Group of Parents Accuses Dunwoody Ga., School Board Member Nancy Jester of Favoring Segregation at Two Schools

Is segregation coming to pockets of DeKalb County, Ga? A group of parents from Dunwoody seem to think so and have enlisted the help of a powerful Atlanta lawyer, Lee Parks, to sue the school board if part of a redistricting plan is approved Monday night. The group has set its sights on DeKalb School Board member Nancy Jester, who they have accused of being in favor of segregating two schools -- Vanderlyn and Austin Elementary. They said the schools would be all white if Ms. Jester has her way.

Attorney Lee Parks told Channel 2's Mike Petchenik he's representing a large group of Dunwoody parents who are concerned the board will redraw attendance lines to segregate two schools, Vanderlyn and Austin Elementary. And, Parks alleges that DeKalb School Board member Nancy Jester wants it that way.

"When you peel back the curtain, it’s creating two white schools," said Parks. "I think the new board member, Ms. Jester, thinks that’s some sort of political mandate that she got when she was elected.”

A decentralized plan presented by an outside consultant earlier this year removed children living in apartment complexes along Ashford-Dunwoody Road from Vanderlyn and Austin, moving them instead to Dunwoody Elementary School.

Parks and others said that would allow only children living in single-family homes to attend the highly-coveted schools. Last month, interim Superintendent Ramona Tyson tweaked the plan and moved students from one apartment complex back into Vanderlyn. But, Parks said he fears Jester will reverse the lines.

"I think they (the school board) ought to stop, step back, take a deep breath and say 'wait a minute,'" said Parks. "We have a school board member that’s become way too involved for all the wrong reasons in this redistricting process."

Parks said he filed open records requests with the district to see Jester's board-related e-mails. He showed Petchenik one in which Jester asked Tyson to leave one particular neighborhood, The Branches, at Austin Elementary. Source

One would hope that politicians would put the interest of their constituents first, since it's really easy to get rid of them by voting them out of office, but no, some go into to office with their own agendas and beholden to special interests and other such groups. Well, as a parent who lives in North Fulton County, the last thing I want to see is segregation in public schools and I will join the masses in saying hell-no to this bullsh*t.