Maureen Downey guest speaker at DCPC this am

Well, no sooner did I announce that Hawthorne parents had taken the prize for the best spread of goodies at a meeting than I went to another meeting where they were simply "outdone"—by the teachers and staff at Kingsley Charter School no less!  Thank you, teachers and staff. Kingsley Charter—what a welcoming and charming school tucked away so nicely in the middle of a good old-fashioned neighborhood!

This morning's meeting of the Dunwoody-Chamblee Parent Council featured guest speaker, Maureen Downey, Education Reporter at the Atlanta Journal & Constitution.  Check out Maureen's most excellent school-related blog called, "Get Schooled". We link to her blog often here at DeKalb School Watch.

Maureen interviews and chats with many powerful, well-known and respected people in the education arena, most recently having interviewed U.S. Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan on the President's education initiatives.

Maureen touched on many topics and gave her experienced insight on several fronts, so I will just bullet-point the things that were discussed for those of you who missed the meeting.

• No Child Left Behind (NCLB), now referred to by the Obama Administration as ESEA (Elementary and Secondary Education Act) will soon be renamed (again). They are currently leaning toward "Every Child Counts" (Georgia PTA will think this sounds familiar, their slogan is, "everychild. onevoice".)
• Those 5,000 terrible schools we kept hearing Obama was planning to shutter—well, he's still planning to. The national focus will be on the worst performing schools (the bottom 5%), leaving good schools to continue doing what they do so well.
• There is a Renaissance rising for art and music instruction, but how do we pay for it? And how do we identify art and music as "core" classes?
• The major issue in Georgia is teacher quality, especially in rural areas. It's very hard for rural systems to find enough "highly qualified" teachers to fulfill federal requirements.
• We are "creeping our way" to vouchers. Bit by bit, laws are being passed in Georgia that allow for or open the door to vouchers.  Maureen is opposed to vouchers, but "for" open enrollment, meaning school choice within a county system, or perhaps even across counties.
• DeKalb, like many organizations, has administrative bloat.  When new leadership arrives, they often bring their "posse" and friends (like middle schoolers). However, when that leader leaves, often we are stuck with the well-paid friends and the new leader brings along new friends.
• That said, cutting all of our county's administrative bloat will never cure our financial woes. The state will continue to make cuts and we will continue to be expected to produce better results with less.  (As Joe Martin pointed out at ELPC, the state has funded education at $2 Billion LESS than was intended by the QBE formula. That equates to about $30,000 per class.)
• Our new state superintendent, John Barge, will reduce testing requirements. He currently favors eliminating the CRCT and replacing it with the IOWA. We also need to finally implement the original plan to delete the Georgia High School Graduation Test (GHSGT) and simply use the End Of Course Tests (EOCT) in high school.
• The Race To The Top (RTTT) funding coming to Georgia will require better tracking of student data (experts are collaborating in several states to develop this software) and will also bring some kind of teacher merit pay component.
• The data will "Measure Adequate Progress" (MAP) of students from year to year. Surprisingly, it is the gifted and high achievers that are hardest to track as their movement year after year is positive, but can be smaller than others, leaving us uncertain if they are truly performing to their ability.
• Maureen recommends watching the superintendent of Baltimore schools, Dr. Andres Alonso. He implemented a STAR teacher program, placing highly trained teachers and principals in every school with amazing results.
• She advocated for school-based budgeting and the need to search and hire fantastic principals.  Principals set the tone of a school, and hire great teachers—and teachers are key to student success. 
• Maureen did not think there should be an SAT or ACT component added to the HOPE scholarship. Her point made sense to me as I hadn't thought of it this way—There are students who have worked hard, shown discipline and effort and earned As and Bs in high school, yet when they arrive at college, they need remedial help.  Fran Millar did not think we should pay for that remedial help, but Maureen thinks we should. Why? Because it's not the student's fault, it's the fault of the sending high school.  The student played by the rules, did the work and earned the best they could at the high school they attended. If anything, go after that high school for educational malpractice.
• To learn more, Maureen recommended reading "Crossing the Finish Line", a book from Princeton Press showing that students who earn As and Bs in high school, by and large, will be successful in college, even if they need remedial help, because they bring the proper work ethic and study habits to the table.
• On the subject of charter schools or systems, Maureen hasn't really seen that they are all that different from the public schools they are molded from. Simply suddenly declaring a school a "charter" will not usually cure what is ailing a school or system or state for that matter. Some "for-profit" models could possibly do better, as they have a motivation to make money.
• Bottom line: The principal sets the tone and attitude for a school and the teacher in the classroom is what makes a difference in the education—and life—of a child.

Audio of the May 5, 2010 Dunwoody Chamblee Parents Council Meeting

As a parent of three children in the DeKalb County School System, I attended this mornings DCPC meeting and as I have a tendency to do at public meetings, I recorded it in order to share the presentation with my neighbors.

I was very impressed with the candor and honesty of Interim Superintendent Ramona Tyson.

I won't attempt to give a complete recap of the meeting since DunwoodyMom did such a nice job on her new Dunwoody School Daze blog, but the full audio of the meeting can be found in the links below.

0505201_DCPC_1_intro.mp3
 

0505201_DCPC_2_Tyson.mp3
 

0505201_DCPC_3_Radovian.mp3
 

0505201_DCPC_4_Questions.mp3

Dr. Lewis at DCPC

I attended Dunwoody Chamblee Parents Council's meeting today at Dunwoody High School and here are my rough notes for those who did not attend. Others that may have attended should post items of note I missed in the comments.

Dr. Lewis changed the format of his presentation this time around and addressed specific questions that had been provide in advance. Here is a bullet point recap:

1. Workweek/Calendar: DCSS is keeping a 180 calendar but has prepared a list of non-school days that could be added to the schedule if some mandate comes externally. The example he gave was the Monday and Tuesday prior to Thanksgiving. DCSS wants to be prepared to act if mandated but has no intention of modifying the calendar at this point.

2. eSIS - The launch has been tough all around but the pain will be worth it in Dr. Lewis' eyes. He indicated that any major legacy system replacement is going to be painful and this one is no different. He did say that the training could have been better managed and timed.

3. Parent Portal - The plan has always been to hold back Portal launch until the teachers and system have mastered eSIS and have the data right. The plan is still to release the new Parent Portal in October.

4. Transportation Effiiciency - DCSS is projecting $4 million in savings for 2010.

5. Textbooks - looking at CD/DVD option but there are challenges to work out.

6. Arts/Music instruction - points available to principals will be more tightly managed and when a school leader has to choose between a math or science teacher and an art or music teacher, they're most often going to choose math or science.

7. Budget Cuts Status - hiring freeze is still in place and attrition has lead to 50 positions eliminated saving $3.3 million.

8. Comprehensive Restructuring Plan - DCSS is looking for up to $26 million in total savings by June 2010.

9. AYP - general success in improving ES and MS level, not so much in HS. McNair MS made AYP for the first time ever.

10. Principal apppointments - Dr. Lewis has been and intends to request the BoE support his efforts to select principals for schools. He feels he is best suited to identify the talent for the jobs.

11. eCommunity web site - He was very excited to announce a new web resource coming up by the end of September. He was very effusive about the amount of parent resources that would be available via this site.

12. Block Schedule - DCSS will make recommendations in November to BoE and plans to offer flexibility to schools.

13. School closings/Re-Districting - DCSS will make recommendations to the BoE in January for implementation by Aug 2010 that according to Pat Pope will, "... hit every areaa of the County ..."

14. Pat Pope hired a Planning Director to oversee the planning process for the system (wow! this could be really good news!)

That's all I have for now - please add your own commentary!

Dr. Lewis Shared Strident Words at DCPC

I took this past Wednesday off from work so I could make a handful of civic and community meetings. To start my day off I attended the Dunwoody-Chamblee Parents Council's last meeting for the school year at the magnificent facility at Peachtree MS.

It was a stormy morning and the cathedral-like floor to ceiling windows at both ends of the Media Center created a dramatic atmosphere for what turned out to be some pretty strident comments from Dr. Lewis.

After the DCPC took care of its official business of electing new officers, Dr. Lewis took to the podium and proceeded to cover a broad range of topics. I did not plan to take formal notes but once I realized he was making what I considered surprising statements, I scribbled notes as quickly as I could and will offer them to this blog's readers even though they are sketchy at best.

Before starting to address a long list of planning, operations, and other school system business, Dr. Lewis shared his thoughts about the media coverage of the Jaheem Herrera case. After acknowledging the tragic nature of the boy's death, Dr. Lewis expressed great frustration with how the media has treated the subject and made it clear that much of the reporting has been inaccurate based on his knowledge of the circumstances of the case.

Specifically, he indicated that there is evidence that Jaheem, himself, was the offender in bullying cases DCSS is learning about. Though I wouldn't be surprised by anything that comes out of this sad story, I was very surprised by the strident statements made by Dr. Lewis. Apparently, the heat and distraction of this horrible story has really negatively affected the Superintendent. Whether he intended to or not, he came across as very angry at the media and very unsympathetic to the claims made by Ms. Bermudez.

Putting that sensational topic aside, he quickly ran through many other matters/comments of consequence. I was only able to jot down a word or phrase about each so forgive the skinny reporting:

1. Transportation Plan to be fully implemented in the coming year.
2. He wants to focus less on "choice" programs and reverse the emphasis in these areas recent Boards have been driving.
3. He would like to see an end to busing programs from "the doorstep."
4. He wants to focus performance efforts on high schools and characterized them as the "hard nut" to crack.
5. CIP will benefit from $59m returned from other projects canceled/deferred and unexpected savings on bids coming in.
6. $52m from stimulus will be directed to Title 1/IDA student over 2 years. He cautioned about what may happen when the money runs out.
7. 28 room addition is coming to Lakeside.
8. Redistricting, Attendance Lines changes, and consolidations are coming - get ready!

• He expects to get a draft plan from Pope & Moseley during May.
• He expects this plan to be read to the BoE in June.
• He expects community meetings/plan reviews in July/August.
• Changes implemented in 2010.
• He said "Dunwoody was safe"
• When asked if that included Montgomery/Chamblee, he directly said yes.
• When asked by yours truly if that included Cross Keys cluster as "safe," he did not directly answer which indicates to me that Cross Keys system will be the subject of changes.

8. He touted 217 position cuts with 95% coming from Central Office.
9. Programs will be cut

• He mentioned Flat Shoals and another school by name saying they willl become traditional schools rather than year-round, for example.
• Spring Board to be eliminated everywhere (there was applause from many at this comment).
• 5 graduation coaches will be eliminted (Peachtree MS, Chamblee MS, Redan MS, Henderson MS, and I think he said Stephenson MS???)

10. He says DCSS will soon unveil an "unprecedented" parent engagement program.
11. "Crackdown" on dress code coming.
12. 10 buildings will be repurposed, leased or for sale very soon. By Jan 2010, buildings A and B will be unoccupied.
13. No planned improvements to athletic fields but he did say in response to question, "Something must be done about North DeKalb Field."
14. America's Choice is coming to 20 schools (with Redovian saying why not 40? All?)

There was some additional discussion on state funding and related matters but that pretty much wraps up my take-aways. Hope this helps those who couldn't attend or are not in these districts.

Kim Gokce, HillsDale Neighborhood, CommunityRadar.com