Author Archives: Stan Jester

DeKalb Schools 2020-2021 Approved Calendar

Posted on November 5, 2019 | 23 comments

Marshall Orson and I pushed for a later start date to no avail. School will start next year on Aug 3, 2020. We’ll have a balanced calendar and numerous holidays. The administration relied heavily on the advice of the committee and results of the survey. The rest of the board relied heavily on the administration.

SUMMARY
The 2020-2022 Calendar Committee included representation from the following stakeholder groups: parents, students, school-level staff, principals, district-level staff, and community/business partners.

The Calendar Committee developed calendar options by considering the number of days per year, number of days per semester, inclement weather/emergency days, testing windows, spring breaks, holidays, school breaks, and other metro area school districts’ calendars. Stakeholders provided input through an online survey that opened October 21, 2019 and closed October 30, 2019. The committee members analyzed the responses and comments received from 30,510 respondents before preparing the final calendar recommendations.

Points of Interest
The 2020-2022 school calendars contain the following features:
• Balanced Calendar – 90 instructional days each semester
• 5 identified inclement weather days each semester (10 total per year)

Calendars
 2020-2021 Approved Calendar
 2021-2022 Approved Calendar
 2019-2020 Calendar
 2018-2019 Calendar
2017-2018  Calendar
2016-2017  Calendar
2015-2016  Calendar

DeKalb Schools 2020 – 2022 Calendar

DeKalb Schools Calendar 2020-2021 2021-2022
Pre-planning Jul 27 – Jul 31, 2020 Jul 26 – Jul 30, 2020
First day of school Aug 3, 2020 Aug 2, 2020
Labor Day Sept 7, 2020 Sept 6, 2020
Fall Break (Including Columbus Day) Oct 8 – Oct 12, 2020 Oct 7 – Oct 11, 2020
Election Day/Teacher’s Workday Nov 3, 2020 Nov 2, 2020
Thanksgiving Break Nov 23 – Nov 27, 2020 Nov 22 – Nov 26, 2020
Last day of 1st semester Dec 18, 2020 Dec 17, 2020
Winter Break Dec 21 – Jan 1, 2021 Dec 20 – Dec 31, 2020
Post planning 1st semester/ Pre-planning 2nd semester Jan 4, 2021 Jan 3, 2021
First day of 2nd semester Jan 5, 2021 Jan 4, 2021
Martin L. King Day Jan 18, 2021 Jan 17, 2021
Feb Break (Including President’s Day) Feb 12 – Feb 15, 2021 Feb 18 – Feb 21, 2021
Professional Learning Day Mar 12, 2021 Mar 11, 2021
Spring Break April 5 – April 9, 2021 April 4 – April 8, 2021
Last day of school May 21, 2021 May 20, 2021
Post planning May 24, 2021 May 23, 2021
Memorial Day May 31, 2021 May 30, 2021

DeKalb Schools Proposed 2020-2021 Calendar

2020-2022 Calendar Committee

  1. Ferin Abdulla (Cross Keys High School)
  2. Christopher Addison (MUFG Banking)
  3. Solomon Bauzuaye (Sequoyah Middle School)
  4. Keisha Best (DeKalb Alternative School, Lithonia Middle School, and Stone Mountain High School)
  5. Dawn Blackwell (Bob Mathis Elementary School)
  6. Ronald Brown (Chamblee Charter High School)
  7. Paris Byrd (Arabia Mountain High School)
  8. Paul Camick (CTAE and Co-chairperson)
  9. Robert Carter (Chick Fil A)
  10. Carolita Chester-Benton (Marbut Elementary School)
  11. Dyanne Christian (Loft)
  12. Kyia Clark (Stone Mill Elementary School)
  13. Duane Clark (Champion Theme School)
  14. David Collins (Fernbank Science Center)
  15. Edward Conner (DeKalb Early College Academy)
  16. Eleanor Cox (Princeton Elementary School)
  17. Deirdre Edwards (Department of Natural Resources)
  18. Fuad Faruque (Stone Mountain Middle School)
  19. Linda Frazier (Office of Accountability and Co-chairperson)
  20. Johnathon Hines (Barack Obama Elementary School)
  21. Ursula Jackson (Stoneview Elementary School)
  22. Andrew Jameson (Dunwoody High School)
  23. Taquavia Jones (Stephenson High School)
  24. Jolene Key (Livsey Elementary School)
  25. Lisa Limoncelli (Hawthorne Elementary School)
  26. Demetrius Lofton (Peachcrest Elementary School)
  27. Sharon Malcom (Lithonia Middle School)
  28. Tanya Mason (Arabia Mountain High School)
  29. LaShawn McMillan (John Lewis Elementary School)
  30. Everett Patrick (Professional Learning)
  31. Nia Porter (Delta Airlines )
  32. Tracy Reese (Cedar Grove High School)
  33. Emily Rogers (Henderson Mill Elementary School)
  34. Margie Smith (DeKalb Alternative School)
  35. Stacy Stepney (Curriculum and Instruction and Co-chairperson)
  36. Alexandra Sucar (Hawthorne Elementary School)
  37. Jermain Sumler-Faison (Wynbrooke Elementary School)
  38. Tuqwan Taylor (Lithonia Middle School)
  39. Trent Taylor (Centers for Disease Control (CDC))
  40. LouKisha Walker (McNair High School)
  41. Shandra White (Columbia High School, Columbia Middle School, and DeKalb Alternative School)

RELATED POSTS

Proposed Calendars
November 3, 2019 – On Monday DeKalb Schools administration is recommending approving the school calendars for the next two school years. It looks like the community and administration favor an early start and balanced calendar.

Calendar Poll
October 21, 2019 – Please complete this poll on the DeKalb Schools Calendar Attributes so I can better understand where the majority of the community stands.

2020-2021 Calendar Options
October 21, 2019 – Look at the calendar options and what the other Metro Atlanta school districts are doing. Let me know your thoughts about the Start Date, Balanced Calendar and Early Release days.

DeKalb Schools Calendar Update
October 18, 2019 – The Office of Accountability is preparing to release the survey any day now. The final recommendation should be on the Board of Education agenda for approval Nov 4, 2019.

23 Comments

Posted in Calendar

Tomorrow Vote Yes-Robert Miller And NO-Revised Ethics Act

Posted on November 4, 2019 | 4 comments

DeKalb County will be holding elections tomorrow, Tuesday Nov. 5.

Robert Miller – Dunwoody City Council District 1, Post 4 (at-large)
This is an at-large seat that will be on everyone’s ballot. Robert is an entrepreneur, Dunwoody business owner, and long-time resident. All of his children are graduates or current students in our community schools.

Robert has the been THE leader in driving the conversation about school facilities in this campaign. Without his advocacy, we would not have seen the city take a more engaged posture with the school district. Electing Robert will ensure that the City begins to use all of its tools to drive corrections and improvements in DeKalb Schools’ facilities.

Vote NO on the Revised Ethics Bill

All of us in DeKalb will have the opportunity to vote on legislation to revise the County Board of Ethics which was approved by 92 percent of the voters at the poll in 2015. Unfortunately, the revision being considered on the Nov. 5 ballot will significantly reduce the efficacy of what was approved two years ago.

Back in 2015, voters overwhelmingly approved changes to make the board more independent by allowing outside groups to appoint a majority of Ethics Board members. But the Georgia Supreme Court ruled last August that a majority of the members must be appointed by public officials, and the ethics board has essentially sat dormant since.

So in order to revive the board, DeKalb legislators passed another bill fixing the issues that were pointed out by the Supreme Court. But this bill seeks additional changes to what was passed in 2015. Read More At The AJC Here >>

WHY VOTE ‘NO’

Removes Independence: The bill undermines the independence of the ethics board by giving the DeKalb County CEO and the County Commissioners the power to interfere in ethics board governance. Politicians are granted power over policies, procedures and appointments.

Creates Roadblocks to ethics reporting: Employees will not be allowed to contact the Ethics Board to forward complaints. They will instead have to report infractions to human resources. HR would be charged to investigate and forward complaints to the Ethics Board.

Reduces professionalism: The bill downgrades the ethics officer position to that of an “administrator.” The administrator would not be required to have legal or ethics training, nor would the administrator be required to have applicable work experience.

Goes too far: The bill calls for changes that go far beyond the immediate need to change the board appointment process.

Wrong-doers get away: If a public official or an employee leaves their service with the county, the Board of Ethics has to drop any current investigations concerning that individual. Also, the Board of Ethics may not open any new investigations after an individual leaves.

4 Comments

Posted in Legislation