Dunwoody High Cross Country Team Pine Straw Sale

The Dunwoody High School Cross Country Team is now taking orders for Pine Straw.  We have purchased our Pine Straw through the Cross Country Team for several years now.  These are full bales and high quality.  The best part is that the Pine Straw is delivered to our home and we do not even have to be home for delivery.

For further information and an order form, click here.

DeKalb County School Board Member, Mr. Jim Redovian discusses missing Dunwoody eduKalb forum and his upcoming priorities.

Jim Redovian

Please accept my apology for not being at the eduKalb candidate forum on Tuesday night the 28th. I had a previous business commitment that was out of town. My commitment to and involvement in the DeKalb County Schools spans many years and I have never seen such a critical time for our school system. The most pressing need, or course, is to hire the best superintendent that we can. I am committed to hiring an outsider who has experience leading a large organization, preferably one that he/she has turned around. I believe that it is essential that we find the absolute best person for the job and I am willing to fight for this. I believe this is the only acceptable path for our system to take.

The budget situation continues to be challenging. We did not raise taxes this year and we also did not cut the central office and other overhead expenses enough. When I began serving on the board, four years ago, 60 percent of the school system revenues came from the state. Last year, only 40 percent of our revenues came from the state.

Instructionally, we are not where we need to be. I believe that our new superintendent must be free to bring in the best people that can lead the system instructionally. I often hear from teachers about their concerns and I believe that the new leadership must be willing to listen to teachers as well. They are in the classrooms and their insights are both invaluable and important.

We have huge facility challenges that must be addressed. We have an aging infrastructure that deteriorates more and more each year. Not only do we need to renovate or rebuild existing schools, but we absolutely must institute a plan that will assure that our schools are better maintained. I intend to assure that the needs of our areas are not overlooked.

It is not always easy being a school board member. As you all are probably aware, school board members make and review policies but the superintendent is responsible for running the system day to day. As a school board member, I am also expected to represent the entire system; that means that I make appearances in schools and meetings county-wide, as well as district one.

Again, I was sorry to miss all of you at the eduKalb forum. I look forward to seeing each of you at future forums and school related events. Please feel free to email me your questions at: jimredovian@yahoo.com

Jim Redovian

Video of DeKalb School Board Candidates - Bobbi Gillis and Nancy Jester

EduKalb Candidate Forum in Dunwoody for District 1

I missed the eduKalb Candidate Forum at Dunwoody City Hall on September 28th but found this 15 minute edited down video of the responses between Ms. Bobbi Gillis and Ms. Nancy Jester that I thought was worth sharing. Our current school board member, Mr. Jim Redovian missed the event but I saw that he and Ms. Jester will be attending the Ashford Alliance event on Saturday. Jim also published an explanation in today's Crier (love the new look & size, kudos Dick.) but it hasn't been published on line yet.

Crier article snipit by Brent Adams.

It wasn’t who showed up to the eduKalb Forum debate at Dunwoody City Hall that was the news, it was who did not come: incumbent DeKalb Schools Board Member Jim Redovian of District 1, who represents Dunwoody.

Redovian said he had a last-second scheduling conflict. Out of five contested DeKalb Schools races, only one incumbent showed to the debate: Zepora Roberts, of District 7 in south DeKalb.

Steen Miles, a former area television journalist and Georgia state senator also known as “Newslady,” moderated the debates to a sparse crowd.

Nancy Jester, of unincorporated DeKalb, and Bobbe Gillis, of Dunwoody, debated their ideas for District 1. Gillis opened up by saying she sees good public education as a necessity to quality-of-life in DeKalb County; and Jester, whose aggressive campaign has included online marketing, “coffee talks,” and many visual aids, said despite the sour outlook for DeKalb Schools, she remains and must remain optimistic for the future.

However, Jester pulled out a sign that showed in 2004, DeKalb Schools had a 14 percent failing rate for Annual Yearly Progress regarding the federally mandated No Child Left Behind measures. This past year, that rose to 44 percent.

“This is unacceptable and what I strive to change,” she said. “Complete reform is necessary in DeKalb Schools.”

When asked about what budgetary changes the candidates would make, Jester said she’d require a “zero-based budget, requiring all programs to justify themselves and why they need funding” in order to give more control to the schools themselves. Gillis called for a more “corporate-style” bureaucracy, which she said would save taxpayers money. Gillis also said a desk-by-desk complete audit of the schools was necessary in order to cut out waste and save money, which she said would lead to paying teachers and staff appropriately and eliminate furloughs.

Both candidates agreed that the primary roles of a school board member would be to advise the superintendent and other staff as well as develop peaceful consensus with the rest of the school board. But both also said they would demand results and command fiduciary oversight on the district, as well as revitalize priorities.

In one of the hot-button area issues, a resident asked the candidates what they would recommend doing about Dunwoody Elementary School, a 4th- and 5th-grade school on Womack Road.

Originally, the school was built to relieve overcrowding at Vanderlyn, Chesnut Charter and Austin elementary schools by re-drawing attendance lines. All three schools have significant overcrowding with a number of trailers outside the schools — including a staggering 24 trailers at one time at Vanderlyn. However, a number of Vanderlyn-area residents fiercely protested the idea, so Dunwoody Elementary was built, comprising 4th-graders and 5th-graders from Vanderlyn, Chesnut and Austin. However, the three elementary schools are still overcrowded, and Dunwoody Elementary is underpopulated.

“I would maintain the 5th-grade class there, but move it to a traditional elementary school and enroll Kindergarten through five,” Gillis said.

Jester agreed. “There needs to be common-sense enrollment in DeKalb County,” she said. “Better allocation means proper funding and it’s better for the kids, too; which is the ultimate goal.”

Recap of Sunday's Dunwoody Homeowners Association Meeting.

Future Georgetown Kroger?

Sunday nights Dunwoody Homeowners Association meeting was one of the shortest on record but interesting none the less.  It appears that the Georgetown Kroger (where I shop regularly) is about to get a complete face lift both inside and out as well as a nice size expansion.  I saw this information on Bob Fiscella's blog a week ago and tonight I saw the site drawing whereby the new Kroger would expand from 48,000 sq ft to 70,000 sq ft into where the current Tuesday Morning store is located. 

I heard about the plans for the DHA Candidate Forum on October 26th and the Light Up Dunwoody celebration on November 21st.

Another of the reasons I actually enjoy attending the DHA meeting is because at one time or another almost every candidate running for office stops by to do his or her three minute stump speech.  At the end of the DHA meetings, non-board members (like me) get kicked out for internal board discussion, so I am able to talk and ask questions of the candidates in the hallway. 

Tonight we had Mr. Eric Christ who is running against Fran Millar in the District 40 State Senate seat and has been a regular attendee to the DHA meetings in the last six months.  Eric's family lives in the Peachtree Corners part of the district but has a number of Dunwoody connections including being a parishioner at All Saints Catholic Church.

Dunwoody North resident and candidate for the DeKalb Superior Court Judge, Mr. Michael Rothenberg (who is no stranger to this blog) was there as he has attended in the past.  Michael is a neighbor with a daughter who attends the same DeKalb County school as one of my boys, so we had a nice discussion and it was great to see him.  His county wide race is a difficult one and Michael would like Dunwoody residents to get to know him and what he stands for before the November election.

Finally a candidate that I have not met before but impressed me immensely this evening was Mr. Robert James, the DeKalb County Solicitor General who stepped down from that position to run in a nonpartisan special election for the DeKalb County District Attorney position vacated by Gwen Keys-Fleming.  Robert and I discussed the need for the DeKalb District Attorney to take positive action in DeKalb without basing actions on being politically correct or being unduly influenced by those in authority around him.  I listened to him answer other questions in the hall and liked what I heard.  Since you may not have read about this Special Election for District Attorney between Robert James & Constance Pinson Heard, I thought I would bring it to your attention as it will be on the Nov 2nd ballot.  I couldn't find a campaign website on Ms. Heard but here is a newspaper article describing both candidates.  If Ms. Heard would like me to post a link to her website, I would be happy to do so.

Mr. Robert James
Candidate for DeKalb DA

Today is the last day to register to vote, if there anyone in your family that needs to do so, please do.

Peachtree Charter Middle School race to impact Dunwoody North streets on Saturday about 8 am

PCMS CV CLASSIC

5K and 1 mile Fun Run

Oct. 2, 2010

5K begins at 8:00 1 mile Fun Run begins at 8:45

All ages are encouraged to participate and, afterwards, stick around for more fun at our Fall Festival!
Location: Both courses will start and end on the Peachtree Charter Middle School track
4664 N. Peachtree Rd.)

You may view the 5K and 1 mile course at the following websites:
http://www.mapmyrun.com/run/united-states/ga/dunwoody/990128128577881242
http://www.mapmyrun.com/run/united-states/ga/-dunwoody/460128015985485972

Dunwoody update from Councilman Robert Wittenstein

Dear Dunwoody Friends and Neighbors,

There is a lot going on in Dunwoody, all of it good.

We have begun work on master redevelopment plans for Georgetown and Dunwoody Village.   Both of these are aging 1970’s strip shopping centers and will be ripe for redevelopment in a few years once the economy recovers.  Keeping in mind that we don’t own the property in these commercial centers, this process allows us to develop a community vision outlining what we would like to see.  We can then present this to the property owners and say, “if you build this, we will streamline approval.”  It is an exciting process and it challenges us to think creatively about what we would like Dunwoody to be like in ten or twenty years. You can find out more, and provide input online, at these two links: Dunwoody Village and Georgetown.

We are deep in the budget process for 2011. We are not planning a tax increase for either homeowners or businesses. This will be the first year in which we have all of our revenue sources in place and we will have completed most of the expense associated with our city’s start-up. These numbers could change because we are still discussing the budget but it looks like we will invest $1.8 million in repaving (up from $750,000 this year), $350,000 in constructing new sidewalks (up from $170,000 this year) and an additional $200,000 in engineering studies to improve problem intersections (actual construction to be budgeted in 2012).

The biggest item for discussion is whether or not to expand the police department by ten percent with the creation of a new four-person unit focused just on traffic enforcement. This plan would ratchet-up the number officers enforcing our traffic laws and issuing citations  It would also free up other officers to focus on crime and crime prevention.  

Mayor Ken Wright gave a speech earlier this month at the Dunwoody Chamber of Commerce annual dinner and challenged us all to start a dialog on parks. We are horribly underserved when it comes to greenspace. We have Brook Run, which remains largely undeveloped, and the Dunwoody Nature Center/Dunwoody Park ball fields—and that is about it.  Our annual budget can provide operational expenses and very modest improvements to our existing parks. However, if we want to create new parks, develop Brook Run, create walking and biking trails and greenways it will require a commitment from Dunwoody residents and commercial property owners. That commitment would be in the form of a parks bond issue.

There are quite a few pieces of property available today at bargain prices because of the economy. We may have an opportunity to transform Dunwoody into a place rich in parks and trails. We can also develop and enhance Brook Run, the Dunwoody Nature Center, the Donaldson-Bannister House and the North DeKalb Cultural Arts Center.

No one is talking about putting a bond referendum on the ballot in 2011, but we may want to engage in a discussion and perhaps move towards a voter referendum sometime in 2012 or 2013. Long before that, we will have public forums and develop ways for residents to provide their thoughts. We have started the process of putting together a long-term parks master plan which will help us see where we are and will allow us to look at what we may (or may not) want to implement.  This is not something that will be decided by me, the mayor, or the city council; this would be something decided by the voters of Dunwoody.

Regards,

Robert