The feuding Atlanta school board members appear to have achieved harmony on one issue: They all want to keep their jobs.
On Tuesday, state education officials will begin the process of deciding whether the eight remaining school board members can continue to oversee educating the nearly 50,000 students in Atlanta Public Schools.
The 13-member state Board of Education is scheduled to hold a courtroom-style one-day hearing on whether to recommend removal of board members for running afoul of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS), the primary accrediting agency in Georgia.
Their recommendation will go to Gov. Nathan Deal, who by law makes the decision, though an immediate ruling is not expected.
Some observers think the board has made enough of a comeback in recent weeks to deserve continued service.
“They’re making progress. We should allow them to continue to make progress,” said House Majority Whip Edward Lindsey, R-Atlanta, who helped write the bill this year that authorizes the governor to remove school board members in districts whose accreditation is at risk.
Months of bickering among Atlanta board members inspired the legislation.
Board members will be represented by Marietta law firm Brock Clay, whom they hired to guide them through the accreditation crisis, and whose lawyers will make a case to keep board members in their seats. Jennifer Hackemeyer, deputy general counsel for the state education department, will present a case against the board, department spokesman Justin Pauly said.
Both sides are expected to make opening statements. They also may call witnesses. The state will lay out what went wrong for the APS board and what concerns remain.
“We’ll be able to measure what should have been done versus their actual action,” said Kenneth Mason, a state school board member from Atlanta.
“What SACS had against them is one thing. But I believe that board has faced tremendous obstacles in the last few months, with [former Superintendent Beverly] Hall leaving. Now is the opportunity for them to speak for themselves.”
School board lawyers are expected to argue that the hiring of a respected interim superintendent and continuing efforts to improve leadership, coupled with months of work on personal issues among members, justify allowing them to continue. The lawyers also may plead the benefits of stability.
SACS placed the district on probation in January citing concerns about their ability to govern a system in the throes of a cheating scandal.
As board members dealt with the searing results of a July 5 state investigative report of widespread cheating on standardized tests in city schools, they have appeared to overcome some of their issues.
The board coalesced in late June behind its choice for interim superintendent, newly retired University System of Georgia chancellor Erroll Davis.
Last month, it elected long-serving member Brenda Muhammad as chairwoman, to replace Khaatim Sherrer El, who resigned from the board July 11. El’s election last year as chairman cemented a divide that made the board barely functional for months.
SACS, which accredits APS high schools, gave board members until Sept. 30 to improve governance or lose accreditation completely.
But lawmakers during the 2011 session set a July 1 deadline for the system to regain full accreditation. The city board was never in a position to meet that deadline, making Tuesday’s hearing a certainty.
The state board will hold a second hearing Wednesday for the Coffee County school district in rural south Georgia. SACS cited its school board members in June for a lack of trust and transparency when it recommended they remain on probation.
The 2011 law gives the state board 15 days to make a recommendation to the governor. It does not, however, compel Deal to accept it.
If he decides to remove local board members, Deal will make interim appointments to fill their seats. Ousted board members are allowed to appeal for reinstatement.
“The governor has said repeatedly that we take this responsibility very seriously and intervening would happen in the worst case scenario,” Deal spokeswoman Stephanie Mayfield said. “The governor thinks it’s best to see what the [state board] does and finds.”
Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed pushed for passage of the law but found tepid public support for the governor to replace the board. In recent weeks, Reed has pledged to support Muhammad and vice chairman Reuben McDaniel.
Still, critics of the law are watching closely.
State Sen. Vincent Fort, D-Atlanta, is among some who have threatened a federal lawsuit if Deal removes board members. The U.S. Department of Justice, which reviewed the law under the 1965 Voting Rights Act because of its potential impact on local elections, could also step in. Department of Justice approval in late June allows further review as necessary.
“I don’t think Nathan Deal should be determining who does and doesn’t fit on the Atlanta school board,” Fort said.
Six of the Atlanta school board’s current eight members are black. Fort and other critics have argued that removing board members for other than moral or criminal infractions and naming nonminority replacements, if that happens, would cause the city’s black residents to lose influence and representation.
APS parent Demitra Bryant said a board shake-up, however, may be just the thing to focus the city’s attention on its public schools.
Bryant is PTA president at Adamsville Elementary School. The school was not among 44 schools identified for evidence of cheating in the state’s investigative report, which implicated nearly 180 APS educators.
“It is very hard,” Bryant said, “to get serious issues resolved because of the character of the system.”
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