Letter to Thurmond: How Can Parents Get Answers?

Mr. Thurmond, 

First of all, THANK YOU for renegotiating the King and Spalding contract. I am ecstatic at this news and believe you earned your salary with that achievement. Congratulations on a job well done and I would like to buy you a root beer if I get the chance.

I spoke to the BOE Monday evening, but you were not in the room at the time. I am writing to ask the questions that you did not hear and repeat some others that I emailed to you on April 19.

How can parents/stakeholders get their questions answered? The employees are unresponsive. You are unresponsive. The BOE was told by Mark Elgart to be unresponsive and to use a script. What is the avenue stakeholders can use to get questions answered?

I am one of your supporters. Really. I want you to be successful. However, it appears as though your words about more openness, greater transparency, and improved responsiveness to stakeholders were only more empty words.

You have not responded to the email I sent you on April 19. In general, district employees do not reply to emails, do not follow through with the actions they say they are going to take, and do not reply to voice messages. The one notable exception to this is Lillian Govus who always gets back to people.

The email I sent to you on April 19, included questions for the Tucker Parent Council which you attended the following Tuesday. None of my questions were asked during the meeting, consequently some of the questions to which I am still awaiting answers are the following:

-What is the time frame for moving to the accrual accounting system?
-What is the time frame for aligning the DeKalb County financial reporting system to the state DOE financial reporting system?
-Can the planning department post the new school capacities on the DCSD web site?
-Will you lead by example and take a (significant) pay cut during FY 2014?
-In the powerpoint presentation of April 16, the Strategic Management and Accountability division is shown to have a budget of $723,954. According to the organizational chart currently posted on the DCSD web site there are two employees in that department. Can you explain what work is done in that department and why it costs so much?
-Can you share the job responsibilities of the director of strategic initiatives? -How is that person's position different from the chief strategy officer and why are they not in the same department?
-How many people actually work in the superintendent's office?  

One question I asked during Monday's budget meeting is how can a department which doesn't exist on the current organizational chart have a budget of $950,000? 

You have stated publicly the school district does not have a strategic plan. If the district has two senior administrators responsible for strategic planning and strategic initiatives (over $300,000 in salary) why hasn't any strategic planning been done? In 2011, the Georgia School Boards Association came to DeKalb County and began the strategic planning process. What happened? In answering that question we must look for lessons in order to prevent the same failures.

Finally, when is the search for your replacement going to start and which line of the FY 2014 budget contains the funds for that search?

Again, thank you for your work on behalf of the students and taxpayers of DeKalb County. If there is anything I can do to help you, please do not hesitate to ask.

Kirk Lunde