Federal judge rules against DeKalb school board. Replacements can be named.
I knew U.S. District Judge Richard Story wanted to move fast on this case so the DeKalb school district would not be in limbo, but he surprised me with a ruling today following Friday’s three-hour hearing. The governor can suspend the DeKalb school board and replace them.
Given the complexity of the case, I thought his ruling would come Wednesday.
But he must have worked all weekend.
I have not yet read his ruling but will be interested in his reasoning in upholding the 2011 law that permits the governor to oust school members if a district’s accreditation is at risk.
Check back for more details.
A federal judge denied a motion made by suspended members of the DeKalb County School Board who argued their removal from office was unconstitutional.
The ruling by U.S. District Judge Richard Story came down on Monday afternoon. On Friday, lawyers for school board members and the state attended a hearing before Story to determine if the governor could suspend six of the nine board members.
Gov. Nathan Deal announced the suspension of the board members last Monday, on the recommendation of the State Board of Education.
–From Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog
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53 comments Add your comment
Private Citizen
March 5th, 2013
6:47 am
School board, schmool board. I wish they all were appointed. Maybe they should be appointed for ten years, and then elected for ten years. The problem is that the position is used as an exploit and messes up the school system and professionals.
The whole “school board” system is a wart on the side of a hog. What is one good thing a school board has done ever? In the scales of justice in Georgia the bad of school boards outweigh the good.
Concernedmom30329
March 5th, 2013
7:08 am
BU2 and ChambleeDad
I don’t disagree with you about Jester, but really most issues that the Board is asked to decide are either yes or no. Give an Easement to GA Power, approve the hiring of X firm for design plan for Y school, etc.
Like most local governing bodies, it isn’t multiple choice. Here choose between America’s Choice and Success for All. Not the way it works. The Super, for most systems, would present AC and say yes or no. How do you envision a compromise on that?
SCW really dislikes these programs, but can no longer even come close to articulating why she thinks they are bad. She thinks they are damaging the schools in her community, but isn’t able to advocate that point. Besides Jester and perhaps McChesney no other board member votes her way. I suspect Speaks likes these programs and the rest just didn’t care.
What I hope for, because I have been doing this a long time, is that we can have 9 fairly qualified board members with credentials that at least insure that they are qualified to read a meeting packet, ask important questions and make decent well-thought out decisions. At the same time. Individually, these board members might be ok (well, not all of them) but as a group they have been a disaster.
And I am hopeful, that the 6 new ones won’t be politicians and thus, more worried about educating the children than keeping their jobs. This will probably make the three new ones better at their jobs and able to actually impact change.
bu2
March 5th, 2013
8:10 am
A board full of SCW’s would be a disaster. One, not so much. As one, her idea of equal education meaning bringing everything down to the lowest common denominator doesn’t gain much traction. I worry more about having people with records of stealing or articulate, bright people like Bowen with the wrong priorities. Bowen and Cunningham IMO were the top 2 priorities to get off from the last board. Walker isn’t out to destroy anything like SCW. He just doesn’t seem too interested in the students. He’s living in the 50s and is all about righting past wrongs by hiring African Americans with taxpayer money, and its even better if its someone he knows.
One of the new board’s first acts should be an anti-nepotism law. Another should be elevating the internal auditor back into reporting to the board. I am confident we will get 6 new fairly qualified board members with credentials. I’m not confident we won’t get a bunch of Bowen’s. We’ll see.