DeKalb Schools was targeting a complete rollout of Chromebooks to students by September 30, 2019. At this time, many school are still working through the Chromebook Rollout process with around half completing their initial rollout in September 2019. DeKalb Schools is now targeting a complete rollout of Chromebooks by October 30, 2019 for all students have completed the user agreement and do not have an outstanding balance for lost or damaged equipment from previous years.
For those students who still do not have a Chromebook, IT will continue to work aggressively with the school administrators to assist through the distribution process and provide strategies for access to devices. For many schools, this is the first time local school staff has managed the distribution process. IT will be facilitating lessons learned sessions that will be used to establish best practices.
Every week I’ll be at a coffee shop in North DeKalb. Drop by anytime and we can sit down together and talk about what is going on in our schools. We have a lot to discuss.
• Oct 11th: 12pm – 2pm @ Moonbird Coffee (Peachtree Rd)
• Oct 18th: 12pm – 2pm @ Cafe Intermezzo (Ashford Dunwoody Rd)
Meeting 2: The second meeting introduces two to four options and allows the public to provide feedback on them.
• Doraville United Elementary – Wed Oct 16th @ 7pm – Chamblee Charter HS Auditorium
• Austin Elementary – Wed Oct 23 @ 7pm – Dunwoody HS Auditorium
Recently the DeKalb Schools held public meetings across the county to gauge interest in the GO Bond and Comprehensive Art School. I’ll post a more comprehensive review shortly, but here are my big takeaways:
GO Bond – 77% of the community members attending the public meetings selected Option D – No Go Bond
Comprehensive Art School – Community members not affected by the Art School Project see it as a luxury we can’t afford. Community members affected by the Art School Project feel they need renovations. Most community members expressed a lack of interest in a combined K-12 program on one site.
The Board of Education is meeting today. If you plan on coming out for the Public Comment meeting at 5:45, perhaps you could come a little early and join us for the Committee Of the Whole. The COW will start about 5pm and we’ll get an update from our Superintendent Search Firm as well as an update from the administration on the central office hiring freeze.
All meetings today will be broadcast live (except for our 1pm executive session).
I look forward to seeing you this afternoon.
“Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice. Moderation in pursuit of justice is no virtue.”
Will the Committee of the Whole meeting be broadcast online?
All meetings today will be broadcast live (except for our 1pm executive session).
Can we get rid of. Sherry Johnson?
Hello Stan
Earlier this evening, I saw you on Channel 2. As always your comments were thoughtful. You are appreciated. I checked on the WSB site and the story had not been posted yet. Hopefully, it will be there later.
Channel 2 played a recording of a BOE Meeting from 2010. In front of the BOE lawyers, some board members stated that they knew stopping the TSA contributions meant that the BOE was violating its own policy.
I pray that the Supreme Court of Georgia will decide that DeKalb has to repay the money that was taken including the interest. Current and former staff deserve this. Since DeKalb withdrew from Social Security, DeKalb retirees will not have social security to supplement their retirement income. I know Windfall Provision Act also impacts us, but my comments are not to debate the pros and cons of social security.
I don’t want to hurt the students. I don’t want to hurt the residents of DeKalb.
But Stan in all of this time, DeKalb has made no effort to try to make things right. Instead of that, they have spent money on lawyers to keep from doing the right thing. The TSA Case and the situation with the student at Chamblee or only two examples us spending money instead of doing the right thing.
It is hard for me to have compassion. How many consultants were brought into the system and paid just under $100,000 dollars so that they would not require BOE approval. If people had not spoken up, there was a plan to pay $200.00 per hour to someone to be a consultant who had just resigned. If we had enough time to put that into place, why weren’t we preparing someone to assume the responsibilities of this person.
Stan, over the years how much money has been wasted and misused? I know that you cannot answer that question. I know that you have tried to have a true independent audit done and your efforts have been rebuffed.
How much money has been lost, wasted and misused at the school level?
It is my opinion that we would rather lose money than to hold anyone accountable. We would have to explain why there are no real check and balances to monitor money and how it is used. Why else would DeKalb fight against a “real” audit.
DeKalb has found money for the 7 Regions, with no proof that there is a benefit.
Return our money and interest. !!!! I am sure the people impacted will be happy to articulate how that will benefit us and our families.
Thank you for all that you do.
https://www.wsbtv.com/video?videoId=995245139&videoVersion=1.0
DeKalb knew years ago it violated board policy
https://www.wsbtv.com/video?videoId=995245139&videoVersion=1.0
School Board Expected to Cut ties with Green
https://www.ajc.com/news/local-education/dekalb-school-board-expected-cut-ties-with-superintendent/b1ktsQ04wQOxHfKmH7DHeM/
Stan what’s up with the District finance situation? The poor audit is not news but why is the District late in providing its financials? Is the District going to have financial troubles again? How will this impact our schools/students?