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Dekalb County Education Coverage

Decatur schools facing tough issues if city annexes

City Schools of Decatur (CSD) Superintendent Phyllis Edwards said if Decatur moves forward with a proposed annexation, the school system may have to run at a deficit for the first two years to deal with the influx of new students. Over the past five ...

Georgia voters pass charter school amendment

Voters around Georgia decided that they want the state government to have a hand in setting up local charter schools. Amendment 1, which asked voters whether they wanted to allow the state the authority to establish special state charter schools, pas...

IHM students surprise staff with random act of kindness

Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic School students Annalise O’Connell, Bailey Apgar and Sofia Arboleda share a birthday in October. The three girls decided to ask their friends to donate books and toys to librarian Sandy Wilson as an act of kindness. Photo provided
Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic School Students Annalise O’Connell, Sofia Arboleda, and Bailey Apgar all share a birthday in October. This year, instead of having a birthday party and getting presents from their friends, they were inspired to do ...

Residents, teachers, advocates discuss proposed charter amendment

Attendees crowded into the International Community School’s auditorium Oct. 17 to hear from advocates who are for, and against, the charter school amendment on the November election ballot. Photo by Daniel Beauregard
With the November elections several weeks away, one of the major issues residents will be voting on is Amendment 1, which involves the creation of state-funded charter schools. A large group of parents, community members and others gathered at the In...

Former M.L. King Coach Mike Carson to open sports prep academy

Michael Carson, the former Martin Luther King High School football coach who lost his job amid allegations of sexting a parent, plans to open a prep school that will help athletes get scholarships. The school, Georgia Prep Sports Academy, will be a o...

Fourth-grader inspired by visit with civil rights icon

Family members Joey Pate, Laurie Culp, Maddy Pate and Haley Pate, met Congressman John Lewis during a recent trip to Washington, DC. Haley Pate said hearing Lewis’ stories of his involvement with the Civil Rights movement changed her life.
Haley Pate, a fourth-grader at 4/5 Academy at Fifth Avenue in Decatur, said when civil rights icon Congressman John Lewis spoke to her third grade class last year it changed her life. “His words were so intriguing,” Pate said. “He had been thro...

DeKalb County Schools to implement balanced calendar this fall

The DeKalb County School District (DCSD) will switch to a balanced attendance calendar this fall even though surveys show a majority of parents are against the change. The DeKalb County School Board voted Oct. 8 to move to a balanced school calendar,...

Audit: Inaccurate budget data provided to former GPC president

This article is the second of a series looking into the rise and fall of former Georgia Perimeter College president Anthony Tricoli.   Former Georgia Perimeter College (GPC) President Anthony Tricoli was not given “timely and reliable financial in...

Magic Johnson opens school for at-risk youth

Earving “Magic” Johnson recently opened a center in Atlanta designed to help high school students who have left school, or are at risk of leaving, earn a high school diploma. Located at 100 Edgewood Avenue NE in Atlanta, the Magic Johnson Bridges...

More mounting legal fees in DeKalb schools

DeKalb Schools Superintendent Cheryl Atkinson told a DeKalb County grand jury that the school district, due to pending litigation, will be spending $6 million more than anticipated this year. Last year, Atkinson told the grand jury that the DeKalb Co...

DCSD bus drivers demand health and retirement benefits

Bus drivers for the DeKalb County School District protested in front of the district’s headquarters and addressed the board Sept. 10. The bus drivers are concerned they’re not being treated as fairly as other employees and want the opportunity to receive health and retirement benefits. Photo by Daniel Beauregard
Bus drivers donned yellow shirts in solidarity and voiced concerns about their treatment at a DeKalb County School Board meeting Sept. 10. Cathy Douglas, a bus driver who works for the DeKalb County School District (DCSD) addressed the board during t...

CSD considers barring unhealthy foods from menu

  City Schools of Decatur (CSD) is considering slashing some of the less-healthy food items from its menus, said CSD Director of Nutrition Allison Goodman. “The first thing on the list is to remove chocolate milk, and all our email and phones have...

DeKalb school board draws scrutiny from accrediting agency

The DeKalb County school board has been asked by an accrediting agency to answer allegations that it has mismanaged its financial resources over the past five years. In an Aug. 28 letter addressed to Superintendent Cheryl Atkinson from AdvancED, the ...

Sexting allegation sidelines coach

A DeKalb County high school football coach has been sidelined after being accused of sexting a parent. Head Coach Michael Carson, of Martin Luther King High School, was suspended Aug. 21 pending the outcome of an ethics investigation into the allegat...

Local nonprofit develops support group for bullying victims

Polina Milter said when she attended Dunwoody High School bullying ranged from name calling to “complete avoidance.” In some cases, Milter said she would walk up to a group of students to try to join their conversation, only to be completely igno...

Q&A with newly elected DeKalb County school board member Marshall Orson

Over the next several weeks The Champion newspaper education reporter Daniel Beauregard will be sitting down with newly-elected DeKalb County school board members to discuss their thoughts on the issues facing the DeKalb County School District (DCSD...

GPC’s interim president works to steer college through rough financial waters

Like many institutions of higher learning, Georgia Perimeter College is facing significant financial challenges, but interim President Rob Watts wants to assure prospective students and the community at large that, in spite of the difficulties, it’...

Judge gives high-school girls firsthand glimpse at legal system

Southwest DeKalb High School student Bria Cooper said her favorite thing about DeKalb County Judge Stacey Hydrick’s mentoring program was visiting the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) crime lab. Cooper, who will be a senior this fall, is inter...

Lakeside High student skips a grade and goes to college

Caitlin Hewel has skipped her senior year of high school and will be attending Bard College at Simon’s Rock this fall as a freshman. Bard College was founded in 1966 and is the only stand-alone, fully accredited college that is developed for the sole purpose of early-entrance learning. Photo provided
On Aug. 18, former Lakeside High School student Caitlin Hewel will travel to Great Barrington, Mass., to attend Bard College at Simon’s Rock, but unlike most college freshman, Hewel never completed the 12th grade. “It’s really surreal and it’...

School board promotes employees, hires new public relations firm

The DeKalb County School Board voted to move several employees into consolidated central office positions but decided to freeze their pay raises, pending a review later this year. Superintendent Cheryl Atkinson asked the board to promote three depart...

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