An accrediting agency recently placed the DeKalb County School District (DCSD) on “accreditation probation and warned if the district didn’t make significant progress on a host of issues it will lose its accreditation in 2013.

AdvancED sent a special review team to investigate the district’s operations in October. During a Dec. 17 news conference, AdvancED President Mark Elgart reviewed those findings.

One of Elgart’s main concerns was the management of the district’s nearly $1 billion annual budget. According to its findings, the review team said DCSD took out a $25 million loan several years ago to purchase textbooks but there was no evidence the textbooks were ever purchased.

With nearly 100,000 students enrolled, DCSD is the third-largest school district in the state.

“Students began classes with textbooks that needed repair and were asked to go home and use glue and put them back together so they could use them,” Elgart said.

Additionally, Elgart said that only 35 percent of DCSD’s contain up-to-date technology. The review team also found the district is currently running at a deficit, due in part to under budgeting.

David Schutten is president of the Organization of DeKalb Educators, the largest local teachers’ organization in Georgia. Schutten said he hopes the incoming school board members pay more attention to the district’s finances.

“People are more concerned about finances in the district than anything else right now,” Schutten said.

Schutten said he didn’t think the recent AdvancED report will cause teachers to look for jobs in other districts but low teacher pay would.

“People are going to start looking for jobs elsewhere because DeKalb has fallen so far behind on pay. It’s not going to have too huge effect on employees and teachers unless they lose accreditation,” Schutten said.

DeKalb Schools spokesman Jeff Dickerson said the district and the board are taking the list of action items from AdvancED “very seriously.”

“This is going to require a lot of work from the district but it’s important to note that accreditation hasn’t been lost and won’t affect any students,” Dickerson said.

Dorie Nolt, assistant director of communications for the Georgia Department of Education, said since DCSD has been put on probation by AdvancED for governance issues, the state board is required to hold a hearing related to the district’s issues.

“That’s a law the legislature passed in the wake of the Atlanta Public Schools cheating scandal and Clayton County losing accreditation,” Nolt said.

Nolt wouldn’t comment on the situation any further but noted that it is possible under the law for the state board to recommend that Gov. Nathan Deal remove current board members.

Dickerson said that although Deal may have that option down the road it was unlikely, especially with three new board members starting in January.

“I think Gov. Deal is certainly aware of the fact that these members are duly elected and he’ll give them an opportunity to serve,” Dickerson said.

If the district did lose accreditation, Chamblee Charter High School teacher SunDee Jones said it would be devastating. Jones said some of her colleagues worry that the same thing that happened in Clayton County will happen in DeKalb.

In 2008, the Clayton County School District lost its accreditation and it took three years for the district to get it back. Elgart said the reason Clayton lost its accreditation was because the school board ignored requests to improve upon actions items similar to those DCSD received.

“I wouldn’t continue work here,” Jones said. “But then again, there would be so many teachers trying to find jobs in other counties it would be hard to find another position I imagine.”

Jones said she and her colleagues are frustrated that the actions of the board are affecting teachers and students, who have done nothing wrong.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of students and teachers leave for another district at the end of this year,” Jones said. “The county really needs to get its finances under control—that’s the issue.”

The list of actions items requested by AdvancED are to devise and implement a written, comprehensive plan to unify the board; ensure all decisions made by the school board are approved collectively; establish and implement procedures that ensure the segregation of the duties of the governing board and that of the administrators and implement; and adhere to fiscally responsible practices.

School Board Chairman Eugene Walker said the board was disappointed by AdvancED’s findings but the district is going to begin working on them aggressively.

“We’re not taking issue with AdvancED and it’s not whether we agree or disagree with the findings. The question is how we’re going to address those issues and how quickly we can get to work on them,” Walker said.

Walker said the board needs to create a set of updated policies to govern the board and the district’s handling of finances.

“We’ve got to change the culture and we want to reassure the public that this is something that we can do, and we must do,” Walker said.