(click headline for the full story) Following are several news reports locally about the potential investigation into the DeKalb County School Board and several of their practices including conflicts of interest, SPLOST IV promotions and nepotism inside the system.
Stay tuned for more information as we are sure the cell tower issue will be among those discussed if the grand jury is indeed called to investigate.
Special grand jury
A "special grand jury" is one of two types of grand juries that exist in the U.S. federal system. While a regular grand jury primarily decides whether to bring charges, a special grand jury is called into existence to investigate whether
organized crime is occurring in the community in which it sits. This could include, for instance, organized drug activity or organized
corruption in government. As provided in
18 U.S.C. § 3331(a), the
U.S. District Court in every judicial district having more than four million inhabitants must impanel a special grand jury at least once every eighteen months.
[21]
________________________________________________________________________
6:43 PM, Dec 30, 2011
11 Alive TV Report: view the video here:
http://www.11alive.com/news/article/219594/40/DeKalb-Schools-up-for-grand-jury-investigation
DECATUR - We may finally get some answers as to what's been going on inside the
DeKalb County School System over the years. It's been plagued with controversy and now a Special Grand Jury could investigate.
The recommendation is in a
recent report returned from the fall sitting of the Grand Jury in DeKalb County. They started asking questions about what's been going on inside the school district and "weren't satisfied with the answers they got from former and current administrators."
Neither were we, when we started asking questions, last fall, about the new superintendents job application. In it, Cheryl Atkinson indicated she had never been named as a defendant in a lawsuit. However, we discovered she was named as a defendant in a bankruptcy suit in 1998.
We asked why she had answered "no" to the question but never got a response from her or from the DeKalb County School System.
In its report to the Superior Court of DeKalb County the grand jury wrote that it had concerns over the delay in replacing former Superintendent Crawford Lewis, currently under indictment for racketeering, theft by a government employee and bribery.
They had concerns about the influence of School Board members over hiring of family and friends and about media leaks that caused Lillie Cox to withdraw her application to fill the vacant superintendent position. Concerns over the recent controversy involving school band members and allegations of hazing that led to the suspension of band activities was another issue.
The referendum for the special sales tax levy for education was also raised. The grand jury questioned whether school funds were improperly used to support the measure.
DeKalb District Attorney Robert James was present for some of the Grand Jury discussions and has now received the recommendation to convene a Special Grand Jury to investigate further.
He declined to be interviewed but sent us the following statement:
"On Thursday, December 29, I received the official DeKalb County Grand Jury presentment. We take the recommendations of the Grand Jury very seriously and will review the information pertaining to the concerns regarding the DeKalb County School System and determine a proper course of action." - DeKalb County District Attorney Robert James
We contacted the current superintendent Cheryl Atkinson and all board members for a comment on this story but got none. Even the communications person never responded to our calls.
_____________________________________________________________________
DeKalb County News (Reprint from Atlanta Journal Constitution)
Reporter: Ernie Suggs
6:37 p.m. Thursday, December 29, 2011
Panel recommends special grand jury investigation into DeKalb schools
AJC Article here:
http://www.ajc.com/news/dekalb/panel-recommends-special-grand-1280639.html
Detailing a laundry list of concerns, particularly the process that led to the hiring of
DeKalb County School’s superintendent Cheryl Atkinson, a grand jury is calling for a special investigation of the school board.
Kent D. Johnson, kdjohnson@ajc.comThe grand jury questioned the drawn-out process that finally led to the hiring of DeKalb County School’s superintendent Cheryl Atkinson.
After their November-December presentments, the
DeKalb County Superior Court grand jury has recommended a special grand jury look into the county school board, because, “It is clear that the school system remains top-heavy and suffers from a perception of conflicts of interest and waste.”
Among the more damaging allegations, the grand jury blamed the board for taking nearly two years to find a permanent replacement for former superintendent Crawford Lewis, who is now under indictment for fraud.
“While we have no issue with the work and effectiveness of the interim superintendent, not having a permanent superintendent in place for an extended period while the system was in turmoil and obviously needed significant improvements leads to questions about the school board’s effectiveness in meeting their sworn duty,” the report read.
The grand jury also noted that several aspects of the selection process were leaked to the media. Lillie Cox, the one-time front-runner to lead the schools, dropped out of contention for the job after contract negotiations stalled and details of her potential agreement were made public.
After withdrawing, Cox quickly accepted a similar position in a North Carolina school district.
Approximately 95,000 students are enrolled in DeKalb public schools, the third largest system in the state.
DeKalb County District Attorney Robert James told Channel 2 Action News that the report, was "explosive" and "something that we have to take very seriously."
It would be up to James' office to form a special grand jury to probe the school system.
"Whether or not I'm going to request that the superior court judges grant us the ability to have a special grand jury or we use our normal investigative power is something that I'm going to be reviewing over the next couple of weeks," he said.
The panel also noted that:
- The school board had too much influence in the hiring and retention of personnel, which created a culture where “friends and family” are benefiting.
- Several school officials connected with DeKalb County bands were engaged in outside activities that might have had an impact on their duties at work. Band activity at all schools has been suspended in the wake of the hazing death of a Florida A&M University drum major, who had graduated from Southwest DeKalb High. Investigators are looking at connections between the college and high school.
- The school system might have improperly campaigned taxpayers to approve the renewal of a penny sales tax. By law, systems are only allowed to provide information about the so-called SPLOST, but not lobby for or against it. In November, voters gave DeKalb County schools, where former superintendent Lewis is facing fraud charges related to previous SPLOST money, $475 million for school construction, including $144 million to replace seven elementary schools.
For their report, the grand jury interviewed Atkinson, former interim superintendent Ramona Tyson and school board chairman Thomas Bowen. District spokesman Walter Woods said the system is prepared to cooperate fully with any investigation.
"Beyond that, we haven’t see the report yet," Woods said.
____________________________________________________________________
WSB-TV report here: http://www.wsbtv.com/news/news/education/dekalb-county-school-board-could-face-grand-jury-i/nGB4L/
DeKalb School Board could face grand jury
DeKALB CO., Ga. —
A DeKalb County grand jury is calling for a deeper investigation into the actions of school board members, citing questionable policies, spending and nepotism concerns. The civil grand jurors spent more than a month looking at county operations and handed up their presentment Thursday.
"All of it concerns me. I'm a parent and I'm a taxpaying citizen of DeKalb County," said Robert James, who also serves as DeKalb County's district attorney.
He said he will spend the next few weeks deciding whether to ask the superior court judges to allow him to convene a special-purpose grand jury to look specifically at the DeKalb School Board.
"There is some validity. The question is, how much validity and does it warrant a further look?" said James, who called the report “explosive.”
The grand jurors listed five general concerns, including School Board influence in the hiring and personnel evaluation process, including friends and family with questionable salaries, and senior-level personnel employed in outside work that could impact job performance or lead to double-dipping on pay.
"Misrepresentation of information and fraudulently presenting certain things, that's when you get into criminal activity," said James. "But most of what they were talking about were not actual crimes, but waste and misuse of taxpayer dollars and nepotism and things of that nature. Which is -- however, in the province of a special grand jury."
They also cited the year and a half delay in hiring a permanent superintendent after Crawford Lewis's indictment on racketeering charges. He and other district workers are accused of accepting bribes and funneling work to his chief operating officer's husband.
Civil grand jurors also criticized School Board members for leaking information to the media regarding one of the candidates to replace Lewis. The candidate later removed her name from contention.
The grand jury questioned use of public funds to endorse and promote the last special-purpose local-option sales tax referendum. Public money is only supposed to be used for education relating to the projects, not a specific endorsement.
And the grand jury criticized Board policies for hiring attorneys and filing and managing lawsuits, with regard to exorbitant spending on a lengthy lawsuit to recover funds from Heery Construction, the district's former school builder.
James says several of the concerns are years old and stem from the prior superintendent's administration. A few have also surfaced previously and could come up in ongoing criminal cases.
School Board Chairman Tom Bowen was interviewed by the grand jurors and told Channel 2 investigative reporter Jodie Fleischer that he answered the questions to the best of his ability.
He says there is more the district can do to investigate and provide proof that the concerns are being addressed, and that he would like that opportunity before a special grand jury is deemed necessary.
