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Legislation To Help Failing Schools In DeKalb

Posted on February 12, 2015 | Comments Off on Legislation To Help Failing Schools In DeKalb

Governor Deal unveiled a plan Wednesday allowing the state to assume management and operations of failing schools. This post was adapted from How Nathan Deal’s bid to rescue failing schools would work by Greg Bluestein at the AJC.
The enabling legislation creates an Opportunity School District which would pick up 20 failing schools each year. The overall number would be capped at 100 and the program would start in the 2017 school year.  The Opportunity School District would be led by a superintendent who reports directly to the Governor and would be outside the jurisdiction of the Ga DOE and State Superintendent.
What schools would be taken over? Schools that score below a 60 on the state’s College and Career Performance Index three years running which includes 26 of DeKalb’s schools listed below.
Once the decision to intervene is made, the superintendent of the new district can choose between four options:

  • Direct state management of the school
  • Shared governance with a local school board
  • Conversion to a charter school
  • Closure of the school

The opportunity school district’s superintendent would pick the school leadership team. Each opportunity school would have a nonprofit board to oversee its governance.
26 of the 141 schools in need of recovery are in DeKalb:

School CCRPI
2012		 CCRPI
2013		 CCRPI
2014
Browns Mill Elementary 54 55 51
Canby Lane Elementary 58 58 47
Cedar Grove Elementary 57 53 58
Cedar Grove Middle School 58 48 54
Clifton Elementary 52 54 46
Columbia Elementary 53 52 49
Columbia High School 53 58 56
Dunaire Elementary 58 59 50
Miller Elementary 53 53 50
Fairington Elementary 50 56 55
Flat Rock Elementary 50 52 58
Flat Shoals Elementary 42 54 50
Freedom Middle School 56 59 52
Knollwood Elementary 47 41 54
MLK Jr High School 57 60 60
Meadowview Elementary 42 44 53
Midway Elementary 52 46 48
Oakview Elementary 48 58 51
Panola Way Elementary 58 44 51
Redan Elementary 50 50 48
McNair Elementary 47 50 42
Salem Middle School 56 50 58
Snapfinger Elementary 50 55 56
Stoneview Elementary 49 47 45
Toney Elementary 56 50 48
Towers High School 57 48 56

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Posted in Legislation, Opportunity School District

Your Input on a Superintendent Search Committee

Posted on January 29, 2015 | 2 comments

On Tuesday the DeKalb County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved a resolution recommending a Superintendent Search Committee. This Monday the DeKalb School Board will vote up or down on the search committee and its purview.
Question: Do you support having a Superintendent Search Committee? Why?
Comment on this post or let us know at  Contact Us FactChecker.
Here is what community leaders from around the county are saying about a Superintendent Search Committee:
Scott Holcomb, State Representative – “Parent Councils United, which in my house district includes members of the Emory/LaVista Parent Council, the Tucker Parent Council and the Dunwoody/Chamblee Parent Council, is recommending that the BOE appoint a Candidate Selection Committee, comprised of recognized community leaders. Doing so would indicate that DeKalb County is ready to move ahead using best search practices by partnering with key stakeholders.”
Fran Millar, State Senator – “Since there is a professional search firm, I believe they should engage a representative group of community leaders in the process. The administration should not be involved (Board controls the process) except as a resource. Employees do not hire their boss period.”
Lee May, DeKalb Interim CEO – “I recommend the creation of a selection committee that would interview the list of candidates offered by PROACT.”
Diane Allers, President of Dunwoody Chamblee Parent Council (DCPC) – “A community based search committee is completely invested in the outcome of our superintendent search and will help to guide PROACT in searching for candidates”
Judy Limor, Vanderlyn School Council – “A county of our size and diversity must use its own community leaders to help search for a new superintendent. That is the ONLY way that our needs will be heard, recognized, and (hopefully) addressed going forward.”
Leslie Freymann, DCPC Officer – “I do very much support a Superintendent Search Committee”
Lisa Victory, Dunwoody High School Council – “The Superintendent Search Committee should represent an inclusive and broad population of stakeholders from the community. Its purpose should be to manage the search firm.”
Amanda Rountree, Dunwoody Elementary PTO Co-President – “I support having a Superintendent Search Committee.”
Brent Morris, Dunwoody Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors Chair – “To mirror what APS did is healthy for DeKalb as a whole. ”
Shari Bayer, Vanderlyn School Council – “I think it is critically important to have a community-based search committee lead the search firm. “

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Posted in Superintendent Search