Three Atlanta school board members may seek legal counsel independent of the city school system's lawyer, a move that would follow a high-profile legal scuffle with investigators over the city school system's response to an ongoing test-cheating probe.
On Friday at 2 p.m., the board is expected to go behind closed doors for the second time this week to talk about that response, which involves both legal and personnel matters.
The motivation for board members Nancy Meister, Yolanda Johnson and Brenda Muhammad is unclear. Muhammad declined comment, indicating she didn't want to air "legal-related" concerns publicly. Meister and Johnson did not return phone calls.
However, the three board members in an e-mail sent Tuesday requested the "emergency special" meeting, and Meister set an agenda that included: 1) the hiring of independent counsel; 2) the administration's cooperation with the governor's special investigation, and 3) discussion and action related to whistle-blower protection. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution obtained the e-mail and other documents through the Georgia Open Records Act.
This move potentially sets in motion a conflict similar to last year, when the three members joined with two others to openly challenge the opinion of Atlanta Public Schools general counsel Veleter Mazyck over control of the nine-member board.
The board's other four members sued, and the system's accrediting agency in January put Atlanta schools on probation for bad governance. That agency, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, is now monitoring the board's actions as members work to win back full standing.
The board cannot summarily dismiss Mazyck, whose contract with the system expires June 30. She serves by order of the superintendent, in conjunction with the board. It is unclear if the three board members want Superintendent Beverly Hall to make a recommendation for the position. If so, and presuming Hall wants Mazyck to stay, members would need seven votes to override Hall. That seems unlikely, given that the board still appears divided by a 5-4 split.
Additionally, it would be unusual for the board to hire outside counsel to represent it in a general capacity. By charter, that's Mazyck's job. And while Mazyck's office sometimes turns to outside firms for help, those instances have a specific purpose. For example, her office has hired outside attorneys -- Robert S. Highsmith Jr. and J. Tom Morgan -- to help with the cheating investigation.
Meister, Johnson and Muhammad made their request after investigators alleged that the system misled them, hid evidence and retaliated against a witness in efforts to hamper an ongoing state review of possible widespread test tampering in Atlanta schools. Allegations surfaced as investigators went to court earlier this week to stop a system-led inquiry into a high-ranking school official, who allegedly made inflammatory remarks regarding the investigation and demoted a principal who she thought told on her. The school system, at the behest of the board, agreed to stop the inquiry in a consent decree signed Tuesday by a judge.
Additionally, Meister and other board members were incensed by recent news reports involving Kathy Augustine, one of Hall's top two staffers. A recording of Augustine surfaced last week of a conference call she made in October with principals, one that has her speaking about the deepening rift on the board. Some people felt she mocked both the investigation and some members.
In an e-mail to Superintendent Beverly Hall last week, Meister said she was "shocked and quite frankly devastated [to have] turned on the news and heard the derogatory remarks against members." Meister added that, "Surely, action has been taken with Dr. Augustine and she will not return tomorrow." Hall reviewed the recording transcript and declined to take action.
School system employees are legally entitled to due process; they do not report directly to the board -- only the superintendent does -- and board members cannot summarily dismiss them.
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