Newspaper Page Text
COMMUNITY
New DeKalb school board members face ‘critical’ year
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
“The next year is critical for accred
itation,” said Coleman, a 31-year-old
Brookhaven resident with a Masters of
Business Administration degree from
Harvard University. “Then, I think we
need to address long-term issues.”
There are plenty of issues to address in
DeKalb’s school system, the third largest
in the state. While officials work to ad
dress SACS’ complaints and retain the
systems accreditation, groups of north
DeKalb parents are discussing how to
wrest control of their schools from the
county. Meanwhile, some ousted board
members are contesting their removal in
court, saying Deal’s actions thwarted the
desires of voters.
Former board Chairman Eugene
Walker said in a statement released
March 18 that SACS created the percep
tion of many of the problems the sys
tem faces.
“SACS and its agents distorted the ac
tions of the school board and intentional
ly diminished the level of trust and con
fidence held by the constituents of the
board members,” Walker said. “This was
done through accusations, allegations and
innuendos without providing proof or
supporting documents. The SACS report
was rife with unsubstantiated allegations
and general statements with the intent of
creating a false negative perception of the
school board and facilitating a reason for
probation.”
Coleman believes he and the newly ap
pointed board will be able to avoid losing
the system’s accreditation, which parents
fear could hamper high school graduates’
efforts to win scholarships and admission
to some out-of-state colleges. “I have a
high degree of confidence we will be able
to address this [accreditation],” Coleman
said.
“For me, the focus
is to make sure we ad-
dress many of the is
sues raised by SACS,”
Coleman said. “I do
think we can make a
big difference.”
He’s confident, in
part, because of the
accomplishments of
the people the gover
nor appointed to the
board. “I can’t tell you
how impressed I was
when I saw the list
of board members,”
Coleman said. “It seems like an awesome
group.... I do think it’s going to be a good
group to try to address the issues.”
The list of new board members, cho
sen from more than 400 applicants for
the jobs, includes a second person with an
M.B.A., a Certified Public Accountant,
a lawyer, a Ph.D. and a member with a
masters degree in counseling education.
Coleman is not the only school official
promising publicly that the district will
not lose accreditation.
“Failure is not an option,” Interim
schools Superintendent Michael Thur
mond told about 100 parents and local
officials gathered at the Kingsley Swim
and Racquet Club clubhouse on March
10 for a question-and-answer session
sponsored by the Dunwoody Homeown
ers Association.
“The children did nothing wrong,”
Thurmond said. “This is an adult mess
and adults have to change it. ... We will
not return to the mistakes of the past.”
Thurmond said he intended to de
centralize some powers within the school
system and to get the district’s financ
es under control. “We are going to put
our fiscal house in order,” he said. “We’re
moving in that direction, where we will
be back in the black and not in the red.”
Distrcit 2 school board representative
Marshall Orson said at a March 19 forum
at Cross Keys High School in Brookhav
en that he believes Thurmond, the state’s
former labor commissioner and a former
state legislator, is the right man to help
turn the ailing school system around.
“He’s well-respected regardless of your
politics,” Orson said. “He’s a man of his
word and he gets things done.”
Like Coleman, Orson is confident in
the system’s new leadership. He told par
ents and teachers at Cross Keys High
School that he thinks the system is “turn
ing a corner.”
Thurmond asked the Dunwoody par
ents to support efforts to change the sys
tem from within. But, in response to a
question about efforts to create a new
school district in the area, he said, “as a
parent, you need to do what you believe
is in the best interest of your child. If you
believe creating a separate district in Dun
woody is in the best interest of your chil
dren, I’d be the last” to oppose it.
Rep. Tom Taylor, a Dunwoody Repub
lican, introduced legislation that would
call for a constitution
al amendment to al
low cities created since
2005, including Dun
woody, to start their
own school districts
or to join other near
by cities to start school
systems.
Members of Dun
woody City Coun
cil informally agreed
March 11 to spend
up to $50,000 to help
finance a study of the
feasibility of operat
ing a city school sys
tem. The council is expected to vote on
the expenditure during its April 1 meet
ing. “Time is of the essence,” Council
man Terry Nall said. “We need the study
to be completed by October to be effec
tive in the Legislature.”
Taylor told council members that his
bill has been assigned to the education
committee in the state House of Rep
resentatives, so a feasibility study is not
a requirement. But, he thought a study
— similar to ones done during the pro
cess of starting new cities — would help
him convince other lawmakers to ap
prove the bill. “I need to go down there
with ammunition,” he said. “I need to
go down there with a concise study.”
Taylor said the time required to
win approval of the necessary legisla
tion meant a vote on the constitution
al amendment would not be held until
next year. The earliest a new school sys
tem could be created, he said, would be
in 2016.
Thurmond said he had been warned
to expect a hostile crowd in Dunwoody.
But several parents said he seemed will
ing to hear their concerns.
“I think Fve heard it all before, but
I’ll give him a chance,” said Allegra
Johnson, president of the newly formed
Dunwoody Parents Concerned about
Quality Education. “If he wants me to
give him opportunities, then he needs to
give parents opportunities as well — op
portunities to help. It’s a two-way street.
I’m encouraged, if he listens to our op
portunities.”
Coleman said he applied for an ap
pointment to the board because he saw
the job as a way to make a difference
in his community. “It’s a pretty critical
point for DeKalb,” he said.
Asked whether the challenges facing
the board gave him pause, he said he
found his feelings about the job hard to
describe. “I think the feeling is more of
a sense of responsibility,” he said. “You
want to make sure you do a good job.
My goal is, over the next year and a half,
that I can comport myself with the right
amount of dignity that the focus be
comes on the kids and staff and not on
>5
me.
Among the fascinating people who
live and work at Canterbury Court:
The best part about our life here is
OUR WONDERFUL FRIENDS.,,
The Scovils chose Canterbury for reasons you might expect - great
location, maintenance-free living, intriguing things to do with time to
actually do them, the promise of future health care. What they didn’t
know then was how wide their already generous circle would grow
to embrace wonderful new friends. Or, how much fun it would be to
share experiences with people they enjoy.
The Scovils invite you to discover heir Canterbury Court.
0%
Canterbury Court
Life is better among friends
3750 Peachtree Road, N.E. - Atlanta, Georgia 30319 - (404) 261-6611
canterburycourt.org
Atlanta’s premier non-profit continuing care retirement community
“The children did nothing
wrong. This is an adult
mess and adults have
to change it. ... We
will not return to the
mistakes of the past.”
- MICHAEL THURMOND
INTERIM DEKALB SCHOOLS
SUPERINTENDENT
6 | MARCH22—APRIL4, 2013 | www.ReporterNewspapers.net
DUN