Help Us! Give the School Board the Boot!

Ever wanted to feel empowered?  Ever wanted to do something that would be good for the community and get a rush of altruistic self-righteousness?  Want to do something positive to help bring up the value of your property or even lower the crime rate?  Then please, HELP US!

We are working hard every day to improve the quality of our school system and call out the corruption before it drags us all down.  This Thursday the state Board of Education may be able to help us make an important change in Dekalb by recommending to the Governor that he remove the entire school board.  

Here's how you can help us make sure that happens:

SIGN:  DeKalb County Resident Betsy Parks has done an outstanding job of gaining signatures for her online petition that ask the Governor to please give the school board the boot!  The petition goal is 1,500 and it is almost there!

WE ONLY NEED 9 MORE SIGNATURES!  If you have not signed the petition, please take a moment to do so RIGHT NOW:  

CLICK HERE TO SIGN PETITION!

WRITE:  Tom Taylor, District 79, has volunteered to hand-deliver personal letters from DeKalb residents to Governor Deal and/or the State Board of Education.  Rep. Taylor’s Chief of Staff, Page Olson, will be collecting letters at her home now through Tuesday, February 19, 2013.  Olson lives at 1148 Redfield Ridge in Dunwoody.  She’ll have a box at the top of her driveway for you to deposit your letter(s). Make sure that it is marked to go to either Governor Deal or the State BOE — or, better yet — send a personal letter to each.  Rep. Taylor will hand deliver to both offices on Wednesday morning, February 20, 2013.

Note:  your letters can be from you, your children and can be as short or long as necessary.  And, they can be ANONYMOUS   Please consider taking advantage of this offer by Rep. Taylor if you have information that you think is important to uncovering the corruption so our children can count on the adults in this school system turning their focus back to their education.


WATCH:  Scott Holcomb, District 81, intervened to make sure that the first hearing for the DeKalb County Schools BOE before the State Board of Education was streamed live so it could be watched online at home and at work by all interested.  This was especially good news for those who could not attend the hearing in person because of jobs and children.  Scott also took responsibility — without being asked — to make sure that the upcoming second hearing, scheduled for 8 AM, Thursday, February 21, 2013, would also be streamed live on the Department of Education website.  Thank you, Scott!

Here is the link:  http://www.gadoe.org/External-Affairs-and-Policy/State-Board-of-Education/Pages/Live-Webcasts.aspx

Ethics Update from Rep. Scott Holcomb

The following text was a part of an email sent to the "Friends of Scott Holcomb" group today, Sept. 8.  State Representative Holcomb represents District 81 and is entering his second term.  He was an early supporter of those who felt their rights were being violated by the DeKalb County School Board and he penned a letter to the Superintendent stating his concern about the manner in which the vote was handled. 

 

Get the Cell Out - Atlanta supports Rep. Holcomb's efforts to ban the gifts, free meals and other perks that the state government employees enjoy now that may influence the way they vote on issues critical to the future of our state, such as the wireless frontier and how the lives and property values of so many people may be adversely affected if it is not brought until control.

 

Thank you Rep. Holcomb for your fight to keep honesty and integrity in our government!

 

Rep. Scott Holcomb
(D - Atlanta)

REP. SCOTT HOLCOMB ON ETHICS:

"A few weeks ago, I announced my support for House Speaker David Ralston's promise to craft legislation to end all lobbyist gifts to legislators. I am pleased that the Speaker has expressed his commitment to change the way business is done in the Georgia General Assembly. The people of Georgia spoke very clearly on July 31st and Republicans and Democrats agreed on the need for reform. Every voter wants to know that legislators at the General Assembly are working on behalf of the people and not for the benefit of their own pocketbooks, frequent flyer accounts, or stomachs. Ending all lobbyist gifts is an important step in restoring public trust in government. The amount of money that lobbyists spend on elected officials is simply astonishing. I am delighted with the seriousness of the Speaker's proposal and I will be very happy to co-sponsor legislation to this effect. I would like to see the law ban overseas trips, weekend getaways to fancy resorts, golf outings, sports tickets, and even meals. As any economist will tell you, there's no such thing as a free lunch. Legislators receive per diem from Georgia's taxpayers, so they should pay for their own meals from now on.

 

"Speaker Ralston has promised to convene a study group to examine other states' best practices regarding gift bans. The group should get started right away so that legislation can be ready to go on day 1 of the next legislative session. The solution is really quite simple so it should not take long to study, draft, and implement the changes. To that end, the new law should go into effect on the day it is signed by Governor Deal. 

 

"I also urge the formation of a study group to enhance the enforcement powers of the Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission as part of the reform effort. These changes have the potential to make things better. I will finish my first term in January and I was amazed at how things 'work' at the Capitol. Reform is long overdue and while these measures won't fix all the problems at the Gold Dome, they should make for better policy making."