Mrs. Deirdre Pierce, a native of Chicago, Illinois, has been a proud South DeKalb resident for 46 years. She and her husband Melvin have been married 47 years, and three of their five adult children and two grandchildren graduated from DeKalb County schools.
Deirdre earned her B.A. degree in English from Spelman College, and considers herself a lifelong learner. She worked for Delta Air Lines, Inc. for 33½ years where daily she worked with/encountered people from all walks of life, age groups and ethnicities. Prior to taking early retirement from Delta, she was a substitute teacher in DeKalb County schools on many of her off days.
Deirdre has been a proud member of the East Lake Family YMCA Board of Directors; Georgia PTA Board; local School Councils and PTA/PTSAs; Junior League of DeKalb County, Inc. Community Advisory; Social Justice Ministry Chair at Ray of Hope Christian Church and President of the DeKalb County Council of PTAs when it was one unit.
Deirdre’s School District service has included the
Strategic Planning and Flexible Education Options Committees
Family Engagement, E-SPLOST and Superintendent’s Advisory Councils and the
Planning and Construction Advisory Team for Barack H. Obama Elementary Magnet School of Technology and the state-of-the-art 21st Century Dr. Ronald E. McNair Middle School.
As an active member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., Deirdre has sought opportunities for her Chapter to further their involvement in improving literacy in DeKalb schools. To that end, Deirdre co-chaired the
Delta
Teacher
Efficacy
Campaign Committee, that was awarded 40,000 new books for grades pre-K-12 from First Book – a nonprofit social enterprise. Although books were shared with many noteworthy groups, the majority were distributed to DeKalb students in schools on the Georgia Needs Improvement List.
Deirdre’s many years of collaboration with parents, students, community members, faculty, staff and other leaders at Dr. Ronald E. McNair High School, led her to petition the Board of Education to build a Career Technology wing and state-of-the-art Auditorium at the school. The success of this effort encouraged the Board to approve the same for every High School in the District, and later led the way for Deirdre being selected as one of twelve PTA community advocates from across the country, to be recognized as a White House Champion of Change by the Obama Administration.
Deirdre comes to the Board with a love of the District and its people; a passion for equity in education; and a clear understanding of the importance of fiscal responsibility, sound governance, accountability, and teamwork.
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has”. Margaret Mead
