Big decisions awaited after DeKalb school board hearings | www.myajc.com

The hearings have ended in the case of the DeKalb County school board shake-up, and if the testimony was truthful, thenat least some of the suspended members did nothing improper.

Witness after witness took the stand in proceedings that ended last week, asserting that one board member or another followed the rules and behaved professionally. The implication was that allegations brought by an accreditation agency were groundless.

That agency, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, judged that the school board was guilty of poor governance. It also alleged misdeeds by unnamed board members, but offered little to defend those assertions during the hearings, which started in June. SACS’ opinions informed Gov. Nathan Deal’s decision to suspend six board members in February and appoint replacements in March.

Now, parents and voters in DeKalb await a judge’s recommendation and, ultimately, a decision by Deal on whether to reinstate suspended members or permanently remove them. Lurking in the background is a Georgia Supreme Court case that challenges the legality of the process and could restore the members to the seats they were elected to hold.

DeKalb’s accreditation has been under threat since December, when SACS placed Georgia’s third-largest school district on probation, alleging financial mismanagement, nepotism and meddling by the school board. Accreditation affects college and scholarship prospects, not to mention real estate values. So 98,000 schoolchildren and hundreds of thousands of DeKalb residents have a stake in the outcome.

via Big decisions awaited after DeKalb school board hearings | www.myajc.com.