Last week: Should Fayette County settle its lawsuit with the NAACP?
The lawsuit between the NAACP and Fayette County’s Board of Commissioners and Board of Education focuses on whether elections for those two bodies should be held using the traditional at-large system or a district model, as most Georgia counties now do. The NAACP claims the at-large system suppresses minority voters in violation of the Voting Rights Act; those who oppose district voting claim that District 5 is gerrymandered to favor blacks and Democrats. Each side has spent more than $1 million in litigation, and talk of a settlement recently circulated. However, both sides were ordered into mediation last Wednesday, ahead of a Nov. 16 court date.
Here are some of the replies we received after asking whether the parties should settle or continue fighting in court:
Fayette County should not settle the lawsuit. Fayette County was sued over being racist, which is far from the truth. Blacks in the county would never vote for a black Republican when they ran, so the NAACP came in to [change] at-large voting to district voting in order to create a gerrymandered area of only blacks to get a Democrat elected. The issue was never about discrimination, but about politics. – JMC
As a 33-year resident of Post 5 in Fayette County, I am supportive of district-only voting. I happen to be white. District voting allows me to choose the commissioner who represents my interests in the county. One cannot read the editorials and online comments about this issue [without seeing] that it is a racist attempt to maintain power. – Normer Adams
I’ve lived in Fayette County over 42 years, and I’ve never seen it so divided.
This is purely a power grab, in my opinion. None of the plaintiffs provided any example of racism in Fayette County. If the BOC and BOE back down and "settle" this issue out of court without allowing the defendants' side to be heard, I believe that is a gross miscarriage of justice. – Pat Earnest
I support district voting. We have spent $1 million and counting. Let's stop this madness. District voting is best for all of us because we deserve the right to select our representatives. — James A. Adams
I enthusiastically supported integration and have always despised prejudice. My opinion of district voting has nothing to do with race. It simply makes no sense to take away my right to vote for all those who run to represent my county in elections. District voting is a divisive practice. We exist as a whole. — Judith Roberts
I have lived in Fayette County for 12 years and I am very embarrassed by this lawsuit. The county welcomes the taxes of their black neighbors but wants to handicap their voting rights. Too much money is being wasted on this fight that makes Fayette County look very prejudiced. It should be settled before a trial. – "A white citizen of the county"
This suit isn't about race, black or white. It isn't about discrimination. It is all about partisan politics, and there is evidence of that. Perhaps that is why Fayette Democrats are so eager to settle the lawsuit. — Ginga Smithfield
Voting by district makes no sense. The Board of Commissioners and Board of Education are supposed to be apolitical to serve all of the county (at large). With district voting this isn't accomplished. — Cherie Werginz
— Jill Howard Church for the AJC
The DeKalb County School District earlier this month delayed submitting an application for a charter district designation, taking more time to study other options following public hearings on the potential system change.
Superintendent Steve Green recommended seeking an extension on the application deadline, which is at the end of the month, during the Board of Education meeting on Oct. 5.
“Based on the feedback from more than 15 community hearings, among many questions and concerns raised, the issues of equal education access and the capacity of Local School Governance Teams to govern were at the top,” the district said in a statement.
To become a charter district, a school system pledges to increase student performance in return for freedom from mandates such as state rules on pay scales, teacher certification and in-seat time for students.
All districts across the state had to submit letters of intent with regards to their governance by June 30. Options for the school districts include charter, a Strategic Waivers program and Status Quo, or no change.
However, DeKalb has about two dozen schools that could be at risk of being taken over by the state. A proposed change to the constitution would allow the state to take over “failing” schools and close them, run them or convert them to independent charter schools. The schools would be part of a new statewide district for up to a decade.
With the issues DeKalb is having with test scores, leadership across the county and its image problems, is delaying the change to a charter system a good idea?
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