A new, but familiar, name has been tossed into the ring to be DeKalb's next school boss -- former state schools Superintendent William "Brad" Bryant.
State Sen. Fran Millar, R-Dunwoody, suggested Bryant as a possible candidate at a public hearing Tuesday night.
“The people in our county are sick and tired of what’s going on in our school system, as well as our county,” Millar said, while urging a solution to the long and troubled search for a new school superintendent.
The school board's original goal was to get a new superintendent in place by July 1, but all three finalists named in March have dropped out -- including one who complained that details of the contract negotiations were leaked to the media.
DeKalb's school district has been rocked with scandal for more than a year, including allegations of racketeering levied at the former superintendent, Crawford Lewis, and three others involving misuse of school construction funds.
Millar said the only thing keeping DeKalb's fiasco out of the top headlines was the ongoing school cheating scandal at Atlanta Public Schools.
The Atlanta Public Schools system is also searching for a new superintendent to replace retired Superintendent Beverly Hall, who was criticized in a 10-month state criminal investigation which said that Hall either knew or should have known about widespread cheating on state standardized tests. It’s alleged that about 178 teachers and principals changed students’ answers to boost school performance scores.
APS has selected two finalists from a field of 70 applicants: Cheryl L.H. Atkinson, superintendent of Lorain City Public Schools in Ohio; and Bonita Coleman-Potter, deputy superintendent of Prince George's County Public Schools in Maryland.
Bryant, who had previously served on the DeKalb school board for 12 years, including 7 as its chair, is the current general counsel for the Georgia Department of Education. He said Wednesday that he is happy in his current job and hasn't made any formal application for the DeKalb school post.
"But, that said, there are more than 100,000 children in DeKalb schools, and if there's anything I can do to help them and the system, I'd entertain that," Bryant said.
Bryant added that while he wants to have informal talks with school officials and discussions with his family, he is interested in pursuing the job as superintendent.
DeKalb School Board Chairman Tom Bowen said that the district's goal is to have a new superintendent in place by October, in time to meet a deadline set by the school system's accrediting agency. The new school year is set to start in about a month.
Bowen said that while there are no current finalists for the job, he said, "Brad has been extremely successful at the state level and is clearly someone very knowledgeable with our school system."
The board agreed in December to offer a minimum salary of $275,000 to a new superintendent. The current interim superintendent, Ramona Tyson, hasn't formally applied for the job. Bowen said that while it would be better to have a new superintendent in place before the school year starts, he said it isn't vital.
"It's far better for us to have the right person in the job than have someone in the job right now," he said.
-- Staff writer Nancy Badertscher contributed to this report.
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