Over the next few weeks, in an effort to promote discussion and collaboration, I want to begin to gather different perspectives for solving some of the overcrowding and management issues regarding DeKalb County Schools.
Below I’ve shared a piece (with permission) by Kirk Lunde, a parent in the district and an active community advocate from Tucker. He argues for a district of charter clusters as a way to holistically help students and families in DCSS.
A System of Charter Clusters May Be Right for DeKalb
DeKalb County Schools new Superintendent, Dr. Green, has a Bambinelli’s sized serving of spaghetti on his “plate” and working through it is going to create a legacy he will take with him into retirement. I believe he is the right man, in the right place, at the right time.
The district needs to make a decision regarding which flexibility option it will use going forward. There is also a school capacity crisis in the Cross Keys cluster which needs to be addressed. Additionally, the district is preparing an eSPLOST project list for the BOE to vote on in May or June. If approved, citizens will vote on it next November. eSPLOST is the mechanism DCSD uses to pay for capital programs. The district has dubbed the preparation of the project list Building S.P.A.C.E.S.
I find it impossible to consider any one of these separately from the others. Every decision requires funding. If you solve the Cross Keys capacity crisis, why not do it in such a way as to integrate with the flexibility option?
Page 33 of the district’s current flexibility petition states, “Unlike many large, urban school districts DeKalb has created high school clusters that have almost complete alignment among the elementary, middle and high school attendance zones, with each cluster including one high school, one middle school, and an average of four elementary schools. As a result, clusters serve students with similar needs and demographic characteristics.” This lends credence to the idea of choosing to become a System of Charter Clusters.
One of the concerns repeated over and over by Trenton Arnold is the lack of capacity some schools have to develop a local governance council. Why choose an option such as the proposed Charter System — which requires more than 130 governance councils — when a system of charter clusters would require (approximately) 18?
A System of Charter Clusters will allow local autonomy which should should give some satisfaction to stakeholders who want their own schools.
A System of Charter Clusters can provide school choice options within a cluster, opening up many more options which are accessible to students. The Druid Hills Charter Cluster petition showed how that can be done.
Another advantage demonstrated by the Druid Hills Charter Cluster (DHCC) petition is cluster-wide alignment of curriculum and programs. This is currently done to a very limited extent, but the DHCC petitioners have created a plan to expand alignments. This can be replicated without having to start from scratch. It is possible some of the DHCC people could serve as consultants to other clusters as they prepare their petitions.
One of the most attractive benefits of a System of Charter Clusters is the opportunity for each cluster to explore cost savings. A cluster would have more bargaining power than individual schools, greater economies of scale. The areas where this can be significant are the areas where DeKalb County Schools’ service levels are lowest, transportation and maintenance. This is one way local autonomy can lead to cost savings and improved service levels.
Clearly, DCSD has failed to listen to stakeholders for years. Dr. Green is going to improve all aspects of the central office, but the long history of mismanagement requires a flexibility option which removes as much authority from the central office as possible. The friends-and-family educrats need to be made as insignificant as possible. A System of Charter Clusters does that AND creates clusters of excellence which have a much better chance to be sustainable than any individual school.
–By Kirk Lunde, DCSD parent and public school advocate
This piece was also published by Dunwoody SchoolDaze. Check it out here.
Georgian Educator 
November 23, 2015 at 12:46 pm
I’d like to add that historically and systemically, public schools have no budget for or (quite frankly) any interest in being efficient. There exist no operational or financial consultants in the field. Money is allocated and spent to operate the schools and districts with as-is processes. And budget cuts immediately start with cutting extra curricular classes or teacher pay. And public school are exceptionally inefficient. I witnessed this first hand in my 4 years as an administrator in the system. Even when there is a desire, there is no support or expertise. And the Dekalb county school district is very top heavy with 1.3 non-teachers to every 1 teacher. It’s very hard for me to reason out how the students are the focus in this scenario. I agree with Kirk that being a charter will allow more flexibility and autonomy, and I think it is possibly a step in the right direction, but charters are still held to some financial constraints. And being a charter does not alter the restrictions on federal funds like Title 1, nor will it solve all of the issues. The district will continue to be riddled with problems until the the focus for everyone is the student and not money and control.
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November 23, 2015 at 2:57 pm
Sabrina, thank you for your input — DCSD is definitely top heavy (15,000 employees, only 6,000 of which are teachers). I agree with you that the focus for everyone should be the students. Specifically, how would you propose moving our school system towards that?
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