Nominating Committee to Begin Reviewing DeKalb School Board Applicants

WABE

March 6th, 2013

Soon, a 5-person nominating committee, appointed by Governor Deal, will begin sifting through applications for the DeKalb County school board. A ruling issued by a federal judge this week allows the governor to continue the process of replacing the six members he suspended. The deadline to apply was Wednesday at 5 p.m.

The governor has tapped two people to serve as liaisons between his office and the committee. One of them is Brad Bryant. Bryant served as interim state superintendent and is a former DeKalb County school board member. He says the committee will have its work cut out for it when it meets for the first time on Friday.

“There’s an urgency, I believe, on the part of the nominating committee to do its work and report back as quickly as possible to the governor,” Bryant says.

However, he says, the committee hasn’t yet established a timeline or a set of criteria for the applicants.

“I think it would have been premature on their part to have done anything because we, just as a larger community, had no idea of how many folks would be willing to step up to help the need that these students and the district have at this point in time,” he says.

Earlier today, the governor’s office estimated they’ll have more than 200 applications. However, state law also allows the suspended board members to petition the governor to keep their seats.