Dog grooming business focuses on health
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Residents blast turmoil in county school system By JEFFREY ALBERTSON newsroom@appenmedia.com DUNWOODY, Ga. — It didn’t take long for the May 1 Dunwoody Homeowners Association meeting to escalate, given the city’s representative on the School Board was scheduled to speak. The meeting held at the North Shallowford Annex was the first since the dismissal of DeKalb County Schools Superintendent Cheryl Watson-Harris, who was fired April 26 following publicity over squalid conditions at Druid Hills High School. She was the district’s sixth superintendent since 2005. The DeKalb Board of Education has been mum on details behind the termination. Anna Hill, the Board of Education District 1 member representing Dunwoody, delivered prepared remarks, declining to comment on personnel questions and the specific reason for the superintendent’s termination. Hill was elected to the Board of Education 16 months ago. In prior employment, she worked as a forensic accountant, certified personal accountant and certified fraud examiner. In her remarks to the group, Hill said the termination was not a knee-jerk reaction that happened overnight and that the board met with Watson-Harris several times to address unmet district needs. The rest of the remarks focused on her work on the board and the lack of continuity in leadership. “Just a few months into my term, I became concerned about the liability related to numerous non-compliance issues
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DeKalb County Board of Education District 1 member Anna Hill answers questions at a Dunwoody Homeowners Association meeting on May 1. Hill drew criticism concerning the dismissal of DeKalb Schools Superintendent Cheryl Watson-Harris, but she said she could not elaborate on the issue due to confidentiality concerns. identified by Perkins and Will (architecture firm) on the facilities condition assessment (FCA),” Hill said. “Even though this seemed like a fixable problem, I think it is important to acknowledge that it is a shame we are even at this point.” After reviewing the school district’s FCAs, Hill estimated repairs to cost $7.5 million. Hill said she encouraged the superintendent to prioritize ADA noncompliant work orders, but she saw little improvement.
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Financial red flags
Accurate financial reporting of two special purpose education sales tax funds (SPLOST 4 & 5) was another concern. The school district monitors its SPLOST spending through two independent systems. One tracks expenditures and the other tracks construction costs. Both systems should agree on total expenditures. But, the two tracking systems diverged in their reported data by more than $200 million.
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I am calling for a countywide summit to be held to assess the future of education across DeKalb, and cocreate a shared vision of a worldclass education system with all of our stakeholders, but especially the school district.” TED TERRY DeKalb County Super District 6 Commissioner Former DeKalb Schools Chief Operating Officer D. Ben Estill announced last June an accountant would review school
See GRIEVANCES, Page 3