A DeKalb educator: 'I fear for the future of our schools if... | Get Schooled | www.ajc.com

A DeKalb educator: 'I fear for the future of our schools if... | Get Schooled | www.ajc.com:

A DeKalb educator: 'I fear for the future of our schools if this charter is adopted.' 

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HYOSUB SHIN / AJC

Matthew Lewis (foreground left), a DeKalb parent and member of the organizing committee, helps voter Karla Jennings get a ballot Tuesday to vote on a charter cluster proposal at Druid Hills High School. HYOSUB SHIN / HSHIN@AJC.COM

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By Maureen Downey

Here is another teacher letter to the DeKalb school board, this one urging the board not to approve the Druid Hills charter cluster.  This letter was written by Susan McWethy, teacher librarian at Druid Hills Middle School. 

You can read another point of view from a teacher here. If you read both these letters, you will have a good sense of the issues and the implications of Monday's school board vote.

 Dear Mr. Thurmond and Members of the Board,

As an educator and parent of former Druid Hills Cluster students, I have serious concerns about the Druid Hills Charter Cluster proposal. 

I am in a position to talk informally with many teachers.  It is very apparent that they do not have the information they need to fully understand this charter and its ramifications, both for their students and for their teaching careers -- not to mention the county as a whole.  The plan was hastily unveiled to teachers last April, and the 200-plus arcane waivers were revealed only three weeks before the start of school.  Anyone knows that the busiest times for teachers are at the end and before the start of the school year, when their priorities are their students.

The reactions I've received from teachers when the subject arises are usually one of three: 

1) They are relying on the "good faith" of the charter community who are at least trying 

 

Get Schooled: A DeKalb Teacher of the Year urges a 'yes' vote on charter cluster Monday

The DeKalb school board is scheduled to vote Monday on the petition to put Druid Hills High School and six feeder schools under the management of a nonprofit organization. The cluster would operate under its own administrators and board of directors. If approved by the board Monday and the state ...

11 57min