State of the District Address - Redan High April 15, 2014

I attended the South DeKalb Parent Council meeting last Tuesday during which Superintendent Thurmond addressed the state of the district.

Before I discuss what the superintendent said I want to point out the South DeKalb Parent Council (SDPC) allowed BOE member and candidate, Dr. Morley, to speak for nearly 10 minutes, but neither of her opponents spoke. I don't know if they were invited and declined, but the SDPC did not say they had declined. It gave the appearance of explicit support for Dr. Morley by the SDPC. I caution everyone that appearances are not based on facts, only observations.

The previous sentence is important because it is why this blog is named "DeKalb School District Observations." I don't have all the facts.

All parents and DeKalb taxpayers have the right to all the facts, but need to engage the school district through groups, or individually, to get the facts relevant to themselves.

I love Parent Councils. My experiences with the leadership of the Tucker Parent Council (I am not a leader of the TPC.) have only been positive. They are advocates who get phone calls returned and emails answered. Regardless of who the leaders have been, they all have listened to parents and worked to resolve parents' issues.  

Dr. Thurmond's State of the District address was not a traditional speech. In the process he called people from the audience to the microphone to provide details to what he was addressing. I liked that technique. It seemed the only person who was a prepared to speak was Pamela Benford, the principal of Cedar Grove H.S.. The rest spoke extemporaneously.

The address itself was remarkably short for Superintendent Thurmond. More time was spent on the Q and A part of the evening.

My takeaways from the evening are as follows:

We are completing the most successful year in the history of DCSD.

• Out of debt 
• Off probation   
• Every school is completely wireless 
• This year we will see an increase in graduation rate
• This year we will see an increase in test scores   (Through tutorials)
• We are refocusing on being better role models for students and better stewards of money
• We have changed how we focus out time, money, and energy

There was a long discussion on how standardized testing actually tests the adults in the district. If the adults are doing the right things, the students will score well.

Redan is getting; a new addition, $300,000 upgrade to the baseball field, new band uniforms, and new textbooks.

Overall goal of the budget is to “better prepare students for life.”

1. Increase savings -  <$100,000 in savings a year ago, no reserves
2. Eliminate furlough days – this is a raise for the teachers
3. Increase the strength of academic offerings – develop career pathways (not all students have the same goals)
4. More guidance counselors
5. Rehiring graduation coaches – to help students who struggle?
6. Supplies for nurses in the schools

When the Superintendent was hired in February of 2013 the district had less than $100,000 in reserves, what Superintendent Thurmond calls "savings." Also, the district was projecting a budget deficit for fiscal year 2013. Dr. Thurmond said he expects the reserves to be close to $20 million at the end of FY 2014. That is remarkable and I applaud him.

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I wrote last spring the  "infrastructure" of the school district needs to be rebuilt. Creating a substantial fund of reserves is part of that infrastructure. As much as I hate to say it, DeKalb teachers should not expect a raise this year other than reduced furlough days and contributions to their retirement fund. The later is my wish, but I have heard no discussion of it. 

My high level overview is the district is significantly better off than one year ago. This is due to AdvancEd required actions, personnel changes, and Superintendent Thurmond's leadership. He found a swarm of "issues" in the "central office" and has focused on resolving them.

Do I agree with all of the superintendent's decisions and actions? Heck NO! Do I think his time as superintendent will end with the students being better served than the two years prior to his arrival? Heck YES!

Superintendent Thurmond, like everyone else, is neither all good nor all bad. He is a lawyer/politician (bad) who is trying to improve the school system (good).

The reason I mentioned he is a politician is because he was trying out a line that can only be a prelude to his next campaign. I will paraphrase as best I can remember.

"I used to focus on the next election, but I found that in order to be fulfilled as a person, I need to focus on the next generation. I have found that by focusing on the next generation, the next election will take care of itself."

Perhaps the aspect of Superintendent Thurmond that I appreciate the most is he appears to be enjoying his job. He looks like he is having fun, but I don't have all the facts.