QUICK! Put up that tower before someone tries to stop us!

Parents in 4 communities have all OPPOSED the construction of cell towers on their public school playgrounds.

In one community, the parents appealed the decision to build a cell tower on their local school to the Maryland State Board of Education.  And guess what? The parents have a very good chance of winning their appeal.

Q:  What should a Board of Education that hates public school children do 

when they are about to lose?   

A:  Put up those controversial cell towers as fast as possible. 

8/6/2015 Annapolis Middle School

And that is exactly what is going on in Prince George's and Anne Arundel Counties.  Fast paced construction efforts are underway to put up four cell towers on public school playgrounds.  Crews work frantically, even in the middle of the night and weekends in order to get the towers up.  Why?  Because once a tower is up and running, it is much more difficult to have it taken down than it is to stop it from going up in the first place.

Here is what the Administrative Law Judge who heard this case decided:

PROPOSED ORDER 

IT IS PROPOSED that the State Board order that the Local Board's agreement to lease school property for the purpose of construction a cell tower (or cell towers) as memorialized in the Master Agreement is not consistent with its trust obligations under section 4-114(a)(1) of the Education Article.

Is there a lesson for those who may be aware of a cell tower proposal near them right now? Absolutely.  If you have opposition or concerns about a proposal, speak up as soon as possible and inform as many of your  neighbors as you can.  Regardless of what you believe about the health impacts, cell towers are a blight on a community in many ways.  They often disrupt the view of the sky and they can cause enough fear or concern that  your neighborhood may never be the same again.  People will leave simply out of the fear of the unknown, regardless of whether or not they have even read any of the science behind the belief that towers can lead to cancer.

So, if you like where you live and want to stay there for a while, a cell tower is most likely something that you can do without and if you don't speak up in the beginning, it will be harder and harder to do so later.  You won't be harming your community.   And, you might even be saving people's lives.

Tower companies ALWAYS have alternatives to the proposed spot near you.  They can  actually share space on existing towers and co-locate their antennas to reduce the number necessary.   They will find a way to conduct their business and turn their profits.

GTCO-ATL wishes the folks fighting the good fight in Maryland all the best.  Keep it up because you are doing the right thing!  We will continue to follow your story!

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.

NOW HIRING: Six Dekalb County School Board Seats Up for Grabs

Pending the federal decision today at 2:30 p.m.

NOW SEEKING:  Qualified applicants willing to take a thankless job for a small compensation and high levels of scrutiny from the general public as well as some very high ranking government  officials.  Must be able to work well with others who have questionable moral character.  Must be able to operate a push button voting apparatus.  Must understand budgets and be able to pronounce the word:  SPLOST.  Applicants should be prepared for retaliation attempts from a variety of unknown sources, be able to respond to questions from the media, understand a job description and the concept of a chain of command, and be prepared to vacate position at any given time depending on what your appointed lawyers instruct you to do at the time.  Oh yes, knowledge of schools or education systems preferred, but not required.

The nominating panel that Gov. Nathan Deal assembled has begun accepting applications for candidates to fill the seats of suspended members of the DeKalb County school board.

Applicants should send the following information to dekalbschoolboardnominations@georgia.gov:

1. Legal name, contact information and home address
2. District seat for which one is applying
3. Resume or brief biography
4. Statement of interest

The panel will accept applications until Wednesday, March 6 at 5 p.m.

For more information:  CBS Atlanta 46

VICTORY in Every Classroom! State Recommends Removal of DeKalb BOE

GEORGIA'S STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION 

RECOMMENDS THE REMOVAL 

OF THE DEKALB COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION!

February 22, 2013:  Late last night, shortly after 10 p.m., the state Board of Education concluded its 13 hour hearing of the DeKalb County, GA, Board of Education.  While many of those who had been watching and listening throughout the day were expecting a 14-day wait before a decision, the state BOE immediately began their individual statements and then casting their votes.

While they had some hope that the district was headed in a better direction than they initially believe when they first convened in January, they unanimously determined it was in the best interest of the 99,000 children who live here that the Governor remove the entire board.  There are three exceptions, however.  The three newly elected members who were not serving at the time the system was lowered to the Probation status by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) will not be held accountable and will likely remain in their seats.  Those members are the newly-elected chairman Melvin Johnson, newly-elected vice chairman Jim McMahan and newly-elected board member Marshall Orson.

Financial Officer, Michael Perrone, answered some questions that had
lingered in the minds of many residents about missing textbook funds and
some questionable practices of borrowing from accounts to pay off debt.  The
state BOE attorney Hackmeyer was tough, yet subtle, as she got to the
heart of many of DeKalb's problems:  a general lack of accountability that
persists among upper level staff as well as many of the board members.

We will have more on this subject later today.   Congratulations to every whistleblower and thank you to every citizen who stood up to be counted in a petition that was signed by more than 1,500 people.

Thank you to every teacher who has endured the abusive relationship with the former board members and has still found a way to teach and take care of our precious children.

This decision was made thoughtfully and is a step in the right direction for DeKalb.  We hope to remain involved in the process of rebuilding our schools and restoring full accreditation.  We look forward to the changes that will be facilitated by the new Interim Superintendent Michael Thurmond who has stated his commitment to excellence and a focus on the classroom.

While Dr. Eugene Walker says he will file a lawsuit to challenge the constitutionality of the controversial state law that allows for the elected board's removal, it is a brighter day in DeKalb today!   The voices of the children were not heard, but there were adults in the hearing room who did not forget them.  They did their jobs and did not allow the "masters of distraction" to throw them off track.

To our GTCO-ATL friends, fans, followers and leaders, we thank you for following this story and doing your part to remain involved in your school, your community and caring about the future of the entire county.  We can accomplish great things when we agree to all work together!  Our ability to hold off the cell towers from invading our public school grounds has set a great example to parent groups everywhere that have been turned toward fighting each other instead of focusing on the source of the problems that are tearing them apart.  Rooting out the corruption and coming forward with what you know has been important to exposing those who wish to bring harm to our communities in order to line their own pockets with our money.

Working together to understand and help each other sets a good example for the behavior we want to see our children exhibit, and how we want our leaders to behave as they are leading us.  It is how we want our classrooms to function and our neighborhoods to grow and flourish.

VICTORY is every classroom was the rally call of former Superintendent Dr. Cheryl Atkinson which she never achieved.  Instead, she turned our classrooms into battlegrounds where there were no winners.  But, today we can claim that VICTORY is ours - the parents, children, teachers and other stakeholders of our public education system.  CONGRATULATIONS!!  

Please check back throughout the days and weeks ahead as we will continue to be covering the details of these events and the outcome of the decisions being made.  We will also be providing update through the Patch online newspaper, Crossroads News and the DeKalb School Watch Two blog.

Please stay involved and aware of the progress being made so that you can show up in 2014 to VOTE responsibly as the entire board is slated to be voted upon in the same election and will hold their seats for four years.  Direct questions to Get the Cell Out - ATL at sayno2celltowers@yahoo.com.

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