DeKalb County, GA – The DeKalb County School Board met for hours on Friday, May 8, and were expected to end that meeting with the hiring of Rudy Crew, the sole finalist to be the district’s next superintendent.

The meeting ended, but the board took no action on hiring Crew, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution. The AJC also reports that the board didn’t announce the end of the meeting to the public beforehand, which isn’t allowed under the Open Meetings Act. To read the full story, click here.

The School Board chair did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

Crew has an impressive resume. He was chancellor of New York City Schools and the superintendent in Miami-Dade County. He currently serves as President of Medgar Evers College in New York.

But he also came with “baggage,” as School Board member Stan Jester put it.

In his career, he butted heads with officials tasked with holding him accountable in New York and Miami.

According to the New York Times, Special Commissioner of Investigation Edward Stancik wrote a “withering report” that officials at a high school in Queens could have prevented a gang rape from occurring in a classroom if they’d listened to a warning from a teacher that a room was being used by students for sexual activity. The New York Times wrote that Stancik, “called on Schools Chancellor Rudy Crew to dismiss two administrators at the school and to discipline three others, including the school principal, Richard Ross.”

“In response, Dr. Crew reassigned three of those officials to administrative posts elsewhere,” the New York Times wrote. “The principal, who has tenure, remained in place, pending a decision by the Chancellor on whether to file formal disciplinary charges.”

According to the Miami New Times, “Although he reassigned the assistant principals after the scandal, Crew refused to remove Principal Richard Ross despite Stancik’s recommendation and parents’ outrage. According to news articles, Crew personally investigated the incident and found that ‘sufficient additional information’ convinced him firing Ross was inappropriate.”

Crew ran into a strikingly similar controversy in Miami. An 18-year-old star running back was accused of having sex with a 14-year-old inside a girls’ bathroom at a high school there. The girl’s mother complained to the school’s staff and got nowhere, so she filed a police report. The football player was arrested. The Miami New Times article alleges that “Crew’s office knew what the star football player had done” but he was allowed to play in a state championship game. After the controversy erupted, Crew put the varsity football players at the school on probation and fired the coaches. He vowed to fire 21 employees who didn’t report the crime.

The Miami New Times article says, “Despite the impressive display of authority, Crew’s reaction to the Northwestern affair is much like his response to scandals that plagued him in … New York: too little too late.” The story accused one of Crew’s direct reports of at the time of trying to interfere with the criminal investigation into employees accused of covering up the crime.

In Oregon, where Crew worked as the state’s chief education officer, he made trips that had nothing to do with his job. The Oregonian wrote, “Most of that travel had nothing to do with his $280,000-a-year job. Instead, again and again, he flew first-class to give speeches, often for pay, to audiences drawn by his charisma and the national reputation he built when he ran New York City and Miami schools.”

An audit of Medgar Evers College found that $32,421 in tax levy funds were spent furnishing Crew’s residence and $2,088 was charged to the college’s corporate credit card to pay Crew’s personal bills.

Crew responded to some of these concerns during a virtual press conference Decaturish attended. On April 30, Decaturish published an editorial questioning whether the board should hire Crew, given his problematic past. To read the editorial, click here.

If you appreciate our work on this story, please become a paying supporter. For as little as $3 a month, you can help us keep you in the loop about your community. To become a supporter, click here. 

Want Decaturish delivered to your inbox every day? Sign up for our free newsletter by clicking here. 

SAN ANTONIO – A request from a local superintendent has pushed up a highly anticipated University Interscholastic League meeting.

Case between South San-Kerrville girls players headed to UIL executive committee

The meeting will determine whether a Kerville Tivy girl’s basketball player will be punished for shoving a South San player, which caused the player to suffer a concussion.

The incident occurred Nov. 17 during a tournament at South San. A fan captured the incident on camera.

The short video has now gone viral. It shows Kerrville Tivy senior McKenzie Dil shoving South San sophomore Destiny Hilliary. The video shows Hilliary falling, trying to get up and stumbling around.

A doctor soon confirmed she had a concussion with whiplash.

“It’s been difficult. Just concerning first of all, making sure she was alright and, now that she’s playing again, it’s still kind of worrisome,” said Destiny’s mother, Lupita Hilliary.

Hillary said it’s just as difficult seeing Dil continue to play during regular-season games. She was benched only for the remainder of the tournament in November. 

South San player’s mom says daughter suffered concussion

“We just feel that it was unfair,” Lupita Hillary said.

The UIL’s State Executive Committee was originally set to meet about possible discipline on Jan. 24, which is near the end of the girl’s basketball season. However, South San Superintendent Dr. Abelardo Saavedra stepped in, requesting the meeting be moved up immediately.

A press release posted Monday showed the meeting will now take place Tuesday at 9 a.m. at the Austin Marriott North in Round Rock, “to discuss alleged rule violations.”

The schedule of Tuesday’s meeting simply says, “Kerrville Tivy High School: Referral from District 26-5A Executive Committee for Consideration of Penalties for Violations of Section 50(a)(3), Student Violations.”

“Our district has handled this very well,” Lupita said. “We’ve had support from day one from the superintendent, from the principal, from our coach.”

That support is especially meaningful for Destiny, who has always aspired to play college basketball. Her love for the game has drawn her back onto the court.

“She had lost her starting position, of course. The couple (of) minutes she did play, I feel like she may have been playing a little hesitant or fearful of getting injured again,” Lupita Hillary said.

She wants the UIL to set a precedent in Tuesday’s meeting.

“I just hope that no one gets injured in this manner again,” she said.

Hilliary filed a report with the San Antonio Police Department and said she plans on pursuing assault charges, but Dil has not been charged in the case. District Attorney Nico LaHood said he is aware of the case but cannot comment because it’s still an open investigation. 

KSAT reached out to Kerrville Tivy High School after the incident occurred, but did not receive an immediate comment.

Copyright 2018 by KSAT – All rights reserved.