Gov. Nathan Deal has chosen six people to fill the vacancies on the troubled DeKalb County school board.
The six, who Deal will identify at an 11 a.m. press conference at the Capitol, are expected to be sworn in later today.
They are John Coleman of District 1, Joyce Morley of District 7, Karen Carter of District 8, David Campbell of District 5, Thad Mayfield of District 9 and Michael Erwin of District 3, sources said.
About 400 people applied to fill vacancies on the school board.
The vacancies were created when the State Board of Education recommended and the governor agreed that six of DeKalb’s nine school boards should be removed for jeopardizing the school district’s accreditation.
The three board members who remained had only been serving since January.
A nominating committee pared the list down to 63 semi-finalists and ultimately presented two dozen names to Deal, two for each seat.
“My charge to them is going to be to make sure they get the DeKalb County school board out of this jeopardy,” Deal said early Wednesday. “That should be the goal that all of us share.”
DeKalb was placed on probation by its accrediting agency late last year, citing mismanagement and infighting among the nine board members. The governor said he was wary of intervening, but took action because he feared metro Atlanta’s economy would suffer if he didn’t.
A five-member nominating panel began working last week to vet the tide of candidates who put their names in, as the suspension has left the board all but paralyzed.
Several well-known applicants were among the 63 candidates the panel interviewed. Among them are former state School Superintendent Werner Rogers, ex-state House member Doug Teper and Kathleen Mathers, who led high-profile state test-cheating investigations.
Business leaders, concerned parents and ex-government workers dot the list. Another contender, attorney Jonathan Weintraub, offers a skill set that could come in handy: He’s a certified mediator.
“I’m very encouraged by the names I saw. And I think everyone will be encouraged when they see the qualifications that the individuals that have been interviewed bring to the table,” Deal said. “It’s a commentary on the citizens of DeKalb County that we’ve had so many very qualified people.”
The governor faced criticism from some who say he overreached when he used a 2011 law to oust the six members. Participants from the NAACP and other groups blasted him after a closed-door meeting Monday for urging them to “find some good black people to run” when they accused him of disenfranchising minority voters.
Deal fired back on Tuesday, saying the leaders used the 90-minute meeting to focus on racial issues rather than the district’s accreditation crisis. He said he told them that the DeKalb students he met were more interested in their academic future than whether the governor overstepped his authority.
“Their response to that was, ‘These were just children,’ ” the governor said. “My response was that was, ‘These were children who were concerned about whether they were going to lose their scholarships to Vanderbilt and Stanford.’ ”
The final contenders described a fast-paced vetting process.
Faye Andresen, a longtime parent activist, said she was called late Sunday to schedule a Monday interview on her bid for former chairman Eugene Walker’s sprawling district. She was peppered with questions ranging from ethical dilemmas she’s faced to her vision for the school district’s future.
Even if she doesn’t make the final cut, though, she said she plans to remain involved - and hopes that the hundreds of other candidates do the same.
“It’s not going to be six people or nine people who’ll turn this system around,” Andresen said. “It’s going to take the 300 people.”
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