Wednesday, July 18, 2012

School Board Candidate UPDATES and GTCO-ATL SEAL OF APPROVAL AWARDS



DeKalb County voters have proven their interest in where the school board candidates for the July 31st election stand on key education issues. A packed audience was in attendance for the Tuesday, July 10th candidate forum held on Atlanta’s Westwood College campus. On Thursday, July 19, 2012, another large crowd is expected to attend the next DeKalb County Board of Election Candidates’ Forum including candidates from Districts: 2, 4, 6, and 8.

Sponsors, the PTSA of Arabia Mountain High School (AMHS) have confirmed all twelve candidates will attend the event taking place in the AMHS Auditorium. Event organizers say each school board candidate will give a one-minute opening remark and then answer pre-selected question from voters. At the end of the question and answer segment, the candidates will have an opportunity to make two-minute closing statements.

The DeKalb County School Board has had a rough end of the year. An unexpected budget shortfall of more than $80 million, a vote to increase taxes and a continuing debate over laying off more personnel has all occurred under the watchful eyes of the community. With so many challenges facing the District, Arabia’s PTSA say this election is of “vital importance” to various segments of the DeKalb community. Arabia Mountain High School is also a school choice and magnet school, pulling in students from across the county. And organizers say that will also contribute to an expected crowd of as many as 500 voters in attendance.

The candidates for District 2 are: Don McChesney (I) and Marshall Orson.

The candidates for District 4 are: Tom Gilbert, Jim Kinney, Jim McMahan and
H. Paul Womack, Jr. (I)

The candidates for District 6 are: Melvin Johnson, Denise E. McGill,
Terriyln C. Rivers-Cannon, and Latasha Walker

Candidates for District 8 are: Michelle “Mimi” Clark and Pamela Speaks (I)

Because of the anticipated crowds, people are encouraged to arrive early. DeKalb County Board of Election Candidates’ Forum takes place Thursday, July 19, 2012 at Arabia Mountain High located at 6610 Browns Mill Road, Lithonia, GA 30038. The event begins at 6:45pm and ends at 8:30pm.



We will award the 2012 Seal of Approval when Get the Cell Out - Atlanta sees or hears a public statement from a school board candidate that demonstrates that he or she would NOT vote for cell towers on school grounds if given that opportunity today.  We are not concerned about whether or not the candidate personally believes in the health risks associated with cell towers or whether he or she is fully aware of all the reasons the various groups of residents and parents have joined our cause to oppose the towers over the past year.  But, we ARE concerned that the candidates running for the board are aware of the issue, understand the vital importance of gaining proper feedback from the district communities they are asking to represent and that they understand the large amount of controversy over this decision which was made this time last year.

In addition, we hope to help the candidates get up to speed quickly on this issue as they may not understand that it will likely be the first major controversy they will be forced to deal with if they are elected to office on July 31.  Walter Woods, spokesman for the district stated that the construction of 8 towers was scheduled to begin in August.  The contracts state that they cannot build during the normal operation of school.  Therefore, a massive rush to build these large, dangerous, HAZMAT towers in the middle of quiet residential communities with many residents still uninformed and unaware may soon take place leaving a large number of the new constituents very, very angry.

In other school districts in other parts of the country there have been large scale protests, human chains built to block trucks from entering the school grounds, irate parents, lawyers, television crews, national media attention and a lot of very, very angry parents and taxpayers wanting answers.

In most cases, as will likely be the case here, by the time these folks see the towers being built before their eyes, it is likely too late for them to be able to stop the construction.  A long legal battle may create the need later to have a tower taken down, but many people will want to know who signed the permits and how these towers were approved without following any of our county's standard zoning laws or practices.  If these candidates are not fully educated on this subject, we expect they will get a crash course on Aug. 1.

GTCO awards the Seal of Approval to the following candidates as of 7/18/12:
Dist. 2 Don McChestney;
Dist. 4 Tom Gilbert,
Dist. 4  Jim McMahan;
Dist. 6 Denise McGill.

Ms. McGill and Mr. Gilbert are the only candidates who have stated emphatically that they do not believe cell towers should ever be built on school grounds no matter how desparate for money our system might be. 

Mr. McMahan was mainly concerned about asking the community for their feedback and voting accordingly and voiced concern that the communities were by and large uninformed. 

Mr. McChestney did his part during the vote in July 2011 to remove several schools that voiced concerns over the towers and we believe he may have voted against the towers had he had all the information available to him then that he does now. 

We have yet to hear from either candidate in Dist. 8.  Dr. Speaks did vote in favor of the towers, but also asked questions about the communities other options to speak their opposition and was misled to believe they would have that opportunity.

And, of course, Mr. Womack brought the towers to DeKalb County Schools as a favor to his friends at Lakeside High School, the only school to publically state their wishes for a tower and the only school on the initial list to not have a signed contract to date. 

Separately:  Mr. Kinney wants humans to live in outer space (fact) and insulted a mother on the Tucker Patch who was attempting to inform her community about the school board's decision to put a tower at Brockett Elementary.  Unacceptable behavior from someone wanting now to represent the views of the same community.

 Mr. Orson lied to the public and the media about the SPLOST IV so that his elementary school at Fernbank could get a new building despite the fact that the SPLOST legal fees were bleeding the operations budget dry.  We do not believe either of these candidates deserve further discussion or consideration.

We are trying to reach the others not mentioned.  Please check back soon!


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