Election brought rapid change to Atlanta school board

When voters replaced most of Atlanta’s school board in last fall’s election, they wanted fresh representatives who could leave behind cheating scandals and squabbles that divided the old board.

Now more than 100 days into its four-year term, the revamped school board has unified around a common agenda promised during the campaign, although its goal of spending more money in schools and less on administration remains largely unfulfilled so far.

Board members have hired a superintendent, given teachers a raise and eliminated furlough days. They’ve held dozens of community meetings with parent groups and worked full-time hours at near minimum-wage pay.

When they’ve disagreed over class sizes and spending, their differences haven’t devolved into the kind of factionalism that drew scrutiny from the school system’s accrediting body in 2011.

“We’re continuing to right the ship and build a foundation for success,” said Courtney English, the school board’s 28-year-old chairman. “People overwhelmingly wanted a board that got along, that worked through its issues in an adult fashion and arrived at solutions that benefited all students across the district.”

The board, with six newly elected members out of nine seats, took office Jan. 13 and marked its 100th day in office Tuesday, the same day it approved a $658 million budget. Passing the budget in April rather than at the end of June, which is when it was finished last year, will allow the school district to compete with surrounding school systems to hire teachers when they’re most likely to be looking for jobs.

The election made a difference, said Richard Quartarone, president of Southeast Atlanta Communities for Schools.

“I was skeptical, but I’m happy they’re doing the best they can and agonizing over difficult decisions,” he said. “They’re taking everyone’s perspective into consideration, not just a few parents or one principal or a couple of teachers.”

The previous board earned a reputation as a rubber stamp for then-Superintendent Beverly Hall and as an opponent to Superintendent Erroll Davis during last year’s budget discussions, but current board members said they’ve confined themselves to their policy-setting role.

For example, the board didn’t bow to pressure from some parents who wanted to stop Davis, who is retiring this summer, from replacing principals at several schools before next year. By comparison, the previous board last fall rejected Davis’ decision to promote North Atlanta High School Principal Howard “Gene” Taylor to a regional director position after Taylor threatened to resign. Taylor announced last week he won’t return as the school’s principal next year.

Board members, whose salaries are about $15,000 each, have been more active in other ways this year, with committees formed to decide the future of charter schools in the city, shore up a pension plan with a $550 million unfunded liability and coordinate superintendent evaluations.

“The biggest challenge has been turning around some of the negatives that have been with the district for so long,” said board member Eshe Collins, referring to the stain of widespread cheating on standardized tests in 2009. “We’re trying to get people to turn that sense of fear into a sense of optimism and hope that this is a new era.”