Category Archives: DeKalb County School District

HR Report

• Analysis
• Video clip and recap of report

Board Meeting Analysis

• Public Comments
• Financial Report
• RT3 Funds – PhD Program For Administrators
• Tapestry

HR Report Analysis
The Human Resources report at the the 09/09/2013 board meeting revealed some interesting nuggets of information which beg some very important questions.
Chicago Initiative
Orson – “During the Summer you were trying to recruit out of the Chicago school system. Were you able to hire any teachers from there?”
Dr. Ward Smith – “We were not successful with the Chicago Initiative. We hired some from Detroit Michigan.”
What is the “Chicago Initiative” and why do we want to bring anything or anyone from the Chicago Public School System down here? According to the New York Times in 2012 in 2012, the Chicago Public School System (CPSS) was the most segregated school system in the United States. The April 21, 2006 issue of the Chicago Tribune revealed the Chicago Public School System as one of the worst public school systems in America. Only 3 in 100 black or Latino male graduates of CPSS earn a bachelor’s degree by age 25. In fact, only 35% of CPSS graduates who went to college earned their bachelor’s degree within six years, well below the national average of 64%. Where is the Raleigh, North Carolina Initiative or Colorado Springs, Colorado Initiative?
Employee Turnover
This HR Report is inclusive of all activity since May of 2013.  This reflects a high turnover in contracted and non-contracted employees.  The board expressed their concern in the August board meeting and the administration is making retention a high priority.

• 793 New contracted employees
• 328 New non-contracted employees
• 225 Resignations
• 46 Terminations

Enrollment and QBE State Funding
Interim Superintendent – “As of September 4th, we have officially enrolled 99,703 students which is a record enrollment for DeKalb County.”
Aside from the fact that DeKalb Schools had 100,000+ enrolled students from 2005 – 2009, I’m very concerned about the QBE state funding implications.  We have roughly the same number of students as last year, yet the FY 2014 budget forecasts a huge increase in QBE state funding.  What are the assumptions behind the row titled “QBE growth”?  That number is almost $7 million and non-existent in previous budgets.
System.xls – FY 2014 Budget

Student FTE Count (DOE only reports through FY 2011)
Year – FTE Count (Does not include the roughly 2,000 Pre-K students)
2006 – 99,544
2007 – 98,713
2008 – 97,580
2009 – 96,907
2010 – 96,678
2011 – 95,481

RT3 Funds – PhD Program For Administrators

• Analysis
• Video and Recap – Tapestry Discussion

Board Meeting Analysis

• Public Comments
• Financial Report
• HR Report
• Tapestry

RT3 Discussion Analysis
At the 09/09/2013 board meeting, Race To The Top (RT3) training was on the agenda. The Executive Leadership Academy, better known as the PhD program for administrators, was started under Dr. Atkinson. The DeKalb Schools Board approved in a split decision the first year of the academy last year. At a price tag of $350K, the academy was designed to prepare 8 potential district leaders for local and district level positions.
Mr. McMahan wanted to make sure these 8 potential district leaders stayed around, but Dr. Carter was more interested in diverting the funds back to the Bridge Initiative. Dr. Morley attempted to find a legal obligation to continue with the program to no avail. The Executive Leadership Academy was struck down with a 4-5 vote.