Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed met privately Monday with a select group of city school board members to give support for the board's prospective new leaders, saying he will work with them to help the district regain its accreditation and move past several ongoing challenges.
The 20-minute meeting was scheduled after Chairman Khaatim Sherrer El said May 23 that he would bow to pressure and leave his leadership post.
Reed has been one of El's biggest detractors, disavowing him for the controversy he created when he claimed the board's chairmanship last year. The school district's accrediting agency, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, also placed the board on probation in January because of poor governance.
When the leadership change becomes final, El will remain a regular member of the board. Vice Chairwoman Cecily Harsch-Kinnane, who will do the same, said plans are for the change to happen during the board's next full meeting on June 13.
That represents a tight timetable, however, given that El has set conditions for his departure from leadership. Among them is to have a Fulton County judge sign off on the change.
It also comes as the board searches for a new superintendent. After board members debriefed their colleagues Monday about the meeting with Reed, they adjourned behind closed doors to receive for the first time names of top candidates vying for superintendent's job.
They kept those names secret in preparation for a crucial stage in their search: Face-to-face interviews. They may also have discussed the possibility of having an interim superintendent. Going into the meeting, El said members had no guarantee that candidates identified to the board Monday would ultimately be a good fit for the job.
According to the board's search timeline, which is just as tight, private interviews with each of five candidates are expected to occur as soon as the end of this week. Once those interviews are complete, the board is expected to make public the names of their top three finalists for the job as mandated by state law.
It would make its final selection June 25, after the finalists meet the public and board members conduct a final round of interviews. Departing city schools Superintendent Beverly Hall leaves June 30.
The hiring would come as the board faces the conclusion of a 10-month state probe into tampering of student achievement tests. In a videotaped farewell address to district employees, Hall acknowledged educators cheated and said the findings of the criminal investigation will be "alarming."
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