Who are we?

This Dekalb County School Watch blog was started by a small group of concerned parents who buy into the idea of living and educating our children in our own communities.  We believe that although currently necessary, the current practice of shipping our best and brightest kids off to schools up North to be educated is less than optimal.

Our goal is to differentiate ourselves from what we see as sometimes biased motivations of the views expressed by many parents on the North side of Dekalb County.  Many of these views can be found expressed on the Dekalb Couty School Watch blog.

While we abhor what often seems like biased views from North Dekalb parents, we by no means give the DCSS a pass.  Our South Dekalb Schools have been largely abandoned.  They lack quality teachers and resources and serve what is often majority poor communities and their resultant problems with no additional resources.

The list of schools meeting AYP in South Dekalb is shameful, our students test scores are underwhelming, our students treated like common criminals in even the best of schools in South Dekalb and often, when we reach out to DCSS administration, we are treated like they are doing us a huge favor.

Nationwide, Black students have the highest dropout rates [near 50%], the lowest college preparedness rate and the lowest college graduation rates.  We the parents of South Dekalb are tired of the blame game, we are tired of excuses, we are tired of mediocrity, we are tired of being taken advantage of, we are tired of the North South racial divide, we are tired of the sinking feeling in the pits of our stomach we feel when we find out that our brilliant youngsters didn't make the lottery for Chamblee Charter High School.

Our goal is to create a movement for change in South Dekalb.  We want higher academic standards, we want better quality teachers, we want less prison preparedness [stringent and often mindless discipline and punishment] and more visionary leadership, creative thinking, inclusive school management and pride in our communities.

These goals must be accomplished, we have no choice...or we condemn our children to lives of perpetual servitude.