State hires advisor to oversee school repairs in DeKalb County

druid hills high school
Druid Hills High School students on April 11 published a video detailing the health and safety problems at the school, drawing outrage from the community. (Dean Hesse/Decaturish)

Starting June 1, the DeKalb County School District will get some help making sure its buildings are repaired. The Georgia Department of Education has hired Tanzy Kilcrease as a “special appointed advisor” to oversee the school system’s progress on building upgrades and maintenance.

Kilcrease is retiring from the Bibb County schools, where she served as chief of staff, overseeing operations including facilities and maintenance. She says her first step in DeKalb will be to run an assessment.

“I don’t think until I’ve actually been able to be on-site myself and also have the opportunity to really delve into the current data that exists so I can see the current reality, that I will be able to begin to think about, ‘How do we move forward in developing those long-term plans for sustainability?'” Kilcrease says.