Tuesday, May 14, 2013
The district is writing a new Code of Student Conduct and wants to hear from parents.
The DeKalb County School District is seeking input from parents on the 2013-2014 Code of Student Conduct - Student Rights and Responsibilities and Character Development Handbook. The Handbook outlines the policies, rules and regulations that govern student discipline in the District including dress code, behavior, bus information, electronic communication devices, violence against students, school personnel and other student responsibilities. It is intended to inform students in grades K-12 of the types of behaviors that are unacceptable. Students are taught and tested on the contents of the handbook. A copy of the current 2012-2013 Handbook is available in all DeKalb schools and online. Comments and recommendations may be sent to the …
Sunday, May 12, 2013
Latest top five stories on Tucker Patch.
Here are some of the subjects we covered this week:
Thursday, May 9, 2013
Michael Perrone's resignation follows school officials' discovery last weekend of millions in overlooked revenue.
DeKalb county school district's chief financial officer, Michael Perrone, has resigned, according to Crossroads News. The move comes after the discovery several days ago that the district has millions in overlooked revenue. Perrone's resignation to interim superintendent Michael Thurmond this week did not specify his reasons for leaving, Crossroads reports. Thurmond, according to the news outlet, said he had "no problem" with Perrone and that he did not ask for his resignation. An auditor for DeKalb schools, Michael Bell, took Perrone's place. Thurmond told the school board that he'll recommend that Bell be hired for the position, the article states. Related content on Tucker Patch
This week's news that millions have been found in DeKalb's school budget begs the question: where should the money go? Patch wants your opinion.
Talk about a nice problem to have. DeKalb school officials this past weekend came across $21 million in previously overlooked revenue - news that interim school superintendent Michael Thurmond shared with "stunned" school board members Monday. Thurmond also said another $7 million in unaccounted revenue in the current fiscal year was discovered. So, if you were running DeKalb's school board, where would you spend the money? Teacher pay raises, or hiring more teachers? Better classroom technology? Paying down those legal fees the board's suspended members racked up at taxpayer expense? Or paying down the system's $15 million deficit? Share your thoughts in the Comments section below. See Also: Questions Arise After School Board Millions …
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
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 …
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
The AJC says the projected windfall was discovered over the weekend.
It appears that DeKalb county schools' budget for next year may be looking up. According to an AJC article, DeKalb school officials this past weekend came across $21 million in previously overlooked revenue - news that interim school superintendent Michael Thurmond shared with "stunned" school board members Monday. Thurmond also said another $7 million in unaccounted revenue in the current fiscal year was discovered, the AJC reports. The district still needs to chip away at $15 million in deficit spending from a few years back, according to the AJC. Thurmond said he would go over the findings again prior to proposing 2014's budget, which must get the nod from the school board before July, the report states.
Monday, May 6, 2013
Five things to know about.
The DeKalb Board of Education will hold the following meetings on Monday, May 6: 2 p.m. Work Session; 3 p.m. Committee of the Whole; 4 p.m. Executive Session for a student appeal and a legal matter; 5:45 p.m. Community Meeting for Public Comments; 7 p.m. Business Meeting. All will take place at BOE HQ, 1701 Mountain Industrial Boulevard in Stone Mountain. DeKalb Delegation's Cityhood Town Hall Meeting is Monday, May 6, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Clairmont Hills Baptist Church, 1995 Clairmont Drive, Decatur. From May 6–10, Goodwill of North Georgia will host a variety of events, including job fairs and employment workshops at its career centers, giveaways for donors and shoppers and drawings for Goodwill gift cards. The Tucker location is …
Sunday, May 5, 2013
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 …
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
The plan for DeKalb's schools came out late Tuesday.
DeKalb County Schools Interim Superintendent Michael Thurmond unveiled a 90-day plan of action on Tuesday. Shortly after the plan went out, Patch met with Thurmond, who said: "Did you see the plan? Every day things get a little better, but every day you find something else that's wrong. It took years to get that way, and will take a while to fix." Dear DeKalb County School District Stakeholders, My first two months on the job have provided a unique opportunity for me to engage a cross section of DeKalb County School District (herein DCSD) stakeholders in open, honest and frank discussions. I have listened and learned. Now is the time for leadership. Working in partnership with Chairman Melvin Johnson and the members of the DeKalb County …
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
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.
Jerome Masters
10:33 pm on Friday, May 10, 2013
As long as south dekalb runs? dekalb this will only get worse ,corrupt cops, sorry school personel.Wake up you,ve seen this in Clayton,Fulton Dekalb.Whats the common denominator here? This is why all the new cities have been formed ,informed people were tired of seeing thier tax money go to crooks YES CROOKS.And if you people with an IQ over 50 don,t wake up and get Tucker the hell out of this … more ›