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CHAMPION ist Place General Excellence Award Winner GEORGIA PRESS ASSOCIATION ‘BETTER NEWSPAPER CONTEST’ 2007, 2009-2017 SECTION A: VOL. 27 NO. 13 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. THURSDAY, SEPT. 28-OCT. 4 ,2017 THECHAMPIONNEWSPAPER.COM | f sr J | DEKALBCHAMPNEWS iillllllll DDDDLIFESTYLE FEATURE STORY: 'Many hands make light work’ 6R FOR THE LATEST UPDATES VISIT US AT THECHAMPIONNEWSPAPER.COM WHAT'S NEXT FOR DECATUR CONFEDERATE MONUMENT? PAGE 2A DeKalb schools to make up days through 20 minute extension BY R. SCOTT BELZER sbelzer@dekalbchamp.com DeKalb County School District (DCSD) announced its plan to make up days missed during Hurricane Irma on Sept. 22. "In order to recapture precious instructional time lost due to Hurricane Irma, the DeKalb County School District (DCSD) will extend its school day by 20 minutes, Monday through Friday, beginning Monday, Oct. 2,2017, through the end of the first semester on Wednesday, Dec. 20,2017," reads the announcement. In addition, DCSD schools ► SEE SCHOOL ON PAGE 5A County touts water billing progress, residents beg to differ BY HORACE HOLLOMAN horace@dekalbchamp.com DECATUR SCHOOLS DOUBLE DOWN ON TRANSGENDER POLICY PAGE14A XANDERSCHAUFFELE, JUSTIN THOMAS CROWNED CHAMPIONS AT EAST LAKE PAGE19A QUICK FINDER Classified 17A Education 15A Opinion 7 A Sports 19-20A 641 1 6 H ours ahead of a Sept. 25 water billing update meeting at the Maloof Building in downtown Decatur, county officials stated DeKalb has made "substantial progress" in resolving some of the issues which led to residents receiving costly water bills. According to the county, approximately 27,500 of the 37,000 unverified water bills have been released since April 2017. DeKalb County CEO Michael Thurmond said the county's water billing customer service center has improved as well. The number of calls the customer service center receives dropped by 40 percent compared to the same time period last year, the average call wait time is estimated to be 40 seconds and 75 percent of calls are answered within 60 seconds, according to DeKalb County press release. "We continue to make significant progress toward developing a world-class 21st century water system,"Thurmond said. "Much work still needs to be done and we are committed to an open public process." The update was the fourth countywide public meeting on water billing issues since Thurmond was elected as DeKalb's CEO. While county officials said progress is being made, some residents voiced their frustration at the public update meeting. One resident said the meeting was more of "the same song with a different beat." Brookhaven resident Corey Sechler, 33, a lifelong DeKalb County resident, said he's tired of dealing with high water bills. Sechler, who said he lives with his mother to help her during a recovery process, said his mom's water meter is the same age as his older brother— approximately 38 years. "[DeKalb County] told us the last time our ► SEE WATER ON PAGE 5A DeKalb County officials held a fourth water billing update meeting at the Maloof building on Sept. 25. During a Sept. 25 meeting to discuss water billing issues, DeKalb residents asked CEO Michael Thurmond questions about their bills.