Meet DeKalb Schools' New Assistant Principals

DeKalb Schools has 30 new Assistant Principals. Who is the new Assistant Principal at your school?


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DeKalb Schools’ New Assistant Principals

School Assistant Principal Reassigned Principal
Dunwoody High Karen Williams Yes – Shadow Rock ES Current Employee
Chamblee High Clifton Spears Outside Hire
Kingsley Tyra Harris-Thompson Current Employee
Tucker Middle School Emanuel Lewis Current Employee
Lakeside High Jennifer Mason Outside Hire
Druid Hills Middle Sheveeta Bonner Current Employee
DeKalb Alternative School Marcus Barber Outside Hire
Chapel Hill Middle Charles Barker Outside Hire
Flat Rock Audria Berry Current Employee
Woodridge Jamika Brown Outside Hire
Kelley Lake Letoya Carmichael Current Employee
Warren Technical Timothy Collier Current Employee
DECA Michael Costa Current Employee
Towers Portia Denson Outside Hire
Montclair LaSonya Edwards Current Employee
Miller Grove Middle Joe Floyd Current Employee
Redan Middle Lamita Grissett Current Employee
Carey Reynolds Amy Heutel Current Employee
Wynbrooke Deirdre Hill Current Employee
Southwest DeKalb Gayle McNair Current Employee
Redan Elementary Audra Olukoya Outside Hire
Narvie J. Harris Elementary Tiffany Reeves Outside Hire
Towers Rodericus Rogers Current Employee
DESA Dana Wemann Outside Hire
Stone Mountain Middle Ledra Jemison Yes – Stoneview ES Current Employee
Stephen Middle Ethan Suber Current Employee
Dekalb alternative Rodney Mallory Current Employee
Stone Mountain Middle Ledra Jemison Current Employee
Stephen Middle Ethan Suber Yes – Panola Way ES Current Employee
Dekalb alternative Rodney Mallory Yes – DeKalb Alternative School Current Employee

Update on the employment status of the nine (9) under performing and reassigned principals
Zack Phillips – Early Childhood Coordinator
Ledra Jemison – Assistant Principal at Stone Mountain MS
Karen Williams – Assistant Principal at Dunwoody HS
Ethan Suber – Assistant Principal at Stephen MS
Rodney Mallory – Assistant Principal at DeKalb Alternative
Michael Williamson – Instructional Technology Manager
Terry Segovis – Retired
Sylvia Pilson – Retired
Dominique Drew-Terrell – Teacher Contract


Dr. Joyce Morley, Board of Education Representative, made a number of inquires into the principal replacements. Interim Chief Human Capital Management Officer, Everett Patrick, replies.
Morley: In reference to Mrs. Laura Baez, new principal of Montclair ES: Is it not protocol that an applicant informs the District of his or her relationship to an employee within the District during the application process? Is this question included on the application for employment?
Patrick: Yes, the PATS application does ask if the applicant has any relatives employed by the DeKalb County School District. Ms. Baez answered “yes” to the question and provided the name of her mother (Sandra Nunez, Director of ELL).
Morley: How many of the selected principals and selected assistant principals emanated from the ranks of current DeKalb County School District employees?
Patrick: 11 of the newly hired principals were promoted from within DCSD.
7 of the newly hired principals were promoted from outside of DCSD ( 2 of the 7 were former DCSD employees before leaving for another District)
22 of the newly hired assistant principals were promoted from within DCSD
9 of the newly hired assistant principals were promoted from outside of DCSD
Morley: How many are from the Metropolitan Atlanta area and how many are from out of state?
Patrick: None of the new principals are from out of state.
Morley: Do we pay relocation expenses for principals selected from out of state?
Patrick: No.
Morley: Are there signing bonuses for principals we hire from out of state or from other districts?
Patrick: No.
Morley: Do we pay relocation expenses for directors, executive directors, and others above these positions?
Patrick: No.
Morley: Aside from using signing bonuses to attract the best and brightest teachers, how do you decide who receives a signing bonus?
Patrick: DCSD did not utilize signing bonuses during this last recruitment season.

15 responses to “Meet DeKalb Schools' New Assistant Principals

  1. Bill Florence

    What the *#%&! Why is a principal who can’t perform retained in the system and shuffled off (i.e., dumped on, one of the county’s best performing schools AT A TIME when there is a principal change, effectively burdening the new principal from assembling a team that supports his or her vision? DCSS strikes again!

  2. Stan, if I am reading your chart correctly…the new AP at Dekalb Alternative is the school’s old principal.

  3. A couple weeks ago DSA communicated to their parents that their new AP was coming from Tucker.
    That move isn’t listed.

  4. Just like Ralph Simpson, Jamie Wilson, etc…those who have performance issues and get demoted, eventually rise again. Audria Berry has been named an AP at Flat Rock.
    Recall the 2012 indictment against Crawford Lewis:
    “The new indictment also includes new evidence of e-mails concerning Hawks basketball tickets, letters about Falcons football tickets, and an invoice and check to cover Pope’s legal fees.
    It also names Audria Berry as the female employee with whom Lewis allegedly had an affair. It said Lewis used his position to “initiate and facilitate” an affair with Berry, who was then executive director of school improvement under teaching and learning department. Berry is now a second-grade teacher at Flat Rock Elementary in Lithonia.
    “Specifically, he paid for a room using his P-Card at the Ritz Carlton in Greensboro, Ga., on March 12, 2008, which he used exclusively for personal use with a female subordinate accompanying him,” the indictment said.
    DeKalb has not changed under Dr. Green, his administration and this BOE.

  5. Retired teacher sick of corruption

    No, it is the same old ways being repeated! What can be done to stop this madness? They are all a bunch of crooks running the system. STUDENTS, TEACHERS, BUILDING PREPAREDNESS never crosses their mind.

  6. Speaking of building preparedness….Stan… Will all of the renovated schools be ready to receive students on August 7, 2017? We have been told that Stoneview ES is not close to being ready…There are unhealthy fumes in the building…What about the other schools that are being renovated? Stoneview has 4 dilapidated trailers on it’s school grounds…They were overcrowded…Unsafe..Hot….But yet…Teachers had to teach in those conditions….Were the trailers renovated? They are not safe…The trailers are detached from other school buildings and placed under trees…The limbs are waiting to fall on top of the trailers…This is not right…Dr. Weaver is the Region Supt….Vickie Johnson is the BOE rep…What have they done to help this school??? Wake Up People…Stan…Follow up to see if the roaches in the lunchroom have been eradicated…Pass this on to Vickie Johnson…We will be waiting on a response… Can’t get any answers from school or district office.

  7. Eric,
    The Capital Improvement Program – Monthly Status Report (MSR) has the status, schedule and audits for all e-splost projects.
    This is the E-SPLOST Adivsory/Oversight Committee. You can email them directly or use this generic email address: (esplostadvisorycommittee@gmail.com)

  8. Stan,
    Dr. Morley asked about signing bonuses for principals and above and HR said that bonuses have not been offered this year.
    Last year, weren’t bonuses offered to STEM, foreign language, and special education teachers? I believe that the dollar amount was higher in Regions 4 and 5 than for Region 1. You had a nifty chart but I can’t find it.
    Did the District offer these bonuses again? Does HR have any data to show whether this approach is effective or not?
    Thanks.

  9. Stan Jester

    Good Question. I thought they would, but I haven’t heard anything about the signing bonuses for the “hard to fill content areas by region.” You can find the chart about those bonuses last year in the DeKalb Schools Proposed 2016-2017 Budget article I wrote. I’ll inquire about this year.

  10. Thanks, Stan.
    Wow, $870,000 was budgeted for signing bonuses last year, with more than 1/3 of this amount budgeted for Region 5 schools. Seems like the District should report
    – how many folks received signing bonuses
    – how many folks who got signing bonuses finished out the school year
    – what sort of TKES score the folks who got signing bonuses received
    – whether the folks who got signing bonuses in 2016-17 are still employed by DCSD for 2017-18

  11. Dr. Sandra Nunez, formerly a Director of English Learners’ Program and DeKalb International Welcome Center at DeKalb County School District was named Deputy Superintendent – Student Services & Federal Programs
    She will really be missed. She has worked hard to build a strong program for international students.

  12. I am sorry. I left out that Dr. Nunez was going to Clayton County.

  13. DSW2Contributor

    Thank you Joy, for sharing the news of Dr. Nunez’s departure. I’m glad for her, but sadden for Dekalb – her leaving is a major loss for Dekalb Schools!

  14. DSW2Contributor

    “The Champion” newspaper published an article that described the backgrounds of the 17 new Principals:
    http://thechampionnewspaper.com/news/local/dekalb-county-school-district-welcomes-17-new-principals/
    Several of these newly-hired Principals appear to be terribly inexperienced. If you google their names and the places where they used to work, you’ll see that they were not in their past jobs for very long. That’s never a good sign.

  15. You know what I am sick of hearing about about Dr. Berry and Lewis private life. I worked in DeKalb for 25 years. Dr. Berry was one of the most capable and professional central office employee I met. If she made poor decisions about her personal life let it rest. She has paid for it. There are men who have done worst but you don’t drag their names in the mud. Enough is enough. I saw her recently with her family and had only good thin.gs to say to her.