Archive for the ‘election2010’ Category

Here is the promised news story following up on the past arrests of current DeKalb school board member Zepora Roberts — arrested for picketing related to a civil rights protest –  and District 3 hopeful Corey E. Wilson, whose most recent arrest was due to domestic violence. Thanks again to the posters who alerted us to these arrests.

This is an excerpt from the news story:

Records obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Monday show District 3 candidate Corey Wilson was accused of kicking his wife and putting her in a headlock in 2006. However, she later decided to not prosecute.

Wilson and his wife both referred comments to campaign spokesman Will Sellers.

“It was an argument over a financial matter. There was no physical contact,” Sellers told the AJC. “His mother had just passed away and emotions were running high. But the important thing is he was not convicted and there was no violence.”

However, courts records show Okevia Wilson’s teenage daughter …

Continue reading AJC verifies poster’s contention that school board member and candidate have arrests in their backgrounds. Voters will have to decide if offenses deserve ballot box reprimand. »

I just received a call from the Corey E. Wilson campaign saying that the District 3 school board candidate would issue a statement tomorrow  about revelations of several past criminal arrests and that the Corey Wilson of today has matured since those police incidents, some of which involve family matters and occurred when he was in his twenties.

I noted that at least one arrest was in recent times, 2006, and that I hoped Wilson would address that offense since he was in his mid-thirties then.

I told Wilson’s rep that they ought to consider issuing a response today as the news of his criminal arrests are now online and that the information will move quickly. The campaign aide said he would talk to Wilson about issuing some sort of statement today.

Again, when I get a statement, I will post.

Continue reading DeKalb school board candidate Corey E. Wilson: Response coming tomorrow. It ought to be today. »

Noted for its excellent schools, Fayette has to figure out how to sustain them in this tough economy. We asked both candidates in the Post 5 race to discuss the challenges, but only Republican Sam Tolbert responded. (We tried to reach Laura Dillon Burgess six times to no avail; she responded to neither e-mails nor calls.)

1. Can Fayette still continue to have good schools in view of the deep budget cuts?

Sam Tolbert is the Republican Fayette school board candidate in Post 5.

It would, indeed, be challenging to maintain the status quo given extreme budget cuts. The board and school superintendent would need to monitor expenditures year to year forecasting budget models three  to five years out based on forecasted school tax revenues. Decisions on expenditures would need to be very conservative and monies saved would need to be used as a set-aside for future year budgets. Creativity on how to get by with less would need to be adopted by everyone in the school system including …

Continue reading Fayette County school board: Post 5 race »

Forsyth County boasts great schools but faces new pressures from the vast growth in the region. We asked the two District 2 school board candidates to answer these three questions related to those challenges:

1. How much of Forsyth’s academic success owes to its higher-than-average socio-economics? Is the system doing as well by its students as it should?

2. Is the system taking sufficient measures to deal with growth? What more should it be doing?

3. What innovations would you like to bring to Forsyth County schools?

Democrat Camille Fareri is an assistant professor of literacy at Brenau University in Gainesville. She has a doctorate in education and more than 30 years in the field. She is the mother of two  daughters and the grandmother of one boy.

Camille Fareri is the Democratic candidate for Forsyth District 2 school board seat.

1. Forsyth County has made tremendous strides in the last two decades. Much of its academic success may be owed to its …

Continue reading Forsyth school board: Two candidates in the District 2 race »

Here are the three questions we asked of the two candidates running for the District 4 school board in Gwinnett County.

1.  What are your views on school choice and the repeated denials of charter schools in Gwinnett?
2. How has growth impacted quality of education and individualized instruction and should Gwinnett make its historically large schools smaller for students so they can learn more effectively?
3. What would you do to make sure the staff and leadership in the district reflects the community, which is now majority minority, since the county has a reputation for stifling community input?

Bob McClure is the District 4 incumbent and a physician in Lilburn. His six children are graduates of Gwinnett schools

Bob McClure

1. Gwinnett has had a school choice program for many years. A student may request transfer to any school that is not overcrowded. Permissive transfers also are allowed in specific situations as outlined in Board policy. The school district also …

Continue reading Gwinnett school board election: Incumbent Bob McClure faces challenger Mark A. Williams »

Here are the three questions we put to Cobb County Post 2 school board candidates in the Nov. 2 general election;

1. What skills and abilities do you bring to the school board?

2. Should Cobb conduct a national search for a superintendent or go with home grown talent?

3. Schools in parts of Cobb continue to have high test scores while schools in the south and western part of the district are struggling. What are some ways the district can address disparities brought on by race and socio-economics?

Holli Cash: Democratic candidate for Cobb school board, Post 2

Holli Cash is the Democratic incumbent in District 2. Bachelor’s degree in business/marketing from University of Texas. School and community volunteer who has served four years on the board.  She has four children in the system:

1. I have 20 years of volunteer experience serving on various school committees and holding several PTA leadership positions. Working with PTA has taught me the issues facing public …

Continue reading Cobb school board election: District 2 incumbent Holli Cash faces challenger Tim Stultz »

We collected answers to three questions from the Post 3 and Post 6 Cherokee County school board candidates. (We also did other counties and will post those candidate responses over the next few days.)

1. Has the county been receptive to charter schools and are they a good idea?
2. Do you agree with how the school board has dealt with the county’s growth in terms of planning and staffing?
3. Has Cherokee made enough changes to cope with the reduced funds from the state and should there be more cuts?

Michael Geist is the Republican running for Post 3; Bachelor’s degree from Georgia Tech in aerospace engineering and some graduate work in business. Works as a senior IT analyst. First-time candidate:

Michael Geist

1. It is my impression that a majority of the PEOPLE of the county are receptive to, if not eager for, a public charter school option. Perhaps the results of the local Republican primary reflect this as two pro-charter candidates – myself included – prevailed over …

Continue reading Cherokee school board elections: Four first-time candidates seek your votes in Posts 3 and 6 »

We collected answers to three questions from the District 5 DeKalb school board candidates. (We also did other counties and will post those candidate responses over the next few days.) These will appear in the print edition in shorter form throughout the next week.

1. What qualities should the next superintendent of schools have?
2. How would you involve the communities in the school redistricting and closings process?
3. With the indictments of two top school officials and the current questions from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools about leadership of the district, what will you do to help restore credibility and confidence?

Here are the responses from the District 5 candidates:

Jesse Jay Cunningham is the District 5 incumbent and owns  Zo’s Pizza in Lithonia.

Jesse Jay Cunningham

1. A vision, confidence, experience and a successful record as school superintendent of a large diverse urban school system . A strong instructional leadership background to have …

Continue reading DeKalb District 5: Incumbent Jesse “Jay” Cunningham faces two opponents in Kirk Nooks and Jacques Hall »

Gov. Perdue has been very concerned with the quality of the APS probe into CRCT cheating, now adding the GBI to the case.

It has to shake Atlanta teachers and administrators up to see GBI agents arriving on their campuses to question them on the CRCT cheating allegations.

Gov. Sonny Perdue has signaled from the very start of this probe that he was not playing and that he would not tolerate whitewashes or half efforts by systems with unusual erasure rates.

He has surprised me with his tenacity. I figured with his tenure winding down, this issue might lose momentum.

Not so. He’s assigned two noted prosecutors to the case, Bob Wilson and Mike Bowers, and now the GBI. He apparently does not want to leave office with this unresolved.

According to the AJC:

Georgia Bureau of Investigation agents began questioning Atlanta public school teachers Monday afternoon, part of an ongoing investigation into possible test tampering.

GBI spokesman John Bankhead declined to say how many schools …

Continue reading Perdue has made it clear: He’s not playing in this CRCT probe and he’s not leaving office without resolution »

We collected answers to three questions from the three Fulton County candidates in the District 5 race. (We also did other counties and will post those candidate responses in the next day or so.) These responses will appear in the print edition in shorter form throughout the next week.

1:  How do you feel about Fulton possibly becoming a charter school system and what factors would influence your decision?
2:  Would you be in favor of restoring the band and orchestra programs at the elementary level school  even if it meant making additional cuts elsewhere?
3:  What’s one thing you would improve about the school system?

Gregg Blotner is a chiropractor in Alpharetta with two children in Fulton schools.

Gregg Blotner

1. I am not opposed to Fulton County becoming a charter school system. However, turning an entire public school system into a charter system is not an easy task and will require extensive input.  Since charter school systems do not have to follow state …

Continue reading Fulton County school board election: Three candidates want to lead District 5 »