SACS Visits DeKalb and Other News

Some insightful reporting by Ty Tagami from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

Is Dr. Atkinson out there laughing at us somewhere?

Is she enjoying her fat payout at the expense of our

children and homeowners?  Will the nightmare for

DeKalb's schools finally come to an end?  Or is

this just the beginning?  Traditionally, the worst decisions

that affect the most people and cost us the most

money have taken place of the Summer months, mainly

in July.  So, regardless of whether or not you have

children in the school system, if you pay taxes and

plan to live here for a while, please pay attention to

all issues affecting our county and, most of all,

don't lose sight of the school board's actions just

because the kids are out for Summer break!  Corruption

doesn't take a holiday.  It waits to strike when it thinks

no one is paying attention!  

Accreditation agency visits DeKalb

May 17:  The school accreditation agency that placed DeKalb County on probation last year has returned for a review of the school district in preparation for a May 31 report.

A monitoring team from AdvancED, the parent company of accreditation agency the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, visited the DeKalb County School District Friday with plans to continue interviewing staff Saturday.

The team met with principals, teachers, administrators and board members, a school system spokeswoman said. DeKalb will be judged on progress addressing 11 concerns. SACS gave the district a December deadline to address them.

and...

DeKalb schools change budget hearing plans

May 14:  Hours before a final hearing Wednesday on next year’s budget, the DeKalb County School District cancelled and rescheduled the event for noon on June 3.

No reason was given for the abrupt change of plans. The school board is now expected to hear from the public just a week before a possible June 10 preliminary vote on the fiscal year 2014 budget, which starts in July.

A final budget vote is now expected June 26.

and, just prior to that:

DeKalb schools’ finance chief leaves amid questions about the budget

May 8:  The same day the cash-strapped DeKalb County School District released a proposed budget with millions of dollars in surprise revenue, the district’s finance chief turned in his resignation, two events a district spokesman said were unrelated.

Michael Perrone’s decision to leave Tuesday had nothing to do with the district’s release of a budget that day with $27 million in revenue that did not exist in his earlier projections, district spokesman Jeff Dickerson said.

“He left on amicable terms and all is well,” Dickerson said, adding that Mike Bell, a government finance veteran, will step in temporarily.

Perrone’s departure after an accounting discovery obliterating a projected shortfall for fiscal year 2014, which begins in July, left some observers uneasy.

“With the discovery of what has been called a surplus, there are a lot more questions than answers,” said Gil Hearn, a Dunwoody parent. The founder of Parents for DeKalb County Schools said some worry the new money is not real. “It introduces significant doubt into the process,” he said.

Superintendent Michael Thurmond told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution how he found the money: Some of it, such as a state subsidy associated with a growing population of students who don’t speak English, was always there and unrecorded, he said. But some of it DeKalb had failed to collect, he said. For instance, the district gets federal dollars to feed children, but failed to bill the government for the cost of administering the grant, Thurmond said.

“Some of it, we got it but we didn't know we had it,” Thurmond said. “Some of it, you had to know to ask to get it.”

School board chairman Melvin Johnson said he’s confident in Thurmond’s discovery. He said DeKalb can collect the unbilled money for the current fiscal year, and will try to recoup money from prior years — though he was less optimistic about the prospects for that.

Johnson said he assumed Perrone left because of the revenue revelation. “He probably looked at the budget and saw the discrepancies that had been revealed and decided to resign,” Johnson said.

Perrone did not return messages left on his district cellphone or on an older cellphone he brought with him from Florida. No working number could be found for him in the Jacksonville, Fla., area, where he worked as a school finance officer before he was hired last year by former DeKalb Superintendent Cheryl Atkinson.

Perrone is the first member of Atkinson’s cabinet to leave under Thurmond, who took over in February.

School board member Marshall Orson said he does not know why Perrone left but said it could have been a simple changing of the guard.

“It’s not unusual when you have a change in leadership that some people end up going,” Orson said.

The new superintendent’s budget is a sharp departure from Atkinson’s. With Perrone’s help, Atkinson engineered some of the deepest cuts in school district history. DeKalb sheared off $78 million in spending, implementing a $730 million budget that increased class sizes by reducing teaching positions, laid off library workers, interpreters and bus mechanics and imposed two additional furlough days — unpaid leave — on teachers.

Thurmond is recommending a $759 million budget for fiscal year 2014 that cancels one of those furlough days and gives bus drivers and other support workers a cash incentive for showing up to work regularly. He is also asking the school board to buy new textbooks, hire interpreters and invest in planning for a career academy when they adopt the budget in June.

Teachers advocate David Schutten said the canceled furlough day is a welcome, if small, concession. The president of the Organization of DeKalb Educators visited a half-dozen schools Wednesday and said teachers at all of them expressed “hope but cynicism” about the newfound money.

Schutten was surprised to learn of Perrone’s departure and said it will only deepen suspicion. “He struck me as being competent, so I’m just kind of taken aback,” Schutten said. “What people are going to want to know is, does this have anything to do with the money?”

Please leave respectful comments below:

Citizens Taking Action in School Board Crisis

From WSB-TV and reported in the Atlanta Journal:

Parents Taking Action in School Board Crisis

Attendees at a weekend meeting want to focus on children first, accreditation second.

• By Cheryl Miller

Residents of DeKalb County gathered Saturday at a realty company in Decatur to discuss findings in the report on DeKalb County's School Board issued by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) in December.

SACS has placed the district on Probation. A panel of community leaders also presented highlights from a Grand Jury investigation into school system finances. Three grand juries have called upon the District Attorney to convene a special panel that would delve further into their concerns.

Viola Davis, the event's organizer and a Patch contributor, has established a new group called Restore DeKalb, intended to return the county's school system to one that is focused on the children first, and accreditation second. That is in contrast to the stated mission of the new Interim Superintendent Michael Thurmond who has vowed to make accreditation his number one priority.

The meeting appeared to be a success in reaching stakeholders from all parts of the county who wanted to learn more about the dire circumstances they are facing, but some expressed disappointment that there were not more people in attendance.

"I know you all vote," stated one panel member who rose to address the crowd of close to 100, "but if you know someone who doesn't vote, please talk to them. Tell them about what is going on. We have to get more people to show up at the polls so we can vote for more responsible leadership. Our rights will only help us if we are willing to use them."

This Thursday, the state Board of Education will continue a hearing with DeKalb's board members. Once it has concluded, the BOE will have 15 days to make a formal, written recommendation to Governor Nathan Deal to remove or keep the board. Deal will then determine if he will follow the recommendation. The decision had many attendees voicing concerns about whom the Governor might appoint and what that decision might mean for the future of the schools.

Willie Pringle, a parent at Southwest DeKalb High School, has been speaking out in his community and at local school board meetings for years. He stated that the board has had plenty of time to make changes but have put their own needs and desire for money first. He believes Cheryl Atkinson has helped uncover a lot of problems and the board now wants to use her as their scapegoat to blame instead of owning up to how they contributed to those problems.

Betsy Parks, a resident of the Lakeside High School district, attended the two-hour meeting along with others from her area. She felt the system was in such bad shape that she removed her child first and then help spearhead efforts to remove the entire board from their positions. Parks is only a few signatures away on a petition she started that asks for the board's removal. She plans to deliver the final 1,500 signatures and comments to the state board on Wednesday.

One former system employee - who wanted to be known only as Barbara - admitted to knowing where missing funds mentioned by SACS are probably located. She disagreed with Pringle's accusations against the board and thought Dr. Atkinson was to blame.

To that, Davis replied, "until I see with my own eyes a principal who can hold up a brand new textbook and say 'look, we've found them. We have the books here,' then I still say the board has to go. If they can't show us the books or find the money, they are a part of the problem and they have to go."

For more about Restore DeKalb and the mission of Davis, Pringle and others who want the children to be the top priority, visit the group's upcomimg website. Davis is also a leader who has worked with Get the Cell Out - Atlanta and the Unhappy Taxpayer and Voters, two groups established to demand higher accountability from elected officials in DeKalb County.

To view the live webcast of the state hearing on Thursday, Feb. 21 at 8 a.m., click here. To add your name to the online petition, click here.

Jobs are the Priority: Former Labor Commissioner of Georgia Named Interim Superintendent of Schools

Michael Thurmond (Credit:  AJC photo)

Just in case you are keeping tabs:  We're still paying our previous Interim Superintendent, Ramona Howell Tyson, about $275,000 a year for a job that was created for her by her.  We're paying former Superintendent (as of midnight tonight) Dr. Cheryl Lynn Howell Atkinson, who has been MIA since committing various levels of crimes against the taxpayers before she left, though not formally charged, about $115,000 over the next six months.  And, now we've apparently agreed to pay former labor commissioner Michael Thurmond $275,000 for one year as the new Interim Superintendent.  Oh, yes, and did we mention ... he's a lawyer!  

Read more about him here.

Here is the official DeKalb statement:

“We are delighted Mr. Thurmond has agreed to serve as our interim superintendent,” said Board Chairman Eugene Walker. “Our school district is facing significant challenges, and we need a leader with a strong record of making fundamental changes in large, complex organizations. Throughout our state, you’ll find almost universal agreement that Michael Thurmond has consistently demonstrated those abilities.”

“The board is committed to working with Mr. Thurmond,” said Jim McMahan, vice-chair of the DeKalb board. “Under his leadership, we will work to ensure that every child in DeKalb has equal access to a quality education.”

“I welcome the opportunity to serve the 99,000 students of the DeKalb County Schools,” said Mr. Thurmond. “By all of us coming together across our county – parents, employees, citizens and businesses North and South – there’s no limit to what we will accomplish for our schoolchildren.”

Thurmond is credited with transforming two unwieldy state agencies, first as director of the Georgia Department of Family and Children Services (DFCS) and then as commissioner of the Georgia Department of Labor. At DFCS, Thurmond instituted a shift away from a culture of dependency for welfare recipients to a new focus on employment, job-training and personal responsibility. The Department of Labor underwent a similar change under his leadership, from a department that administered jobless benefits into a statewide resource for Georgians seeking career opportunities and training at newly created Career Centers throughout the state.

“We think that fundamental change is what our parents and stakeholders are demanding,” Dr. Walker said. “We are  confident that Michael Thurmond is the leader with the track record and the ability to improve education for all of our schoolchildren.”

Will Atkinson Get the Last Laugh?

Rumor has it that Dr. Cheryl Lynn Howell Atkinson may be leaving as soon as an Interim Superintendent can be named.  Of course, it won't be very hard for our  renowned and esteemed school board to find a suitable replacement.  In fact, we never really got rid of our last Interim Superintendent Ramona Howell Tyson.  Between the two of them, we've been collectively pooling our hard earned money in order to pay them more than a half million dollars per year, plus two new vehicles and who knows what else.

And, if it sounds too controversial for the board to return the reigns to the person who was selected by still under indictment after all these years Crawford Lewis (former Superintendent looking at an upcoming trial on RICO charges), then we've got the equally as qualified (which is not saying much) and equally as hated heard of H.R. Kendra March chomping at the bit.  So, don't worry, GTCO-ATL friends, we're sure this nightmare reign of terror will all be behind us soon.

But, then again...

You can never really count on anything going the way you expect it to when you are dealing with DeKalb County's Schools.  From forcing good teachers out of jobs while giving promotions and fancy titles to people who do more harm than good, we truly are like the Titanic except our ship just will not sink.  Somehow, there continues to be pockets of resistance or perhaps we should say gullible people willing to put their own necks on the line because they believe that somehow they are different.  The lies they are being told are not lies at all.  The people they know would never sell them out, or change their minds or double cross anyone. And, even though it has happened over and over and over again, there are still people who believe that this time it will be different.  They might not come right out and support the board, but they are not exactly speaking up to tell the state board to get rid of all of these board members either, are they?  Even though that is the only recommendation that the state board can make - remove all or none, there are still folks out there who want to talk about which ones are the worst and which ones should be saved.  They do not understand that by trying to make a case that some should be saved, they are more likely going to convince the state board that we have something here worth saving.

Trust me, we don't.

When the corruption has reached the point where you do not know who you can trust, who you can speak with, or what will happen next, it is time to blow the whistle.  And we are far, far beyond that point already.  When jobs become more important than insuring the children in this county have a future, then we have something desperately wrong that is happening here.

When good families and good teachers are being drive out of schools intentionally, something bad is happening, something very bad.  And once all those good people who have time to call out the things they see are all gone, then who will be left to look after the children?

More time will only make things worse.  And we cannot allow this same board make another dreadful decision about hiring a new Superintendent.  It took us nearly two years for the last one and look what we waited for.  A board appointed by the Governor will, at the very least, be accountable for hiring someone who is acceptable to the Governor.  And, the state does not want to see us lose any more money almost as much as we don't want that to happen.  They need us to produce so they can have the flexibility to skim off the top and redistribute our funds to the rest of the state.

If DeKalb goes down, Georgia will go down with us.  We're already at the bottom of the list for education.  We're one of the nation's poorest states and highest on the corruption scale.  We cannot possibly take more bad press or we might not ever recover.

The time is now.  If you have not done so already, please consider an email or letter to the state Board of Education to explain your circumstances in order to personalize this decision for them.  They need to understand that there are real children involved.  And these children have been waiting long enough.  It's time to end all the games and put a better plan into action.

It is time that we work to unite our county and help the children, not line anyone's pockets no matter what they promise they can do for us.  The more corrupt, the deeper our county will fall.  Then when we have no money left, we will all be in the same place without any hope for digging out.

Georgia ranks 45 out of 50 states for graduation rates.  We only graduate 67% of the students who enter high school as Freshmen.  And, DeKalb is at the bottom of that list, too.  Here are the rates among the Atlanta area districts:

Here is a look at 2011 graduation rates in the Atlanta area:

• Atlanta Public Schools -- 52 percent
• City of Buford -- 82.3 percent
• Clayton County -- 51.5 percent
• Cobb County -- 73.4 percent
• City of Decatur -- 71.4 percent
• DeKalb County -- 58.7 percent
• Fulton County -- 70.1 percent
• Gwinnett County -- 67.6 percent

And from School Watch Blog:

Below are the published 2011 graduation rates for DeKalb High Schools:

DeKalb School of the Arts:   97%

DeKalb Early College Academy:   93%

Arabia Mountain:   86%

Chamblee Charter HS:   82%

Dunwoody HS:   81%

Redan HS:   79%

Stephenson HS:   79%

Miller Grove HS:   74%

Stone Mountain HS:   73%

Tucker HS:   72%

Columbia HS:   67%

Southwest DeKalb HS:   67%

Lakeside HS:   63%

Druid Hills HS:   62%

Lithonia HS:   59%

Cedar Grove HS:   57%

Clarkston HS:   55%

MLK Jr. HS:   54%

McNair HS:   53%

Cross Keys HS:   48%

Towers HS:   44%

Avondale HS:   40%

Elizabeth Andrews HS:   21%

Gateway to College Academy:   7%

Alternative School:   6%

Alternative Night School:   2%

***********************

From the AJC "Get Schooled" blog (In part)... on 1:57 pm February 1, 2013, by Maureen Downey

... 

"Folks are telling me that it’s Atkinson’s choice to leave and that the school board was surprised. The delay in announcing her resignation, they say, is due to finding an interim school chief.

The school board has met in executive session over a personnel issue this week, and meets again Monday, according to this announcement: “The DeKalb Board of Education will hold a called meeting at 1:00pm, Monday, February 4, 2013, in M-201 at the Robert R. Freeman Administrative Center at the DeKalb County School System’s Administrative & Instructional Complex, 1701 Mountain Industrial Boulevard, Stone Mountain. 

The called meeting will adjourn to executive session for the purpose of discussing legal and personnel matters.”

***********************

Watch Out, DeKalb. ATT is Getting Bigger

A huge cell tower and a dark, ominous storm cloud loom over an
ATT retail store in the Publix shopping plaza on Hugh Howell Road in
Tucker, GA.  Why is it that the cell towers made it onto the July 2011
ballot, but no one in the legislature wants to talk about them?
Where do we go from here?  

(click to read full story)

Wishful Thinking

We wish we could say that our schools and neighborhoods were safe from the intrusion of huge and ugly radiation spewing cell phone towers (like the one pictured here).  

We wish we could trust that our school board and school administration were focused on education, not securing themselves a nice slush fund while ruining our communities in the process. 

 But, we can't.  

That's why we continue to follow the clues that might help us stay out in front of them and their plans, and this latest announcement from ATT might be important.  (text included in article below this commentary.)

We've highlighted some of the pertinent content below in case you do not have time to read the article in its entirety.  But, even more importantly, you will want to check for any Alltel FCC permits that might be located near your home or school to determine if there are any old ones that ATT could have acquired along with the existing already-built towers.  Many times, these companies get the permits from the FCC and then sit on them for years before deciding to build.  Then, they can quickly get the special land use permits, or other land disturbance permit that is required by local law, and build without the public finding out.  

Normally, there would have to be a sign posted for 30 days at the location to alert the public about a hearing in front of the commissioners and Director of Planning in DeKalb County.  But, our county office is a bit distracted right now since the CEO Burrell Ellis had is home invaded a few days ago upon issue of a search warrant by a grand jury investigating problems with the Watershed Management Group.  And, remember, we were told that the school system can do whatever they want if the construction is for educational purposes.  

Superintendent Akinson's announcement about e-books could be a great excuse to claim an educational purpose, but it will not hold up in court.  Cell towers are not necessary to read content on a screen.  And there is no educational value to providing books in one format over another.  It's like saying do you want paper or plastic bags at the grocery.  Does it really matter?  

If she did try to show an educational value to this misguided decision, she would be hard pressed to find a school system that has improved as a result of going digital in any format, and certainally none the size of DeKalb.  In fact, in other states there are Attorney General investigations taking place right now to determine if there is criminal fraud taking place and there is definitely no educational benefit to the children when the money intended for their benefit is being stolen from them.  

The original 12 schools are mapped above.  Most of these T-mobile contracts with the school system appear to be expired, but the money has not been accounted for in any documentation we have been able to locate.  The only sites that still have contracts with valid expiration dates are Narvie J. Harris and Lakeside, but Lakeside's contracts is not signed by T-mobile so we are unsure if it is valid.  And the Narvie contract mentions "Panthersville" which is the nearby stadium that does look like it already has a cell tower, so we are not clear on whether there is actually one intended for the school grounds or not.

We Need Your Help, Too!

At Get the Cell Out - ATL, we are doing our best to keep our schools and communities informed about anything related to the cell towers, which voters said by a large majority that they did not want to see at our schools.  We believe there was more to the push for the towers than just the money or even the coverage at Lakeside.  We have been on a mission to find the answers and stay ahead of the game because we do not want to see a threat to our safety, property and health be another reason to drive good families away from our  area.  

Check for new tower permits near your address here:
http://antennasearch.com/

But, ultimately, we cannot do it all without your help.  So, if you live near a site that might have an old AllTell FCC permit, or you are not sure, or your school was on the original list of 12 targeted by the school board, then please take time as soon as possible to search the database at http://antennasearch.com/.  Plug in your address and you will see a list of towers within a four mile radius.  If you see one near your school, click  on it and it will tell you who owns that license.  This is the first step ATT will need before they can build.  So, the information you see will be the same thing they use to ask for a county building permit.  

Help Us Help You!

We can help you speak out at any public hearings in order to stop the permit from being issues, if such meetings are held.  But, first we have to know about the threat before we can determine the best course of action.  So, if you find that there are AllTel tower permits out there and they appear to be in residential zoned parts of the county, or right on public school grounds, please let us know as soon as possible.  You can send an email to: sayno2celltowers@yahoo.com.  We have several attorneys we may be able to get you in touch with who are aware of this situation and can fight to stop the towers from going up near your home or school.

And, don't worry, this is one lawsuit that won't cost the school system since it is between you and the tower company.  And, your have the right to collect attorney fees under the FCC Telecommunications Act of 1996 so long as you bring forward your protest within the 30 day shot clock window that is mandatory before a building or land use permit can be issued.  

Now... on to the news....

From TechnoBloom Technology Blog:  

AT&T acquires Alltel network to increase coverage and speed

AT&T is one huge company and it has no problem buying small telecommunications companies to increase even further. According to a press release issued today, AT&T acquired Atlantic Tele-Network Inc’s retail business. The retail business actually operates under the Alltel Brand name. If you are not familiar with Alltel, the company has coverage areas in Georgia, Illinois, Idaho, Ohio, North Carolina and South Carolina. The network is considered to be a CDMA network and is the same technology used by Verizon Wireless and Sprint. AT&T has plans to convert the CDMA towers over to GSM in order to increase the overall coverage they provide in those areas already.

Both AT&T and AllTel customers will benefit with better and faster data connections after the acquisition. Once the deal is complete, those consumers on the Alltel network will need to upgrade their phones to work on the AT&T network, but the company did not provide any specific details regarding that right now. The deal is set to be closed during the second half of 2013, according to the report and then other details will be revealed. AT&T will not be the first mobile company to own Alltel, in fact Verizon bought the company back in 2009.

When the deal with Verizon Wireless went through, the FCC made the company divest more than 100 markets. At that time, AT&T went ahead and bought up 79 of those markets, leaving just 26 markets, which AT&T is looking to buy now. If you remember early last year AT&T tried to buy the T-Mobile network which was blocked by the FCC and turned out to be a big issue for AT&T. AT&T was looking for more towers and more spectrums and since the T-Mobile merger was blocked, the company was left looking elsewhere for both.

Now that AT&T has dropped away from T-Mobile, T-Mobile has been looking to buy MetroPCS. Other companies like Sprint have been looking for easy ways to expand as well and is in the middle of a merger with Clearwire. On the other side of the world, Softbank in Japan is looking to buy the Sprint network, so you can see that mergers and acquisitions are nothing uncommon in the wireless industry these days.

Petition to the Governor - SOS (Scrap Our Schools)

A Link to the Full Report by SACS Placing DeKalb Schools on Probation

 

Governor Deal,S.O.S.  

S.O.S. (Scrap Our Schools)

Asking "the state" to step in and take over our schools is
like asking a murder suspect to preside over the funeral of
the victim.  Sadly, what other choice do we have?

DeKalb County taxpayers are fed up and asking Governor Deal to step in and remove our entire Board of Education.  Please click this link to add your signature to a countywide petition.

Scrap Our Schools!

Sometimes there is no way out unless you go straight through.  Unfortunately this is one of those times. There are no easy ways to fix the widespread problem.  

The growing  sentiment in the communities here is that the corruption inside the schools is so bad and so far gone, that there is nothing that can be done. 

If our own leaders do not understand their roles and the public has no other recourse to get their numerous, frequent, urgent issues even listened to, much less addressed, then there is very little that anyone can do.  The only system that works is the one that has been built behind the scenes by people who are looking to recoup their investment dollars.  Short term investors wanted to flip  a lot of houses, then the bubble broke and they were stuck holding the deeds, so to speak.  And now we are all paying the price. 

The SACS Report says that proper channels are often not followed, but does anyone know what the "proper channels" might be?  Every proper channel that a parent may try to follow does not work.  Or, what works for one parent may not work for the next.  There is no rhyme or reason for many of the things that go on and a lot of animosity is created in the school house when there appears to be a program of social promotion going on.  Those who are given power or authority over anything, no matter how small, believe they deserved it and do not want to share their secret with anyone else.  A parents that one might think is totally happy with the school will end up removing their child for other parts unknown suddenly and without explanation.  A teacher or principal who talked about their love of the area or their long term plans at the school will be called to a meeting one Friday,  pack their things and moved to another part of the county on a moment's notice.  

Hopes are raised and dashed and those who are caught up in the system have been crying out for help for years, so much and so often that the media has even become bored with their stories.  Every school is run differently.  Every school has been in turmoil at some point because of the sheer level of neglect, mismanagement, theft and fraud that is commonplace here.  For SACS to suggest that there are "proper channels" that can be followed is a joke.  Anyone who has tried is fully aware that the "proper channels" do not work.  And the fear of retaliation is a lot more than just fear.  Retaliation does take place and could have dire consequences for your child and your family.  Using a proper channel will not result in anything proper.

Above, just one example of how the money
does not reach the classrooms.
When will DeKalb stop funding corruption
and start paying attention?

Victims of our own demise.  There is no organizational chart.  We have no job descriptions.  We do not get answers to questions about staff that has been reportedly been cut.  We know what we pay in taxes.  We know what we see with our own eyes inside our schools.  We know that someone, somewhere is getting their hands on our money before it can reach the children.  And, not just our money, the same is true for federal dollars, SPLOST dollars, donations, contributions, even retirement savings of teachers or dollars intended for Jerry's Kids.  (Yes, they even took the dollar that a child donated to buy a shamrock on the wall for Muscular dystrophy.)

There appears to be no other way to help our children that to stop funding this beast.  Force all of those who are ripping us off into unemployment and hope they move away, disband and find something else to do with their lives that will not harm so many innocent lives.  

Rip the bandage off the wound.  It is time to amputate.  A broken arm cannot repair itself especially when it is attached to an entire system of broken bones.  It simply cannot be done.  Put us out of our misery.  Get rid of the board, get rid of BOTH Superintendents (Tyson and Atkinson).  Get rid of the financial leaders, the lawyers and the teachers who are left here.  Get rid of the PTA, the boosters, the canned education programs and please do not bring up the idea of cell towers.  We may have failed to educate close to 50,000 children over the past 10 years, but we do not want to give our kindergarten children cancer on top of everything else we know we will be putting them through.

Send out the vouchers.  Give us alternatives.  Bring on the bus drivers.  We can see the writing on the wall.  Where will they send us?  Gwinnett?  Cobb?  Or will we just keep them all at home?  Anything is better than what we are doing to them now, keeping them in a constant state of fear, as we force them to move around, start and stop different forms of learning and testing, change their bus routes, their buildings and make them travel so far from home to get the exact same level of treatment they could have received wherever they just came from.  We rug right out from under the feet of the children every time they get close to feeling secure with their surroundings.  It's inhumane, pointless and sad. And, it is one of the very few factors that research has proven to actually affect a child's school performance.  Stability of home life and stability at school are necessary for a child to be able to focus on learning, not just surviving the social challenges that come with every change we put them through.

We do not care about the gadgets and gizmos or how many Smartboards you are stockpiling.  They are all meaningless without human beings at our schools who will care for our children when we cannot be there.  

Chairman Walker and Superintendent Atkinson make big bucks for
folks who also make big mistakes.   Friends and family funding may be
coming close to an end. 

A lot of jobs need to be lost and property values must suffer.  We have to starve out those who attempt to hang on, hoping for a free ride at our expense and off the money we intended for the the children.  We're tired of working to watch selfish adults squabble and fight over the right to waste our money.  

We can no longer  promise to stop talking at the end of our allotted two minutes, nor can we adhere to your warnings about not shouting obscenities.  We can no longer sit quietly and watch you parade onto a big stage, or watch you getting out of your chauffeured vehicle.  You are failing us.  You are failing the children.   Instead, of wasting our time playing your games, we will boycott your self-serving performances that you have likely scripted and rehearsed.  Rather, we will stay home and watch you speak in front of an empty room.  We will not accept you as the leaders of anything.  We will boycott your board meetings and find alternatives to your faulty system.  

The petition is just one way of telling the DeKalb BOE how you feel and asking the state Governor to please remove the people he can under his authority.  

It does not give a plan for where we go from here.  Does anyone have a plan that will work considering what we have accepted as normal for the past decade?  You can help ask the Governor to "step in" but who knows what he will do, or what anyone can do, to help.  We all built this wall around ourselves, refusing to believe that we could be part of the problem.  Now, we will have to find out if we can be part of a change or just the victims of our own failure.  

Regardless how we got here, one thing is clear:  We will all go down together. 

PETITION TO THE GOVERNOR OF GEORGIA - SCRAP OUR SCHOOLS!

http://www.change.org/petitions/governor-nathan-deal-and-georgia-state-board-of-education-review-sacs-findings-if-accurate-replace-the-dekalb-county-school-board

Comments from just one of the recent petition signers in DeKalb County:

Governor Deal,

As the parent of two children including one who will be attending pre-K soon, I have followed the thoroughly dysfunctional proceedings of both the Dekalb School Board and administration with disbelief and horror in the four years since I moved here. I never got the feeling that the education of our children has been high on the priority list of any of our high level school leaders. Accruing power, maintaining a fiefdom, doling out favors, and ensuring relatives/friends are hired/promoted even when their qualifications are suspect have unfortunately seemed higher on the list than maximizing the educational opportunities for their charges. As a result, we have millions in legal fees, a former superintendent on trial for corruption, a thoroughly demoralized teaching staff, and clear evidence of a decline in the quality of education our children are receiving. 

The budgeting irregularities are inexcusable for an entity that spends almost ¾ of a billion dollars of our tax dollars a year and, if found in business on the NYSE, would likely result in sanction by the SEC. Given the deep-seated structural problems of both the administration and board, Dekalb School District is too big not to fail. Decisions appear to be made on whim without evidence of long range planning. Millions of dollars of supplies cannot be accounted for while local schools are gluing deteriorating textbooks back together lest they run even shorter. You cannot redirect a leviathan – you can choose to allow the destruction it will wreak or terminate it. While I have respect for at least one member of the board, I feel that state option to remove the board must be implemented to impart the gravity and egregiousness of the situation to the school administration and the entire county, nay the state. We cannot accept such rampant failure or our state will continue to lead from behind in education.

This must be addressed today. Children do not have the luxury of waiting around for two or three years to see if the situation can be rectified by normal channels. Their education is NOW and anything else sets them and our entire state behind. How can I recommend to any colleague with young children to bring their talents to Emory or Georgia Tech or move a business here when our school systems (Dekalb, APS, Clayton, etc) are in such disarray?The leaders of Dekalb have failed our children and teachers for too long.

I am not a fan of bureaucratic control but I would put the school system into receivership if I could. I fear that nothing less than this draconian measure or dissolution of the district into multiple smaller, more responsive districts will be sufficient to break the entrenched culture of personal gain and systemic negligence we have today.

Think Before You Speak: Our Message to the Communities of Lakeside High and Henderson Middle

Many people will be watching Monday,

Nov. 5 to see if the residents near Lakeside High

and Henderson Middle turn out to speak

for priority placement on the  SPLOST IV

list, as called for by the PTSA, or if they will

do the right thing and wait their place in 

line, just like everyone else.  

DeKalb County Schools simulcasts its public board meetings

on its website and on Comast  cable.

Note to residents near Lakeside High School or Henderson Middle School:  Before you read  our email below, first let us explain:

We have nothing against your community as a whole.  We understand that sometimes issues are reported by the media that may imply that everyone who  lives in one area all have one, unified opinion.  We know that is not true, nor even possible.

GTCO-ATL is not implying that you are responsible for any wrongdoing or corruption taking place at your schools.  Instead, we are suggesting that the way corruption works is that a very limited few who have connections and influence are able to wield power under certain circumstances that allows their immediate community to benefit, often at the expense of others.  And, they often enlist the help of others who may not fully understand the impact of what they are being asked to do.

This practice in general should not be supported and we hope the community will not buy into the email notice that was sent by the Lakeside PTSA.  Instead, we hope to see  that the community will do the right thing and wait its turn, already determined by the Superintendent, regardless of whether or not your schools are first, middle or last on the list.  There are many schools that did not even make the list.  There are elementary schools that were told this was the SPLOST that would make them a priority.  All our schools have needs.

More importantly,  there are many more urgent issues going on in our education system today that should indicate that focus on construction is a distraction.  Instead, we hope that many communities will consider working together to solve the true educational problems that are countywide.  We encourage people who speak to the board to consider advocating for the best interest of all students, not just their own.

We do not want to live in a county with fractured sub-groups fighting among each other for being the "favorite" of the school board.  Rather, we need to address the poverty issues that affect education, the classroom overcrowding that can only be eliminated by keeping adequate numbers of teachers employed, the need for paraprofessionals to assist teachers in the classroom, the impact of the new and varied curriculum and testing being called for by the administration, the high turnover in schools of key positions like principals and assistant principals.

These are  the issues that need solving.  And, if we can  improve the graduation rates and student achievement rates, then more people will  want to move to DeKalb County in general.  That will boost all of our property values.  What Lakeside wants you to do is unfair to children in other parts of the county who also have families who pay property taxes and sales taxes.

By asking to be treated in a manner that is better than others, your  leaders are asking you to continue to feed a system that is fueled by hatred, racism, stereotypes and a lack of adherence to policies.  That is not a good system for any of the stakeholders, especially the children.

If you do choose to speak at tonight's board meeting, we urge you to add some time to your message to state that you do not wish for any of your requests to be granted if it means other schools who have greater needs will have to wait.  Perhaps the board can authorize the simultaneous work rather than bumping other schools and their needs to the bottom in order to put your schools first.


***************************************************************************

From: Get the Cell Out - Atlanta
Sent: Saturday, November 03, 2012 4:14 PM
To: Get the Cell Out - Atlanta
Cc: Cheryl Atkinson ; Myra Burden ; Sarah Copelin-Wood ; Jay Cunningham ; Eugene Walker ; Nancy Jester ; Don McChesney ; Paul Womack ; Donna Edler ; Pam Speaks ; Tom Bowen
Subject: Fw: Pay It Forward - Community Call To Action

Dear Atlanta Media,

Below is a notice that was sent to us by one of our followers who lives in Atlanta, near Briarlake Elementary School, which is in the Lakeside “cluster” of schools.  Our group has been working toward better unity in DeKalb County in order to solve the many problems in our schools that perpetuate and encourage corruption.  This notice from Lakeside High School to the members of its community and attendance zone is the perfect example of how some leaders will advocate for their own school to get something from the school system that they do not deserve, such as a bump up on the list of priorities for construction projects from SPLOST IV.

We hope you will cover their request in a different manner than you might ordinarily consider by reporting on the underlying message their request is sending – that they deserve something more or better from the public school system and that they believe that a corrupt system will continue to cave to the outspoken voices of the few, at the expense of the thousands of other children who are not as fortunate as to have adult advocates who can do the same for them.

 They are not satisfied with having their feeder middle school in the middle of the pack.  They are used to being first.  We will suggest to the board that letting some schools occasionally see what it feels like to be in the middle might actually be the more healthy thing to do here.  It isn’t good for the children of these self-proclaimed “elite” to think that they will always come in first place.  That’s not the way the world works.  They need to learn that is not only polite, it is preferred, to let others go ahead of us sometimes.

There is no way to move Henderson Middle School without also choosing other schools that will have to take a back seat by having their needs moved down on the list.  Those schools may or may not be aware of what Lakeside is trying to do and by the time they hear about it, it could be too late for them to speak up for themselves.

If the school board members were recently investigated by SACS for trying to micro-manage the administration and were scolded for interfering in day-to-day operations, then shouldn’t ideas like the one presented by Lakeside High School be stopped, admonished and even sanctioned?  Isn’t setting a schedule of priorities an administrative function?  Our group of 1,200+ parents and community members across the county will be watching closely to the board members and their votes on this proposal for a revised schedule on Monday, Nov. 5.

We are copying the Superintendent and her staff on this email so that she understands that there is another group of people who may not be as vocal as those who will approach her from the Lakeside area, but are still watching and hoping she will do the right thing here.  We are rooting for her to stick to her plan and validate the reasons why the project priorities she has recommended should remain untouched as they are a function of the administration and is not something that should be influenced by playing favorites.

We want to know our tax dollars are going to support all the children and all the schools fairly.  We do not want to see one area of the county continue to syphon off funds again and again to improve their own property values while other schools are treated like inconsequential casualties of war.

 And, if Lakeside wants to make a public outcry for what their community needs, they will be asking for trouble because all our communities have needs.  All our schools have needs.  All our children are important.  And, not everyone who lives near Lakeside agrees with their outspoken tactics.  We hope to bring this alternative position to the public comments on Nov. 5 as well.  We will be requesting speaking time as well so that we can speak up for all those children who don’t have parents or real estate investors pushing for their needs.  Someone needs to speak up for them, too.  And, someone needs to open the eyes of the out of control advocates who are actually doing more harm than good.

Thank you,

Get the Cell Out – Atlanta

cc:
Concerned Citizens of South DeKalb
Unhappy Taxpayer and Voter
Stephenson Community Action Group
PAGE
SACS
All other concerned parties in this matter
 
 **************************************************************************

Subject: Community Call To Action - Pay It Forward for Henderson Middle School
Date:   Friday, November 2, 2012  

  Dear Lakeside Families and Community,
Lakeside has its new building and school renovations. Our trailers are gone. We are very fortunate and enjoying our new buildings!

Unfortunately, our feeder middle school, Henderson Middle School, has also been in need of renovations and an addition for quite some time. They are scheduled to receive this much needed work in SPLOST IV but it appears they have been moved farther down the proposed priority list than our community was led to believe during the redistricting and SPLOST IV vote.

HMS needs the support of the entire LHS community to get that date moved further up on the list. Our feeder elementary schools are on board. Let's get behind them too! Many community members worked to get LHS the new facility we are now enjoying even though their own families would not personally get to enjoy the benefits. Let us repay the favor forward!

Here are some of the facts:
1. HMS has 1,590 students currently and is the largest middle school in the County.

2. HMS has grown to 17 trailers this year and is the most overcrowded middle school in DeKalb

3. During redistricting a couple of years ago, the county staff listed HMS at 138% capacity. HMS has well surpassed that now.

4. HMS was converted to a middle school 16 years ago but it never received a complete middle school conversion.

5. The school's design is incompatible with the middle school instructional strategy of team-teaching. Key portions of the campus, including the media center, music rooms, cafeteria, and office areas, are inadequate to serve the population.

6. The campus is not compliant with ADA specifications. One example is that Disabled students and faculty cannot enter and exit the building with their peers, but instead must use a separate entrance at the back of the building near the cafeteria.

7. This single capital improvement would impact the largest number of students in DeKalb in a single project.

8. County administrators assured stakeholders that HMS would be placed at the top of the list for SPLOST IV projects.

9. County administrators presented a proposed priority list to the Board of Education last May. HMS was listed halfway down the priority list behind three new elementary schools and two other school renovations (none of which have the enrollment, percentage over capacity or trailers that HMS has. In addition, the HMS project is slated to cost less than each of the three elementary schools so the funds will become available more quickly for this project).

10. A new list has been presented to the Board of Education by the school system administration this week for a vote this coming Monday, Nov. 5th. The list entitled "SPLOST IV Schedule (Cash Flow-Basis), October 24, 2012 Version" has HMS on lines 103 and 104, seemingly still quite far down the list with a completion date of July 2015. To view how the school system has chosen to prioritize the projects, click here. You will find the agenda for Monday night's meeting. Click on agenda item G2: Approval of SPLOST IV Project Sequence List. The Action Item page will open. At the bottom you will find an item titled "Supporting Documents". These are the two proposed SPLOST IV lists.

What Can You Do to Help Henderson Middle??

1. All residents of the Lakeside cluster, regardless of whether you have children in DCSS schools, are encouraged to contact the school system's administration and all Board of Education members. You may use any of the facts above and/or your own experiences related to Henderson's facility needs. Request that HMS be moved to the top of the "SPLOST IV Schedule (Cash Flow-Basis) list" to receive proceeds from the earliest SPLOST IV tax revenues that come into the school system. Request that HMS also be placed at the top of the chronological list to initiate the HMS project at the beginning of the SPLOST IV projects. Please contact the individuals below and let them know that they can benefit the most students in one building project for the least amount of money by fulfilling their promise to renovate Henderson Middle School.

2. Take action today! The BOE will vote on this Monday, Nov. 5th. Do this on behalf of our community and your neighbors whose children will benefit.

3. Sign the online petition here and send it to your family, friends, and neighbors.

4. Notify your neighbors of this community need. Ask them to sign the online petition and contact the school system staff and Board of Education.



Thank you for taking time to support our feeder middle school. Working together we can continue to build a great learning environment for our community's students and staff. (Remember to come to the Lakeside Open House this Sunday, Nov. 4th from 2-4 p.m. to see our new facilities. Invite your neighbors to join us!)

List of Contacts:
Dr. Atkinson (Superintendent): cheryl_atkinson@fc.dekalb.k12.ga.us

Joshua Williams (Exec. Dir. of Facilities Mgmt.): joshua_l_williams@fc.dekalb.k12.ga.us

Dan Drake (Exec. Dir. of Transportation): daniel_e_drake@fc.dekalb.k12.ga.us

Board of Education Members
Thomas Bowen: Thomas_Bowen@fc.dekalb.k12.ga.us

Sarah Copelin-Wood: Sarah_Copelin-Wood@fc.dekalb.k12.ga.us

Jay Cunningham: Jay_Cunningham@fc.dekalb.k12.ga.us

Donna Edler: Donna_Edler@fc.dekalb.k12.ga.us

Nancy Jester: Nancy_Jester@fc.dekalb.k12.ga.us

Don McChesney: Don_McChesney@fc.dekalb.k12.ga.us

Pam Speaks: Pam_Speaks@fc.dekalb.k12.ga.us

Gene Walker: Eugene_P_Walker@fc.dekalb.k12.ga.us


Sent by Lakeside High School PTSA Communication Committee
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PTSA email: lakesidevikings@gmail.com
School phone: 678-874-6702
web: http://www.lakesidevikings.thezonelive.com