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Diijon Dacosta

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Diijon Dacosta
Image of Diijon Dacosta
DeKalb County School District school board District 6
Tenure

2018 - Present

Term ends

2026

Years in position

7

Elections and appointments
Last elected

June 21, 2022

Education

Associate

Bauder College, 2008

Bachelor's

Kennesaw State University, 2013

Contact

Diijon Dacosta is a member of the DeKalb County School District school board in Georgia, representing District 6. He assumed office in 2018. His current term ends on December 31, 2026.

Dacosta ran for re-election to the DeKalb County School District school board to represent District 6 in Georgia. He won in the general runoff election on June 21, 2022.

Dacosta completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Diijon Dacosta earned an associate degree from Bauder College in 2008 and a bachelor's degree from Kennesaw State University in 2013. Dacosta's career experience includes working as a classroom teacher, county officer, community organizer, and founder of DeKalb Kids Project, Inc.[1]

Elections

2022

See also: DeKalb County School District, Georgia, elections (2022)

General runoff election

General runoff election for DeKalb County School District school board District 6

Incumbent Diijon Dacosta defeated Janet Hughes in the general runoff election for DeKalb County School District school board District 6 on June 21, 2022.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Diijon Dacosta
Diijon Dacosta (Nonpartisan) Candidate Connection
 
55.8
 
3,227
Janet Hughes (Nonpartisan)
 
44.2
 
2,556

Total votes: 5,783
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

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General election

General election for DeKalb County School District school board District 6

Incumbent Diijon Dacosta and Janet Hughes advanced to a runoff. They defeated Venola Mason in the general election for DeKalb County School District school board District 6 on May 24, 2022.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Diijon Dacosta
Diijon Dacosta (Nonpartisan) Candidate Connection
 
49.2
 
7,432
Janet Hughes (Nonpartisan)
 
29.5
 
4,449
Venola Mason (Nonpartisan)
 
21.3
 
3,210

Total votes: 15,091
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

2018

See also: DeKalb County School District elections (2018)

General election

General election for DeKalb County School District school board District 6

Diijon Dacosta defeated Lance Hammonds in the general election for DeKalb County School District school board District 6 on May 22, 2018.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Diijon Dacosta
Diijon Dacosta (Nonpartisan)
 
55.3
 
6,152
Lance Hammonds (Nonpartisan)
 
44.5
 
4,949
 Other/Write-in votes
 
0.2
 
26

Total votes: 11,127
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Campaign themes

2022

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Candidate Connection

Diijon Dacosta completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Dacosta's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

I am running for reelection because I believe in the future of the DeKalb County School District and our scholars. As a product of DCSD education and a parent advocate raising my children here, I am a witness to the barriers inhibiting our progress. Fortunately, as a board member, I helped to address some of those concerns by advocating for the passing of an E-SPLOST referendum to secure over $700 million to support infrastructure, supporting implementation of raises for educators, and aiding in the distribution of meals to scholars, educators & staff during the COVID-19 pandemic, among other achievements. In addition, African American male students are disproportionately underserved in our community, and as the only AA male on the school board, I empathize with the need for cultural responsiveness and am actively working to identify quantifiable solutions. My priority is to continue to improve the academic parity at our schools and assist in making DCSD, even more exceptional.
  • My top 3 priorities are supporting alternative educational programs, expanding early learning centers in all regions, and increasing CTAE (Career, Technical, and Agricultural Education) programs throughout DeKalb.
  • DCSD is working to adapt to our growing and more diversified populations, shifts in the economy and annexation of surrounding communities. Therefore, I will advocate for more programs that support dismantling institutional racism in education and drive the future potential of ALL students. This strategy includes proposing policies that will support the appropriate allocation of resources to the early and alternative education programs as follows: Propose expansion of access to quality instructional programming and co-curricular activities. Use correlations between student economics and low academic performance to facilitate social readiness measures for early learning scholars. Lead the wave of improving communication between families and
  • In 2016, the Board of Education identified its facilities as a weakness, then worked to pass an ESPLOST referendum to receive funds that would support projects identified by the “Building S.P.A.C.E.S.'' Initiative. It determined how, where, and why future resources should be dedicated to the improvement and modernization of our buildings and infrastructure in support the District’s vision “to inspire our community of learners to achieve educational excellence.” Following this, in 2021, under my leadership as Vice Chair, we successfully passed another referendum to continue the investment of over $700 million into the buildings and infrastructure of our rapidly growing district. You can count on DaCosta to work for DeKalb.
My top 3 priorities are supporting alternative educational programs, expanding early learning centers in all regions, and increasing CTAE (Career, Technical, and Agricultural Education) programs throughout DeKalb.
I believe in the future of DeKalb and our scholars. After living in DeKalb for more than 30 years, I have a vested interest in the outcome of my community. The value of community is critical because it was this community that supported my family many years ago. Living in Stone Mountain and matriculating through DeKalb Schools has impacted my life tremendously.

Today, my story is used to empower, encourage, and inspire the younger generations to come. As the youngest member of the DeKalb County Board of Education, I use my position to advocate for the needs of our scholars. I understand the need for representation. As the only African American male on the DeKalb Board of Education, my voice is the driver for change, equity, and inclusion.

I say with great pride and enthusiasm that anything is possible if you stick to your goals, remember where you came from, and never give up on your future.
One of my personal goals is to help build the School-2-College Pipeline through Character Development, Study Skills and Academic Achievement.

With the College and Career Readiness Performance Inventory as the standard of achievement to measure the impact of our efforts my intent is to provide innovative activities that engage & prepare high-school students for college or career and middle school students to be successful in high-school. In building the School-2-College Pipeline analyzing national, state, local & district data is vital to the measurable success of our efforts to innovate, influence & impact exponential growth in our students academic performance, collegiate scholarship and career achievement.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

See also


External links

Footnotes

  1. Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on April 18, 2022