"In a contentious 5-4 vote tonight, the DeKalb County Board of Education rejected the Druid Hills Charter Cluster petition.
The "no" vote followed about four hours of tense debate. Those voting for the cluster were Thaddeus Mayfield, John Coleman, Marshall Orson and Jim McMahan. Read the rest @ AJC's DeKalb board votes down Druid Hills Charter Cluster after long, tense meetingNext steps are unclear.
The Board of Education vote to determine the future of the Druid Hills Charter Cluster is tomorrow, Monday, Nov 11th at 7:00 pm.
WE NEED YOU AND YOUR KIDS THERE TO SHOW YOUR SUPPORT!
This is the time we have all been working towards and we need to be there in force to show the board how passionate we are about the Charter Cluster.
The address for the meeting is:
1701 Mountain Industrial Boulevard,
Stone Mt., Georgia 30083
The Charter Cluster Governing Board will be there for this important meeting. In case you haven't met the governing board, let us quickly introduce you to them and help you understand their role on the Charter Cluster. Each has valuable and complementary skills that will make this Governing Board a huge asset to the Charter Cluster.
CHARTER CLUSTER GOVERNING BOARD
Scott Bonder: Brings legal experise to the DHCC. Mr. Bonder is a business litigator with experience in multi‐million dollar cases spanning multiple jurisdictions and involving state, federal and foreign laws. He is a former President of the Fernbank Elementary School PTA.
Fred Daniels, Jr.: Brings financial and business expertise. Mr. Daniels is Executive Vice President and Chief Credit Officer of Atlanta-based Citizens Trust Bank. Daniels’ current tasks give him charge of governance, credit risk, portfolio management, and loan administration over the $400M community bank. Mr. Daniels is currently the Chairman of the Board of Directors for Marta.
Theresa Johnson-Bennett: Brings legal and procedural expertise. Ms. Johnson-Bennett is a Paralegal with the State of Georgia- Department of Community Health. She previously served as Chief Deputy Clerk in the Recorders Court of DeKalb County and as an Investigator with the Office of Public Defender for the City of Atlanta. She is currently the PTO President at Avondale Elementary School and was previously Secretary for Avondale Elementary School Council. As a paralegal, she is knowledgeable of policies, procedures, and governing laws.
Matthew Lewis: Brings business and organizational expertise. Mr. Lewis is a businessperson who spent his career playing leadership roles in a number of well-run organizations including Bank South, CheckFree, and most recently First Data Corporation. At First Data, Matthew was President of the Financial Services Division where he oversaw a $1.8 billion budget and 6000 associates. Matthew recently served as the Chair of the Druid Hills High School Council and has two children who have grown up in the DeKalb County schools.
Kathleen Boyle Mathers: Brings educational expertise. Ms. Mathers is an independent educational consultant with strong analytic, project management, strategic planning, communications and research skills. Formerly the Executive Director of the Governor's Office of Student Achievement and the Program Director of the Math Science Partnership. Ms. Mathers was a teacher in DCSS for 8 years.
David Roberts: Brings public sector improvement expertise. Mr. Roberts is a Director in KPMG's Government Advisory Practice where for 13 years, he has been driving operational and financial improvement programs/transformations. He has worked with a range of public sector organizations , including the Atlanta Public school system, the University of Chapel Hill and the Georgia State Accounting Office.
Robert Thorpe: Brings education and educational change experience. Mr. Thorpe is a retired DeKalb Country Middle School Principal. Mr. Thorpe led Druid Hill Middle School's (then Shamrock) successful pursuit to become an International Baccalaureate school. Prior to joining DeKalb County, he was Principal in the Gainesville School system where he successfully implemented three "theme academies". Mr. Thorpe is a veteran in education, having served as a Teacher, Assistant Principal and Principal. He has 3 grandchildren currently residing in the Druid Hills cluster.
Copyright © 2013 Druid Hills Charter Cluster, Inc., All rights reserved.
You are receiving this email because of your interest in the Druid Hills Charter Cluster initiative.
Our mailing address is:
Druid Hills Charter Cluster, Inc.
1798 Haygood Drive Northeast, Druid Hills, GA
Atlanta, GA 30307
"Mobility, walkable communities and quality of life are a few of the visions and goals of the DeKalb County 2014 Transportation Plan.
Led by Cristina Pastore, transportation plan project manager with Kimley-Horn and Associates Inc., the plan will feature a third round of workshops in the coming days where citizens can review a draft list of projects and provide their feedback.
Initial kickoff meetings and workshops were held months ago, where residents were able to tell their concerns and wishes for future transit in the county...
Pastore emphasized the need for public input in this project. Read the rest at DeKalb Neighbor."
Interim DeKalb CEO Lee May has applauded Chamblee for being the only city in the county whose annexations offer to take in large numbers of residents as well as prime land.
Since taking office in July, May has also asked the rest of the county’s cities to develop similar annexation zones that call for cities for provide more residents basic services.
That effort will take time, so he plans to ask state lawmakers for a two-year moratorium on new cities to hash out a plan.
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| via http://briarcliffga.org/ |
Yesterday, a DeKalb County Superior Court judge ruled that Good Growth DeKalb does not have standing to appeal DeKalb County’s decision to issue Selig a building permit to construct a Walmart at Suburban Plaza. Good Growth DeKalb had claimed that it had standing to appeal DeKalb County’s issuance of Walmart’s building permit. The Court disagreed. As a result, the building permit is valid and the project is now cleared to move forward.
Good Growth DeKalb filed an internal DeKalb County administrative appeal in January, contending that the County issued the building permit for the Walmart Supercenter in error. Their appeal was addressed to the Technical Board of Appeals. However, because the appeal challenged issues such as trees and hydrology that fell under the jurisdiction of the Zoning Board of Appeals, the County assigned the appeal to the Zoning Board of Appeals. In its lawsuit, Good Growth DeKalb contended that the Zoning Board of Appeals did not have authority to hear the matter. In an eleven-page ruling, Judge Barrie rejected Good Growth DeKalb’s claims and declared that it did not have standing under the County ordinances to file the appeal.
Selig is pleased with the outcome and believes the Judge came to the correct conclusion given the law and the facts in the case. Selig would like to thank Dekalb County Attorneys, Duane Pritchett and John Jones, for doing such an excellent job in defending the County’s issuance of the permit and in responding to Good Growth DeKalb’s claims.
Further, Selig is excited about the continued tenant interest in the project - including LA Fitness (which will include a daycare facility), HomeGoods, Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Stores, and Ross Dress for Less. We hope to be under construction by the end of the year.
As always, we thank you for your continued involvement and support in this project and we will continue to update the community as we progress.
Sincerely,
Scott Selig