This is where the Central Office gets itself in trouble:
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Don Roberts is now the instrumental coordinator for the DeKalb County School System and creator of the show “DRUMLine Live”.
Dallas Austin, producer of the 2002 movie “Drumline,” approached Roberts to consult for the film while researching bands in DeKalb County.
Roberts tweaked the concept for a theater setting and was picked up by Columbia Artists Management.
The 38-member cast of “DRUMLine Live” is currently working its way through a second U.S. tour and has completed two tours in Japan and Korea.
After working on the movie, Roberts said he knew he wanted to continue to bring the band experience to audiences.
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This is great for Mr. Roberts, and I hope it has proved to be artistically and financially rewarding for him. Really, congrats to him!
But as we've seen with Yvonne Butler, Ralph Simpson, Morcease Beasely, and the worst offender, Ram Ramsey, when someone is an administrator for the DeKalb Co. School System, with second and third jobs, it should in no way affect the forty hour work week we expect from them and pay them for. And DCSS administrators are supposed to work 12 months a year.
I hope that Mr. Roberts' responsibilities for Drumline Live in no way interefere with his job duties as the instrumental coordinator for the school system. I hope that he does not spend one second during his work day, other than on his lunch, to do Drumline Live business, I hope he doesn't use a DCSS computer or DCSS phone to do so. Taxpayers pay him to be our system's instrumental coordinator. Period.
We've seen what happens when administrators like Yvonne Butler spend so much time out of the classroom during the school year to promote themselves, make money, etc. for other endeavors. Even while being paid full-time by DCSS. "Bookgate" only became a public scandal because we here on this blog pushed it (http://dekalbschoolwatch.blogspot.com/2010/08/book-gate-update.html).
-Still not sure why Ralph Simpson was allowed to remain a highly compensated DCSS administrator while Butler was fired. It pays to be buddies with the bigwigs.
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Ron Ramsey's Office of Internal Affairs was aware of the Butler and Simpson situations, but failed ignored them. I guess that makes sense as anything Ramsey did would seem hypocritical with his multiple non-DCSS responsibilities. Ramsey has one of the top five positions in the school system, yet he is out three months of the year at the state senate and also runs multiple family businesses.
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Morcease Beasely, who by all accounts has the second most important job for the 26th largest school system in America: He's in charge of academics!! But how fully committed can he truly be to that incredibly important job when he's also a pastor trying to build a new church, and according to his website, is a consultant, author, leadership coach, etc. And he sells an online check registry (?): http://apassionforleadership.com/home.
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It's also telling that it is system administrators who have these prominent other jobs and duties. Would the Office of Internal Affairs approve of teachers doing the same? Or does the Office of Internal Affairs have a "Kiss Up, Kick Down" philosophy (http://tportis.wordpress.com/2011/01/02/understanding-the-psychology-of-the-kiss-upkick-down-leader/)?
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I think we all know the answer on how Ramsey and the retired but still making bank Robert Tucker would treat teachers in the same situation as Butler, Simpson, Beasely and Ramsey himself.
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original post
This is your DeKalb County School System's Director of the Office of Internal Affairs.
And if you live in DeKalb in District 43, this is your state senator.
1) 2007 Salary: $115,000 -- 2009 Salary: $140,000
Hey county teachers, how many of you saw a $25,000 raise in 24 months?
2) No prior experience in public education administration.
3) The DeKalb Delegation has been meeting with the public twice a year over the past 5-6 years to update county residents on the legislative session and pressing legislation, and more importantly, to listen to county resident concerns.
Ramsey has not attended any of these public meetings.
4) Ramsey, as state senator, has not written or passed any substantial legislation.
5) He and his family own multiple businesses. So in addition to his full-time DCSS position, and a state senate position that is full time for at least three months of the year, he has multiple businesses to operate. I can only hope he doesn't use his DCSS phone or computer to perform any senate or personal business.
6) Ramsey receives $17,342 a year as a state senator. However, he also receives a per diem every day the state senate is in session, or if he goes to the Gold Dome out of session for senate business, of a generous $173 per day.
The per diem was originally meant for legislators who live far from the capitol and can't drive home at the end of a day in session. Ramsey gets the same per diem for at least 40 days a year, approx. $7,000 (the actual number of days is most likely double), plus the annual salary and benefits.
7) Under Ramsey's tenure as head of DCSS Internal Affairs, the unprecedented happened: The system's Superintendent and Chief Operating Officer were indicted under the RICO Act for criminal enterprise. Despite red flags such as the Lewis vehicle purchase, Gasgate, the Lewis trips to the Bahamas and Ritz Carlton even after warned by Marcus Turk not to pay for them on p-card, the awareness that Vincent Pope was a subcontractor on DCSS projects, etc., the Office of Internal Affairs completely failed in its directive.
8) The other DCSS scandals that occurred under Ron Ramsey's watch are too numerous to list: paying New Birth for rent for a charter school when there are a number of vacant DCSS properties, the Yvonne Bulter/Ralph Simpson Bookgate, the Frankie Callaway grade chaging scandal, the hiring of a Human Resources Diector with a criminal past, MIS' Jamal Edwards (son of former BOE member Franics Edwards) not being in his assigned school for six months with pay before parents finally had enough, etc., etc., etc. The list goes on and on. The list of nepotism hires in the system is a very long one.
9) Even though he is retired with a full pension, taxpayers also pay Robert Tucker to work at the Office of Internal Affairs, in a position that can be summed up as Ramsey's right hand man. A few years back, the AJC did a story on the number of retired DCSS administrators who still worked for the system, the "double-dippers". The Board of Education promised to end the practice. Except in Tucker's case, obviously.
10) This is the most unbelievable aspect of Ron Ramsey's career to me: 40,000 residents of this county live in Dunwoody, over 5% of the county's population. When Dunwoody wanted to become a city, as is their right, when we already have a number of cities in the county (Chamblee, Doraville, Pine Lake, Decatur, Lithonia, Stone Mountain, Avondale Estates, Clarkston), Ron Ramsey calles for an economic boycott of Dunwoody????
And unthinkably, neither the DeKalb Delegation nor the Board of Education publicly reprimanded him for this humilating action. Action like the boycott demanded by Ramsey would hurt sales tax revenue which hurts DCSS SPLOST revenue. Perimeter Mall is located in Dunwoody...would Ramsey rather have shoppers go to Lenox and Phipps?
http://www.thecrier.net/articles/2008/02/05/front/cod.txt
State Sen. Ronald Ramsey (D-DeKalb) angrily charged that the legislation was “done in the dark.”
“We will have an economic boycott against the entire Dunwoody community and the PCID,” he said.
Simply mind numbing that the DeKalb Delegation and the Board of Education did not publicly reprimand Ramsey for his irresponsible statements.
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Should we be satisfied with Ron Ramsey's performance as head of DCSS Internal Affairs? Even with a new superintendent in July, will the system actually change much with Ramsey and Tucker in place? The Board of Education has some decisions to make. We suggest they address these important credibility issues before they make any more cuts to the classroom or ask communities to endure painful (possibly unnecessary) redistricting.
