Atlanta school board Chairman Khaatim Sherrer El agreed Monday to step down from leadership.
El and other members sought assurances that the move would unify the board and assure city leaders of its intent to win favor with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS), which put the district on probation.
The decision is not immediate and not yet binding. The board took no formal vote; two members, Emmett Johnson and LaChandra Butler Burks, did not attend the meeting. Instead, it will now quickly reach out to SACS, city leaders including Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed and a Fulton County judge -- who needs to sign off on the change -- to clear a path.
"OK, you win," said El, who has been blasted by Reed, business leaders and even some board members after controversially taking the chairmanship last year. One of his strongest allies on the board, member Yolanda Johnson, said the board had no choice but to make a change, adding that "people have been bullied and coerced."
"This is not a voluntary decision," Johnson said.
El would retain his regular board membershipalong with board Vice Chairwoman Cecily Harsch-Kinnane, who said previously she was willing to step down.
In their place, members Brenda Muhammad and Reuben McDaniel will assume leadership, although it remains up to other members to decide who will be chairman and vice chairman. Both talked Monday about how they could complement each other's strengths and work to rebuild trust among members. McDaniel, who took office last year, is viewed as a consensus builder. Muhammad, one of the board's longest-serving members, previously held the chairmanship, bringing experience that appealed to some members.
A switch last year from a supermajority for key decisions -- six of nine votes -- led to a series of conflicts last year that ended with the board on probation. This year, the board has gathered every week since SACS penalized it and demanded that it improve its governance.
The decision is a direct result of mediation that SACS, the accrediting agency, mandated when it sanctioned the district in January.
The board's dysfunction stemmed from a series of 5-4 votes that began last summer over concerns about ongoing state and federal investigations into cheating on student achievement tests. Members gave themselves the power to use a simple majority to replace board leaders, who normally served fixed, two-year terms. Approval from two-thirds of the board usually was required for such a change.
The voting switch favored El and pitted his faction against a vocal four-member minority. That minority sued the board's other five members in October, saying the mid-year leadership change violated board policy and its governing charter.
In November, all nine members under supervision of Superior Court Judge John J. Goger agreed to a written agreement, or consent order. The order consisted of a series of steps that included a new leadership vote. When El was voted back in as chairman, it upset some members who said that they had expected the board would be willing to start with "a clean slate."
The board never rallied around El. City leaders didn't either.
Earlier this month, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he asked board members to vote El out of the chairmanship. Reed, during a closed-door meeting last month with Gov. Nathan Deal, said he would not support a new APS superintendent if he or she were hired while El was chairman, board members said.
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