Atlanta school board members, for the first time in nearly a year, might be ready to shelve a simple majority strategy as a way of getting things done.
A switch 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. Members now seem to agree that a return to a consensus is necessary, assuring city leaders of the board's intent to win back full accreditation.
Members could begin to formalize this action at a Monday meeting for an APS board that has gathered every week since the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools penalized the board and demanded that it improve its governance. The process won't be completed in one vote, rather a series of steps that include asking a Fulton County judge to sign off on it.
“It would be beneficial for this board to move forward with consensus leadership,” said board Vice Chairwoman Cecily Harsch-Kinnane, who welcomed the chance to give up her title in exchange for future stability. “It would make a strong statement to the public.”
A move in this direction would be the result of mediation, which SACS, the accrediting agency for Atlanta Public Schools, mandated when it sanctioned the district in January for infighting among board members.
The board’s dysfunction stemmed from a series of 5-4 votes that began last summer. 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 was required for such a change.
Board Chairman Khaatim Sherrer El was favored by the voting switch, which he said came about from concerns over ongoing state and federal investigations into cheating on student achievement tests.
Most votes thereafter followed the same 5-4 line, pitting El's faction against a vocal minority. The board minority sued the other five members in October, saying the mid-year leadership change violated board policy and its governing charter.
A month later, members spent four hours behind closed doors with Superior Court Judge John J. Goger and emerged with a written agreement, or consent order. It consisted of a series of steps that included a new leadership vote conducted later that day.
El was voted back in as chairman, to the surprise of the board's four-member minority. Harsch-Kinnane was elected board vice chairwoman. Harsch-Kinnane had voted against herself and said the minority had hoped, even if it wasn't in writing, that members 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.
The board's actions drew the attention of SACS. The accrediting agency saw a group almost at impasse because of a breakdown in trust among board members. Over the past two weeks, during nearly 20 hours of group mediation, members acknowledged they never got past El's re-election as chairman, even though the judge involved affirmed the legality of last summer's takeover.
At the end of a five-hour meeting with the mediators Wednesday, board member Nancy Meister, one of the original five-member majority, said she was ready to support new leadership. She proposed that members Brenda Muhammad and Reuben McDaniel take control. It was not clear who would be chairman or vice chairman.
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 Meister. Muhammad also is one of the original five-member majority.
The supportof Meister, Muhammad and members of the minority would make a statement: two-thirds of the board would endorse a leadership change, a consensus to move forward that didn't exist before.
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