WELLNESS
YOUTH
Arabia’s natural beauty
Award-winning art
Fans of the great outdoors will enjoy hikes and special programs at Davidson-Arabia Mountain Nature Preserve. 6
Four talented 4th District students receive scholarships in U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson’s 2013 Congressional Arts Competition. 9
EAST ATLANTA • DECATUR • STONE MOUNTAIN • LITHONIA • AVONDALE ESTATES • CLARKSTON • ELLENWOOD • PINE LAKE • REDAN • SCOTTDALE • TUCKER
Copyright © 2013 CrossRoadsNews, Inc.
April 27, 2013
Volume 18, Number 52
www.crossroadsnews.com
Public hearings into proposed $728 million school budget By Ken Watts
DeKalb residents will have three chances to voice their opinions on priorities for the DeKalb School System’s proposed $728 million budget for the 2013-2014 fiscal year that begins July 1. All three budget hearings will be at the school district’s Stone Mountain headquarters on April 29 and May 8 and 15. The proposed general operations budget is down $32 million from the current budget of $760 million. The FY 2013 budget included a 1-mill property tax increase to help the district plug an $85 million deficit. The board has not said whether a tax increase is on the table this time.
The public hearings will take place at 6 p.m. April 29 and May 8. On May 15, the hearing will be at 3 p.m. The district’s Robert R. Freeman Administrative and Industrial Complex is at 1701 Mountain Industrial Blvd. Mike Perrone in Stone Mountain. Budget director Mike Perrone told the School Board at its April 16 meeting that the $728 million budget reflects declining revenues from property and ad valorem taxes. He said that expenses are exceeding revenues by about $15 million. “About 85 percent of our budget is in salaries and benefits,” he said. “Unfortu-
nately, we’ve had to cut in those areas the last two years. Whether we have to do it again is still to be determined.” Interim Superintendent Michael Thurmond told the board that ad valorem tax revenue has Michael Thurmond flat-lined and that even though the decline of property values has slowed, it continues to fall in significant portions of DeKalb. “We’re still one of the hardest-hit counties in terms of falling property values,” Thurmond said. He said that he and Perrone will have to figure out how to make up the deficit while
boosting classroom resources and improving student performance. The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools cited declining academic achievement as a factor when it placed the district on accreditation probation in December. SACS CEO Mark Elgart told the board at its April 4 meeting that improvements in that area will be crucial to regaining full accreditation. The district’s expense increases include $3.8 million on teacher retirement pensions; $2.2 million on the certified employee health premiums; $5.2 million on non-certified health premiums; $1.3 million on salary step increases; and $2.2 million for Globe AcadPlease see SCHOOLS, page 4
Top teacher gives back to school that molded her Kristina Thomas, who teaches second grade at Chapel Hill Elementary, is one of 131 teachers who will be recognized by the DeKalb School District on May 20.
Students’ ‘aha!’ moments the most rewarding thing By Jessica Smith
The halls of Chapel Hill Elementary School are very familiar to second-grade teacher Kristina Thomas, and not just because she has been volunteering and working at the school for 17 years. Thomas’ familiarity dates to the mid1980s, when she attended classes the Decatur school through the seventh grade. Back then, it never dawned on her that she would end up teaching. Today, the 36-year-old is her alma mater’s “Teacher of the Year.” “When I look back, I realize that I didn’t put two and two together,” she said Thursday. “I was always playing school and I always wanted to be the teacher. But I had it set in my mind that I wanted to work with computers.” It was Thomas’ love for her old elementary school and her passion for teachers that made her colleagues nominate her for the honor. She is one of 131 teachers who will be recognized by the DeKalb School District for outstanding efforts in the classroom on May 20 at Lakeside High School. They will get plaques and gifts. When the Teacher of the Year announcement came over the intercom on Feb. 19, Thomas was both surprised and shocked. “I didn’t expect it,” she said. “Being recognized is not why I do what I do for my students.” After she was presented with flowers and a sash, the flabbergasted Thomas was guided out of her classroom to find the entire staff and student body lining the hallways, clapping and cheering for her as she paraded around the school. Thomas grew up in the nearby Chapel Hill community where her mother still lives.
Jessica Smith / CrossRoadsNews
“When I look back, I realize that I didn’t put two and two together. I was always playing school and I always wanted to be the teacher. But I had it set in my mind that I wanted to work with computers.” Kristina Thomas
She left Chapel Hill Elementary in 1990 and went onto Cedar Grove High, where she graduated in 1995. Next she went to Georgia Perimeter College and majored in computer science, but her love for children lured her back to her elementary school. She began volunteering there in 1996 when she was 19. Her two nieces, Jamaica and Yasmen, were students there and she wanted to help out. Thomas tutored students, worked in the after-school programs, headed up committees, coordinated field trips, manned the
telephones, and assisted parents and visitors to the school. “Then I had a teacher to tell me, ‘You really work well with kids. You should think about becoming a teacher,’” she said. Dale Williams, who has taught at Chapel Hill Elementary for 24 years, said Thomas is known for being supportive, warm, loving and caring. “She has such a heart and compassion for what she does and for the children,” said Williams, who also teaches second grade. “I tell Kristina all the time she has, what I call, the gift of help.”
Thomas’ classroom of 8- and 9-year-olds is decorated with bright colors, shapes and classroom rules. When she asks a question, 23 eager “Me! Me!” echo through the hallways. Thomas was hired by the school in 1997 as a pre-k paraprofessional. From there she became lead teacher, then moved to kindergarten. In 2007, she was named Chapel Hill Elementary’s first Auxiliary Person of the Year. She graduated from Mercer University in 2008 with a bachelor’s degree in early childhood special education and traded in her job as a parapro for GACE-certified teacher. She has been teaching second grade since 2009. Thomas says she is “blessed” to have her own classroom and to witness the magic of children learning. “The most rewarding thing is to see that child have the ‘aha!’ moment, the moment that they actually get what I’m trying to teach.”