First step. Next, the board members.

Nothing meaningful will happen until there is true outcry that brings national attention and business leader focus to the problem. Grady Hospital crisis and ultimate turnaround is the path and model, and cautionary tale of the challenges in fixing institutions in this racially divided area.

Until the outcry moves from blogs to the streets, the expedient solutions will be to push one 'acceptable enough' AA leader after another into leadership roles with lip service towards fixing things. This quiets the critics temporarily, buying a few more years of no real change.

This system needs an overhaul but the politics of it all require some community business leaders to unite with political leaders and rise above the racially charged cronyism.

Sadly I'm not optimistic we'll see that approach despite the depths of the abyss we seem to face.

I sure hope she gets a big payout for helping the children so much! It makes me feel so happy when I get that ever increasing property tax bill because I *know* that money is being spent wisely and we have wonderful results to show for it.

I'm sorry to see this turn of events. Dr. Atkinson has done a great job, given the contentious and poorly functioning Dekalb County School Board she has had to work with. I think we are going about this backwards. The school board needs to be replaced first. They are the problem. We have never in my memory had an audit of the system. Under her tenure, the entire system has both been audited and the results of that audit posted for the public to see. She has brought transparency to the district, something that we desperately needed. I think we are making a huge mistake and we will regret it next year.