We're still waiting, Mr. Bowen. You've been very chatty with the media lately. But your incredibly nonchalant response to "The Leak" brings up so many questions, especially considering you were one of the three BOE members who voted against Dr. Cox.
Leaders step up. Leaders resolve problems. Leaders take responsibility for blunders.
Show that you have a modicum of respect for the tax-paying publlic.
Answer the question, please.
Sorry Tom your time has come and gone as a politician in DeKalb County. let's look at your record...
ReplyDelete-Chair of BOE when CLew and Pope were indicted on RICO charges.
-Led the charge of a redistricting process that ignored the experienced staffer and after spending another 8 months and more money to consultants, they came up with the same plan. Nice waste Tom.
-Friends and Family continue to stay on the payroll. Nepotism a HUGE problem, never addressed.
-Hiding the 2004 E&Y Audit, what are you trying to hide Tom? DCSS littered with waste?
-Annex issues truly a joke in the system. Arabia is a PUBLIC school and should be made available to EVERY student in the county, not a select few who are in the upper classes of the African American community.
-New Birth and the ties that bind with DCSS.
-Several different Book gates
-Draw up Ethics policies that continue not to be followed, who is the leaker, Tom?
There must be more, can anyone add to these?
Tom using taxpayer dollars to run a criminal enterprise is frowned upon by the taxpayers. Remember Tom WE, the taxpayer, provide you with the money to run the system. It's not YOUR system, it's not your money, it's the people's system and money. How about some respect!
Tom you talked a great game about transparency, even pulled it off with the beginning of the hiring process but obviously you didn't get your way so you made sure to have the contract negotiations leaked to the press so you COULD get your way.
Way to go Tom, you and your Clew's Circle of leaders have made DeKalb the most embarrassing county to be from right now.
This is like a recurring nightmare that will never end.
Can you say "Book Deal?"
ReplyDeleteI heard that we should hear something from his office this week regarding the super search and the leak.
We'll see.
S7
Surely they won't consider Ramona when they know the taxpayers want an outsider, will they?
ReplyDeleteEvery board member has been non-chalant about who the leak is, plus someone else leaked stuff to WSB the next day. (the fors and against)
ReplyDeleteIf the majority insisted, then I think a resolution would happen -- but it doesn't seem like most of them have much energy finding out which of them did it.
Heard Cox had very strong sponsorship from Wommack who tried to give her everything but the kitchen sink.. After all that would make him "the controller".
ReplyDeleteThe bottom line is we have wasted money on the search committee who could not produce the quality of candidates desired by some.
As far as the stakeholders wanted certain qualifications, I don't recall a public vote on that issue.
Personally, I don't see any reason to go outside of the state or county IF we have Qualified applicants. We missed a graet opportunity in not getting Dr. King from Rockdale. All of hios schools have made AYP since he's been Supt. (6 years in a row).
Our loss, Cobb Rising Star.
@melaniestef
ReplyDeleteI agree on Sam King being an excellent leader in Rockdale. He has run an excellent school system.
However, I cannot say we have any credible internal candidates for DCSS.
In 2004, then superintendent Johnny Brown concluded the DCSS administration was top heavy, and he was encountering a marked lack of cooperation from the entrenched Central Office personnel. A "buyout" for all administrators and support personnel outside the schoolhouse of 40% of their annual salary was proposed and passed by the BOE (spread over 5 years for tax purposes). For example, if you made $100,000 a year, you got $40,000 in the "buyout" or $8,000 a year for 5 years in addition to your $60,000 annual retirement. The theory was that this would keep down age discrimination lawsuits, etc.
Of course in fall, 2004 the BOE fired Brown, and Lewis was hired. The "buyout" proceeded. Many, many administrators took this sweet deal. However, instead of thinning the admin ranks, Lewis proceeded to add back his own picks and then some including the woman the DA alleges was his mistress. So this "buyout" that cost taxpayers millions paved the way for Lewis' power base.
Read the BOE minutes from 2004 to 2006 and you will see that most of the former and current BOE members' and upper administrators' relatives were added during that time period as Lewis filled these now vacant positions. Their allegiance is definitely to the "Lewis machine". I don't really think this is the best group to enact change in DCSS.
If Womack was a big supporter of Cox, then perhaps one should be looking at who 1) voted against Cox, and 2) really dislikes Paul.
ReplyDeleteHere is Tommy Boy speaking on the topic. He says there will be a supt. by July 1st. Remember he voted against Dr. Cox.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wabe/news.newsmain/article/1/0/1794436/Atlanta./All.Three.Dekalb.Superintendent.Finalists.Withdraw
The school board met behind closed doors for two consecutive days. But Afterwards, Board Chairman Tom Bowen said they're not "starting over"
"We're still moving along at the same pace. I still expect us to have a superintendent in place by July 1, as of today. Not knowing anything particular about a particular individual that might be, but I feel like our timing is still good."
Bowen says the board could take another look at candidates that had been screened by their search firm during the initial search. Or, he says, they could ask the firm to screen new candidates.
And although many are pleased with interim superintendent Ramona Tyson, Bowen says the board hasn't approached her about applying for the job:
"There has been no discussion of any looking internal toward Ms. Tyson or any other candidate."
Bowen says board members continue to get public input about the superintendent search, which he says, will weigh heavily in the board's decision-making process.
Check out Tom trying to be funny:
ReplyDeletehttp://championnewspaper.com/news/articles/913finalists-for-top-schools-job-withdraw-913.html
“Last night Arthur Culver sent out an e-mail [and] resigned his position in Champaign, Ill., and said that he’s going to start looking for [jobs] elsewhere. He did indicate that he was not going to pursue DeKalb,” Bowen said on April 26. The resignation was confirmed by a spokesperson from Champaign Public Schools.
“It’s kind of strange because he is literally saying, ‘I’m walking away and moving on to something else,’ but he didn’t have anything to move on to. I would have hung around until I got a job,” Bowen said.
Tom Bowen is not funny. It is a sad day when someone says he would rather do ANYTHING besides work for the DCSS Board. We don't know what other options Culver has, but we know that anyone with any integrity would back out after the board's behavior when negotiating with Cox.
ReplyDeleteNot to beat an already dead horse but there is another situation locally where some members of the media are using discretion on reporting. Braves fans may have read about their pitching coaching making questionable statements in front of kids recently, to a point that he could lose his job. Sports Fan 680 is not mentioning this story, even though it is appearing in national news. They are the home radio broadcast station for the Braves.
ReplyDeleteThe guys at 790 the Zone clearly said that if embarrassing news comes out about certain franchises, management asks that they do not report it. They admitted to losing advertising revenue because they insisted on reporting on this news.
The point is the media uses discretion is reporting various strories. Based on the subject of the story, there could be higher ups that 'request' these stories not be aired.
It is OK to air negative stories about DeKalb and use discretion about airing similar stories in other counties. Don't fool yourselves about this. Constant negative stories only serve to devalue our properties and make DeKalb percieved as an undesirable destination.
Could someone be orchestrating this with hopes of buying properties as pennies on the dollar then redeveloping them at a later time? I'm no conspiracy theorists but it has been done before.
@psc -- That is totally not out of the question... we've had that discussion before. Check out who is making the money from real estate in DeKalb and then follow it. Just ask old "sonofawecomeonnow"...
ReplyDeleteThere are some big investors in DeKalb and DeKalb is turning into a government rent paradise for property owners. Everytime I rent my property in Tucker I have several interested renters who want to rent on the program.
ReplyDeleteYou get your money each month from the government. It is money you are going to get. They actually pay fairly well. I havc a extremely nice unit with window treatments, fixed up to a tee, and it is three bedrooms, and I rent real cheap. I am not retired so I am not trying to make a killing right now. I get tons of renters so I can check credit and really pick a good renter.
These investors are even unionized of a sort. They have meetings and have an organization. Do not kid yourself. I am just in the minor league. I have three properties and only one in Ga. currently. These individuals have 100's of units they rent and apartment. They are in it for the money and they are ok with the change in property value so they can buy up more property at a low cost.