Dr. Walker Loses Round One; Holds Out Hope with Supreme Court

Dr. Eugene Walker becomes the third of the suspended DeKalb County Schools’ Board of Education members to learn that an Administrative Law Judge is not giving them their jobs back.

Walker told All News 106.7 that he is disappointed in the decision, but not surprise. Walker still believes O.C.G.A Section 20-2-73, the Georgia law that allowed Governor Nathan Deal to suspend the six board members, is flawed. Walker went on to say, “Judge Wood was fair in allowing us to present our case, but he was also clear that he was bound by that law”. At this point Walker says he will just have to wait on the outcome of the constitutionality challenge of the suit that’s now in the hands of the Georgia Supreme Court.  Chief Administrative Law Judge Maxwell Wood ruled Thursday against Walker’s reinstatement request to be reappointed to his elected seat.

Last week Judge Wood ruled against suspended board members Sarah Copelin-Wood and Dr. Pam Speaks. Two other board members, Jesse “Jay” Cunningham and Donna Elder still await the Judge’s decision. The sixth board member, Nancy Jester, resigned her seat in February and was not a candidate for reinstatement.

In February Governor Nathan Deal suspended six of the nine school board members after the district’s accreditation was placed on probation by Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, SACS over governance, financial and student performance issues.

Since then, the remaining three board members, Interim Superintendent Michael Thurmond, and the six new governor appointed members have been in place working hard to save the district’s accreditation. Their efforts were reviewed in May.

In July the DeKalb County School system received a report from AdvancED, the parent company of SACS, stating that the district has made “recognizable progress” in addressing the issue raised by SACS late last year. At that time there were 11 required actions that have to be corrected in order for the district to regain unconditional accreditation.

While AdvancEd is remaining cautionary in its views, right now the district appears to be making progress.

However, Eugene Walker maintains that since he was elected by the people, the Governor’s board suspension actions was illegal.

So one question on the minds of many DeKalb residents now is: What kind of impact, if any, could the Georgia Supreme Court’s decision have on the new DeKalb board and its progress?

DeKalb County students return to school on Monday, August 12.

Please leave respectful comments below:

What the Judge Said... in Layman's Terms

In case you don't know legaleeze (the language of lawyers and judges in the court system today that sounds a little like English but reads like jibberish), we've translated the federal court ruling in the case of DeKalb's School System and Dr. Eugene Walker vs. the State of Georgia Board of Education and Gov. Nathan Deal. This version is in "regular" English. Note, we do not guarantee the accuracy of the translation. We are not attorneys. We simply did the best job we could to put it in layman's terms for our followers (and some school board members who may have needed help with it, too!)

DeKalb County Federal Court Ruling in Layman's Terms by Get the Cell Out - Atlanta Chapter

Injunction DENIED, Restraining Order VACATED

Here is a brief excerpt from the federal order that came down just a few hours ago from Judge Story in the

federal court of the United States of America, today March 4, 2013:

The harm from the loss of accreditation to the School District and the resulting harm to the students in the district are profound. To permit the Board Members to continue to serve while their individual claims are resolved risks substantial consequences for the School District and its students. The Court finds that this risk of harm far outweighs the risks to the Board Members. Should Plaintiffs prevail, the Board Members can more nearly be made whole than can the students if the return of the members results in loss of accreditation.  

Based on the foregoing, the Court concludes that continued injunctive relief is not appropriate.   

Plaintiffs’ Amended Motion for Preliminary Case Injunction is DENIED, and the Restraining Order previously entered is VACATED.

To read the entire report on the federal court's denial, click here.

Federal Judge Says "No Deal" to Gov. Nathan Deal on DeKalb BOE Removal... at Least For Now

DeKalb Co. School Board files for temporary restraining order over member removal

 COUNTY, GA (CBS ATLANTA) -

Federal Judge Richard W. Story has signed a temporary restraining order to keep Gov. Nathan Deal from removing any of the DeKalb County members until a scheduled hearing takes place on Tuesday. 

Story denied that action, however. "The implementation of Governor Deal's decisions in this regard is hereby enjoined to preserve the status quo until after this Court has held a hearing on the matter," according to Story's order.

In layman's terms, Deal can make a decision to suspend or remove a member, but he can't implement his actions until after Story's hearing.

Court documents obtained by CBS Atlanta News said the emergency motion was made in light of the governor's announced intention to take action Monday against six school board members on the recommendation of the State Board of Education.

( ... more ... )

On Friday, Betsy Parks and two other parents delivered a petition with more than 1,800 signatures.* The petition urges the governor to remove the board members. Parks said she has now started a second petition that asks the school board to drop its lawsuit against the state.

The first "Restore DeKalb" meeting (above)
was about information.
The second was about questions.
The next "Restore DeKalb" meeting
will be about taking action!
Check back with us for details on the next urgent
countywide citizens' Town Hall to discuss the
next steps toward regaining control of our schools so we can keep accreditation!

"This is a huge opportunity for DeKalb to come together," said Parks. "It's a huge opportunity to really reflect on what the community values which is our children and educating our children."

*  Thank you Betsy!!  

And, thank you to "Restore DeKalb" for keeping the parents and community stakeholders informed and aware of what is going on.  We look forward to your next meeting so we can help unite the county on this urgent issue!

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.

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.

The Devil is in The Detail (How the Cell Tower Votes Shine a Light on DeKalb's "Corridor of Corruption")

Wonder exactly how the cell tower vote shook out and whether or not your own community said they were for or against the idea of cell towers at schools? 

Read more by clicking the headline for the full story. 

On July 31, 2012 Georgia voters took to the polls in the election primaries. In Dekalb County, a question popped up on the ballot with little explanation:

"Should the local, charter or independent school system of Dekalb County place or operate a telecommunications tower on any elementary, middle or high school property?"

The phrase, "The Devil is in the Detail," refers to a catch or mysterious element hidden in the details.^[1]

While opponents  of cell towers on school grounds were happy when the outcome was a strong 62% of voters saying "NO," GTCO-ATL was wondering if there was more we could learn from the data.  So, we dug a little deeper. 

From the start, we were critical of the validity of any data that might come from this question. First, it was asking too many things at once which is a common error people make when they are not properly trained in survey data analysis or proper question techniques.  We tried to alert those who were responsible for the question, Rep. Karla Drenner and Rep. Chuck Sims, but they did not respond. We then asked Gov. Deal to not sign the referendum as it was vague, not necessary and did not come from the people. He signed it anyway.

So, we determined that even though it might not go our way, at least it would tell us a few things that could be beneficial.

1. First, any area that answered yes, or even close, could be an area that is uninformed of the dangers and problems a cell tower could bring. We could focus more effort with our PR there.
2. Second, if we felt there were areas well informed that still said yes, we might be able to see specifically where corruption was influencing the voters.  Why wouldn't we think a yes could be a sincere, honest vote? Because we have been at this for more than a year and have never met anyone who has thought it was a good idea. Even those who like to debate us on the blogs will not take a pro-cell tower stance.
3. The third thing we thought we would learn would be where these "rural" Dekalb areas actually are located where Mr. Cunningham said they "welcomed the towers." Going by the way things appeared in the media, the South regions wanted the towers and money, while the North was leading the protests against them.  What we expected was to see strong opposition regardless of the location.

But, oddly enough, here is how the vote shook out:

(click chart to enlarge)

Here are some questions we had:

• Are these areas (highlighted in yellow) actually ignorant of the dangers of cell towers?
• Is the difference of just a few percentage points even enough statistically to be concerned about or is it safe to say that overall the entire county was against the idea of placing cell towers on the public school grounds?
• Should the school board inform T-mobile about the few areas that skewed slightly in favor of cell towers so they can be the ones to receive them?
• Is there a chance that the very few areas that skewed in favor of the towers had some sort of "inside information" to reassure them that they would not actually be the ones to receive the towers? 
• Are the areas of the county that were not selected for tower placements not going to receive the cooresponding technology either? 
• What is the purpose of a "non-binding advisory referendum" anyway?  Why did state legislators create this alternative to the total ban on towers that the citizens wanted?
• What did they expect to do with the results of this referendum?
• But, who are we advising?  Who will listen? 
• Who will actually do something with these results?
• If no one is going to act upon this ballot question and it will not influence (or "advise") anyone in a decision-making capacity, then why did taxpayers have to pay for it? 
• Why did we even have to take our time and resources to educate people about the question, and its poor wording, if the outcome was for no viable purpose? 
• Or, as we suggested originally, was this question created for someone else?  Someone OTHER than the citizens?  Perhaps if the results would have gone in the favor of the towers, they would have used the results.  If that is the case, then shouldn't THOSE PEOPLE (or businesses) be the ones who should have paid for it?  Not the voters of DeKalb County. 
• Were we really successful in stopping the towers? 
• Is the school board aware that the contracts have expired?
• Why won't our School Board or our county CEO tell us anything?

We may never know for sure, but we plotted the districts marked in yellow, above, on a map of the voting precincts.  After studying the areas and their relationship to each other, here's what we saw. 

 

(We are working to get a scanned version of this map

uploaded here for you.  Check back soon.)

WHERE WERE THE YES VOTES?

1. A small number of Dunwoody communities, and a

2. A small portion of the Lakeside or Emory-Lavista "Corridor" of schools.  

Note:  Almost all areas in favor were ITP, or "Inside the Perimeter."

WHO COULD THEY BE?

Of course this is all speculation on our part, but there could actually be four types of "yes" votes in these areas:

1. Voters who are completely unaware of the issue (just like we once were before this started)
2. Voters who think tower radiation is harmless for children and therefore our public land should be leased to T-mobile without concern (we have not actually met anyone like this, have you?)
3. Voters who have been told to vote yes (by an employer or friend) and do so because they do not have a personal, vested interest in the outcome.
4. Voters who have spoken to their board member, believe they will not be receiving a cell tower and therefore they do not care if a tower goes up somewhere else.

Note:  It is important to note that none of the areas (in the chart in yellow) actually had a cell tower going up near them. 

Of course we have no way of knowing why people voted the way they did.  We cannot go back and review the votes to ask follow-up questions.  And, people who were unaware of the issue had no way of selecting "I don't know" or "unaware" as their response.  These are just a few of the reasons we asked the Governor to veto this bill, but he went ahead and signed it.

Dunwoody

Those who voted in the Dunwoody area may have done so because they were not faced with this issue at their local schools.  Dunwoody did not have any of their schools on the original or reduced list for cell towers.  Does this mean they do not get the technology, either? 

If cell towers are actually a means for distributing the material of a virtual charter school, did certain folks in Dunwoody already know about this concept?  They have been advocating on the School Watch Blog for separate school districts.  So, have they been promised a way that they can make this happen in return for supporting the cell tower idea? 

Do we have a case of ignorant, but financially well-off, neighborhoods where they do not follow school news?  Or is this a case of yet another area of DeKalb selling someone else's neighborhood out when offered something they want for themselves? 

Lakeside / Fernbank and the Emory-Lavista Corridor

That leaves only a few districts that were either divided in their responses or barely tipped the scales in favor of towers on school grounds. But, with the exception of Lakeside High School, these areas were not facing the possibility of a tower at their own neighborhood school, at least not according to our Open Records Requests to see their contracts. 

So, Lakeside High area again emerges as one sticking out like a sore thumb. The school that reportedly initiated the request to their district representative, Paul Womack, who in turn brought the item to the Budget, Finance and Audit Committee while he was the chairman. Lakeside High School wants a tower, and the money of 12 towers so the Vallhalla Group can "finish the dream."   And the rest of us must endure all the baggage that it means to get roped into this issue while they sit back and smile.

In the Oct. 1 meeting agenda, a donation was accepted to finish the Lakeside construction for an outdoor eating area.  Yes, you read that correctly....

Did people really just vote "yes" to radiating other people's children for 30 years in exchange for an outdoor pavilion so their kids can get a little sun while they eat their non-free, non-reduced priced lunches?  Tell us that is not what is happening here? 

Then again, Lakeside has so many towers in a four mile radius, one more could not have possible been what made the difference, could it?

It appears that everything is proceeding according to plan.   But, who's plan is this??

Protests Come From the "North" (But the Public Votes Yes?)

"South" Board Members Vote Yes, but the Public Votes NO? 

Don't you find it interesting that we saw bigger than life protests coming from the areas where many people voted to be in favor?  AND, at the other end of the county, in the areas where we were told they "welcomed the towers," we saw the largest portion of people who voted against it? 

Have you figured out that things are not always as they seem here in DeKalb? 

And, many board members publically stated that they would have voted differently if they knew then what they know now.  See our story on this subject, here.

The cell towerss are a great lesson in not judging a book by its cover.  Rather, we should be judging our school books by the fact that they will soon not have any covers, just screens.  Hell, we don't even have librarians any longer! 
 
Most important:  Most People in Most Places Across the County Said NO CELL TOWERS AT OUR SCHOOLS.  And, for those of us who agree, if it is not a good idea for my school, then it is not a good idea for any school!

But, these are just a few of the ideas we came up with.  We would love to hear what you think.  Email us at sayno2celltowers@yahoo.com and let us know!

We did it once, now let's do it again! 

Vote NO on the charter school ammendment this November!  This is NOT about charter schools!  It is about creating virtual schools under a sneaky initiative put forth by corporations seeking new ways to profit, NOT about our children or parental choice.

VOTE NO to changing the state's constitution! 

NO MORE CHARTER SCHOOL AUTHORITIES!

Don't GIVE AWAY our power!  Let's Take it BACK! 

What can we do instead?  Start looking for well-qualified people to run for the School Board in the next election!  WE can do this if we keep working together!  Stick up for your beliefs!  Inform your neighbors!  Talk about what is happening so that others will not have to suffer the same thing happening to them! 

See you at the upcoming meetings!  (see our meetings page) Ask Questions!  Remain Alert!  Do not Trust those in power who have something to gain from you.  Seek advice only from those uninterested third parties or people whom you trust before acting upon anything you see or hear in this school system.   

 

 

For more info, watch "The United States of ALEC" here:  http://billmoyers.com/



 VOTE NO TO CHARTER SCHOOLS! 

It is time to STOP FEEDING THE BEAST!

1. ^ ^{a b c d} Titelman, Gregory, Random House Dictionary of Popular Proverbs and Sayings, Random House Reference, March 5, 1996p

Austerity Mode? More Like "Posh"terity Mode for Some in DeKalb Schools

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. -- Just a few months ago, DeKalb County's School Board was cutting millions from its budget and eliminating jobs.


Cheryl Atkinson accused of pulling a fast one by scheduling yet
another called meeting with little notice to the public.

Now some are wondering how they can approve raises for 4 top school administrators, especially with very little public notice.

"We didn't even have a full board to even vote on the decision to give those particular people raises," DeKalb County parent Cheryl Miller (GTCO-ATL) told 11Alive News.   The community school activist accuses the school system of pulling a fast one.

They only gave a few hours notice that the salary hikes would be on the agenda for a Monday meeting attended by only five of nine board members.

At the request of new Superintendent Cheryl Atkinson, the board voted 3-to-2 to give higher salaries to four of her top administrators, ranging from $3,400 to $4,000 a year more.

"If anything, I think all the administrators, especially the top tier of the administration, should be taking pay cuts," parent Miller told 11Alive on Tuesday.

VIEW THE VIDEO COVERAGE HERE

Board Chairman Eugene Walker was one of the two who voted 'no', saying the school system was supposed to be in an austerity mode*.

A spokesman for the school system defended the higher salaries, not as raises, but as money those administrators deserve for being given more important jobs with added responsibility.

"If you go out, you get a new job, you should get paid commensurate with that job and with the responsibility and authority with that job," said system spokesman Jeff Dickerson.*

As for why so little advance notice was given of the action, the system said the board had given the new superintendent until the end of September to handle the pay increases and she realized she had to do it this week.



*  Austerity: reduction by a national government of its spending to pay back creditors.
*  GTCO-ATL comment:Someone needs to tell Mr. Dickerson that these folks did not go out and get new jobs.  Their job descriptions are exactly the same as their previous jobs.  The only difference was the change in their titles from Director to Executive Director.  For more on this subject, please read the DeKalb School Watch blog comments, found here and more recently discussed again here.

DeKalb board gives short notice on vote for school officials’ raises

From The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Posted: 4:52 p.m. Monday, Sept. 24, 2012

DeKalb board gives short notice on vote for school officials’ raises

By Ty Tagami

                                                              

Four administrators in the DeKalb County school system will get a pay raise because of a vote Monday afternoon that occurred with just over four hours public notice.

The money that flows to the central office is typically controversial in this cash-strapped school system, but in this case the critics were quiet, possibly because many didn’t know about the planned vote.

“If they’re not violating the letter of the law, they’re at least violating the spirit,” said parent Cheryl Miller, when told of the 2 p.m. vote, which was added to the agenda just after 9 a.m. The meeting was announced Friday but had nothing on the agenda except disclosure that the board was to meet privately for litigation and personnel matters.



Miller has tussled with DeKalb over transparency involving decisions to build cellphone towers on school grounds, and noted that DeKalb routinely calls meetings with a day’s notice. She suspects officials want to keep the public in the dark.



“They’re calling these meetings at the last minute for an administrative item when they have a regular meeting coming up,” Miller said. “They know there’s no way anyone with a job can just drop what they’re doing and rush down there.”

Four of the nine school board members failed to make the meeting. The five who did voted 3-2 to give four administrators pay commensurate with jobs they were moved into during the summer. At the time of the promotions on July 30 the school board voted against pay raises pending stabilization of the budget.

“As far as I know, it’s balanced,” said Paul Womack, who voted for the raises Monday along with Jay Cunningham and Donna Edler.

Board Chairman Eugene Walker and member Sarah Copelin-Wood voted against the raises. Walker said the school system is in “austerity mode.” He said Superintendent Cheryl Atkinson put the pay item on Monday’s agenda.

The school system is under scrutiny by an accrediting agency over allegations of school board mismanagement. The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) will send a team to DeKalb in October because of reports the board failed to oversee the system’s finances and meddled in administrative affairs.

The agenda published online Monday doesn’t say how much the administrators will be paid. Atkinson’s spokesman, Jeff Dickerson, said the board in July gave Atkinson through September to resolve the pay question. She realized “at the last minute” that the month is almost over.

“She wanted to comply with the board’s request,” Dickerson said.

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!

Grand Jury Calls For Investigation of DeKalb School Board

Updated: Thursday, 03 May 2012, 10:22 PM EDTPublished : Thursday, 03 May 2012, 10:13 PM EDT
(reprinted with permission)
by: Kaitlyn Prat

Grand Jury Calls For Investigation of DeKalb School Board: MyFoxATLANTA.com

DeKalb DA Robert James announced he would not convene a special grand jury LAST TIME it was recommended.  

School Board Chairman Dr. Eugene Walker looked over his shoulder ominously.   Skeptics say that THIS time the

DA is going along with the investigation, but not truly leading it.  What is it that these board members do to

seemingly nice, intelligent, otherwise perfectly normal people who work alongside them? 

Maybe we should fear the school board and elect the cell towers? 

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. - A DeKalb County grand jury is calling for a special investigation of the county school board. It's the second time the recommendation had been made in recent months and this time the district attorney is pursuing it.

The grand jury report focuses on how the school board managed money. It questioned why tax payers are paying more than $100,000 in legal fees for former DeKalb Schools Superintendent Crawford Lewis, who was indicted on racketeering charges.

The report also points to an expensive civil suit against a former construction company, Heery/Mitchell.

“The ongoing fiscal irresponsibility of the DeKalb County School Board has caused tens of millions of dollars to be wasted,” the grand jury indictment states.

DeKalb County Schools spokesman Walter Woods said the board would welcome the investigation.

“Everything we’ve done is legal. We observe the law. If we’ve violated the law then let them bring that to our attention,” said DeKalb Schools Chairman Dr. Gene Walker, who said he had not seen the grand jury report.

Ten Superior Court judges will decide on the investigation.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year? Voting Season!

Photo credit: Channel 2 Action News

Tired of thinking about stuff like this? 

Wish you could breathe the fresh air again?

Well, we feel the same way!  So, let's start resolving RIGHT NOW to make it happen in 2012!

With the holidays just a few short days away, the New Year will be fast upon us. 

And, here at GTCO-ATL, we cannot be more excited to start spreading the news....

Calling all voters!  Calling all people of legal voting age (yes, that's you, Mr. I-just-turned-18 and they are putting a cell towers at my old high school)...  Calling everyone we know and then calling on them to call everyone they know ....  GET REGISTERED and GET READY TO VOTE! 

You can't bitch without a solution, so here's a great one...  don't like what you see right now in office?  Don't like this version of "tranparency" that is being served up to us cold on a platter of WTF?

Let's make VOTING COOL again!  

Don't know who your elected officials are? 

Don't remember if you are registered or where you go to vote? 

No problem!  Click the button below!  You are still considered a:

GEORGIA MVP

Click the button above to find your elected officials!

Just remember to read our website, remember the names of the people who have made bad decisions or simply failed to represent you fairly or protect your interests as a taxpayer of this county!  And then vote for SOMEONE DIFFERENT! 

courtesy of The Georgia Green Party. 

Elections and Voter Registration Calendar

2012 Election Event Dates
Election	Voter Registration Deadline	Election Date
Presidential Preference Primary/Special Election (to fill vacancies and propose questions)	February 6, 2012	March 6, 2012
Special Election Runoff	February 6, 2012	April 3, 2012
General Primary/Non-Partisan/ Special Election (to fill vacancies and propose questions)	July 2, 2012	July 31, 2012
General Primary Runoff/Non-Partisan Runoff/Special Election Runoff	July 2, 2012	August 21, 2012
Special Election (to fill vacancies)	August 20, 2012	September 18, 2012
Special Election Runoff	August 20, 2012	October 16, 2012
General Election/Special Election (to fill vacancies and propose questions)	October 8, 2012	November 6, 2012
General Election Runoff/Special Election Runoff	October 8, 2012	December 4, 2012