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Four Fulton County school board seats are up for grabs, and seven candidates are vying to lead the state’s fourth-largest district as it continues its transition to a charter system.
Fulton’s education leaders are aiming to bring more school choice to parents interested in alternatives to the traditional public school setting, which would include adding more charter schools.
Three newcomer candidates are competing with four incumbents or the four available seats on the school board, which has seven members. The primary election is May 20.
Incumbent Katie Reeves is running unopposed for the District 2 post, while incumbent Linda McCain is also running unopposed for the District 5 post.
Incumbent and retired nurse Catherine Maddox is competing against two newcomer candidates for the District 6 seat: DeAndre Pickett and Joel Joseph.
Julia Bernath, the incumbent for District 7, is going up against business and marketing manager Kathleen Wittschen.
All seven identify themselves as “non-partisan,” according to the Fulton County department of Registration and Elections.
Fulton school board members serve four-year terms and are paid an annual salary of $18,500. Fulton has close to 95,500 students, with that number expected to climb by close to 1,000 next school year.
Fulton is among some 19 districts in Georgia that have opted to become a charter system. Charter systems are given freedom from some state rules and regulations that apply to other public schools, but have a different management setup. With charter systems, decisions are generally made at the individual school level.
Under the charter system, Fulton is looking to create schools offering students alternatives to traditional public school. Examples under consideration: Montessori schools where students learn more independently; schools that house students from kindergarten to eighth grade; language-immersion schools where subjects are taught in Spanish or other languages. School board officials recently approved two new charter schools, which focus on the study of Latin.
Fulton education officials expect the transition to the charter system to be complete next school year.
Newcomer candidate Wittschen, a business and marketing manager who has two children attending Centennial High School, said as the district continues its transition to charter, she would like to see test scores and graduation rates increase in her district. She says high school graduation rates in District 7 are among the lowest in north Fulton County, ranging from 67.8 percent to 79.9 percent.
“We should target 9th grade students at risk of failing their classes and proactively intervene, rather than waiting until they fail, and focusing on remediation,” Wittschen said in an emailed statement. “Mentoring programs for students, and offering so called ‘bonus’ periods where students can go for interactive tutoring sessions - not just offering study hall - have been very effective and should be explored.”
Newcomer candidate Pickett said he believes one of the biggest challenges facing the district is lower graduation rates in south Fulton, which hover around 60 percent, he notes.
“We need to not only find a way to close the achievement gap, but we also need to find a way to get our students on a workable standard. We send our students to alternative schools because of behavior, truancy, and other factors but what is the alternative for them to succeed,” Pickett said in an emailed statement. “We need to spend more time searching for solutions rather than creating alternatives.”
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