Question Time for DeKalb School Board

Karen Carter, Jim McMahan, and Michael Thurmond will face the public this week.

Questions for school superintendent Michael Thurmond or your local school board representatives? Come hear them speak at this Thursday's Northlake Community Alliance Annual Meeting. It's this Thursday, May 23, at 7pm. The meeting will be held in the back lot building located at Briarlake Baptist Church. The address is 3715 LaVista Road. Speakers for the event will be Jim McMahan, Board Vice Chairman, representing District 4 which includes Tucker; Dr. Karen W. Carter representing District 8, and school superintendent Michael Thurmond.  What would you like to ask the board? Tell us in the comments below. 

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Patch Politics

Obama Rocks Morehouse in the Rain

The live coverage is over, but replay the live blog to see what all the hype was about.

President Barack Obama gave the 129th commencement address speech on a wet and rainy Sunday afternoon, May 19th, at Morehouse College. Obama began his remarks to an excited yet wet crowd,most of whom had been seated as early as 6 am. at approximately 11:30 am. The sky opened just before the speech began, and the crowd was treated to a steady downpour throughout. Obama quipped that, “I would be out there with you, but the Secret Service gets nervous.” Obama was greeted with a big cheer when he emerged from a building adjacent to the stage with Morehouse College president John Silvanus Wilson, a former White House aide. The invocation was given by Rev. Raphael Warnock of Ebenezer Baptist Church, Martin Luther King, Jr.’s famous church. …

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Tucker CID Is DeKalb’s Newest Community Improvement District

A CID is a self-taxing district that uses additional property tax dollars to make transportation and infrastructure improvements.

After working several months on the project, volunteers with the Tucker Community Improvement District (CID) Formation Committee cheered when the DeKalb Board of Commissioners unanimously approved DeKalb’s third CID in the Tucker area. “I can’t express how pleased I am with all of the people who came together to make this possible,” said Honey Van De Kreke, co-manager of the Main Street Tucker Alliance and the Tucker CID Formation Committee. “This is the third CID in DeKalb and to my knowledge the only one formed totally by volunteers.”   “After the success of the Tucker LCI and the Tucker Overlay District, there is now a funding mechanism that can improve the area such as accelerating transportation and infrastructure improvement projects…

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New Lake Lanier Laws Take Effect Wednesday

The boating legislation follows several recent deaths, including that of a Tucker fisherman.

It's official: As of Wednesday (May 15), a new Georgia law regarding the Boating Under the Influence legal limit and other boating safety regulations is in effect. According to a Lake Lanier website, state officials will attend information sessions at local marinas around the state Wednesday. The visits will culminate at Laurel Park in Hall County, where Gov. Nathan Deal will give an address at 2 p.m. The new regulations are contained in Senate Bill 136, which Deal signed into law in April. Portions of the bill are named for late Buford youths Griffin and Jake Prince, and late Atlanta youth Kile Glover. The youths were killed in boating or watercraft-related accidents on Lake Lanier in 2012. In March, Tucker resident Marty Counts died at …

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Questions Arise After School Board Millions Found

Thad Mayfield was the only one of the stunned board to make a comment upon hearing the news.

By Kirk Lunde With the AJC reporting that Mr. Thurmond’s outside experts “found $7 million in unaccounted for revenue in the current fiscal year” and “an additional $21 million” in “revenue that had gone unnoticed” for the next fiscal year, several thoughts come to mind. The first thought after the incredulous expletives is, “Mr. Thurmond, do you believe us now?” Mr. Thurmond has been told many anecdotal stories of the “Friends and Family” network and of the financial tricks used to hide and spend money in the DeKalb County School District (DCSD). He has indicated he doesn’t take any of them at face value which is the correct approach to take. However, now that he has witnessed first-hand how the books have been cooked for years, does he …

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Cheryl Miller

7:41 pm on Thursday, May 23, 2013

Instead of complaining about the board members, let's work to ensure quality candidates are planning to run for these seats when they are all up for re-election next July. The very fact that a school board election was moved to July, the middle of the Summer which has historically low voter turnout and most people are on vacation or thinking about things other than schools, is a sham that was …   more ›

Tucker, Lakeside Cityhood Discussed at DeKalb Cityhood Meeting

Tucker parent Michelle Penkava was one of our local residents who spoke at Monday night's meeting.

At a meeting that seemed to be designed to slow the on-rushing train of cityhood, Democrats in DeKalb’s legislative delegation urged residents to consider a variety of issues before deciding to incorporate. “You all have gotten our attention in a very substantial way; we hear you,” said state Sen. Jason Carter (D-42) told the several hundred people in attendance. “I’m not sold on the idea of creating new cities, but the fact that we have so many people here tonight is a good sign.” The meeting was held this past Monday at Clairmont Hills Baptist Church, and was hosted by state Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver (D-Decatur). Oliver has been an outspoken opponent of the way that cities are created in Georgia, most recently during the debate over …

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Jeoff

11:08 am on Monday, May 13, 2013

I think that Oliver's city bill was a 'defense' against the other city bills, trying to prevent a 'land grab' into her district. She may not think that cities are the way to go, but if the tide is against her, she would rather keep the neigborhoods she represents under one government (city or county).   more ›

Open Letter to School Board on Legal Fees

Tucker parent Kirk Lunde questions the DeKalb board's accounting practices.

Ladies and Gentlemen of the BOE, Misters Thurmond and Perrone, In reviewing the vendor spends report attached to agenda item #2 of Monday's meeting I looked at thirteen lines related to legal expenses. Those lines include the columns "acct amt," "paid amt," and "remaining amt."  In four of the thirteen lines there are errors in the remaining amount column which under-report the debt owed by the school district by $337,446. I am attaching a spreadsheet (see link below) so you can double-check my statement. This should be an automated calculation. I cannot think of any explanation why these errors exist. It is frightening to extrapolate this rate of errors (4 of 13 or 31%) to the hundreds of lines in the report. Another disturbing thing …

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Cheryl Miller

12:38 pm on Monday, May 6, 2013

Thank you! Great job Kirk Lunde!   more ›

DeKalb School Board 'Meet and Greet' Tuesday

Board members and parents will gather at 6:30 p.m. in Stone Mountain.

The DeKalb County Board of Education will participate in a Meet and Greet with the public today, April 30 at 6:30 p.m. at Redan High School, 5247 Redan Road in Stone Mountain. An announcement Monday stated the gathering is "in keeping with the State of Georgia's Open Meetings Act" and added, "while a quorum of Board members will be present, no action will be taken." The meeting is being hosted by the South DeKalb Parent Council. 

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MARTA Taking Proactive Security Measures in Response to Boston Explosions

In case you ride MARTA, read about their new security protocols.

Our friends at MARTA have just sent Cascade Patch a press release about the security changes that they are implementing after the deadly Boston Marathon bombings. According to the written statement by Cara Hodgson, MARTA is "heightening security on the transit system." Hodgson says that there are no imminent threats towards the transit system or its riders, but that they want to be proactive and take this opportunity to be even safer. MARTA is taking the following proactive measures: The MARTA Police Department (MPD) is working directly with federal, state and local agencies, including the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority (MBTA) and the Transit Security Administration (TSA) in Washington, D. C. to stay updated on any recommendations …

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