The plan to reorganize the DeKalb County School District’s central office will bring more academic supports to schools, explained Superintendent Devon Horton at a board meeting on Monday.
Last week, a rough draft of the plan was published on the district’s website, outlining more than 50 new positions and dozens of others that will be shuffled or changed. The estimated cost was $10.4 million.
The final version of the plan presented Monday will cost $12.2 million and create nearly 90 new positions.
Most of that total — $9.7 million — will be funded with federal pandemic aid, Horton said. The rest will come from a contingency fund in the district’s regular budget. When that aid runs out, other federal funds will be able to cover the bulk of the positions, he said.
The changes “will afford administrators the opportunity to provide enhanced support to schools,” Horton said, adding that they will “create a positive culture and climate in which all staff and students can learn and work.”
Board members were generally supportive of the coming changes. A vote was not required on the reorganization, which falls under the superintendent’s purview.
“Some people think it looks top-heavy,” said board member Allyson Gevertz. “But in a way, it’s almost a flipped model, where we’re taking the needs of the teachers and principals and putting all these supports in place, so the principals know very quickly who they can talk to.”
Board member Vickie Turner portrayed the plan as an effort to repurpose, realign or reorganize existing positions, rather than add new ones. Of roughly 230 positions listed over 10 departments, 89 are labeled as “new.”
Most of the new positions are in the Division of School Leadership, which exists to help schools. Currently, DeKalb is split into seven regions based on geography, each of which is led by a regional superintendent. Under Horton’s plan, schools will be grouped by commonalities: There will be three area superintendents over elementary schools, one over middle schools, one over high schools, one over schools with the highest needs and one over speciality schools, like theme schools and charter schools. Under each of those superintendents, there will be teams of people who coordinate different areas, ranging from language arts and math instruction to transportation and mental health.
The goal is that there are more supports for people at the school level, rather than only a few people at the district level to support every school in the district.
Notably, Horton would also add 35 face liaisons in the newly created Division of Equity — employees who will be based at high-need schools and serve as mentors to 10-12 students each.
Board member Joyce Morley objected to the plan, arguing that Horton hasn’t had enough time to know what the district needs. Morley also stated that former Superintendent Cheryl Watson-Harris, who was fired in April 2022, presented a similar plan that the board was not interested in. Morley called Horton’s plan “putting the cart before the horse.”
“I think that we have to be realistic,” she said. “I haven’t seen the need. I see the want.”
The changes affect 10 of the departments at the district level concerning academics and students. The departments that deal with operations won’t see any changes yet.
Though there’s no concrete timeline, Horton said he would expect to begin hiring within the next three months. Any current employees who are hired for new positions will not be able to start the new job until a replacement is found for their old one.
About the Author
