Calendar and Current Events

Lakeside Better Not Bigger

Educate DeKalb Education

Upcoming Calendar Events

LHS E-SPLOST and “GO” Bond Public Meeting / Community Input Session
7pm, Tuesday, September 10, 2019, at Lakeside High School
The DCSD will explain the $100M overrun and seek your input on which projects should be expanded / deleted / added, as well as your viewpoint on the GO Bond options. Although DCSD will tightly control the information and choices they offer, this is an important opportunity to learn about and speak out on the additional $100M to $265M in tax dollars now being requested!

There were 185 attendees at the Chamblee meeting last week …Let your voices be heard too!

Dan Drake COO of @DeKalbSchools is responsible for 2200 delinquent work orders and dilapidated/moldy school conditions. "As a parent, I would be happy to send my students to any of these DeKalb County Schools."

https://www.11alive.com/article/news/education/dekalb-school-district-details-plans-to-handle-2200-open-work-orders/85-1f4f3c4b-9b9e-4141-b3ab-88827d1cef36

ONE OUT OF EVERY FIVE TEACHERS LEFT @DeKalbSchools (900 total!) this past school year and cite lack of administrative support and working conditions. DCSD's plan to further overcrowd schools is not helping.

https://www.ajc.com/news/local-education/despite-pay-hikes-school-districts-still-hemorrhaging-teachers/wj3I0VLffX9JJCDiBZtMSI/

DeKalb County School District Deliberately Hides Expansion Discussions From Public

The DeKalb County School District was specifically called out by the Assistant Georgia State Attorney General for deliberately scheduling small meetings with School Board Members in an effort to avoid a quorum in order to circumvent making the SPLOST discussions subject to the Open Meetings rule. Dan Drake the acting DCSD COO specifically implemented this strategy as a way of withholding information from the taxpayers and parents that are funding the SPLOST. There is more on Stan Jester's page and the WSB video below.

https://www.wsbtv.com/video?videoId=928854394&videoVersion=1.0

Despite the admonition from the Georgia Assistant Attorney General that "that the board will in the future carry out not only the letter of the law but adhere to the spirit of the law as well", the DCSD has planned to continue these meetings in a way to obscure the decision-making process.

DeKalb County School District Procurement Assessment Document is Troubling

Despite initially refusing open records requests by the AJC and WSB, the document was made public. DeKalb County School Board member Stan Jester stated the independent assessment "indicates that ethics and integrity are pretty much nonexistent in the school district." The AJC's Marlon Walker and WSB's Richard Belcher stories are linked below. In discussing the practice of DCSD employees accepting meals and travel from vendors, the independent fraud examiner John Jupin says "Oh God, those are red flags of fraud... if you see that, then there's fraud, somewhere."

https://www.ajc.com/news/local-education/about-face-dekalb-schools-releases-purchasing-assessment/VHlxvdcTXYeWzZVGIzDO8J/

School Board Member Allyson Gevertz has a different interpretation