Home > Education > Three-decade old felony taints Cunningham even more

Three-decade old felony taints Cunningham even more

October 25, 2010

DeKalb school official’s record surfaces  | ajc.com.

So I wake up this morning to a wet and windy morning. The dog didn’t want to go outside, and my son did not want to go to daycare. I finally had a chance to sit down do the morning scan of the latest news, and there is DeKalb school board member Jesse Cunningham getting lambasted in the AJC. Apparently Mr. Cunningham is a felon. A thieving felon if you may. My father always told me that if you will steal then you will lie, and vice versa. If he is capable of theft of that nature, then who knows what he may be capable of. The pizza scam is looking a bit worse now. What else is lurking lurking out there waiting to be uncovered. I think many of us, including this writer,  have done things that we are not proud of, and wanting to keep those things private is a natural response. But this is a felony involving theft of funds. It would be hard for me to understand how this man can keep his position on the board. As a pessimistic soul, I can see him winning his re-election, only based on the observations of how voters tend to act at the polls. This story may not have enough time to sink in, and many will go to the polls and pick the incumbent out of habit. If he is re-elected, it will be an embarrassment to voters in the 5th district, and embarrassment to the DeKalb school board. And how will SACS look at our system if we have a convicted felon sitting on the board. Mr. Cunningham would do well to resign his position on the board. He should take the noble high road and salvage what is left of his public name.

Categories: Education
  1. Why?
    October 30, 2010 at 10:41 pm

    Hey Dwight Thomas, since when did Jay Cunningham graduate from Morehouse?

    http://www.crossroadsnews.com/pages/full_story/push?article-Jay+Cunningham+has+become+productive+leader%20&id=10091736#comments_10091736

    “Mr. Cunningham has never forced, coerced or pressured anyone to eat at his establishment. He has not violated any laws, written or unwritten. Is there a hidden agenda in the political slander of Jay Cunningham, a standout Morehouse alumnus?”

    But here’s Jay’s official bio on DCSS:
    http://www.dekalb.k12.ga.us/board/members/cunningham.html

    “A product of the DeKalb County School System, Mr. Cunningham graduated from Walker High School (McNair High School) and attended Fort Valley State University on scholarship prior to being recruited by the McDonald Corporation to participate in the Supervisor Training Program.”

    Dwight Thomas has zero credibility to begin with, but flat out lying about Cunningham’s education is just par for the course for someone who also happens to be Vernon Jones’ personal laywer. It’s a smack in the face to those men who did actually graduate from Morehouse. Nice friends ya got there, Jay.

  2. Dekalbite
    October 26, 2010 at 9:43 pm

    My question is if Mr. Cunningham was not working for McDonald’s for 26 years like he said he was on the DeKalb County School website, then exactly what was he doing? Did McDonald’s hire him back and promote him to a regional manager position after he was convicted of stealing from them?

    https://eboard.eboardsolutions.com/AboutBoard.aspx?S=4054#31159

    A product of the DeKalb County School System, Mr. Cunningham graduated from Walker High School (McNair High School) and attended Fort Valley State University on scholarship prior to being recruited by the McDonald Corporation to participate in the Supervisor Training Program. Mr. Cunningham has spent 26 years working at various levels of management.

    Here’s from his Facebook page:
    http://www.facebook.com/pages/JESSE-JAY-CUNNINGHAM-FOR-DEKALB-COUNTY-SCHOOL-BOARD-DISTRICT-5/103861619666709#!/note.php?note_id=141800069185469

    “Being a successful Business owner and having 26 years of experience with the McDonald Cooperation, as Director of Operations for 15 stores, I have experience and knowledge managing large budgets, public relations, planning, following up and getting positive results. ”

    and this….
    Here’s the main DCSS website:
    http://www.dekalb.k12.ga.us/board/members/cunningham.html

    “A product of the DeKalb County School System, Mr. Cunningham graduated from Walker High School (McNair High School) and attended Fort Valley State University on scholarship prior to being recruited by the McDonald Corporation to participate in the Supervisor Training Program. Mr. Cunningham has spent 26 years working at various levels of management.”

  3. Dekalbite
    October 25, 2010 at 11:02 pm

    Well, Corey Wilson’s 2006 case was Nolle Prosse. Nolle Prossed is from the Latin term “Nolle Prosqui” meaning “We shall no longer prosecute.” Basically, it’s an admission by the prosecution that there is a lack of evidence to pursue the case. Has any blogger here ever been arrested and then the prosecution dropped the case because there wasn’t enough evidence to pursue the case?

    • South DeKalb
      October 25, 2010 at 11:35 pm

      I did not know what Nollo Prosse was until today. I did talk to Wilson today, and he told me that he was not convicted.I personally have never been offered such a plea.

  4. Yep
    October 25, 2010 at 9:08 pm
  5. Yep
    October 25, 2010 at 4:10 pm

    It’s just not the theft that took place almost 30 years ago. Every 23 year old makes bonehead mistakes, granted stealing $12,500 is a big one.

    Stealing $12,500 in 1982 is like stealing $20-25,000 today. He’s lucky the three charges were reduced to one, and he only received probation instead of any jail time. You would think McDonald’s would have pressed for jail time, but I guess their were more interested in getting the money back, which is understandable.

    It’s also that he did not disclose it to the public the first time he ran for BOE, or now for his re-election campaign. DeKalb County is pretty darn forgiving. Heck, DeKalb re-elected Vernon Jones. Sidney Dorsey. Pat Jarvis. Jay Cunningham could have turned this into a positive, saying he made a grave mistake as a young adult, learned from it, and is a better person for it.

    It’s also the pizzagate situation. A BOE member should not do business with the school system, even if it’s as innocent as selling pizza. $22 grand is a lot of pizza, and a lot of business to do with the school system.

    It’s also that within the past few years, he punched a man in the head in front of a church, later pulled a gun on the same man, and threatened a female parent at a school cheerleading meeting.

    If you add them all up, no sane adult would say that Jay Cunningham is someone who should be on a board of just nine people who oversee the education of 100,000 students ith a budget of well over a billion dollars per year.

    P.S. If you check out the AJC Get Schooled and DeKalb County School Watch blogs, it sure looks like BOE candidate Corey E. Wilson has some arrests in his past he did not disclose to the public. If so, it sure is a hit to the credibility of eduKALB, which has endorsed Wilson.

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