What's Up With That

The district has sent a response to the most recent letter from AdvancED.

We would like to take this opportunity to clarify recent board actions regarding the latest letter from AdvancED/SACS to the DeKalb County School District. The AJC’s initial report was not accurate and we want to communicate to you what actions were taken by the board at our meeting on Wednesday, September 5, 2012. The Board voted to formally acknowledge receipt of the letter. The Superintendent provided a memo to board members outlining a process to develop the District’s response. The Board voted to accept her process as well.

State law only allows for meetings in executive session for a few, very specific reasons. The discussion of the letter from AdvancED/SACS is not a matter that can be discussed in executive session. Wednesday’s Board meeting was held in public and there will be no meeting of the Board regarding this matter in executive session.

After we receive the draft of the District’s response, we will request a Board meeting to hear from our fellow Board members and vote to accept/reject the draft response. This meeting will be public and all Board members will have the opportunity to discuss the District’s response letter.

Most importantly, we want to share with you that we welcome the scrutiny from AdvancED/SACS. The issues that were raised in their letter have been concerns that we have publicly discussed at Board meetings and shared with various officials. Indeed, we have been the whistle blowers regarding some of these issues. We also want to remind the public that SB84  provides for the Governor to intervene with a Board of Education without the District losing accreditation. This protects the children in our schools while providing a mechanism to correct problems within a school district.

We hope that our statement helps clarify recent events and reports. As always, let us know your thoughts and comments.

Sincerely,
Nancy Jester
Don McChesney
Pam Speaks

Below, please find my opinion about the constitutional amendment regarding charter schools that will be on the ballot in November. The opinions expressed below, are solely mine as an individual and do not represent any position of the DeKalb Board, the school district or any other group or individual.

As a member of the DeKalb County Board of Education, I have been reading with great interest, the news and debate about the Charter School Amendment that will be on the ballot in November. The usual groups that purport to speak for their members are lining up against it. The Georgia State Superintendents Association (GSSA), the Georgia School Boards Association (GSBA) and various teacher organizations. This is to be expected. Change is never easy and those who make significant earnings from the status quo are always reticent to embrace it.

As a requirement of law, I must participate in annual training. The GSBA puts on these training sessions. There is a large conference in June of each year in Savannah where board members from around the state gather to participate in the training and meetings. For the past two years, your tax dollars have paid for me to attend these required seminars and meetings as is the case for most (if not all) board members around the state.

As I sat in the communications seminar, I was told by a presenter that “Education is not designed to be customized.” I wondered if he had an iPod or was he still listening to 8-track? After a break, another presenter went on to talk about the Charter School Amendment and how that would cede local control to “bureaucrats up in Atlanta”. She went on to discuss how best to run a campaign against the amendment; including how to educate employees of school districts to talk with parents about the issue. I was very uncomfortable seeing how your tax dollars were being used to promote these ideas. This year, I had the honor of serving as DeKalb’s voting delegate to the GSBA. At this meeting the GSBA votes to take official positions on various issues. Among the positions the GSBA will be advocating for in the upcoming legislative session are (1) that elections for Boards should be non-partisan (they are in DeKalb but many counties hold partisan board elections) and (2) the State Superintendent should be appointed rather than elected. I found these positions to be contrary to their profession of faith in local control. I voted against these positions. I’m perplexed why the GSBA is even taking a legislative position on these matters. Perhaps it is illustrative of their true motivations. This should all make us examine their position on the Charter School Amendment more closely.

As I stated above, I understand those opposed to the Charter School Amendment fear the change that it brings to their realm. But it is past time to provide another tool to the hands of parents and dedicated teachers – a tool that releases them from the constraints and control of highly bureaucratic school districts and “one size fits all” approaches. Is it a panacea for all that ails education in Georgia? No. Indeed, all charter school proposals will not be approved and, some that are, will fail and be closed. Unfortunately there seems no effective and swift mechanism to close traditional schools that fail generations of children.

The discussion about “mechanism” brings me to an important point. Indeed, it is the central point of reformation that we need to discuss. In the early part of the 1900’s there were well over 100,000 school districts; there are now less than 14,000. We see increasing monopolization of public funding in education into large, Soviet-style, command and control education distribution systems. It is ironic that as competition and ingenuity have provided us with more individual choices and freedoms, our education distribution system has gone in the other direction. Customization and choice are the natural outcomes of competitive forces shaping a marketplace over time. I’m reminded of the quote attributed to Henry Ford, “You can have any color car you want, as long as it’s black.” Imagine if that were the case today for cars! But, for some reason, we accept this in education. In fact, we’ve gone backwards, offering a less customized, less responsive system. Education must be customized to be effective and it must be responsive to the community it serves. If we continue to fail on these metrics then the system will suffer the same fate as the Soviet economic distribution model. I suggest reading the lesson plan (link below) provided by the Foundation for Teaching Economics. This lesson provides a cautionary tale on the types of crisis that befall a distribution system that has no mechanism to receive signals and respond efficiently to them.

http://www.fte.org/teacher-resources/lesson-plans/edsulessons/lesson-2-missing-markets-and-missing-prices/

Some critics of the Charter School Amendment confuse the matter by suggesting that having a method to start a school that is not controlled by the local board of education, is tantamount to the removal of “local control”. They maintain this, despite the fact that a group of citizens would have to organize, plan, petition, govern and ultimately send their children to the charter school. That is the ultimate local control – it is micro control – it is parent control. Why are school boards and superintendents fearful of this? They often try to tell us that money will be diverted to these charters and away from their system; thus hurting the education of the remaining students. They neglect to address that they are now not responsible for the students at the charter school. They do not point out that with the absence of these students they lose only a portion of the funding for those students. They do not reconcile the equation – they will have fewer students but more money per student. I don’t doubt that they want what is best for children but their perspective is clouded by the fact that they make a living from the status quo.

Having a way for communities to come up with an innovative, responsive educational product is consistent with local control. It is also wholly consistent with the quintessential American notion of Republic. America was not designed to be a democratic tyranny of the majority. The rights of minority groups were protected and codified in our Constitution. Resisting tyranny, removing monopoly power, competing, innovating – these are all American and Georgian ideals. The forces of modernity will not dissipate. The winds for these changes will not calm. Education and how we distribute it to our children will eventually be shaped by more customization not less; by more responsiveness to community; by more freedom. That is where the future takes us. Please join me and reject the discussions of money and control. Please join me to improve the educational lives of Georgia’s children. Vote YES on the Charter School Amendment this November.

–Nancy Jester

For more information, you can go to my website www.nancyjester.com and click on the Charter Schools tab.

Hey Nancy,

You voted against the higher student / teacher ratios.  But yet you voted against increasing taxes.  How do you reconcile these two positions?

What’s up with that?

Meeting Agenda ( Agenda Online)

A. CALL TO ORDER

B. ROSTER

C. COMMITTEE REPORTS

1. Budget, Audit, Finance & Facilities Committee
2. Business, Community & Government Relations Committee
3. Instruction Committee
4. Policy Committee

D. ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA

E. SUPERINTENDENT’S REPORT

1. First Day of School

F. ACTION ITEM

1. Approval of Human Resources Monthly Report

G. CONSENT AGENDA ITEMS

1. Approval of Minutes
2. Approval of Financial Monthly Report
3. Junior Achievement (JA) “BizTown” Program
4. The Globe Academy, Inc.
5. Purchase of Pearson School Achievement Services for 2012 – 2013
   • Purchase of Pearson School Achievement Services for Clarkston High School 2012-2013
   • Purchase of Pearson School Achievement Services for McNair High School 2012-2013
   • Purchase of Pearson School Achievement Services for Towers High School 2012-2013
   • Purchase of Pearson School Achievement Services for Freedom Middle School 2012-2013
6. CaseNex Contracts
• CaseNex Contract for 2012-2013 Gifted Endorsement Courses for K-12 Teachers
• CaseNex Professional Development Extension Agreement
7. Extension of RFP 11-187 for Speech-Language Therapy Services
8. Contract between DeKalb County School District and Sign Language Interpreting Specialists (SLIS)
9. MAXIMUS TIENET® Software Maintenance and Hosting Agreement Renewal
10. CrossPointe Software Annual Maintenance
11. Approval of HVAC Instrumentation and Controls – New Chamblee Charter High School Replacement Project
12. Emergency Generator Group 1- Installation Only Contract Award Approval
13. Martin Luther King Jr. High School Construction Material Testing, Special Inspections, and NPDES Compliance Services Contract Award
14. Fire Alarm and Fire Suppression Systems Inspection, Testing, and Maintenance Contract Extension Approval
15. System-Wide Imaging Solution Contract Extension Approval
16. Approval for Vendors to Exceed $100,000.00
17. Portable Classroom Relocation Services Contract Extension Approval
18. SPLOST IV Capital Improvement Plan Budget Allocation (422)

H. OTHER\BOARD COMMENTS (2 minutes each)

I. ANNOUNCEMENTS

J. ADJOURN

Hey Nancy,

The budget was passed and now there’s talk about RIFs.

What’s up with that?

DeKalb Parent

Hey Nancy,

My son is supposed to start pre-k in August at Chesnut. I know that the Board approved the 2013 budget last week and that 2.7 million was cut from pre-k. However, there seems to be lots of confusion (including in the media) as to what this actually means in terms of this coming school year’s pre-k classes.

• Will the Pre-k programs in the public elementary schools only be funded with the state amount?
• What does this mean for the school year?
• What does this mean in terms of the current pre-k teachers?
• Will they have to change to uncertified teachers?
• Will the program have a shorter day?
• More students?
• Will there still be a paraprofessional in the class?

.
What’s up with that?

Hey Nancy,

In reading the article in today’s AJC regarding [the 5/22 budget] meeting, it seems that the county is trying to fill a $70m budget gap due to increased healthcare and retirement benefits.  I understand that healthcare costs are rising, however, retirement benefits should be slashed.  Nobody in the private sector receives retirement benefits.  So, if retirement is a rising cost, it should be mitigated in that any incoming new teacher will not receive retirement benefits just as anyone in the private sector.

Many PTAs in the area are helping to fund their schools.  They provide cleaning supplies, stipends for teachers to purchase supplies, provide substitute teachers, and purchase playground equipment for the schools.  The PTAs should not have to provide basic supplies to the schools in order for them to function properly, the county should provide those items.  This demonstrates how inefficiently the county is running the schools.

Montessori is once again on the agenda for removing from schools as well.  I think this is a HUGE mistake.  The Montessori class room equipment is already purchased and the classes use fewer consumables, like paper, pencils, etc., than traditional classrooms.  Montessori is a low cost option for parents and is part of the reason we moved into the school district.  Please fight to not remove the Montessori from the schools.

I saw that the county is considering removing Pre-K as an option to save money.  Doesn’t the lottery pay for Pre-k?  So, why cut pre-k?  That is crazy.

Also, I do not understand how the school board is complaining about money when they were able to cover a budget shortfall this year of over $40m by reallocating some funds.

What’s up with that?

Kelly

Hey Nancy,

Dekalb County School System (DCSS) sent out teacher contracts on Monday, April 30, 2012 to some of our teachers and administrators.  In the contract, the teachers were told they were being offered their current jobs with a pay decrease of 6.25 %.  I realize this probably does not sound too bad to some, however this is yet another devastating blow to our teachers and their morale.  The teachers are the ones who are on the front lines of education.  They are the ones who help inspire our children to be their best.  They are the ones who help mold children’s minds.  They are the ones who have been saddled with the responsibility of educating our future generations. Yet our leaders in DCSS continue to undermine their efforts by another salary cut.  (more … )

What’s up with that?

Susan via The Aha Connection

Hey Nancy,

Is DCSD seriously considering dropping German from the high schools?  Apparently no German (or Latin) teacher received a contract and is “on hold” until May 11th.  What about the kids who have already completed 2 years and need a third to meet their diploma requirements?

What’s up with that?

Jo