Spinning a web of deceit our board reps try in vain to sweep their own debris under the rug

But in today's high tech world, the little Blackberry tells all.

Below is a quote from an AJC article regarding Sarah Copelin-Wood's meddling in the Citizen's Advisory Committee this past April.

Board member accused of interfering, injecting race into DeKalb closings debate

The DeKalb County school closings process was derailed by a board member telling task force members how to vote, pitting schools against each other and charging racism is a factor, one task force member said.


Citizens Planning Task Force member Marcia Coward said she is filing a complaint against board member Sarah Copelin-Wood with the board and the superintendent.


“I know that Sarah Wood made phone calls and pitted one school against the other in her own district. I think that’s very wrong,” Coward said Saturday. “She’s supposed to represent all of the schools in her district.” . . .

Chairman Tom Bowen said the school board will review the complaint, but he said no board members were supposed to be involved in the task force.

Now - I sadly remind you of the emails between Bowen and Wood after this complaint was filed. (These emails were distributed to many people by Sarah herself.)


-----Original Message-----
From: "SARAH COPELIN-WOOD"
Date: Tue, 04 May 2010 16:34:11
To: ; THOMAS BOWEN
Cc: < schoolsandcommunity@yahoo.com >
Subject: Your Reference To Me In Article In AJC

May 4, 2010

Hello Tom,

Please address your comments, according to the AJC, in the AJC, I have attached it below for your information:

Discussion about school ethics legislation comes as District 3 board member Sarah Copelin-Wood, who is up for re-election, faces an ethics complaint. She is accused of meddling in the school closure process by directing members of the Citizens Planning Task Force how to vote.

"The complaint against Wood is pending and will be addressed after the board finalizes its budget, Bowen said."



Sarah Copelin-Wood, Board Member
DeKalb Board of Education - District 3


----- Original Message -----

From: bowent7522@att.blackberry.net Tuesday, May 04, 2010 4:58:28 PM
Subject: Re: Your Reference To Me In Article In AJC
To: SARAH COPELIN-WOOD

I was asked the status and I said the board had not had any time to discuss it given all we had going on with the budget and other things.

My preference is to not take it on at all and let it go away. It will be a bunch of he said, she said. Only thing we could do is add to the policy on citizen committees but that would just attract more attention.

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T


-----Original Message-----
From: "SARAH COPELIN-WOOD"
Date: Tue, 04 May 2010 17:22:38
To: ; THOMAS BOWEN
Cc: < schoolsandcommunity@yahoo.com >
Subject: Fwd: Re: Your Reference To Me In Article In AJC

May 4, 2010

Hello Tom,

Thank you for your expeditious response. After reading the article, I was interested to know if there is a pending investigation by the DeKalb School Board regarding me.

Thank you very much,

Sarah Copelin-Wood, Board Member
DeKalb Board of Education - District 3
(404) 371-1490

- Original Message -----

From: bowent7522@att.blackberry.net Tuesday, May 04, 2010 5:32:27 PM
Subject: Re: Fwd: Re: Your Reference To Me In Article In AJC
To: SARAH COPELIN-WOOD

No investigation and nor do I want one. Especially now that we changed the plan with the four schools and we aren't going to use the findings anyway.

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

===

I always thought Tom was the one who could be trusted. But as these emails show, in his desperation, he is all too willing to mislead the press, allowing the public to believe that an investigation will occur, while behind the scenes, reassuring his fellow board member that he will protect her - regardless of what he told the press.

I think this is truly the most disappointed I've been in quite some time.

Go, Wendy, Go!

Wow. That's all I have to say.  Channel 46 lead investigative reporter, Wendy Saltzman uncovered a pile of family members of current or former board members and administrators working in DeKalb schools. Not only are they working - they have the cake jobs!

Check out the promo for tonight's report by clicking here. Hopefully, they will add the actual report soon. It all went by so fast, I'll have to watch it again for it to sink in.

UPDATE: The video is up and can be viewed by clicking here.

Below is a quote from the text of the article - giving an overview of some of the employees highlighted in Wendy's report:

Check out these members of DeKalb's so-called “Friend's-and-Family” plan who we uncovered: 

Former superintendent Robert Freeman has two sons and a daughter in law who all worked for the school system. His son Robin was charged with a misdemeanor but was hired while his father was there. 

And records we uncovered show Tim Freemen, now an Assistant Superintendent, got his recommendation from who else? His dad, who was the acting Superintendent. Robert Freeman jokingly said he couldn't support the reference for his son. 

Former Deputy Superintendent Frankie Callaway has a daughter, husband and a son who all work for the DeKalb County Schools. 

And Frances Edwards, a former school board member, has a son who is now employed in the Information Services Department, a daughter who was one of the only members of the Media Relations office not to lose her high paying job, and son-in-law with no experience in transportation who is running that department. 

"I am sick and tired of you and all of these people making an issue about my child," Roberts said, referencing these other administrator's children. 

So she expanded her hit list, and took a shot at School Board Chairman Thomas Bowen. 

"Tom Bowen has in-laws whose worked in the school system," Roberts told us.

August 9 Board Meeting

This board meeting was short and sweet once again! That's two in a row!

Here are the bullet points:

Channel 24 showed a video montage of the first day of school. It was cute, but technically pretty bad. Bad music, bad lighting, bad editing.  But a good message - the day went well at most schools.

• Moseley reported that we have 93,764 students enrolled today, and expect that number to jump to 98,181 by Monday.
• We have about 6,500 teachers and 10 teacher vacancies.
• 1,577 students applied for an AYP transfer. Chamblee HS has 198 acceptances and Arabia (well, the annex of Arabia which will actually be at Lithonia) has 240. Moseley has decided to wait three weeks before actually sending these AYP students to these schools. (Not sure what that's about...)
• We are about to embark on a major board policy revision.  A committee, which includes our attorneys, will evaluate all 247 current policies as well as look into needed policies to add. They will write new policies for topics such as ethics, purchasing, employee business activities, whistleblowers and Pre-K. 

Other than that, the approval of the promotion of Felicia (Mitchell) Mayfield's daughter from Assistant Principal at Chamblee HS to Principal of Clarkston HS (a school in severe academic trouble) was unanimous.

In compliance with Board Policy GAG, Employment of Relatives, it is requested that the Board of Education approve the appointment of Ms. Michelle Jones as Principal at Clarkston High School. Ms. Jones is currently an Assistant Principal at Chamblee High School.

Ms. Jones is the daughter of Cabinet member Dr. Felicia Mayfield.



Leadership Prep Academy asked for approval to use DCSS food service until they are able to secure their own. When Sarah asked where LPA was located, the speaker simply gave the street address.

Then board members had their two minutes of free campaigning - ahem - open comments time. Here, I'll just insert, blah, blah, blah. Except that Jim Redovian made a heartfelt statement about young Blake Kuller, who as a rising 9th grader at Dunwoody high school after having looked forward to high school his whole life, lost his battle with MS and never got to attend Dunwoody. News like that is humbling and keeps things in perspective. For all our system's and school's faults that we tend to focus on here, we must remember that our schools have deep meaning and memory-making ability for our children. To miss the experience of high school altogether is heartbreaking. Our prayers go out to Blake's family.

Tom Bowen ended the meeting with a statement of hope. He wants the public to look forward to changes for the better. He is certain the board will step up to the requests from SACS, and utilize SAC's leadership to move our system forward in optimism for better days.

Here's hoping!

First Day Back: Womack talks about the school system challenges and Ramona Tyson's new leadership style

So, how was the first day back at school?  Were classrooms as crowded as we were expecting? Were supplies in order? Was traffic snarled? Buses on time? Construction under control? AYP transfers go smoothly? Esis working? Air conditioning up and running?

Latest blather on the indictments

If anyone is interested, today's AJC hosts yet another article about Pat Pope/Reid. Now, we are treated to a journey into her past, highlighted with a photo of her as a high school cheerleader and interviews with her former teachers.  (Yawn.) So far we have probed as much as I think we all care to probe into the details of this woman.  Just get the trial on the road please.  We really want to move on.

The August 6 Called Meeting Re: SACS

Check out the new digs! (Photo from Ch46News)

This morning's called meeting was brief and to the point.  Hopefully, this is the way all meetings will be conducted going forward.  Tom always does an amazing job of graciously acknowledging time for comments, but pushing the meeting forward at the same time. He had a tiny bit of trouble with the new voting technology in the impressive new facility, but managed the system very well.

The first order of business was the SACS letter requesting that the school system provide input on a list of topics and evidence that it is in compliance with accreditation standards. The AJC published the letter two days ago which you can find by clicking here. The AJC reported that they acquired a copy of the letter from SACS after the school system did not respond to their request. Ramona Tyson defended her actions by stating that she had requested a deadline extension from SACS and was waiting for their reply before sharing what would be a new version of the letter with a new deadline. She also stated that she has three days to respond to media. That said, a simple acknowledgement of the AJC's request with the above explanation would have, in all likelihood, nipped any misreporting in the bud. Communication is absolutely key in every situation and I think it is one of the most important issues DCSS needs to work on. Like it or not, a superintendent is a very public figure, and as such must communicate regularly with the media or assign a spokesperson to do so. Since our spokesperson was part of the recent budget cuts, Tyson will have to take on this task herself. There's just no way around it I'm afraid.

Several board members made interesting comments regarding the SACS letter. Apparently, several of them accompanied Ms. Tyson to a meeting with Dr. Elgart at SACS on June 23. They were informed at that time that some issues have come up and that SACS would provide assistance and resources to help the system address these issues. Dr. Walker pointed out that SACS issued a letter a year ago stating that DCSS was doing well and then he added his personal opinion that the media does not "master the story" and asked the media to "please give us a fair shake". Womack attended the June 23 meeting and took away that these issues would never have come to the fore without the indictments of our top leadership.

All seemed to agree that they will push forward with these questions from SACS and use their results to improve the system. Tyson has put a 15-member team together to work on this project and promises a "forensic" review of all areas of concern. In addition, she will host a website as well as broadcast all meetings, which will all be open, on the subject.

The board also voted to begin the process of creating a RFP for search firms to submit proposals for a superintendent search. The board seemed unanimous in hoping to find a firm that will conduct a national search and that the firm will not hold a pool of candidates that they represent - they wish to find a firm that will strictly work for DCSS and seek the best candidate for the job, even if it requires recruiting someone from a successful system. The board will also set up a webpage that will track the progress of the search.

All good things. I have always prayed for the day that we will not feel compelled to "watch" our school system leaders. In this age of the internet and Google, the power of the people has become very strong and I think our school board has heard this message. They promise to respond with transparent internet access as well as open, broadcast meetings. Who knows - maybe someday they will even host a blog!