With Atlanta’s school system at a crossroads, candidates flocked to run for the Board of Education this week in a crucial election that will determine the future of education in the city.
The new school board will be responsible for picking a new superintendent early next year, recovering from a cheating scandal and raising graduation rates that hover just above 50 percent.
Twenty-seven candidates are competing Nov. 5 for nine seats on the school board, which will look very different after the election regardless of who’s elected. Four incumbents aren’t seeking re-election, meaning nearly half of the board will be replaced by default. The qualifying period to enter the election ended Friday.
One new board member will be 26-year-old high school history teacher Matt Westmoreland, who didn’t draw any opposition for the District 3 seat representing east Atlanta. Board member Cecily Harsch-Kinnane isn’t seeking re-election.
“The wounds of the cheating scandal, accreditation crisis and redistricting haven’t fully healed yet,” said Westmoreland, who teaches at Carver Early College. “The election of the school board and its selection of a new superintendent provides an unusual opportunity to move the school district in a new direction.”
Board member Byron Amos, who essentially won re-election Friday in central Atlanta District 2 because no one ran against him, said the election will “shape the future of the city for the next 25 or 30 years.”
“The foundation of this city will be based upon education and what kind of schools we can offer,” Amos said. “We find ourselves at a pivotal point.”
Each of the other seven school board seats will have competitive races, and write-in candidates also are possible.
School board members serve four-year terms. Annual pay is budgeted at $14,894 for most board members and $16,286 for the board chairman.
Voters within the Atlanta city limits will be able to choose four candidates on their ballots — one representing the district they live in, and three representing the whole city in at-large seats.
“There are certain periods in history where you really have this major opportunity to get things where they need to be built for the future, and this is that moment,” said parent Patricia Israel, who has two sons in eighth grade at Sutton Middle School in north Atlanta.
More than 100 people attended a candidate forum, the first of the election season, where 21 of the candidates met with voters last week.
“The entire face of the school board will change,” said Beth Hamilton, who has a third-grader and a fifth-grader enrolled at Bolton Academy in west Atlanta. “We’re at a place where the school board gets to select a new superintendent who will decide where we go for the next few years.”
Superintendent Erroll Davis plans to retire next year after taking leadership of Atlanta Public Schools in July 2011, when a state investigation found that 185 teachers and administrators had participated in cheating on standardized tests.
The new school board will likely name his replacement early next year.
- In at-large District 8, Board of Education Chairman Reuben McDaniel attracted four opponents. McDaniel, an investment banker, will face attorney Cynthia Briscoe Brown, real estate development company founder Mark Riley, attorney Tom Tidwell and concerned citizen Dave Walker.
- In southeast Atlanta District 1, board member and crime victim nonprofit organization director Brenda Muhammad is being challenged by small-business owner Leslie Grant.
- In north Atlanta District 4, board member and residential real estate agent Nancy Meister faces film consultant Taryn Chilivis Bowman.
- In at-large District 7, board member and former social studies teacher Courtney English will compete against counselor and former interim board member Nisha Simama.
- In at-large District 9, five candidates are seeking to replace Emmett Johnson, who isn't seeking re-election. They are substitute teacher Eddie Lee Brewster, former teacher and business lawyer Jason Esteves, former teacher and education consultant Lori James, businessman Edward Johnson and Sean Norman, whose occupation isn't known.
- In west Atlanta District 5, five candidates are running to succeed LaChandra Butler Burks, who isn't running for re-election. They are software developer Raynard Johnson, community program director Steven Lee, real estate broker Charles Lawrence, retired technology professional Mary Louise Palmer and Kathy Green, whose occupation isn't known.
- In south Atlanta District 6, competitors include property manager Dell Byrd, attorney and former elementary school teacher Eshe Collins, education advocate Shawnna Hayes-Tavares and retired teacher Anne Wofford McKenzie. They'll replace outgoing board member Yolanda Johnson.
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