Coming Tuesday: candidates for District 4. See all candidates now on MyAJC.com.
All seven seats that survived a redistricting of the DeKalb County school board are up for election May 20. It’s a non-partisan race, so this serves as the general election. Candidates in District 3 — an arc from Avondale Estates to the southwest corner of the county, are profiled today.
Each candidate was asked these questions. Their answers were edited only for brevity:
1. What should the school board do to improve test scores and graduation rates?
2. What qualities do you think the district needs in its next superintendent?
3. What should the school board do to ensure all students receive equitable support from funding and resources?
4. How much local control are you willing to cede to schools, and in what administrative areas?
Jerrie D. Bason, a federal auditor, minister and substitute teacher, graduated from Georgia State University with an accounting degree and holds a Master of Divinity from Emory University. She is married with two grown sons.
1. Move more funding and resources to every school. Hire highly qualified teachers and retain them. Establish student performance targets and track results. Move ineffective staff.
2. A highly qualified professional with experience in managing and overseeing a large, complex school system. Success in a district with similar demographics. Strong communication and public relations skills. A long-term commitment. Strong managerial experience.
3. More funding must be dedicated to each region and every school. Then each region must provide individual school budgets and hold every school accountable.
4. Providing regional superintendents more flexibility and autonomy to operate as mini-districts, and allow them to empower their principals by allowing principals to hire [and remove] staff.
Michael A. Erwin, 43, the incumbent, was appointed by Gov. Nathan Deal. An assistant professor at Georgia Gwinnett College and a Navy veteran, he graduated from North Carolina Central University and has a Ph.D. in biological sciences from the University of South Carolina. He is married with two children.
1. Innovative resources and programs. For example, [our] universal screener that targets areas of improvement and monitors student growth. Strategic partnerships.
2. A clear vision for improving academic achievement and graduation rate. An effective leader, communicator and consensus builder. An effective liaison between the district and members of the board, parents, stakeholders and the business community. A proven track record of fiscal responsibility.
3. Work together to ensure funding formulas support student achievement, curriculum standards and school climate. Hold public meetings to obtain parent and community input.
4. If the superintendent’s recommendation [for] a charter system is adopted, our school system will provide each school with localized governance [to] include budget decisions, curriculum and personal development.
Jarrod Jordan, 33, runs Vanguard Leadership Group, a nonprofit, and has served on Atlanta boards and councils and volunteered at a charter school. He graduated from Clark Atlanta University with a business degree and is engaged to be married.
1. Invest more resources in creating a robust PreK-12 pipeline. A transformational superintendent. Recruit, develop, and retain top talent. Ensure a culture of high expectations.
2. A proven track record in an urban school district, experience managing a large organization and great public relations skills. Needs to restructure central office and give school leaders autonomy to hire/fire. Has to regain the trust of the taxpayers.
3. Prioritize where the greatest need exists to increase student achievement. Be vigilant about putting the interests of children first and not the adults who work for the district.
4. The district should decentralize the hiring of teachers. School leaders should be able to hire/fire their own staff.
Atticus LeBlanc, 34, owns real estate and construction businesses. He has an architecture and urban studies degree from Yale University. He is married with three young boys and a baby on the way.
1. Ensure tax dollars are making it to the classroom. Give principals the ability to manage schools, discipline structures and budgets. Give teachers flexibility to teach using their own methods. Motivate parents to participate and allow them to choose a school even if it’s not in their area.
2. An honest, communicative, and inspiring leader with a proven track record of management success in a similar school system. Dedicated to ensuring that principals, teachers, parents and community leaders have greater control. Committed to fiscal transparency.
3. Support an annual forensic audit and an online payment registry showing where our tax dollars are going.
4. Hiring and firing the teachers. Principals should be able to manage their own school budgets, vendors, and discipline procedures as well.
Willie R. Mosley, Jr., an Army veteran and former candidate for school board and county commission, graduated from L.H. Bates Technical School in Seattle and has served in PTA. He is a married father of five and a grandfather.
1. Prepare our kids at an early age; there should be a 3 year head start program across the board for Georgia.
2. Leadership, discipline, priorities, financial, accountability.
3. Parents, communities, clergyman, board members should work together for all kids.
4. Work together for the better good of all our kids, not for some.
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