By: Renee Starzyk, CBS Atlanta (Reporter Newspapers broadcast partner.)
DEKALB COUNTY, GA (CBS ATLANTA) –
An online petition calling on the governor to oust the entire DeKalb County school board has already received nearly 500 signatures.
The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) put the district on probation last week, following a six-month investigation. The agency said it found the school board has mismanaged millions of dollars and abused its power for years.
Many who signed the petition had harsh words for school leaders.
“The buck starts with the school board. Throw the bums out! Right now!” wrote a parent from Stone Mountain.
Another wrote: “There is no sense to their madness. Don’t make these kids suffer more by losing accreditation. Replace them.”
Caroline Lord, a long-time DeKalb County resident and activist, said she would work with the governor and state lawmakers to get board members tossed out.
“The checks and balances at the county level, at the state level, at the SACS level have failed us and now the only thing that can salvage it is intervention by the governor,” Lord said.
School leaders said the SACS report was a wake-up call and they vowed to work with the agency to correct problems in the district.
“They are not capable of righting these wrongs,” Lord said of the current school board members. “They do not have the intellectual capability across the board.”
SACS has put the school system on probation until December of 2013.
The Georgia Department of Education must meet within 30 days of SACS report and make a recommendation to the Governor on how to proceed.
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