Monday, April 22, 2013
A parent attended last Wednesday's Emory LaVista Parent Council meeting in Druid Hills and has a few thoughts.
Mr. Thurmond, Thank you for your honest back and forth with citizens at this morning's Emory LaVista Parent Council meeting. I attend a lot of meetings and your willingness to stay in the conversation is a refreshing change. Many of your subordinates have a record of walking out instead of dealing with difficult questions. Every time I hear you speak I become a more ardent supporter. You may be the right person to be superintendent at this time. I particularly appreciate your attitude of getting to know how things work before attempting to make any big changes. Hopefully, you are a fast learner. I have to tell you parents are well aware you are not answering many of the questions asked. I repeat my question, are salaries of employees going…
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Reader Judd Owen writes: "Somewhere, on this big issue at least, there arose a disconnect between the vision of Decatur that I think is generally held by its residents and the vision held by its political leadership: Indie vs. Walmart."
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Wednesday, March 27
Judd Owen lives in Decatur with his wife and two children. He has served on the enrollment committee and annexation committee for the City Schools of Decatur. He teaches political science at Emory. The first of a two-part series. By Judd Owen Decatur Metro directed readers last week to a brief story in the print edition of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporting that Decatur City Manager Peggy Merriss had said “potential annexation of two heavily commercial areas outside the city limits has apparently died quietly in the legislature.” I have been keenly interested in the push for large-scale annexation that has just died, and I’ve followed it closely since I first learned of it in October 2008. So I decided to write an obituary. I have …
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
The Globe Academy and Tapestry Public Charter School plan to open in the area soon.
The current advocates of eliminating state restrictions on new city school systems in infant-aged Dunwoody are showing how quickly a revolutionary paradigm (that of forming new cities) in the Georgia General Assembly can evolve and grow. Although many have speculated Dunwoody’s cityhood efforts were always envisioned as a one-two punch eventuating with city schools legislation, the dueling media dramas of DeKalb County’s school board and CEO’s investigation have created public zealotry over defining community independence in terms of city and school inseparability. One question may arise however: Does a city need complete school secession from a county system in areas that may have a plethora of choice schools in the near future? Along the…
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
School board member Eugene Walker responds to Gov. Nathan Deal's decision to suspend six members of the DeKalb board of education.
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Wednesday, February 27
The Governor is wrong in his decision to suspend members of the DeKalb County Board of Education. The DeKalb School District has been placed on probation by a private accrediting institution called SACS which holds considerable sway in the education community. SACS has made a multitude of allegations, some of which I agree with, but all of them were developed unilaterally in a shrouded process. The leadership of SACS is not elected by the public, do not have to conform to open meetings and open records laws, and are not subject to constitutional due process as they sit in judgment of public institutions and elected officials. The DeKalb Board of Education, like all school boards, is a public institution. We have open meetings, open …
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
A Dresden East Civic Association member said he does not want the major commercial area annexed into a proposed city of Lakeside and calls it a "land grab."
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Tuesday, February 19
To the Lakeside City Alliance, Most of us in the proposed area to be annexed by Chamblee understand the frustrations that are driving the Lakeside City Alliance to attempt to study "whether the formation of a new city is both necessary and feasible to provide local control to our community." However, I am concerned not enough "study" went into delineating the preliminary boundaries of a city of Lakeside beyond arbitrarily following lines enclosing ripe commercial properties on an existing map. Not much thought seems to be given to the areas that make up the communities that are split apart by the intended boundaries of Lakeside. Complaints were made at the Wednesday night meeting on Feb. 13 that the Northlake boundaries split apart …
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
A reader supports legislation to temporarily stop the creation of new cities and annexations.
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Tuesday, February 5
By Tim Cairl Ever invited friends or family over for dinner and planned out an entire meal? Set off to the grocery store; list in hand, only to discover that several key ingredients were missing? This is the position in which our local communities may find themselves in only a few short years. The surge in local incorporation efforts has led to a cookie cutter approach to cityhood. This rolling and cutting of the county tax base is dangerous to the security of our school systems and support services such as 911 and police as well as sewer and water services, just to name a few. Legislation such as HB 22 introduced by State Representative Mary Margaret Oliver (DeKalb County) is attempting to force local elected leaders, developers and …
Sunday, February 3, 2013
The writer says a bill introduced by state Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver "locks the doors on those neighborhoods ready to take the initiative of trying to find their way out of the abuse."
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Sunday, February 3
By Virginia DuPre Within the professional circles that work with domestic violence, the definition of emotional abuse includes: making the abused feel crazy, playing mind games on the abused, controlling what the abused does--who they talk to/limiting involvement and access to others, making light of the abuse, not taking the concerns about the abuse seriously, saying the abuse is not happening, shifting responsibility from the abuser to the abused--blaming the abused for the wrongdoing. DeKalb County is guilty of all of the above in its actions toward its citizens. House Bill 22 introduced by Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver of Druid Hills illustrates and exacerbates the problem because it only locks the doors on those neighborhoods ready to …
Monday, January 28, 2013
Evansdale Elementary School PTA President Jennifer Hatfield attended last week's state hearing and weighs in on the crisis.
Sunday, January 27, 2013
Evansdale Elementary School PTA President Jennifer Hatfield attended last week's state hearing and weighs in on the crisis.
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Sunday, January 27
Having attending numerous DeKalb Board of Education meetings, I can tell you I have NEVER witnessed the DeKalb board act in such a manner. I hope that Governor Deal watched the webcast of the hearing since he was not present. I believe that the testimony of the nine current board members painted a pretty clear picture of what is wrong. Our system is broken, though only two members, Dr. Speaks and Mrs. Jester, had the courage to express any accountability. Sadly, they are two of the most honest and hard-working members of the board. In the next hearing in February, it may be helpful to call Dr. Atkinson and former BOE members Paul Womack, Don McChesney and Thomas Bowen to give testimony and answer questions. These three have nothing to lose…
Saturday, January 26, 2013
Patch blogger Tom Doolittle attended a recent meeting of Stand Up DeKalb, which, he said, is pushing the idea of cityhood in North Druid Hills.
Tom Doolittle
2:28 pm on Monday, April 22, 2013
Firing people and reducing salaries is for tough bosses. Even tho this guy owes none of them anything, he probably is not the guy thats going to do tough things. The non-teaching position bloat is the litmus test. He will fail it--and will fail, with a period. more ›