eduKALB forum videos

Below are the YouTube posted videos from the Dunwoody forum hosted by eduKALB on September 28. Candidates from Districts 1,5,7, 9 participated.

School board election grandiloquence heating up

Today's AJC has an excellent article, DeKalb school board's behavior in spotlight, highlighting the issues our school system has encountered over the past two years. If you are not in tune with the story, I would suggest reading this latest report by Megan Matteucci and Kristina Torres to get caught up.

This quote says it all, in my opinion.

Roberts declined to talk about the disputes. “It’s an election time. People keep all this mess going to keep me from getting re-elected,” she said. “Everybody who sits on that board is not for an education for all children. We are divided on that school board by race, we are divided by politics, Republicans vs. Democrats.”

Roberts is wrong. These issues have not suddenly popped up because it's election time. The people who sit on the board who are not for all children are up for re-election and she is one of them. Yes, they are divided but it is due to ego-centric control issues, not Republican vs Democratic politics. The school board is a non-paritisan race. Roberts herself is the one pulling out the race card just before the election.

Report on the eduKAB forum from S DeKalb blog

Candidate forum was informative

Below are a few excerpts from S. DeKalb blog post - Click here to link to the entire post.

I had the opportunity to attend a forum for candidates running for open board of education seats. The first of three forums was held at the Delta Sigma Theta/Kappa Alpha Psi Community Action Center in South DeKalb, and sponsored by EduKALB. Here are some things I took away from the get together. 

First, only one incumbent showed up; Jay Cunningham from district 5.  . . . When asked his top priority for fixing the system, his reply was to work with the present members to fix the system then find a new superintendent. 

His opponents, Dr. Kirk Nooks and Jaques Hall did well though Hall’s inexperience showed. Hall made one comment that struck me as odd considering he is running for the school board. In his intro he commented that he was thankful he did not have any kids in the school system. . . .

All of the other candidates were impressive. Corey Wilson running in district 3 seemed passionate about being on the school board, and has young children attending DeKalb schools in his district. . . . 
The two most impressive candidates were Nancy Jester and Donna Edler. Both were passionate and very well informed. Edler wants to see more in depth reviews of policies such as ethics and nepotism. Jester wants to see the board and the system justify dollars spent every few years in an attempt to maintain better control of the systems budget. I had an opportunity to speak with Jester afterwards, and she is full of ideas, some of which should be put in place whether she wins or not. . . . She calls public schools a social gift and sees it as the one tool that can arrest the transmission of poverty. I do not know Jim Redovian, but if Jester gets enough exposure and her message reaches enough people she could make some noise. . . .


There are two more of these forums in the next few weeks. One is at Dunwoody city hall and the other is at DeKalb Medical’s auditorium on North Decatur Road.

Thanks so much for reporting on this event, South DeKalb!

UPDATE: We have learned that Ella Smith was also in attendance, however the blogger who wrote the report must have missed her portion.

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Candidate Forums

All candidate forums will be held from 6:30-8:30 p.m. and are open to all 15 announced candidates and incumbents seeking election to DeKalb School Board District Seats 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9.

The forums are as follows:

Thursday, September 23 (past)
Location – Delta Sigma Theta/Kappa Alpha Psi Community Action Center, 4522 Flat Shoals Parkway, Decatur, GA
Co-sponsors – Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Alumnae and Kappa Alpha Psi Alumnae and eduKALB

Tuesday, September 28

Location – Dunwoody City Hall, City Council Chambers, 41 Perimeter Center East, Dunwoody, GA 30346

Sponsor – eduKALB

Thursday, October 7

Location – DeKalb Medical Center, Central Campus, 2701 North Decatur Road, Decatur, GA 30033, Hospital Theatre, Ground Floor, Main Building

Co-sponsors – DeKalb County League of Women Voters, The Champion & Free Press and eduKALB

School Board Policy and New State Rules Weak on Board Member’s Sales

One of our regular contributors has done a little research and come to a conclusion that is not surprising — our school board ethics policies are very weak on all fronts.  Below is the text from the actual policy regarding conflicts of interest.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

In order to avoid conflict of interest, the following guidelines for Board members shall apply:

1. No Board member shall sell supplies or equipment to the Board.
2. The Board may not employ one of its members for any position in the school system.
3. The Board shall not do business with a partnership or corporation partially owned by a Board member.
4. A Board member shall not sell insurance to the Board.
5. School book publishers and their agents are precluded from Board membership.
6. No Board member may have a financial interest in school buses, bus equipment or supplies, provide services for buses owned by the Board, or sell gasoline to the Board from a corporation in which the Board member is a shareholder.
7. No Board member shall serve on the governing body of private educational institutions.
8. No Board member shall hold another county public office.
9. No Board member may be employed by the State Department of Education or serve concurrently as a member of the State Board of Education.
10. The Board may not do business with a bank or financial institution where a Board member is an employee, stock holder, director or officer when such member owns 30 percent or more stock in that institution.

To elaborate on item #1 - Here's the state code: (Which prohibits selling equipment or supplies not necessarily selling pizza or uniforms, etc. It still seems a bit vague.)

20-2-505.
(a) No member of any county board of education in this state shall sell to any county board any supplies or equipment used, consumed, or necessary in the operation of any public school in this state.
(b) Any member of any county board violating subsection (a) of this Code section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.

For more Georgia code click here.

New School Board Policies approved April 12 by DCSS BOE—Ethics and Conflict of Interest Policies
--There were no changes to the Ethics Policy or Conflict of Interest Policy pertaining to similar sales to nonprofit organizations, schools, classes or teachers. The policy stands as stating that board members basically cannot do business with the board (interpreted to mean "schools").  However, there is no mention of booster clubs, PTAs, etc and no mention of other employees doing business with those groups.

Applicable items SB 84—Passed This Year

(3) No local board of education member shall solicit or accept or knowingly allow his or her immediate family member or a business organization in which he or she has an interest to solicit or accept any gift, favor, loan, political contribution, service, promise of future employment, or other thing of value based upon an understanding that the gift, favor, loan, contribution, service, promise, or other thing of value was given or offered for the purpose of influencing that board member in the discharge of his or her official duties.
(8) No member of a local board of education may also be an officer of any organization that sells goods or services to that local school system, except as provided in Code Section 20-2-505 and excluding nonprofit membership organizations.

Proposed Levitas Bill (not pursued by the DeKalb Delegation)

Pertinent prohibitions sronger, but relatively weak:

(1) Engage in any business or transaction with or have a financial or other personal interest, direct or indirect, in the affairs of the DeKalb County School System which would result in a financial benefit, except for a financial benefit of a nominal or incidental amount, to the official, appointed officer, employee, or relative of such person or which would tend to impair the independence of judgment or action in the performance of official duties;

Advertise business and professional services to the school system or its employees for personal gain;

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So, as you can see, the fox may be guarding the henhouse. We need to pressure our school board candidates to create and enforce a strong ethics policy. In fact, they need to rework and revamp all of their policies, which I believe the new legal counsel is already working on.

Let's Use Our Grassroots Network for Lasting Change

by AMP in DH

As many readers are aware, five of the nine members of the Board of Education are up for re-election this year. These members represent the odd-numbered districts -- Jim Redovian (District 1), Sarah Copelin-Wood (District 3), Jay Cunningham (District 5), Zepora Roberts (District 7), and Eugene Walker (District 9). At the following link, you can find street-level maps outlining the boundaries of these districts (found by clicking on "Board of Education District Map" and the "Board of Education Super District Map") available at this link.

Also, for those of you who may be considering running or who want to recruit candidates, please mark on your calendars June 28, 9:00 a.m., through July 2, 12:00 noon. Candidates seeking to run for Districts 1, 3, 5, 7, or 9, must qualify with the DeKalb County Elections Superintendent during this time. The qualification fee for these seats is $540.00 Click here for the fee chart.

I think it would serve us all well to start in-person meetings after spring break for the purpose of establishing networks of volunteers in these five districts, brainstorming potential candidates, and developing campaign plans. Our goal should be to get our process underway before school lets out and, of course, before the qualifying deadline.

The only way we can achieve real, lasting change in our school district is to achieve a change in its leadership. It's our school district -- let's take it back and make it better than it's ever been.

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Thanks so much for writing up this important post AMP!