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DeKalb School Board responds to state superintendent’s letter, points finger at superintendent

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DeKalb School Board responds to state superintendent’s letter, points finger at superintendent

Superintendent Cheryl Watson-Harris comments during the DeKalb County Board of Education regular meeting on Monday, April 18, 2022. Photo by Dean Hesse.
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DeKalb County, GA — The DeKalb County School Board on April 26 sent a response to state Superintendent Richard Woods regarding his scathing letter about the district and Druid Hills High School.

Woods on April 25 ordered the DeKalb County School Board to take immediate action to fix problems at Druid Hills High.

“I will not recommend DeKalb County Schools’ facilities plan for State Board of Education approval while these fundamental issues and concerns remain,” Woods’ letter says. “DeKalb’s facilities plan will not move forward in its current form.”

A spokesperson for the state Department of Education confirmed that the district could be cut off from state funds until the problems are addressed.

“By law, approved facilities plans are required in order to access state facilities funding,” the spokesperson said.

In its response, the school board pins most of the blame on DeKalb Superintendent Cheryl Watson-Harris.

“Since receiving the comprehensive master plan earlier this year, we have been working as a board to address the District’s facilities – although it is fair to acknowledge that communications between the Board and the Superintendent have broken down on this issue,” board Chair Vickie Turner wrote. “Nevertheless, be assured this work will continue. The Superintendent is charged with the responsibility of the day-to-day operations to address immediate and critical function needs in accordance with the policy and budget.”

Turner said the board commends the Druid Hills High students who created a video documenting the dilapidated and unsafe conditions there. The video attracted both local and national media attention. It also prompted the recent visit by the state DOE’s facilities team.

After the video attracted widespread media attention, the school board decided on April 18 to remove the modernization of Druid Hills High School from a list of high-priority projects in favor of a broad mandate to make repairs throughout the district. But the board recently paid architecture firm Perkins & Will $2 million to prepare a plan to address long-standing and widespread problems with the district’s school buildings. While the board members who voted for the measure say they believe that the plan can still be followed, it’s not clear how that is possible given constraints on the district’s budget.

Before a state facilities team arrived, the district worked to address issues raised in the video. Woods said those fixes were “solely cosmetic.”

The board didn’t dispute this and said making the repairs is the superintendent’s responsibility.

“We are concerned that your department has concluded that conditions at Druid Hills High School have been addressed in a ‘solely cosmetic’ manner,” Turner wrote. “Pursuant to our purchasing policy, the Superintendent is empowered to promptly address any situation that threatens to jeopardize the health, welfare, or safety of students, staff, the District, or the public by foregoing competitive selection rules for purchasing goods and services.

“It is our expectation that such authority is appropriately exercised; it is our expectation that the Superintendent will welcome support and technical assistance from the Georgia Department of Education to address unacceptable conditions at Druid Hills High School as well as other District facilities; and it our expectation that the Superintendent will take all reasonable and necessary steps to comply with the department’s plans for corrective action.”

The full letter appears at the end of this story.

The board’s letter came out the same day Decaturish.com received a copy of an accreditation report that suggests board members are not working collaboratively for the entire district.

While the report has favorable things to say about the district overall, it revealed divisions among school board members.

The report says, “Each governing authority board member is highly committed to the district and the students, but board members are not working together collectively in support of the mission of DeKalb County Schools.”

The report found that individual board members were not always supportive of the district’s efforts.

“Board members are elected to serve four-year terms and are elected one from each of the seven regions in the DeKalb County School District,” the report says. “This structure has the tendency to put board members in the position of being a ‘representative for my region.’ The team was very meticulous in discussing the roles and responsibilities of board members only with the board members themselves. No outside conversations were held. Support for various initiatives across the district was not consistent across the board member interviews.”

To read that story, click here.

Here is the School Board’s letter to State Superintendent Richard Woods:

April 26, 2022

Mr. Richard Woods

State School Superintendent Georgia Department of Education Twin Towers East

205 Jesse Hill Jr. Drive Atlanta, Georgia 30334

RE: DeKalb County Schools’ Facilities Plan Superintendent Woods:

Mrs. Vickie B. Turner, Board Chair Mr. Diijon DaCosta Sr., Vice Chair

Mrs. Anna Hill Mr. Marshall D. Orson Mrs. Deirdre Pierce Mrs. Allyson Gevertz Dr. Joyce Morley

On behalf of the DeKalb County Board of Education, I am writing in response to your letter of April 25, 2022.

The DeKalb County Board of Education is committed to providing safe and supportive learning environments for students and staff throughout the District. To that end, our board authorized the development of a comprehensive master plan to establish strategic, district-wide goals as the basis for future construction expenditures and planned facilities improvements. Since receiving the comprehensive master plan earlier this year, we have been working as a board to address the District’s facilities – although it is fair to acknowledge that communications between the Board and the Superintendent have broken down on this issue. Nevertheless, be assured this work will continue. The Superintendent is charged with the responsibility of the day-to-day operations to address immediate and critical function needs in accordance with the policy and budget.

We recognize there are conditions at some facilities through the District, including at Druid Hills High School, which require urgent attention. We applaud the efforts of students to increase awareness of such conditions, and we assure the students, their families, and our staff that we, as a board, are committed to promptly and properly addressing such conditions. We have allowed for emergency protocols that are built with policies as well as the annual budget.

We are concerned that your department has concluded that conditions at Druid Hills High School have been addressed in a “solely cosmetic” manner. Pursuant to our purchasing policy, the Superintendent is empowered to promptly address any situation that threatens to jeopardize the health, welfare, or safety of students, staff, the District, or the public by foregoing competitive selection rules for purchasing goods and services.

It is our expectation that such authority is appropriately exercised; it is our expectation that the Superintendent will welcome support and technical assistance from the Georgia Department of Education to address unacceptable conditions at Druid Hills High School as well as other District facilities; and it our expectation that the Superintendent will take all reasonable and necessary steps to comply with the department’s plans for corrective action.

Please be assured that the issues will be addressed with the appropriate actions, and further will provide the Georgia Department of Education with the confidence to approve the District’s Facility Plan.

Very truly yours,

Vickie B. Turner

Chair, DeKalb County Board of Education

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