Decaturish is reporting that Decatur Superintendent Phyllis Edwards announced at this evening’s Board Meeting that she is resigning and will stay on until the School Board finds a replacement.

Dr. Edwards has been Decatur’s Superintendent since 2003.

Decaturish reports that Dr. Edwards told the Board that she will be moving moving back to Florida to spend more time with her family.

Board Chair Garrett Goebel said that the Board planned a “national search” for a replacement.

UPDATE: Decaturish’s recap of last night’s school board special session is now live.  Check it out here.

Dan’s report includes many additional important points that came up last night.

The value of the mill in the previous analysis was incorrect

Dianne McNabb, with CSD adviser Public Financial Management, said those projections were based on incorrect information.

“We got the new data on the value of a mill,” McNabb said. “That amount was higher than the one we were working with.”

Previously presented debt limit data wasn’t quite right.

According to Decaturish’s report, Urban Redevelopment bonds don’t count against the city’s debt limit.  That wasn’t taken into account when we discussed the debt limit last time.

With those caveats in mind, McNabb said the city’s limit is $141.5 million, based on property values from 2014. The outstanding debt as of Jan. 1, 2016, as it applies to the debt limit, will be $36.7 million. That will leave the city with a debt capacity of $104.8 million. If the voters approve issuing an $82.8 million bond, the city would only be able to borrow $22 million for projects, according to McNabb’s figures.

More meetings.  Public forums.  Resident polling.

Board members said there will be two joint meetings between board members and city commissioners, one in March and one in April. There will also be two public presentations on the bond request. CSD also intends to poll residents before moving forward.

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OK, so we’ll use this thread to aggregate articles and comments on last night’s Decatur School Board special session to discuss the $82 million GO Bond it has requested to accommodate enrollment growth.

Longer amortization = Lower yearly tax impact

For starters, here’s an AJC blurb by Bill Banks stating that the School Board received revised tax increase projections for the $82 million bond, after extending the repayment of the loan from 20 to 25 years.

That means taxes on an $150,000 home would cost $223.24 annually, on a $300,000 home $446.48, on, a $500,000 home $744.13 and on a $700,000 home $1,041.79.

No Bond = More Portables

Additionally there’s another new post on the AJC quoting Superintendent Edwards that if the bond doesn’t pass the result is would be more portables or cutting programs.

If we don’t get it passed, then we’re either adding more portables, or we will have to cut the existing budget substantially, meaning we lose a lot of good programs already underfunded.”

We’ll be adding to this post throughout the day as we come across additional articles that include info coming out of the meeting.  Stay tuned.

Photo courtesy of Google Streetview

Start the clock.

According to one blurb on the AJC yesterday, Decatur Superintendent Phyllis Edwards is saying that City Schools of Decatur will need another k-5 building on the north side of the city to house students by the 2018-2019 school year.  And ultimately, as has been recently reported, the school system could require up to 2 new buildings to accommodate growing enrollment.

The post even notes that Dr. Edwards called DeKalb CEO Lee May about potentially available space in DeKalb County office buildings, after he recently unveiled a plan to move many county employees to a new development along Memorial Drive in unincorporated DeKalb.

But of course, building new schools isn’t cheap.  The extensive renovations already planned for Decatur High School and Renfroe Middle School have been planned to be paid for by issuing Certificates of Participation as part of a lease purchase agreement with Georgia Municipal Association.  Now with new construction on the horizon, the City is making good on its statement to revisit a bond referendum for Decatur Schools, back when it postponed a vote back in mid-2013.

The AJC reports that during the Mayor’s State of the City Address on Tuesday, Mayor Jim Baskett said that the city would revisit issuing a bond referendum for the school system this Spring.  The Superintendent told the AJC that the price tag on the bond would be around $80 million, notably higher than the $59.6 million bond referendum that the city rejected back in 2013.

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

CSD sent out this note from Superintendent Phyllis Edwards yesterday…

Fall is certainly a beautiful time of year. I am sure you are enjoying the cooler weather and changing leaves, football games, dances and school fall festivals. Many of our Decatur families celebrate Halloween. While Halloween can be a memorable and fun event, it can also pose concerns for the safety of your children, regardless of their age.

This year, Halloween falls on a Friday night. I urge you escort your children while they trick or treat, and to be especially aware of moving vehicles as your children travel from house to house. The CDC issued a very helpful list of safety tips for Halloween- read it by following this link.

If your children are older, I ask that each neighborhood keep a watch on playground areas, parks and school property, which in past years have become areas for students to gather. Alcohol use and illegal substances or inappropriate activities are never allowed to take place on school property. I am contacting the Chief of Police this week to ask that our school grounds be patrolled.

As you trick or treat through your neighborhood, please be aware and alert. If you should see or hear anything in your neighborhood that is not normal, please contact the police. If you are a school SLT member or PTA member, perhaps you can talk with your Principal about forming a patrol. Please become involved so we can help avert any unfortunate results.

While we are proud of our accomplishments, one of the most important priorities of the school system is to ensure that our students are safe. We wish our families a safe and fun Halloween.

Sincerely,

Dr. Phyllis Edwards, Superintendent

CSD sent out this announcement yesterday…

The Georgia School Superintendents Association shared the following announcement this week:

Georgia School Superintendents Association’s (GSSA) selection committee has narrowed the 2015 Superintendent of the Year competition to four. The four candidates are: Dr. Phyllis Edwards of City Schools of Decatur,  Dr. Philip Lanoue of Clarke County, Dr. Curtis Jones of Spalding County, and Dr. Randy Shearouse of Effingham County. Congratulations to all four finalists, their Boards of Education, and school communities they represent. All of these candidates have been working on some very special things in their respective school systems. Their communities and students are certainly the beneficiaries of the leadership each is providing. We had nearly 30 nominations for the selection committee to review and discuss. The selection committee is made up of past Georgia Superintendents of the Year that are still active in their profession. All the nominees represented Georgia from all over the state and the decision making process was very challenging to narrow to just four finalists. Again, GSSA is proud to have these four finalists represent Georgia as 2015 Superintendent of the Year!

“This is a tremendous honor to be named a finalist and I sincerely thank the Board of Education for nominating me,” said Dr. Edwards. “Beginning my twelfth year as Superintendent of Schools in City Schools of Decatur, I can say that it has been a joy to lead this system of caring and dedicated teachers and staff!”

Dr. Edwards and the other nominated finalists will now apply to become the Georgia Superintendent of the Year to be announced at the Georgia School Superintendents Association/Georgia School Boards Association conference in December.

Congratulations Dr. Edwards!

From Superintendent Phyllis Edwards’ note to the Board in preparation for next Tuesday’s meeting…

Beacon Administrative Offices are coming along.  Thanks to Mary Farmer and Jason Ware for shepherding this process.  Mary Farmer and team are set to go over first to get technology going.  Then the Central Office team will move in shifts- first floor than second floor.  We hope to have the May Board Meeting in our new facility.

From the county-by-county section of Friday’s AJC…

Decatur Schools Superintendent Phyllis Edwards said that given the city’s renewed focus on annexation, “It looks to me we’ll have to build another school or build on an existing campus.”

Last spring Decatur schools projected that total enrollment would swell to over 6,000 by 2018, but Edwards admitted those numbers are now outdated.

Neither annexation nor the city’s at least five planned mixed-use developments figured into those original projections.

Edwards added the only existing campus with room to build is Winnona Park Elementary. Bill Banks for the AJC