DHS teacher Chris Billingsley reports in…

More than 25 DHS students and Close Up Club members volunteered to help at the Decatur Education Foundation “Tour Decatur”. Former principal Bill Funk was there, still supervising students. DHS grad and CoD police officer Antwain Acker kept the crowd under control. He was assisted by master maintenance supervisor Clarence Strickland, another DHS grad. I saw two more DHS grads running the race, Intown Hardware owner Tony Powers and his beautiful wife. Jason Carter and family were there. So were AJC writers Bo Emerson and Maureen Downey. A great time was had by all.

Back in August 2009, the City Schools of Decatur adopted a new grading policy (see Action Item C), which would increase the use of International Baccalaureate assessment for learning in Decatur’s school district.

The new methodology contains many components, including a new, vast evaluation method, which assesses a student’s performance on a wide variety of tasks (compositions, essays, research, presentations, etc.), teacher assessments (observation, selected response, collected response, etc) – and the use IB rubrics, anecdotal records,  models and checklists to evaluate student achievement, among others.

However, one piece of this vast puzzle of acronyms and educational buzzwords has received a majority of the attention in the halls of Decatur High School.

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UPDATE: AJC now reporting that DeKalb may close up to 12 schools.

Many of the major news orgs are reporting on the high emotion at last night’s Citizen Planning Task Force meeting at the William Bradley Bryant Technology Center on Lawrenceville Highway, where the task force heard from the public on the potential closing of four DeKalb County schools.

The AJC reports that all of the seven schools being considered for closure due to low enrollment, all are in South DeKalb, which led to accusations of both classism and racism during the meeting.  According to the AJC, the seven schools being considered are: Sky Haven, Gresham Park, Kelley Lake, Toney, Meadowview, Midway and Peachcrest.

One notable point given by a parent in the AJC article:  Midway Elementary is actually a Montessori School:

For Hanifah Rios, she can’t think of any way closing her two children’s school would benefit their education. Rios said her children have flourished in the Montessori program at Midway Elementary and she fears her children will suffer if they have to be pulled from the program, since no other schools in south DeKalb have the program.

“I thought I could never be able to afford Montessori,” she said. “Because of my schedule, I can’t drive to the north side to get them what they need.”

The task force is scheduled to meet again mid-month and make a final recommendation by the middle of April.

Apparently the Georgia House of Representatives thinks so.

In a 137 to 33 vote yesterday, the AJC reports that the House approved legislation that would give the governor power to remove local school board members, based on a recommendation by the State Board of Education.  The measure now goes back to the Senate for a vote.

According to the news org, the legislation is a reaction to Clayton County’s loss of accreditation last year.   And while I understand the state’s concern when a school system completely fails its students, this seems a bit drastic and big government-ish for Georgia’s Republican Party.

Why does it seem like the State’s (R)uling party keeps trying to take more and more power away from local governments?  What happened to the “local knows best” mentality?  Is that particular ideology up for grabs in political arenas again?

DHS teacher Chris Billingsley writes in…

Attached are some pics of students using your blogs. …Students were suppose to post comments using my email address. All found interesting stories on all three blogsites. I hope to have all comments posted by Wednesday.

Many students replied to your recent comments on their trip to the Capitol.  You can read through them HERE and HERE.

At next week’s Tuesday Board Meeting, the City Schools of Decatur Board of Education will vote to approve a plan (see Action Item B) to sell its kitchen cooking oil to Clean Energy Biofuel for 25 cents a gallon. A quick look at the company’s website shows that Leon’s Full Service and many other well known Atlanta businesses and restaurants are already Clean Energy clients.  Decatur High looks to be the first school on the list of clients.

As the summary below notes, this new agreement not only saves CSD money, it also supports a growing sector of the alternative energy industry.

Considering our economic climate it pays to be forward thinking. Currently, the used kitchen oil that our school produces is being taken away and disposed of by Griffin Oil at a charge. Clean Energy Biofuel, LLC is offering to pay CSD for our oil and recycle it. In addition, we would be supporting an environmentally and economically friendly fuel industry.

CEB (Clean Energy Biofuel) is all about biofuel. They collect, produce and distribute biodiesel. CEB is a wholly owned subsidiary of Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, which is a regional non-profit organization focused on environment and energy policy. CEB has operations in Atlanta and Knoxville, TN. They are eager to expand their operations by incorporating DHS.

CEB is offering to provide DHS with an oil storage container and make pickups on request. They also pay for the oil they collect by the gallon. CEB already collects from many businesses across Decatur and Atlanta. The used kitchen oil, once collected, is transported to their plant in Knoxville, TN where it is converted to biodiesel to ASTM specifications. The biodiesel is sold to fleets via wholesale distribution and to passenger cars via retail kiosks.

Among the Decatur School Board’s agenda items for the coming week is a motion to approve advertising “for project management services for Renfroe Middle School infrastructure update, Fifth Avenue Academy Building Project, and Decatur Career Academy renovation/addition.”

This search is of particular note because it marks the end of Rosser International’s contract with CSD in May.  Rosser has worked on many CSD construction projects in the last couple years, including the completion of the new Decatur High gymnasium and auditorium and the renovation of the high school’s science labs.  They’ve also done some sketches of the new 5th Avenue Academy.

But many Decatur residents, myself included, were first introduced to Rosser in 2008, when the city was collecting information on whether to pursue a wide-spread annexation of surrounding unincorporated, residential and commercial property.

In a dialogue that stretched over MANY months, it was ultimately proven by residents Pat Herold and Judd Owen that there were serious discrepancies in Rosser’s student enrollment projections, which adversely affected revenue estimates.  This finding, combined with broader worries about tax revenue, was followed closely by a School Board vote against annexation (non-binding), and a tabling of the issue by Decatur’s City Commission.  The item is still tabled as far as I know.

Who will be CSD’s next project management team?  Who knows.  But one thing is for sure; between the School Board and city residents, they’ll certainly have their work cut out for them.

DHS teacher Chris Billingsley reports in…

Today was the last day for Georgia Close Up.  The students spent the morning meeting major players at the capital.

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DHS teacher Chris Billingsley writes in…

Georgia Close Up day one was successful- except for the lame lunch, a middle school group (Yuk- Eighth Graders!), walking in snow in flip flops, and a fussy teacher complaining about students not paying attention (These were student comments). When I returned and crashed in my classroom, a teacher came by and asked, “How did it go?” I told her, “Fine. I got everyone back alive. No one got sick and threw up. And everyone ate something for lunch (although there were a few complaints about ” no real chefs”. After thirty-three years of teaching and field trips, my expectations are not as high as in 1976.

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From Dan Magee at 231 Sycamore…

This Wednesday is the 1st Annual Georgia Walk/Bike to School Day. Join Decatur Active Living staff and parent volunteers at Clairemont, Oakhurst and Winnona Park Elementary Schools and Glennwood Academy as we greet students and parents before and after the school day. International Walk to School Day is Wednesday, October 6th, 2010.

Wednesday’s event is sponsored by the Georgia Department of Transportation’s “Safe Routes to School Georgia” program.