The AJC states, The DeKalb school board and Superintendent Crawford Lewis parted ways today after a stormy last few months marked by accusations of sweetheart car deals, questionable mileage receipts and, the most serious charge, a failure to lead the system through the worst budget crisis in its history with a clear course and decisive action.
The AJC has a new, more in-depth article on the subject available at this link.
And a new update here.
WSB also has a report.
Some highlights from the AJC:
Lewis agreed to walk away with four months of severance pay of about $85,000, as outlined in his contract. The agreement also allows Lewis, a DeKalb schools employee for 33 years, to retire, Bowen said. . . .
Under the agreement, which was obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Lewis has one week to return his Ford Five Hundred and gas credit card. . . .
Lewis’ total payout also includes an additional $5,000 that the board must place in the superintendent’s retirement account, along with providing him health benefits and protection against civil lawsuits.
However the district will no longer cover legal expenses for the ongoing criminal investigation. His contract capped those expenses at $100,000, which he has already spent, Bowen said. . . .
Lewis, who has remained quiet since the district attorney’s search, declined to talk about the investigation, other than saying he is cooperating and waiting for the outcome. . . .
WSB reported a few timeline dates: November, 2008 the school system conducted an internal probe into construction (mis)spending. February, 2009, the school system turned over information to the District Attorney. The DA conducted an armed raid on Lewis' home in February, 2010 (having previously raided Pope's office, her home, her husband's office and the offices of Moody Construction.)
YAHOO!!!
ReplyDeleteI feel instead of speculating on who the next Superintendent might be, a useful discussion would be what qualifications, experience and background we would REQUIRE the next Superintendent have.
ReplyDeleteI believe first on the list should be experience as a Superintendent in a large urban district.
I would also like the individual to have a proven track record of working collaboratively with parents AND teachers.
Tyson was only a teacher for a short time, is a micromanager, is out of touch with the classroom, and built up MIS froma small dept. to a hugely bloated and overly expensive dept. that still doesn't provide good cusotmer service to teachers. She should not even get an interview for the full-time gig.
ReplyDeleteI think teachers and parents and even students have lost such trust in DCSS administration that only someone from "outside" the school system should be interviewed. Dr. Lewis recommended Ms. Tyson for the Interim Superintendent, and that says volumes.
ReplyDeleteWOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteMy understanding is that Ms. Tyson doesn't want the Super job and frankly, doesn't even want the interim job indefinitely. I suspect that the board might look for an interim and then a permanent replacement.
ReplyDelete@ Anonymous 3:46 pm
ReplyDeleteWell, I hope you're right because her 5 proposals to cut inside the schoolhouse and not outside the schoolhouse are going to be devastating to DCSS students.
Does not instill of lot of comfort knowing the existing Board will be the group deciding who the next Superintendent will be.
ReplyDeleteParents should demand that the Board set as one of the performance goals of the next Superintendent to reduce the Central Office, and make is efficient and effective.
The Central Office should be treated just like schools that have not met AYP for years. They must develop a new organization built around service to the schools and everyone must put in for their job.
I am not holding my breathe.
@ Anonymous 3:52 pm
ReplyDeleteParents/taxpayers must do their jobs as well and campaign for and elect 5 new BOE members this fall. The BOE has not met AYP as well.
He got off light...I hope the state file ethics charges and throws the book at this selfish non-leader
ReplyDeleteWonder what Johnny Brown is doing?
ReplyDeleteSomeone knows something and I hope the DA tipped off the board a couple of weeks ago. The investigetion will be completed by late May, according to the DA's office. I wonder what they have found?
ReplyDeleteThe ficus of the new super should be to change the percentages of dollars spent and the higher percentage should be for teachers and schools NOT THE CENTRAL OFFICE.
Plus, anyone who is a relative or friend of any BOE member or Central Office staff should tender their resignations immediately. That alone could save millions.
Time to start over and clean house. Robert Moseley, Alice Thompson, Marcus Turk, anyone who is family or friends of former BOE member of Francis Edwards need to resign.
This is great news but the BOE better not stop here. It's time to take OUR schools back. Can the BOE fire Pat Pope now?
I am worried about interim super Tyson, she wants to cut more from the classrooms. What is she on.
Mr. Lewis may be gone, but there is still an elitist machine in place. Upper management needs radical reformation before it can start moving toward the educational organization we all want it to be. I wish I could be optimistic about the future of this school system.
ReplyDelete@ Anonymous 4:28 pm
ReplyDeleteYes. Upper management proved too strong for Johnny Brown. The Central Office personnel disliked him intensely. Except for the "pep rally" during pre-planning, I don't think he was really on teachers' radar. He didn't cut their pay or raise their class sizes. They could do their jobs.
Central Office personnel disliked him intensely. He sent a number of them back out to the schools and they were fit to be tied. They all were scrambling to get back to the Central Office. Panic stricken was not the word.
There are so many ways they can block a new superintendent simply by not working with him or cooperating. A new superintendent who is strong and willing to clean up the Central Office will have his/her hands full. I don't think anyone has confidence that this BOE will even want someone like that.
I hope parents/taxpayers are emailing their BOE members asking for a new superintendent outside of DCSS who will reform the Central Office and the equally "bloated" support group.
When kitchen and HVAC mechanics with 3 years experience and a high school diploma make a higher starting salary than a 5th year teacher, we have a problem. When MIS support personnel number 291 employees, cost $19,000,000 in salary and benefits yet our kids have scant technology and poor service, we have a problem.
We have so many problems in DCSS. I just hope we get someone with the qualifications and will to tackle them.
Can we please move beyond Johnny Brown? He was arrogant, elitist, didn't listen, and didn't try to understand DCSS. He brought us block schedules, too many 8th graders in Algebra, and unneeded school uniforms. And he cost us a fortune!
ReplyDeleteJohnny Brown was a disaster. He didn't listen to parents or ever fully comprehend the complexity of the school system. He came in with his own agenda and tried to cram it down our throats. He was unbelievably arrogant. We DO NOT need another Johnny Brown.
ReplyDeleteI worked all over the county with hundreds and hundreds of teachers. The main ones I heard complain about Johnny Brown were Central Office personnel. I forgot about the algebra in 8th grade. That was dumb. I don't recall teachers being upset about the uniforms. But he did instigate a Compensation and Classification Study (which Lewis gutted), and he did cut Central Office personnel.
ReplyDeleteThe point is not if he was that good or that bad. The point is that the Central office personnel are very powerful (especially since they now number 1,239. They are politicians, not educators and will hang on to power any way they can. It will be hard for anyone to come in and clean up that mess.
How can you say Brown cost us a fortune? Because of his payout? That was a few hundred thousands, a substantial sum, but Lewis has cost us hundreds of millions. More importantly, Lewis has cost many children educational opportunities with his poor management of educational dollars.
ReplyDeleteI seem to recall that many teachers are wanting to stay on the block schedule. Isn't that what I keep hearing on this post? My son is a DCSS high school science teacher, and loves the block schedule for science (a notoriously difficult subject for our students). He can do a lecture and a lab as a follow-up in one class period. No disconnect with subject matter and hands-on application.
ReplyDeleteWe do not need to look for another Johnny Brown. He was polarizing. Parents did not trust him, and as I teacher, I felt he focused way too much energy on the wrong things, that wasted everyones time (uniforms). He DID like magnets and special programs, however.
ReplyDeleteSo now we know what we don't want. Can anyone say what we do need?
ReplyDeleteNow that Lewis is gone, can we please dump America's Choice, too? It was his initiative and it's a waste of money.
ReplyDeleteI think we will see a number of top people stepping down in the weeks ahead. Much like rats swimming from a sinking ship.
ReplyDeleteAs for someone new lets not use the the term urban anymore, DeKalb is an older suburban area with a highly diverse population. Get someone from the same.
The news made my day.
I would like to see someone who can run us financially and efficiently. I want to see more technology pushed into classrooms and hands on. Get someone who can come in observe and then decide where our system needs to go.
ReplyDeleteI don't think he was fired. I think he agreed to retire.
ReplyDeleteI know the BOE is supposed to stay out of micro-managing the schools, but other than hiring and firing the Superintendent, can the BOE influence the upper management structure of the Central Office within SACS rules? In other words, can the BOE now begin getting Ms. Tyson to start working on retirement packages for the "Moseleys" within the Central Office?
ReplyDeleteI don't want to see these people hurt or humiliated. I think it's time for them to step aside for the good of the system. They had their shot at bettering the world through educating our youth -- now it's time to bring in a new generation of innovative thinkers.
I wouldn't even mind spending the $$ for a mass retirement party. Heavy hors d'oeuvres, cash bar, band, invitations, slide show, plaques, photographer...pipe dream, I know.
Do you think Gloria Talley saw the handwriting on the wall? She already has a job lined up in South Carolina.
ReplyDelete@ No Duh
ReplyDeleteThe BOE controls the purse strings. Read the BOE meetings. any expenditure that is a significant amount (there is an exact dollar figure) must be approved by the BOE.
When Lewis wanted $8,000,000 for America's Choice, the BOE approved it. When Lewis wanted $7,000,000 for Instructional Coaches to support America's Choice, the BOE approved it. The list of expenditures (primarily outside the classroom) was endless.
The BOE must approve Ms. Tyson's budget cuts including cutting 300 teacher positions. The BOE is very powerful. The problem with the BOE is they have abrogated their power and become a rubber stamp for the superintendent. Some of them have friends and family employed by DCSS and want to keep them there (major conflict of interest). Others just don't do their homework, number crunching or listen to their constituents.
Anon 6:17. Am very aware of BOE's role in approving expenditures. And their years of doing this poorly and under the influence of a cesspool of nepotism.
ReplyDeleteMy question is very specific. Other than the Superintendent, what other positions (if any) can the BOE "legally" influence (knowing of course, that behind the scenes they are muddling illegally constantly.)?
The board has to approve every single person hired. That's what Jamey Wilson presents every month.
ReplyDeleteYes. There is a Human Resources report with the names of every single person hired by DCSS. So the BOE has hired every single person that works for DCSS. Can they let them go? That I don't know. Once you break it, have you bought it?
ReplyDeleteWords of advice for DCSS: if you keep doing what you've been doing, you'll keep getting what you've been getting. It's time to clean house and reevaluate. You have turned a fine system into an embarrassment. We don't trust you with our kids, our teachers, or our money.
ReplyDeleteI agree with MG, who said that it's time to think of what we want, not what we don't want. We definitely need a superintendent who has a proven history of turning around failing urban school districts that include a substantial upper-middle class component. Qualifications are key. Given the diversity of the County, what works in one area might not work in another--there are big cultural differences in what kids bring to the classroom, in learning styles, and in parental involvement.
ReplyDeleteSadly, superintendents in these setting don't last long. See this link http://cnx.org/content/m14507/latest/. Two, maybe three years. It's a plum job until things start to go wrong, which they seem to do inevitably. And, a big cause is friction with the BOE and parental objections. So it would make sense for the Board to include parents in some part of the vetting process.
And Johnny Brown is doing fine, thank you very much, as School Superintendent in Port Arthur, TX. See http://www.paisd.org/board/sup.htm for his latest feats.
Also--although as a teacher, I dislike the bloat of Central Office, I see an important role for a small, functional group of administrators. The county is huge--someone has to coordinate it. Most of these CO people had no role in the corruption and scamming, and are going nuts waiting for the ax to fall.The delay on the part of the BOE in telling people who's going to get the pink slip, is unconscionable. And they're not even telling people WHEN they will find out! My heart goes out to my colleagues on this: they have families to feed, too, and most of the Central Office staff are just regular workers like the rest of us. They do not deserve scorn or to be blamed for the County's fiscal woes--it's much bigger than that.
The agreement between Lewis and the board is no surprise. What timing
ReplyDelete!Why wait until he was prosecuted? He would surely get fired, for real, with no money. Now he gets $85k to help with legal expenses at least. He's working the system to the bitter end.
I'd still love to see a Herman Cain or someone like him, who can really restructure the system.
ReplyDeleteWhile we're looking at the qualifications we would require of our next Superintendent, can we also talk about the requirements of the new BOE members we are all going to vote for in the election? You have to have a college degree to be a substitute teacher in DCSS, but not to be a Board member. Several of our BOE members have no college education. Now, my parents are two of the smartest people I know and did not have the opportunity to attend college, so I know a college education does not a smart person make. However, if you have to oversee a huge school system like DCSS, I'd think it might be important.
ReplyDeleteI have always thought we needed a state law that the school system's boe qualifiquations should be a least as high as the lowest held by the lowest professional employee (e.g. a parapro) since I was told a college degree minimum requirement would never pass ... perhaps we could get to a 2 year degree for systems that require that for parapros or 4 year degrees if those systems required them for their parapros (or subs).
ReplyDeleteAs a CTSS with the DCSS, I think it is shameful on the BOE to continue to drag out the decision on who will receive pink slips. If I'm 1 of the 18 that will be pink slipped, I would like to know now more so than later so that I can plan accordingly. Why make us wait until a week or two before school ends. I like everyone else have a family, mortgage, and bills to pay. Although we are the lowest paid employess in MIS, I will continue to report to work every day and do the best job possible by making sure my school is up and functioning technologically in addition to my morning hall duty, cafeteria duty and afternoon bus duty. It's not about the money, it's all about the kids.
ReplyDeleteThanks Anon 8:52... I'm one of those evil county office people who have been working my heart out for this school system for 20 years and here it is mid April and I still do not have a contract.
ReplyDeleteI have recently heard Ms. Tyson speak, and I agree that she has been given a job she did not ask for, and she has no desire to stay any longer than she has to. We should be thanking her for taking on this mess.
It has taken the county a long time to get to this sorry place, and it will take a long time for us to get back on the right track. If there is a bright side to all this, it is that a lot of parents are finally getting involved in school politics...
As a former DCSS student and teacher, I'd like to nominate Dr.Percy A.Mack. Long time Redan Principle and Assistant Superintendent, who became Superintendent in Dayton, Ohio and Richland, South Carolina.
ReplyDeleteDr. Percy A. Mack, Superintendent
Dr. Percy A. Mack is the superintendent of Richland County School District One. Prior to coming to Richland One in July of 2008, Dr. Mack served as superintendent of the Dayton Public School System in Dayton, Ohio. Before his service in Dayton, he was assistant superintendent in the DeKalb County School System in Decatur, GA. He also served as an area executive director, a coordinator of personnel, a high school principal and assistant principal, a teacher and a coach in Decatur. He began his teaching career in the Savannah-Chatham County Public School System.
Dr. Mack holds a B.S. in social science education from Savannah State College; an M.Ed. in social science education from the University of Georgia; and both an Ed.S. and Ph.D. in administration and supervision from Georgia State University. In addition, Dr. Mack has done further training in Reform Governance Board and Leadership and Harvard Institute of School Leadership. He is also a fellow of the Riley Institute on Diversity.
His many honors and awards include having been named the 2006 Superintendent of the Year by the National Association of Black School Educators (NASBE); Congressional TED Champion Leadership Award; Southern Christian Leadership Conference Image Award in Education; Dayton Business Journal Most Powerful Educator Award; and King Tisdale Education Award.
Under his leadership, Richland One has launched a new Strategic Plan with strategies included to address student achievement, parental involvement, communication, community involvement, facilities maintenance and public policy. Dr. Mack has worked actively with the community to gain support for public education in the city of Columbia. He sits on boards of the Greater Columbia Chamber of Commerce, Junior Achievement, Midlands Education and Business Alliance (MEBA) and United Way of the Midlands.
Dr. Mack’s goal is developing a learning community which focuses on improved student achievement. He stands by the district’s motto: One Vision. One Mission. One Common Purpose.
Lewis is gone, now we need to clean house and get some new board members and clean that over staff central office. The system has too many friends and family that are over paid in salaries. Hopeful this will be one of the things that will be cut and more money back in the classrooms.
ReplyDeleteTurk, Ramsey, Wilson, Mosely, Reid
just to name a few, time to go.
Roberts, woods, walker and cunningham, time to go.
This is for Lewis and Pope don't feel so good to be on the other end. The both of you did so many things to hurt people with no shame. Lewis you went along with pope and now she has taken you down. You left with a cloud over your head and no matter where you go, people will remember you and pat pope.
ReplyDelete@Anonymous 9:01 PM
ReplyDeleteThe agreement between Lewis and the board is no surprise. What timing!
Because the sorry BOE refused to wait until that scumbag Lewis was prosecuted so he could be fired for cause, they are continuing their complicity in helping him work the system. Had he been fired for cause, he would have lost his pension. Now, he will get a $13,000 - $14,000 gift every month for the rest of his life.
@Anonymous 10:40 PM
ReplyDeleteI personally know Dr. Percy Mack and have always found him to be very nice. (But then, I was friends with Crawford Lewis for more than 25 years until I saw who he had become. So, what do I know?)
The problem with Dr. Mack is that he is more of the same old-same old. When he was at DCSS he was part of the network that has brought DCSS to its knees and robbed our children.
Also, I have a real problem with someone who belongs to the National Association of Black School Educators (or the National Association of Black _____________ -- you fill in the blank.) How long do you think that a National Association of White School Educators would stand before being challenged in court by the ACLU?
Dr. Mack is a nice enough guy, but he is not a leader (he was not a leader when he at DCSS, either) and through his membership in the National Association of Black School Educators, he has demonstrated that he does not have what it takes to mend the fissures in DeKalb County
This is for Crawford Lewis ...
ReplyDeleteYou can run, but you cannot hide. You are persona non grata in DeKalb County, now. But, no matter where you go, someone, somewhere will know who you are and what you did. And that someone will tell someone else who will then tell two more who will each tell four more ... and so on and so on.
Someone asked about hiring/firing -
ReplyDeleteWith a contract, you have to go through due process, provide documentation, etc. That's why even the absolute worst teacher can survive to the end of the year unless he or she sleeps with a student, especially if you teach math or science. As a former teacher, I've seen that happen only once, and the last straw there was when the students set a fire in his classroom.
Without a contract - GA's laws favor the employer. When the year is up, its bye, we're not renewing your contract, thanks for everything, good luck on your next job. Severance? Hah.
For the super, severance was part of the contract, so they wouldn't have to buy out the remaining years on the contract.
To Crawford Lewis:
ReplyDeleteYou are a disappointment to all who knew you and expected great things. Okay. Good things. First-do-no-harm-things. At least.
You are an embarrassment to your race, your gender and your profession. You are an embarrassment to your family. You have forgotten who you are, whose you are and where you came from.
Back when we were friends, you talked with me about your mother. Oh, my! How could you do this to your mother? She had such high hopes for you.
Speaking of friends, here is a perfectly appropriate passage from Garrison Keillor:
"... hang onto your old friends because there may come a day when there's no good reason for people to like you except out of habit."
That day has come.
You fell in with a bad crowd. You forgot your old friends. In your headlong rush for power and money, you did not care who you destroyed along the way. That will come back to bite you.
After more than 25 years of friendship, I am through with you and I don't give up friends -- especially old friends -- easily. You disgust and sicken me.
This has made my day and now i look forward to the exit of pat pope, the queen will be looking for a job but then she will probably be wearing a orange suit, not going to look to good with that orange hair. You cheated children and that is about as low as you can go. Don't feel so good you lost your man and hopeful your job. I have always been told that if you don't get something the right way it won't do you no good.
ReplyDeleteWhat's the rush? Put the cost of the position towards the deficit for 2010 ...
ReplyDeleteI agree with Kim. "Come away and rest for a while" I do not mean that literally, but you must know that this has been a hard time for the people in the schools. From being assigned one "new" project after another things have been overwhelming. eEsis,America's Choice, "Balanced Score Card, a CSIP, that added more and more each year, not being able to get your school repairsed, a transportation plan that changed in the middle of the school year, a Customer Service Plan that the individuals in the County Office did not have to follow, being forced to attend meetings for no other purpose than to show the public that you supported your superintendent, no pay raised, no step, no TSA, now job cuts and a pay decrease, an HR Director, who was a convicted felon. Schools that leak and smell. Having to do things and turn in things immediately. Yes, the media has focused on the DCSS a great deal, but we have provided the stories. They were not writing a work of fiction. They were reporting on what was occuring.
ReplyDeleteThe staff members have faced this and so much more. All the time we have had to be sure to put the students first and insulate them from the storm that has been raging for the last five years.
Johhny Brown left. He needed to leave. But, we rushed to fill that job. We see the end results. For the sake of this school system please take the time that a decision like this merits. We do not have a budget. Teachers do not know what their salary will be for next year. Staff members do not know how cuts will impact them. Principals have no idea the number of staff members that they will have in their schools.
I applaud Ms Tyson. She has to now try and work on a budget and hold this county together until decisions can be made. Don't tear her apart. Give her a chance. She is in an impossible situation.
I wish no harm to any person. We all are human and make mistakes. Dr. Lewis needed to go. We had lost our confidence in him. There is a line from the movie American President that goes something like this: ''I was so busy trying to keep my job, that I forgot to do my job.' I believe that is what happened. I beleve that somewhere along the line self reflection and evaluation were not used. The solution to any problem was it was someone elses fault.
We now need someone who wants to do their job. We need someone that people cannot only follow but respect. We need someone who will honestly listen to other people and care about what the schools feel that they need. The concern had become not to upset our superintendent. You could be reprimanded for not agreeing with him or for posting, reading or even knowing that blog was here. The concern must be let us work together and educate our students. I wish Dr. Lewis and his family well. He must move on and let the school system go. He is blessed. He is leaving with benefits that many of the people losing their jobs will not have. If he wants to do other things, he is young enouh to do it. Bow our now with grace. Give us that to remember.
We must move on and embrace our students and learning again.
Whoever takes the job of Superintendent of DeKalb Schools, there is only one requirement . . .
ReplyDeleteyou must be made of rubber and not glue.
Anon, 6:36 AM - very well said. I couldn't agree with you more.
ReplyDeleteKim is right - there's no rush. Heck, my church has been searching for a new minister for over a year - sometimes, you just have to wait until the right person becomes available. Things always happen in their proper order and time. We've been through a lot and personally, to me it now feels like our abuser has left. We can begin to heal - but it will take time and a little breathing space is necessary.
Ms. Tyson knows the system and the budget. She was in a position in the past to protect her own department—that was her job, but now, she is in a position to protect the entire system. I believe that she will do it - she strikes me as very smart. She can hold the reins as we search.
Let's do some healing. Let's take some time. Let's look all around everywhere for that very right person to help us turn our ship full of children around.
The best BOE's,when hiring a superintendent, have the final three candidates meet with the public at a town hall. We need to use these town hall's to send a clear message that a bloated administration will not be tolerated, that wasteful spending on fad's like eSIS and America's Choice will not be tolerated, no nepotism/cronyism, no more bloated and overstaffed departments like MIS and school police, etc., etc.
ReplyDeleteThe new super needs to know such things from day one on the job, and will be consistently reminded of these during her/his tenure.
Let's don't forget the much maligned Johnny Brown built up a $40,000,000 reserve before he left DeKalb, and this was in the middle of a recession.
ReplyDeleteI remember when Dr. Lewis started dipping into these reserves. We need a superintendent who is fiscally prudent and will seek to build up our reserves similar to what all of us try to do with our own savings.
We need a superintendent who will send as many certified personnel as possible back to the classroom. DCSS has 1,381 full time employees in the admin and support end who have teaching certificates, but are not teaching students.
We need someone who will put the classroom first.
Interesting column. Someone's doing the right thing -or trying to at least.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.ajc.com/opinion/tough-choices-in-dekalb-465944.html
...and the Pope tales just keeps unraveling...check out the bi-line of this mornings online copy of the ajc...DeKalb school exec Pope gave architecture firms the ax
ReplyDeletehttp://www.ajc.com/news/dekalb/dekalb-school-exec-pope-469303.html
@9:21pm you aren't serious about Herman Cain???? He shouldn't have a radio show, let alone run a SCHOOL system. He doesn't have command of the English language. He may be a nice, smart conservative but why subject ourselves to hear more of him mispronouncing words,like "guvvment." WE NEED TO RAISE OUR STANDARDS.
ReplyDeleteThere is a highly qualified candidate out there.
First and foremost, we need a superintendent with some smarts and a demonstrated passion for and understanding for what it takes to educate children. Yes, we want someone who is fiscally responsible, but as was demonstrated by Johnny Brown, you can save money and be a completely ineffective and misguided superintendent. How about we consider candidates from outside the southeast, someone who has worked with a truly excellent school system and knows what it takes to get there? Alabama, South Carolina, etc are not known for their schools.
ReplyDeleteVery nice letter to the editor by Paul Womack. He makes very valid, sensible points. However, logic never prevails when people feel they've been discriminated against. It's far too emotional. This is why the school board should have taken on this task well over a year ago when they first voted to table the issue instead. They tried to pass off their responsibility to a citizen group-and even though this group did the best they could - they were very public and thus open to behind the scenes manipulation.
ReplyDeleteHas everyone forgot that a new superintendent brings in their "own" people. Look at that joker Johnny Thompson in Clayton. He made sure his people were taken care of, even going so far as to fire CLayton employees and put his own group in. Brown and Lewis did the same, and most business CEOs have this luxury to bring in people that they trust and wish to be associated.
ReplyDeleteSo this go to the question, what will firing people who had past relations with the BOE and/or superintendent do in the long run? People network for a reason, and once you get a good job with negotiating powers and controls, you are expected to bring in people you know. When does it stop? Do we continue changing super's and rant vote the BOE out when things go back to what they have always been, or when they go so far beyond what we are comfortable with?
P.S until the board adopts a FINAL budget, no one knows with 100% confirmation which jobs are being cut.
My big question of the day is:
ReplyDeleteWill the board choose to extend Pat Pope's contract when it expires in June? They kept her on board, certainly, so that she could not be interviewed by opposing attorneys. They obviously thought (as we all did) that this case would have gone to trial by now. However, this case doesn't appear to be on any judge's docket, according to one of our commenters on another thread.
So - case is delayed. Will they let her go when her contract expires or will they renew and waste more of our taxpayer dollars?
Let's get this show on the road, please. We have successfully removed our superintendent - now it's time to wrap up all other bad things.
As a central office employee, waiting on pins and needles to hear if I have a job, I can hardly read this blog. We in central office actually work hard, every day, with the goal of improving education for the children in the county. It is easy to sit on the sidelines and criticize, questioning salaries. I work at DCSS because I care about education kids, not because I see DCSS as a "jobs program."
ReplyDeleteNo one is saying that people don't work hard. We are just very much against increasing class sizes and letting teachers, librarians and parapros go - while choosing to keep support staff. If the budget is really as upside-down as they say, then these cuts have to be made - and most of us here feel that they should not be made in the schoolhouse.
ReplyDeleteSorry, I know that this blog is hard to read for someone in your position, but push is coming to shove. I would suggest that your department leader quickly figure out where the bloat is in your department and offer to make the cuts him or herself. We have abundant data here showing that the growth in the school system has been in administration - not in the schoolhouse. In fact, the schoolhouse has suffered quite enough.
"I'd still love to see a Herman Cain or someone like him, who can really restructure the system."
ReplyDeleteWhy not get George W. Bush: he did such a good job as president. I think Herman Cain is busy making money with the Tea Party.
There seems to be some mystification of "the schoolhouse" here, as if what goes on in a classroom is independent of all the support services that keep the classroom running. Do parents on this blog actually think that teachers function in some kind of hazy bubble, where we just walk in bursting with energy and devote all our resources, day after day, to up to 180 kids a day, without support? Sure we're dedicated, but we need technology that works, learning opportunities that truly contribute to professional development, Prevention and Intervention services to address the very large proportion of students who have serious learning and emotional problems, and paychecks that arrive on time and include the same pay incentives that other professoinal employees are entitled to. We even need research within our own county to see what might work better, for which we have a division at, yes, Central Office.
ReplyDeleteFor all of the above, we need a teachers, parents, and students need a Central Office that is appropriately sized and well-functioning.
It's not just like a well-oiled machine, this education business. The mantra of "save the schoolhouse" needs to include the complexity of morale, expertise, teaching skills and, yes, even fun, that keeps education alive and moving forward.
So don't just recite platitudes about schoolhouse vs central office, as if reinventing the one excludes repairing the other. Like any organism or orchestra, all parts are necessary--in the proper balance and, hopefully, coordinated by a "conductor" whom all can respect, trust, and ask children to model themselves after.
"I'd still love to see a Herman Cain or someone like him, who can really restructure the system."
ReplyDeleteWhy not get George W. Bush: he did such a good job as president. I think Herman Cain is busy making money with the Tea Party.
When are they going to start the renovations at Lakeside High School? Is that on hold? Is there a green light? There 21 narrow rectangular trailers on that campus....
ReplyDeleteThank you CL & BOE
@9:54 AM, the individual suggesting Herman Cain was desirous of a new superintendent with the skill sets possessed by Mr. Cain. If you knew his history and background you would be more respectful of this suggestion. As for what you perceive as Mr. Cain’s lack of language skills, you know this is simply a part of his radio persona. You do not have to like Mr. Cain, but do yourself a favor and research his successes. A Cain-Like individual would do wonders for DCSS completely rebuilding a management disaster into a successful educating machine.
ReplyDeleteThe superintendent needs to be first and foremost an educator, not a businessman/woman. He/she should have had a real education, not a fake D.Ed. and demonstrated accomplishment and potential in EDUCATION.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree with you more, Anon 10:57 AM. However, the current board is cutting 100 million dollars from the budget, and I just happen to think that they are asking more of the teachers than of others. The office and support staff is important - but we have data to show that we just have too much of it.
ReplyDeleteAre you ok with cutting back hundreds of teachers and parapros and increasing the class size as the first "go-to" solution? Seems like an easy-out to me. The proposed cuts to admin won't even take those departments back to pre-Lewis days (when test scores were ironically better.)
We do need support staff. We just need teachers more. We are talking about $100 million in cuts - I don't think cutting teachers is the #1 way to go.
ps, you may wish to check out the AJC Get Schooled blog (linked in the text of this post above) - commenters there pretty much feel the same way as we do. The administration needs to be cut more deeply than the teachers/paras/media specialists.
ReplyDeleteHerman Cain??? Good grief. Why not Neal Boortz or Sean Hannity? Sean used to live in Atlanta. I hear Sarah Palin is out of work....
ReplyDelete@ Anon 12:35 PM
ReplyDeleteThe superintendent needs to be first and foremost an educator, not a businessman/woman.
How about a combination of the two?
Regardless of what you think of P.E. teachers, Lewis was an educator. His bachelor's degree came from Clark-Atlanta; his Ph.D. came from Georgia State University.
Lewis worked his way up through the ranks. But, just by observing his behavior it was pretty clear by the time he became an executive director that he had disdain for teachers.
@ Teacher 10:57 am
ReplyDeleteI'm a teacher too, and I haven't read any posts that say we need to do away with all admin and support personnel. I would rather see cuts in the admin and support area than have my class sizes become unmanageable. I have been interested to read the amount of money that goes into the admin and support side. It's pretty discouraging.
What I don't read on this blog, and what I as a teacher would like is to have more input into which admin and support services help us with instruction. Every program and service should have teacher input and should be evaluated by us as to how much it's helping instruction in our classrooms. If my computers don't work or my Activboard is malfunctioning, then this is a problem to my students and I. If my heat blasts away at 80 degrees for days at a time, then this impedes instruction. If I can't get the training I need for staff development or technology like eSIS, then this is also a problem.
We (students and teachers) need the functions support personnel take care of to run smoothly in the classroom. We need administrators who are instructional leaders and focus on getting us the support we need. That way my students and I can do our jobs more effectively. The only way the superintendent will know that is if he/she takes the time to ask us.
As someone who knows the Dekalb system and other, much better-functioning systems well, let me say that any attempts to defend the Central Office in its current configuration are absolutely pathetic. The central administration can and should be cut drastically -- if for no other reason than to send a message that the dysfunctional, cronyistic culture of incompetence belongs to the past. Then perhaps the system could begin to focus on hiring and keeping better teachers while also imposing better discipline and higher educational standards. Lewis's talk about "competing globally" was a joke. A frightening number of the children who are passed along in a system that refuses to enforce accountability across the board are, at best, semi-literate and borderline innumerate. DCSS provides jobs to a legion of redundant adult "administrators," "coaches," "executive this-and-thats" who would never be able to earn comparable salaries elsewhere at the expense of children who are not being prepared at all for productive lives. Residents of Dekalb need to open their eyes and see that they are living in conditions that have much in common with the so-called "Third World." If the current plans to pack classes without cutting the fat elsewhere go through, things will only get much worse. There is absolutely no legitimate reason not to reduce drastically expenditures in support and administration first. There are numerous models out there that could be used as guidance.
ReplyDeleteGreat idea for a new post, teacher 1:32 PM. I will work something up for teachers to comment about which services benefit them most.
ReplyDeleteKim, Celebration, Anon 6:36, Anon 10:28, all of you have excellent points. Please let us not get side tracked. WE DO NOT KNOW THE RECOMMENDATIONS THAT CAME OUT OF THE FULL BOARD MEETING ON YESTERDAY AS IT RELATES TO THE BUDGET.School will be out soon.
ReplyDeleteAre class sizes increasing?
Will DOLA be the only form of summer school?
Will schools with 6 period days have only one planning period?
At the board meeting on Monday, the the board decided to meet on Friday morning and discuss these issues and others, so that recommendations could be made and public hearings be held.
What was the outcome of that meeting.
The budget impacts every school, student and every employee.
I personally know of two excellent teachers that have accepted other jobs because of not knowing about the pay cuts, class sizes and changes.
People with options will not wait.
Please, please we need to see the recommendations that were made.
This is our most pressing problem. Our focus most now be on the welfare of the school system.
Yes, we do need a new superintendent and we all have ideas about the qualities that this person should have, but for the moment we need a budget and plans need to be made for a good safe ending and strong planning for next school year. These are our most critical needs now.
Were changes made in the proposed budget plans. If so, where can we see them?
The budget meeting was interrupted several times, I'm told, due to the board's need to meet about the Lewis issue. (I'm not sure how or why these two very important issues collided at the same time). The budget meeting apparently didn't really get started until noon or later. I have heard no reports on the outcome.
ReplyDeleteIf you would like to view a copy of the proposed budget cuts - we have had the document available here since March 26th:
Budget Recommendations
They spend very little time on the budget. The called board meeting was scheduled to start at 10:30 am and I think it started at 11:45 am. They spent about an hour or so on school closings (the task force was there to deliver their report) and then about 30 minutes asking questions about the budget and then rather suddenly went back into executive session.
ReplyDeleteHad there not been a called meeting scheduled, the Board would have had to call one to vote on whatever it is they voted on about Dr. Lewis.
I am sorry but we do need someone like Herman Cain to run DCSS. DCSS is a BILLION dollar business. There are very few educators out there who have MBA's or know how to run a business.
ReplyDeleteYou can get all the degrees you want but if you have no common sense then you are really out of touch with reality.
The poster who posted about why not Neal Boortz, or Sean Hannity... I am sorry but that is just as bad a playing the race card. Yes we all know that Mr. Cain is a Republican, but he is a GREAT business man, that knows how to turn failing companies around. Nobody even mentioned Sean or Neal - They are not business people. You brought that up.
We need a super who does come from the business world, knows how to turn around a sinking ship and inspire employees along the way. Mr. Cain did that and I bet he would do that again.
What our next Super needs is to surround himself with well educated people who know the classroom. Also, find excellent teachers that know what they are talking about. Not somebody who put 20 years in the classroom, got tired, messed up, became a buddy, and got moved up.
Yes, I am saying that I would like to see Mr. Cain come in.. Why because he is local and proven himself. Do the nation search for his cabinet - get the best that is out there. You would be surprised how many teachers are out there even in DeKalb County who inspire and think logically.
Those are my feelings.
Thank you.
@Anonymous 1:44 PM
ReplyDeleteHear! Hear!
The DeKalb Parents Website has detailed notes from Friday's meeting. The firing of Dr. Lewis happened in a closed door executive session, but they did discuss school closings and the budget during the open meeting.
ReplyDelete@ One fed up insider -
ReplyDeletehaving an MBA does not make one a smart business person. Just look at the last decade on Wall Street - thousands of MBA's have driven our country into financial disaster.
The primary goal of the school system is not to be a business but to educate children, of all backgrounds and abilities, to the highest level possible.
Look at the CDC as an example. CDC adopted the business model under the last leadership - marketing, consumers, etc. - and lost a lot of talented scientists and suffered significant loss of credibility along the way (remember all the negative coverage in the AJC?). The pendulum has now swung the other way and people have come to realize that public health is not a commodity and cannot be run according to a strict business model. The same could be said for education. The man or woman in charge needs to be educator, with a high IQ, with passion, compassion, vision and interpersonal and interorganizational skill, who can hire the appropriate business people as support. The CDC director is a well-trained, highly experienced scientist, with a staff including MBA chief operating and financial officers. Let's be sure the focus is education.
As for Cain, or any other extreme radio personality - these are the last people we need to put in charge of the education of our children. Nothing to do with race here.
I know that the budget has not been "formally approved" but movement has already started in the "schoolhouse". Some teachers and paras have already been moved to different schools. It is rumored that German will no longer be taught at Kittredge. Teachers and counselors are arranging interviews because most principals know that they will be losing staff next year. They are making the plans now even though the budget has not been approved yet. Just because a teacher signed a contract does not mean that they will have a job next year. It does mean that they can not apply to another school system. In the meantime we start testing next week and need to stay focused on what is best for the students. Teachers will be displaced from their current jobs. They will be offered jobs in different schools if openings exist. If not then they will be laid off. Look at the school closings, the loss of points, and the extra planning period. As someone has said before in one of these threads those are teachers. It is not based on who are ineffective teachers, it is based on who was hired last. At my school I would hate to see anyone go because I feel my school does a first rate job of meeting the educational needs of our students. But there is not enough money. So what do we do?
ReplyDeleteDekalb County Schools (or any other school system) is not a business. Business are in existence to "earn" money for goods and services.
ReplyDeleteGM can sell off SAAB when times are hard. IBM can sell off its PC's to Lenovo.
A public school system can't sell the English department to investors or stop teaching chemistry because kids don't succeed there as well as in PE.....
Next time I hear that forced business metaphor, I will throw up...
Brilliantly stated!!
ReplyDelete"The man or woman in charge needs to be educator, with a high IQ, with passion, compassion, vision and interpersonal and interorganizational skill, who can hire the appropriate business people as support."
30 years ago, no one could have imagined that IBM would not be building personal computers----
ReplyDeleteCan you foresee Dekalb County schools 30 years from now out of the education field and selling Godfathers Pizza?
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ReplyDeleteIt is my understanding that DCSS intends to honor all signed contracts. What will happen though, is that as openings occur during the year, unearned teachers will be shuffled about. In other words, if a school has an "extra" teacher, that person will be moved when/if an appropriate opening occurs, regardless of when it is in the school year.
ReplyDeleteWhile this has occasionally happened in the past after the first few weeks of school, DCSS often hired an extra teacher rather than disrupt a school year.
The issue at KMS isn't whether German will be offered but how much, because a teacher was lost mid-year and the question is about a replacement...
Or do you hire a turnaround expert who hires top education specialist?
ReplyDeleteWe need someone like Paul Vallas, who has a proven track record of turning schools around and is willing to do what it takes to make it happen. He also does not care who gets upset about his decisions, as he does his job for the children and giving them a quality education.
ReplyDeleteMy fear is that the next person brought in will keep the admin and support levels intact, and we will never get our teachers number back and our class sizes down.
ReplyDeleteToo bad students don't vote. I know they will be very uncomfortable and many will be lost with 34 or 35 other students in their classes. Surely, parents can't expect any individualized attention for their child with the numbers of students teachers will have next year. That will be impossible. Might as well pack up those 504 and IEP plans.
BOE members and Ms. Tyson should take over some classes with those kinds of numbers for a week. Do you think they would run for cover?
I'm just thankful I'm a retired teacher and not an active member of the profession at this point. Every teacher I know is depressed about next year. 150 personnel cut from the Central Office is not nearly enough. Nor is 18 of the lowest paid 291 employees at MIS.
Parents/taxpayers keep writing your BOE members. At least when they are voted out of office they can't say they didn't know.
@ Anonymous 5:52 pm
ReplyDeleteWho decides an educational specialist is an expert? Gloria Talley came to DCSS as an expert educational specialist. How's that worked out for us? So many educational experts have not seen a classroom in decades, rather they have concentrated on their degrees and career opportunities. I'm pretty wary of the educational experts.
Does anyone remember the Curriculum expert (I won't list her name on this blog) that we hired for mega bucks a number of years ago? She spent 2 years with a cadre of very high paid employees developing TeachMaster - the DCSS curriculum on CD Rom (not even an online system).
Millions were spent on TeachMaster, and the CD Rom was never even completed or used because the state brought out their online curriculum website.
Teachmaster literally cost millions and never was even used. Oh!.. and by the way - they knew the state was coming online with their curriculum website. DCSS rationale was that this was DCSS's curriculum guide, and it was superior to Georgia's. What a waste of millions. BTW - This curriculum expert has bounced around from department to department since they didn't know what to do with her once the TeachMaster project folded. She still makes over $114,000 a year in where else but... The Office of School Improvement.
These educational experts are everywhere in our system. They have sat in Building B with their staff and met and planned and met and planned. If something does finally come to fruition, it's never with teacher buy-in. We should all be wary of expert educational specialists.
Crawford was not a bad person. I've known him since he was our children's P.E. coach at Montgomery School. His position and ability to surround himself with his friends, did him in. It started at Snapfinger and just took hold of him. I pray that he can spend some time reflecting on what went wrong and how he can better himself and others.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I pray for the children and teachers in DCSS. Crawford can frolic away with his $200+ annual pension. No prayers necessary there. His prayers have been answered.
ReplyDeleteApril 17, 2010 6:44 PM
ReplyDeleteThis expert actually came to "evaluate" Dekalb County with Phi Kappa Delta (??) and ended up with a job...She Dr. something or other...
On his watch! Leaving DCSS no matter the terms, should not be interpreted as blanket immunity from any future civil or criminal action(s.)
ReplyDeleteThe most recent revelations regarding Pat Pope's actions happened on his watch. He, along with the BOE, share in the responsbility oversight.
Another failure added to the list of many.
What about looking in NC? Check out Peter Gorman's resume - Charlotte-Mecklenberg's superintendent. Here's a link:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.cms.k12.nc.us/superintendent/Pages/Resume.aspx
Peter Gorman - MBA and a teacher's superintendent....
ReplyDeleteAnon: "having an MBA does not make one a smart business person."
ReplyDeleteI am living proof of that ...
Let's be realistic here. As much as I would love to take the Super position (and I'd do it for 50% pay cut btw), hiring a smart business person really isn't a solution per se.
Public education is an arcane world (for better or worse) and we have to have someone who has proved that he/she can succeed in it. My issue isn't that an educator should/shouldn't lead the system.
My issue has been with the role of the Super in DCSS. I haven't been around to witness other administrations but I have the sense that they have not been terribly different from one another. And from what I've witnessed in the past two years, WAAAAAAAAAY TOO MANY decisions were made by Dr. Lewis.
An example: Administrative transfers for individual students, really? When I learned that this was de rigueur in DCSS, I was floored. This is an absurdity in any private sector organization - the senior leaders can't be bothered with that kind of minutiae.
Another one: Public meetings with the entire "cabinet" in the front row fielding questions when Dr. Lewis could not answer. Why aren't the 2nd and 3rd tier levels of DCSS management out front leading on these items in the 1st place?
Why aren't area supers empowered with any real authority? If all decisions have to go through the Super, it will never work.
The reason why I think many folks keep bringing up the "business" profile is because this kind of thing is never attempted in a $1b company. The senior leaders expect and demand that their upper management personal take full responsibility for their organizations, including budget and profit/loss.
The kind of ineffective organizational model used in DCSS - a politically elected, micro-managing Board, micro-managing a micro-managing Super - is a guaranteed disaster.
Every company I helped increase productivity, or reduce costs, or increase revenue, focused on empowering the front-line employee and serving customers. That's our teachers and our students, parents, and tax-paying public.
Whatever acronyms and accolades are appended to the end of the next, named Super, they better understand how to empower teams and use techniques of organizational efficiency and effectiveness beginning with communication, trust, and delegation.
Sorry for the long post ... very frustrating topic but very important one.
@ Kim Gocke 8:52 pm
ReplyDeleteDr. Lewis may have been a micro manager, but many of his direct reports gave him some incredibly bad advise and increased their own power centers in the meantime. Who "has the power" has been what the Central Office is about for many years now.
Lewis was a PE teacher and then a principal. He never taught in any of the content areas or an academic class. He didn't come up with all those expensive, ineffective programs on his own. His administrative staff must take some responsibility. They were his advisors. They came to him with programs and promotions and additional staff requests. His high level administrative staff were close to the power center, and they made the most of it.
If you know Dr. Lewis, you'll know he's extremely amiable and all about relationships. That's what greased the wheels of DCSS administration and drove the appointment of most of the Central Office employees - relationships - not competence and accountability.
You may have distilled the fatal flaw in his tenure as succinctly as anyone ever has: "...and drove the appointment of most of the Central Office employees - relationships - not competence and accountability."
ReplyDeleteThis was definitely a road to ruin, then. Public or private leadership can't survive that ...
Just wanted to let the site admins know that the And a new update here. link in the "Crawford Lewis is out of DeKalb. Who is the next superintendent?" post does not work.
ReplyDeletesome one mention Jim Williams for super. please you would be making a big mistake he is just like lewis and you think the central office is over staff now . Bring him in and the earth will move.
ReplyDelete"having an MBA does not make one a smart business person. Just look at the last decade on Wall Street - thousands of MBA's have driven our country into financial disaster."
ReplyDeleteLet's not get Wall Street involved in this thread. Cain had nothing to do with the Financial crisis. Congress screwed up with their legislation that gave people home loans they clearly could not afford. Haven't you heard of Fannie or Freddie? These operations were run by folks who had no knowledge of the financial sector and were given huge bonuses for their screw ups. Kind of sounds like the DCSS und CLew.
Fannie and Freddie Execs. made bad decisions and the banks that helped out, after being threatened by Congressional leaders that if they did not provide loans to people who could not afford them, would be grilled in public. The threats got them no where.
Herman Cain saved three businesses and then grew them into profitable successes. We need a leader that will ignore the business as usual and pare down the Central Office spending binge.
The main stream media is not telling its' readers the whole truth when it came to the financial meltdown. Companies are not too big to fail. If they make bad business decisions they should fail. Our school system is way too big and is failing, and they're using our tax dollars to fund this madness.
Big Government is not the answer!
Our board needs to spend some time working on the issues at hand—searching for a superintendent would just be one more distraction right now and would be decided in a rush, which can't be good. Ramona Tyson is a good leader for now - and I hope they will see fit to reward her for this very difficult service in the future. She is a big person for jumping in and taking the reins. This is a job that is highly criticized no matter who is at the helm. But Tyson wouldn't be a good choice for long-term as we need an outsider in order to make real change. I really don't think we can afford to rush out and find a quick replacement for Lewis. Let's just continue to move forward with the crew we have - tackling one issue at a time. Our board - for all their faults - wants to represent a highly-regarded school system. Each one of them does. I think we may be getting beyond the storm and looking at the possibility of a more cohesive board able to make prudent, tough decisions, with Tyson giving them the hard truth that they need to hear. In fact, at the last board meeting I was happy to see Gene Walker extend an olive branch of sorts to Paul Womack - complimenting Womack for the way he handled the budget committee and the way he truly made Walker feel "heard"... that's a good sign.
ReplyDeleteLet's continue to work on the issues before us the way you eat an elephant - one bite at a time. Then, later, when the dust settles a bit - conduct a thoughtful search far and wide for a new superintendent to help our system heal. We all want this.
@ Cerebration
ReplyDeleteI'll have to respectfully diagree.
I think in the end this BOE will close schools, suspend the TSA, pack teachers classes, keep as many support and admin as possible and try to do "business as usual" - exactly what Ms. Tyson has proposed.
I don't think Ms. Tyson is a bad person, nor do I think these BOE members are evil. They are just incompetent. They have not done the research or number crunching they should have. They have not asked Dr. Lewis or Ms. Tyson the hard questions and held them accountable for student achievement (didn't a BOE member say Ms. Tyson was an integral part of all the decisions of the last few years?). Have they even bothered to ask why the programs that DCSS has put in place have not been working?
Our students should not have to wait for the DCSS BOE to "get it together" in order to make prudent decisions. They are grown-ups. I sincerely hope they are all replaced next November.
The board really owes the taxpayers a public apology. They spent our money ($15,000) to benefit a superintendent who a few months later they fire and pay an additional $85,000 for their mistake. But they never say "sorry" and admit their goof. With all the turmoil they've caused a simple "Sorry" would have gone a long way.
ReplyDeletePlease, let the citizen recall the Board! Let's do what Fulton County is doing. Come on people let's get started. I do not work in DeKalb, but I do live there. If we can start a campaign to recall the board and replace it with educators who work for other systems, I believe we can straighten some things out. DeKalb board members don't even know what they are voting on.
ReplyDeleteAlso, how much money and interest is Bowen, the chairmen of the board, is paying back to DCSS. Is this lawful?
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ReplyDeleteNow, now people. We can't make accusations and name names. We can't be posting rumors about people in the schools. Try to stick to facts and try not to name names with unsubstantiated info.
ReplyDelete