Six weeks after Gov. Nathan Deal suspended six DeKalb County school board members, all of them are still collecting paychecks from taxpayers.
None had resigned as of Friday afternoon, according to DeKalb school officials, and the board members are getting their $18,000-a-year pay even as DeKalb also pays the six new members installed by Deal.
None of the suspended members had petitioned the governor for reinstatement by noon Friday. They’ll be automatically removed in three weeks if they don’t petition. If they do petition, they will continue receiving pay and benefits for 30 to 90 days from their petition date.
Deal suspended the members Feb. 25 under a 2011 law that gives him authority to remove school boards in districts on accreditation probation. The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools placed DeKalb on probation in December and threatened to strip accreditation by year’s end if the system didn’t address management shortcomings.
Last week, the head of SACS met with the new school board. Mark Elgart told them DeKalb would likely remain on probation come December, or even improve a notch to “warned” status.
“That was a very positive statement he made,” Superintendent Michael Thurmond said afterward. “We will not lose accreditation because we’re going to take the steps to make sure that does not happen, and I think he reaffirmed that.”
Weeks earlier, during a March visit with teachers at Cross Keys High School, Thurmond said 60 percent of SACS’ concerns involved the school board, which was accused of nepotism, meddling and other mismanagement.
“Well, we got a new board, so 60 percent of the problems are already what,” he asked the teachers. After a moment’s silence, one of them ventured, “already gone.”
Thurmond responded with a smile.
Under the 2011 law, the suspended members — Nancy Jester, Sarah Copelin-Wood, Jesse “Jay” Cunningham Jr., Donna Edler, Pam Speaks and Eugene Walker — had to wait 30 days to petition for reinstatement. The window for petitions opened March 27, and the law gives 30 days to file. If they don’t do so by April 26, they’ll automatically be removed, according to the Georgia Attorney General’s Office.
If they do petition, though, the governor must wait at least 30 days, and up to 90, before holding a reinstatement hearing.
During that period, any board members who petition will retain their suspended status and continue collecting paychecks from DeKalb, as well as health insurance benefits.
A lawsuit could derail the process. Walker, the former board chair, is the plaintiff in a suit that alleges the General Assembly gave the governor unconstitutional authority to remove elected school boards.
The Georgia Supreme Court will decide the constitutional questions. Thomas Cox, Walker’s new lawyer, motioned last week for oral arguments. Cox is among the lawyers who represented school districts that successfully challenged the constitutionality of a charter school law two years ago.
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