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Dekalb County Education Coverage

Lakeside student selected as finalist in national German scholarship award

Tori Moore, left, stands with her German teacher Jennifer Schultz. Recently, Moore was chosen to represent Georgia as a finalist in the American Association of Teachers of German (AATG) Pedagogical Exchange Study Trip. Photo provided
Tori Moore, a junior at Lakeside High School, said her favorite thing about German culture is the food, especially the potatoes. “They have these round potatoes that they cook with gravy and spargel, which is German white asparagus—it’s so good...

Museum School in Avondale gets ready to move

The darkened halls of Forrest Hills Elementary, which closed three years ago, will soon be filled again with the sounds of children rushing back and forth to class, or to the field for recess. Last year, The Museum School in Avondale Estates was gran...

Advocates voice concerns about DSCD’s projected SPLOST shortfall

Marshall Orson, co-president of the Emory LaVista Parent Council, said he believes a combination of factors led to the DeKalb County School District’s (DCSD) projected shortfall of nearly $40 million for construction projects paid for by the Specia...

DeKalb School District appears to be $4.8 million over on charter school budget

DeKalb County School Superintendent Cheryl Atkinson told school board members at a recent meeting that the district only “looked like” it was $4.8 million over its budget for charter schools. Atkinson explained that it appeared the district was o...

Accrediting agency said improvements still needed at DCSD

Officials from AdvanED, the DeKalb County School District’s (DCSD) accrediting agency, said even though the school system has made several positive changes, it still has more work to do. A panel from AdvancED, the parent corporation of the Southern...

School board defers vote to cover projected shortfall

DeKalb County School Board members deferred a vote on March 12 to cover a projected shortfall of nearly $40 million on SPLOST II and III projects. Rather than vote on a proposed corrective action plan, board members voted unanimously to accept a subs...

Tucker Middle School math teacher charged with rape

A DeKalb County Schools teacher was arrested on Feb. 28, charged with statutory rape. Almarcus Dewayne Thomas, 42, of Lithonia, was arrested by DeKalb County School System’s police and charged with three counts each of statutory rape and aggravated...

DCSS discovers $41 million budget shortfall for SPLOST projects

DeKalb County School Board member Tom Bowen, from left, Chairman Eugene Walker and Superintendent Cheryl Atkinson look over Atkinson’s action plan at a recent meeting to correct a $41.35 million SPLOST budget shortfall. Photo by Daniel Beauregard
DeKalb School Superintendent Cheryl Atkinson urged board members to approve a plan that would put 35 construction projects on hold after school officials recently discovered a $41 million SPLOST budget shortfall. Atkinson presented her plan at a spec...

Atkinson elaborates on new DCSS strategic plan

DeKalb Schools Superintendent Cheryl Atkinson said when developing her new strategic plan she wanted to make sure it passed the “7-Eleven” test. During a recent State of the System address Atkinson told members of the DeKalb Chamber of Commerce h...

GPC opens Southeastern Institute for Sustainability

Georgia Board of Regents Chancellor Hank Huckaby said Georgia Perimeter College’s (GPC) new academic program is the only one of its kind and something for colleges around the country to emulate. Huckaby said GPC’s new Southeastern Institute for S...

Georgia receives waiver to No Child Left Behind

Georgia is among 10 states recently granted a waiver of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law by the U.S. Department of Education, and state officials have implemented a new index to rate performance. “No longer will we be bound by the narrow definit...

Don’t overlook local museums for glimpse into lesser-known aspects of African-American history

Historian Frank Gilyard Sr., founder and president of the Central Pennsylvania African American Museum, provided many of documents and artifacts in the museum.
No one museum can fully tell the story of the struggles and triumphs of the African-American experience across the United States. Sure, some major museums do an excellent job of providing an overview from a national perspective or highlighting waters...

Emory University sees record application numbers for fall

Emory University has received a record number of freshman applications for the fall 2012 semester and more than 20 percent of them are from international students. “We are seeing an interest in more applications from overseas, primarily from China,...

Oglethorpe students explore Cuba

Before going to Cuba, Kim McGinty said her head was filled with preconceived notions of what the country would look like and how her trip would be. “I was thinking it was a third world country and people would be living in little mud huts and they ...

Middle school student wins county spelling bee second year in a row

Eighth grade Henderson Middle School student Simola Nayak sits with Principal Terese Allen and Media Specialist Ann Evett. Nayak recently won the DeKalb County Spelling Bee for the second year in a row. Photo by Daniel Beauregard
Simola Nayak has a very meticulous approach for spelling a word during a spelling bee: first she asks for the definition of the word then the language of origin, part of speech, and silently spells the word on her hand. Nayak is an eighth grade stude...

School board shows support for new strategic plan

DeKalb County School Board, from left, Vice Chairman Thomas Bowen, Chairman Eugene Walker, and Superintendent Cheryl Atkinson at a recent board meeting where members showed their support for Atkinson’s new Excellence in Education Plan. Photo by Daniel Beauregard
DeKalb County School Board members voted in support of Superintendent Cheryl Atkinson’s new Excellence in Education Plan, which officials said would be instrumental in moving the system forward over the next five years. Atkinson said the new plan w...

Four schools searching for football coaches

Four schools in DeKalb County are in the process of filling football coaching vacancies. Columbia’s Mario Allen was named head football coach at Rockdale County on Feb. 10 and Clinton Lawrence at Redan resigned a few weeks ago, according to Mark Br...

Audit: Some DeKalb Schools salaries inflated

A recent central office audit found, when compared to similar systems, the DeKalb County School System has some positions paying “substantially” above market and called for a unified salary schedule for all employees. The audit was the first par...

City Schools of Decatur adapts to growing enrollment

City Schools of Decatur’s (CSD) enrollment jumped 12 percent this year and school officials cited several factors for the significant increase. We do feel like we’ve created a quality school system and people have a confidence in [it],” Superin...

School board appeals in hope to avoid another lengthy lawsuit

The DeKalb County Board of Education is trying to dismiss a lawsuit that, if it goes to trial, could cost the DeKalb County School System millions of dollars. In 2011, two DeKalb County teachers filed a lawsuit against the board alleging it owes them...

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