95 From Decatur Area Seek DeKalb School Board Seats

Two people from Avondale Estates are on the list of 403 total names.

Ninety-five residents with Decatur addresses and two with Avondale Estates addresses have volunteered to sit on the DeKalb Board of Education. It's unclear if any of the people live in the Decatur and Avondale Estates city limits. Gov. Nathan Deal's office released the 403 names late Thursday morning. The people on the local list are: DECATUR Narwanna Denice Adams-el-Shabazz Delores Avery Jerrie Bason John Bennett Gina Bernard Lillian Bittaye Mary Bowen Stacy Boyd Phillip A. Braziel, II Eddie D. Broadway Linton Broome Andrease Brooms Ann Brown Ashley Brown Linnea Buckhalter Deanna Cauthen Christopher Chambers DanamChanner Kristina G. Chatfield Susan M. Clark SheridamClayton Tesha Clemmons Zehline A. Davis Myron Daye Alvin Dollar Janice …

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Petition To Oust DeKalb School Board Gains Momentum

People living in and around Decatur and Avondale Estates are among the almost 500 people who have signed an online petition. Take our Patch poll and tell us if you believe DeKalb's school board should be removed.

Less than two weeks after being placed on probation, the DeKalb County School Board is now the target of an online petition calling for their removal. CBS Atlanta is reporting that the petition has already received more than 490 signatures, including some signees from Brookhaven and Chamblee. "As our schools go, so goes our neighborhood and subsequent property values," said one Decatur resident on the petitition. Wrote another, "I've gone to meetings and seen board members asleep. They have completely failed at their jobs in every aspect. Their salaries are better spent on students." DeKalb resident Grace McKenna began the online petition, calling on Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal to replace the entire school board. On Dec. 17, the Southern …

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DeKalb Schools Placed on Probation

An accrediting agency takes a serious step in the ongoing controversy.

The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools has placed the DeKalb County School System on probation until December 31, 2013. “I’m disappointed that they’re going to put us on probation. Nobody wants to be on probation,” school board chairman Eugene Walker said. "We’ve not done anything egregious,” he added. "The big concerns are the effectiveness of the school board to govern the school system and the second is the ability of this board to be good stewards to the system's resources, principally the financial resources of the system," Dr. Mark Elgart of SACS told Fox 5. In particular, the district's legal bills and utility costs have come under scrutiny. Superintendent Dr. Cheryl Atkinson has co-operated with SACS investigators and …

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Job Openings: Decatur Schools Need A Menu Specialist and Electrician

DeKalb County Schools are looking for principals, a nutrition coordinator and a custodian.

Here are some job openings with local governments. Wellness and menu specialist. City Schools of Decatur. Part-time job. No salary listed. Apply by Dec. 2. Electrician. City Schools of Decatur. No salary listed. Apply by Dec. 2. Coordinator I, School Nutrition. DeKalb County Schools. Pays $54,348.36 to $95,551.66. Open until filled. Elementary school principal. DeKalb County Schools at Laurel Ridge Elementary. $82,938.89 to $108,824.05. Open until filled. High School principal. DeKalb County Schools at Martin Luther King Jr. High School. $85,008.23 to $111,540.73. Open until filled. Custodian II. DeKalb County Schools at Druid Hills High School. $22,861.48 to $31,112.65. Open until filled. Dispatcher. Watershed Management in DeKalb County …

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Fernbank Museum Prez Says Forest Is Safe

She shoots down rumors, says the 65-acre forest will not be bulldozed.

The rumor mill is flying with wide-ranging chatter that Fernbank Forest owners plan to knockdown the treasured forest to build an amusement park or convention center. Fernbank Museum President and CEO Susan Neugent told Druid Hills residents Wednesday night there are no plans to bulldoze the 65-acre forest, which is owned by the museum. Neugent said a plan is in the works to refurbish the forest and set a master plan to focus on general maintenance and upkeep. Museum representatives will work with experts to draft the plan and update the public as more information is available, she said. For the past 48 years, DeKalb County Schools and the Fernbank Science Center — a separate entity from Fernbank Museum — operated the forest. The lease …

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Back To School? Already? Where Did Summer Go?

Patch's Question of the Week asks, are metro Atlanta kids heading back to school too soon?

Used to be, kids in most Atlanta schools went back into the classrooms after Labor Day. Man, those were the days. For the 2012-13 school year, Decatur schools open Aug. 1, and city of Atlanta students hit the books Aug. 6. DeKalb and Fulton county schools open on Aug. 13. To some, it seems as if summer vacation gets shorter and shorter each year. To others (harried parents running out of kid-friendly entertainment options, perhaps?), it can't come soon enough. So our Patch Question of the Week is, do you feel that summer vacation is too short? Do kids head back to school too early? Or do they need that classroom time in order to prepare themselves for a successful future? Take our Patch poll and share your opinion in the comments.

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Fernbank Science Center Saved

DeKalb School Board making big budget cuts, but decides not to close the center.

The DeKalb County School Board is looking for ways to close a $73 million budget deficit, but it looks like they won't do it by shutting the Fernbank Science Center. The board decided Tuesday night to take that option off the table, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The board apparently was responding to two online petitions, plus pleas from people such as engineer Doug Danielson. The AJC said he told the board, "The earliest, deepest experience I had with science was over at Fernbank," said Danielson, who visited the center starting with an elementary school field trip in the 1960s. Later, he got his parents to take him there regularly, and he became a volunteer at the planetarium. He credits his exposure to such heavy …

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Online Petitions Started To Save Fernbank Science Center

A DeKalb School board committee suggested pulling funding for the science center in an effort to close a $73 million budget gap.

Supporters of the Fernbank Science Center in Druid Hills have started online petititons to save it from being closed because of budget cutting by the DeKalb County Board of Education. It’s unclear who started the petitions, but many parents and supporters of the science center have been vocal on the Save Fernbank Science Center Facebook page and local blogs. Read the Dekalb County Board of Education: Save Fernbank Science Center petition here. The Save Fernbank Science Center! petition is available here. DeKalb school board members are working to plug a $73 million gap in the system’s budget, and a committee recommended Thursday an additional $17.5 million in cuts that includes closing the science center. These recommendations came after a…

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Group Finds DeKalb Schools Improved, But Accreditation Problems Not Over

DeKalb has been on AdvanceEd's accredited on advisement list since last March, after a similar team visited and criticized the school system for several issues.

How Did DeKalb County Schools Run Up A $40 Million Shortfall?

The renovation of Chamblee High was a factor.