The DeKalb School Board is scheduled to have six public input workshops with the one at Chamblee HS taking place on Thursday January 20th at 6:30 pm and then the Interim Superintendent's proposal will be presented to the Board on February 7th. As a local elected official, I have voiced my opinion, attended several meetings, received numerous e-mails and read many, many comments on the blogs. I am fearful this divisive issue will tear our community apart and I would like to share the opinion of the Dunwoody School Daze blog that "we are a community....we are all in this together...do not let this redistricting effort tear us apart".
That being said, I know that now is the time to write the DeKalb School Board and express your opinion to affect change, therefore I have created the link below the photo and again down below to make voicing your opinion a little bit easier.
Here are the email addresses that I used:
Mr. Thomas Bowen, Chair - thomas_bowen@fc.dekalb.k12.ga.us
Mr. Paul Womack, Vice Chair - H_Paul_Womack@fc.dekalb.k12.ga.us
Ms. Sarah Copelin-Wood, Board Member - sarah_copelin-wood@fc.dekalb.k12.ga.us
Mr. Jay Cunningham, Board Member - jay_cunningham@fc.dekalb.k12.ga.us
Ms. Donna Edler, Board Member - donna_edler@fc.dekalb.k12.ga.us
Ms. Nancy Jester, Board Member - nancy_jester@fc.dekalb.k12.ga.us
Mr. Don McChesney, Board Member - don_mcchesney@fc.dekalb.k12.ga.us
Dr. Pam Speaks, Board Member - pam_speaks@fc.dekalb.k12.ga.us
Dr. Eugene Walker, Board Member - eugene_p_walker@fc.dekalb.k12.ga.us
Ms. Ramona Tyson, Interim Superintendent - Ramona_Tyson@fc.dekalb.k12.ga.us
Please Click Here to email all Board Members and Ms. Tyson.
John,
ReplyDeleteReading both DeKalb County School Watch and Dunwoody School Daze I get the sense that there is a very strong NIMBY element in Dunwoody. We in Dunwoody need to strike a balance between "fighting for our community" and doing what we can to improve the state of our schools. We also shouldn't forget that the Hightower ES kids are part of our school community and also the Kittredge/Chamblee children. Dunwoody, Chamblee and Doraville have a stake in this together. The louder Dunwoody screams, the worse we look to the rest of the DeKalb school community. Balance, people. What will best improve our schools? Start from there. It's not all about your property values anymore. We're not getting what our property taxes are paying for.
An intelligent and good looking group!
ReplyDeleteI wish them all the luck in the world with the difficult tasks and polemical issues that they will have to face.
Exactly how do you think we can come together as a community when one side wants to work together and the other wants to hold its ground no matter what the consequences.
ReplyDeleteNo one wanted to work together three years ago either. Do
ReplyDeleteYou know karma?
I think I discovered the problem with our skoolz. The blog which covers DCS happenings and events censors the voices of it's citizens.
ReplyDeleteBTY, it's Days, not Daze - unless they are talking about adding lithium and ritalin into the fountains along with the flouride.
BTW, dunwoodydad, it's "BTW" not "BTY", that is unless you were searching for "booty".
ReplyDeleteAnd in your sentence,
"The blog which covers DCS happenings and events censors the voices of it's citizens."
you should have spelled "it's" as "its". "It's" is a contraction, and "its" indicates possession as in possession of class and civility.
The turnout was impressive for the third public input workshop for redistricting and consolidation of DeKalb County Schools. The participants filled the seats around the tables and filled the bleachers in the gymnasium as well as filled the cafeteria. Dunwoody was well represented including some conflicting views.
ReplyDeleteEach table was asked to first list the positives in the plans, then name the negatives and finally list alternatives. The alternatives were then proposed to the entire audience.
Some organized groups were represented in the crowds. There influence could be witnessed by statement T-Shirts saying things like "Community first," and people carrying e-mail with crib notes. You could also hear their influence in some of the proposals. A few tables proposed changes using verbatim language, probably drawn from the crib sheets.
Some key themes included:
* Students and performance first, community boundaries also matter.
* Many tables said the process was moving too fast and should not be completed until the 2020 Vision was completed
* Many tables said the cost-benefit analysis should be completed before the process is complete
* K-5 is good and should be one of the top priorities for Dunwoody schools - In other words support the current proposals
* Placing all of the children from multi-unit homes in DES appears to create a situation of inequality and goes directly against the stated goals of the DCSS - In other words, change the proposals.
* Also against the stated goals of DCSS is placing 1,200 students in DES. DCSS wanted to hold all elementary to 900 - In other words, change the proposals.
* Blue Ribbon schools (eg. Livsey Elementary School) should be emulated, not shut down
The greatest applause and cheers from the crowd came after some speakers took shots at the school board for incompetency.
One of the most interesting revelations of the meeting were claims that redistricting of DES would result in the population being 60% children from multi-family dwellings, and that could make DES eligible for Title 1 money from the feds. Conspiracy theory or not, speculation in the crowd was that this was a strategy to get the funding and completely intentional.