A deeply divided Atlanta School Board on Monday night extended the contract of Superintendent Erroll Davis. But the board also gave itself a political and practical out: Two trigger clauses allow the board to terminate Davis with 90 days’ notice.
The deal, giving Davis an 18-month contract extension beginning next July, was struck after hours of brokering both behind doors and out in public hearing. The board’s decision last week to require a super majority of seven votes, instead of the usual five, to renew Davis’ contract proved pivotal and dragged the process late into the night.
The nine-member board has been sharply split since it delayed a vote to extend Davis’ contract last October. That move came weeks after the superintendent stirred an uprising of Buckhead students and parents by removing six administrators from North Atlanta High.
Motion after motion to extend Davis’s contract with two triggers and various extension clauses failed before the board finally passed by a 7-2 vote the 18-month extension. Board member Nancy Meister, who led the opposition, and Brenda Muhammad were the dissenting votes.
Chairman Reuben McDaniel, who had campaigned publicly and behind the scenes for a two-year extension of Davis’ contract, said afterward he was happy with the process. He said Davis, who left before the final vote and was not available for comment, “is fully on board with” the 18-month extension.
About a dozen speakers urged the board to extend Davis’ contract before the board went behind closed doors to debate the fate of the superintendent who has steered the district for 18 months in the aftermath of a widespread cheating scandal.
Many of his supporters were disappointed by the outcome.
“It’s a 90-day contract,” said supporter Abby Martin. “If they don’t like him, he’s gone in 90 days.”
But Davis, who makes $240,000 a year, also has plenty of critics.
He took heat earlier this year for his handling of school redistricting, alienating some supporters on the south side for closing schools while he and the board approved a $100 million new facility for North Atlanta.
At the beginning of the school year, his restructuring of bus routes caused a furor among parents who said it forced their elementary-aged children to walk to school through rough intown neighborhoods. Davis and the board moved swiftly to restore the routes.
Attorneys representing some of the educators dismissed during the cheating scandal and who subsequently won their appeals at tribunals, have criticized him and the district for a “witch hunt.” They claim the APS pursued allegations of cheating while presenting little or no evidence, basing their case on statistics and the claim that the superintendent had “lost confidence” in the employees.
Board member Courtney English said after the vote that the super majority requirement forced the board to work together to strike a deal and the 18-month extension with the trigger clauses was a good compromise.
The two triggers for termination include reasonable cause determined by the board (but passed by a 5-4 majority) and a decision to hire a new superintendent.
“It provides stability in the short term for the district and gives us parameters to engage in an aggressive search for a superintendent,” said English.
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