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SECTION A: VOL. 27 NO. 9
The Official Legal Organ ofDeKalb County, GA. Serving East Atlanta, Avondale Estates, Brookhaven, Chamblee, Clarkston, Decatur, Doraville, Dunwoody, Lithonia, Pine Lake, Tucker, Stonecrest and Stone Mountain.
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Z>Z>I>I>1IFESTY1E FEATURE STORY: Variety is at the heart of the AJC Decatur Book Festival 6B
Officer charged with
murder of jogger
BY HORACE HOLLOMAN
horace@dekalbchamp.com
hen a DeKalb County
Police Department
(DKPD) officer dies
in the line of duty in
a motor vehicle accident, after
the mourning process and
investigation is complete, the
department will place the vehicle
at the department’s training facility
as a reminder for upcoming
officers.
On Aug. 28, James Conroy,
police chief for the DKPD, said
an incident involving a jogger and
a DKPD officer will serve as a
reminder to officers to be cautious
of their speed while driving.
Retired teacher and avid
runner, Janet Pickney, 66, was
jogging near the intersection of
Brown and Chamblee Tucker
roads July 25 when she was hit by
a DKPD vehicle driven by officer
See Officer on Page 5A
PAGE 2A
DECATUR'S FIRST BLACK
MAYOR: CONFEDERATE
MONUMENTSHOULD
BE MOVED
PAGE4A
ARABIA MOUNTAIN
ROLLS PAST MLK IN
CHIPPY RIVALRY GAME
PAGE19A
QUICK FINDER
Classified
17A
Education
15A
Opinion
7 A
Sports
19-20A
641 1 6
Angela Craft and daughters Jasmine, 18, and Alexis, 15, have benefitted from Georgia Connections Academy, a
free virtual school providing public school coursework via the internet. Photos submitted.
Virtual school
provides ease,
instruction
BY R. SCOTT BELZER
sbelzer@dekalbchamp.com
A free virtual service has changed
the way one Stone Mountain family
views and absorbs education.
According to Angela Craft, five
years of service provided by Georgia
Connections Academy—a free
virtual public school for students
kindergarten through 12th grade
serving more than 320 students in
DeKalb County—has allowed her
two daughters to receive healthcare
without sacrificing the opportunity to
learn.
Craft said her two daughters,
Jasmine, 18, and Alexis, 15, suffer
from multiple medical issues that
impair their progress in a traditional
classroom. Getting through a
traditional, eight-hour school day was
becoming increasingly difficult.
“Both suffer from ADHD learning
disability and Alexis has juvenile
muscular myopathy and Asperger’s
syndrome,” Craft said. “It made it
difficult for them to attend every
day. We missed a lot of school and
they were not supportive. We tried
homeschooling independently, but we
found it to be a difficult process.”
Craft said she found out about
options to homeschool through the
public school system in Georgia and
Georgia Connections Academy was
recommended.
Georgia Connections Academy
works through the public school system
to allow the same coursework and
curriculum at home rather than a brick-
and-mortar building, Craft said. Students
are assigned teachers—known as
learning coaches—for each course; the
learning coaches contact families each
See Connections on Page 5A