It's A Tough Job

DeKalb County Schools have engaged a firm to entice parents into bringing their kids back to public school. Seems the approach of right-sizing evaporated under the withering heat of parental resistance. In this case these parents already had their kids in public school placing them outside the target market for the PR firm. Thankfully, the PR firm gets paid for each student whose ass they can get back into class. For that one magic day when attendance counts for annual state funding. 

That should tell you pretty much everything. It isn't about learning. It's not about education. It's all about money. Based on the amount of state funding each little backpack toter represents and what the firm charges DeKalb may yet be able to fill that new admin building. All the while existing schools, of which there are arguably too many, will continue to deteriorate. But hey, you like your Vanderlyn, you can keep your Vanderlyn. Happy now?

For the casual observer this is going to be interesting.  Convincing parents who've decided on a better option than DCSD, to reconsider and possibly bring back the funding is formidable. Parents with children approaching school age may be no easier to convince. It just so happens these parents talk to other parents whose kids are already in school. These parents are more likely to be swayed by their neighbors than some out-of-town marketing firm. This summer should be fun.

What Lost?

A little context...

Looks Right

Just Put It Down

Not Right

Definitely Upside Down

Then we are treated to...

Smart City? NO!

Some have remarked these...whatever they are...are phallic. Others have noted this makes it look like you're entering a business park. They are either new here or simply haven't been paying attention. Dunwoody IS an office park, beholden to developers and businesses and very well isolated from residents and the ballot box. 

Here's something to ponder...

You know that some overpaid folks chose these signs and they were presented with other options. Yet THIS is what won. Don't you wonder what the losers looked like?

Trail?

You've heard of a trail before haven't you? You know, like the Appalachian Trail. Now that's a trail. This isn't:

Two Lane Highway?

When it is a road-sized strip of non-eco-friendly concrete (does anyone care about ecology anymore?) with a stripe down the middle it is nobody's definition of a "trail." Can you imagine the shock if any of those trail aficionados ever got to the AT. What would they call that? They've already used up "path" and "trail."

Is Third Time The Charm?

City hall just won't let it go. After being batted down twice they are lodging another, third, appeal in an unemployment case. Here's one of the funny parts (at this point how can you NOT see the humour in this expensive goat rodeo?): the police officer at the center of this case was fired for dishonesty! Cannot make this up. This guy was fired from a police department that has a proven record (facts not in dispute) of falsifying official police records--on purpose. And keep in mind that there have been no credible outside investigations of the smarmy goings-on withing the PD, instead the top cop has "investigated" concluding there is nothing to see here. Just move along. Credibility? Veracity? Is any objective observer going to associate either with the Dunwoody powers that be?

The lawyers hired by the city for this appeal, on your dime, probably a few million of them, may be ignorant (willfully?) of the city's fear of veracity and allergy to transparency but he has stones saying: "The GDOL needs to finally right its wrongs in this case, and the Board of Review now has a third opportunity to do so." [emphasis added] Very gracious of him to offer them yet-another-chance. Wonder if this work is pro bono. Seriously, would this money be better spent on rank and file police?

Grade Inflation

How poetic: Dunwoody gets a "D."

Seriously, this is the kind of city with the kind of service to residents that would make reviewers on Amazon start with "I'd give it a zero if I could" because it is just that bad. There is only one reason this city could possibly rate a D: 'cuz Christmas.