School starts on Aug 6, 2018. It is vital that we have qualified leadership at every school.
15 – Open Principal Vacancies
5 – Open Assistant Principal Vacancies
11 – New Principals
VACANT PRINCIPAL REPORT
| Reg. | Name | Current Position | Current School | New Position | New School | Reason For Vacancy | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | VACANT | Principal | Evansdale ES | Stephanie Chattman (Resigned) | ||
| 2 | 2 | VACANT | Principal | Henderson Mill ES | Mitch Green (Resigned) | ||
| 3 | 2 | VACANT | Principal | Midvale ES | Debra Satterfield (Resigned) | ||
| 4 | 3 | VACANT | Principal | Stone Mountain ES | Corey Davidson (Reassigned) | ||
| 5 | 3 | VACANT | Principal | Shadowrock ES | Viva Jones (Reassigned) | ||
| 6 | 3 | VACANT | Principal | hambrick ES | Audrey Brooks (Retiring) | ||
| 7 | 4 | VACANT | Principal | Towers HS | Vincent Denson (Reassigned) | ||
| 8 | 2 | VACANT | Principal | Laurel Ridge ES | Beth Kyle (Promoted to Coordinator – Region 1) | ||
| 9 | 2 | VACANT | Principal | Brockett ES | Vanessa Vines-Truitt (Promoted to Coordinator – Region 2) | ||
| 10 | 2 | VACANT | Principal | Pleasandale ES | Terri Brown (Promoted to Coordinator – Region 3) | ||
| 11 | 3 | VACANT | Principal | Indian Creek ES | Antoinette Campbell (Promoted to Coordinator – Region 4) | ||
| 12 | 4 | VACANT | Principal | Champel Hill MS | Lisa McGhee (Promoted to Coordinator – Region 5) | ||
| 13 | 5 | VACANT | Principal | Cedar Grove MS | Candace Alexander (Promoted to Coordinator – Region 6) | ||
| 14 | 4 | VACANT | Principal | Narvie J Harris ES | Sean Tartt (Promoted – Regional Superintendent) | ||
| 15 | 4 | VACANT | Principal | Miller Grove HS | Matthew Priester (Resigning) |
VACANT ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL REPORT
| Reg | Name | Current Position | Current School | New Position | New School | Reason For Vacancy | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | VACANT | Assist Principal | Hambrick ES | Tracey Allen (Resigned) | ||
| 2 | 3 | VACANT | Assist Principal | Indian Creek ES | Sean Deas (Promoted to Principal at Dunarie) | ||
| 3 | 3 | VACANT | Assist Principal | Rockbridge ES | Ayshia Grandison (Promoted to Prinicpal at Joll ES) | ||
| 4 | 5 | VACANT | Assist Principal | Bethune MS | Eric Kemp (Promoted to Principal at Bethune MS) | ||
| 5 | 3 | VACANT | Assist Principal | Dunaire ES | Cathy Goolsby (Promoted to Principal at Redan ES) |
NEW PRINCIPAL HIRE REPORT
| Reg | Name | Current Position | Current School | New Position | New School | Reason For Vacancy | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Yul Roce Toombs | Interim Principal | ISC | Principal | ISC | Cheryl Rhodes (Retiring) |
| 2 | 4 | Tracy Harrell | Assist Principal | Atlanta Public Schools | Principal | Lithonia MS | Debra Phillips (Retiring) |
| 3 | 3 | Sean Deas | Assist Principal | Indian Creek ES | Principal | Dunaire ES | Obelia Hall (Retiring) |
| 4 | 3 | Wisilene Jones | Assist Principal | Atlanta Public Schools | Principal | Stone Mountain HS | James Jones (Retiring) |
| 5 | 3 | Ayshia Grandison | Assist Principal | Rockbridge ES | Principal | Jolly ES | Judy Roseman |
| 6 | 3 | Patti Lamelle | Assist Principal | Clarkston HS | Principal | Clarkston HS | Michelle Jones (Promoted to Regional Superintendent – Region 3) |
| 7 | 5 | Shelton Bernard | Assist Principal | Cedar Grove HS | Principal | Cedar Grove HS | Pamela Benford (Promoted to Regional Superintendent – Region 6) |
| 8 | 1 | Donnie Davis | Assist Principal | Henderson MS | Principal | Peachtree Charter MS | Scott Peinstall (Reassigned) |
| 9 | 5 | Eric Kemp | Assist Principal | Bethune MS | Principal | Bethune MS | Myron Broom (Resigned) |
| 10 | 3 | Cathy Goolsby | Assist Principal | Dunaire ES | Principal | Redan ES | Deborah Cowan Steele (Retiring) |
| 11 | 5 | Shun Wells | Academic Coach | Flat Shoals | Principal | McNair ES | Brian Bolden (Resigned) |
DeKalb Schools Principal Selection Process
The Division of Human Capital Management has implemented a process that involves a variety of stakeholders from various levels such as parents, teachers, community members, internal leaders and members from the Superintendent Advisory Committee. This process includes four phases:
“Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice. Moderation in pursuit of justice is no virtue.”
And that doesn’t even count Chamblee High’s Principal. Is she gone?
Are these 3 new Regional Superintendents replacements or additional superintendents?
There are 2 new regions in South DeKalb. Rachel Zeigler is currently the Region 3 Regional Superintendent and she is retiring.
Viva Jones was just named Principal of Shadowrock Elementary last year and she is already being reassigned
Stan,
I’m assuming that the Assistant Principal vacancy report will soon be updated with the vacancy at Henderson Middle School caused by Mr. Davis going to Peachtree Charter Middle School, and that the transferred Assistant Principal and resigning Assistant Principal from Chamblee Charter High School will be added.
I appreciate your posting this info, but it sure is hard to keep it updated.
ALSO, if Dr. Green interviews each final recommendation for a Principal position, he’s going to have to clear his calendar for at least 15 such interviews pronto. I can’t decide if this is a good thing or a delay that impacts a school being ready for the coming year. I believe the last day for Assistant Principals is June 21, meaning that in schools with Principal vacancies the only 12 month employee will be the bookkeeper.
Kyle, Vines-Truitt, Brown, Campbell, and McGhee are all listed as being promoted to coordinators in regions 1,2,3,4,5. According to this site: http://www.dekalbschoolsga.org/superintendent/regional-superintendents/, those regions all have a coordinator. Is the org chart being changed so each region will now have 2 coordinators or are the current coordinators listed on the web site all resigning or being reassigned? Do regions need 2 coordinators? Does anyone see or interact with the coordinators listed currently?
Will there be movement for under-performing principals and APs?
under-performing principals and APs – I don’t anticipate any sweeping identification and/or reassignment of under performing principals.
Stan, Background and reference checks should be completed before any of the top candidates make it beyond a phone interview step. Can you find out what Dekalb is committed to doing to ensure we do not have continued misses on hiring individuals who if you just google them or talked to some of their direct reports, you would immediately eliminate them as a candidate. Many are skilled at creating a resume and interviewing. Not many are as skilled at the important job of being an AP or Principal.
Ideally, blind reference checks should be made before any finalist gets an offer.
Background and reference checks – I agree. Background and reference checks should be completed for all candidates. At the board meetings, I am assured these things are done for all candidates. Over the last few years, we’ve had a lot of turnover in the HR department. It would seem that in the past, HR didn’t do these things.
@AB brings up an interesting point. Each Region already has one coordinator. I also checked the list
of items in the budget summary. Over 3 million dollars is listed for the two new regions, but I didn’t see a mention of adding additional coordinators.
Mr. Jester, we seem to have several principals resigning and additional ones being reassigned. I am not counting the individuals that are retiring. Is there any data that shows how the regions support and help administrators that are having issues?
Is there any feedback from parents or educators about greater accessibility to county level administration, because of the region format?
If there is information, shouldn’t this be made public? I am not asking for personal information about any individuals but some proof that this format works. Shouldn’t we evaluate how things are working before spending 3 million dollars to add to more regions.
http://www.dekalbschoolsga.org/documents/budget/2019/fy2019-proposed-tentative-budget-summary-document.pdf
So why promote the principal of Clarkston and the principal of Pleasantdale when both schools have a major renovations or new buildings heading their way? In addition, the principal of HMES has resigned and they have a major renovation under SPLOST V. Seems like bad timing for new building leadership….and then there is the issue of leadership at Chamblee and a large addition. Will all the additional regional folks be helping these new principals navigate being principals and building projects? If the past is any indication….
Joy also has great points – what metrics have been used to measure how or if the regional staff have made a positive impact on the students/staff/administrators/achievement at the schools/centers assigned to them? What measurable goals do they have for the new regions being created and how often will they be evaluated to determine ROI?
AB,
Perhaps the Central Office wants to be able to do the SPLOST projects at Henderson MS, Pleasantdale ES, Clarkston HS, and Chamblee Charter HS with minimal input (read ‘interference’) from the local school.
It’s so much easier to just go in and build, without anyone being smart or bold enough to raise pesky operational concerns. A brand new school leader who is grateful to the District for a promotion is unlikely to want to push back at the District when parents and faculty raise operational concerns. As at Chamblee, that new leader may decide that the District is their best friend rather than the local staff with years of commitment and experience.
Little details like parking, bus lanes, traffic jams, ease of student movement during the day, whether the right types of classrooms are being added — these things are best addressed by the folks who will benefit (or not) from the project. Little things like these make the school functional and make it a good neighbor. But having a new principal makes it less likely that these issues will be raised or given serious consideration.
I know this is a highly cynical viewpoint, but if you think about how DCSD has operated before and since Dr. Green’s arrival, I think it’s clear that this viewpoint shouldn’t be dismissed.
DCSDumpsterFire,
It is too bad that the Chamblee HS parents and staff did not start protesting their Principal back in January, before employment contracts were renewed.
I assume she is under contract for the coming school year, so the most cost-effective thing DCSD could do now would be to pay her to work from home in a do nothing job… but when the AJC heard about it, they would immediately publish an article about how the DCSD is wasting tax-money.
Has the county provided an official response? Even Stan is deathly quiet on this. Come on Stan, what’s the deal with the CCHS principal?
I totally agree with you Anonymous although that gives them credit for having thought about the impact which may also be debatable. Neither option is good management, let alone best practices
Mr. Jester,
Is the staff at the region offices increasing? If so, was this increase included in the budget?
AB said it much better than I did AB scommented “– what metrics have been used to measure how or if the regional staff have made a positive impact on the students/staff/administrators/achievement at the schools/centers assigned to them? What measurable goals do they have for the new regions being created and how often will they be evaluated to determine ROI? ‘
How do we know that things are working?
CCHS Principal – I wasn’t aware of any issues until the teacher comments came out. I don’t believe the CCHS governing board was aware either. This is an HR issue and not a policy issue, so I’m not involved in the evaluation of this personnel matter. I’m hoping the administration will communicate the plan over the next couple of weeks.
I know CCHS is unique being a charter, but why aren’t all schools having similar surveys? PALS was replaced by LKES surveys, but those went away and the climate surveys from GADoE don’t come close to really addressing working conditions which are student learning conditions. If all we have are CCRPI scores to judge principal effectiveness, we are missing a lot due to the fact that the formula changes every year and can be easily manipulated by creative scheduling, prohibiting teachers from submitting referrals into Infinite Campus (we use a Google Form), etc. Teachers and support staff need a voice that is missing. I’m glad Chamblee’s issues have seen the light of day, but many others are being covered up.
Mr. Jester,
@witsend brings up another good point. There have been so many connected to this topic. There is not an easy process for school staff to express their concerns. If you are in a school and have concerns, you are told to address it with your principal. But what if your principal is the concern?
I have no idea of what did or didn’t occur at Chamblee HS. It seems based on the very public way that concerns have been expressed, people felt that they didn’t have another way to voice their concerns.
Hello,
This list is not accurate. There are more positions that are vacant that have not been posted in PATS and have not been filled.
Thanks
Joy and @witsend,
I think the answer as to why there’s no survey or other mechanism for getting staff feedback is that DCSD doesn’t want to know.
They rule by intimidation, and concern for employees or regard for their input has never been a hallmark of that type of management.
Some more CCHS news from the AJC: “Uwe Neuhaus, the Chamblee Charter High School German teacher removed from his classroom this spring after students complained about a racy assignment, has been reassigned to another position in the school system.
Parents and teachers took to social media starting Tuesday night to decry the move. According to posts, he’s been reassigned to the International Welcome Center for a job in student support and intervention. Efforts to reach Neuhaus were not successful.”
https://www.ajc.com/news/local-education/controversial-dekalb-german-teacher-reassigned/3I1aiTyVKVwzUVJQt7PqdK/
Regarding BAH’s June 19, 2018 at 9:03 PM post “This list is not accurate. There are more positions that are vacant that have not been posted in PATS and have not been filled.”
BAH was correct. One Assistant Principal vacancy was posted to PATS yesterday; another 17 vacancies were posted today. Here is the list of AP vacancies and the date that each vacancy was posted to PATS.
Henderson ES 4/23/2018
Henderson MS 6/21/2018
MidVale ES 6/21/2018
Pleasantdale ES 6/21/2018
Tucker HS 6/20/2018
Clarkston HS 6/21/2018
Indian Creek ES 6/21/2018
Indian Creek ES 6/21/2018 (two postings)
Redan HS 6/21/2018
Rockbridge ES 6/21/2018
Chapel Hill MS 6/21/2018
Lithonia High 6/21/2018
Miller Grove HS 6/21/2018
Narvie J Harris ES 6/21/2018
Salem MS 6/21/2018
Stoneview ES 6/21/2018
Flat Shoals ES 6/21/2018
MM Bethuen MS 6/21/2018
Towers HS 6/21/2018
And the current Principal vacancies posted on PATS, along with the day each was posted:
Brocket ES 6/6/2018
Laurel Ridge ES 6/6/2018
Pleasantdale ES 6/6/2018
Hembrick ES 5/22/2018
Stone MTn 5/3/2018
Chapel Hill MS 6/6/2018
Cedar Grove MS 6/6/2018
Toney ES 6/21/2018
Towers HS 6/21/2018
Three schools (Chapel Hill HS, Pleasantdale ES, and Towers HS) have Principal and Assistant Principal vacancies.
HMES also has principal and AP vacancies.
@cap22 The principal at Shadow Rock was reassigned for doing what she was hired to do. Shadow Rock had a trend of failing. When she addressed the poor instruction of some of the teachers at Shadow Rock, a teacher told her that they were going to have her removed from the school. In January, the principal was walked out of the door unexpectedly in the middle of the day without a reason. She was brought back in February and reassigned at the end March without a reason given again. This all happened a week before testing. The students were not informed. The first time the Superintendent removed her, he didn’t care enough about the students or community to inform them. From what I understand, she was doing a good job. The data supports the principal. I can’t wait to see what the data will look like for this school year.
A few questions Mr. Jester:
Has anyone thought about the children?
Did Dr. Green visit Shadow Rock anytime during the school year?
Was the Superintendent decision to reassign right before testing appropriate?
Is this a best practice for a leader in education more specifically a Superintendent that is supposed to be modeling best practices in leadership?
Was the school board properly informed about the reassignment of any of the principal?
The slogan that “It’s all about the students in DeKalb County” needs to be changed to Its all about the teachers and family and friends.
Well Mr. Jester, it looks like the business of family and friends is still alive and well in DeKalb County School District. The Governor needs to made aware of this. There are a lot of people that are related to other past and present employees in DeKalb.
@cap22 The principal at Shadow Rock was reassigned for doing her job. Shadow Rock has had a history of failing for years. When she addressed the poor instruction of some of the teachers, a teacher told her that they were going to have her removed. In January, she was unexpectedly walked out during the middle of the day without an explanation. The students, parents, or community was not informed. She was brought back to the school in February and reassigned in March a week before testing without an explanation. The data supports the principal. I can’t wait to see what the data looks like from this past year. Considering that most of the staff have been at Shadow Rock for over 17 years, it will probably look the same – awful!
A few questions Mr. Jester:
Did anyone think about the children?
Was the infamous rubric that Dr. Green used as an excuse to get rid of all of those principal last year used for the new Shadow Rock principal?
Did Dr. Green visit Shadow Rock anytime during the school year?
Didn’t the principal at Shadow Rock that was reassigned replace the last principal because of the failing data?
Was this the best decision right before testing?
Was the Superintendents actions best educational leadership practices to be modeled for the leaders in DeKalb?
Was the board properly informed about the reassignment of any of the principal?
Well, it looks like the business of family and friends in still alive and well in DeKalb County School district. The Governor needs to be made aware of this. Is it true that a lot of DeKalb County employees are related to past and present district employees? The slogan “Its all about the students in DeKalb County” needs to be changed to its all about family and friends (who you know) in DeKalb County.
I’ve been a parent of Chamblee students for quite a while and I’ve seen the place go from being a decent high school to a dump. The new principal is a county schlep that will do what the county wants. You have the “Gokce-Morris” 500 social engineering that has already started to infiltrate the school, making an ESOL population a huge presence in the school, and that the school has no ability to handle. Drugs, crime are way up as well. What was a jewel in the Dekalb System is now just another school. Way to go folks!
Woodward ES, John Lewis ES, and Chamblee HS all have AP vacancies that have not been posted.
Number of AP German exams scoring 3 or higher from Chamblee over the past three years is 118 (100% pass rate) according to gadoe.org.
All other high schools in GA combined for 97 passed exams in AP German.
Mr. Jester,
I do not know the Chamblee principal and I do not know the Tucler principal. I am not making any comment about either of them. My area of confusion is the way the DCSD handled the concerns that the community express about the current principal at Chamblee and the former Tucker principal.
Last year the Tucker Community expressed some concerns and the principal who had been appointed in May was reassigned in October of the same year. https://www.ajc.com/news/local-education/dekalb-schools-reassigns-tucker-high-school-principal/ZFJ5KvK4VMsiWv8fbfMRNM/
No details were given of that decision and I understand that personnel issues cannot be made public.
But the parents and community at Chamblee are very vocal and very public. They have expressed their concerns. From the outside it is hard to understand why the administration removed the Tucker principal so quickly and the same actions have not been taken in Chamblee. How can the Chamblee principal do an effective job in this current climate? In little over a month the staff will return to school.
I understand that every time a teacher or parent complains you cannot remove an administrator. But with a lot less public commentary the Tucker principal was removed.
Joy, I believe the district has a process for supporting principals. The central office just found out about the CCHS teacher survey 5 or 6 weeks ago. This would seem to be part of the support and evaluate phase.
I’m just curious as to what it takes to get the district to understand that DeKalb County schools need Instructional Leaders as Principals, not principals as managers or dictators. Leadership is the most influential aspect in a school building that affects the climate and culture of the school building. If you have principals or assistant principals who have created a negative culture where the morale is down, students and the school is affected. What does it take for HR and others in charge to remove principals who year after year experience a high teacher turnover? Having high teacher turnover each year is not good for students, families, the school, or the mission/vision of the school. This does have an impact on student achievement, school culture, and the professional learning community. I know of some schools that have that very problem and the sad part is the district knows it too especially when individuals have gone to HR and all they can do is hang their head down in shame and try to reassure staff that something will be done. Yet, I’m sure nothing has been or will be.
Advocate4Education,
From my perspective, the central office values leadership. I think they could do a better job of training and cultivating leaders, but that is another issue. The CCHS governing board were sent numerous candidates and Braaten was their first choice. They could have said no on all of them, but the governing board and the central office all selected Braaten.
Given the number of principal reassignments over the last year, that would give us an indication of the circumstances and process leading up to the reassignment of a principal.
Dear Stan,
I appreciate you taking the time to answer. I also think that you make a very valid point. There are several principals being reassigned or leaving. I hope that the district will look at the training being provided for principals. Are we providing them with the kind of support and training that they need? Some people have the ability to do great in an interview.
Once they start the job you really get the best indication of their skills and abilities. I know that being a principal is a very demanding job. Stan, as vocal as the parents have been at Chamblee, I find it difficult to believe that the school district was not aware of the concerns until 5 or 6 weeks ago. I hate that things have reached this point. I hope that there can be a resolution that will be good for everyone involved. Thank you for caring and trying to keep everyone informed.
An article “Chamblee Charter High parents left with more questions after heated meeting regarding principal” in the Champion newspaper:
http://thechampionnewspaper.com/news/local/chamblee-charter-high-parents-left-with-more-questions-after-heated-meeting-regarding-principal/
WSB-TV report “Parents call for principal’s firing during heated meeting at Chamblee High”:
https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/dekalb-county/parents-say-dekalb-county-principal-is-ruining-school-s-excellent-reputation/778193216
Stan: Thanks for being at the CCHS meeting last night. It devolved into a sh!tshow about halfway thru, although it was obvious from early on it would go that way. I appreciated your efforts to bring calm – even though it didn’t work that well – thanks. I don’t think any format of Q&A would have worked. A podium microphone would have resulted in cheers at every Q & screams & boos during every answer before they could be given, likely more than the notecard format. In an admitted bout of laziness, I’ll post this here, copy & post from something I put up Nextdoor in the Chamblee area this morning after the meeting:
“Some thoughts from a fellow CCHS parent to the leaders and supporters of the effort to oust Principal Braaten.
OK. Cross posting on the 2 main threads (they have different overlap) & starting new here. I say this as a father of 2 at CCHS – 1 Magnet & one Resident. I think I have the same desire as all at CCHS – the best education for my children, but just as important, all the students. I am a veteran of many fights with the Board & Superintendents going back to Crawford Lewis. We won some – HHES Montessori 1, & partially won/lost (depending on perspective) others – Montessori 2, budgeting, redistricting & new buildings/additions. Take that as you will, or won’t. These are Just my opinions.
Q – Leaders and supporters of the movement to oust Principal Braatan, what do you do now?
It seems clear the goal is to continue to push for her ouster – primarily thru Superintendent Green. But is that a reasonable & obtainable goal? I say no. He outflanked you.
He had a plan in place to address your concerns – a dysfunctional principal hurting the school, potentially for the long term. So he came up with a plan, had it fully implemented BEFORE they had the meeting. Was that fair? – maybe not. Should he have been there in person? Yes, I think so. Could it have been run better? Yeah. Did the disruptive response from some in the audience help? I say no way. And if he was there – it wouldn’t have either.
So the goal – get rid of her – you think he’s going to cave now? – regardless of how many meetings you come to, disrupt, protest outside the central office, show up on TV & the papers, get 10,000 signatures on the petition, he’s not going to reverse himself. Would you? Really? He heard you, at least all he needed (or cared to) to make a decision: he kept her, put in measures, made changes as to how the school leadership will move forward – at least for the coming school year. And the School Board isn’t going to force him to change his mind – again my experienced, and I think informed, opinion.
To me – battle over. At least this battle. Maybe stop pushing your efforts as a battle.
So what’s next? School starts in a little more than a month. Are you going to spend that time fighting this fight? Or should you pivot to two other goals:
1 – Get Green to provide an explanation of his decision to keep her (without pushing it to the level of a personnel matter), as well as why he decided this plan was the best solution (for now), how he expects it to work, and what are his requirements in order for her to be kept or dismissed.
But if you press forward with the torches & pitchforks approach he might not even meet with you. Tell him while you disagree with his decision, you respect it as part of his job. Diplomatically press to get these answers, because you need them to:
2 – Work as concerned and committed parents WITH the school leadership, teachers, staff, fellow parents, and the students. And when appropriate, the governing board, the school system itself, and other stakeholders. I would want to be ready to start this BEFORE the school year to some extent, and throughout the school year. But if you come across like you want to oversee everything and micromanage her, that won’t fly. You want a seat at the table, shake hands across it. Show respect. If things don’t go as you’d wish/expect, make measured efforts to present them. Overly aggressive responses won’t help. They will hurt. Doors will be closed – assuming they open. Give them a chance.
Final notes on tactics:
1 – The German teacher – DROP IT. Although people keep saying it’s not really the issue, or even part of it, many are still treating it that way. It got the largest reaction from the audience last night – by far. People continue to push on it, with great passion and eloquence – at length on social media, including your own Facebook page. I bet it was on a pretty large number of the notecards not read last night. It’s a personnel matter – they are NOT going to tell you more than they legally can. You want to get answers on how it is planned to continue, ask those questions. But bringing it up, with Green or anyone isn’t going to change things. Or result in them being receptive to your efforts.
2 – Stop pushing this conspiracy theory that Braaten is a plant, part of a master plan of Green and the system to destroy the school. I personally don’t think it is, but even if you do, what do you think that will bring? Green is going to say “oh man, you caught me” like Swiper? And then he’ll cave? Come on.
So to me, I think your time and efforts over the coming month would be best spent working with the system and the school, IF you really want a voice that will be heard, a seat at the table. I’ll tell you something, now that the decision and the plan are public, other parents are going to try this approach, I bet they already are.
That’s all I’ve got for today. I promise. Thanks for listening.”
Chamblee High School sucks. I have one more kid to get through there, but we can’t wait to get out. It was a once great school that now is awful. I wouldn’t send any more of my children there. Go private, people. Or move. Don’t stay here.
I saw some clips of that meeting and the parents should be embarrassed. I don’t care if you don’t agree with the principal or not, act civil. The way those parents acted hurt their caused, not helped it. They looked childish and were extremely rude and disrespectful. If I’m Green, I wouldn’t meet with them either. That was an embarrassing meeting for the Chamblee community. Chamblee High, you are better than that.
I agree bully tactics aren’t a good thing, but I will state again… we need true working conditions surveys for all school employees, and not the climate survey from the state that I was encouraged to take 4 times and asked to interrupt learning on multiple occasions to have my students complete. Our principals eserve honest feedback about how staff feels the programs that the principals are implementing are affecting teaching and learning. The district needs to know and have the data available to make informed leadership decisions. If teachers and support staff are really miserable, why is that? Is the principal a bad fit for the school? Should the principal be given more support? Should the principal be moved to a different school where he or she would be a better fit? (And yes, I’ve seen that be successful for a previous principal from my school). If staff is miserable, why is that? A miserable staff will not provide world-class education for their students, and not all schools have the vocal parents that Tucker or Chamblee do.
Stan,
You are a comedian. I believe the administration SAYS they value leadership in principals, but when have their actions matched their words? I applaud the new principal selection process that was implemented after the Tucker debacle. However, the need for it reflects the abysmal choices regional superintendents made.
Bottom line, Dr. Green chose the principals for Tucker and CCHS. He should be willing to admit his mistakes, but he is not. How much is he willing to spend on two executive coaches to avoid admitting his mistakes? What metrics are in place to measure their effectiveness or the ROI on their expenses?
Green and his cabinet continue to operate without accountability or accepting responsibility. This district is beyond hope until those things change.
I don’t know the situation at CCHS so I can’t speak on the parents concerns or behavior at the meeting. But I will say this, it’s refreshing to see parents step up and be advocates for a better school, school system, education, and leadership. That does not always occur especially in the various school communities that I’ve worked in. Are there better approaches in doing so without being rude and disrespectful as it was stated? Sure there are. But when people are fed up with the certain conditions or the state of matters, it often times results in behavior and reactions that, yes do go ignored or unheard.
My gripe is with the way leadership is being administered. I have seen many different leaders and all who have had good or bad qualities. As I have stated before, leadership sets the tone for the school culture in the school building. If the leader is not a good one and their interactions with students, teachers, families, and the school community is not good, then the school suffers. There are many schools in this district that have type of leadership and teachers are leaving in droves. This is not good for those schools and definitely not for students. Toxic school cultures are no fun to work in and are counterproductive. I speak on that experience firsthand. The district needs to truly take ownership of that and do diligence in fixing this problem. Reassigning principals is not the answer especially if they are not good ones and create negative and poor school culture/organizational environments. Retraining some of the principals would be a great strategy to help make them successful, but is that going to happen. I know of a school that face teacher attrition yearly and in big numbers. At the start of each school year, this school deals with teacher vacancies in critical grades, testing grades for GA Milestones for months. Teachers do not want to come there because of the reputation of the leadership, mainly the principal. And the sad part about this, is the district knows. When you have schools like this and you continue to keep that principal there, the message taken from that is that the district does not care about the school, the students, or the personnel that comes there daily to educate our future. This is all too common in the field of education. The district values leadership but they seem to value poor leadership. The sign of good leadership is a leader who can take ownership of the mistakes that they have made and strive to correct those mistakes by making better decisions that help to improve and move the district forward.
I could type all day and night about the impact good and bad school leadership can have on schools, but right now I just want everyone to just take in what was said and we can respectfully continue to have conversations on what as a whole we all can do to make DeKalb County School District better.
@Bill Armstrong,
Please let me respond to your 2 suggestions.
1 – “Get Green to provide an explanation of his decision to keep her (without pushing it to the level of a personnel matter), as well as why he decided this plan was the best solution (for now), how he expects it to work, and what are his requirements in order for her to be kept or dismissed.”
I think Dr. Green should have written a letter to CCHS stakeholders telling them of his plan to hire 2 additional supports for the CCHS principal, why he decided to take these steps, how he expects it to work, and what his requirements are for the principal to stay or go.
Yet it appears that CCHS parents only learned of Dr. Green’s plan through a brave teacher who mentioned that they had heard ‘something about 2 retired teachers being assigned to help.’ This is NOT a good communication plan nor does it respect the stakeholders.
It’s my understanding that the Governing Board has asked to meet with Dr. Green and he has refused.
2 – “Work as concerned and committed parents WITH the school leadership, teachers, staff, fellow parents, and the students.”
From what I can see, concerned and committed parents are working WITH teachers, staff, fellow parents, and the students. Survey comments and the materials written by the concerned parents list numerous times that they tried to work WITH the school leadership last year, but either were ignored or denied.
I didn’t attend the meeting so I don’t know how it was, but the descriptions sound like no one was a model of civil discourse.
The District’s ‘brick wall’ mentality and lack of communication are like pouring gasoline on the already inflamed situation. I understand that the District promised to respond to questions from attendees at the CCHS meeting on Wednesday. I guess we’ll find out whether they keep that promise.
If the comments are correct, Midvale E.S., my neighborhood school, is looking for a new leadership team as both the principal and assistant principal positions are currently open. The same is true for Henderson Mill E.S. where I have worked in the past.
This can not be good.
Anonymous. I agree things should have been handled differently – especially Green & communicating his plan. And he should have been there Wed. My point is simply strategy – now what? It’s already happened. You can keep tying to re-fight the same fight, making the same arguments, demanding she be fired, etc.
So I say it’s still valid to get Green’s response, after the fact. He should provide it. And also, I say back off the blue shirt rallies & try to work the school leadership as well.
As for what was tried last year, I do know this, until the German teacher thing (and to a much smaller extent Freshman Academy rollout in the Spring) & then the teacher survey was made public (under parental pressure) there was virtually no whiff of a crisis among any parents I know. Nada. This was not a year long growing public battle. Basically everyone I knew was blindsided at the end of the year. If there was a groundswell of growing dissent & crisis amongst the teachers over the year it didn’t make itself know. Some say they kept much bottled in.
But the German thing had things explode amongst a group of parents & it was game on. Many troubling things came to light, this whole thing put into motion.
My point, as someone who has had fights with various superintendents & boards over the years, OK – this happened Wed. – passions are high, I get it. But what now? This group can ignore me, I expect they will.
But I did close with saying other parents are likely reaching out, and they are. Trying to see how to get in the loop, help how they can. Get info. flowing, if for the first time. Even if it didn’t happen last year, try. And these parents aren’t going to show up wearing blue shirts demanding “fire her, that’s all we want.” I don’t think you’ll get it, and at this point I think it’s hurting rather than helping.
There is a lot of organized energy right now, use it constructively. It’s worth trying. I’m going to wear my blue Chamblee shirts proudly right now, so if you see me wearing one – I’m NOT demanding she be fired.
it may be time for dekalb to start looking for a new superintendent. Throwing money at everything doesn’t solve problems and neither does hiring additional administrators. Dekalb does not have the students that Gwinnett County has so they should not have an administration the size of Gwinnett. A middle school with 600 students does not need 4 assistant principals.
Mr Jester,
There is a map that shows the schools in the seven regions. There is also a list that shows the schools in the seven regions and the county level administrators assigned to each region. The List and the Map are not showing the same information. Which is correct?
http://www.dekalbschoolsga.org/superintendent/regional-superintendents/
https://www.dekalbschoolsga.org/documents/planning/maps/regions.pdf
Stan,
The chart that Joy shared shows a Coordinator II, Coordinator III and an executive assistant along with the regional superintendent. Where can we find the job descriptions for these titles so we know what to expect from them and hold them accountable for doing?
AB, the job descriptions were posted to PATS. https://pats.dekalbschoolsga.org but I don’t think you can still see those descriptions now that the vacancies have been filled.
Currently, there are two Coordinator-II openings:
https://pats.dekalbschoolsga.org/OpportunityDetails.aspx?vsopt_id=58345
https://pats.dekalbschoolsga.org/OpportunityDetails.aspx?vsopt_id=60168
and one Coordinator-III opening posted:
https://pats.dekalbschoolsga.org/OpportunityDetails.aspx?vsopt_id=60167
so you could look at those postings to get an idea of what Coordinators are supposed to do.
The last opening sounds like a real bullcrap job – “Attends workshops, seminars, and professional learning opportunities related to Leadership Development.” Sorry, but if you’re earning $89,833.65 to $118,762.00, you should be the LEADING workshops and seminars, not just merely being present for them.
@ DSW: Thanks for trying to help. You proved one of my points: there isn’t a place for a stakeholder to go on the DCSD web site and find a job description for any of the regional office staff (of which there are now 4 per region – used to be 2) unless there is an opening posted on PATS. Not transparent. Would love to know what they are doing or are supposed to be doing to support the local schools.
The links to the coordinators you listed are not Coordinators for the regions: one is for a leadership coordinator under Oliver Lewis in Professional Development, one is Gifted and Talented Coordinator under Stepney, and one is Research/Grant under Knox Phillips.
I applied for the Coordinator position for Professional Development. At least I believe I applied for that position. I may have it confused with the Facilitator position in Professional Development. I have yet to hear anything about those positions being filled or even a simple considered but rejected letter/statement. I would love to be in that position to FINALLY help steer the Professional Development in the RIGHT direction for teachers, paraprofessionals, and if I can for leadership. Coming from where I taught and worked in another district up North, DeKalb is still very much behind and as a result continues to lag and not provide what I know is high-quality education for our DeKalb County students. I was trying to find opportunities to get into the Reading/ELA Department to help with providing Elementary school teachers with the necessary professional development and support needed to ensure successful reading gains in elementary that would impact the student success in middle and high schools. But again, to no avail. I had even emailed someone in the department or someone in a position where they could consider it. I had received a response that they would pass my suggestions and concerns on and again heard nothing. I am an educator who strives for the best and provide the best. I want to see students achieve and teachers succeed in that quest for high student achievement. I just feel like the people in charge and in those positions are not on the same page or up to date. Taking nothing against the hard work they have done in the past, but there a lot of people in those positions who are just sitting there in complacency and comfortable and not willing to take the steps needed to move forward or even allow for fresh new blood with innovative ideas and the drive to take over the wheel. All I can say is that I will give it one more year possibly in this district before I go to another GA district or back up North where I can step into positions with the credentials and reputation I have already established.
What exactly was the assignment that got the german teacher reassigned at Chamblee HS? In all of the excess of communication, that hasn’t been detailed.
http://thechampionnewspaper.com/news/local/chamblee-charter-high-teacher-reassigned-according-to-district/
@advocate4education: even if you got the job, you would not be able to effect any change. Ask the myriad of others who have come and gone through the district (at all levels) thinking they could make a difference. They were either run off or became incredibly frustrated and left.
@Stan: since when does the district get a high volume of German immigrants/refugees to warrant a German speaking staff member at the International Center? Seriously?
After reading this, the German teacher deserved to be reassigned. At a minimum, this is in very poor taste. It is more likely borderline sexual harassment.
Why reassigned, why not fired? If true, do you want your tax dollars going to pay him to “work” in any department in DCSD?
RunAmok, do you remember the tv news story that showed a Dekalb elementary school teacher choking one of her students? It was all caught on video, so there was absolutely no doubt about what she did. That teacher got to keep her job and is still at the same school where she choked a child…. on video! Even better, her Principal and Assistant Principal were just promoted, filling two of the vacancies Stan posted above.
Uwe Neuhaus was reassigned because he lacks sorority connections.
I do not know the specifics about the other cases. I am speaking only to this case. And in this case, in my opinion this went over the line. As did the behavior of the Chamblee parents at the principal’s meeting the other night.
@AB I hear what you are saying and yes it’s very possible that even if I were to get the position that I may not be able to affect change. However, one must start somewhere. I’m also one that does not give up, will not be run off or just leave. When I passionate about something, I continue to push it. I’m passionate about education, what’s right with it, what’s wrong with it, and what needs to be fixed. DCSD has a serious problem when it comes to instruction in major content areas and with providing the necessary professional development for teachers to build their teacher toolkit and enhance their instructional practice. I know what that looks like and the steps needed for that teacher success to continue and grow. But I definitely get where you are coming from because many have tried and left due to the unwillingness of the others surrounding them to speak, do the right thing, and make changes. I will continue doing it from the position I am now in the school I am working in. And hopefully, network and talk with the right people to initiate those changes. Again, one has to start somewhere!
@RunAmok “And in this case, in my opinion this went over the line. As did the behavior of the Chamblee parents at the principal’s meeting the other night.” True that! Were you there or watching one of the streams? I was there, sat in the back & watched some of the most embarrassing behavior I’ve ever scene by parents at a school function. “Grown ups.” It was crazy. I wished the news was let in & broadcast some of the worst. Although I’d be embarrassed as a Chamblee parent. Maybe they would too if they saw themselves on TV, not calmly talking outside as was shown, but screaming at the top of their lungs & shouting over people trying to answer Qs. I don’t care how high emotions ran – it was asinine.
And while I was there, my rising 9th grader watched a Facebook stream that blew his mind. Parents of some of his classmates were behaving in a way that would get him so much trouble he’d rather not even contemplate. In addition to writing apologizes to everyone he couldn’t do so in person, he’d lose so many electronic privileges he’s be wondering if Instagram, Snapchat & Fortnite were still “a thing” when he got them back.
Bill – I saw some clips of the Facebook videos. I couldn’t bare to watch much more. I am trying to understand the argument for this guy NOT being removed from the classroom.
If you’re for this guy remaining in the classroom then you’re okay with a teacher asking your son/daughter to act out the following in a public school setting:
Implied oral sex act (scene 1)
Implied homosexual acts (scene 2)
Sexual intimation from a female teacher to a student (scene 3)
Cannibalism (scene 5)
Drunkeness and shooting off firearms (scene 6)
Animal torture and cruelty (scene 7)
Provocative sexual dances (scene 8)
Adultery (scene 9)
Calling out Muslims (the scene is acceptable, but why does it need to be a Muslim girl?) Scene 10
So, in my mind only 2 of the 11 are acceptable – #4 and #11. The others are, at a minimum, bad judgement (my God does this teacher even watch the news with school shootings, #metoo, etc.?), but are very likely sexual/verbal/psychological harassment and abuse since this, I assume, was for a grade.
Not sure why the Chamblee magnet parents feel that this is acceptable behavior.
Stan, the author of the Champion article wrote a more recent (6/29) article related to Herr Neuhaus than the one you referenced above. Please see: http://thechampionnewspaper.com/news/local/students-say-reassigned-teachers-assignment-was-taken-out-of-context/
As a parent of one of two students whose lives have been tremendously enriched by this exceptional teacher — and whose education along with many others will no doubt suffer as a result of his needless reassignment — I urge anyone who is interested in this matter to also read:
1. Maureen Downey’s article of 6/27 — https://www.myajc.com/blog/get-schooled/top-chamblee-grad-bring-back-teacher-who-made-love-learning/53sAJvw21vCezjQVCzsQoN/ and
2. The following letter drafted by members of the German V class, which after only a few hours of circulation today has already been by signed by 19 of the approx. 22 German V students (as well as 25 of their parents):
Dear Dr. Green,
We write to you as the students who received the skit assignment in Herr Uwe Neuhaus’s German V class that has received so much attention. Our hope is to provide context on how our class operates and to clarify that we, as the students who actually received the assignment and interacted regularly with Herr Neuhaus, do not feel that Herr Neuhaus had any threatening, malicious, or predatory intent at all when giving us the skit assignment. We do not know what complaints you may have received, or from whom you may have received them. We simply hope that our take on the situation, as those directly involved and affected, will convince you to immediately return Herr Neuhaus to Chamblee Charter High School, where he has worked for years and positively influenced the lives of so many students.
German V was not a first encounter with Herr Neuhaus for any of us. Most of us were students of his for the two years previous (German III+ and AP German), while the others had him as a teacher for AP German only. Regardless, we will all tell you that a hallmark of Herr Neuhaus’s classes is his creativity and dynamism in creating assignments to help his students master German. Typical activities were presentations, creative writing, and yes, skits. Only rarely was our daily class period filled with monotone grammar drills or multiple choice questions. Instead, Herr Neuhaus always sought to force us to think critically and creatively and to put our knowledge to use in the three dimensional way that true mastery of a language requires. As a result, demonstrations and skits performed for the class are something that we as a class are used to and comfortable with.
That being said, we can concur that the skits that Herr Neuhaus assigned to us on April 21st were more provocative than anything we’d received before, and consequently students expressed their discomfort with the given assignment. But while everyone seems to fixate on the content of some of the skits, we feel that the fact that Herr Neuhaus permitted us to cut or entirely rewrite scenes we were uncomfortable with acting out has been entirely omitted from the narrative. The skits were never for a grade–they were simply another challenge presented to us (in this case taken from the senior German VI class’s unit on humor) by Herr Neuhaus with the intention of improving our German while having fun. Yes, some of the skits were inappropriate. But the fact that students felt they could tell Herr Neuhaus that they were not comfortable with his assignment, and that he then notified the entire class that it was our choice of how or if we wanted to do the skits, is much more reflective of the nature of our German class and our relationship to him than the content of the skits themselves.
We are the people who were affected by this assignment. We are the ones in the classroom everyday with Herr Neuhaus, and as a result our perspective on these skits is unique from the views of administrators, parents, or even other students of Herr Neuhaus. We are the only ones with a full understanding of the context of our class and of the assignment, and yet, we have not been given any say in how the situation was resolved or how our teacher, an engaging and exceptional educator, has been removed from his classroom. To say that we feel ignored would be an understatement. Being students, rather than parents or teachers or board members, should not diminish the stake we hold in our own education. Yet throughout this entire process, we have watched others who have no idea what our class is like intrude on the discussion with their opinions about how we felt about the situation. For the past two months, we have had no choice but to plead that the administration listen to us and realize that we understand the situation more fully than anyone else. Hear us, listen to us, believe us. We never wanted Herr Neuhaus removed from our school. We never felt unsafe in his classroom. Our hope is that, now that we have provided this clear statement that we want Herr Neuhaus returned to Chamblee immediately, you not only hear us, but listen and act accordingly.
Please do not write this letter off. Please believe what we have to say.
Thank you for your time and attention.
Yours,
The students of German V:
[Signatures]
Note: We write you this letter as students from German V. We feel that it is important to share our unique perspective and thoughts on the situation as students, and this perspective is not shared fully by anyone. Our parents, however, stand beside us as a group one step removed from the classroom, and they have signed their names below in support of the reinstatement of Herr Neuhaus.
[Signatures]
@RunAmok— please realize that the article you read is very misleading and does not give the context nor the full story about the assignment or the class. I am a Chamblee magnet parent with a child in the class that received the assignment. I assure you that reading that article does not tell you the information you need to understand why we are so devastated by Herr Neuhaus’s reassignment, not does it demonstrate why we and our children are fighting so hard for his return to Chamblee. If you look on the Champion site, you will see additional articles. Also read the Get Schooled post by Maureen Downey on the AJC site. Finally, numerous students and parents have written in support of Herr Neuhaus. I can see why you formed the opinion that you have because you’ve only read the one article. There is so much more to the story.
OMG I am so tired of this CCHS parsing. Take the German teacher thing completely out of the equation. Here’s a quick list:
– She CALLED THE POLICE on another teacher accusing him of being drunk without having any proof. He passed every test.
– She pulled a teacher out of the Teacher of the Year ballot who was winning because she said he had a disciplinary problem; he didn’t. When he questioned why he was pulled off the ballot, she called the police. The police came and determined she shouldn’t have called them.
– Two counselors quit the last day of school and another the week after school. 30+ years of counseling experience gone because they knew what Braaten was planning was harmful to the school.
– She reassigned a very beloved AP as retaliation for her not wanting to implement questionable course changes (completely switching which history sophomores and juniors take) during that AP’s twins’ senior year at CCHS.
– She still doesn’t have a master schedule completed; most teachers don’t know what they will be teaching.
– She pulled all males out of class for a football recruiting talk at the end of the year. No choice as to whether they wanted to attend.
– She has appointed the newest AP as athletic director. He wants to combine all booster money into one pot. The reason why this is significant is b/c at CCHS, the football team isn’t popular and she wants it to be. She wants to mooch off other more successful sports for football.
– She has not consulted with the Governance Council for budget and major changes like she is supposed to.
– CCHS has had 2 new principals in 3 years, so the school has adjusted to new leadership before. This is on another level.
Given that she calls the police on or reassigns staff and teachers she doesn’t like, is it any wonder other teachers weren’t speaking up all year?
And regarding the German, all you pearl clutchers have no idea of the context. First, this class is designed to be SECOND YEAR COLLEGE. These 15 kids were in a class that is one year beyond AP. Second, the skits were in a study of how humor looks different in different countries, cultures, and time periods. Some countries are fine with religious humor. Some are fine with sexual humor. Some with both of those combined. These snippets of humor from other parts of the world are no different from very advanced level lit classes studying Shakespeare, AP art classes studying Mapplethorpe, or theater kids studying most of what has made it to Broadway. It’s how kids who can’t travel around the globe learn about how life is in other countries and cultures. There is a letter from all of the kids in that class and their parents saying they are 100% fine with Neuhaus’s handling of the situation and that they and their 17-year old advanced German students desperately want Neuhaus back to teach them. Kids come out of that program eligible to attend German universities as German speakers; they go to colleges that tell them they only have 1 German course in the whole school that could challenge them. I’m sure because Neuhaus isn’t a “yes” man, Braaten saw him as a threat and wanted him gone. She tried to do the same for the TOTY and it worked getting the AP transferred. Now the teachers left are wondering who will be the next target – and they will be if they speak up.
This may be the type of principal some schools want and need, but it isn’t the type CCHS wants or needs. She will not be able to sail the CCHS ship through the very choppy waters ahead of major construction and redistricting, which will add hundreds more ESOL kids to the mix. If DCSD cared about CCHS, they would have done more sooner. They don’t, so they aren’t.
Anon – if you take the German teacher out of the equation when it cuts your own post in half.
Also – I did wonder if the Assignment was really no big deal then why was it forbidden to be posted on the Chamblee High Positive Learning Facebook page under penalty of being kicked off.
But, Bill, isn’t the half that remains enough? Is that the kind of leadership that DSCD wants?
Mismanagement of the Master Schedule alone ought to be enough to have her reassigned. She refused to let the experienced AP in charge of the schedule work on it until the next-to-last day of her contract.
So the principal’s plan is to make a master schedule in 5 days, when it takes months of work to create a balanced, workable schedule. You know, one that has real teachers assigned, real room numbers, and doesn’t have some classes with 50 kids and some with 10. You know, a schedule with home room assignments.
The Region 1 Superintendent commandeered ALL Region 1 scheduling personnel to try to repair this situation, and it’s still a mess.
Add 3 brand new counselors with no CCHS experience to the mix – if 3 brand new counselors would choose to work there – and you have a brewing disaster.
No one wants that for their kids, except apparently Dr. Green.
I always thought that Dr. Green was honorable and strong and understood that DSCD is about the students, not the highly paid administrators.
But why not for Chamblee? Why is keeping this one person in place of more value than listening to 100 staff members and hundreds of parents and students?
For those that feel that the parent’s actions at the “State of the School” address was not civil, there is a certain point that you have to speak up because you have been ignored or dismissed too long. Days before the end of school on May 24th, the parents have been RESPECTFULLY asking to meet with Superintendent Dr. Green and District 1 Sherry Johnson. We have RESPECTFULLY spoken at the BOE Public Comments meeting on June 9th and asked to meet with Dr. Green. We have RESPECTFULLY emailed the Superintendent to please meet with the Charter Governing board. We have RESPECTFULLY gone to Sherry Johnson’s office to request a meeting and been told that she is not in the office and the admin does most of the work anyway, just to later see that she leaves from the back door to go home. For over 5 weeks we have been MOST RESPECTFUL. At some point, you have to stop being pacified with a non-responsive DCSS. It is extremely unfortunate that our Dekalb County School System is in such disarray, that concerned parents have no choice but interrupt a meeting after listening to Rebecca Braaten speak for over 45 minutes. The list of Accolades are not hers to claim, they belong to the teachers that have been disrespected all year long. The and Longitudinal Data does not truly represent the underlying problems that exist in most every inner city school. Numbers are skewed to support a contrived narrative. I feel proud to teach my children that you should be respectful and make every attempt to get your voice herd, but I believe that every concerned parent has at one time or another had to just speak up on behalf of their children to ensure that those that are in power are not abusing the system. I ask those individuals that feel the meeting was uncivil to ask themselves, have you ever felt your child was not being treated fairly by a coach, friend, teacher, daycare or other entity where you have just had to put your foot down and fact the facts. It’s time to be honest and call “a spade a spade”.
When do the reassigned principals report to their new schools? Also, is there another/new list citing reasons why principals were reassigned and where they will be going? Several more principal vacancies have been reported since the above list was posted.
You entitled magnet parents are a piece of work. You think that you deserve more than others because your kid won the Willie Wonka golden ticket. You realize that there are many others out there at their home high schools and even at Chamblee High that would qualify for magnet, but have just not had their name drawn?
The sense of entitlement among those in the magnet program is insane. Get over yourselves. You and your kids aren’t that special.
On another note, no wasteful 50k for useless convocation assembly this year? Guess those in attendance will miss out of steam Green dancing around the stage this year. And miss the religious laden speech by one of the school board member in attendance.
@NOT a Magnet parent,
I’m not a Magnet parent either, but I fully support the reinstatement of the German teacher. To me, this is about fair and respectful treatment of staff, and also about making this a learning experience for all of us.
I also think the thoughts of the affected students should be given a lot of condideration. I understand that even the students who were upset with the assignment do not want him reassigned.
Not a magnet parent, you can believe what you want, but last year, when DCSD was trying to figure out a solution to the overcrowding in Region 1, CCHS as a whole spoke out in support of keeping the magnet program at Chamblee. This included resident families, which are the overwhelming majority of families at CCHS. So, even though you think there’s something terrible about the magnet program, CCHS resident parents obviously see some benefit to it, as they didn’t want it moved.
In the parent groups I’ve been a part of since this entire situation cropped up, there has been zero distinction between magnet and resident parents, and we all want it that way as we strive to save CCHS. Magnet is quite a different situation at CCHS in that it is a small subsection of the school and there are no magnet-specific courses, so it’s very easy for parents and students to work together as a cohesive group and we have been (I’m a parent of both). The one exception is Herr Neuhaus, as it is difficult for resident students to catch up on German to that level, but the resident parents working in this core group want Neuhaus back, too, as the program he built brings very positive notoriety to the school and they don’t want the remaining teachers to feel that such action is acceptable.
So thanks for your negative rant and attacking other people’s kids. If you want to attack anyone about the magnet program, head to the county office on Mountain Industrial and yell at them about magnet, DSA, and Montessori, not the parents and students in it.
Anon – you are clearly a magnet parent because you write with the entitled attitude that many of them have. The magnet program is an outdated farce that was originally constructed to help in promoting desegregation. Now, all it does is separate the haves from the have nots. Because that’s what kids need at this age – enforced segregation by lottery. And the magnet parents (and kids) get told they are all “special” and get all the benefits while the gifted unlucky non magnet kids are forced to return to their home high school or be seen as second class citizens. This German example is a prime example. Any kid at Chamblee should have access to the best teachers, not just a select few. So keep whining because your not getting everything you want. Believe me, some of us have been dealing with that for YEARS!
You know what would be interesting – it seems that there are many CCHS parents here, Magnet & resident – I happen to be both (seems some others are too), I assume many of our kids know each other, so why not use you real name? I get if you are a teacher or other employee of DeKalb Schools, but otherwise why not use your name?
I’ve been in the cluster for 14 years, Huntley Hills, Kittredge, CMS, CCHS, been involved in battles going back to the original Montessori fight w/Crawford Lewis, (and many since). Served on School Councils, been to plenty of Board Meetings, sent emails, made calls, dealt w/AJC, etc.
I was “Chamblee Dad” on DSW1 & 2, Get Schooled, etc. But pretty long ago I switched to using my real name, anywhere. Why not? People part of the “Get Rid of Braaten, Green sux & while we’re at it get Neuhaus back” FB Page do – they have to. That includes some “anons” here. And they’ve gotten to know each other – although clearly many of the Magnets parents from the Nuehaus issue already did. Why not use your real name elsewhere?
It certainly makes it easier to ask “what’s the deal with that Armstrong guy? – seems like a jerk.”
“Yep – sure is.” Or Maybe – “not all the time.” Depends who you ask.
I think the reason that Region 1 will continue to have principal problems is that both the Regional Superintendent and Superintendent Green have never been a principal in a school. If you have never run a school then the whole process of hiring and managing a principal breaks down. I think that the current principal needs to go immediately. She should be embarrassed by the “support” staff that she is being assigned. She should just go.
The German teacher situation is different. That assignment was just plain wrong. Arguing that someone needs to understand the “context” doesn’t change the assignment. Knowing that this material is college level doesn’t change the assignment. These students were asked to act out scenes with extremely explicit sexual content, child molestation, cruelty to animals, and violence. I get that he is a very successful teacher that is beloved by the community. What if he were an average literature teacher? Would we see the same effort to keep them? If the answer is “no” then you are saying that different standards of conduct apply to different people. If the really great teachers can behave differently than the average teachers, where do we draw the lines? Can a really great teacher show pornography? What if we learned the best AP calculus teacher ever had multiple drunk driving incidents?
The anger about the situation with the German teacher should not be directed at anyone other than the German teacher. He really let the students and the community down with his inappropriate and careless behavior.
Stan,
HR seems to be hiding vacancies. Right now on PATS, there is just a single Principal opening posted:
Toney 6/21/2018
And there are only five Assistant Principal vacancies posted:
Henderson Mill 4/23/2018
Lithonia High 6/21/2018
Towers High 6/21/2018
Cedar Grove 6/21/2018
Narvie Harris 6/21/2018
Scuttlebutt indicates that many of the Principal and AP vacancies documented above, in your June 15 post and in my June 21 comments, are still unfilled.
Why remove the postings from PATS before the jobs are filled? DCSD used to keep vacaancies posted on PATS until right before the jobs were filled.
Most of the openings posted on 6/21 were removed from PATS after just two weeks. Are two weeks, including the July 4 holiday, enough time to post such crucial school leadership positions?
Stan, I know you cannot answer these questions, but it would be great if the board could question Bernice Gergory about her handling of these openings.
@DSW2 – Good chance they posted them the required 2 weeks and filled them with someone already in DCSD.
https://www.ajc.com/news/local-education/dekalb-schools-loses-its-chief-operations-officer/1m1Iqe7Jy95AnkhOIYE9EI/
Joshua Williams leaving DeKalb to work for the City of Atlanta.
@Ivy from reading the post I think you are Viva Jones. How original you’re an AKA and your name here is IVY!!!!!! The details in your message were extremely specific about what happened during the removal process. And as a parent of students at Shadow Rock, I can’t speak for the entire community but I will go ahead and speak for the entire community. Christmas came early in 2018 when they removed you from the school. You didn’t allow parents in the building, and those that were allowed were verbally abused by you. How do you improve a school when you abuse the community; the parent participation level was depleted while you were the principal, and this is a first because the participant level has always been higher. Teachers said you would talk to them like they weren’t human beings, and I personally can vouch for them because you did it to me as well. And yes I was 1 of the many parents to complain about you to your boss.
I find it funny that you have a problem with the principal being removed from the school without parent notification, but you were moving children into new classes without parent notification. I guess KARMA came back on you!!!!!!!!!
I just ask you provide this supported data that would show Viva was doing a good job; your word of mouth is not enough for me. You asked was the school board properly informed about the reassignment; please let’s be real, everyone in Dekalb probably heard about the complaints in reference to you. There was nothing further to inform the board about.
Lastly, did you ask any of these questions that you asked Mr. Jester when Mrs. Williams the principal prior to you being hired when she was removed?
“Did anyone think about the children?
Was the infamous rubric that Dr. Green used as an excuse to get rid of all of those principal last year used for the new Shadow Rock principal?
Did Dr. Green visit Shadow Rock anytime during the school year?
Didn’t the principal at Shadow Rock that was reassigned replace the last principal because of the failing data?
Was this the best decision right before testing?
Was the Superintendents actions best educational leadership practices to be modeled for the leaders in DeKalb?
Was the board properly informed about the reassignment of any of the principal? “