DeKalb County ought to have its choice of school chief candidates. The county offers great neighborhoods. You can live near a lake or a granite mountain. You can pick a tennis/swim subdivision or an urban townhouse within walking distance of shops and cafes.
The climate — apart from this stifling June heat — permits outside activities year round. DeKalb voters have long been supportive of public schools, passing a special local option sales tax three times to build new ones. (Voters will be asked to approve a fourth SPLOST in November.)
So why has it been so hard to find a replacement for former Superintendent Crawford Lewis, who was indicted a year ago on charges of racketeering, theft by a government employee and bribery?
Several candidates have withdrawn their names from consideration in the last two months.
One theory is that DeKalb is too big and unwieldy. But there are larger districts, including neighboring Gwinnett and Fulton, that are not in such disarray. And no one is arguing that those mega districts ought to be broken into smaller, more manageable pieces.
Fulton just hired a new school chief with little drama. (There was also little public input, which may make for a quicker and less controversial hiring process but undermines public trust in the end.)
Gwinnett remains under the firm — some would say overly firm — hand of longtime school leader J. Alvin Wilbanks, who continues to rack up national honors for the diverse district.
So, does DeKalb have a size problem or a management problem?
Much has been made of the deliberate leaks of the names of DeKalb school chief finalists and salary negotiations. The leaks are believed to come from board members or insiders hoping to frustrate the process and dissuade candidates from coming to the county.
The leaks are symptoms of a larger issue that may repel candidates: school board members who can’t agree on what they want in a school leader and an inability to work through their differences in a constructive fashion.
If strong candidates are shunning DeKalb, it’s more likely they don’t want to work for such a fractured board. They may believe that the troubles in DeKalb cannot be solved until the board addresses its own issues.
By several measures, DeKalb schools have lost ground academically. In the recent Georgia High School Graduation Test, DeKalb slipped further in math than the state average and showed less improvement in the other areas. The county has not done nearly as well as Gwinnett or Decatur schools in closings its achievement gap.
The board’s failure to coalesce is well in the public view. Last week, board members Don McChesney, Pam Speaks, Paul Womack and Nancy Jester sent a note to parents about what they deemed an attempt to sabotage the hiring of a recent promising candidate, San Antonio school chief Robert Duron.
“We are convinced that the latest leak has made DeKalb radioactive to potential candidates. These actions have damaged the students, employees and the taxpayers of DeKalb County. Furthermore, they have potentially damaged a candidate who did nothing other than graciously accept our invitations to speak with us,” wrote the board members. “We ask you to stand with us and support Dr. Duron. He is a qualified professional that will serve and represent our district well. He will bring accountability, ethics and innovation to DeKalb. We cannot wait. Our children cannot wait.”
A few weeks ago, Gov. Nathan Deal signed Senate Bill 79 into law, reducing the DeKalb school board from nine members to seven by eliminating the two “super districts” that each cover half the county. Legislators approved the change because they thought it would stop the battling, but seven board members can be as contentious as nine.
DeKalb school board members lead a school system that has fallen from its historic place of academic prominence in the state. They have done too little to reverse that slide. They can change that by hiring a proven leader who can then gather a proven team.
The county schools need a steely leader who can objectively sort through all the claims and counter claims. Are there too many people in the central office or, as Organization of DeKalb Educators President David Schutten said at a recent panel, too few in some critical areas of teaching and learning?
Some DeKalb parents are pinning their hopes for board reformation on the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. But while the regional accreditation agency has placed DeKalb schools on “advisement,” the step preceding probation, SACS appears far more focused on the struggles in Atlanta.
It has to fall to the parents of DeKalb to force the board to put aside differences, stop the back-stabbing and unite to attract a leader with vision and verve.
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