Former School Board Member Sees 'Laborious' Legal Fight Ahead

Former DeKalb County Board of Education District 2 member Don McChesney said he believes the fight between the state and our school board is just getting started.

A former DeKalb County Board of Education member from the North Druid Hills-Briarcliff area believes residents should settle in for a long legal ride before the fight between the state and the board is resolved. Don McChesney, who was unseated from his District 2 post by Marshall Orson last year, said last week on his blog he believes any potential changes to the board, including the removal of six members, will be bogged down in lawsuits from the board itself and individual members. From McChesney's blog: What will be the outcome of all this posturing and opining? The voter will eventually get hyper focused on our legislature and their law making abilities. The Charter School law was overturned two years ago. Will this bill, that was run …

• Photos (1)

Reviewing DeKalb's Last Search for a School Superintendent

As speculation mounts about Cheryl Atkinson's future, Don McChesney offers his observations on the school board's last search for a superintendent.

Moms Talk: Our New Superintendent

The DeKalb County Board of Education hired Cheryl Atkinson as the school system's new superintendent in a 6-3 vote last week. What are your thoughts?

The DeKalb County Board of Education voted last week to hire Cheryl Atkinson as the new county superintendent of schools. The vote was 6-3. Ideally, a school board works hard to secure a unanimous vote for an incoming superintendent, but at big, urban and semi-urban schools districts such as DeKalb County's–with deeper politics and pockets–that becomes more difficult. Atkinson, who runs the city school district in Lorain, Ohio, takes over DeKalb Sept. 15. North Druid Hills-Briarcliff Patch ran a series of stories on her approval process: Atkinson Named DeKalb Superintendent McChesney, Jester Oppose Superintendent Nominee Parents React to DeKalb County's New Superintendent DeKalb Superintendent Finalist: "We Must Work Together" The "No" …

• Photos (1)

McChesney, Jester Oppose Superintendent Nominee

Nancy Jester and Don McChesney said the DeKalb County School System can do better.

In yet another move acknowledging the divisiveness of the DeKalb County Board of Education, members Nancy Jester and Don McChesney have spoken out against Cheryl Atkinson, the board’s nominee for superintendent, who is to be voted on and installed in less than two weeks.  In separate statements posted on Jester's website, both members referred to the state of affairs in Atkinson’s current district, Lorain, Ohio, and expressed disdain at the low student achievement, low test scores, and the “Academic Watch” status of the district. “We had several candidates with better records of student achievement,” McChesney said, “but, unfortunately, as you know, their candidacy was plagued with leaks of confidential information to the press. I hope …

• Photos (3)

Board Votes Down Cell Tower at Medlock Elementary School

Medlock residents spoke out against the proposed cell tower at Monday night's DeKalb County Board of Education meeting. But the board gave approval to towers at Lakeside High and Briarlake Elementary schools.

Medlock residents flooded the DeKalb County Board of Education meeting Monday evening to object to a proposal to erect a T-Mobile cell tower at the site of Medlock Elementary School. The plan before the school board also called for the construction of cell towers at several other DeKalb County schools, including Lakeside High School and Briarlake Elementary School.   Ultimately the Medlock residents’ impassioned objections were heard and the school board passed an amended version of the proposal that exempted Medlock Elementary from tower construction. Meadowview and Brockett elementary schools also received exemptions.   In her testimony before the board, Pat Camp, vice president of the Medlock Area Neighborhood Association, argued that …

•  7 Comments
• Photos (4)

Cheryl Miller

11:32 am on Tuesday, May 8, 2012

You are worried about the kudzu and not the fact that the children could get cancer? And we wonder what's wrong with our society today? Hope you get that radio reception worked out ... God only knows how important that is compared to a neighborhood being forced to live next to hazardous materials for the next 30 years.   more ›

McChesney: Still No Set Plans for Medlock Elementary

Neighborhood residents want to know what's next for the school that closed its doors on May 20.

Medlock Elementary School permanently closed its doors last month to students after 50 years due to redistricting in DeKalb County. The beloved elementary school, which had an enrollment at the time of closure of only 325 students, is set to officially close completely in June. On many neighbors’ minds: What’s next for Medlock? “People want to know what the answer is to something we don’t know the answer to yet,” said Don McChesney of the DeKalb County Board of Education when asked of the school’s future. McChesney represents District 2, which includes Medlock Elementary. He said the county is still looking for a use for the school and hopes to find a positive solution for all involved. “At this point we do not know what the future plans …

•  2 Comments
• Photos (1)