Safety and Security

Greetings All,

During the September 3 Board of Education Meeting, the Public Participation was primarily focused on Safety and Security at recent athletic events. The concerns shared were focused on a recent situation that occurred at one of the football games within the last week or so. The concerns expressed involved the engagement and responses of the School Resource Officers (SROs). The staff heard, reviewed, and addressed the concerns with the Safety and Security Department as we value the safety of all at all events. To this end, our public will see School Resource Officers positioned within the stands, near the main areas, and near the parking areas. Our SROs will be more engaged and responsive. Your continued feedback is always welcomed and appreciated as we work together to create a high-performing school district. We are asking everyone to work with our SROs as we want everyone to enjoy our students within a safe environment.

As Superintendent, I would like to remind our community that we are engaged in the difficult and complex work of improving our school system. Yes, we are working together to ensure we have a safe, improving, and high-performing school system. I humbly ask our community to not take or support an adversarial or unhealthy approach to addressing issues during Public Participation or in other roles of leadership. We have come a long way as a community and we should not allow anyone or a small group of disgruntled individuals to diminish our progress or improved reputation as a community and school system.  It is my sincere hope that we do not allow some misguided persons to take us back to a time of supporting politics that only harmed our community, negatively impacted our children, and diminished our reputation as a school system. Sharing a concern is one thing, but being "mean-spirited, vindictive, and adversarial" is another matter. Sharing concerns to make it better comes from a good place--This is welcomed and strongly encouraged. But being "mean-spirited, vindictive, and adversarial" towards the school system and individuals who are working to ensure our children are safe as we lift our children and improve our school system can’t be helpful to our children, our school system, or our community. As I have often shared and fundamentally believe, when you do things from a good place, good comes your way; but when you do things from a mean-spirited, vindictive and adversarial place, you should not expect good outcomes at all. I am asking this community to hold me accountable always while it also holds community members accountable by not supporting or encouraging such mean-spirited, vindictive, and adversarial approaches that are harmful to our children, our community and our school system. Our children deserve nothing but good and caring examples; anyone who is not a good example for our children is unworthy to represent our children or be around our children in any capacity.

We humbly ask for this community's continued support. As we want to always be the "BEST" example for our children, we are asking all of us to be the "BEST" example of how we can always support this vision of high-performance that we are working together to achieve. Remember, we are here to lift our children, our school system, and our community as we work together to achieve high-performance--Let's Stay Focused On This.

Dr. Beasley

7 Pillars Charter

7 Pillars Charter Obtains Support from Clayton County Public Schools (CCPS)

This response is being shared in light of comments made during Public Participation about CCPS in relation to 7 Pillars Charter at the August 5th Board of Education Meeting. To be clear, CCPS is working diligently and transparently to support 7 Pillars as a locally authorized Charter School. In an effort to keep our community accurately informed, a recent cash flow issue at 7 Pillars Charter School that could have delayed its opening has been resolved with the assistance of CCPS. According to 7 Pillars, which shared the cash flow concern with the Superintendent and Board Chair on July 29, the cash flow issue was caused by the delay of the receipt of a School Code from the Georgia Department of Education.

“We accepted responsibility in this matter without hesitation in order to quickly work towards a solution, although it was later determined that the school district submitted the necessary information in a timely manner but did not receive the needed response in a timely manner,” said Dr. Morcease J. Beasley, CCPS Superintendent/CEO. “Once the district was made aware of this cash flow issue, it moved swiftly to support 7 Pillars as we want them to have a very successful opening of the 2019-2020 school year.”  

CCPS has provided 7 Pillars with almost $300,000 in forward funding to help the charter school to successfully open on time. This amount includes forward funding for the first two months of the fiscal year and a no-interest loan of $70,000 to be paid back in equal installments over the next 11 months. “The Board of Education and the school district’s intention from the very beginning has been to be as supportive as possible to the 7 Pillars team,” said Dr. Beasley.

“In addition to the forward funding, we have worked diligently to accommodate 7 Pillars in the areas of transportation, technology, school choice, communications, inter-departmental mail, professional learning and more,” he added. “It is this Administration’s core belief that we provide uncompromising support and uplift to our Charter Schools. We fundamentally believe that we are one family and that we should treat others the way we wish to be treated. We will continue to enhance and strengthen this support as needed during the 2019-2020 school year.”

“The 7 Pillars Charter School is the first charter school to receive this superintendent’s recommendation for approval by the Clayton County Board of Education, an approval that the Board granted,” Dr. Beasley stated. “We are committed to supporting 7 Pillars and desire a very amicable and supportive relationship as we see all the children of Clayton County as our children.”

“Again, we are here to support 7 Pillars -- we believe that we have demonstrated that support. Has there been issues? Of course. However, when we are informed and made aware of issues, we have been and will be nothing but responsive and solutions-oriented. We sincerely hope that our community and its leaders believe, know, agree, and share that we have been supportive of and responsive to 7 Pillars as we have every intention of fulfilling our commitment to all children in Clayton County,” he concluded. 

Dr. Beasley 

Tentative Budget for 2019-2020

Hi All,

I am glad to share that we presented a tentative 2019-2020 budget to the Board of Education (BOE) on Monday, March 25, 2019 during its March Work Session. The budget reflects a projected increase in revenues. We have always shared that we would consider employee raises as we strengthened the fund balance. Well, I am honored that our recommendation to the BOE reflects just this. Our recommendation is to ensure that those on the teachers scale receive all that the Governor will include in his final budget along with a step increase. The Governor's raise plus the step is about 6% on average. All others will receive a step which equates to about 3% average increase. Our lowest paid employees will receive a step and an additional $1/hr which will given them an average increase of about 7%. We are trying to become the highest paying district in Metro Atlanta. We are headed in that direction.

We are projecting a fund balance of about $48 Million. If we continue improving our fund balance at this rate, we will be able to continue to make significant strides to become the highest paying district in Metro Atlanta. Thanks for your patience as we work to make this a reality. We are excited that we had a 95% contract return rate which is the highest we have had. We realize that people have until June but we hope everyone who returned their contract will hang in here with us. It is only going to get better. As we continue to work smart, we will continue to make strides towards being a high performing school district. Oftentimes, we compare ourselves to others without realizing the differences in one's beginning and journey. Let's continue to work together and I am sure we will continue to see wonderful things happen in Clayton County Public Schools. Our journey will only get better.

Until the next blog. 

Dr. B.

Welcome to the High Performance Superintendent Blog!

It is with great honor and privilege that I welcome you to the Superintendent’s High Performance Blog! Created to provide stakeholders with an additional platform to receive updates from me, Dr. Morcease J. Beasley, Superintendent/CEO of Schools, this blog site will provide unique insight relative to all things happening in Clayton County Public Schools!

Since my appointment to Superintendent, we have worked tirelessly to elevate the district's actions to represent the best interest of our students and our community. While daunting to some, I couldn’t be prouder of the work that is being done to provide our students with a world-class education that will enable them to take the world by storm upon graduation, into college and beyond as they compete successfully in any area they may choose. This tireless work will be evident within this blog.

Rest assured that this district remains focused on the business of educating students, supporting the community and safeguarding the future of our county, state, and nation by producing scholars that are prepared to be successful college and career ready productive citizens. We are Committed to High Performance, and as Superintendent of Schools, I welcome you to my High Performance Blog! 

Dr. Morcease J. Beasley, 

Superintendent/CEO of Schools