Parents upset over number of principals at DeKalb school

LITHONIA, Ga. — Parents in DeKalb County want answers after one high school has gone through five principals in the past six years.

The president of the Martin Luther King Jr. High School Parent-Teacher-Student Association told Channel 2's Dave Huddleston that the school has gone through three principals this year alone.

She said district officials are not providing them with information they need.

"Talk to us, give us the reason behind what you're doing. It makes no sense to us," said Evelyn Cunningham, MLK High School PTSA president.

She's still involved even though all four of her children have graduated. Her last child graduated in 2010.

"Our students need some kind of consistency, our teachers are stressed out, the parents are stressed out, we're all stressed out, so we're trying to figure out why they're doing that to us," Cunningham said.

MLK's newest principal started Wednesday, just two weeks before the semester is over.

Cunningham said school officials told no one about the new change.

Channel 2's Dave Huddleston went to school district headquarters to talk to the superintendent, Cheryl Atkinson, but was told to contact the district spokesperson, Jeff Dickerson.

Dickerson told Huddleston on the phone that the superintendent felt the former principal at the beginning of the school year was best suited for an elementary school and the second principal this year was only there until they found a permanent replacement.

Dickerson said that as for what happened before Atkinson became superintendent in 2011, they have no idea.

Cunningham said she hopes the new principal can be the last principal for at least a couple years, to develop some consistency at the school instead of the current revolving door.

WSBTV