ONLINE VOTER GUIDE
Before heading to the polls, you can look through a voters’ guide to see how your candidate answered questions and create your own customized ballot by visiting ajc.com/voterguide.
A look at the runoff candidates
Eight candidates are competing in runoffs Tuesday for four seats on the Atlanta Board of Education. Any registered voter in the city of Atlanta may vote in the two races involving citywide candidates, and residents of west and south Atlanta may also vote for their district representatives. Runoffs are required in multiway races in which no candidate received more than 50 percent of the vote in the Nov. 5 general election.
District 5 — West Atlanta
Name: Steven Lee
Occupation: Executive director for the Unity Network and Counseling Center, owner of Java Joe Coffee
General election results: 37%
Experience: President of the Martin Luther King Merchant Association, member of the Atlanta Zoning Review Board, parent of a daughter at Mays High School
Issues: Graduation rate, qualified teachers, early childhood education
Website: http://www.electstevenlee.com/
Name: Mary Palmer
Occupation: Academic coach
General election results: 36%
Experience: Previously worked in technology for Siemens and IBM, now helps student athletes at Mays High School with their studies through the National Football Foundation’s Play It Smart program, mother of three Atlanta Public Schools graduates
Issues: Involving parents in education, reaching students growing up in poverty, seeking accountability for academic results
Website: http://marypalmerforschools.com/
District 6 — South Atlanta
Name: Dell Byrd
Occupation: Property management
General election results: 25%
Experience: Former Fulton County Schools teacher, participated in the Atlanta United Voters registration drive in 2012, mother of an Atlanta Public Schools graduate
Issues: Equitable access to education resources, lower student-to-teacher ratios, teacher pay
Website: http://www.dellbyrd-district6.com/
Name: Eshé Collins
Occupation: Project director for the Jumpstart program at Georgia State University
General election results: 36%
Experience: Taught nearly four years through the Teach for America program, attorney, volunteer with the Georgia Truancy Intervention Project
Issues: Academic achievement in early years, effective teachers, community access
Website: http://www.collinsforkids.com/
District 8 — Citywide
Name: Cynthia Briscoe Brown
Occupation: Attorney
General election results: 26%
Experience: Former co-president of North Atlanta Parents for Public Schools, board member of Atlanta Partnership for Arts in Learning, board member of the Alliance Francaise d’Atlanta, mother of a son at North Atlanta High School and a daughter who graduated from North Atlanta High
Issues: Ethics, equitable division of resources, community involvement
Website: http://cynthiabriscoebrown.com/
Name: Reuben McDaniel (Incumbent)
Occupation: Investment banker
General election results: 37%
Experience: Board of Education member since 2009, served as treasurer for Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education, board member for Atlanta area Boy Scouts of America, youth sports coach, father of a North Atlanta High School student
Issues: Effective teachers, class size, hiring a high-quality superintendent, budgeting
Website: http://www.reubenmcdaniel.com/
District 9 — Citywide
Name: Jason Esteves
Occupation: Attorney
General election results: 34%
Experience: Taught for two years through the Teach for America program, former board member for KIPP South Fulton Academy, member of the Georgia Hispanic Bar Association
Issues: Hiring a high-quality superintendent, dedicating resources to the classroom and away from the central office, improving academic results
Website: http://www.jasonesteves.com/
Name: Lori James
Occupation: President of Focus on Education
General election results: 31%
Experience: Former student support team coordinator for Atlanta Public Schools, assisted with the American Graduate Dropout Prevention grant in 2012-2013, provided graduate-level instruction for Indiana Wesleyan University
Issues: Raising educational standards, hiring quality employees, improving communication with parents
Website: http://www.electdrlori.com/
His job at risk in a runoff election Tuesday, Reuben McDaniel is fighting the stigma of leading Atlanta’s school board during some of its darkest days.
While McDaniel says he was a force for stability after the school district’s cheating scandal and board infighting, his opponent, attorney Cynthia Briscoe Brown, accuses him of being a big part of the problem with Atlanta’s education system.
Their contest and three other runoffs will determine four of nine representatives who will shape the future of the city’s school district. At least five members of the board will be newcomers.
In all four races, the candidates recognize the need to increase Atlanta Public Schools’ 51 percent graduation rate, hire a high-quality superintendent to replace retiring Erroll Davis, and improve academics in a school district that trailed every other metro Atlanta system in the Georgia Department of Education’s ratings of public school quality.
“The upcoming school board election is critical because the winners set the direction and priorities of the city’s public schools for the foreseeable future. The stakes couldn’t be higher,” said Michael Casserly, executive director for the Council of the Great City Schools, a national organization representing the needs of urban public school systems, including Atlanta’s.
Each Atlanta voter will be able to choose at least two citywide candidates, and residents in south or west Atlanta will be able to choose an additional representative in district-level runoffs. Runoffs were necessary in these multiway races because no candidate received more than 50 percent of the vote.
The winners could be decided by just a handful of votes. In the last school board runoff eight years ago, in south Atlanta, 11 percent of registered voters cast ballots. In last month’s general election, turnout hovered around 20 percent in most races.
District 8 — Citywide
Brown finished 11 percentage points behind McDaniel in the five-way general election, but she could win if she gains enough voters who supported the other three candidates, all of whom have endorsed her. McDaniel has been endorsed by CEOs of SunTrust Bank, Georgia Power, Cousins Properties and Equifax.
Brown accused McDaniel of participating in board infighting that drew scrutiny from the school district’s accrediting body, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. She said he promoted rumors of racism at North Atlanta High School, failed to adequately address complaints about mold at Washington High School and opposed giving teachers a raise since taking office four years ago.
But McDaniel said he has reduced divisions on the board, addressed racism accusations by reporting them to the administration, responded to parents’ concerns and responsibly managed the school district’s tight budget.
“I want to make sure all voices are heard and that it’s done in public,” said McDaniel, an investment banker. “We should have an open, public and transparent process. Sometimes it feels a little unstable or messy, but I think I do a good job of coalescing us toward a decision even when there’s disagreement.”
Brown argued that the board needs a fresh start, and that can only be accomplished if voters remove the board’s leader.
“Reuben McDaniel has been the architect of much that has gone wrong,” she said. “The reason it hasn’t been working starts at the top, so if we change the top, then we will be better able to turn Atlanta Public Schools into the great school system it must be for every child.”
District 9 — Citywide
Attorney Jason Esteves, who taught in Houston for two years through the Teach for America program, will face Lori James, an education business owner and former student support team coordinator for Atlanta Public Schools. Esteves came out 3 percentage points ahead of his runoff competitor in the general election.
Esteves said the school board needs change rather than a retired administrator like James.
“More of the same has not been effective for our kids, so I find it hard to believe that someone who was part of the system and has created their career based on the system as an administrator will find it easy to reform the system and make it more effective,” Esteves said. “You need outsiders to come in.”
James countered by saying her experience is an asset because she already knows how the school system works and what needs to be fixed.
“I bring a lot more than just Atlanta Public Schools experience, but I believe my Atlanta Public Schools experience should be something that should be considered because this is a new board with a new superintendent,” James said.
District 5 — West Atlanta
Steven Lee, a counseling center director, finished ahead of academic coach Mary Palmer by less than 1 percentage point in the four-way general election.
Lee said he would focus on lowering the dropout rate, hiring high-quality teachers and improving pre-k education.
Palmer said she would demand accountability for academic results, allocate educational resources where they’re needed and be responsive to parents.
During the campaign, Lee has been criticized by Palmer and others for a doctoral degree in counseling psychology that he received more than 20 years ago from Belford University, an unaccredited online school at the center of a lawsuit claiming it handed out fake diplomas.
Lee said he took 12 online classes over 2 1/2 years to earn the degree, and he only later learned the school was a fraud. He said since then, he has stopped referring to himself as a doctor.
“What I thought was a fair and legitimate and honest source that I was using to further my education turned out to be what it turned out to be,” Lee said. “I feel violated.”
District 6 — South Atlanta
Eshé Collins, an attorney and Georgia State University program director, led property manager Dell Byrd by 11 percentage points in the general election.
Collins, who previously worked as an elementary school teacher in Atlanta Public Schools through the Teach for America program, said she would emphasize changing the culture of the school system in ways that will better educate students.
“I’m going to be an advocate for an opportunity to provide the best educational outcomes for children. That’s school autonomy, that’s having community support, that’s increasing community involvement in our schools,” she said.
Byrd, a former teacher in Fulton County Schools, said she would be an independent voice for children who are slipping through the cracks.
“You have to believe in what you’re preaching. Otherwise, it’s all in vain. The difference between my opponent and me is this: I’m older, I’ve lived longer, I have a broader and more diverse experience. … I’m grown. She’s a child.”
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