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
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 …
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 …
Thursday, April 25, 2013
If you missed it, you can watch the school superintendent's address here.
A man with a lot on his plate, Superintendent Michael Thurmond took some time this week to attend a meeting of the Tucker Parent Council. He spoke at length about the challenges the DeKalb School District is facing and answered many questions. It was revealed during the meeting that Tucker High School will have close to 1,900 students next school year. The building, completed less than a decade ago, is supposed to hold only about 1,600. A video transcript accompanies this article. Thanks to Stan Jester of FactChecker.StanJester.com for providing it to Patch.
Michael Thurmond spoke to the Tucker Parent Council on Tuesday.
By Kirk Lunde I attended the Tucker Parent Council meeting on Tuesday night and next morning awoke with two thoughts. Interim superintendent Thurmond’s agenda is to fix the problems of the DeKalb County School District. The three previous superintendents had other, personal, agendas. The meeting can be described as an open conversation with stakeholders about the issues and concerns they have. That alone is a change from many of the previous public meetings. At the meeting I heard several things which give me hope for the future of the district. First was that Mr. Thurmond is seeking to gain an understanding the institutional history of DeKalb County Schools. While this may not appear to be a priority during this time of crisis, it …
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
The county's school district has a $728 million budget for next fiscal year.
- GOVERNMENT
-
Wednesday, April 24
The DeKalb County School District will hold three public hearings on the district's estimated $728 million budget for the 2014 fiscal year. The hearings will be held at 6 p.m. on April 29 and May 8 at the district's headquarters at 1701 Mountain Industrial Boulevard in Stone Mountain. The third date will be announced later. The hearings will be broadcast live on PDS-TV24 and on the DCSD website. The public is encouraged to share feedback by emailing budgetfeedback@fc.dekalb.k12.ga.us From a press release by DeKalb County School District Will you be attending, or watching? How do you feel about the way the school district handles their finances? Tell us in the comments-
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Thurmond will address the Tucker Parent Council and take questions.
DeKalb County School District Interim Superintendent Michael Thurmond will address the Tucker Parent Council on Tuesday, April 23, 6:30 p.m. at Brockett Elementary School. There will be an opportunity to ask questions. If you prefer, you may submit questions in advance to tuckerparentcouncil@gmail.com. Related content on Tucker Patch
Sunday, April 21, 2013
Superintendent Michael Thurmond will address the Tucker Parent Council on Tuesday evening.
- GOVERNMENT
-
Sunday, April 21
By Kirk Lunde The challenge of repairing the DeKalb school system and restoring it to its former designation of “premiere” will require strong leadership from its superintendent, Mr. Thurmond, and his successor, as well as competent central office employees who are committed to doing their jobs. This means resolving the concerns of parents, students, and teachers who rely upon central office staff to respond quickly and competently to issues as they arise. Central office staff must recognize their roles as public servants and act in the best interest of the all the stakeholders they serve. The question now becomes whether or not Mr. Thurmond can lead his staff, guiding them to excellence and eliminating staff where there is, incompetence, …
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
A Tucker parent attended Wednesday's Emory LaVista Parent Council meeting and has a few thoughts.
Mr. Thurmond, Thank you for your honest back and forth with citizens at this morning's Emory LaVista Parent Council meeting. I attend a lot of meetings and your willingness to stay in the conversation is a refreshing change. Many of your subordinates have a record of walking out instead of dealing with difficult questions. Every time I hear you speak I become a more ardent supporter. You may be the right person to be superintendent at this time. I particularly appreciate your attitude of getting to know how things work before attempting to make any big changes. Hopefully, you are a fast learner. That said, I have to tell you parents are well aware you are not answering many of the questions asked. I repeat my question, are salaries of …
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 ›