Just a reminder that the Decatur Heights neighborhood is hosting a District 1 school board candidates forum this Sunday at the Church of Decatur Heights from 1:30p to 3:30p.  In case you missed the full announcement previously, here’s the link.

Sadly, due to the recent passing of her mother, School Board member Julie Rhame will be unable to attend as originally planned. “It speaks volumes to Julie’s dedication to our schools,” said DM commenter and forum organizer Deanne, “that she still wanted to try to meet with the community to answer questions. It’s certainly in keeping with all that she’s always done.”

Our best to Julie and her whole family during this difficult time.

Two years ago, Decatur hosted two interesting and informative city commission races along with two closely watched school board races.

This year, even with three city commissioners up for re-election, all are running unopposed, according to a requested list from the City Manager of candidates who qualified prior to today’s 4:30p.

Qualifying for Decatur City Commission:

• Bill Floyd (District 1 Post B)
• Kecia Cunningham (District 2 Post B)
• Jim Baskett At Large

Qualifying for School Board:

• Garrett Goebel (District 1 Post B)
• Peggy Bumgardner (District 1 Post B)
• Julie Rhame (District 2 Post B)

As you can see, the only race inside the city limits will be between Garrett Goebel and Peggy Bumgardner, who will vie for John Ahmann’s vacated spot.  District 2’s Julie Rhame will also run unopposed for her School Board seat.

As has been pointed out in the comments to a previous post, the AJC put together a piece on the Decatur School Board’s “rejection” of earlier school start times.  A couple notable blurbs…

Board member Julie Rhame said she had made up her mind hours before the meeting even started.

“Every study I’ve ever seen shows that teenagers both go to bed later and sleep longer,” said Rhame, who voted with board member John Ahmann against the proposal. “I feel anything before 8 o’clock is too early.”

And then this from Superintendent Edwards…

Edwards estimates as many as 80 percent of the system’s students use one of the 14 school buses that cover Decatur’s 4 square miles. The system has done away with a “hub” system, eliminating the need for children to transfer from bus to bus. The parents of younger students also don’t want their children riding with older kids.

“Given all these considerations, I can’t see how start times can be the same for everybody,” Edwards said. “Somebody’s going to have to start early.”

Yesterday I received correspondence from Assistant Superintendent Thomas van Soelen and City Schools of Decatur Board Member Julie Rhame on the ongoing community issues involving 5th Avenue acreage and the potential of using the Beacon Hill as the site of the city’s new 4/5 academy.

Both the Assistant Superintendent and Ms. Rhame attached two documents with their email.  One is a 4-page letter from Superintendent Dr. Phyllis Edwards responding to these two issues; discussed at length here and sent to CSD in a letter/petition format.  The other attachment is a 3-page site evaluation of Beacon Hill, requested by the board and performed by Rosser.  Both documents are must-read.

Read the rest of this entry »

The AJC’s Kristen Torres provides a nice summary of the CSD reconfiguration issue in today’s paper in preparation of Tuesday’s Board Meeting when the Superintendent will give her recommendation on the issue.

Of particular note: Torres has a quote from board member Julie Rhame saying that though the board could technically vote on the issue Tuesday, it probably won’t happen.