Be Curious suggested we share what changes we see at the schools related to the budget . I think this is a good idea. What is happening at the schools? What evidence do you see of the budget challenges at your child's school?The School System has already posted this about next year's budget.
http://www.dekalb.k12.ga.us/superintendent/budget/planning.html
Some highlights from the above link:
State revenue for the months of May 2010 and June 2010 were below projections. State revenue has not met the projected monthly budgets for sixteen out of the last seventeen months. Because ARRA (stimulus) funding will not be available beyond the current fiscal year, it is anticipated the state budget will decrease even further in the 2011-2012 fiscal year. At this point, any estimate of state funds does not factor in budget reductions which may occur after the start of the fiscal year, as have been done in the last two fiscal years.
And this:
Although homes are starting to sell again, foreclosures have had a significantly negative impact on property values. Uhm, well no. Homes have not started to sell again, based on the dismal statistics released yesterday. I think it will be a long time before property tax revenues recover in DeKalb.
http://www.ajc.com/business/housing-market-suffers-big-598704.html
And here is the tentative budget planning calendar.
http://www.dekalb.k12.ga.us/superintendent/budget/files/15C3E554BC3B4B569F1926B845F7F5BF.pdf
This is something we all should be FURIOUS about the DeKalb County School System Board of Education and Central Office: The scandals and blatant failures have lowered our property values. Less than one in five households in DeKalb have children at a DCSS school.
ReplyDeleteEvery homeowner pays taxes to the school system. It's harder to sell our homes in this county, and when they are sold, they are sold for less. Businesses do not want to relocate to a county where the Supt. and COO are under RICO indictment.
At least Crawford Lewis and Pat Pope Reid are gone, but too many of their cohorts are still running a billion dollar operation: Ramona Tyson, Bob Moseley, Ron Ramsey, Marcus Turk, Audria Berry, etc. Others are still in the periphery: Frankie Callaway, the Guillory's, Tony Hunter, etc.
All of them have been in the system for years, and are part of the problem. It is time for a complete sweep of the Central Office, and time for a competent, tough, accountable, transparent Board of Education.
Their mistake after mistake, poor judgement after poor judgement don't just affect 95,000 students, but every citizen in this county, costing us millions and the value of homes we've spent years and years of paying our hard earned money into the mortgage. Stop the insanity.
Home sales are officially in the tank. Nationally, the drop was 27% last month. Shocking. Read on for more on the subject (if you have the stomach for it).
ReplyDeleteHome sales plunge 27% to lowest level in 15 years
Existing-home sales in July plunged to the lowest level in 15 years, deepening worries that the housing market's tenuous recovery is threatened by buyers' shaky confidence in the economy.
Economic forecasts were plenty pessimistic ahead of Tuesday's report by the National Association of Realtors because of other data pointing to weakening sales since the federal tax credit ended in April.
The actual numbers were far worse — sales fell more than 27% from June and 25% from a year ago to an annual rate of 3.83 million units.
Atlanta
ReplyDeleteLast year's median value: $132,800
This year's median value: $117,700
Prices; -11.4%
Sales: -17.4%
Funny, sales prices have gone down over 11%, but my tax bill actually went up by $300 for 2010!
I have a question...do any of your students not have textbooks? My 9th grader has no spanish textbook for her spanish class and at curriculum night the teacher stated she did not know when or if they would get one. Is this normal? Do any of your students have Spanish 2 textbooks? Isn't the county required to furnish textbooks? Any suggestions as to what I should do? I did speak to the principal who said he would get back to me the next day ... but nothing. It is irritating to read in the paper about tax moneys going to purchase vast quantities of administrator's self-published memoirs and then have no actual textbooks for academic classes.
ReplyDelete"Anonymous said...
ReplyDeleteI have a question...do any of your students not have textbooks? My 9th grader has no spanish textbook for her spanish class and at curriculum night the teacher stated she did not know when or if they would get one. Is this normal? Do any of your students have Spanish 2 textbooks? Isn't the county required to furnish textbooks? Any suggestions as to what I should do? I did speak to the principal who said he would get back to me the next day ... but nothing. It is irritating to read in the paper about tax moneys going to purchase vast quantities of administrator's self-published memoirs and then have no actual textbooks for academic classes.
August 25, 2010 10:24 AM"
This is something else we should all "be FURIOUS about" (to quote Anonymous @ 9:59). Please contact Megan at the AJC or one of the local TV stations. You're right. Why are we buying self-published memoirs, but not textbooks???? You're not going to get an answer from DCSS unless they are subjected to the bright, revealing (but embarrassing) glare of mass media.
At my child curriculum night, last night, the 5th grade teacher told us they are short of science books. The principal ordered them weeks ago and they are on back order. Right now, the teacher is copying pages so the kids can get started.
ReplyDeleteAlso, not sure about this, hopefully someone can confirm this? The AP Calculus books are on backorder at CCHS. Word has it the leadership knew the numbers in the spring but did not order them until July. Is this true?
My question, what has our leadership been doing the past few months? The whole lot need to go! Time for a total change!
Some teachers have chosen not to use the Spanish II textbooks as they are out of date - like 15 years out of date.
ReplyDeleteI think the fiscal year restarts on July 1st. I wonder if the books aren't ordered until then because of $.
ReplyDeleteI am sorry but how can a Spanish book be out of date? I realize it might not use the current strategies, but surely the vocabulary and the grammar rules are the same.
Folks, the only thing that will get the media's attention and give them the ability to tell the whole story, we must create CIVIL mayhem!
ReplyDeleteWe must fill the Palace Board Room to the gills with people, we must show up and protest these folks who claim they know what is best for our kids! The parking lot at the Palace, on Stone Mtn. Industrial, is huge! We must fill it with people, make signs, bring your torches and pitchforks!
Our DCSS leadership think we're complacent and hope we'll just go away! Folks, the media will love the video if we get out there and protest our BOE and DCSS leadership.
-Not enough seats!
-Not enough books!
-Fewer schools making AYP!
-30 million dollar office building with $2k chairs and $35k lighting systems, while our kids suffer in deplorable conditions.
-Buildings that are falling apart!
-New equipment getting stolen!
-SOME principals/authors buying their own books, with OUR money!
-Hiring an interim Super, who has two other jobs. Plus, threatened the teachers with, "There is no I in team, but there is a U in Unemployment.
-Ms. Tyson prepares a plan for CCHS to only allow 50 transfers, then her subordinates, Moseley and Beasley ignore her plan and give everyone their first choice, overcrowding the school beyond legal capacity!
-Taking 18-24 months to investigate the policies that got us into this mess?
-New facilities, with enough space to handle transfers, ignored. Old facilities with no room for transfers overcrowded!
-A 1.2 Billion dollar budget and we have a CFO, who can't handle simple $5,000 checks and balances?
-A bloated Central Office incapable of preparing the school houses with the appropriate tools so our teachers can TEACH!
-Friends, Family members, sorority and fraternity friends continue to get promoted and hired.
Are there any more?
It's time for the madness to stop!
WE MUST PROTEST OUR BOE, LET'S SHOW THEM WE ARE NOT COMPLACENT AND THAT WE DEMAND CHANGE, NOW!
It's not the grammar or vocabulary. We were told that there are geographical and historical facts that are no longer true in the older textbooks. Learning a language is more than just learning the words.
ReplyDeleteSunlight on our broken school system will be like a disinfectant, something DCSS hasn't bought in years, smell a school bathroom lately?
ReplyDeleteMany of the textbooks, especially science, math, social studies are on-line. I would hope that students that have no internet access would be given first dibs on a textbook.
ReplyDeleteWhen are the RTTT funds scheduled to be released to the districts involved?
ReplyDeleteKittredge Magnet School told parents this week
ReplyDelete(1) Two foreign language teachers elimniated. Foreign language will no longer be taught full time. Students may or may not receive a 'few weeks' of foreign language instruction over the course of the school year.
(2) One band teacher eliminated.
(3) One art teacher eliminated.
(4) No more music books. Teachers will use photocopies of sheet music.
(4) Enrichment teacher eliminated.
(5) Classroom sizes increased.
(6) Not enough money for science classroom programs.
(7) Not enough money for several previously offered classroom programs unless parents or PTA pay for it. (Pleas for parent money.)
Bottom Line: The cirriculum at Kittredge has been significantly deminished.
We're in the second week and there's still not enough math books, desks or chairs in my daughters' Shamrock classes.
ReplyDeleteAir conditioning still does not work in many classrooms.
And afternoon busses still have children sitting in the aisle.
Until this year, there were two pe teachers at KMS for 450ish students. There are DCSS elementary schools with 1 PE teacher for 800 students. Last year, there were at least a half dozen DCSS elementary schools with no music instruction and many more with no art teacher.
ReplyDeleteNo matter how "big" the classes are at KMS, almost every other 4th through 6th grader in DeKalb is sitting in a bigger class.
There are no spanish text books at our elementary. Only memograph sheets. But they don't really teach the kids any spanish anyway. So what's the point...
ReplyDeleteThere are still two full time German teachers at KMS. There were three last year.
ReplyDeleteYou gotta laugh at someone complaining about what they have at KMS - just shows you how spoiled they've been over the years - at the expense of the other children in the county.
ReplyDeletebtw, anonymous 12:35 what schools teach Spanish in elementary schools?
@ Anonymous at 12:25
ReplyDeleteYou left out the fact they don't have PE at Kittredge anymore. And the fact that the A/C doesn't work in several parts of the building, like the gym (rendering them unusable).
I thought we had a contract with Rosetta Stone?! Why can't kids learn Spanish on computers? That system has been proven to be effective.
ReplyDeleteWe're in the second week and there's still not enough math books, desks or chairs in my daughters' Shamrock classes.
Air conditioning still does not work in many classrooms.
And afternoon busses still have children sitting in the aisle.
As I read this, I can only interpret the reason as "incompetence". Period. There's no other way these issues could happen.
Hard to be totally sympathetic to the Kittridge crowd losing some of their benefits..... Sorry, I don't want to be a red herring but it was a disproportionate manner to begin with.
ReplyDeleteWonder if the class size hit 20?
What is Anita Warner doing at Kittredge if not teaching PE?
ReplyDeleteI don't have kids in the magnet program. Never applied them. But the hate I see on this blog towards the magnet schools is remarkable. Yes, even to this non-magnet parent.
ReplyDeleteI don't think the magnet schools or students took away anything from the other schools in the district. And I don't think the magnet schools took away anything from my children.
I think the Board of Education and the Central Office Administration are responsible for stealing from ALL of the children in our schools and running our system into the ground. To be clear: that's the Board of Education and the Central Office Administration.
And I think people who hate magnets allow their hatred to blind them from that reality. I think that hate induced blindness enables the Board of Education and Central Office Administration to get away with what they get away with.
KMS has PE. If your child is telling you they don't, she/he is misleading you. The gym isn't air conditioned because the elementary gyms aren't air conditioned anywhere.
ReplyDeleteHey KMS folks! Go back to your home schools or send your 6th graders to Chamblee Middle School! The AC is working great, there!
ReplyDeletePlus, there has never been AC in the multi-purpose gym at KMS. What's the matter with your kid sweating while they're playing, as long as they hydrate when they come in!
Did KMS have 2 art teachers. 2 PE teachers and 2 Band teachers? Montgomery has always had one PE teacher for 655 kids and she is wonderful! We have a new band teacher and the kids love him! Plus, we've always had one art teacher!
We might be requesting two learning cottages, but all is well at Montgomery! It might be a little crowded, but the kids sure don't seem to mind.
Plus, the parents there have bought in to the programs and we have a principal who is engaged with her teachers. Despite the Central Office shenanigans, our leaders and staff are great at Montgomery.
Anon 12:25 (who seems to be complaining on behalf of Kittredge) obviously isn't a Kittredge parent.
ReplyDelete(1) Only one foreign language teacher elimniated. Foreign language is still taught full time to 6th grade and 4th/5th will have less German
(2) One band teacher eliminated. (true - but band is still full-time)
(3) Kittredge did not lose an art teacher this year, but did so Fall 2009. Art is the same as last year
(4) The children have the same music books they had last year (they only use books for the recorder) KMS did lose Chorus.
(4) Enrichment teacher eliminated. - true, to keep band/string the way it was last year.
(5) Classroom sizes about the same, DCSS would not allow increased class sizes as KMS requested.
(6) The science programs are funded the same across DCSS, and enriched by PTA/Parents as usual.
(7) Not enough money for several previously offered classroom programs - not true. Fundraiser will be the same as last year, parents are asked to contribute the same as every year.
Bottom Line: Kittredge has cuts just as every school in DCSS has. I just wanted to present the facts.
And BTW, no gym in DCSS has AC
Yeah, I'm sick of the magnet parents complaining all the time. Just take your spoiled brats to a private school or move to a state with better public schools (like, say, Alabama)and stop your whining.
ReplyDeleteThe gym at Fernbank Elementary has air conditioning.
ReplyDeleteAha! Even with their so called "cuts", Kittredge DOES get better treatment at the expense of the rest of our schools!
ReplyDeleteAnon at 1:07 you had me believing you util the last line
ReplyDelete"And BTW, no gym in DCSS has AC."
Really.
Anon 12:54 is correct, although I prefer not to use harsh words like "hate". I think our school system has successfully implemented a management plan comprised of intentional distractions that create a scarcity mentality, leaving parents fighting like vultures over the scraps tossed to our children's schools, while the administration continues to gorge and bloat.
ReplyDeleteKeep your eyes on the real issue people. We have plenty of money -- $1.2 Billion - with a "B". Keep your eyes on where it's going.
ANYWAY, back to the subject at hand. Can we rely on the RTTT funding to assist?
ReplyDeleteCere, once again you nailed it: "Keep your eyes on the real issue people. We have plenty of money -- $1.2 Billion - with a "B". Keep your eyes on where it's going."
ReplyDeleteIt's just easier to covet what your neighbor has (and you don't) than it is to face the REAL problem.
I read today that we Georgia got $400,000,000 in Race to the Top money. DCSS will get a considerable amount of that money. I certainly hope every parent/taxpayer will write Mrs. Tyson and the BOE and ask them to put that money back into core classrooms (math, science, language arts, and social studies) teachers.
ReplyDeleteI believe they will try to spend the money hiring more non-teaching positions like Instructional Coaches, Supervisors and Coordinators and expensive learning programs. Does anyone think it will "trickle down" to our kids in the classroom?
We've seen what's happened to Title 1 funds when left in the hands of the Central Office.
Parents/taxpayers need to ensure these funds impact the classrooms and provide students with direct instruction rather "support" services. We need to find out exactly how these funds can be used.
Dr. Lewis elected to spend the Stimulus Funds DCSS received last year on non-teaching personnel and expensive programs rather than classroom teachers (he cut 275 teacher positions for the 2009 - 2010 school year). There was no rule against using this stimulus money to keep those positions and thus keep class sizes down. This was just the way he wanted to use the tens of millions of dollars in stimulus money for DCSS.
BOE members need to know we'll be watching every expenditure and wel expect to see the money being spent on teachers directly instructing our kids.
"The scandals and blatant failures have lowered our property values."
ReplyDeleteThat's strange, I thought the WORLDWIDE financial crisis and changes to the law to allow foreclosures to be factored into determining home values were part of the reason many property values have declined. Most of the property values that declined were in the southern part of the county, which is also where most of the foreclosures have occurred.
Yes the challenges caused by the school system are great but I did not realized the impact it had to the reset of the state.
Read this article in the DeKalb Neighbor newspaper.
ReplyDeleteWhy aren't Mrs. Tyson and the DCSS administration doing this?
"City Schools of Decatur officials want residents to tell them the general direction the school system should go in the next five years.
The school system has scheduled a community input session to kick off its strategic plan process Tuesday from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Decatur High School’s Performing Arts Center.
Bruce Roaden, the school system’s director of community relations, said Decatur is working on a new strategic plan to guide it through at least 2015.
“It kind of sets new vision and benchmarks for us,” he said. “The meeting on [Tuesday] involves our community and allows them to say what they dream and believe the City Schools of Decatur should be for the next five years.”
The input session will address general areas of concern rather than giving specific directions for the system, he said.
“But from that will spring specific points in the strategic plan,” he said.
The last strategic plan used by the school system included requests for closing the achievement gap between black and white students, and for more using the same instructional methods in multiple schools — both of which were implemented, he said. "
Go to the Dekalb Neighbor website to read the full article:
http://mid.nn.marietta.new.adqic.com/stories/Decatur-schools-seek-residents-input,162743
City of Decatur Schools are well run and well respected. Residential property values in the Decatur School System have held value much better than in the surrounding county of DeKalb.
ReplyDeleteCoincidence?
I don't think so.
@ aa:33 am
ReplyDeleteDon't forget that we spend almost $19,000,000 a year in salary and benefits for 290 MIS employees. This department gave the teachers eSis ($4,000,000) and Schoolnet ($7,000,000+), 2 computers per classroom of 35, student "bubble in" and teacher scanning of benchmark tests, and millions more for Dell to install and maintain the computers and Activboards, etc.
@ Anonymous 11:35
ReplyDelete"It's not the grammar or vocabulary. We were told that there are geographical and historical facts that are no longer true in the older textbooks. Learning a language is more than just learning the words."
Why are teachers copying pages of the textbook then? Why don't the student have books? Are you blaming the teachers for the fact that there are students without books. We have almost 1 Central office person for every teacher. What do these people do all summer?
Correction:
ReplyDeleteWe have almost 1 Central office employee for every 5 teachers.
We 1.25 admin and support personnel for every teacher.
If someone is new to the blog, they might read a few posts and assume we are a bunch of whiners.
ReplyDeleteBut we are not...not at all. There are so many issues and problems with DCSS that are avoidable, it's enough to make any parent and teacher boil with anger and frustration.
There are many things DCSS can't control. But with many of the issues and problems it can control, it all too often fails miserably.
The massive Central Office and non-teaching staff has all summer to order textbooks. Classrooms are overcrowded with students sitting on the floor because of poor planning. Computers and software not functioning (what do YOU do all summer, Jamal Edwards?). All summer to address HVAC issues, roof leaks, various building issues, etc., etc.
I don't want to hear that DCSS has 150+ buildings. Before anything happens at a non-school facility, Sam Moss staff and the Central Office have a duty to make sure every elem., middle and high school building is in good working order (functioning HVAC, no roof leaks, good air quality, etc., etc.).
Incompetence is a very strong word. But it's applicable here. This BOE enables the Central Office, Sam Moss staff, MIS, etc. to perform at a mediocre level. The madness must stop.
The school system is just one of many variables regarding home slaes and property values, but it's a darn sure important one.
Here is what Libertarian Kira Willis, who opposed RTTT, said:
ReplyDelete"Although I have been against receiving RT3 funds, we now must face the fact that they are here for four years. It is not a lot of money (one percent of our budget), but here’s what we can do with it: we can use it to fund innovation in education. I will vehemently and actively oppose any “created positions” that take more funds from our schools and from our kids. The last thing we need is to put another tier into the GADOE or into the local counties of Georgia."
Makes a lot of sense to me. Unfortunately, she will probably not get elected because she is not a Democrat or a Republican. I'm a very involved Democrat, not a Libertarian. However, I will be voting for Ms. Willis.
She's a real teacher. You know - those people who actually teach our kids:
http://willisforstatesuper.webs.com/
@ Calling out the Haters You have to be kidding, right? Hate
ReplyDelete( over and over and over ) again in bold........ Really, melodrama not needed here. I don't hate the magnet students, I don't hate the magnet parents, I don't hate anyone. But, I will not, even in the face of bigger issues turn a blind eye to a system that is blatantly further compromising to the majority of ALL Dekalb county students. It is a right to voice an opinion and I will continue to do so. Parents who dared to complain about the inequality of the magnet system have always been labeled as " poor losers" " sour grapes" and now people filled with hate.
Simply put, those who have issue with the magnet system have understandable reason to. Does it seem reasonable or fair that a small % of children receive this level of service while the others ( even if "qualified" ) cannot have those enrichment and added level? I have not applied for the magnet programming and likely have a child who is probably more of a high achiever than half of the children there.
But, I do have an opinion and I am tired of being brow beaten to not say anything about it..... I suspect there are many out there who feel the same.
Yes, I am mad as heck at all of the endless crap in our county school system and I have an opinion on that as well.
I think that anon @11:55 is absolutely correct - until " we the people" act like we care, we will get the same treatment and be viewed as background noise.
Could someone tell me how Fernbank has an air conditioned gym?
ReplyDeleteAnon @ 3:15. I hear what you are saying, and you do have a right to a voice.
ReplyDeleteTo be frank, however, I find your post about the KM "complaints" mean. First we complain that they have have it made and claim THEY won't see programs cut (see posts on earlier blogs). Then, when they note that there were cuts, they get blasted.
I think there is a great deal of disregard OVERALL in the posts on this blog about the needs of gifted kids. The STATE has requirements that MUST be met for these kids. Your posts really make it seem like you think these are not NEEDS but just gratification of parental whims by the BOE.
Seriously, I have seen significantly fewer comments from KM parents defending this program than parents, like yourself, who blast it. I would hate to be KM parent, because it seems like the people of this county really cannot stand such programming; it seems like the needs of these kids should be thrown out with the bathwater.
The bottom line is that if the waste at the central office was not occurring in such largesse and teachers were not being bombarded with additional paperwork and more kids - IN EVERY CLASSROOM (perhaps except those in the under-enrolled schools) - children in this county would have a chance.
As it currently stands, it is my perception that the BOE is FAILING our children.
Are the AP Calculus books going to be new?
ReplyDeleteDon't know where you got your info, but the Fernbank gym is not air conditioned even though it, unlike the other multi-purpose gym buildings at the El Schools across the county, is connected to the school building.
ReplyDeleteI am in the Fernbank district and know the PE teacher there. (My kids are old and no longer at Fernbank.) They've been unable to use the field because of construction, so they've been boiling inside the gym.
Songcue
ReplyDeleteLook about 19 posts up.
Someone posted it.
The multi-purpose buildings are not air conditioned.
Ah, thanks. Yeah, the Fernbank multi-purpose room had to be attached because of land-lock issues. But there isn't air conditioning in that room.
ReplyDeleteNo one should hate anyone here. That only feeds into the Central Office mantra, pit us all against each other.
ReplyDeleteFolks, we can discuss "the brain drain" that Clew so often referred to, regarding the magnet programs and we can discuss the "lottery" which decides who gets in or not. There are tons of things we can discuss. However, the original poster who listed the things that were dropped seemed miffed? Come on, everyone is suffering through this mess.
I was angry they closed, a neighborhood school Nancy Creek, using fraudulent data to justify closing it. Plus, there is property just a mile north of the current KMS, that sits empty and now will never be used in it's current form.
I hate no one and appreciate that KMS is in my neighborhood. I just wish our leadership can make good sound decisions and spend more money on classrooms instead of Central office bloat!
We need to come together, on common ground, and elect a BOE with a spine so they can find an honest Super with NO ties to the current DCSS. That super needs to come in and clean house! I can guarantee you that if half the staff at the Central Office was asked not to come in Monday, the ones left could streamline the efforts to get our system back in order!
Stop with the hate and offer ideas that will help us defeat these cronies that are driving OUR school system into a ditch. We need to take their keys away and soon!
What is the purpose of Preventive Specialist in the schools?
ReplyDeleteAre they counselors or administrators?
Besides, what exactly do they do except walk around all day pretending to be busy. All summer long they are working supposely and then when school starts, you still see nothing. This is a position that needs to be cut or revisted by the person who is over the Preventive Specialist. In most schools, I am told These P.Specialist do NOthing all day long but sit in the office and talk on the phone or play on the internet and pretend to be busy. What kind or planning or activities did they do during the summer months to prepare for school activities. Zap, this program and save DCSS taxpayers some much needed money. Plus, how much do they make and what exactly are they suppose to be doing everyday? Another Family and Friends JOb.
That's funny that Lewis would refer to magnets as "brain drains" considering that at least one of his own children went through the program.
ReplyDeleteI have no issue with magnets - I think Kittredge has it's own set of challenges - those kids can be tough to handle in a very different way. I don't think anyone else would have any issues either, if they felt that their home school was well-funded and staffed.
This is simply a set-up in order to pit the people against each other. Don't fall for it.
I wish I could help you with trying to find out what is a preventive specialist. Maybe some one knows and can share some light on what exactly they are paid and what should they be doing . We know what they shouldn't be doing.
ReplyDeleteI agree,it is another waste of DCSS taxpayers money on the south end of the county. Maybe on the northern end, they work.
Asking "what do they do all summer?" is a valid question. There are thousands of DCSS non-teacher employees. As a parent/taxpayer, it is fair to assume that management and staff are working their fannies off to get ready for the start of the school year.
ReplyDeleteYet, EVERY SINGLE start of the school year, DCSS drops the ball in multiple areas. Whether its missing textbooks, faulty air conditioning, leaking roofs, overcrowding, computer and software problems (eSIS!), there's always a disaster.
What do MIS do over the summer? What does our 200 person school police dept. with two chiefs do in June & July? Can't the army of instructional coaches/advisors help with ordering textbooks? Why isn't every HVAC system ready to go on Day One?
The accountability just isn't there from the BOE. The situation is magnified by nepotism and cronyism (how many retired Central Office staff are back on payroll anyway?). I don't have the all the answers to fix this system, but it's time we put our heads together and find the solutions.
The magnets should exist, but they should be funded exactly as other DCSS schools are.
ReplyDeleteI think the preventive specialists are/were funded by Federal Drug prevention monies, though I have no idea if they still are.
You left out the fact they don't have PE at Kittredge anymore. And the fact that the A/C doesn't work in several parts of the building, like the gym (rendering them unusable).
ReplyDelete_______________
Join the club. I don't thing any of the elementary school gyms have air conditioning. You are now experiencing some of the same problems that we are seeing at our "regular" elementary schools. Elementary art and foreign language classes? Dream on.
This position, Preventive Specialist is for the birds. Maybe who ever is funding this program should try to over see it.
ReplyDeleteIsn't one of Zepora's daughters one of these preventive specialists?
ReplyDelete@ Anonymous 5:15 pm
ReplyDelete"What is the purpose of Preventive Specialist in the schools?
Are they counselors or administrators?
Besides, what exactly do they do except walk around all day pretending to be busy. All summer long they are working supposely and then when school starts, you still see nothing. This is a position that needs to be cut or revisted by the person who is over the Preventive Specialist....Zap, this program and save DCSS taxpayers some much needed money. Plus, how much do they make and what exactly are they suppose to be doing everyday? "
This group is part of the Family Services Resource Coordinators (sort for Family Services Resource Coordinator in the State Salary and Travel audit) Specialist group. They include the Prevention-Intervention Specialists and the Parent Center employees. This group cost approximately $4,500,000 in salary and benefits. In parent terms, students are doing with out 69 teachers in the classrooms in order to fund these non-teaching personnel. Some have teaching certificates - many do not.
This group is extremely redundant in that they perform pretty mcuh the same functions that the counselors and social workers perform. We already have 265 counselors for 150 schools to the tune of $22,000,000 a year and 41 Social Workers that cost $3,000,000 a year. Maybe that's why they seem to have nothing to do.
This group was formed under Dr. Lewis.
Do not count on anyone touching this one. One of the members of this group is Zepora Roberts's daughter. When asked about her, Roberts made her famous "I'm going to slug you" shout at the reporter.
Does anyone think that SPOLST 4 will be approved? I hope that the system begins now look at ways to save money.
ReplyDeleteEven though home prices are great, home loans are much harder to secure.
With the trouble economy, people are relutant to buy homes. Gwinnett is growing, Cobb is hiring teachers back.
We don't here a lot from Fulton.
How did we get in such a difficult situation?
What will it take to get us out of it?
It is important to understand the history of DCSS magnet schools.
ReplyDeleteMagnet schools were NOT created to satisfy demand from parents in North DeKalb for an "elite" school. Magnet schools, along with the M-to-M (Majority-to-Minority) Program were created as a means to end the 27-year Federal court supervision of DCSS charged with operating a dual-school (segregated) system, as required at that time by Georgia law.
Kittredge was not designed to serve gifted students. (That was handled by Discovery for elementary students and Impact for middle and high school students.) Kittredge was designed to serve the purposes of integration and the federal court requirements. There was a minimum academic achievement requirement. The primary requirement, though, was that 50% of the students would be African-American and 50% would be White-and-Other (including Asian and Hispanic). It was "sold" to parents as an "elite" school for high achievers -- and that was true to a certain extent, particularly for students in the 50% White-and-Other category where there were far more eligible students than available slots.
Other "high achiever" magnet programs were established on the south side of DeKalb County. I have no idea if they are all still operative.
About 12 years ago, when I did some budget investigation, I discovered that the "high achiever" magnet program at Southwest DeKalb High School had a budget that exceeded the combined budgets of the high achiever magnet programs in place at Chamblee Middle School and Chamblee High School -- yet SW DeKalb had far fewer students in its "high achiever" magnet than students in the CHS high achiever magnet program, alone. Further, SW DeKalb was allowed to offer AP classes to very few students per class, whereas CHS was prevented from offering AP classes to fewer than 15 students per class. CHS still offered more AP classes than did SW DeKalb.
Around the same time of the magnet programs and the M-to-M program, there was a teacher lottery as a means of "balancing" the ratio of African-American teachers to White-and-Other teachers to reflect the DeKalb County's racial population ratio at the time. Many of DCSS's most experienced and most successful teachers were sent to the DCSS schools in south DeKalb.
Still -- in spite of all the opportunity made available for more than 20 years to students in predominantly African-American South DeKalb County, those schools are failing. Why?
It makes no sense to blame Kittredge parents for wanting the best for their students, talking about what is missing in their school and taking advantage of a program that was created -- not for them! -- to satisfy a Federal court suit and provide more opportunity to African-American students in South DeKalb.
The only thing I fault Kittredge parents for is not standing up for Nancy Creek students instead of allowing them to be displaced. There was/is enough room in Nancy Creek School to accommodate both Kittredge students and resident Nancy Creek students. Kittredge parents really missed an opportunity to do the right thing there.
Meanwhile, what's the deal with South DeKalb parents and students who have let their schools go down the drain? You have kept re-electing the same sorry BOE members. You have allowed your students to be robbed by African-Americans who have used DCSS to line their pockets and provide employment for incompetent family and friends. 20+ years of opportunity lost! Why? WHY?
This Dekalb teacher and citizen is still waiting for the data that has driven the decisions to allow the building of an expensive, unnecessary central office; to employ heaps of instructional specialists whom students never see or benefit from; to maintain overpaid, superfluous director or assistant direction positions earning more than double starting teachers' salaries.
ReplyDeleteIf Dekalb demands data-driven instruction, why won't it also offer data-driven decisions? At this point, it seems that there is enough evidence (increasing number of schools not making AYP) to warrant investigating the gross misuse of local,state, and federal funds.
"Other "high achiever" magnet programs were established on the south side of DeKalb County. I have no idea if they are all still operative. "
ReplyDeleteBrownsmill was the high achiever magnet located in S. DeKalb. Yvonne Sanders-Butler ran it. Does anyone know why it was closed in that school?
BTW - I think moving Kittredge to Nancy Creek made it very inconvenient for students in S. DeKalb to attend.
The post above is not helpful and is actually terribly devisive. Since I think I can identify you, I will tell you that DeKalb has come a long way since you were last involved. Most parents in DeKalb, regardless of where they live, no longer contibute to the north south divide. While their board members may occasionally engage in such heated language, it is rare to hear it from parents.
ReplyDeleteDr. Lewis was installed as superintendent mostly because of the actions of a few central and N. DeKalb board members who got a taste of a strong superintendent and didn't like it.
Whatever funding inequities existed over a decade ago, have long been corrected. The most expensive magnet by far is DSA. The rest fall below that by a mile.
In order to grow AP classes, you need to offer them. At first, not many students will sign up, but then as those students experience success, more students will enroll. I can remember Dr. Halford having public discussions about the need to increase AP classes at high schools and people like you publicly or privately ringing their hands about what it would mean to your school.
Back to the divisive post above, what you left out of the history was the part about why the HA program was put at Chamblee. It was put there because the enrollment had shrunk dangerously low. The school was at risk of being closed. Between the magnet program and M to M, the school was able to maintain a viable enrollment, but two decades later and the resident population is still very small.
ReplyDeleteBrown's Mill magnet was moved to Wadsworth, where it is now a stand alone program like KMS. It has a smaller enrollment because many of the Brown's Mill parents didn't like the location of Wadsworth and the lack of adequate transportation hasn't helped. However, they have a fairly substantial wait list for this year. Wadsworth has won all kinds of awards and if their test scores didn't best KMS, they at least equalled them.
You really pushed all my buttons and brought back memories of some of the ugliest days in DeKalb.
Thanks!
Sarah Woods did not have her fan club with her last night in the third district. She was very defensive at the debate in district 3 for the district 3 and district 9 school board candidates. It would appear that many voters were upset with the school board members who were currently on the board and blamed the board members for all the current problems. However, Ms. Woods and Dr. Walker past the buck to the school superintendent.
ReplyDeleteSara Woods needs to bring her own cheering session to the next debate. She was extremely defensive. Dr. Walker gave us history lessons about his past and told us about how wonderful he had been in the past and told us how he was raised by his grandmother. I am not so sure how that will make him a good school board member for the next four years. I think he just wants to continue to talk about graduating from a colored high school and being raised by his grandmother as this will make him a great school board member and the lady he is running against is white. It is all about race to this gentleman. I really wish we would be more concerned with working together as members of the school board and not trying to divide our school board like it is being divided.
Be True to your school,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your post regarding the history of the magnet, m to m. etc... I'm not sure what the previous poster is talking about, there is no decisive language in your post. Just an honest history, DCSS is a mess and I look forward to the day that Moseley, Tyson, Turk, Thompson, Berry, Mitchell-Mayfield, Ramsey and others are all gone for good! MIS is a disaster and like Dan MaGee said, what the heck have these folks been doing all summer?
We had registration 5 days before the first day, you'd think these folks could have at least gotten enough desks distributed to the schools that needed them. How could they not know the numbers? I would have had every central office person the weekend before school starts to have the facilities ready.
Dr. Walker is a divider not a uniter!
ReplyDeleteI fault Tom Bowen and the other BOE members for not speaking up. Ms. Speaks and Jim Redovian tend to forget about us in Chamblee. Let's hope we see some change, but I really think we need to protest and pack the palace board room at the next meeting. The media will take notice if we organize and show up in mass, they love good video! We need to fill up the parking lot with protesters. This is OUR system they are destroying.
There was a debate last night? Who sponsored it?
ReplyDeleteJim Redovian spoke up a few months ago to challenge SCW and got his head bit off and spit back out. I was horrified.
ReplyDeleteSCW and ZR act like queens on their thrones and now they are feeling threatened. It should get interesting if they are back into a corner.
Oh yes, for a taste of the vitriol these ladies can sputter, check out the emails they sent to a community member and very active DCSS parent --
ReplyDeleteFaye Andresen writes . . .
Also - I don't know how we never got word about a debate -- please forward any info on upcoming debates to us here for posting --
reparteeforfun@gmail.com
"It would appear that many voters were upset with the school board members who were currently on the board and blamed the board members for all the current problems. However, Ms. Woods and Dr. Walker past the buck to the school superintendent.
ReplyDelete"
LOL - After they gave him his contracts and voted yes to everything he wanted.
Look at the BOE meeting notes on the DCSS website dated April 13, 2009:
"Dr. Walker stated he wanted to public thank the Superintendent and General Counsel for a good job, and as opposed to what had been publicized in the media, he does not have a concern with the performance of either person."
December 8, 2008 BOE meeting - both Copelin-Wood and Walker voted to table the BOE's ethics proposal.
Robert Shaw lost two teachers today due to a lack of students. They went to Montgomery. Physical plant problems with a gym that floods when it rains and put of control AC/heat in some parts of the school continue. The problems have been going on for so long think they have given up on getting them fixed.
ReplyDeleteBack to one of the original questions.. my child goes to PCMS and has not been issued a textbook for any class. There aren't enough.
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't matter. All of the textbooks that I've seen in his elementary school years were borderline useless.
Data - driven decisions....hmmm.
ReplyDeleteand to the poster @ 8:17 who said that community members are not trying to divide....did you attend the task force meetings about consolidation?
Robert Shaw is a theme school, did it not have a wait list?
ReplyDeleteThough Robert Shaw is both in the area where DCSS is seeing far fewer students and near the Peachtree Hope Charter School that is opening now.
It is amazing to me when I read that students still don’t have textbooks, schools still have faulty air conditioners, there is talk of layoffs again and DCSS is expected to receive less money. The Central Office Finance Department recently processed a payroll which includes overtime to the tune of 2,000 hours for pulling and delivering textbooks, working on air conditioners, picking up trash and tree limbs and changing filters at schools.
ReplyDeleteYes, that is right the Service Center has stacked over 1,900 hours in overtime in one payroll period for the above reasons. It is ridiculous that a few workers have logged as many as 65- 70 hours of overtime within a 2 week period. A couple of workers earned overtime for ‘being stuck in traffic’ yet our schools (teachers and students) are suffering.
All of this is ‘work’ that could and should have been completed during regular work hours in the summer. What did they do all summer? Who knows if they really worked these hours since they are reportedly laughing they are taking back the dollars lost via the furlough days.
It is and has been the policy of DCSS that all overtime must be ‘pre-approved’ by the Superintendent, yet these 1,900 hours of overtime was not. In fact, it was not even pre-approved by the CFO (the great Marcus Turk) - yet he passed it through, but what does he care? He doesn't live in DeKalb County. Did the Superintendent know? Probably not.
Isn’t this one of the charges against DCSS former secretary Cointa Moody? Yet it is ongoing and stronger than ever. DCSS may have rid itself of Pat Pope but the Service Center is under a far worse fate with two former Principals running it. Steve 'Passive' Donahue (a former Principal) and the current Executive Director sits idly by and allows Michael Worthington (former Principal and Army Man) to run rampant throughout the service center issuing orders and approving overtime at will. I was told Worthington was actually promoted to be the Director of Facilities at the new Mountain Industrial Center and his salary comes from that budget. Why is he still at the Service Center approving overtime?
When DCSS is finally cleaned up – don’t forget these two guys – the Service Center is out of control.
the Service Center has stacked over 1,900 hours in overtime in one payroll period
ReplyDeleteAAAAAGGGHH! What in the heck did they do all summer?!!! This stuff should have been done - it should not have required 2 minutes of overtime! If I was in charge, I would have fired them for not having the AC running or the textbooks ready - rather than rewarding them with overtime for work they didn't do when they were supposed to. How ridiculous!
@ Cerebration 10:37
ReplyDeleteI agree. I copied and pasted these job openings off DCSS's PATS (Paperless Application Tracking System) website last spring.
Below was the job description on PATS for HVAC personnel (BTW - DCSS had 5 openings while they were eliminating teacher positions):
"Position: Mechanic, Air Conditioner/Heat (HVAC)
Educational requirement: High school diploma or GED
Experience: 3 years
Salary: $43,111 to $58,665"
“The Mechanical Maintenance Department is seeking a qualified HVAC Mechanic. The minimum requirements include a High School Diploma or GED equivalent. A minimum of three (3) years experience in HVAC installation and control systems is required. Two (2) years experience in industrial or commercial HVAC is preferred.
Position: Mechanic, Air Conditioner/Heat
Salary: $43,111.20 to $58,665.60”
Contrast this with PATS advertisement for teachers.
"Teacher: Mathematics
Location: Southwest Dekalb High School"
Southwest DeKalb High School is currently seeking a Mathematics Teacher who utilizes best practices to increase student achievement. The primary responsibility is to implement, deliver and promote high academic expectations to all students. The ideal candidate must work collaborative with team members and must possess excellent written and verbal communication skills."
Look at the salary levels for math teachers with a Bachelor's degree:
$ 42,288 (salary for a teacher with 3 years of experience)
$ 58,248 (salary for a teacher with 20 years of experience)
$ 59,376 (salary for a teacher with 30 years of experience)
We really should outsource this department, save money, get "cool", and hire more math teachers.
I guess no one is out "observing" HVAC mechanics. Maybe Dr. Beasley's people could observe these employees first to make sure our kids are sweltering in hot classrooms.
Very interesting comparison. Depressing, but interesting just the same.
ReplyDelete"Back to the divisive post above, what you left out of the history was the part about why the HA program was put at Chamblee. It was put there because the enrollment had shrunk dangerously low. The school was at risk of being closed. Between the magnet program and M to M, the school was able to maintain a viable enrollment, but two decades later and the resident population is still very small. "
ReplyDeleteTo add more to this statement, the board voted to close Chamblee HS in 1991. Even back then, the realized there was not a large enough resident population to support this school. Redrawing Ashford Park out of the Cross Keys cluster was an attempt to help the numbers at Chamblee, even though this school was closer to Cross Keys. There was other reasons behind this move that has been mentioned on this blog before.
Would we still need to make an investment in Chamblee if the magnet program was removed? It could make sense to close it and send those children to a combination of Dunwoody and Cross Keys.
With 15,000+ employees and 6,500 being teachers and 1200 Central Office employees, that leaves DCSS with over 7,300 support personnel. Why are we paying them overtime?
ReplyDeleteas a teacher, i'm still worried that more parents aren't pushing for explanations about the employment/expenses of preventive specialists/instructional coaches. the first instructional coach we had knocked herself out to help and support us. the next one did nothing but play on his lap top, talk on his phone all day, and condescend to the teachers; the current one roams the building with a clipboard and tries to look busy; in fact, she has done little to nothing to help or support us. and she makes more than we do. the preventive specialist does nothing but walk around with a walkie-talkie all day and say "all right, all right" to the black teachers and cold shoulders the white teachers. it is unclear as to what it is he is "preventing." meanwhile, the a/c and heat in my room take turns going off and on, we barely have any class sets of outside reading novels and plays, and the administration's biggest concern seems to be whether or not our word walls are changed every week. come on, parents, get vocal! dcss does not listen to its teachers.
ReplyDeleteAre Dr. Beasley's coordinators observing the Instructional Coaches?
ReplyDeleteWhat responsibility do they have for failing to improve the schools?
I see Audria Berry, Executive Director of School Improvement reports to Dr. Beasley. How has she improved schools? Not at all. DCSS is at the bottom of the barrel in schools making AYP. Where is the accountability for Dr. Berry for the lack of school improvement (clearly her responsibility since she is in charge of school improvement and it's steadily gone down under her)?
BTW the instructional 80 coaches - each of them costing $100,000 a year - are under the Office of School Improvement and Dr. Berry. What does she do to monitor the coaches that are not supporting our students and teachers?
The DCSS upper administration and in particular the Office of School Improvement should be held accountable. Dr. Berry should be replaced with someone who can show improvement in our schools. Why is she still there?
Dr. Beasley needs to start by cleaning up his direct reports who have not done their jobs. Replacing Dr. Berry would be a start. Maybe then he would have more credibility with teachers and parents.
Anon 8/25 4 p.m. said: "I think there is a great deal of disregard OVERALL in the posts on this blog about the needs of gifted kids. The STATE has requirements that MUST be met for these kids."
ReplyDeleteKittridge is NOT for gifted students. Never has been, never will be. Bloated sham that has become an alatross around DCSS' neck. Can't live with it, can't live without it. Divides communities, drains brains, sucks funds...Don't personally hate anyone and have very good friends whose children attend KMS and the subsequent CMS, CHS. Don't blame them a bit for whining. DCSS needs to get the balls to close all magnets until they can get enrollments balanced. DCSS needs to get the balls to cut all transportation for students to schools they are not districted in -- for any reason! DCSS needs to get the balls to move the pick-up perimeter to 1.5 miles for districted students -- like they said they were going to do!
What do our teachers/schools lack? Working copy machines and/or effective back-up copiers when the main ones go down. Textbooks, space, a/c, smart boards, smart board light bulbs...
Thank You No Duh ! Why oh Why can't people get it about the magnets?? It is not about being divided, it is not about being "hate filled". I know several magnet parents who readily admit that magnets are not a fair or equitable distribution but , "hey, since I got it, I will take it and I will fight to keep it". Who really blames them? But, the reasonable ones totally get that transporting these kids all over the county at the expense of ALL of the children of the county is wrong.
ReplyDeleteIt is quite simply about the utilization and division of resources to most effectively meet the needs of ALL of the children of the county.
Kittridge is indeed not for gifted education and with the " watering down" of criteria, It is not even about the highest achievers.
Courage to make tough decisions, Not on this BOE's watch or we would have already tackled redistricting and school closures. Not to mention, doing away with the antiquated and non evidence based magnet system.
No Duh, Great post! My kid attends CMS, he is a resident, gifted student, accelerated math etc.. CMS is great. Parents there have bought in and so far I have seen great communication between parents, teachers and administration. Our Curriculum night is next week, I'll report back what I find out.
ReplyDeleteAt our other child's elementary, we have 655 kids, our wonderful principal has requested 2 "learning cottages" for Band/Orchestra and I can't think what the other one will be used for. However all critical learning will remain in the building! We have had a book shortage, because of a publisher and the fact that more resident kids are attending, due to the economy and private no longer being an option. We have also had some larger Multi-family properties open up in our attendance zone. Happy to report, parents are involved, teachers are dealing with the current book shortage, and some parents have even found the books online and are passing links around.
Folks, it's takes a commUNITY, to be successful!
Anonymous at 11:33, I couldn't agree with you more about folks hiring family/friends. I asked a prinicipal about a leadership position posted on PATS and he blatantly said, "I already have somebody in mind."
ReplyDelete