SACS wraps up interviews with DeKalb School Board

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — Southern Association of Colleges and Schools CEO Mark Egart said his investigators wrapped up their interviews with DeKalb School Board members at about 1:30 p.m. Friday.

He said they are looking into allegations that all nine members may have over stepped their boundaries.

Egart told Channel 2's Dave Huddleston that the board should not get themselves involved in day to day decisions like bus routes, people assigned certain jobs or students being assigned certain schools and classrooms.

Elgart said SACS received close to 50 complaints about board members and their process of hiring and termination of district employees.

SACS also said they received concerns of why the district spent millions of dollars on legal fees to various law firms.

Elgart said the board decisions do have a direct impact on what happens in the classroom.

"One of our questions is if tens of millions of dollars were not budgeted, and are being expended, where did the money come from, and did it take away from what could have supported kids in the classroom and their work," Elgart said.

On Thursday, all nine DeKalb County board members were interviewed by the investigation team.

Elgart said based on what the investigative team finds, the DeKalb school system will have six months or one year to fix their  problems. If they don't, the school district could lose their accreditation.

"Right now, this system is at risk of not doing its job of helping kids learn. And they don't have a good strong track record in the last four to five years of improving student learning," Elgart said.

DeKalb County parents and taxpayers should see a full report come thanksgiving.

WSBTV