Meet Your New School Leaders Now Before They're Gone

Questions abound... will the Governor of Georgia, Nathan Deal, suspend the entire board of education in DeKalb County, the third largest county in the state?  Will he allow three of them remain as they were not serving on the board at the time it was placed on the Probation level of accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS)?  Can emails being sent to the Governor today affect the decision he plans to make on Monday?  Read more about the deal with Gov. Deal here.

New Board Chairman Melvin
Johnson, DCSD

Regardless of the drama that abounds, business must still get done and school is still in session.  After several failed attempts, the board finally elected a new chairman on Feb. 20.  It was reported that, by default, there was an election held in haste that put Dr. Melvin Johnson, long time DeKalb Schools employee, in charge as the new chairman for the DeKalb County School Board, effective immediately.  It was decided by a vote of 7 - 2 with Nancy Jester and Dr. Pam Speaks abstaining from the vote. Nancy had nominated Speaks, but she declined as the decision was likely already made.  It was, in fact, predicted the night before at "Court Marshall" Orson's Town Hall Meeting.

It was reported on School Watch Blog by a parent who attended the called meeting that Donna Edler, who had previously stated her desire for the Chairmanship, nominated Melvin Johnson from District 6. Johnson won his district in the July 2012 election only after facing a runoff by contender Denise McGill, a parent and community leader in the Redan / Stephenson area.  McGill later lost after a very poor turnout of voters during the runoff election.  She started the Stephenson Community Council shortly afterwards and has vowed to remain active in the school issues.

New Board Vice Chairman
Jim McMahan, DCSD

While we had hoped Ms. McGill had won the election, we do not have any specific or direct issues with Dr. Johnson and hope that, more than anything, as our School Board Chairman, he has learned from watching the mistakes made by Dr. Walker and has listened to the words of the state BOE. We hope his actions, words and decisions will reflect the call for DeKalb County to work together for the sake of all the children. We hope all board members who remain, those who might be soon appointed and any future elected members will share this goal, strive to work together and keep the best interest of our children in mind as their primary responsibility.

Here's a recap of the board hearing yesterday from WSB-TV:
 

We hope that one prediction made by Interim Superintendent Thurmond during the hearing yesterday will NOT come true - he said that if the state recommended removal of the six members of the current board (which they did) and the Governor agreed (which he will likely do on Monday, Feb. 25), he would end up with 15 school board members to worry about instead of just the 9 we have now because he knows the ones who are asked to step down will still be telling him what they think and watching his every move in addition to the ones who remain and the ones who are appointed. Now, THAT is an unintended consequence that could only happen in DeKalb County.

Interim Superintendent
Michael Thurmond, DCSD

Good luck, Mr. Thurmond, Dr. Johnson and the vice chairman, Jim McMahan.  The members of GTCO-ATL, SACS, Unhappy Taxpayers and Voters, Restore Dekalb, the Stephenson Community Council, DeKalb School Watch Two AND the Mad Mommy Brigade (a term coined by Nancy Jester during her testimony before the state BOE yesterday) will be keeping  our eyes on all of you and that is one thing you CAN count on!

So, do the right thing and work together to stop the underlying corrupt system of special favors to the system favorites and bring all our school up to the level of education where they should be.  Stop shipping kids all over the county like they are package freight.  Restore quality basic education to serve all the children in their own communities.  Make decisions because they are the right ones so you can justify them to the communities who are paying for your choices and we will all support you and our unified success.