I’m inviting all students, parents, teachers, and the community at large to my upcoming Community Town Hall meetings.
DUNWOODY
When: May 14th @ 7pm
Where: St. Luke’s – 1978 Mt Vernon Rd, Dunwoody
Room: Chapel – From the Manhasset entrance, turn right in the lobby
CHAMBLEE
Date/time: TBD
Where: Chamblee Library
As we approach the end of the 2018-2019 school year, we have a lot to talk about. No speeches here … let’s discuss what’s going on. What’s going on? Off the top of my head, E-SPLOST projects are running out of money, the school district is squeezing more and more children into our schools and the school district will be asking for a loan of up to $250 million soon. Furthermore, the Dunwoody, Chamblee, Brookhaven and Doraville areas will see some redistricting over the next few years as new schools come online.
Come one, come all. I will also invite various representatives from our other local governments to join us.
See you soon.
“Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice. Moderation in pursuit of justice is no virtue.”
Thanks for having this meeting, Stan. I’ll be there.
Would love to come if I am able–
Stan, thanks for hosting these.
Can you please invite your peers? We should have them hear from dunwoody residents too.
Also Region 1 Superintendent should be invited as well.
Rob. Good idea. I already invited a few of them.
We will send a rep friend Restore Dekalb to the meeting.
Good Evening Joel. I’m really glad to hear Restore DeKalb will be joining us. I hope you’ll be active participants in our discussions. –Stan
Was last nights meeting recorded?
Thanks for hosting this meeting Stan. It was very valuable to those of us just now waking up the history of the problems surrounding Dunwoody schools.
I mentioned public / private partnership last night, but I don’t believe I accurately described what I had in mind.
It is clear that for decades now, Dunwoody residents have been howling, but nobody is listening in Stone Mountain or Decatur. Continuing to do the same thing expecting a different result is not an ideal strategy. Different strategies need to be considered.
Simply put, I believe we need to explore the possibility of asking large local corporations to amplify our voices to get the results we want.
Large corporations and local governments have a symbiotic relationship. Large local businesses bring investment dollars to the County, along with tax dollars. Local governments rightfully want to attract good employers because they crave the tax revenues and jobs these businesses bring with them (witness the recent national bidding war to woo Amazon). Attracting a great company is part of the battle. Keeping a company happily operating in a location is important, too.
Most large businesses want to establish and maintain good relationships with their local communities. This is why public relations departments were first formed. In addition, large employers which reside in communities like Dunwoody have economic and political leverage. Most larger companies have in-house or contracted professional lobbyists who advocate for their interests at the national and / or state level.
Most large employers also want strong local schools because they know they can attract the best headquarters talent if the local community has strong schools. They also want strong local schools so these schools can produce capable future workers.
Taken together, large employers in Dunwoody have economic and public relations incentives to help us develop strong schools. And they have economic and political leverage to motivate County officials to dialogue with them.
What I propose is that Dunwoody City representatives, and local residents who are organizing to address school failings, approach Dunwoody’s largest employers to seek their advocacy on our behalf. State Farm and IHG immediately come to mind as businesses to approach.
Politicians and public officials are primarily motivated by votes and money. So far, local citizens have been largely ineffective at raising these officials concerns in these realms. It may be time to capitalize upon the political and economic leverage large local employers possess which we, a group of concerned citizens, do not.
Any word on the Chamblee town hall? I missed the Dunwoody one.
I’ll send out a post when we get a little closer to the date…
Jester Chamblee Townhall
Chamblee Library
5:30pm – 7:30pm
Following up on the Dunwoody Town Hall – Many asked how to find out about Dekalb BOE meetings, here is the link https://www.dekalbschoolsga.org/board-of-education/board-meetings/
The summer meeting dates are June 10. July 8, and August 12 Community input portion is from 5:45-6:45pm 1701 Mountain Industrial Blvd, Stone Mountain