Comments on: Mid-Week History: “Abolish Decatur!” 1977 Survey Said

By: fifi

fifi — Fri, 06 May 2011 03:27:46 +0000

I remember a group who often attended School Board community input sessions in the late 80’s early 90’s. One member in particular, a woman named Vera Hill ( I think that was her name) often spoke about the need for transparency in CSD financial matters. The group seemed to have serious concerns about Dr Griffth’s handling of budget issues.

Can’t recall hearing anything more of them after Dr Griffith retired.

By: Decatur Metro

Decatur Metro — Thu, 05 May 2011 21:11:16 +0000

That is indeed true, that it was the Decatur Tax Payers taking the survey and not the community as a whole. Looking back at my original post, I can see that my wording doesn’t really transmit that correctly.

By: Walt Drake

Walt Drake — Thu, 05 May 2011 21:02:08 +0000

The DPL was around from the mid seventies, and had spurts of activity from then on into the eighties, depending on what issues were hot at the time, and always concerned with taxes. It never had very strong leadership or a huge following, but it was vocal at times and would write letters to the editors of the local papers in existence during those times – DeKalb New Era and the Decatur DeKalb News. There were, in my opinion, some Decatur folks in the group who simply were very worried about taxes and sincerely thought Decatur would be better off in it didn’t provide services or have independent schools, and then there were the usual anti-everything naysayers who were the most vocal. I don’t ever recall seeing this group as having any great influence or being reflective of the attitude of most folks in Decatur, even during tough times, who valued our independence and local control.

By: Steve

Steve — Thu, 05 May 2011 20:50:21 +0000

I was in Decatur in the late 80’s and I do not remember any such movement or organization.

By: Chris Billingsley

Chris Billingsley — Thu, 05 May 2011 20:41:01 +0000

I do remember the Decatur Tax Payer’s League but not from 1977. In the mid or late 80s, when Dr. Don Griffith was superintendent, there was a DTPL community meeting at the #2 DeKalb County courthouse. The purpose of the meeting was to approve a recommendation to the city commission to abolish the school system and merge with DeKalb County. League members would vote on this proposal. I do not remember if there was an organized effort to get teachers and school parents to attend but I do recall that many school supporters joined the League that evening and argued against abolition. The vote was too close to suggest that the league overwhelmingly supported closing the schools. I recall that the League officers said that the new members needed to be certified as Decatur residents before they could vote. This resulted in loud boos from the pro-school crowd. I assume the League later met with the city commissioners but the school system remained independent.
It is hard to believe that Decatur once had such a large Tea Party crowd. It would be interesting to interview these people as well as those who experienced the integration of South Decatur neighborhoods in the late 60s.