DeKalb School Board Draws Scrutiny; SACS Needs Our Help!

View from the audience at a DeKalb County School Board Work Session last year where some members of Get the Cell Out - Atlanta spoke up for other schools outside of their own districts in a show of unity against the board's vote to place cell towers on school grounds. 

(View this story by clicking headline)

View full AJC article here:  DeKalb school board draws scrutiny  By Ty Tagami
(reprinted in part with permission) The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Posted: 5:53 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 30, 2012

An accrediting agency wants the DeKalb County school board to answer allegations that it has mismanaged its oversight of the system and ignored key financial responsibilities.

The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) said it’s received dozens of complaints from a broad spectrum of people in DeKalb. Parents, public officials and school staffers have alleged everything from financial mismanagement to undue influence in hiring — all while the school system faces a financial crisis.

“The allegation is they’re getting involved in areas that aren’t their responsibility, and then in the areas that are their responsibility, they’re not being effective,” said Mark Elgart, president and chief executive officer of AdvancED, the parent company of SACS.

In a letter recieved by school officials Wednesday, SACS said there is “significant concern” about whether DeKalb is meeting “at least” two of five accreditation standards. SACS gave DeKalb 30 days to respond, and will then investigate and issue a report.

According to GTCO-ATL calculations, this gives us until Friday, Sept. 28, to forward letters or other forms of proof to back up what is being claimed in these allegations.  Please help us in this effort by compiling your own proof of violations of DeKalb's school policies or by writing letters that backup the claims of mismanagement and ignoring key financial responsibilities. 

You may send this information to SACS at:

 

Southern Association of Colleges and Schools

Attn:  Mark Elgart, President and CEO, AdvanceED

cc:  Mr. Paul Reviere, Chairman, SACS

Regional Headquarters

1866 Southern Lane
Decatur, Georgia 30033-4097

 

FAX: 404-679-4556 

 

You may also fill out this simple "Contact Us" form

if your comments are brief: 

http://www.advanc-ed.org/contact-us 

 

Or, send an email to:  contactus@advanc-ed.org

 

“I don’t see where we violated any policy,” school board chairman Eugene Walker said. He said he wants to consult the 9-member school board before issuing any detailed response. He also said he needed more details than provided in the 3-page letter.

“They need to show some evidence of these things,” Walker said.

The allegations are from about 50 people over the past year, Elgart said.

SACS also has its own concerns. For instance, Elgart said, state audits over the past five years show the board spent 10 times more than it budgeted for day-to-day legal expenses — costs that were easily anticipated.

“One of the problems is the board has two law firms on retainer because they couldn’t agree on one,” Elgart said. “It is highly irregular for a school system to have two law firms doing the work of one.”
Elgart said it’s unusual for SACS to send a letter like this. It does so each year with perhaps 1 percent of the school systems in the 38 states where it operates, he said.

(For the rest of this article in the AJC, click here.)

(To read the letter from SACS in its entirety, click here.)

 

Please forward a copy of your statement (or excerpt from what you decided to send) to us

at sayno2celltowers@yahoo.com so that we may reprint it on this website

(without your name included to protect your privacy). 

Sharing your comments is optional but it will help to encourage others to do the same.  Thanks!