The audio version of this story.
The committee finding candidates to replace six suspended DeKalb County school board members began meeting at noon on Friday. Governor Deal has asked the group to work through the weekend to review about 400 applications.
A 2011 law allows the governor to replace school board members if their district is placed on accredited probation for board governance issues. Because the law is new, it hasn’t been enacted much. Brad Bryant is a liaison between the governor’s office and the committee. When asked if he’d meet with the committee Friday, Bryant said he wasn’t sure.
“I do not know, simply because this has never been done before,” he said.
That newness has caused some uncertainty in the county. Parent Kirk Lunde is with Concerned Citizens for a Unified DeKalb. He’s uneasy about the unchartered territory.
“I think that this is just something that’s unpleasant,” Lunde says, “The governor probably feels it’s unpleasant and we’re trying to do the best that we can to get through this and if we have appointed representation until the next election in 2014, then so be it.”
Lunde says holding special elections before 2014 would be the fairest way to proceed.
Scott Holcomb is a Democratic state representative from DeKalb County. He agrees with protecting the rights of voters, but says special elections may not be feasible because the district is under tight deadlines from its accrediting agency, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.
“My major concern is the timing,” Holcomb says, “SACS expects an update in May and then we have to have the work done by the end of the year.”
He says the unchartered territory isn’t that intimidating.
“I might have more apprehension if I weren’t in the meetings and listening to the views of both the governor and the committee that he’s appointed,” he says, “I think they’re very well-intentioned. I think that they’re smart.”
However quickly the replacements are named, the process could drag on. The Georgia Supreme Court could hear a challenge to the law that authorizes the governor to replace school board members. And under that law, the suspended members may petition the governor to keep their seats.
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