Dr. Leo Brown, Chief Human Capital Management Officer, reassigned
Stan Jester
DeKalb County
Board Of Education
Leo Brown – 
Dr. Leo Brown (resume) was the Assistant Director of Human Resources for Emory University from 2005 – 2011. He was also the Chief Human Capital Officer for Kansas City Public Schools from 2011 – 2012. Dr. Brown joined DeKalb School as Chief Human Capital Officer in January 2016 as part of Phase I of the School District’s Reorg.
Since December, Dr. Brown has been out for personal reasons.
In December 2015 the Board of Education approved “HYA” (Hazard, Young, Attea Executives Search Division) to assist the District in its search to fill positions including but not limited to those within the Superintendent’s proposed reorganization in a total amount not to exceed $150,000. HYA spent over $140,000 filling positions including:
- Chief Legal Officer
- Director of Charter Schools, School Governance, and Flexibility
- Chief Human Capital Officer
- Executive Director of Student Advancement
- Chief Communications and Community Relations Officer
- Chief Academic and Accountability Officer
- Executive Director of Special Education
- Lakeside High School Principal
Dr. Stephen Green
CEO & Superintendent, DeKalb County School District
Mr. Everett Patrick, formerly the Director of Employment Services – Certification and Recruitment, has assumed the role of Interim Chief Human Capital Management Officer. He will serve in this capacity until a permanent replacement is hired.
A national search for a Chief Human Capital Management Officer will begin immediately. A permanent hire for Board of Education consideration is expected by July 2017, prior to the start of the 2018 school year in August.
“I want to thank the DeKalb County School District for the support I’ve received as I have faced some recent health challenges,” said Dr. Leo Brown. “I am committed to this organization; and, in my new role I will continue to support the vision and mission of the District.”
“Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice. Moderation in pursuit of justice is no virtue.”
Very concerned that the bus drivers, custodial staff, and cafeteria staff are being disregarded. I would like for you all to look at this as a team. The students get their first(bus drivers ), second(custodial staff)and third (cafeteria staff) daily contact with staff members that are not teachers, but when it comes to retention and bonuses the teachers are seemingly more important to keep than the others. Teachers can teach but Who learns late for school , to a building that is in poor shape and hungry. We are all important and should be treated that way. Thanks
Special education is in such need of WELL qualified special ed. teachers and I do not mean these brought in by that fake corp located in the vacant house. I mean teachers graduating from American universities. These coming in from India are here a couple weeks and realise they are lost. Special education teachers must be trained how to protect the self from physical abuse, etc. not simply subject matter. The violence in these classrooms are hard to imagine. Also DEKALB needs to review objectives for these classes. You can’t mainstream some of the special ed. students into a normal class as music perhaps. It is usually so disruptive the class learning is missing. And I am aware special ed teachers are extremely hard to hire, shortage. Maybe higher pay would solve this problem. Administration must recognise the percentage of today’s students in special d gets higher and higher each year. We must address this issue.
@Kim – The funding sources are/were there. The superintendent chose to create new positions with higher pay. That is what I am upset about. He chose Central Office staff that have ZERO contact with students and families daily and give them huge raises instead of hiring 5 – 10 interpreters that would have an immediate impact on our schools, staff, students and families. Now, we have to wait another school year. To me, this one is a no-brainer that our superintendent failed our students on.
Thank you for keeping me posted.
Facilities, athletics and DOLA are where DCSD sends you if you make a boo boo or cross the wrong person’s path. Mr. Brown joins Tekshia Ward-Smith, Steve Donahue, the Lakeside principal, Kathy Howe, Bob Moseley, Cynthia Brictson, and countless others that were “demoted” for a variety of reasons. It will be interesting to see if DCSD’s reputation under Dr. Green has improved enough to find a highly qualified Human Capitol Management Officer rather than a promoted principal.
Hello Mr. Jester,
Thank you for taking the time to provide information. I am sure at times it cannot be easy.
I am just wondering. Was Dr.Brown one of the individual’s that we paid the search firm to find?
If he was, would the search firm be responsible for refunding some of its fee?
If we use the a search firm, do they stand behind the recommendations that they make?
On the other hand, if we are not going to use the recommendations of the search, why are we paying them?
Shouldn’t a trained HCM Department be able to do searches for the jobs that need to be filled?
Also, with so much facing Region I with schools being built and attendance lines in question, is there still a search on for a permanent person for Region Superintendent for Region I?
Please understand that I am in no way complaining about the interim person. To me it seems hard for the region and the person to remain in this uncertain position.
I know at one point a comment was made that it” may be difficult to find a qualified person.” Each one of our permanent Region Superintendent’s were former principals. So a former principal not trained in HCM can be the head of a HR department, but a principal does not have the skills to be in charge of Region I?
Let’s see a school system can find a Marketing Director and create new positions related to public relations, but in almost 2 years, we cannot find someone in the field of education.
And someone one who is an HCM Head can now work effectively at the Service Center. Sorry I mean the
Facilities and Operations Department.
How about people who may have actually applied for that job?
These are the kinds of decisions that make it difficult for people working in the school district to believe that things have really changed and people are promoted based on ability and not relationships.
Mr. Jester
I just read in the AJC that due to health concerns Dr. Brown would be taking a new job in the DeKalb School District. Is this a courtesy that is offered to any staff member ? The opportunity to stay employed with DeKalb but to change jobs. I think that this is a very kind thing to do for someone. The system does not want to lose good staff members. Dr. Brown has been with DeKalb for about a year. Would any employee be given this same option?
How is this decided? If this hasn’t come up, I am sure that it will.
@ Joy – “BA” hit the nail on the head with the following statement. “Facilities, athletics, and DOLA are where DCSD sends you if you make a boo-boo or cross the wrong person’s path. Mr. Brown joins Tekshia Ward-Smith, Steve Donahue, the Lakeside principal, Kathy Howe, Bob Moseley, Cynthia Brictson, and countless others that were “demoted” for a variety of reasons. It will be interesting to see if DCSD’s reputation under Dr. Green has improved enough to find a highly qualified Human Capital Management Officer rather than a promoted principal.?”
It has always been SOP for DCSD to put an employee on a “family emergency” so that they could find somewhere to hide the employee until their contract runs out. I am betting that Mr. Brown never steps foot back onto DCSD property and will collect his full salary until his contract is up.
By the way, the online DCSD Staff Directory still lists Jason Clyne as Principal of Lakeside High School. An AJC article from March 8, 2016 – almost a year ago!!! – says that Mr. Clyne has resigned as Lakeside Principal. He had been removed as Lakeside Principal in January 2016!!
Come on, guys. Can’t our highly paid Communications team or Human Capital team keep this stuff straight?
OK. I just posted the latest on Dr. Leo Brown and moved some of the related comments to this post. –Stan
@ Stan. I checked the DCSD website last night and this morning. Leo Brown is absent from the staff directory. If he is still an employee shouldn’t he be listed on the staff directory?
Thank you for being so transparent and taking the time to answer all parents in DCSD’s questions and concerns.
Just another instance of incompetency in DEKALB County School System! Does anyone anyone think the county will ever operate as a successful system with an administration that has the poor students and mistreated teachers come first when monies are spent or budgets planned.
GREENE is same old same old looking after the Palace and friends and family. Students’ education, teachers’ salaries are The last if ever considered.
When I began teaching 100 yrs ago there were positions in the central office and these people would pop in your classroom at unscheduled times to observe your teaching. You were evaluated with a sit down with them later. They came many times especially first year teachers.
I know there are observations now but usually the teacher know about the time, week-wise, etc. and it is the asst. principal, etc. doing the observing and evaluations. There is a great need for stricter knowledge of teacher performances in the classrooms. This MIGHT raise test scores!
The people in administrative positions need to be more aware and in touch with teacher performances.
Really! Dr. Greene needs to stop defending statements and focus on curriculum and instruction; teacher retention and professional development; improved school safety; and reading on grade level by 3rd grade. DCSD is a prison pipeline for several schools. There is no room to pay high salaries to family and friends from Kansas and North Carolina. Several positions filled with incompetent, learn as we go people. Accreditation is at stake. Does Dr. Greene care? We are not certain as citizens of DeKalb.
@ anonymous: Morcease Beasley and Kathy Howe are also still in the DCSD online directory. They left June 30, 2016. Clearly there is a breakdown in communications.
Mr. Jester
I copied the link to an article that I saw on Ajc.com. It states that Dr. Brown will retain his old salary in his new job. The reason given is that he is still under contract. So are contracts given to staff members that are not certified? I know that para educators and custodians do not have contracts.
Or are contracts only given to non certified staff who are at a certain level?
http://www.ajc.com/news/local-education/dekalb-schools-chief-new-job-pays-64k-but-still-make-175k/oogjpDjXknHuN5fUeHvXbI/
I am almost afraid to ask? BUT, is there some kind of process or procedure that covers all staff members.
If a teacher was unable to return to his or her teaching job, would a teacher be allowed to take another job in the school system and retain his or her salary?
I wish Dr. Brown only the best. I hope that teachers would be treated with the same kindness.
It is interesting that the previous HR director, whom Dr. Brown replaced, kept her $175K salary + benefits when she was reassigned to the Athletics department. But I think Stan posted recently that her salary was dropped to $120K or so now.
Joy raises interesting questions about the nature of the contract. It sounds like these folks have a very strong contract, guaranteeing that their salary will not be reduced for at least one year even if they are demoted.
http://www.wataugademocrat.com/news/apply-to-be-whs-principal/article_cd1c731b-78ee-5e4a-9cc7-1850d9904735.html Can you believe 22 people applied for this principal’s position at an NC school. When is the last time 22 people applied for a principalship in DCSD? Reputation speaks for itself! No one had to hire an outside firm to find this principals replacement.
Now, look at DCSD. How much did we pay last year to our outside source to find qualified people to come and work for DCSD? Somewhere around $100 – 140K.
Now let’s look what we got….
1) Leo Brown (from KCMO) – No longer with the system per the DCSD staff directory.
2)Manomay Malathip (from KCMO)
3) Eileen Houston-Stewart (from KCMO) –
“I deserve my salary” per WSBTV report.
4) Oliver Lewis (already in DCSD)
5) Jennifer Hackemeyer (No connection to KCMO or DCSD)
The LHS and CMS Principal. I know the CMS principal use to be a teacher in DCSD before he left for Rockdale County and came back.
So basically, we got 2 people that had no connections to Dr. Green or DCSD.
How many interpreters could we have gotten for our students and our parents who desperately need them daily? No, we waste money on Central Office.
Lynn,
The LHS principal taught in Dekalb County Schools from 2007 until 2010, so he’s not new to the district either.
When they were hired to return to DeKalb, the Lakeside Principal and the Columbia principal were serving as AP’s in their systems. I am sure that they are both great people. If we keep going outside of the school system to hire people, I feel it does not give a lot of hope to the people in the school system. I know there must be hundreds of AP’s in DeKalb. It is hard to understand that not a single one was qualifed for either of those jobs. Again this is not to criticize either of the people chosen. This school year two really strong people at my school left to accept leadership jobs in other school systems in Georgia. We just lost another person last week to a job outside of the school system. . At the end of the school year a teacher who was highly qualified in special education, left for a leadership job in another county. Each of these people had tried to be promoted in DeKalb
Joy, smart APs in Dekalb do not actually want to be Principals — instead, they hope to become “Coordinators” in the Palace. Coordinators take home about the same money as Principals, but they don’t have to manage staff, deal with parents and children. They also get to work a 9-5, 5 days a week schedule. Principals are working at least 6 days a week, and probably putting in 10+ hours each day.
Joy,
I think you’re talking about a different issue. Because so many unqualified or incompetent people in Dekalb are promoted to positions they have no business holding, we forget about the competent ones. Unfortunately, those people are often ignored because they’d highlight the inadequacies of the other ones, at least that’s been my observation in the school house and at the central office for years.