Beware The Ides of March

Caesar was murdered on the Ides of March in 44 BC.  Dekalb County's
School Board is replaced and makes its first announcement on the Ides
of March, 2013, after a new Roman Catholic Pope is named.

Not trying to be superstitious, but did anyone else find it a little eerie that the DeKalb County School Board swore in its newly appointed 6 members on 3/13/13?  And, that's not to mention the fact that a new Pope was also named by the Roman Catholic Church on the same day.  Talk about trying your luck!

It's even more creepy that the new school board has now made its first public announcement on the "Ides of March" (generally believed to be on or around March 15), which is the famous day that Roman emperor Julius Caesar was killed by his best friend and many co-conspirators in the middle of the Parliament.  He had been warned about the "middle of March" known as the "Ides."  After his assassination, the time period became well-known as a turning point in the Roman empire.

Let's hope it is a turning point for DeKalb County as well, but in a good way.  The announcement made by the board was that it will hold its first official meeting on March 20 at The Palace at 6:30 p.m.  Public comments will likely not be heard and will wait until April.  We hope this stop to the pubic comments portion is due to the fact that Superintendent Thurmond wants to better understand who is coming before the board and why.  The first official public comments he listened to were filled with people who either work on the staff of the school system or have other connections to them and were asked to speak positive, which only takes time away from others with real issues and concerns they would like for the board to address.

Here's the announcement:

Board of Education to Meet on Wednesday, March 20

March 14, 2013 - The DeKalb County Board of Education will hold a business meeting on Wednesday, March 20, 2013 in the Board Room of the Administrative and Industrial Complex, 1701 Mountain Industrial Blvd, Stone Mountain. The agenda will be posted no later than 6 p.m. on Monday, March 18.