Monthly Archives: November 2017

DeKalb Turnaround Eligible Schools Trends 2015-2017

Posted on November 13, 2017 by | 10 comments

The Governor’s Office of Student Achievement calculates an annual Turnaround Eligible Schools list. Identified schools have a three-year average College and Career Ready Performance Index (CCRPI) score that is in the bottom five percent of the state.
.pdf link icon Turnaround Eligible Schools List (Updated November 3, 2017)

DeKalb Schools Removed/Added – Georgia School Turnaround Lists (2015 – 2017)
Within the last couple of years, DeKalb Schools has created a Student Support and Intervention Division to provide “Wrap Around Services” and address the diverse needs of students and families. The school district has also flooded failing schools with paraprofessionals (parapros), social workers, teacher coaches, etc … DeKalb Schools has added over 1,000 school house full/part time employees across the district since 2014.
2017 (Georgia Turnaround-Eligible Schools – 16 total schools on list)
• Stone Mountain ES (added)
• Canby Lane ES (removed
• Cedar Grove MS (removed)
• Chapel Hill ES (removed)
• Columbia ES (removed)
• E.L. Miller MS (removed)
• Flat Rock ES (removed)
• Jolly ES (removed)
• Mary McLeod Bethune MS (removed)
• McNair MS (removed)
• Rowland ES (removed)
2016 (Georgia Chronically Failing Schools – 25 total schools on list)
• Allgood ES (removed)
• Cedar Grove ES (removed)
• Freedom MS (removed)
• Stone Mountain HS (removed)
• Woodward Elementary School (removed)
• Dresden (added)
• Jolly (added)
• Mary McLeod Bethune MS (added)
• Rowland ES (added)
2015 (Georgia Opportunity School District – 28 total schools on list)
• Salem MS (removed)
• Towers HS (removed)

The State Considers How To Turn Around Low Performing Schools
Members of the Georgia state board of education met recently to discuss how they’ll start the process of turning around struggling schools. The state’s efforts to turn around failing schools is thus far nebulous at best.
As reported by WABE Radio, officials haven’t decided when any school improvement efforts would begin or which schools they would target. However, the state board of education has hired a “chief turnaround officer” to lead the initiative.
Many aspects of the current effort remain unknown. Among them: How many schools would receive help; what that help would look like; and how much it would all cost.

House Bill 338 was passed earlier this session. It is a slimmed down version of the Opportunity School District resolution that doesn’t require a constitutional amendment.
It calls for a Chief Turnaround Officer, which the state hired last week
http://www.ajc.com/news/state–regional-education/georgia-hires-first-school-turnaround-chief/b0iQXUlApwqQZp9EbjnBNK/

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DeKalb Schools – Free Speech….For Some?

Posted on November 10, 2017 by | 179 comments

DeKalb Schools might have a consistency problem with the First Amendment.

Back in October, the girls at Cedar Grove High School in the DeKalb County School District (DCSD) took a knee before their playoff game. In a statement issued by DeKalb Schools, “If students should elect to express their free speech rights, we want to create and provide a safe space to do so. The goal is not to interfere with the students’ constitutional right to freedom of speech.”
I advocate for the First Amendment across the board. I hope the freedom of students to express themselves will be vigilantly defended across the political, religious, etc … spectrums.
STRIPPED OF HIS LIBERTIES …

CNN is a popular destination for school field trips across the state. Every year the 7th grade at Peachtree Charter Middle School tours the CNN studios.
This year when the CNN tour was announced, my 7th grade son Jaxon asked me if he could purchase an FNN-Fake News Network shirt to wear for his field trip. As an advocate for the First Amendment, I agreed to his request. He picked out the shirt he wanted and and ordered it from Amazon. His mother cautioned him that he might cause a controversy and needed to be prepared for that. He was fully aware of the implications of his decision and made the affirmative choice to wear his shirt.
Nancy took his picture this morning as he left for school. We received a phone call from the principal at the middle school this morning informing us that he was forced to change his shirt.
I’m disappointed by the hypocrisy of this decision. Some students are celebrated when they make a controversial display during the National Anthem. My student was forced to remove his shirt because someone didn’t like it. I defend speech and expression, even if I disagree, or it makes me uncomfortable.
Says commenter Max Baerman, “[This] could have been a great teachable moment about Yellow Journalism and the scathing and at times libelous editorials”
This experience is teaching my son an interesting lesson.

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Posted in DeKalb County School District

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