It was certainly not the news the DeKalb County School System had hoped for nor had the DeKalb community. Monday afternoon the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) handed the system a hard blow with the announcement that DeKalb is being placed on probation.
The SACS decision comes after a detailed investigation prompted by about 50 complaints from community members and even some DeKalb employees. The accrediting agency’s findings, released Monday included a list of financial inconsistencies including the inability to operate within the district’s budget, and negatively impacting student education.
Dr. Mark Elgart, president of AdvancEd, the parenting company for SACS, said the present school board is not completely to blame. The district’s problems began much earlier.
He said, “The current condition of this school system can be classified as in conflict and chaos. It didn’t happen overnight. It happened over 10 years.”
Elgart said the investigation revealed that DeKalb’s ongoing problems have resulted in a “decline in student performance and financial resources impacting classroom needs." He also said the district has a history of division that has hurt the student.
“There remains today a system that is divided along lines of race, socio-economic levels and geography. Such divisions are continuing to paralyze this system’s need to address the needs of all students,” said Elgart.
Among some of the specific concerns SACS cited included: legal bills exceeding $10 million above the budgeted amount, other areas of misplaced funds, missing textbooks, utility cost not adding up, school board interference with matters outside of board members duties, nepotism in hiring and even a “culture of fear” cited by some educators.
DeKalb County Schools could face losing its accreditation if SACS does not see specific changes made by December 31, 2013. The District must show progress toward correcting the problems by May 2013 when SACS re-visits the school district.
DeKalb School Board Chairman Eugene Walker expressed disappointment in the Monday announcement, but a resolve to address the problems stated by SACS. This news is also not sitting well with parents who are expressing deep concern about the state of the district.
This year DeKalb County Schools faced an unexpected budget shortfall of more than $80 million, a vote to increase taxes and class sizes, cutting more than 300 central office jobs and consolidated other positions.
In August SACS put the DeKalb County System on accreditation notice with a letter sent to the school board expressing concerns of mismanagement and board infighting. In September the DeKalb County response to the letter sent by SACS including a listed of 16 specific systemic changes which were supported by the board, and based on concerns from board members, students, community, and staff. The list includes a forensic audit of the district's financial records which reveal some of the problems. But SACS reported that the letter was not enough to keep investigators from making a site visit to the district in October which findings resulted in Monday’s announcement of probation for the district.
Under new state law, the state school board is to hold a hearing on the SACS report and could make recommendations to the governor including removal of school board members. That hearing will take place within 30 days.
In March of 2011 DeKalb was placed on “advisement” following efforts to correct SACS concerns threatening the District’s accreditation. The hope is that DeKalb will survive this SACS’ review because to lose accreditation will be devastating to the county.
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