Unfortunately – against their own best interests – DCSS parents, once again, have taken the bait – hook, line and sinker.
Breathe deeply, take a half-step back and consider this statement by President Franklin D. Roosevelt: “Repetition does not transform a lie into a truth.” Hold that thought as you consider the rest of this posting: No matter the reason given, it makes no sense to rush headlong – as DCSS is doing – into the expense and resulting angst of redistricting and school consolidation without definitive, documented proof – open, online, understandable and readily available documentation – that DCSS students and teachers will be better off following school closings and redistricting.
At a minimum, here is what responsible stakeholders need to know before DCSS moves forward:
(1) Student Population
First, kudos to Dan Drake for doing an absolutely amazing job in collecting DCSS basic student population information and putting it into an understandable, easy-to-use format. Thanks, Dan!
In addition to the information provided by Dan Drake for each DCSS school, student population numbers are also needed for each center and for each start-up charter school. Then, we need to know – for each school and center:
- the independently verified number of resident (attendance area) students
- the number of AYP transfer students (independently verified as either resident students or special permission students at the school from which these students are transferring)
- Yes, I know AYP transfers are permitted by No Child Left Behind (NCLB). We still need to know how many AYP students are transferring and to which schools. More than that, we should not be giving AYP transfers to special permission students – especially not to students from outside DeKalb County. All special permission students should return to their home schools.
- the number of non-resident special permission transfers (further subdivided by how many transfers are children of central office personnel?; how many transfers are “friends and family”; how many transfers are children of teachers in the school?; how many transfers are children of teachers in other DCSS schools and are simply continuing along the feeder pathway?)
- the number of out-of-district students – defined as living in another county (further subdivided by how many transfers are children of central office personnel?; how many transfers are “friends and family”; how many transfers are children of teachers in the school?; how many transfers are children of teachers in other DCSS schools and are simply continuing along the feeder pathway?)
- the number of special education students
- the number of students eligible for free-and-reduced-price meals (independently verified)
- the number of homeless students (independently verified to the full extent the law allows)
(2) The Real FTE
The correct minimum required FTE numbers for each school (several numbers have been bandied about).
Dan Drake has supplied the number of potential students in each school’s attendance area. This is where a true public relations and marketing effort would be useful.
It makes no sense to spend big bucks on Jeff Dickerson and Cohn & Wolfe trying to cover-up or justify poor performance by the overpaid, undertalented central office staff or trying to justify Tyson’s outrageous request for an undeserved raise. Let’s put the PR monies into attracting attendance area children and their parents back into the schools with dropping enrollment.
(3) Financial Questions
The correct financial numbers, supported by clear, understandable, online documentation, including:
- The real net cost for each magnet program, detailed by school – instead of the constant repetition that magnet programs are sucking up all of DCSS’s instructional funds and all of DCSS’s best students. The reality is that the bloated, overpaid, undertalented central office staff that Tyson refuses to rightsize is sucking up all of DCSS’s instructional funds – with no positive result.
- The real dollar amount of funds that could go into classrooms if the central office staff was significantly cut now and those who remained had their salaries appropriately adjusted now. Let’s get rid of the bloat and Crawford Lewis’s cronies. Let’s pay those who are left what their jobs are worth. I mean, could we do worse?
- The dollar amount of unused per-pupil funds, for the past 5 years and detailed by school. Specifically a dollar-cost list of what was purchased each year? how much funding went unused? how much was returned to the state? how much was retained by DCSS? and into what DCSS account did those unused per-pupil funds go? A thorough, turn-every-page audit and competent, professional, Certified Internal Auditors (CIA) are needed. DCSS doesn’t have any competent, professional, Certified Internal Auditors.
- The dollar amount of unused Title I funds, for the past 5 years and detailed by school. Specifically a dollar-cost list of how the funds were used each year? how much Title I funding went unused? how much was carried over to the next year? and into which DCSS account did those unused Title I funds go? A thorough, turn-every-page audit and competent, professional, Certified Internal Auditors (CIA) are needed. DCSS doesn’t have any competent, professional, Certified Internal Auditors.
- The real dollar cost, by school, for closing a school? Is the total cost, by school, less than or does it exceed the anticipated funding, by school, from the state? There is no excuse for issuing a report on closing schools without attaching a dollar cost or savings spreadsheet to the report.
- The real net dollar cost, by school, for re-districting? There is no excuse for issuing a report without attaching a dollar cost or savings spreadsheet to the report.
- What it comes right down to is what makes both financial sense and real educational sense – near-term and long-term. We can’t know this with the partial information and half-truths DCSS is parceling out. Current and rising students cannot be sacrificed for some vague down-the-road possible benefit, with no detailed documentation, proposed by the current corrupt DCSS administration.
No matter the reason given, it makes no sense to rush headlong – as DCSS is doing – into the expense and resulting angst of redistricting and school consolidation without definitive, documented proof – open, online, understandable and readily available documentation – that DCSS students and teachers will be better off following school closings and redistricting.
Out of the frying pan, into the fire? No!
DCSS has the money to successfully educate all of our students. But, to use that money effectively, we must have the answers to the financial questions and student population questions posed in this article. To quote Deep Throat in All the President’s Men, we must “follow the money.” DCSS can and must take the time to provide accurate, detailed answers to the financial questions and student population questions posed in this article. DCSS has this information and Dan Drake has given us a good start in the student population area.
The corrupt DCSS administration will say that there is no time … that such information is not available … that a delay is unaffordable. That is just a smokescreen promulgated by a corrupt administration desperate to keep the gravy train running. But they have come to the end of the line.
The reality is that we cannot afford to move ahead without accurate, detailed answers. We must follow the money and find out whose pockets it is lining. Clearly, no one else – not the DCSS BOE, not the Georgia Department of Education, not the State of Georgia BOE, not the governor, not our legislators, not SACS, not the DeKalb D.A., not the U.S. Attorney – will step up and do this. It is up to the DCSS stakeholders to stop the madness and root out the corruption that has taken over DCSS.
DeKalb County School System is a billion-dollar-a-year business. As a non-profit, DCSS’s return-on-investment must be expressed in human terms. DCSS’s only product must be well-educated graduates who are prepared for post-secondary education – 4-year college or 2-year college or trade school – leading to a comfortable, successful life that allows them to contribute meaningfully to society.
That simply won’t happen until we have accurate, detailed answers to the questions posed in this article. Anything less from DCSS should be considered morally irresponsible – and the corrupt administrators and BOE members who persist in stonewalling should face prosecution for theft of education opportunities and unrecoverable years of our students’ lives.
149 comments:
It is amazing that the capacity numbers have grown just enough to make sure that there are fewer trailers. Just 6 months ago, many of these schools were significantly smaller in terms of capacity. If the schools are jammed at 950 like McNair Learning then how can they suddenly hold 1100.
It smells fishy to me.
Plus, we need - no, deserve - a detailed study of the caloric count of the average lunch served by each school cafeteria now, and after each of the two main redistricting alternatives. A good carbs vs. bad carbs analysis should accompany this study. To rush willy-nilly into a redistricting without fully considering the impact on food service practices, within the context of long-held neighborhood standards, would be a grave disservice to our children. Consider the lunch lady, DCSS!
That was a great summary that would go a long way toward curing many of the DCSS ills if it was implemented. It is a tough fight. We have an administration that is looking out primarily for themselves to maintain the jobs, paychecks and pensions and to bestow this largess upon friends, family, classmates, fellow parishioners, etc. Many (the majority?) of the BOE members are complicit in this scam, several seem not to believe that it is happening, and a few probably really doesn't don't care.
Redistricting is really only a callous diversion to infuriate and cause angst to the parents so that they will take their eyes off the real game. Unfortunately, it probably will work
It won't work. Perhaps redistricting will yield parents in new schools screaming their outrage that the schools they have been moved to be brought up to higher levels. Isn't this the most relevant source of hue and cry about redistricting.
I'm fine with redistricting as long it is accompanied hand in hand with immediate tangible improvement of all school performance. If they cannot provide the latter to parents they propose to move this coming fall, they will certainly have an uphill (and losing battle).
The analysis leaves off the liars who are cheating to be in the schools they are in -- DCSS is one of the few systems not checking on true residency at the schools. DCSS is a partronage system -- it really isn't about educating children. The sooner that premise is accpeted and strategies are developed to combat it, the better off we may become... If it was really about educating children, many things would be so very different.
I'm a homeowner, a taxpayer, and a voter. I'm not buying what you are selling. Yes, we should be able to get our hands on all of the information that you are asking for. The simple fact is, we need redistricting now. It is wrong for children at one school to be sitting in trailers all day when students are bussed into neighboring schools to fill empty seats. That needs to be fixed as soon as possible. As a taxpayer, I don't want to pay for a school that has only 150 students. I don't want to pay to bus students across this county to fill empty schools. I don't want to pay for magnet programs that offer "special" classes that should be offered to every student in the district.
"DCSS is one of the few systems not checking on true residency at the schools. "
I work in a DCSS school. We check proof of residence for every student when they start school in August. Every student who registers after school starts must also provide proof of residence. If that isn't happening in your neighborhood school, you might want to talk with your principal.
@ 12:03, it may be "checked" but it's not necessarily checked. Don't go kidding yourself, that there are not kids that aren't living in DeKalb or in your attendance zone who are in your school, but have connections.
Excellent work, as usual, Sandy. Thorough and rational. Who has the authority that will make this happen? Jester and Edler would be all for this, but will the others go along? Can Jester and Edler ask for these per pupil spreadsheets showing where the unspent per pupil money went? Boy, would that tell a lot. Why doesn't SACS want to know? Why doesn't the state want to know? Especially in light of all the criminal investigations going on. Has ANYONE besides you thought about "following the money?" Maybe this article should be sent to people in authority to prompt them to make the request of Turk and Friends.
It would seem that any BOE member would have the authority to ask for the spreadsheets and any of the other documents that are hidden from the public.
Just had a thought--I know the feds have an information act. Guess what? So does the state. Why isn't someone here demanding the documents?
From their website:
"Under the Georgia Open Records Act, all public records are available for inspection and copying unless they are specifically exempted from disclosure under the law. If a government agency or custodian of public records withholds a public document from production under an Open Records Request, they must cite to the provision of Georgia law that exempts the record from being produced.
A request to inspect or copy records may be made either orally or in writing. For purposes of documenting and clarifying the scope and timing of the request, it is a better practice to make the request in writing."
There has been a lot of talk about that 2004 audit--has anyone asked for it (officially, through open records) and been denied? According to what I read, they have three days to give you the records.
It would seem that any BOE member would have the authority to ask for the spreadsheets and any of the other documents that are hidden from the public.
Just had a thought--I know the feds have an information act. Guess what? So does the state. Why isn't someone here demanding the documents?
From their website:
"Under the Georgia Open Records Act, all public records are available for inspection and copying unless they are specifically exempted from disclosure under the law. If a government agency or custodian of public records withholds a public document from production under an Open Records Request, they must cite to the provision of Georgia law that exempts the record from being produced.
A request to inspect or copy records may be made either orally or in writing. For purposes of documenting and clarifying the scope and timing of the request, it is a better practice to make the request in writing."
There has been a lot of talk about that 2004 audit--has anyone asked for it (officially, through open records) and been denied? According to what I read, they have three days to give you the records.
Please , don't let the Palen/Arizonaefforts and responses ruin a great system like Dekalb. Yes, we have problems and new leadrship and now more responsive, inquisitive Board members ( old ones). Let's make DeKlab great again and stop all of the racism and hatred.
I have friend in neighboring school systems who laugh at us for putting our system down when the same stuff is happening in theirs.
I am glad to hear the free and reduced lunch numbers being questioned. From talk I have heard there is no real verification of the numbers beyond the school system. When was the last time anyone heard of a family being charged with falsifying the free lunch application? I fully support the lunch program but if word gets out that the schools are encouraging application simply to increase Title I funds the current congress could sink the entire program. This is a major scandal with terrible implications waiting to happen.
The FRL issue is a federal one, just like all other entitlement programs. If you want the requirements changed, and oversight strengthened, the Feds are who need to do it.
The problem with FRD is the same as the problem with testing. The schools who have the most to gain or lose are the ones monitoring the program. This program is needed but using the same unverified numbers to acquire Title 1 funds is where it invites corruption. Schools may not be openly advocating cheating on the application but they are going to be slow in finding cheats since it's not in their monetary interest to do so.
Private School Guy, don't forget that the free and reduced lunch program is run by the FEDERAL government. Those who benefit are farming conglomerates that receive large subsidies from the USDA. If you are really interested in a scandal, follow that money. This country still pays these folks not to grow certain crops.
Don't just point fingers at the students and their families receiving these benefits.
Amen Anon 11:58! Having as many empty seats and schools with trailers is not a diversion. It is true. The calculations used to determine school capacity are provided by the state. The state told DeKalb the amount of entitlement money they could receive if empty seats were reduced. Anyone can walk any school building to see utilization for themselves.
Like you said, closing and consolidating underutilized schools along with redistricting is long overdue. We have known that for years but wanted to keep the small neighborhood schools despite the costs to operating them. The data provided by Dan Drake has made everyone aware of the problems we have.
There is no conspiracy. I see many people not wanting to deal with reality and trying to protect their corner of the county at the expense of others.
"Don't go kidding yourself, that there are not kids that aren't living in DeKalb or in your attendance zone who are in your school, but have connections."
Are there kids attending DeKalb schools that should not be there? Probably so but not as many as some are alleging. State law allows teachers to bring their child to the school where they teach. This has probably been abused by allowing them to attend any school in the cluster or specialty schools (remember Ms. Jackson whose children attended DESA yet lived in Gwinnett?).
Out of district students can attend DeKalb schools by making a payment. This arrangement also exists with City of Decatur schools. Not sure if there is data to show if this is being used. Schools close to the county line are probably likely candidates for this abuse. Does the county have arrangements to allow students in this situation to attend DeKalb Schools? I heard they did years ago in cases where their home school was miles away. Call it a friendly consideration between two school districts as it could go the other way also.
If you have concrete information on lot's of illegal, out of area students attending DeKalb schools, please provide it. There was just a story in the AJC about high school basketball players being recruited to play to traditional powers in the area. There is more a problem with athletes being recruited from their home school district than what you are suggesting.
Actually, the situation with Decatur has to do with very high needs special ed students.
DeKalb has a tuition program, the state requires it, but DCSS has no tuition students.
What I think is commonplace in DeKalb, is that parents do live in the district when they enroll their children, but move sometime during the school year and don't take their children to the new school.
In our area, this is a problem, because the middle and high schools are notoriously lax about checking proof of residence.
"What I think is commonplace in DeKalb, is that parents do live in the district when they enroll their children, but move sometime during the school year and don't take their children to the new school.
In our area, this is a problem, because the middle and high schools are notoriously lax about checking proof of residence."
You probably see this more in high transition areas, i.e apartments, than anywhere else. Is the solution to ask all students to bring in proof of residency every month? Or do you target those that live in apartments? Should the student transfer immediately or at the end of the current semester? How do you find the balance without spending too much money and time?
I support the FRL program, it helps education. I support the families who need it. But basing Title I funds on the use of this program is the problem. What I see as the biggest problem is that the lack of verification may well lead to discrediting not only the FRL programs but also the Title 1 program. While I have reservations regarding the involvement of of the federal government in education Title I funding in one way or another is badly needed for public education to work.
Compare property values and taxes of neighborhoods with poor schools and great schools. If you could live in a 3K square foot new home in south DeKalb with low taxes and send your kids to Druid Hills wouldn't this be the best of all possible situations? This is the new and improved busing plan for those with connections.
Have seen principals and teachers show parents how to get free/reduced lunch, so that the school gets more money. Don't have a problem with kids who truly deserve this program receive it, but when you have children who pull up in a BMW or other expensive car and whose parents make more money than you as a teacher, come on now. No one checks the validity of any of the free/reduced applications and they should and nail those that have lied. Call people in, have them bring their tax forms and prove the needs are there.
Free/Reduced lunch has become a way for schools to get more funding, and not necessarily reach children who truly need the food.
The public would be able to swallow the redistricting if the administration offices and many unnecessary jobs were cut for next year, as well as salaries right sized, and it was shone to the public that it wasn't going to be business as usual in DCSS-adults and wallets first and kids last.
"If you could live in a 3K square foot new home in south DeKalb with low taxes and send your kids to Druid Hills wouldn't this be the best of all possible situations? This is the new and improved busing plan for those with connections."
What's the secret to taking advantage of this deal? Going to an under-performing school then taking advantage of AYP transfers? Did those with connections plan to have their children use the new and improved busing plan?
Anon 9:05, you are correct in what you say. The question becomes who has the burden of verifying the application, the local school system or Federal government?
Again, this is a dirty secret that is used by school districts around the country. Look at the recipients and entitlement payments provided by the USDA and you will find out why everyone looks the other way with this program.
I graduated from Lakeside in 2000, my brother did in 2008. We always lived in Lakeside's district, however, my brother was asked to prove his residency. I wonder why he was targeted for this if no one else is. He was a great student, caused no problems, and was even on the basketball team. Things that make you go hmmmm....
Private School Guy, I believe everyone supports the goals of this program. It benefits farmers that produce crops, meats, and milk along with families that need the food. This is a subsidy from our federal government that most citizens support.
Whether the FRL data alone should be used to determine poverty rates thus the Title 1 designation is a good question. Again, who should bear the burden and cost of the verification? I think it should be the federal government.
Most federal programs designed to help people can be abused. Look at Low Income Housing Tax Credits. Some say this contributed to compromising housing patterns throughout DeKalb. While it did provide housing for low income residents, there was many people that made money off of this without concern for the impact to communities and schools.
Anon 9:23, was your brother targeted at the beginning of the school year (as all students were) or randomly throughout the school year? You seem to imply he was singled out for something that was not asked of others.
Excellent website and information. Disappointed to see so many anonymous posters.
To post anonymous is a way for employees to have a voice and sometime provide additional school house insight without feeling threatened by the "Palace Police".
Excellent information and well posed questions that should be answered by the BOE. I hope Jester and Edler will ask for the data and use the information. I truly believe all of this redistricting is a plan to Share the Pain - shift students from nearby schools to South DeKalb so fewer schools in SCW's area will need to be closed. I also believe that there are huge issues that need to be addressed and this redistricing serves as a huge distraction from the issue of nepotism, bloated Central Staff budgets, and corrupt/poor leadership.
The problem at Lakeside is that many "cheating" families use a friend's or family members address for their kids. The put a utility bill in their own name and bingo, they're in. DCSS has no follow up system in place when presented with evidence that this is happening. All the school itself can do is request the family bring in proof of residence. No problem there, here's my electric bill. That's the end of the discussion. I know of at least three out of district families at LHS that are doing this right now. It happens at Oak Grove as well. I recently watched a little kid hop off the bus at what I am certain is her Grandma's house.
This type of cheating the system needs to be looked into before redistricting due to overcrowding takes place. We need a Sarah Smith Elementary type investigation. A few years ago when Fulton Cnty. wanted to redistrict the families hired a private investigator to find the cheaters. And oh boy, they found them.
I wonder if SACS will be talking to parents. Will neighborhood civic associations be writing and petitioning SACS?
The data that Sandy is asking for is precisely the information that must be at hand for ANY kind of rational decision-making. It is both shocking and frightening that this information isn't already available in an easily understood format. The fact that this data ISN'T readily available tells us that DCSS' decision-making model has been, and continues to be "Our Perception is Reality" and "Don't try and confuse me with the facts." This would be okay if the business of DCSS wasn't that of educating our children, and funded by our tax dollars. "Not Buying It", author of what I think was supposed to have been a satire, could you tell us exactly which data Sandy is asking for is unnecessary or overkill? In other words, which data would NOT be needed in order to ensure that redistricting would create the best educational settings for the highest number of students? Shouldn't this be the goal of DCSS?
to Anon:January 12, 2011 11:58 PM - I don't disagree that the schools that are echoing and very empty and in need of closing need to be closed. The dozen or so "high cost" schools that have been screaming to be closed, need to be closed. I do agree with Sandy and others, that before you redistrict the overcrowded schools that are "high performing" with lots of trailers that, for the most part (at least in my neck of the woods -- and I'm not personally affected but informed) -- that you can not redistrict the resident population who have been zoned to the home school for decades when the overcrowding is artificially caused by transfers and the "need for money" appears to be caused by huge mismangement. We know that when we registered at our high school and middle school, for many years, residency was not checked. The middle school -- and possibly -- the high school -- is now checking but no one is actually verifying and the exceptions are numerous such that there may be 1/3 of the students from out of district to 2/3 in-district -- it is unfair to the in-district families who purchased homes and paid taxes on those homes to be redistricted based on the artificial overcrowding. The County should take the first step and close the truly high cost, "ghost" schools but it should hold off on the rest of the plan until real information can be gathered and it can be done fairly and only if really necessary. Further, I question if it is even legal to make some of the proposed moves as some of the shifts are from performing schools into non-AYP schoosl and that may actually violate NCLB (eg the shift away from DHHS to make room for LHS kids)-- I don't think they can do this. The kids transferred out then have the right to AYP transfer somewhere else... it's a vicious cycyle. No decisions can be made with any kids who are anywhere based on NCLB transfers -- only based on where they are supposed to be and I don't think that's been factored in (AYP transfers should be a moot point by 2014).
The data that Sandy is asking for is precisely the information that must be at hand for ANY kind of rational decision-making. It is both shocking and frightening that this information isn't already available in an easily understood format. The fact that this data ISN'T readily available tells us that DCSS' decision-making model has been, and continues to be "Our Perception is Reality" and "Don't try and confuse me with the facts." This would be okay if the business of DCSS wasn't that of educating our children, and funded by our tax dollars. "Not Buying It", author of what I think was supposed to have been a satire, could you tell us exactly which data Sandy is asking for is unnecessary or overkill? In other words, which data would NOT be needed in order to ensure that redistricting would create the best educational settings for the highest number of students? Shouldn't this be the goal of DCSS?
You want an answer for residency?
Make all residents present previous year tax returns.
"But, I haven't filed them yet?"
Show us the extension that you filed.
"I haven't done that either?"
You are not in Compliance with federal law so therefore you cannot attend this school.
Your tax returns are based on your residency, not Auntie or Grammy's residency.
What about the multi-family dwellers that don't have a SS#?
WOW!!!!
Is it time to "Pay to Play" in education?
Follow the money!
Jo
Not Buying It believes that it is ok to redistrict and make radical changes without that information. This is probably because, in some way, shape or form, this person benefits from the presented plans directly. In other words, not just because monies will be saved, but something much more personal.
Elementary schools are better at asking for proof of residency every year. The middle school and high school in my area did not ask for proof at the beginning of the year.
Anonymous 10:19 is correct people will use a relatives address or have someone come in and sign an affadavit swearing these people are living with them. A registrar I know says when they come in they want to laugh because they know its a sham. What needs to happen is for Dekalb to take these people to court if they are found out so people will stop.
Free and reduced lunch is another example. A student whom my son knew was on free and reduced in middle school and lived in a very nice home, nice cars and he was getting free lunch. I went to the school cafeteria manager and they said the county only performs random audits and there was nothing that could be done.
People know how to shaft the system and do it well. We need to set examples and make it stop!
@ anon 9:28----Many posters have complained that LHS does not check residency status. I find it odd that my brother had to prove his. We did live in an apartment complex.
I know two families at Vanderlyn who live outside of the boundaries - one actually told me they moved to Alpharetta! How many more are there . . .?
I urge everyone to contact Ms. Tyson and their BOE member to advocate what you believe is important. Some people agree with redistricting now, others think we should wait. Let your representative know where you stand. Do not let this process be hijacked by a vocal minority. And if you need/want additional data to make up your mind about where you stand, let the BOE know that too. It is in all of our best interests to let our representatives know what we want and even to offer alternative solutions (that are also well-supported) if you have them. For or against these plans, let your voice be heard.
Anon at 10:19:
The same thing happens at Fernbank. A family (from BV, no less) "rents" space at a house, and produces an electric bill. And now homes that have been districted to Fernbank and its predecessor locations for 90+ years get redistricted in an attempt to bolster attendance at Don McChesney's old elementary school. I'm thinking he may need to recuse himself from any vote.
"it may be "checked" but it's not necessarily checked. Don't go kidding yourself, that there are not kids that aren't living in DeKalb or in your attendance zone who are in your school, but have connections."
I am one of the people who checks paperwork in August. The rules are specific and we apply them. How do you know what you think you know? Again, if you know it isn't happening in your school and can cite some specifics, you need to talk with someone who can fix the problem.
"I truly believe all of this redistricting is a plan to Share the Pain - shift students from nearby schools to South DeKalb so fewer schools in SCW's area will need to be closed."
Wyndy, if you look closely at the list, you will notice that more schools in SCWs area are scheduled to be closed in the new plan. You can bet she will fight to minimize it though it will be hard to do when you consider the long term growth projections for that area.
Some one posted earlier but the Citizens Planning Task Force actually recommended a comprehensive plan before making their recommendations. They did not want want to address this using an incremental approach because you could redistrict children a second or third time later. Get it over all at once.
The best data for helping to determine whether schools should be closed or redistricted was provided by Dan Drake and is on the Planning page. It is the attendance area and enrollment report. It shows the total enrollment, number of resident students, and out of area students. There is a second report that shows where the out of area high school students come from.
From these reports you can see that Avondale and Chamblee High Schools have about 700 resident students each in their attendance areas. Create this report for the past 10 years to see if there are trends. This could be why the centralization plan was proposed.
Affidavits (“I can’t afford my own apartment, so my kids & I are living with my brother who lives in the Lakeside attendance area”) are another way parents get around the proof of residency rule. Paperwork and documentation are supposed to be provided with the applications, but you wouldn’t believe how this just doesn’t happen, is forged, or is overlooked. These affidavits are supposed to be good for only one semester, but very rarely (if ever) are both parties asked to come in and complete a renewal.
Speaking of recusing Kenny McChesney!
The HS where he taught for soooo many years hasn't being touched in the redistricting process.
Speaking of touched, they just finished a complete renovation and didn't even increase the student capacity of the SCHOOL! NICE job Kenny!
I'm speaking of Tucker HS and mocking Don at the expense of Kenny Chesney, a country music artist!
It seems that we are spinning our wheels here again. More diversions--now it's the lunch programs and proof of residency. I agree that those are issues that need to be addressed with regard to redistricting. Meanwhile, much of the discussion of the disgusting amount of bloat at "The Palace" has fallen by the wayside.
We absolutely need to sort out every issue, and the list is growing. But getting the administration in line fiscally--putting real facts and figures in front of the public at large--is the only way that business as usual at the county office will change.
I don't understand why no one is going through the proper procedure and demanding any and all relevant documents through the Open Records Act mentioned earlier. From what I can tell, it would take ten minutes to write a memo stating, "I hereby request_____." and those documents would be at hand in 3 days.
Those documents--particularly the audit mentionted so much in earlier threads--could then be published. They are public information. Why don't you have them?
I would do this, but I am a teacher and am not going to put myself out there like that. But surely someone here who is "out there," Kim? Ella? could get those records. I think if the public saw the comparison between the "Pre-Lewis" salaries and positions and the current ones, the pressure for change would mount.
I appreciate this forum and the fact that for the most part the folks here seem to be pro-teacher. But we need thousands of people outraged and demanding change, and publishing that audit might just do that.
There are so many on this blog that are intelligent and concerned, so there must simply be something standing in the way that has not occurred to me. I don't understand why I keep reading "They won't release______" when the law provides for a simple method of compelling the county to do so within 72 hours. What am I missing?
Let's not forget that the state and come in and told DeKalb of the additiional entitlement dollars they are eligible for if they reduce the number of empty seats. Hopefully no one is questioning the reality of too many schools and too many empty seats. Asking for more data is fine but then you can have a paralysis of analysis and not get anything done. Is that what Sandy is hoping for? Most of the data used for helping with the decision is on the website.
You may find that 3-5% of the data needs additional cleansing but will that significantly change the recommendation? For a school system of over 99,000 students, I don't think so. The trending data should be fairly accurate to help with projections.
Curious to see how teachers will work the extra week required to be paid full salary. I also feel sorry for all of the hourly folks--bus drivers, cafeteria workers-- who are losing a week's pay.
In light of the recent tragedy, perhaps Sandy would remove "ready, set, aim" from her post?
Actually, Anon 10:35, my neighborhood takes a hit from this redistricting plan. Unfortunately, I don't anticipate getting out of this redistricting process without taking a hit, which seems to be the core belief system of many. When the school board can't get off its collective behind to make a tough decision about closing or redistricting someone else's school, it's heel-dragging by unsophisticated or machiavellian board members. When it's your own school, it's because officials haven't sufficiently analyzed all of the data. In corporate America, that's known as killing a proposal with "more study."
Sandy- great points, but your use of language is piss poor. I wouldn't let my students speak that way- why should you? Raise the bar a little bit, or you'll just piss people off.
Anon 11:56.
I'm sorry you feel so hurt by actions in Tucson. Many of us feel the pain inflicted by a disturbed individual.
Her comment was "Ready, Fire, Aim!"
Not "Ready, Set, Aim." as you stated so eloquently in your post.
In my opinion, her comment is made to exemplify DCSS approach of making decisions without knowing what direction we are going.
Please re-read the original post, don't try and connect her DCSS reference to Tucson and MOVE ON.
I hope you can understand this explanation.
God Bless Tucson and DCSS.
I agree we MUST consolidate and redistrict. Ms. Tyson asked the stakeholders for sacrifice, well Ms. Tyson I'm willing to sacrifice for the betterment of OUR system. However, the lack of transparency and trust that permeates from the Palace is absolutely wrong!
Ms. Tyson give us the truth, the truth shall set US free. Where is the 2004 audit, if you can't show us the report, tell us why? Get another audit working in every department, not involving the schoolhouse directly. Start unloading the bloat at the Central Office. Start with Audria "I took a trip with CLew" Berry and her office of improvement. Shut it down and end the "programs" that have not shown any return on investment, like America's Choice. The money saved there should provide funds to get more teachers and resources INTO the schools.
I also think it's time for the staff, who was hired and worked for CLew, to start to find other work. Until we start seeing significant cuts and change at the Central Office, I do NOT trust Ms. Tyson or the BOE with the tasks at hand. Plus, the New Super will not have a chance to succeed if the current, corrupt leadership remains in place.
Clew, Pope, the BOE and the leadership which remains in place have already me pissed off, Sandy is only expressing the anger felt by many in DeKalb. This current leadership, bloat and secrets have sufficiently pissed everyone off.
If we say wee wee'd off it doesn't have the same effect, does it? We could say p.o'd.
Show us where the money is going, audit everything and show us the 2004 audit, nuff said for now. Maybe we won't be so wee wee'd off!
It would be a great help if DCSS broke down the transfers into AYP, teachers who teach at the school bringing their kids (I'm all for that), DCSS personnel who are not teachers sending their kids to the school (NOT for that), administrative transfers from over enrolled schools to under enrolled schools (who is not for that?).
If there are administrative transfers for kids that are for example threatened or bullied by kids at the sending school, then that is a problem that needs to be addressed by DCSS administration. I don't know why a child should have to leave a school because he/she is bullied. If the bullying is serious enough to transfer a child, then the child/children that are doing the bullying need to be suspended and if this does not work they need to be expelled - i.e. their parents will need to provide an alternative education for them. Why leave the bullies in place to terrorize other children?
The following "official" request per O.C.G.A. § 50-18-70 was just emailed to Ramona Tyson. I also am posting a copy of the e-mail here so there can be no doubt that the request was made.
"Thursday, January 13, 2011
"Dear Mrs. Tyson:
"This is a written request, made under the Georgia Open Records Act, Title 50, Chapter 18, Article 4, Inspection of Public Records ( O.C.G.A. § 50-18-70 through O.C.G.A. § 50-18-76) for a copy of the 2004 Salary Study and Audit of DeKalb County School System performed by Ernst & Young. This salary study and audit was approved by the DeKalb County School System Board of Education in 2003, per the Board minutes.
"As a reminder, at the September 15, 2010 Emory Lavista Parent Council meeting, Shayna Steinfeld asked you to unbury this 2004 salary audit. You admitted the audit got buried. To date, you have not produced the requested salary audit.
"Please provide me with an electronic copy, if possible, of the 2004 salary audit within the time frame allowed by O.C.G.A. § 50-18-70. Please send the electronic copy of the requested 2004 salary audit to me at: shspruill@gmail.com.
"Thank you,
"Sandy Spruill"
"I know two families at Vanderlyn who live outside of the boundaries - one actually told me they moved to Alpharetta! How many more are there . . .? "
I can understand that. Dunwoody Springs in Fulton Co. on Roberts Drive is literally a few miles from Austin. They draw from a less affluent area than Austin, and the parents there complain that they do not have the scores Austin has. So I'm sure that happens.
I live near Briarlake. One of my next door neighbors' relatives used to drop her two grade level children off at their house every morning and they would walk to Briarlake. I don't even believe they were in DeKalb County. My neighbors claimed that these two children lived with them. I didn't turn them in because it's hard to do something like that and then live next door to someone. But I know this happens because I saw it happen. I was a teacher in DCSS as well and saw quite a bit of this.
The admin and support group who send their children to Lakeside, Druid Hills, Briarlake, Laurel Ridge, Henderson Middle, Oak Grove, etc. do not use subterfuge. The superintendent approves those transfers. Ms. Tyson will continue to do this. These are her colleagues and friends and supported her in her climb up the "corporate" ladder. How would anyone think Ms. Tyson would "rock the boat" on an issue like this? That is one of the main perks of being outside the schoolhouse - picking and choosing your school.
When you really think about the situation this school system is in, you know we have to make some difficult decisions. The school system budget is in dire straits. I believe, that we need both redistricting AND to clean house in the county office. Getting rid of lots of ineffective highly paid people at the county office will not eliminate the need to redistrict. IMHO both need to happen as soon as possible.
"We need a Sarah Smith Elementary type investigation. A few years ago when Fulton Cnty. wanted to redistrict the families hired a private investigator to find the cheaters. And oh boy, they found them. "
I remember that. And I remember that the school system said if we catch you, we will take you to court and sue you for big bucks.
Read what Sarah Smith parents did. They actually did a door to door survey.
http://www.nbca.org/Newsletters/03-02/page1.html
Nice job Sandy,
"Please provide me with an electronic copy, if possible, of the 2004 salary audit within the time frame allowed by O.C.G.A. § 50-18-70."
How long does it allow for DCSS to respond?
S7
"Dear Mrs. Tyson:
"This is a written request, made under the Georgia Open Records Act, Title 50, Chapter 18, Article 4, Inspection of Public Records ( O.C.G.A. § 50-18-70 through O.C.G.A. § 50-18-76) for a copy of the 2004 Salary Study and Audit of DeKalb County School System performed by Ernst & Young. This salary study and audit was approved by the DeKalb County School System Board of Education in 2003, per the Board minutes. "
Good for you Sandy. Keep us posted.
@anon 9:26 AM Yes the Federal Govt pays for the FLP. But guess where that money comes from? A loan made to the Feds for which the very children who eat the lunch will be responsible to pay. Eat now --- pay later. Isn't this is a great country!
When my child attended Vanderlyn there were families who lived outside DeKalb but had administrative approval to attend Vanderlyn because the grandparent lived on Vanderlyn Drive. There was a total of about 7 kids from these two sets of grandparents.
@ Sagamore 7, 1:03 PM
How long does it allow for DCSS to respond?
Mrs. Tyson has 3 business days to respond and permit inspection. Here is the pertinent section of the law:
"(f) The individual in control of such public record or records shall have a reasonable amount of time to determine whether or not the record or records requested are subject to access under this article and to permit inspection and copying. In no event shall this time exceed three business days. Where responsive records exist but are not available within three business days of the request, a written description of such records, together with a timetable for their inspection and copying, shall be provided within that period; provided, however, that records not subject to inspection under this article need not be made available for inspection and copying or described other than as required by subsection (h) of Code Section 50-18-72, and no records need be made available for inspection or copying if the public officer or agency in control of such records shall have obtained, within that period of three business days, an order based on an exception in this article of a superior court of this state staying or refusing the requested access to such records."
The thing is, so many people have asked for this -- just on this blog, alone. If Ramona Tyson wants to do her job well ... if she has any interest in responsiveness, openness and transparency ... if she is focused on providing excellent education for our children, which is Job One for DCSS ... if she wants to be the superintendent for the people, not just for the clique of Crawford's Cronies ... if she has nothing to hide ... she would have already responded and provided this information -- mentioned so many times -- to the DCSS stakeholders, without waiting for a formal request.
Let me also point out that I posted my request after sending it to Mrs. Tyson because we really don't know how many other people may have made such a request already. I want this request -- and Tyson's response -- to be very public. I encourage others to do the same thing.
Sandy Hats off to you for requesting the audit
I suggest that you email a copy of the request to your BOE member and to Meg Mateuuci @ the AJC. Show this on a copy sent to Ramona to put a bit of pressure on her.
The 2004 audit should be viewed in context. It was done at the behest of Dr Brown. After his silence was bought, CLew came in and changed many of the job titles to increase the salaries. He thereafter fattened the administrative staff at the elevated salary. So maybe the alleged $15 million in overpayment is even more.
We also need a comparison of what neighboring school systems pay for comparable jobs and perks.
Thanks Sandy! Going back to Anon - January 13, 2011 11:28 AM -- we know one family at LHS -- we've known them since HMS days -- she volunteers for PTA but never follows through. If you look the phone number up on reverse 411 -- it shows a stone Mountain address. A beautiful home on a lake (e.g. they could have bought an in district home....). The address shown for school purposes is in district -- it belongs to grandparents who don't pay school taxes due to their age. They are late for everything because they don't really live near by. If you drive by the in district house, they are never there. That's because, they don't really live there. The kids never look happy; that's because their commute is really long and their parents force them to lie about their residency (okay, I'm stretching things a bit). We mention this to folks -- including Mr. Womack and school administrators-- and nothing ever gets done -- going back years. This is just one, of many, examples, of folks feeling entitled to attend LHS who are not districted for LHS and who are not paying the higher taxes of those who have bought homes in the LHS district. Oddly, they may have been able to legitimately AYP in but didn't really try the legal route to get there... just the entitlement route. There will be no buy in for the redistricting of schools like HMS and LHS before the artificial nature of the over-crowding is really and truly addressed by the county (see the post about Briarlake a few posts ago... it happens all the time).
"We also need a comparison of what neighboring school systems pay for comparable jobs and perks."
You can do that by going to this website, http://open.georgia.gov/.
Select Salaries and Travel Reimbursement, Organizationi, then Local Boards of Education. You can download all the records for a school district into a spreadsheet. Unfortunately you won't know the years of service or the education level for an individual but you can cross check common positions. Let us know what you uncover.
If you really want to see something interesting, select Title instead of Organization, then search for all Superintendents. Check out the salaries while considering the size of the school districts.
to Anon: January 13, 2011 11:28 AM -- I can also tell you about 3 boys that the one of the sports coaches has recruited -- 2 should have been at Tucker and one at Dunwoody... somehow they wound up as transfers to LHS. Then there was the boy who was supposed to be at Tucker but he just wanted to be at LHS so they chose an address and found a way to get listed for LHS. Voila, he's at LHS. I'm up to 5 specific examples now. 3 white kids, 2 black. None are AYP and none belong to Administrators. Then there is Hank Johnson's Kids and Elaine Boyer's kids -- they are all out of district and are at LHS on special permission. There are 4 more, not counting AYPs and Administrator's kids. We know of a teacher from south dekalb, whose school did not make AYP. She does not live in DeKalb. Her school's kids were allowed to transfer on AYP. Her kid gets to go to her school as "staff" so her kid is at her school from out of county as "staff" then gets to cross county to artificiially overstuffed LHS as an out-of-county AYP transfer rather than staying in her home school as a staff kid or returning to her home county school. The list could continue -- is this specific enough?
Didn't commissioner Elaine Boyer's children go to Lakeside even though she lived in the Tucker cluster? Seems I recall they swam hence they reason for the transfer.
As with the grandparents living near Vanderlyn and other mentions of using relative addresses, this has been going on in school systems forever. Exceptions are sometimes made for the right people. Goes to show what some parents will do in order to get a good education for their children. That does not make it right or fair for those that play by the rules.
These last few comments, alone, make it crystal-clear why we must have ALL of the student population information named in Sandy's post.
BTW -- the Georgia High School Association has rules against public schools recruiting out-of-attendance-area athletes and any other out-of-attendance area students who are recruited to compete in academic events. There are significant penalties and the coaches know this. Just FYI ...
Sandy,
One more questions?
"However, that records not subject to inspection under this article need not be made available for inspection and copying or described other than as required by subsection (h) of Code Section 50-18-72,"
What does subsection (h) consist of?
I will bet me last $$$ that an outside attorney for DCSS is currently drafting a document (and charging DCSS $225 an hour) that prohibits the release of the audit based solely on this part of the law.
I'm just saying....
Sandy--thanks so much! (I am the teacher who asked that someone step up and make this request). It shall be interesting.
I pity the Metro superintendents on having to make a call about school tomorrow.
Some roads are barely passable while others are dry. My own street is horrid, cars get stuck, in the shade and just a 150 feet down the road is clear and dry where there is no shade.
Fulton called it a while back. The rule is supposed to be that every school can be safely opened(including safe travel of all staff and students). NO way they will open.
Dekalb closed tomorrow
Shouldn't we be asking WHY people want to go to other schools than their home school? Isn't it likely that they are wanting transfers because their school is not successful? Isn't that what the REAL problem is? Aren't you being somewhat myopic in your focus? Look to the root problem. Paren'ts want a good education for their kids. They aren't getting that in their home schools so they request transfers. They receive them, in part (likely large part) because the administration KNOWS that there is not equity in programming and access to a good education across schools. Rather than dealing with this and improving ALL schools, by hiring good administrators and giving them true supports so that these schools can succeed, they approve the transfers.
Seriously, stop focusing on the outcome and start talking about the real issues. Until we push and push and push this administration to focus on every student in every school, not taking the easy way out, this problem will exist. YOu are all pushing for bandaids for your own little neck of the woods, not solutions.
Now I am interested to see how the state BOE rules regarding teachers making up the lost days.
"We also need a comparison of what neighboring school systems pay for comparable jobs and perks."
You can do this be going to the Open Georgia website. Select Salary and Travel Reimbursement, Organization, the Local Boards of Education. You can download the information to a spreadsheet and analyze away. You won't know the years of service or education level of the employee but you should be able to compare positions across school districts.
You may also want to select Title instead of Organization then look for all superintendents. It will be interesting comparing their salaries when you factor in the size of the school system.
"BTW -- the Georgia High School Association has rules against public schools recruiting out-of-attendance-area athletes and any other out-of-attendance area students who are recruited to compete in academic events. There are significant penalties and the coaches know this. Just FYI ..."
You are kidding, right? Has anyone known of the GHSA ever coming down on this? There was an article in the AJC last week on this, with all the basketball transfers in the area.
Just like out of area students that attend your school, no one really wants to do anything about it. Wasn't there a case in Cobb County a few years ago that brought bad publicity to them when a mother used a relative's address? Everyone talks big but end up doing nothing.
The folks (some teachers, coaches, and especially parents) at Lakeside are famous for not following the rules. The mentality is that rules apply to others not to us. I know of a junior that came to LHS from Tucker and walked into a starting position on the varsity baseball team. A direct violation of GHSA rules. This was pointed out to the adminstrators and nothing was done.
@ Anon 3:58 PM
Seriously, stop focusing on the outcome and start talking about the real issues. Until we push and push and push this administration to focus on every student in every school, not taking the easy way out, this problem will exist. YOu are all pushing for bandaids for your own little neck of the woods, not solutions.
This is amazing. Have you not read anything else on this blog ever? Geeesh. All we do on this blog is fight for equality in all schools. Offering transfers to the squeaky wheels is NO SOLUTION. We say that ALL THE TIME.
We need to redistrict - but we also need to balance the schools and offer equity in educational opportunities. This is why the leadership is getting the strong push-back on their plans to redistrict - they have let the equity get so out of balance - only catering to those who know how to work the system. Now, they want to mix it all up and everyone is crying foul.
How can they be surprised? I told you all a long time ago that this would happen.
Excellent post, BTW, Sandy. Well-researched as usual.
@cere: My point is not Sandy's post, I get the bigger transfer issues, particularly AYP/NCLB and large scale Central office transfers. But, I think that focusing on this family with 2 kids or that family with 1 kid going to or continuing at a school when they are no longer in district is a much smaller issue that is detracting from the bigger picture, that is the need to actually improve home schools so that people don't want to leave.
I think we're on the same page. It is the focus on the small problems such as PTA mom who "doesn't follow through" that is driving me nuts. Really, think bigger than this.
Again, asking for this data is not the same as asking for another study, or another form of analysis paralysis. It is simply asking that the critical decisions that the BOE
and DCSS must make be rooted in fact. A pill needing to be swallowed, however bitter, can be much better tolerated when the one who is to swallow it KNOWS (i.e., fact-based and not just someone's perception or desire) that in the long-run, it is for the best. And again, this is all data that DCSS should have at its fingertips.
I (Jo Newman Russler) posted that last comment starting with the word "Again", but it wouldn't let me post it with my name; kept saying I typed incorrect word verifications (8 times!)Still doing it!
How does the 2020 plan start with a 5 month decision to shake up magnets, jostle with the majority of schools, change attendance zones, and generaly stir up the whole mess?
Regarding the 2004 Compensation Audit:
This is what's covered under the Open Records Act:
http://law.ga.gov/00/article/0,2086,87670814_87996542_87998509,00.html
Here is what you can't ask for:
http://law.ga.gov/00/article/0,2086,87670814_87996542_87998559,00.html
Here is information regarding an Open meeting:
"The Open Meetings Act provides that an agency may not hold a meeting covered under the Act without having provided due notice of the time and place of the meeting, a preliminary agenda of the meeting and the publication of summary and final minutes of the meeting afterwards. "
http://law.ga.gov/00/article/0,2086,87670814_87996542_87997317,00.html
It seems to be that the BOE should not have suspended posting the BOE meeting minutes on the DCSS BOE website. Does "publication" mean they have the BOE minutes at the Central Office and taxpayers need to go to the Central Office and request them?
I'm for closing schools and redistricting, and I like other posters feel that besides the AYP students, only the children of teachers should be enrolled in schools that are not their home schools.
Parents are upset because it seems closing and redistricting is what Ms. Tyson and the BOE think is easier than tackling the even larger issue of expenditures OUTSIDE the schoolhouse being so much larger than INSIDE the schoolhouse. Parents/taxpayers are concerned Ms. Tyson will yet again balance the budget on the backs of the schoolhouse members.
Remember that last year Ms. Tyson and the BOE cut hundreds of paraprofessionals, around 100 teacher positions, and CTSSs that worked INISIDE the schoolhouse while she left the admin and support group OUTSIDE the schoolhouse virtually intact. The admin and support group numbers 8,500 while the teachers number 6,500. The numbers became even more unbalanced under her austerity plan. All of the austerity occurred in the classroom for students.
Ms. Tyson asked and received from the Board of Education the ability to place up to 36 students in math, science, social studies, and language arts classrooms and up to 39 in all other subjects. Meanwhile, she has not made ANY significant moves to reduce the number of the Central Office personnel.
It's good she's looking at outsourcing the custodial group, but she needed to start with the most expensive groups first - Security ($12,500) and MIS ($20,000,000) come to mind.
Sorry my typo - Security cost us Security $12,500,000 a year.
@7:48, can you point to where teachers were cut in last years budget? Wouldn't they show up in the personnel report like the para's?
When I looked at the HR reports from last summer, I saw central office cuts.
Also, didn't the state provide the waiver for increasing class sizes? Isn't this something all school systems used so as not to fill as many teacher positions?
7:52, the increased class sizes were authorized by state law, but from what I hear, Dekalb was one of the few where it is the rule, rather than the exception (which is what I think it was meant to be).
I think one of the points Sandy and others who are about to be redistricted from their performing schools is that it is impossible for the County to really know what the local attendance at the school really is. How can they possibly redistrict a school like HMS, LHS, Fernbank, etc. without actually addressing these other issues first. Aren't you just getting to a different point on the wheel to start the cycle over again? You move "innoncents" who bought homes relying on districting, you create space, then more kids get moved in becuase these underlying policies and issues haven't been addressed. Then the "game players" win and those who have played by the rules, lose. And on top of that, the issues, where the County ademinsitration and BOE has truly failed the students and the taxpayer, have never been addressed and it just reeks of unfairness. That's where many are coming from.
Anon @ 11:28 am.
You are one of those people who check? Well Check again. You must not be aware of how easy it is to get a utility bill in your name to prove residency. Obviously not. How do I know what I know. I have done it and know others who have. Very easy! You only need an address. You are only checking in terms of what the policy states - check for the utility bill.
@8:37,
read this article from May 2010
http://www.wsbtv.com/news/23656726/detail.html
and tell me if you think DeKalb was one of a few school districts to use this waiver.
@ anonymous 7:52
"....can you point to where teachers were cut in last years budget? Wouldn't they show up in the personnel report like the para's?"
You keep asking the same question over and over. Ms. Tyson budget proposal called for a significant reduction in teacher "points" (a euphemism for teacher positions) that added up to around 100 teachers less this year than last year. e.g. Reduce Magnet Points by 20 across the Schools, Eliminate 8 single gender points, Eliminate 8 DECA points, increase class size by 1 student per class or 2 students per class.
Please look at this quote from the DCSS website and then look at the link following it:
"The approved 2010-2011 budget is approximately $20.6 million below the budget adopted for the 2005–2006 school year. Approved reductions cut deep and wide for FY2011 to reduce expenses. Reductions include laying off of approximately 150 central office positions, eliminating non–central office positions (paraprofessionals, media clerks, and certified technology support specialists (CTSS)), reducing work calendar days (or furlough days) and other pay reductions for employees, increasing class sizes, downsizing staffing for programs, reducing staffing through attrition, consolidating schools, lowering energy usage, and continuing the suspension of the Board of Education–sponsored retirement funding."
Did you notice the "increasing class sizes"? Now WHY would Ms. Tyson need to INCREASE class sizes if she has the same number of teachers from one year to the next - particularly since we actually have LESS students this year?
Ans since when have CTSSs and paraprofessionals EVER been Central Office employees? LOL - Mrs. Tyson called them Central Office employees and then cut them. Everyone knows that.
Those hundreds of paraprofessionals she cut did NOT reside in the Central Office. They were in classrooms, walking students to the buses, working one-on-one with students to help them learn their letters and how to add and subtract. It's insulting to our intelligence to call paraprofessionals "Central Office" employees. Most paraprofessionals and CTSSs have never even SEEN the inside of the Central Office - they reside in schools. How dumb does she/you think we are?
Posters please read where the cuts came from last year - from the schoolhouse.
http://www.dekalb.k12.ga.us/budget
Parents on this blog actually went through the 2010 budget and the 2011 budget to compare the number of "points" i.e. teacher positions from one year to the next. It was around 100 less.
Ms. Tyson can say she did not cut any teacher personnel and that is true. But she cut teacher positions (Lewis cut 275 the year before - I got that number straight from the DCSS website).
From a student's perspective - it does not matter if you cut teacher personnel or teacher positions (by not replacing the 4th grade teacher who leave DCSS). For him as a 3rd grade student - the result is the same - he will be a a class of 30+ students (There are now only 2 4th grade teachers since Ms. Tyson did not replace one of the teachers - that position was "cut") instead of 20+ students. He will receive less individual attention when he has trouble with multiplication with remainder or understanding the main idea in reading.
Ms. Tyson doesn't understand that it's not about the adults who work for the system (teachers, paras, CTSSs, Executive Directors, Instructional Coaches, custodians, Security personnel, etc.) - it's about the students.
Without defending DeKalb, Gwinnett, Cobb and Fulton all have greatly increased class size. In fact, Gwinnett had in their IE2 waiver thing that they wrote a few years ago.
Check out the new petition on facebook.
http://apps.facebook.com/petitions/1/quotvote-noquot-to-dekalb-county-school-boardrsquos-2011-2012-redistricting-consolidation-plan/
Blog above who said: Sandy--thanks so much! (I am the teacher who asked that someone step up and make this request). It shall be interesting.
Yes, can't wait!! But, then, the request has been made numerous times before with no results. I don't know how they get away with being SO unresponsive.
@ anonymous 7:52
"Also, didn't the state provide the waiver for increasing class sizes? Isn't this something all school systems used so as not to fill as many teacher positions?"
Why did Ms. Tyson need to ask for an increase in class size if she wasn't planning to cut teacher positions even while we have LESS students this year?
Why did Ms. Tyson ask for 36+ students in science labs when the National Science Teachers Association clearly states:
"Understand that the number of occupants allowed in the laboratory must be set at a safe level based on building and fire safety codes, size and design of the laboratory teaching facility, chemical/physical/biological hazards, and students’ needs (NSTA 2000; Roy 2006). Science classes should have no more than 24 students to allow for adequate supervision during science activities, even if the occupancy load limit might accommodate more (NSTA 2004). It is equally important to ensure adequate workspace for each student. NSTA recommends 60 sq. ft. for each secondary student and 45 sq. ft. for each elementary student in a laboratory/classroom setting (Motz et al. 2007). Research data show that accidents rise dramatically as class enrollments exceed 24 students or when inadequate individual workspace is provided (West et al. 2005)."
http://www.nsta.org/about/positions/liability.aspx
Has Ms. Tyson read the NSTA standards that show students' safety is at risk with the class sizes in science she had the BOE approve? Did she read these studies that show she is putting our students at greater risk of injury when she places 30+ students in a science class?
Does Ms. Tyson understand that science labs are the most efficacious way to teach students science concepts?
"A hallmark of science is that it generates theories and laws that must be consistent with observations. Much of the evidence from these observations is collected during laboratory investigations. A school laboratory investigation (also referred to as a lab) is defined as an experience in the laboratory, classroom, or the field that provides students with opportunities to interact directly with natural phenomena or with data collected by others using tools, materials, data collection techniques, and models (NRC 2006, p. 3). Throughout the process, students should have opportunities to design investigations, engage in scientific reasoning, manipulate equipment, record data, analyze results, and discuss their findings. "
http://www.nsta.org/about/positions/laboratory.aspx
Has she read these studies - because science is the way of the future - 80% of all Chinese students major in science, engineering and math in college versus 20% of U.S. students. Doesn't Ms. Tyson want DCSS students to be competitive in a global economy?
Does she not see science as important to DCSS students?
Apparently not. Look at our science EOCT scores:
Only 56% of our students could pass the Biology EOCT this past May:
http://www.dekalb.k12.ga.us/instruction/testing/testscores.html
Click on 2010 EOCT
Parents are thinking with their hearts and not their heads.
Fact: There are kids in DCSS that receive a decent education and there are more that don't.
Why is this okay with anyone? It's not about your neighborhood, your child feeling good about themselves, your home's property values. It's about we are loosing money for having small schools that are not funded by the state. We have over 10,000 open seats and tax payers cannot foot the bill for the buildings and everything else involved, so that parents and children feel good.
Some sort of school closings have to happen, and I firmly believe that the right sizing of the administration offices and staff should also be done and goes hand in hand with school consolidations.
Public schools were meant to provide an adequate education for all kids. In DCSS's current form, this is not being done. When will citizens wake up and realize that it's cheaper to educate our children, then pay for them to be in jail, pay for welfare, or teach them to read as an adult?
I am really tire of petitions like this one where people are focused on themselves and what they can get out of it, instead of the greater good for all. This tax payer, parent, and former DCSS teacher is not willing to stand for higher taxes and unequal educations for our children.
Parents open your eyes. See the forest through the trees.
@ anonymouos 9:01
DCSS has more schools failing to make AYP than any other metro system. We have a greater number of admin and support personnel to teacher ratio than any other system. If our students were achieving at an acceptable rate (instead of achievement actually declining) I can see why a superintendent might be more complacent. But this is not the case. Cramming more kids into classrooms with teachers (6,500)while making virtually NO CUTS to the bloated admin and support group (8,500) is not helping our students. We will NEVER climb out of this hole Dr. Lewis dug by cutting the schoolhouse personnel and positions in order to preserve positions outside the schoolhouse.
@ anonymous 9:20,
I guess they could deploy the science instructors at the Fernbank Science Center throughout the district and close it down. Oops, the squeaky wheels wanted to keep it in place with several million dollars in salaries not instructing students on a regular basis.
Another reason why redistricting is needed. Less money spent on buildings so more can be spent on instruction...
Yes. We desperately need to redistrict and consolidate. Ms. Tyson has utterly failed to gain the confidence of parents/taxpayers by refusing to make very deep cuts in the admin and support salaries and personnel, in particular in the highly paid Central Office personnel.
Yes. We need to redistrict and consolidate. For example, if Ms. Tyson closes Wadsworth, here are the redundant personnel:
5 Enrichment teachers
1 CTSS
1 PE teacher
2 Spanish teachers
1 Nurse
3 Custodians
6 Cafeteria Workers
1 Principal
1 Assistant Principal
1 Counselor
1 Bookkeeper
1 Administrative Assistant
There are only 9 homeroom teachers at Wadsworth, so that's almost a 2.5 to 1 ratio of admin and support personnel to content area teachers.
This represents over $1,000,000 in redundant personnel expenditures alone. Ms. Tyson needs to emphasize that she will cut these redundant personnel. If they are certified teachers, they can interview for grade level teaching jobs. DCSS always needs those we have such high teacher turnover in regular education classrooms.
Look at these little schools. They all have $500,000 to $1,000,000 in redundant positions (not grade level teachers). There is a considerable savings in consolidation and redistricting.
It is too bad Ms. Tyson has not made the hard decisions she needs to to inspire confidence. For example, if she backs down in outsourcing of the custodial staff, she will come back to cut more teaching positions and students will suffer even more.
Consolidation and redistricting needs to happen. This will be better for kids. But she MUST be willing to cut the admin and support side and the Central Office as well. There seems to be a real disconnect for her in this respect.
Therein lies the rub. Wadsworth is one of our most under-utilized schools with only 166 students and capacity for many more. There are only a few choices. Close Wadsworth and make students all attend Kittredge (now not geographically accessible to all) - merge Wadsworth back into a regular ES as a program within a school - or merge Wadsworth and Kittredge together at the Avondale location - central. (Well, the 4th option would be to eliminate the elementary magnet programs altogether.)
I just got this email from Mary Margaret Oliver:
"In future newsletters, MMO will report on the pre-filed local legislation HB 22 she filed which gives DeKalb voters the right to choose a reduced DeKalb School Board size, and new proposals relative to an independent ethics commission for the school system. The Emory LaVista Parents Council will be discussing HB 22 at its upcoming Wednesday morning meeting at Hawthorne Elementary School. "
Try to make one of these meetings. We need an ethics commission since DCSS has so many "friends and relatives" employed as well as the fact that the highly placed female employee who according to the DeKalb DA accompanied Lewis on trips out of the country using the school system Purchase card is still in place and setting educational policy for students.
http://apps.facebook.com/petitions/1/quotvote-noquot-to-dekalb-county-school-boardrsquos-2011-2012-redistricting-consolidation-plan/
Oh my lord, it is unbelievable who misinformed the parents are on this petition. They make comments that are non-sensical and purely emotion based. It's sad and embarassing.
Trim a million or so from Fernbank Science ($7,000,000 annually) and students won't even miss it. Only 20+ employees out of 60+ are teachers. The rest are admin and support.Teacher - Science
Teacher - Science
Teacher - Science
Teacher - Science
Teacher - Science
Teacher - Science
Teacher - Science
Teacher - Science
Teacher - Science
Teacher - Science
Teacher - Robotics and Engineering
Teacher - Physics
Teacher - Physics
Teacher - Meterology
Teacher - Ecology
Teacher - Ecology
Teacher - Ecology
Teacher - Ecology
Teacher - Ecology
Teacher - Earth and Space
Teacher - Chemistry
Teacher - chemistry
Teacher - Botany
Teacher - Botany
Teacher - Biology
Teacher - Biology
Teacher - Biology
Teacher - Astronomy
Teacher - Agriculture
Support Maintenance
Support - Technical Support
Support - Support Services
Support - Security
Support - Security
Support - Security
Support - Secretary
Support - Secretary
Support - Scheduler
Support - Photographer
Support - Media Specialist
Support - Maintenance
Support - Maintenance
Support - Maintenance
Support - Maintenance
Support - Maintenance
Support - Maintenance
Support - Head Custodian
Support - Geologist
Support - General Administration
Support - Gardener
Support - Exhibit Designer
Support - Exhibit Designer
Support - Exhibit Designer
Support - Exhibit Designer
Support - Designer/Photographer
Support - Custodial
Support - Custodial
Support - Custodial
Support - CTSS
Support - Clerical
Support - Clerical
Support - Bookkeeper
Administrator - Director, Fernbank
Administrator - Administrative Coordinator
Administrator - Administrative Coordinator
The Fernbank Science Center has four custodians? Why??
And a full-time schedulers? Why do you need a full-time "scheduler" when there are two secretaries plus two clerical staff plus a "general administration" staffer?
@9:16 (the request has been made many times) Has the request been made formally under the auspices of the state law in the past? I haven't seen that mentioned. The requests should have been honored in either case, but since they have not been, not it's "OK comply or break the law." It's horrible that it takes such an action. Sad sad sad. But maybe? something will happen.
The DeKalb Supt. is now opened. I am sure Sandy and many other bloggers who think they get the job done will apply if they haven't already applied.
@ Anonymous 10:43
Good question.
Fernbank Science Center did let one teacher go last year - the lowest paid one (Of course - it had to be a teacher - that's what DCSS can always do without - they would let students go if they could). And they id let an exhibit designer go. Otherwise, it's still intact.
So inefficient and so sad for students that we spend $7,000,000 on this 1950s edifice when we are going down the tubes in science instruction. I know the Fernbank Community will disagree - they made sure FSC was intact. It's a beautiful piece of green space DCSS maintains in the middle of their community, and the SST program that serves a handful of students is a great resource for them.
Reference the AJC editorial that they got an Emory professor write for them.
"DeKalb: County can’t lose its science jewel" by Mel Konner, professor at Emory whose daughter really got a lot out of the SST program (a program that serves 90 students a semester - the only program that meets with students on a consistent basis during the school day)
The $7,000,000 we spend on transportation to bring 30+ kids in to a teacher for a one time a year 1 to 2 hour class is so incredibley ineffective and wasteful (not to speak of a such large producer of pollution as the buses pour those fumes into the air - for ecology classes?).
Only 56% of our 9th graders could pass the biology EOCT in May. Remember that this $7,000,000 center only has 28 science teachers. The rest are admin and support. Sound familiar?
It makes me sick that we are closing neighborhood schools and shuffling leaving this $7,000,000 behemoth open. No other system in the metro area would spend money on a science center where you bus students to a science teacher. This is truly an example of the inefficiency and undue community (Fernbank) influence on the rest of the taxpayers.
See DeKalb Watch discussion from last year:
http://dekalbschoolwatch.blogspot.com/2010/03/are-proposed-dcss-budget-cuts-going-to.html
"The DeKalb Supt. is now opened. I am sure Sandy and many other bloggers who think they get the job done will apply if they haven't already applied."
I feel sorry for the teachers and students who are the members of the classroom - the only reason for the school system to exist.
For over a billion dollars for 96,000 students, Ms. Tyson and the BOE should be providing these 3 simple components for all students:
1. A safe and clean learning environment
2. A competent teacher in a reasonably sized classroom
3. Abundant access to cutting edge science and technology equipment
Check out the job description, expereince required and salary for the Super's job here:
http://msn.careerbuilder.com/JobSeeker/Jobs/JobDetails.aspx?job_did=J8B7256DCSTKZVP4YR4.
oops...sorry for the typo: experience
Looks like Monday's BOE meeting has been rescheduled for tomorrow. Anyone know if it is still a go?
NOTICE OF RE-SCHEDULED DEKALB BOARD OF EDUCATION BUSINESS MEETING:
The DeKalb Board of Education business meeting scheduled Monday, January 10, 2011 canceled due to inclement weather will be held 1:00pm, Friday, January 14, 2011, in the J. David Williamson Board Room at the DeKalb County School System's Administrative & Instructional Complex, 1701 Mountain Industrial Boulevard, Stone Mountain.
Should weather conditions continue to impede safe travel conditions, the meeting will be re-scheduled.
Fernbank Science a jewel? Yes it does have real benefit. But you got to admit this: the kids are still watching some of the same old movies in the planetarium that we watched in the 70's. With all our advancements, how come this hasn't changed much? It's definitely NOT for lack of funds.
Allow SCHOOLHOUSE children to enroll in their parents' schools and FOLLOW the feeder paths...that is fair and realistic....
Why? Many teachers go to work early and work late tutoring or sponsoring clubs. They do this FOR FREE, FOR THE CHILDREN. They are professionals. Would they be able to continue this knowing that their own children are alone on the other side of town? I doubt it.
Also, keeping teachers' kids in feeder patterns would help foster a sense of community. Would little Johnny like to see his 1st grade teacher at his high school football game or band concert? YES! That would be more likely to happen if his 1st grade teacher's child stayed in the feeder pattern.
Anon 9:43 is right about Wadsworth! That's why their PTA supports the centralization plan. They are realistic and understand if they don't support that plan, their program as a standalone will cease to exist in a few years. Not only that, they recognize they will be under attack given that nearby schools with larger populations will be closed and not them under the decentralization plan. Centralizing the program at Kittredge is not a viable alternative.
The magnet program at Chapel Hill wants the same thing for the same reasons. They both see this as a matter of survival.
Allow SCHOOLHOUSE children to enroll in their parents' schools and FOLLOW the feeder paths...that is fair and realistic....
Doing this opens a can of worms. A teacher teaches high school at Lakeside. Should they get to pick the elementary school that their Johnny or Suzie attend? A parent teaches at a theme school with no pattern, do they get to pick which pattern their children will be in? What about a teachers at Fernbank Science Center? Do they get to pick? What about the people working in the county offices or the school secretaries and custodians, do they get this too?
When will special placement for children of workers throughout DCSS stop? Follow the law-children may attend their children's school-teachers should be thankful for this. This doesn't happen up North. If you work in a better school district and want your child to attend where you work, you pay the district tuition. It's not a perk.
This perks is something that needs to end immediately in DCSS. Sorry that children will have to go back to their home schools or attend schools in their home counties, but my taxes shouldn't be raised or children living in a community shouldn't have to be moved because of the people that work for the district get to pick where they send their children to go. Better decisions should have been made when these same people purchased a home. They should have looked into the schools that their children would attend. If they didn't like them, than they should have bought something else. Real estate is about location.
As far as magnet costs, below are the costs strictly for central office administration of special programs:
According to the budget for 2011, there is a budget of $1,054,699 for the office of student transfers, led by Dr. Felicia Mayfield. The budgeted salaries for these 11 employees total $985,228
Comprised of $362,692 for Administrative transfers and $415,849 for administering the magnet programs, with an additional $5,558 for theme schools. $13,894 for school choice and $5,558 for teacher advisory as well as $5,558 for customer service as well as money for other items.
In addition, there is a budget of $69,471 for things such as travel, consultants, postage, printing, cell service, etc.
Below is the list of personnel necessary to run the office of student assignment and the pay scale level-
STUDENT ASSIGNMENT - Personnel List
Associate Supt. Support Serv. M21
Executive Assistant M21
Secretary to Associate Supt T21
Coordinator, Magnet/Theme Sch M21
Director, Magnet/Theme Schools M21
Secretary to Associate Supt T21
Secretary to Director T21
Secretary, Executive T21
Coordinator, Public Relations M21
Director, Govtl Relations & SP M21
Secretary, Executive T21
http://www.dekalb.k12.ga.us/www/documents/budget/budget-detail-school-operations.pdf
Wow! Lots of good points her. Any school can run an out of area report in esis that shows kids who live out of area. This data does exist.
I like the idea of tax records. Posters are so correct about middle and high schools being lax in the registration process. I have seen our registrar simply assume if a kid was at one of the elementary feeder schools, that they lived in our area and let them in. This is brought to principal's attention, and we try to get kids to leave and principal is not supported. They are told that since you let them in, you are now stuck with them and it is such a "hardship" to the parent to register a second time at the correct school. Another thing that happens, registration gets so busy, then you have to get other staff to help and they are not trained to do the proper screening. Schools are pressured to get them registered because of threats of complaints about long lines to school board. Please middle school registers, please ask the sending elementary school registrars for the out of area, out of distrct, affidavit, ayp report, and special permission reports from esis before you begin your registration process. These reports all exist so ask for help in running them. Registrars need to enter data accurately and ask for help when needed.High schools need to get this same info from the middle school. Now is a ggod time as middle schools are beginning their advisement of their 8th graders for high school.
Some other questions:
Are school resource officers considered school based? What about staff assigned to 2 or more schools? Do they have a greater number of choices?
What happens to annexes in the redistricting process?
Another point- parents should sign a form stating if they register under false pretenses, do not follow guidelines or circumstances have changed (moved), then they agree to be asked to leave, regardless of actions of school. This is for those registrars who are a little lax. Principals should have to sign off that they received and reviewed these reports and be made to answer if these kids are enrolled at their school.
Also, central office should allow schools to enforce the renewal of all affidavits for each semester. All of these parents should have gotten this letter in Jan. Maybe December so they can bring it with them once they return after winter break. It should be county generated and mailed out and students withdrawn after 2 weeks if proper documentation is not completed. I asked someone at the school if they did this, and I was told, "No, we have never done that here". When asked why, the response was, the county office would get too many complaints, and it was too big of a job due to large number of affidavits.
How many kids are at Chesnut or other charter schools? Are they counting students enrolled under charter in their enrollment numbers? Semms to be a pretty small school being only PreK to 3rd grade. If I am mistaken, forgive me. Just some thoughts and thanks for creating a forum for doing so.
There are about 500 kids at Chesnut. It is overcapacity and there are trailers. It is PK-3, with 6-7 homerooms per grade (except PK). I don't think anyone is admitted under the charter because the attendance area enrollment is greater than the capacity.
The job description for the superintendent requires only five years experience. It does not specify the type of experience. Things look better for Dr. Beasely every day. I think that he can meet the five years. Maybe they will have to bend the rules a bit. But so what.
"Proper Planning..."
You used the term corruption frequently. Your words will ring truer for this new reader if you will please provide proof of the corruption...casting the stone is easy. If there is not proof, please use your wonderful venue wiser and provide suggestions for improvement. That is the goal, right?
NEW DATA! As I was perusing the 2020 Vision documents, I found to my surprise and delight that some critical data akin to the data requested by Sandy is now available on the DCSS website! Go to the 2020 Vision web page and download the new files that show exactly how many gifted students are identified at each elementary school, how many each school sends to Wadsworth, Kittredge, Chamblee MS, Chamblee HS, Chapel Hill MS and SW DeKalb HS.
In addition to the raw numbers - which are quite eye-opening - there are maps with bar charts showing very clearly where most of the gifted students reside. The answer is undeniably in the north end of DeKalb. Some north DeKalb schools have so many gifted students one has to wonder why these schools are not simply labeled "High Achiever Magnets" and require lotteries to get in!
This begs the question - is it really fair and "equitable" to merge schools and force so many from the north parts of the county to drive into Avondale? In fact, if you look at where the gifted students in south DeKalb actually live, you will see that they don't live anywhere near Avondale either! This idea of creating a "central" location merging all magnet schools may need to be revisited.
Here are direct links to these files:
Elementary School Kingsley ES High-Achiever Magnet and Gifted Students (DATA)
Elementary School Kingsley ES High-Achiever Magnet and Gifted Students (MAP)
Middle School and High School High-Achiever Magnet and Gifted Students (DATA)
Middle School and High School High-Achiever Magnet and Gifted Students (MAP)
Anon 9:12 PM - this is what we mean by proper planning. It helps so much to make decisions based on real facts and data. Sometimes the data will support a plan, sometimes it will clearly show that the plan is flawed. All we are asking is that decisions about redistricting and consolidation be made by using data.
In addition, in response to community questions asking how the capacities changed so greatly after the recent evaluations, Dan Drake's planning department has posted the raw data that MGT used to determine those capacities.
Raw Data! Awesome!
DeKalb County Schools Capacity Report
One conclusion is that HMS needs an addition....(it's one of the schools converted from HS to MS that has seen very little by way of SPLOST funds).
Another question is: Are there more gifted students in north DeKalb because that is how the demographics fall or are the administrators in the north DeKalb schools doing a better job testing for gifted (keep in mind the overall lack of experience of the administrtion and principals within the schools--overall-- and the mandates coming in from various places). With the extra points that come from the state on gifted funding, maybe this is something to look into...
I find it interesting that we are always told that the magnets get extra funding because they serve so many gifted students at once. Well, these charts don't tell us how many students at Kittredge and Wadsworth are gifted, but they do tell us for Chamblee and SW DeKalb. If I'm reading the chart correctly - these are some comparisons
Magnet Schools for High Achievers/Number of Gifted
Chamblee MS - 34
Chamblee HS - 83
Chapel Hill MS - 42
SW DeKalb HS - 92
Regular School/Number of Gifted
Druid Hills MS (Shamrock) - 83
Druid Hills HS - 161
Peachtree MS - 152
Dunwoody HS - 225
Henderson MS - 157
Lakeside HS - 317
Salem MS - 57
MLK HS - 118
Stephenson MS - 51
Stephenson HS - 115
Tucker MS - 63
Tucker HS - 117
In fact, of the 1010 students labeled gifted in our middle schools, only 375 "won" a seat at a magnet school for high achievers.
And of the 1805 students labeled gifted in our high schools, only 650 "won" a seat at a magnet school for high achievers.
Imagine - we have 3,289 students labeled gifted in our elementary schools. How many of them do you imagine "won" a seat at Kittredge or Wadsworth? (Remember, there are many students at these schools not labeled gifted -- and the populations of both schools combined is barely over 600.)
In fact, Vanderlyn has 150 gifted students, Princeton, 109, Pine Ridge, 90, Oak Grove, 173, Montgomery, 112, Henderson Mill 103, Fernbank, 145, Evansdale, 118, Chesnut, 95, Briarlake, 93 and Austin, 102. Every DCSS elementary school is host to gifted students.
Are these gifted students being properly served? Are too many "gifted" resources being spent on magnets for those lucky winners and not enough on the "home" schools? There are some really important questions here. Before we go merging the magnets as they live in their current form - perhaps we need to step back and evaluate the equity for gifted students countywide. There's no way to create a magnet school that would hold 3,289 students.
You know, instead of rambling on about this, I'm going to move it all to it's own post...
Gifted identification is linked to the income level of the parents, and north DeKalb has a higher income level than south DeKalb. That's why you'll find more Gifted in north DeKalb. However, gifted children are found in every income level, race, culture and gender.
If you are a gifted child, it doesn't matter to you if you are gifted because of nature or nurture. You are not challenged by the work given your peers either way. Identifying gifted students is always a problem because most of the tools we use (e.g. COGAT) are culturally biased. That's why I like the Raven - very good identification tool for minority and ESOL students.
Somehow DeKalb parents have the idea that Kittredge and Wadsworth are schools for "gifted" students. That is NOT true. These are schools for "high achievers". Being gifted and a high achiever has a correlation rather than a causation relationship. That is to say, being gifted is correlated with high achievement, but not necessarily caused by it.
Kittredge was solely established as a way to attract (thus the term magnet) black and white children to go to school together - thus was born the "high achiever" magnet (Ironic that's it's now in north DeKalb serving an almost white population of students)
Clifton was established to attract black and white children to go to school together - thus was born the technology school. DSA was established as a way to attract (thus the term magnet) black and white children to go to school together - thus was born the performing arts magnet.
All of the magnet schools were born of the desire to attract (magnet - get it) BLACK and WHITE students to go to school with each other VOLUNTARILY so DeKalb could get out from underneath the Consent Decree which threatened to bus children in a very large county all over the place.
The threat of busing had created a situation where DeKalb became majority white to majority black within a decade. Majority to Minority (M to M) then proceeded to make whites a sliver of the population as they fled all of DeKalb except for the Clifton Corridor and Dunwoody. Not one school was built for 15 years as these court cases wound their way through the courts all the way to the Supreme Court of the United States. Overcrowding in South DeKalb created ill will that lasts to this day. Ask any older person about it.
Magnets were PURELY a way to bring about a closure to the court cast that divided the county, created "white flight", consumed a disproportionate amount of time at the administrative and BOE level, gridlocked the building of new schools, and cost untold amounts of taxpayer money. That is the reason for magnets - NOT that children needed special services.
Somehow parents (black, white and other) began to think their children were "entitled" to magnets - that magnets were created to serve the special needs of their children. If magnets had come about in DeKalb the way magnet came about in other counties, the result would be much different.
Sometimes a little history can provide a little perspective.
Thanks. Good input. I'll move your comment to the new thread.
An earlier poster, before all this gifted talk, asked if someone could describe the corruption that so many speak of at this blog.
Definition of Corruption: dishonest exploitation of power for personal gain, extreme immorality or depravity, the corrupting of something or somebody, or the state of being corrupt.
CLew/Pope - Really don't have to say more do we?
BookGate -
Audria Berry - watched CLew use PCard for personal trips to Bahamas and Ritz at Reynolds Plantation. She continues to head the department of improvement that has only resulted in more schools NOT improving.
Ramsey - Internal Affairs Head, who never investigated the situations that needed it most.
Friends and Family! Ms. Tyson unaware for 6 months about an employee, former BOE Chairperson's Son, who was given a raise, a new postion and yet never reported to his new job and hid out in an elementary school, where the parents had to expose the fraud directly to the previous Superintendent.
Lax of fiduciary responsibility of taxpayer funds by MOST of CLew's leadership!
"Lax of fiduciary responsibility of taxpayer funds by MOST of CLew's leadership!"
Correct me if I am wrong but doesn't the BOE have a constitutional duty for fiduciary responsibility?
Anon 5:04, INDEED! The BOE is responsible as well. The staff makes the recommendations and the BOE votes yea or nay!
Anon 12:31...Those you mention with potential criminal activity are no longer involved in DCSS activity. Others, by your description, have only been poor at their jobs.
What I read most in these postings is complaining with little or no positive suggestion for improvement. Your passion for wanting the educational quality to imrpove is clearly demonstrated simply by your posting. Take the next step and put forth a clear "next step" in the process with a suggested solution. Making statements like "reduce central staff" holds little value. Be Superintendent for a moment ... grab some body parts and rule DCSS.
I am certain if a solid suggestion is aired, others will jump all over it.
Do not complain and stand still waiting for the tree to fall in the woods, go make some noise yourself.
We've made plenty of suggestions over the course of the life of this blog. The main one we tend to advocate for is reducing the administrators under Title 1 and putting that money into support teachers -- (probably a couple of hundred) people to work directly with students in groups of less than 5 or 6 (perhaps 1 or 2) to establish good reading and math skills in the early grades.
Another paradigm shift we advocate for is to allow for much greater discipline in our schools. Teachers need to feel supported in removing disruptive students from their classes and principals need to have full power to support teachers in their efforts to create organized, focused learning environments.
Mostly, we want a full accounting of the costs of the magnets and other special programs - along with a comparison of the costs DCSS is spending for "regular" students. Are the special programs causing harm to the regular classrooms? There is only so much money to go around.
And - as always - we are demanding the board produce the 2004 salary audit that showed DCSS was over-paying staff by as much as $15 million annually. We are calling for a brand new salary audit to be conducted as well. Bringing staff pay in line with current market standards as well as streamlining numbers of administrators where there is redundancy would save as much or more than all of this redistricting.
What else have we suggested bloggers? Please relist for those who haven't been followers long enough to have read all of our thoughtful suggestions for the DCSS Board of Education.
Related to the Salary Audit, Cere, we also want an end to the nepotism. We want those leaders in DCSS to be hired based on their educational background and competence, not their relationship to school board members and administrators.
And Anon 12:31 I don't know about you, but much of the malfeasance reported on this blog is far more than a matter of "being poor at their jobs." Students' futures are circling the drain while some adults hired in this system draw large DCSS salaries and conduct sideline businesses from their $4000 chairs at the Palace.
Now, don't exaggerate. Those were only $2,000 chairs.
Good additions - anyone else care to add bullet points regarding the topics we've generated plausible suggestions for improvement?
Another suggestion is annual field trips for disruptive students from problem schoosl to the pen .. maybe even service days working there... let them see what life looks like if they get on the wrong side of the law and don't find something productive to do with their lives.
@7:19PM
I would support the idea for kids with an excessive number of absences, 2 or more fights, theft, vandalism, and budding gang affiliations.
I am willing to bet that a good number of parents who have lost control of their kids would support that.
Vox
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