Classroom Notes
The Pathology of DeKalb County Schools
Among teachers and administrators who speak off the record, among parents who contribute to blogs on condition of anonymity, within the closed circle of board members, the DeKalb County school year comes to a grim close.
What a strange situation: We know so much and we know so little. How is it possible that intelligent, deeply concerned DeKalb County residents are reduced to such dubious speculation about the future of their public schools? Running the schools with superb opacity, our elected officials and administrators share essential information only under duress. Documents appear and disappear at will, and the system’s financial accounting is routinely withheld or obscured. At least in the fairytale Hansel and Gretel, the crumbs dropped by the children led somewhere. In the dark labyrinth of the DeKalb County School System, there are no trails at all. It’s impossible to follow the money or the ideas. From the outside looking in, we cannot discern a …
Claudia Keenan
9:13 am on Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Hi, I understand that some board members may have trangressed more than others but a BOARD has COLLECTIVE responsibility for itself. And the buck stops with the leader. My perspective from personal experience and from the history of education, which is my field, was intended to suggest that conflict is part of the process of public education -- not to dodge the issues. You are right, I did not … more ›