Paid $140,000 by DeKalb Schools, search firm’s work largely goes unnoticed

A search firm hired to find candidates for key administrative DeKalb Schools positions never submitted information on its findings to the district, but was paid more than $140,000 for the work.

Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates was paid a guaranteed $122,500 to find qualified candidates for eight administrative positions, and reimbursed just over $18,000 for candidate interviews. The DeKalb County School District never received a report of the firm’s findings, according to a Freedom of Information Act request. School board members say the firm never presented its findings to them, either.

At least one board member said the smaller the paper trail, the better, for the sake of candidates who applied.