DeKalb Schools Superintendent: "We stand by our characterization of 'straight A’s'"

It’s been quite the week for the DeKalb County School District.

On Wednesday, former Superintendent Crawford Lewis pleaded guilty to misdemeanor obstruction of a law enforcement officer and will next testify against the school district’s one-time chief operating officer and her ex-husband.

All three were indicted in 2010 on charges that included racketeering for an alleged plot to misuse tax dollars intended for new schools. Lewis, who acknowledge Wednesday that he had tried to derail a probe into the state’s third-largest school district’s construction contracts, faces a maximum punishment of 12 months in jail.

DeKalb Schools have had three superintendents since Lewis, and while he was backing down Wednesday, the current superintendent, former state Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond, was going on the offensive.

PolitiFact Georgia claimed Wednesday in an opinion column entitled, “Progress of schools overstated,” that Thurmond’s statement was ‘Mostly False” when he said earlier this month at a Towers High School parent council meeting that, "When SACS came back at midterm for review we got straight A’s."

Last December, after investigating many allegations of school board mismanagement, the Southern Association of Colleges & Schools (SACS) placed the school system on probation and gave the district had until May 31, 2013 to make progress in complying with several issues that SACS identified. 

In May, a SACS returned for a three-day review in DeKalb and issued a report of its findings two months later. The report showed that all 11 required actions of the school district from the agency that accredits public schools in the state were "in progress," and that the district had made "recognizable progress."

But in addition, the report noted that, "The overall progress of the district in addressing the required actions is still evolving and significant work remains to be accomplished."

The district remains on probation and SACS is set to return to DeKalb for a two-day visit in December. SACS’ parent company is AdvancED and neither group distributes letter grades to school systems.

Hence, scoring “straight A’s," as Thurmond suggested at the parent council meeting, might not be the case according to PoliticFact Georgia, which concluded, “An A means exceeding standards – that’s not what the district is doing. It’s making progress, which isn’t an A in anyone’s book.”

Such a conclusion prompted response statements Wednesday from both Thurmond and AdvancED President and CEO Mark A. Elgart, Ed.D.

In a released statement, Thurmond said:

“Since my appointment in February 2013, I along with the DeKalb Board of Education, administrators, parents, teachers, students and other stakeholders have worked tirelessly to restore trust and integrity to the DeKalb County schools. Any objective analysis would conclude that we have made noteworthy and significant progress and much work remains to be done.

"A key element of us achieving our ultimate goal of full accreditation is recognizing incremental successes and accomplishments on the journey to reestablishing DeKalb as a national model. To marginalize and discredit the hard work and sacrifices that have been and are being made is unfair, unwarranted and counterproductive.

"In the educational arena, an “A” grade is generally awarded when a student receives a score of 90-100. It is important to note that an “A” does not require perfection but an “A” does represent significant and noteworthy achievement.

"Although AdvancED does not give “letter” grades, I was speaking metaphorically to parent stakeholders at Towers High School about the importance of the interim report, which noted “significant improvements during the last two months” and “recognizable progress” in creating the foundations to address the 11 Required Actions. The sole purpose of the Monitoring Review was to determine if progress was being made.

"In December 2012, AdvancED noted that there were 11 Required Actions the administration and board must address in order to regain unconditional accreditation. The May 2013 mid-term monitoring report documented that the district was making considerable progress in addressing ALL11 Required Actions, and we look forward to the Monitoring Review scheduled for December 9-10, 2013.

"We stand by our characterization of “straight A’s” for the AdvancED/SACS’ Monitoring Review Report for the DeKalb County School District. A distinction that parents, teachers, students and taxpayers can be proud of.”

Dr. Elgart's statement reads:

“We have no problem with the characterization by Superintendent Thurmond of our Monitoring Review Report dated May 15-17, 2013, “When SACS came back at midterm for review we got straight “A’s.” While not part of our assessment terminology, a school grade metaphor is appropriate for the Superintendent to use to describe what our team found in the midterm review. Indeed, we found that the DeKalb County School District had made noteworthy progress in all 11 Required Actions.

"We noted in the report that upon appointment on February 8, 2013, Superintendent Thurmond immediately began work on a Ninety-Day Action Plan to address the 11 Required Actions. He has made this a high priority by appointing a core team committee, soliciting technical assistance support from AdvancED and being actively engaged in the process with weekly team meetings and monthly reports to the DeKalb Board of Education.

"Of particular note from the report, we observed that the district established and identified specific budget parameters with the goal to develop and implement a balanced budget for FY 2014. Student academic achievement and career readiness has been prioritized and work has begun to strengthen parent, guardian and mentor involvement in school and district business. The district has implemented a plan that will improve operational efficiency throughout DeKalb County School District and continue to rebuild trust with internal and external stakeholders.

"The Monitoring Team reviewed evidence and documented progress by conducting extensive interviews of both internal and external stakeholder groups, the leadership team, governing body and others.

"Our mid-term review in May 2013 was not to evaluate the District’s accreditation status but to determine what, if any progress was made on the 11 Required Actions. A change in accreditation status may be considered in December 2013.