A Tale of Two School Systems – Part III

“This is an EQUALITY Issue” 

Since July 10, 2006 when Audria Berry was made Director of the Office of School Improvement, the number of DCSS Title 1 schools has increased slightly while federal funding (primarily for the academic improvement of students in schools classified as Title 1) has increased 220%. Note that federal funding from 2005 to 2010 has been close to half a billion dollars. When 2011 RTTT money is added in, that half billion figure will be a reality. Although the DCSS administration from Lewis to Tyson has treated these federal dollars as “free” money, EVERY citizen in DeKalb County who has paid federal taxes in the last 6 years has seen this money deducted from his/her paycheck. Have these federal dollars benefited the students they were/are intended to benefit?

DCSS is STILL divided into a dual system when it comes to student achievement. Look at DCSS’s 2011 Georgia High School Graduation Test scores. The Office of School Improvement has had close to a half billion dollars to spend in the last 5 years from when these students in our Title 1 high schools were in elementary school, and they have failed to move them forward in relation to their peers.

$500,000,000 spent for INCREASED student achievement in Title 1 schools that has in reality resulted in DECREASED student achievement is not acceptable. BOE members need to look at the schools they serve and ask if they are comfortable supporting the present DCSS administration personnel who have overseen the expenditure of half a billion dollars for Title 1 schools while presiding over a decline in student achievement. The DCSS administration needs to understand that taxpayers all over DeKalb are interested in the achievement of EVERY student in EVERY school in DeKalb. The DCSS administration and BOE must take responsibility for spending tax money earmarked for leveling the playing field for our lowest income students in an efficacious manner. A Return on Investment needs to happen for ALL students.

See below for a list of the schools that the DCSS BOE members represent. Please email your BOE member and ask him/her if he/she is satisfied with the $500,000,000 spent by the Office of School Improvement.

http://www.dekalb.k12.ga.us/board-of-education

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Sources:
http://www.dekalb.k12.ga.us/school-improvement/title-i-schools
http://public.doe.k12.ga.us/ReportingFW.aspx?PageReq=104&CountyId=644&T=1&FY=2006
http://public.doe.k12.ga.us/ReportingFW.aspx?PageReq=104&CountyId=644&T=1&FY=2007
http://public.doe.k12.ga.us/ReportingFW.aspx?PageReq=104&CountyId=644&T=1&FY=2008
http://public.doe.k12.ga.us/ReportingFW.aspx?PageReq=104&CountyId=644&T=1&FY=2009
http://public.doe.k12.ga.us/ReportingFW.aspx?PageReq=104&CountyId=644&T=1&FY=2010
http://www.ajc.com/news/results-of-2011-georgia-958505.html
http://app.doe.k12.ga.us/ows-bin/owa/fin_pack_revenue.entry_form

More on the "Office of School Improvement" $$$

The DCSS Office of School Improvement is spending $4,400,000 annually in salary and benefits on the Parent Centers. The Parent Facilitators are supposed to be ensuring parents have the skills that will give their children the support that is conducive to educational success. Yet year after year, fewer and fewer of DCSS Title I schools are making adequate yearly progress.

The Parent Centers were established in 2005 the year after Dr. Lewis became superintendent. He immediately put Audria Berry in charge of the centers as a  "school improvement" initiative funded with federal Title 1 dollars, of which DeKalb brings in $128 million annually.

At $4,000,000+ in salary and benefits annually, taxpayers have spent $24,000,000 on these Parent Centers since their inception.

It is interesting to look at the highly paid members listed under title Parent Coordinator in the state Salary and Travel Report.

One of them is Zepora Roberts daughter ($76,495 in salary and benefits), one of them is Frankie Callaway's daughter ($61,775 in salary and benefits), and there is even a Guillory in there ($81,095 in salary and benefits). Not one of them is listed as a certified teacher at the Georgia Certification site although Ms. Callaway's daughter has an expired paraprofesssional certificate.

[BTW - Ms. Roberts daughter made $4,300 more in salary in 2010 than in 2009 and up $8,000 since 2008 during a time of frozen staff and teacher wages.]

We have little reporting on this initiative other than their own in-house newsletter. There are NO statistics on how many parents this group sees. NO tracking of results. Absolutely NO accountability in an area that should be producing academic progress, not academic decline.

The ineffectiveness and lack of accountability of these expensive Parent Centers must be audited and investigated for results.

sources:

State Salary and Travel audit 2008,2009,2010
http://www.open.georgia.gov/

Georgia Certification: https://www.gapsc.com/Certification/Lookup/look_up.aspx

DCSS newsletter:
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=2&ved=0CBwQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dekalb.k12.ga.us%2Fnewsroom%2Ffiles%2Fnr_06_08_05.pdf&ei=Zr3vTdrNGoqCtgf-weCXCQ&usg=AFQjCNF85xt_LZTBMFkqkQEealSl5BGJjQ&sig2=_rLp2k4kLznlZ9gyRi4nRQ