I don't say this lightly, because I have respect for elected officials. The whole entire board needs to go.
This is an eye soar on the whole county that needs to be addressed.
What gets under my skin the most, they don't seem embarrassed by the situation they created.

http://blog.donfordekalb.com/2013/02/04/179/

Please pass the yellow mustard!

I 2nd the above comment. After having met with Dr. Atkinson, I appreciate her effort to clean up the mess she stepped into and know that she can't turn a ship this size quick enough, it'd capsize. While I don't think she's done "everything right", I do think she's really made some big progress.

A new board, appointed by the Gov., would suffer no political pressure within the county system and be more capable to address the underlying issues within DCSS. If we are going to recycle policitcians who have already been unable to address the real issues then there is no hope for DCSS in it's current state." Johnny on Don's blog
SIGN AND SHARE TO Remove ENTIRE DKBOE
change.org/petitions/governor-nathan-deal-and-georgia-state-board-of-education-review-sacs-findings-if-accurate-replace-the-dekalb-county-school-board

For anyone who thinks Atkinson is not as good as gone (thankfully), please note BOE is already discussing interim replacements:

http://blogs.ajc.com/get-schooled-blog/2013/02/04/former-labor-commissioner-michael-thurmond-good-guy-but-can-he-lead-dekalb-schools/

Is Thurmond the right person? Personally, I'd like to hear about his relationship with "Chairman" Walker.

Lastly, thank you Don McChesney, for proving what so many of us believed to be true with regards to Atkinson's hiring & shame on you, BOE, for your continued lack of transparency and disrespect for the children & taxpayers of DeKalb County.

With regards to SACS, until Georgia adopts a school accreditation process that takes into account the academic performance of individual schools instead of the overall governance of entire systems, the students of our State will not be able to compete with their peers around the Nation. I hope the Governor, GA General Assembly & State DOE look closely into the motives, agendas, and effectiveness of SACS and seriously consider an alternative to our accreditation standards & practices.

Ignoring the incompetent BOE and district leadership to pin the entire blame on SACS isn't going to fly.

There has been NO ignoring the BOE or general administration amongst the people actively involved in this debate. They are all intertwined. Who pushed Atkinson on the BOE as the lead candidate? SACS! Who had the previous relationship with SACS as a member of different committees they put together? ATKINSON! On one hand, SACS has criticized members of the BOE for "meddling" in affairs they should not be involved in; while on the other hand, SACS seems to have had direct involvement in the hiring of our Superintendent, a process that should not fall under their scope of influence & a process that has led to continued failure of the DCSD.

Any SACS influence on that hire was inapproriate.

Did you read Mr. McChesney's account of how the board acted during the search?

Hopefully Governor Deal, at the recommendation of the State BOE, prevents that decision from having to occur by removing the Board following the February 21st hearing. In the alternative, NO, there is no reason to believe the current Board, as a majority, is capable of making a better choice given the opportunity.

The link below is an interesting read. Back in 2011, the Lorain, Ohio community (a school district of 7,000 students compared to DCSD's 98,000+) was THANKING DeKalb for taking Cheryl Atkinson away from them, calling it "GREAT NEWS!!!". Comments such as "now let’s get a superintendent who does something", "we are now starting on a path to recovery" and "the community has to be excited at the prospect of a new superintendent", are comments I hope we as parents & taxpayers of DeKalb County can duplicate in the coming days.

http://betterlorainschools.wordpress.com/

Blaming SACS is like blaming the messenger. The whole board needs to go and to be replaced by the governor. What has happened to the DeKalb County School System is criminal. Jim Cherry and the other fine DeKalb County leaders who made this school system one of the best in the nation must be spinning in their graves. As one who sent children to the fine DC public schools, today my children would be going to private schools if I had to work two jobs to do it.

More shenanigans from this woeful group of miscreants.

http://www.wsbtv.com/news/news/local/boe-accused-secretly-trying-hire-interim-super/nWGh8/

Below is a short twitter conversation I had with John Barge. I was really confused as to why GA had to accredit the 99K students instead of each school as they do in VA, our hometown. I had assumed this was the only option in GA but its not! I went to the SACS site I found that they accredited individual schools and entire school systemsl. In fact, Saint Pius X Catholic High School is accredited by SACS. I think the Archdiocese is like the BOE. As I understand it, DK as a district has chosen with SACS the school system option instead of the school option. After briefly reviewing the options it seems that SACS has a school option that focuses more on the school and less on the educrats in DeKalb. Perhaps. DCSS is just too big and diverse for a one size fits all, central management system. I am worried that the system accreditation might have been chosen to "protect" or hide poor preforming schools but I think its better to know Johnny can't read than keep our heads in the sand a moment longer. Just sharing my discovery and thoughts as I understand them with little information.

Betsy Parks ‏@RestoreDCSS
@DrJohnBarge @GrowBrookhaven I'm from Va- I am having a hard time understanding why you would accredit an entire system of 99K not ea school
Expand
3h Dr. John Barge ‏@DrJohnBarge
@restoredcss It's up to the district to choose that. They work with SACS on those decisions.
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1:14 PM - 5 Feb 13 · Details

Just let all the schools in Brookhaven LEAVE the DKSC and turn them all into Charter of Magnet schools.... problem solved.

I just confirmed that DKBOE seven years ago chose to ignore individual school performance and chose to accredit the system instead. It is a lot cheeper to accredit the entire system and a single school is not "singled out" for needs improvement. We got rid of Crawford Lewis and have kicked this can far enough down the road. We should demand that we change from a school system to an individual school accreditation system as soon as possible. The schools that are succeeding should receive a pat on the back and the failing schools should get the help they need, improve or close their doors. From what I understand, SACS has a plan to help individual schools if our district had chosen than plan. We got what we asked for now lets get over it and choose to examine EACH school. It will be uncomfortable to look at and tiring, embarrassing, expensive to work on our most dysfunctional schools. Frankly its time we did. I am tired of hearing how bad SACS, Gov Deal, GABOE is doing its job. I am tired of wasting time and money on legal fees, BOE mistakes and would rather that time, energy money go to SACS to accredit on a school by school basis any day! This school system approach we chose with SACS in DeKalb is STUCK on STUPID! http://www.advanc-ed.org/what-accreditation

WTF! Get it together Dekalb. It's getting to be past the ridiculous.

SACS is so out of touch with reality that it hasn't the credibility to accredit anyone or anything. Is it still 1892? Where's my Delorian with the flux capacitor?

I always find great interest when bloggers who normally do not agree are able to find common interest.

SACS is very much part of the problem because a good and proper accreditation process should avoid so many of the HUGE systemic ills that plague DeKalb and Fulton school systems; ie criminal charges and wholesale cheating, respectively.

Jobs=Growth
Jobs are dependent on a variety of factors, not the least of which is the perception that an area has a well managed educational system.

As Messrs. Keefe and Gocke so state, the individuals schools are providing quality education, in spite of central office criminal mismanagement.

Smart citizens will continue to leave DeKalb and the newest city entrant, Lakeside, continues to prove that the status quo is unacceptable to the poor ol' taxpayin' public.