Atlanta Superintendent Meria Carstarphen says she stands by her decision to hire the chief architect of Gov. Nathan Deal's school takeover plan as a consultant and lobbyist.
Atlanta hired former Deal advisor Erin Hames in August on a $96,000, no-bid contract to work with the district as it tries to turn around the more than 40 schools at high risk of state takeover if Deal's Opportunity School District plan is approved by voters next year.
Hames will consult for Deal at the same time.
The dual contracts raised concerns of government transparency advocates who accused her of trying to serve two competing interests.
The partnership between Hames and Carstarphen grew out of their work together over the past year, starting even before Carstarphen officially became superintendent, Hames told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Earlier in Carstarphen’s tenure, Hames warned her that APS was about to lose millions in federal funding—and then brokered a deal that allowed the district to hold onto the money.
“We have worked together on numerous issues and I have learned that Dr. Carstarphen and I share the most important things in common, first and foremost being our unflinching commitment to children,” Hames said in a written statement.
“We are both fully committed to doing everything in our power to improve the education our children receive.”
Still, Carstarphen acknowledged in response to questions at a Tuesday town hall meeting that hiring the person behind the plan that puts half of Atlanta schools at risk of state takeover could look odd.
“But I know this: there are far more policy and legislative needs that Atlanta Public Schools have that go far beyond the OSD,” she said. “At the end of the day, we will be crushed at the state level if we don’t have people who have relationships and quality information that can help Atlanta Public Schools.”
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