YOUTH
MINISTRY
Sneak peak at technology
Show goes on the road
Ten YMCA STEM students got an inside look at Johnson Research & Development Co.’s technology lab in Atlanta. 2
Antonio “The Chozen 1” Hinton is taking his mime ministry to the House of Transformation Miracle Ministry in LaGrange on Aug. 12. 6
Let’s Keep DeKalb Peachy Clean Please Don’t Litter Our Streets and Highways
EAST ATLANTA • DECATUR • STONE MOUNTAIN • LITHONIA • AVONDALE ESTATES • CLARKSTON • ELLENWOOD • PINE LAKE • REDAN • SCOTTDALE • TUCKER
August 5, 2017
Copyright © 2017 CrossRoadsNews, Inc.
Volume 23, Number 14
www.crossroadsnews.com
17 DeKalb schools opening with new principals on Aug. 7 By Angelina T. Velasquez
New principals will welcome students at 17 DeKalb County Schools on Aug. 7. The new leaders will be at 11 elementary schools – Dresden, Flat Rock, International Student Center, Kelley Lake, Oak View, Panola Way, Rock Chapel, Shadow Rock, Snapfinger, Woodridge and Stoneview – and at Miller Grove, Redan and Stephenson middle; and Lithonia, Tucker, and Chamblee Charter high schools, The schools with new leaders include nine under-performing schools – Dresden, Flat Rock, International Student Center, Oak View, Panola Way, Rock Chapel, Shadow Rock, Stoneview, and Snapfinger – whose principals were removed by DeKalb School Superintendent Dr. R. Stephen Green in May at the end of the 2016-2017 school year for missing the mark in five key areas. Announcing the arrival of the new leaders last week, Green said that research shows that when schools have effective leadership,
Peggy Davis
Malik Douglas
Lisa Green
student and staff performance increases. “Working with our five regional superintendents, we have identified a group of highly qualified and highly motivated individuals to join our team,” he said. “With these talented educators in place, we will continue to raise our expectations and outcomes for achievement.” The newcomers include Lisa Green, a 22-year educator, who has taken the helm at Rock Chapel Elementary in Lithonia. The former 12-year assistant principal with Gwinnett County Public Schools says
Viva Jones
Corey Stegall
she was attracted to DeKalb because of Green’s vision to “educate the whole child in order for deep teaching and learning to take root.” “It is my personal and professional pledge to model, inspire, challenge, support, and encourage every member of our school’s family to have a laser focus on student achievement and growth,” said Green who is not related to the superintendent. In Decatur, Peggy Davis takes the top job at Kelley Lake Elementary where she has been assistant principal for three years.
Tamra Watts
Marcus Kimber
Sabrina Pressley, a former computer teacher at Boys & Girls Clubs of America is the principal at Oak View Elementary; and Johnny Porter, former DeKalb teacher and assistant principal, is the new principal at Snapfinger Elementary. The International Student Center in Decatur will start the school year with interim principal Dr. Alexander Russell. Marcus Kimber, who has taught for 18 years, takes over at Miller Grove Middle Please see PRINCIPALS, page 3
Glenwood getting long-awaited sidewalks Construction to take 18 months to complete By Jennifer Ffrench Parker
Glenwood Road residents who have been waiting decades for sidewalks are finally going to have them. DeKalb Commissioner Larry Johnson, CEO Michael Thurmond and Community Development Director Allen Mitchell helped break ground Aug. 3 on the $4.4 million project that will build five-foot-wide sidewalks along both sides of Glenwood Road between Candler Road and Columbia Drive in Decatur. The two-mile project is the second phase of a three-part, $11.6 million project that began in 2009. The first phase from I-20 and Candler Road to Glenwood Road was completed in 2010 at a cost of $7.2 million. Georgia Department of Transportation and federal funding is covering $3.1 million of the cost, with $1.3 million in matching funds from DeKalb County. The project’s final phase will continue the sidewalks from Columbia drive to Covington Highway. Johnson, who represents District 3 where the project is located, said it was a long time coming but it was always in the mix to have a safe-walking community. “It’s a great day on Glenwood Road,” he said. The project, which will take 18 months to build, will include a HAWK pedestrian crosswalk - where walkers can stop traffic with the
Jennifer Ffrench Parker / CrossRoadsNews
Robin White walks along Glenwood Road where two miles of sidewalks will be built on both sides of the road between Candler Road and Columbia Drive.
push of a button – near Shoal Creek Park. BRTU Construction Inc. is the contractor for the project. Community leaders like Ann Brown and Vivian Moore, who have been advocating for pedestrian improvements along the corridor since the mid-1980s, were present for the groundbreaking. Both said sidewalks are important to the community. Brown, who was president of the Belvedere Civic Association for 15 years, said she began fighting for pedestrian improvements 25 years ago after her 12-year-old cousin
Tiffanny Smith was struck and killed on Glenwood Road, once considered “the most dangerous street in Georgia” because of the number of pedestrian deaths on it. “She was on her way to Atherton school,” Brown said. “She didn’t have a sidewalk to be on. She was trying to go across the street. She didn’t make it.” Moore, who lives in the White Oak Community between Glenwood Road and Memorial Drive, said she is grateful to see the start of the sidewalk project. “This is a new day on Glenwood Road,”
she said. “It took us a long time to get there but we are almost there. I am grateful I have lived to see it. Many did not.” Moore, who moved into the area in 1982, said that over the years she has been to many funerals for people killed on Glenwood. “We are not the forgotten people and we are grateful for that,” she said. Moore told the story of her neighbor, Jay Teadle, who is blind and takes MARTA to get around. “Imagine a blind person taking the MARTA bus with no sidewalks. He literally have to stand on a sewer grate to wait on the bus because there are no sidewalks,” she said. “What does this mean, Jay can go on the sidewalk and walk to the bus stop on his own. If he was here today he would walk all over this park and shout too.” David Pelton, the county’s transportation manager, said the county acquired 147 parcels for rights of way and easements for $616,000, which was not part of the $4.4 construction budget. He said work on the project will begin on Monday with surveyors locating utility lines along the project route. Construction will start on the south side of Glenwood Road. “One lane will close,” he said. “We will put out cones and barrels to manage traffic flow.” Robin White, who has lived in the Valley Bridge Apartments at 3937 Glenwood Road for five years, was picking her way along Glenwood Road on Wednesday, She said she is tired of beating a path through overgrown grass and weeds to get to the CVS drugstore and Family Dollar near Columbia Drive. “I have been walking on rocks and dirt for a long time,” she said. “I was just saying to myself yesterday, ‘They need to fix this sidewalk.’”