over 6 months. He is still on the IT payroll, having earned $57,977.11 last year.
-
Look closely at the DCSS School Police Dept., with its two chiefs, four administrative assistants and nine detectives. High schools and middle schools need School Resource Officers. But what do they do in the summer and winter breaks? Can retired county police officers be used at middle and elementary schools on contract, so they are not on the pension plan? And why is there so much computer theft (Henderson Middle!) at schools, many thought to be "inside jobs", when we have such a large school police dept. with 9 detectives?
-
Look closely at school-based Parent Resources Centers, a favorite place for hiring friends and family of BOE members and administrators. How is their performance measured? Why in the heck do PRC staff members (of which Zepora's daughter is one) make more than veteran teachers? Which schools really need them? What do they do during summer and winter break? Can they be part-time employees? Can they be staffed by retired teachers or social workers paid a decent wage on an hourly basis/no benefits? Schools have counselors and PRC staff...is that redundant?
-
DCSS must reduce cost. But the Central Office, Supt. Tyson, Tom Bowen and the BOE still fail to focus on the school house, as there are more administrators and staff than there are teachers. No one wants to "outsource" librarians, cafeteria workers, or school office admin assistants. We want the non-school bloat addressed.
-
The focus needs to be put back on the school house. Pay principals more than Central Office bureaucrats. Look at MIS, landscaping, school police, and parent resource centers for cost savings and improved productivity and performance.
-
Look at yourselves, DCSS Central Office. We remember you proposing to spend hundreds of thousands to replace the Palace's parking lot (which is fine by the way) and fancy lights for BOE meetings. Tom Bowen and the BOE always seem to find money for the Palace and Central Office's every want and desire. Properly funding teacher's retirement and STEP increases? Not so much.
-
Let me be clear: A bloated, overstaffed Central Office will no longer be tolerated by the public. The first department to completely eliminate is an easy one: The Office of School Improvement.
-
I hope that Donna Edler and Nancy Jester will help lead the charge to downsize the bureaucracy. And we will support them vociferously to do so!
===
Maureen Downey is also discussing this at her AJC blog Get Schooled.
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Ramona's Demand: The Fix Is In?
 |
| Jeff Dickerson |
There is only one metro area popular politics-theme on local TV: The Georgia Gang. It's an important show, watched by most elected officials, bloggers, the behind the scenes crowd, etc., and it clearly shapes political debate locally and throughout the state.
On today's show, after discussing DeKalb's MAJOR increase in water & sewer rates, and CEO Burrell Ellis proposing a substantial property tax increase, of course moderator and DeKalb resident Dick Williams brought up the Ramona Tyson pay increase (aka "The Demand").
As I stated earlier, The Georgia Gang is extremely influential. Panelist Jeff Dickerson is now a highly paid spokesperson for the DeKalb County School System. For some reason, when his name and title is shown on the show, it has "Jeff Dickerson, Atlanta Tribune", even though he is nowhere to be found on the Atlanta Tribune site.
He is now the opposite of a journalist. He is a PR flack who purposedly tries to shape news coverage. In this tough economy, he gets paid handsomely to do so (from taxpayer dollars).
Whenever The Georgia Gang discusses the county school system, property taxes (which the school system receives 70% of), etc., Dickerson OF COURSE has an ethical duty, and a duty to the show's viewers, to disclose that he is a (highly) paid school system employee.
Instead...on today's show, he defends and justifies Tyson's demand for 44% pay increase and a 300% increase in her monthly expenses...WITHOUT DISCLOSING THAT HE WORKS FOR RAMONA TYSON???!!! She figuratively signs his paycheck!!
It's been a loooong time since I sat in my college ethics class, but any DCSS high school student can easily identify that Jeff Dickerson acted in an incredibly unethical manner, professionally and personally.
It's mind boggling that a pretty darn solid television news affiliate allowed Jeff Dickerson to intentionally shape the controversial debate regarding the Tyson contract demands without any disclosure. Fox 5 Atlanta is better than that. They really do a nice job without local news coverage and with their I-Team investigations.
Dickerson is at least pretty upfront on The Georgia Gang website that he is now a flack, not a practicing journalist:
Jeff Dickerson e-mail: jdmedia@comcast.net is president of Dickerson Communications, a public affairs firm that provides public relations, issues-management and media consulting services to private- and public-sector clients.
Dickerson Communications was launched in 2000 and specializes in crisis communications. The firm has helped some of Atlanta’s most prominent organizations manage public crises, including Coca Cola, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, MARTA, Delta Air Lines, AT&T, several state agencies, the Morehouse School of Medicine, the Atlanta Public Schools, the Atlanta Botanical Garden, Grady Memorial Hospital and many others.
It is very telling that he does not list that he is currently well compensated as the DCSS' lead spokesperson.
So anyone unfamilar to Jeff Dickerson watches today's show and says, hmmm, this guy must be a respected journalist to be on the top politics TV show in Georgia, and he supports the Ramona Tyson Demand, so it must be legit, right?
But how do you think that same viewer would react to hearing Dickerson's strong defense of "The Demand" with the disclosure that Dickerson makes over $2,000 a week and Ramona Tyson is his boss???
I am spellbound by the complete lack of any disclosure, and the lack of professional and personal ethics displayed by Dickerson. Yep, I freely admit that I am so jaded by the last few years of scandal and fiscal management by DCSS that I'm hardly a fair judge. Am I wrong to be dismayed? Was Jeff Dickerson purposedly hired by the Central Office and BOE after they fired the respected Julie Rhame and three other DCSS public relations staff (of course only keeping Philandra Guillory, the daughter of former but still powerful BOE member Frances Edwards) because Dickerson can shape the debate via his valuable TV perch on The Georgia Gang?
Let's hear your take, DCSW readers? Jeff Dickerson: To Disclose or Not Disclose?
It is very telling that he does not list that he is currently well compensated as the DCSS' lead spokesperson.
So anyone unfamilar to Jeff Dickerson watches today's show and says, hmmm, this guy must be a respected journalist to be on the top politics TV show in Georgia, and he supports the Ramona Tyson Demand, so it must be legit, right?
But how do you think that same viewer would react to hearing Dickerson's strong defense of "The Demand" with the disclosure that Dickerson makes over $2,000 a week and Ramona Tyson is his boss???
I am spellbound by the complete lack of any disclosure, and the lack of professional and personal ethics displayed by Dickerson. Yep, I freely admit that I am so jaded by the last few years of scandal and fiscal management by DCSS that I'm hardly a fair judge. Am I wrong to be dismayed? Was Jeff Dickerson purposedly hired by the Central Office and BOE after they fired the respected Julie Rhame and three other DCSS public relations staff (of course only keeping Philandra Guillory, the daughter of former but still powerful BOE member Frances Edwards) because Dickerson can shape the debate via his valuable TV perch on The Georgia Gang?
Let's hear your take, DCSW readers? Jeff Dickerson: To Disclose or Not Disclose?
Watch the video clip from the Georgia Gang here -
Sunday, October 24, 2010
No more furloughs
According to the AJC, DeKalb to end school year's furloughs, give payouts to full-timers.
Full-time DeKalb County schools employees will get an equal share of $14.6 million as part of education funding offered through a federal program, school officials said Friday.
In addition to allowing employees the choice between a retirement fund contribution or a lump-sum check, the district will end any furloughs scheduled for the remainder of the 2010-2011 school year, officials said.
“It sounds like [the board] came up with a solution that everybody gets something out of this, especially the people that are living at the poverty level,” said David Schutten, president of the Organization of DeKalb Educators.
The district received $18.3 million from the Education Jobs Act Funding, $10 billion in education assistance being given to states that must be used for staff.
Friday, October 22, 2010
DCSS Budget, Finance and Facilities Meeting 10-21-10
Many thanks to Dunwoody Mom for sending us her notes from the meeting regarding facilities with Lynn Jackson yesterday! Read on -- she took very good notes! If others who attended have more to add, please send your notes in an email to reparteeforfun@gmail.com or add them to the comments.
------
Ms. Tyson opened the meeting thanking Mrs. Jackson for meeting with Ms Tyson and her staff last spring and strengthening the relationship between DCSS and GADOE.
Facilities Service Unit of GAOE :
Lynn Jackson began with explaining her department’s role:
DCSS is losing 184 students per year.
By law, each school system has to develop a Long-range facilities plan to be updated every 5 years. This plan is required for school system to be eligible for state funds. This plan should be adhered to with no “knee-jerk changes”. Any changes to the plan need to be approved by the BOE and forwarded to Ms. Jackson’s department.
June thru August is when school systems submit their applications for state funding. The funding requests must cover projects that are in the school systems current facilities plan as submitted to the GADOE. (my comment: you can see why DCSS cannot wait for a new Super to get the redistricting, consolidation/closing plan in place. If the system wants to be able to request state funds this all has to be in place by June.)
The current School Organization and Justification plan for DCSS, submitted 3 years ago, is “all over the place” according to Ms. Jackson.
The plan DCSS submitted 3 years ago contained the following FTE plans:
My comments:
1. Why would a school system ever plan for schools below the minimum enrollment needed to earn FTE?
2. Wadsworth Magnet ES and DSA are both facilities that jumped out at me that are under the minimum FTE count. How to increase enrollment in these facilities?
Also, Ms. Jackson made the point that schools must have a minimum of 450 to qualify for specials such as Art, Music. Are you listening DCSS BOE????
Ms. Jackson made the comment more than once that is may be better to close older facilities than to keep contributing money and resources to renovate these buildings.
Pre-K
• Pre-K is not part of the FTE count
• Pre-K rooms are counted as surplus rooms by the GADOE
• Pre-K space is not funded via Capital Outlay
Will this become an issue? Will DCSS look to discontinue the Pre-K program in DCSS, which has the longest waiting list for Pre-K students in the state of GA?
Phase-Out
When school system deems a facility is too old and it will cost more to upkeep than it is worth.
Once a facility has been phased-out it can longer be used for FTE purposes; Pre-K; Lease to Charter
If area repopulates, DOE may allow building to be used temporary with promise of new facility. Hooper ES was an example of a building that has been “phased-out”.
A question was asked if population changes in a certain area can the facility that was phased-out be reopened by DCSS. The answer was “No”. The reason the facility was phased-out was due to its age and condition, so why would you want to reopen this facility for students? Ms. Jackson did say they would work on a case-by-case basis, and perhaps they would give permission for the school to be used while a new facility was being built, but it a phased out site would never be allowed to be reopened for ongoing use.
QSCB which DCSS just recently approved must be used within 3 years of the bonds being sold. Ms. Jackson said that the school system should already have project plans for the use of this money. The use of these funds WILL be audited.
QZAB (Qualified Zone Academy Bonds). This was a new term for the board. These are tax-free bonds that available at $10 million per project. These funds can be used for renovations, modifications, equipment, staff development. This is something the school system look into as far as additional funding.
DCSS currently has accumulated $16,135.415 dollars that it has available to request for projects.
Ms. Jackson also pointed out that there are funds approved in 2004 that have not been used and must be used before February of next year or they are lost to the school system. I don’t think she indicated the amount.
One of the BOE members asked about COPS (Certificate of Participation) projects. No state funds are available. These projects are funded at the local level.
What I learned was how involved the State DOE is in the whole facilities/construction process.
If a school system is buying property for a new site, the GADOE must approve before the site is purchased or the school system might not receive any funds for the project. Prior to purchase the DOE requires an environmental study and a risk hazard analysis of the site.
The GADOE must also approve the purchase of additional acreage, additions to existing school sites, and privately owned sites (such as buildings that house school system charter schools). .
Charter schools, school system and other, are not exempt from these rules. Ms. Jackson’s staff recently met with the GA Charter Commission to have them tighten up the requirement that a Charter application must be submitted with a site approval from the GADOE. Without site approval by the GADOE, no school code will be issued. No school code, no state funding.
===
You can view Lynn Jackson's presentation here:
http://www.dekalb.k12.ga.us/www/documents/vision-2020/facilities-committee-meeting-presentation-(2010-10-21).pdf
The video of the meeting is found here:
http://www.dekalb.k12.ga.us/vision-2020/master-plan
------
Ms. Tyson opened the meeting thanking Mrs. Jackson for meeting with Ms Tyson and her staff last spring and strengthening the relationship between DCSS and GADOE.
Facilities Service Unit of GAOE :
Lynn Jackson began with explaining her department’s role:
- Long range planning with the school systems
- Help school systems to acquire funding.
- Review to make sure new construction to is safe and adequate for instructional needs
DCSS is losing 184 students per year.
By law, each school system has to develop a Long-range facilities plan to be updated every 5 years. This plan is required for school system to be eligible for state funds. This plan should be adhered to with no “knee-jerk changes”. Any changes to the plan need to be approved by the BOE and forwarded to Ms. Jackson’s department.
June thru August is when school systems submit their applications for state funding. The funding requests must cover projects that are in the school systems current facilities plan as submitted to the GADOE. (my comment: you can see why DCSS cannot wait for a new Super to get the redistricting, consolidation/closing plan in place. If the system wants to be able to request state funds this all has to be in place by June.)
The current School Organization and Justification plan for DCSS, submitted 3 years ago, is “all over the place” according to Ms. Jackson.
The plan DCSS submitted 3 years ago contained the following FTE plans:
My comments:
1. Why would a school system ever plan for schools below the minimum enrollment needed to earn FTE?
2. Wadsworth Magnet ES and DSA are both facilities that jumped out at me that are under the minimum FTE count. How to increase enrollment in these facilities?
Also, Ms. Jackson made the point that schools must have a minimum of 450 to qualify for specials such as Art, Music. Are you listening DCSS BOE????
Ms. Jackson made the comment more than once that is may be better to close older facilities than to keep contributing money and resources to renovate these buildings.
Pre-K
• Pre-K is not part of the FTE count
• Pre-K rooms are counted as surplus rooms by the GADOE
• Pre-K space is not funded via Capital Outlay
Will this become an issue? Will DCSS look to discontinue the Pre-K program in DCSS, which has the longest waiting list for Pre-K students in the state of GA?
Phase-Out
When school system deems a facility is too old and it will cost more to upkeep than it is worth.
Once a facility has been phased-out it can longer be used for FTE purposes; Pre-K; Lease to Charter
If area repopulates, DOE may allow building to be used temporary with promise of new facility. Hooper ES was an example of a building that has been “phased-out”.
A question was asked if population changes in a certain area can the facility that was phased-out be reopened by DCSS. The answer was “No”. The reason the facility was phased-out was due to its age and condition, so why would you want to reopen this facility for students? Ms. Jackson did say they would work on a case-by-case basis, and perhaps they would give permission for the school to be used while a new facility was being built, but it a phased out site would never be allowed to be reopened for ongoing use.
QSCB which DCSS just recently approved must be used within 3 years of the bonds being sold. Ms. Jackson said that the school system should already have project plans for the use of this money. The use of these funds WILL be audited.
QZAB (Qualified Zone Academy Bonds). This was a new term for the board. These are tax-free bonds that available at $10 million per project. These funds can be used for renovations, modifications, equipment, staff development. This is something the school system look into as far as additional funding.
DCSS currently has accumulated $16,135.415 dollars that it has available to request for projects.
Ms. Jackson also pointed out that there are funds approved in 2004 that have not been used and must be used before February of next year or they are lost to the school system. I don’t think she indicated the amount.
One of the BOE members asked about COPS (Certificate of Participation) projects. No state funds are available. These projects are funded at the local level.
What I learned was how involved the State DOE is in the whole facilities/construction process.
If a school system is buying property for a new site, the GADOE must approve before the site is purchased or the school system might not receive any funds for the project. Prior to purchase the DOE requires an environmental study and a risk hazard analysis of the site.
The GADOE must also approve the purchase of additional acreage, additions to existing school sites, and privately owned sites (such as buildings that house school system charter schools). .
Charter schools, school system and other, are not exempt from these rules. Ms. Jackson’s staff recently met with the GA Charter Commission to have them tighten up the requirement that a Charter application must be submitted with a site approval from the GADOE. Without site approval by the GADOE, no school code will be issued. No school code, no state funding.
===
You can view Lynn Jackson's presentation here:
http://www.dekalb.k12.ga.us/www/documents/vision-2020/facilities-committee-meeting-presentation-(2010-10-21).pdf
The video of the meeting is found here:
http://www.dekalb.k12.ga.us/vision-2020/master-plan
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Monopoly® Money?
The DeKalb County School System Board of Education must think they are spending Monopoly® money.
Last night’s BOE meeting, which started after 6 PM -- almost 10 minutes late -- and adjourned before 7 PM, spent more than $4 million of your money – taxpayers’ dollars – in less time than they spent on recognitions and photo ops at the beginning of the session. In less than a minute, the BOE quickly and unanimously signed off on the “Consent Agenda.” No discussion. That accounted for approximately $3.7 million ($3,791,429). Earlier, in less than five minutes, the BOE did the same thing with a $262,000 annual fee for more PR assistance from Cohn & Wolfe.
Whatever happened to Jeff Dickerson and the contract DCSS had with him? I must have missed something.
Jim Redovian was the only BOE member to openly admit that he had not seen the BOE packet of information sent out on Friday, October 8 (for a Monday October 11 meeting). I am betting he was not the only one who had not seen it, though. Most boards of large corporations are given the courtesy of receiving a packet of board agenda-related information – especially budget information -- at least a week prior to the actual meeting. Why is that not happening in DCSS with a $1.2 BILLION budget and an announced $50 million shortfall for 2011-2012?
Regarding the Consent Agenda, both the BOE and Tony Hunter, executive director of MIS/IT were informed via e-mail (sent out Sunday and waiting on them Monday morning) that there was a $$$ error in the Excel spreadsheets supplied with Consent Agenda Item #18. Could that be because MIS/IT personnel do not know how to use Excel formulas to do the calculations? The agenda item was approved anyhow – with the error uncorrected. Sorry, SWD.
Wouldn’t you really like to know why MIS/IT is paying $600 each for 75 Dell Netbooks with undisclosed specs when you can walk into any office supply store and get a single netbook for less than $300? Actually, Dell’s most expensive netbook is available online directly from Dell – single netbook purchase; no discounts – for less than $600.
A similar e-mail was sent to Felicia Mayfield and the BOE at the same time concerning the need to spend $100,000 more on contract occupational and physical therapists (Consent Agenda Items #22 and #23) when DCSS already has the following on staff (according to 2009 salaries shown on Open.Georgia.gov):
- 8 physical therapists at a cost exceeding $600,000 -- not including benefits.
- 28 occupational therapists at a cost exceeding $1.7 million -- not including benefits.
How can DCSS propose to provide more in student services when DCSS cannot even confirm that the students in our schools are enrolled legally? Ron Ramsey, I am talking to you.
For a copy of the e-mails sent to Felicia Mayfield and Tony Hunter, as well as Mayfield’s answer – Hunter did not bother to answer – please e-mail me at shspruill@gmail.com. BTW – the BOE members were all copied on these e-mails, as well. To date, no response.
Money is tight and the BOE members should be openly evaluating and weighing each expense very carefully. They need to know, “Is it necessary?” “Why?” “Is there an alternative?” What is it?” or “Why not?” The staff answers to those questions must be backed up with clear and compelling documentation.
And in the case of additional personnel expense (including “contract” personnel), the BOE must also ask, “Can this be done by current staff?” “If not, why not?”
The BOE had no problem increasing class sizes for teachers and dumping more useless paperwork on them, thereby lengthening their workdays and increasing the demands on their time – putting positive educational outcomes at risk.
Education is DCSS’s only business. But, the way they protect central office personnel and other non-classroom personnel makes it very clear that, as far as DCSS and the BOE are concerned, education is simply an afterthought.
If eduKALB endorses even one (1) incumbent, eduKALB’s credibility is shot and their agenda is suspect.
Monopoly®, anyone? Pick your playing piece and throw the dice!
Thursday, September 9, 2010
In Mom We Trust
I remember when I was a kid, (the last of five in our family) during dinner, I would sometimes ask my mother if I could have a little more. If the pot was empty, my mother would pick up her plate and spoon her own helping onto my plate. She never balked, she never hesitated. She didn't complain, or question, or tell me I was greedy. When I would see her lift that plate, I would be embarrassed and beg her not to give me her own food, but she would have none of that. That one selfless gesture -- so readily repeated -- did so much to build trust between my mother and me. My mother took her job as CNO (Chief Nuturing Officer) very seriously. And, I always knew I could count on my mother.It was disheartening to see at the BOE meeting a parent reduced to asking the full Board for a simple, reliable copy machine for her children's school. But, what was even more disheartening was Ms. Tyson's response moments later when Mr. Womack publicly requested Ms. Tyson to just give the school a new copier. To paraphrase, she said she would get on it first thing the next morning, she would "get the facts."
The implication was clear. The response was so typical of the Central Office when a parent or teacher or community member brings them a concern or problem. The parent must be lying! Or over-exaggerating. Or being dramatic. Or just plain crazy. Somehow, the staff always has the "facts" and the customer is always wrong.
I believe they do this so they can set up a classic he said/she said situation. And, I was right. Facilities claimed they had been responsive to the school's needs. And then, they offered the ultimate shut-down. We don't have any money! The pot is empty.
Well, I believe a CEO's job description isn't too far off a CNO's. When there's nothing left, it's time to take the shirt off your own back. Fork the food off your own plate. Make do with less for yourself.
Oh mom, how I miss you.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Revisiting the past with Ramona Tyson
Interim Superintendant Tyson, described herself as a dedicated DCSS professional of 22 years who had experience with IBM at the request of the DCSS administration. She noted her commitment to her family, especially as a mother of two elementary school aged children. She stated that her goal was to do the best job possible while staying focused on the core business of DCSS and the students of DCSS. Specifically, she shared her goal to rebuild the trust of all stakeholders and especially the morale of DCSS employees.
She noted the pressing matter of balancing the budget for FY 2011 by June 30. DCSS BOE must approve a balanced budget noting the dire circumstance of the current economic situation. After the budget is approved, school consolidation must be addressed, and then the transition issues of current students in addition to preparing for the new students. This all must be done with a “laser-like focus on day-to-day operations.”
Ms. Tyson noted that there is presently an $88,000,000 shortfall and a DCSS proposal to reduce spending by $115, 000,000. This greater cut is in anticipation of historical state education funding cuts that occur during the summer time and negatively impact county budgets. While, DCSS prepares budgets, Ms. Tyson highlighted that ultimate decision making rests with the DCSS BOE.
Ms. Tyson spent some time clarifying information about DCSS employees. She noted that there are 15,859 employees of whom 13,873 are FT and 1986 are PT. She noted that 14,620 are school based employees and 1239 are in the central office which translates to approximately 7.8 % of central office employees. Of the central office employees, 982 are paid out of the general budget with local dollars and 257 are paid with federal dollars. Proposed budget reductions include the lay-offs of approximately 152 central office positions by 6-30-10.
While noting that budget reductions are necessary, compliance issues must be met to ensure funding and adherence to laws and standards. Ms. Tyson reiterated that her administration and the board would address these matters. Even after initial cuts, Ms. Tyson noted the on-going need to examine the central office structure from a business perspective in order to determine the need for additional cuts.
Interim Superintendant Tyson directed the audience to examine the school consolidation plans that are posted on the DCSS website http://www.dekalb.k12.ga.us/redistricting/. She noted that because of 11,000 empty seats in DCSS there is a corresponding loss of state entitlement dollars which places an undue burden on the district. She noted a recommendation to transition from middle and high schools having 2 planning periods per day to one planning period (i.e. from a 7 period day to a 6 period day) as a significant cost saving recommendation. Additionally, she noted that during this trying time that testing integrity has been a priority.
For the next 3-6 months, an uphill climb will continue with distractions. Ms. Tyson reiterated her commitment to improve integrity and keep distractions separated from the core business of education. She noted that the BOE will be communicating with the media and that she will be focusing on day-to-day operations.
Plan to attend the next ELPC meeting and ask Ms. Tyson to respond to questions regarding the progress of her promises.
Emory Lavista Parent Council
Join us at 9:15 am
(refreshments begin at 8:45 am)
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Oak Grove Elementary School
1857 Oak Grove Road, NE
Atlanta, Georgia 30307
Our guest speaker Ms. Ramona Tyson,
Interim Superintendent for DeKalb County Schools,
presents the State of the System
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UPDATE: Ms. Tyson has already visited with the Dunwoody-Chamblee Parent Council. Dunwoody Mom has a report available at her blog, Dunwoody School Daze.
Friday, June 4, 2010
Should we really reduce professional development requirements for teachers?
In an article titled, Budget woes could mean less training for DeKalb teachers, the AJC reports that the state is allowing DCSS to cut mandatory training hours for teachers in half because of the district’s budget problems.
Teacher Magazine, in an article titled, "Becoming a Culturally Responsive Teacher," reported that Ron Walker, executive director of the Coalition of Schools Educating Boys of Color, publishers of "Standards for Schools Educating Boys of Color" has this to say about professional development:
So, what are we to think? This is yet another example of how the "emergency" budget cuts will effect students in the classroom, continuing our school system's slide down a very slippery slope. As I understand Gloria Talley's budget-cutting proposal, teachers will be expected to "see to their professional development during the school day and in between instruction time." When exactly, is that?
The school system currently requires teachers to have 20 hours of professional development a year. On Wednesday, the board’s instruction committee discussed cutting training time to 10 hours a year.
Last month, the board approved a budget for next school year with $104 million in cuts, including seven furlough days for teachers. A proposal calls for three of those furlough days to be designated teacher professional development days, said Gloria Talley, deputy superintendent of teaching and learning.
To make up for that lost time, administrators are proposing teachers see to their professional development during the school day and in between instruction time.
Teacher Magazine, in an article titled, "Becoming a Culturally Responsive Teacher," reported that Ron Walker, executive director of the Coalition of Schools Educating Boys of Color, publishers of "Standards for Schools Educating Boys of Color" has this to say about professional development:
How important is professional development for teachers? Is good professional development key to undergoing some of the reforms suggested in the report?
Absolutely. Good, solid PD is the lifeblood of creative and successful schools because they are on the razor's edge. It keeps teachers sharp. Good, well-developed, thoughtful PD that takes into account where people are across the continuum of their learning styles and experiences validates and affirms. It keeps people fresh. It gives people a chance to create and contribute to their own development.
I would contend professional development needs the people who live in that school to be the stakeholders. They need to play an active role in developing it which is why having learning communities that are really functioning entities makes sense.
So, what are we to think? This is yet another example of how the "emergency" budget cuts will effect students in the classroom, continuing our school system's slide down a very slippery slope. As I understand Gloria Talley's budget-cutting proposal, teachers will be expected to "see to their professional development during the school day and in between instruction time." When exactly, is that?
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
DeKalb schools cut lower paid workers
In her report in today's AJC, Megan tells us -
When the DeKalb County school board voted last month to eliminate 289 jobs to help meet an estimated $88-million shortfall in next year’s budget, at least 150 of those jobs were supposed to be in the district’s central office, which parents thought included mostly administrators and other high-paid staff.
But records obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution show that more than half of the employees laid off by DeKalb schools make less than $40,000 a year. They include nine custodians, 11 school resource officers, 12 secretaries and 19 maintenance workers.
An Open Records Act request of the 289 jobs included in the layoffs lists only 253 names. And only 12 percent of those employees make more than $100,000.
Visit the article at the AJC for the full story.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Georgia "Out of it's Mind"
First, as Maureen Downey reported at her AJC "Get Schooled" blog, State funding pays for 147 days of school. Districts are on their own for the remaining 33.
Maureen tells us that state Superintendent, Kathy Cox's criticisms of state cuts to education are growing more forthright, including a statement this week that the Legislature only approved enough funding next year to cover 147 days of the mandated 180-day school year. Cox is leaving her post in a few weeks. (She announced last week that she is resigning to head a think tank in D.C. and is no longer seeing election to a third term running Georgia’s schools.)
So nice of you to finally speak up, Ms. Cox.
Jim Galloway recently posted a "Political Insider" column called, A wave of teacher layoffs set to wash over Georgia politics. Jim reports:
A wave that Georgia Republicans have feared for the better part of a year is approaching the shoreline.
This month, thousands of public school teachers across the state were formally notified that their services were no longer required. They will be joined in the unemployment line by thousands of others — school clerks, cafeteria workers and bus drivers.
Roughly 3,500 of the state’s 118,000 public school teachers are at risk, according to one estimate — although the state Department of Education says an exact count won’t be available until this fall.
State Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond says his department has prepared for 8,000 school-related applications for jobless benefits this summer.
Even more teachers and school workers could lose their jobs next year, as federal stimulus funding is depleted.
Not good. Not good at all. In so many ways.
For a look at just how poorly our state has funded education in the past decade, read this report called, THE UNFULFILLED PROMISE TO GEORGIA’S CHILDREN, compiled by the Georgia School Funding Association. The report states:
The State must do more than provide enough financial support, but this is still a primary obligation which it has neglected. Even though the absolute amount of State funds for K-12 education has increased in recent years, the increases have not kept pace with the growth in enrollment and the effect of inflation, much less the needs of our students. In fact, the total amount of all funds allotted by the State to local school systems decreased on a per-student, inflation-adjusted basis by 18% between Fiscal Year (“FY’) 2002 and FY 2009.
Support for education in Georgia seems to have hit rock-bottom - or has it?
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To learn how QBE (Quality Basic Education), which is GA’s formula for funding education, is figured download this Powerpoint:
Funding Georgia’s Public Schools: An Overview
Sunday, May 23, 2010
What the Budget Cuts Mean
http://www.ajc.com/news/government-waste/ajc-special-school-central-533227.html
AJC Special: School
central offices costly
-
Gloria Talley, deputy superintendent for teaching and learning with DeKalb schools, explained the many functions the central office performs.
“Let me tell you what we do,” Talley said. “We recruit and hire teachers. We write their checks. We train teachers in current practices and current strategies. We monitor teachers. We monitor principals. We assist principals in how they work with teachers. We have textbooks to purchase. We write curriculum. We have technology to oversee and to help implement.
“There’s a testing component that we need to oversee. There’s planning that we assist our schools with, and data analysis to help schools make decisions. That list doesn’t even include student security and safety.”
She continued: “I don’t want to get into the debate about how many bodies you need to run a central office because people sit on different sides of the fence. I believe that schools need support and that’s what we’re here for.”
“Let me tell you what we do,” Talley said. “We recruit and hire teachers. We write their checks. We train teachers in current practices and current strategies. We monitor teachers. We monitor principals. We assist principals in how they work with teachers. We have textbooks to purchase. We write curriculum. We have technology to oversee and to help implement.
“There’s a testing component that we need to oversee. There’s planning that we assist our schools with, and data analysis to help schools make decisions. That list doesn’t even include student security and safety.”
She continued: “I don’t want to get into the debate about how many bodies you need to run a central office because people sit on different sides of the fence. I believe that schools need support and that’s what we’re here for.”
Cobb County
106,079 Students
$34,470,248 spent on General Administration
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DeKalb County
96,907 Students
$49,159,245 spent on General Administration
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Yep, it's all about you and the Central Office, Gloria Talley.
-
-
In an unbelievable display of insouciance, completely ignoring the reasons why there was a $100 million budget deficit and what led to it, the DCSS Central Office led by Ramona Tyson, and approved by the Board of Education, cowardly made cuts to the lowest paid staff and new teachers, you know, the people who actually work in the classroom and school house, where the students are.
In fact, the only administrative department/division that had any substantial cuts was the public relations division. And the one reason why this division had administrator layoffs is that Board of Ed members and the highest ranking Central Office administrators (Tyson, Bob Moseley, Gloria Talley, Marcus Turk, Ron Ramsey) felt the PR staff allowed the media to report too many negative stories on DCSS, whether the stories were deserved or not. The BOE, Crawford Lewis, Tyson, etc. got egg on their face, so the PR staff was gone. Of course, the only upper level PR administrator who did not lose her job, Philandria Guillory, is the daughter of a powerful former board member, Frances Edwards. Funny how family members of board members fared well in the budget cuts.
The most telling budget cuts comes from the the systems IT department, aka MIS, Management Information Systems. Ramona Tyson was the administrator in charge of this department while it grew from a small support services department to a massively bloated and ineffective monster of a department, with hundreds of employees and a $20 million annual budget. The annual budget doesn't count the millions spent on eSIS. And many parents and taxpayers don't know that even with hundreds of employees, MIS relies on Dell for much of the real technical dirty work of installations, server maintenance, etc.
The cuts made by Ramona Tyson to MIS are the lead proof on how she doesn't get it, no one else from the Central Office gets it, and that the Board of Education has never "got it". What cuts were made to MIS? Well, a few CTSS employees were let go. Who are the CTSS'ers? The employees who provide front level support to teachers and staff in the school building. Did any MIS administrators have to worry about the budget cuts? Nope, Tyson took care of her own.
Because the MIS Dept. has little quality control, yes, there are stories on how some CTSS'ers are unprofessional and unhelpful, like son of Frances Edwards, Jamal Edwards, who went six months not being seen in his assigned school. But the majority of CTSS'ers were productive employees who tried their best to serve their assigned schools and navigate the ridiculous MIS procurement and equipment replacement process. Again, it's telling that whenever a Central Office administrator wants a new computer, he/she receives it in a flash, while many teachers, especially in elementary schools, have ten year old desktops and smart boards that don't work because Tyson picked a brand with incredibly expensive replacement bulbs. You should see the technology, especially flat screen TV's, in the new Central Office HQ at Mountain Industrial.
So the budget was balanced, with some early retirement, but the bulk of the cuts came from the school house, with teachers and in school support staff being let go. The source of the bloat, and the decision-makers who spent millions with no return on investment from #$%^ like America's Choice, eSIS, etc., are still in place with their six figure salaries and their complete lack of understanding of what the school house needs, or that some older schools are falling apart. Tens of millions are spent anually on Instructional Coaches or Supervisors or whatever Deborah Rives (former DCSS regional super who now works for America's Choice) and Gloria Talley call them are still out of the classroom assigning nonsense busy work to actual teachers who actually teacher our children.
The bloat is still there. The massive upper management is still in place. Hundreds of administrators, managers and staff who have nothing to do with the classroom are still there. My hope is the new superintendent will instantly recognize this and clean house. But without a new Board of Education, that will be extremely difficult and unlikely.
I'd like to hear from you where the real budget and personnel cuts should have been made, and what we can do as parents and taxpayers to out those focus back on the student, teacher and school house!!! Post away!
In fact, the only administrative department/division that had any substantial cuts was the public relations division. And the one reason why this division had administrator layoffs is that Board of Ed members and the highest ranking Central Office administrators (Tyson, Bob Moseley, Gloria Talley, Marcus Turk, Ron Ramsey) felt the PR staff allowed the media to report too many negative stories on DCSS, whether the stories were deserved or not. The BOE, Crawford Lewis, Tyson, etc. got egg on their face, so the PR staff was gone. Of course, the only upper level PR administrator who did not lose her job, Philandria Guillory, is the daughter of a powerful former board member, Frances Edwards. Funny how family members of board members fared well in the budget cuts.
The most telling budget cuts comes from the the systems IT department, aka MIS, Management Information Systems. Ramona Tyson was the administrator in charge of this department while it grew from a small support services department to a massively bloated and ineffective monster of a department, with hundreds of employees and a $20 million annual budget. The annual budget doesn't count the millions spent on eSIS. And many parents and taxpayers don't know that even with hundreds of employees, MIS relies on Dell for much of the real technical dirty work of installations, server maintenance, etc.
The cuts made by Ramona Tyson to MIS are the lead proof on how she doesn't get it, no one else from the Central Office gets it, and that the Board of Education has never "got it". What cuts were made to MIS? Well, a few CTSS employees were let go. Who are the CTSS'ers? The employees who provide front level support to teachers and staff in the school building. Did any MIS administrators have to worry about the budget cuts? Nope, Tyson took care of her own.
Because the MIS Dept. has little quality control, yes, there are stories on how some CTSS'ers are unprofessional and unhelpful, like son of Frances Edwards, Jamal Edwards, who went six months not being seen in his assigned school. But the majority of CTSS'ers were productive employees who tried their best to serve their assigned schools and navigate the ridiculous MIS procurement and equipment replacement process. Again, it's telling that whenever a Central Office administrator wants a new computer, he/she receives it in a flash, while many teachers, especially in elementary schools, have ten year old desktops and smart boards that don't work because Tyson picked a brand with incredibly expensive replacement bulbs. You should see the technology, especially flat screen TV's, in the new Central Office HQ at Mountain Industrial.
So the budget was balanced, with some early retirement, but the bulk of the cuts came from the school house, with teachers and in school support staff being let go. The source of the bloat, and the decision-makers who spent millions with no return on investment from #$%^ like America's Choice, eSIS, etc., are still in place with their six figure salaries and their complete lack of understanding of what the school house needs, or that some older schools are falling apart. Tens of millions are spent anually on Instructional Coaches or Supervisors or whatever Deborah Rives (former DCSS regional super who now works for America's Choice) and Gloria Talley call them are still out of the classroom assigning nonsense busy work to actual teachers who actually teacher our children.
The bloat is still there. The massive upper management is still in place. Hundreds of administrators, managers and staff who have nothing to do with the classroom are still there. My hope is the new superintendent will instantly recognize this and clean house. But without a new Board of Education, that will be extremely difficult and unlikely.
I'd like to hear from you where the real budget and personnel cuts should have been made, and what we can do as parents and taxpayers to out those focus back on the student, teacher and school house!!! Post away!
Friday, May 14, 2010
So, please share what you know about who has been let go...
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.
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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.
Budget to be approved at board meeting today
NOTICE OF DEKALB BOARD OF EDUCATION MEETING:
6:00pm Business Meeting
Robert R. Freeman Administrative Center
Building A, J. David Williamson Board Room
3770 North Decatur Road
Decatur, GA 30032
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Sunday, May 2, 2010
Bowen & Brown Discuss School Closures
DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. (MyFOX ATLANTA) - DeKalb County plans to close four elementary schools by the end of the year and even more schools could be closed soon, because of a $115 million budget shortfall. Hundreds of parents have protested of the plans, but educators say they simply have no choice.
Thomas Bowen, the chair of the DeKalb County School Board and Ernest Brown, a DeKalb County parent and member of the Citizens Planning Task force sat down Friday to discuss the issue.
Four schools remain on the chopping block and those are Kelley Lake Elementary School, Knollwood Elementary School, Sky Haven Elementary School and Glen Haven Elementary Schools.
Two other schools have been suggested as alternate schools for closure. Those are Gresham Park Elementary in lieu of Sky Haven and Peachtree Elementary [we assume they mean Peachcrest] in lieu of Glen Haven.
Highlights from the interview -
Schools currently slated to consolidate:
Kelley Lake ES, Knollwood ES, Sky Haven ES and Glen Haven ESBowen says we have 11,000 empty seats.
Spending more on low-enrollment schools takes away from students in other schools.
Brown, a member of the task force, supports closures.
Parents need to look at big picture - task force made data-driven decisions.
This is a natural progression of population shifts.
Bowen - only $2 million of $115 million reduction, but most polarizing.
Education comes from the people - not the building.
Parents need to help the board formalize plans.
Public hearings will be held at 6 PM at the following locations:
Tuesday, May 11 - Miller Grove High School, Lithonia
Thursday, May 13 - Lithonia HIgh School
The final vote by the board will be May 14.
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