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Friday, October 10, 2008
DeKalb announces layoffs
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Kristina Torres writes more than 200 DeKalb school employees may lose their jobs under a plan by Superintendent Crawford Lewis to cut spending in the cash-strapped district.
Classroom teachers, janitors and media specialists would be spared under Lewis’ plan. Mid-level administrators, groundskeepers, drivers’ education instructors and others could find themselves out of work.
Layoffs could come as early as December.
As we’ve discuss before, DeKalb is struggling because of its declining enrollment, cuts in state fun and the overall weak economy.
What do you think of Lewis’ plan? What other cuts can the district make?
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Should teachers serve on school boards?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The State Board of Education Thursday accepted a plan that would allow the state to take over troubled districts. The plan, which can’t go into effect without approval from the Legislature, could help prevent another Clayton County.
The proposal from the Commission for School Board Excellence includes several radical ideas: no longer paying local board members, reducing large school boards to five or seven members and allowing the state to take over poorly performing districts and to remove board members.
Another suggestion would prohibit educators from serving on school boards. I can see why someone may not want a teacher to run for school board in the district he or she works. But why can’t a teacher who works for Fulton schools run for Cobb school board?
Look at the type of decisions schools boards make. They select textbooks and curriculum. They decide how to spend the district’s money. They hire principals and vote on where to build new schools.
Don’t school boards need a teacher’s perspective on these issues? What is the real harm in having educators serve on school boards?
