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Political Insider

An awkward moment during that what-to-do-with-ATL-schools meeting

2:02 pm January 20, 2011, by jgalloway

We’re picking up word that the Wednesday closed-door meeting called by Gov. Nathan Deal with Atlanta lawmakers, to discuss the city school system’s accreditation problems, almost fell apart in the first few minutes.

Deal announced that he wanted House Democratic Leader Stacey Abrams, D-Atlanta, and former Republican candidate for state Senate Beth Beskin to monitor the public school system on behalf of both the Legislature and the governor.

Abrams, given her position, was a natural choice. But within the room, Beskin was another matter. Considered an up-and-comer among Republicans, Beskin ran against state Sen. Horacena Tate, D-Atlanta, in November. Tate, who was re-elected with 64 percent of the margin, was in the room when Deal made his announcement.

There was an immediate impression among the Democrats who filled the room that this was an attempt to boost Beskin for yet another run against Tate — despite the governor’s emphasis on setting aside partisan politics.

“It got the meeting off to a poor start,” one attendee told us.

Tate was the first one out the door was the session was over.

- By Jim Galloway, Political Insider

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23 comments Add your comment

Douglas

January 20th, 2011
2:14 pm

Sucks to be in the minority, politically speaking. Nathan doesn’t owe Atlanta anything, and I think he’s being pretty even-handed considering. Still, I’d have preferred he piss-off Vincent Fort.

Just Wait

January 20th, 2011
2:16 pm

What can you expect when you have people in the meeting like Sen. Vincent Fort who automatically blames SACS for being at fault and not considering APS could at least be partly to blame.

Douglas

January 20th, 2011
2:20 pm

Ol’ Vince knows it’s always easier to blame the messanger than it is to actually deal with the source of the problem, especially if you are an enableler of the source of the problem. I have not heard of any charges of racism in regards to this yet, but it’s only a matter of time.

SpaceyG on Twitter

January 20th, 2011
2:27 pm

Is worrying about pissing-off Sen. Tate really on anyone’s agenda? I doubt it. I’d worry more about pissing-off Sen. Fort! Then again, it’s almost too easy to do to be considered sport. Beth Beskin was a good candidate. She lost though. So move on. Heck, Mary Norwood lost. Why not bring her back too every time there are black Atlanta politicians no one wants to have to acknowledge are in the room because their constituents put ‘em there? Jeez white people. Get a grip. You want to talk APS? Go get yourself a PTA mom, fer chrissake.

tom mitchell

January 20th, 2011
2:44 pm

What is becoming quickly and painfully apparent is the Deal team’s lack of experience in interacting with black folks. Remember, this is the same Nathan Deal that was disparaging “ghetto grandmothers” only a few months ago. So we cannot expect him and his staff to become racially-sensitive overnight. Does Deal even have a black person on his staff?

You Asked

January 20th, 2011
2:44 pm

You have to be kidding me. If the Democratic party cannot work with someone who opposed one of their members and LOST there is no hope for civility and bipartisanship.

If the Dems are going to go all wonky because of their “immediate impressions” it sounds like they are the party with a problem.

In reality I think they are looking for reasons to be the victim since it works so well for them. Way to enable Jim.

Tiberius

January 20th, 2011
2:45 pm

Tate is not vulnerable to Beskin or any other GOPer. Even with a radically drawn re-map, Tate is secure b/c of the Voting Rights Act. For Beskin to serve in the General Assembly, she will either have to move or have the map-drawers find a way to create 2 House seats for her and Ed Lindsay.

Upseting Vincet Fort is just too darn easy these days.

Raquel Morris

January 20th, 2011
2:45 pm

While it was a weird and disrespectful move by the Governor, I can only feel so bad for Senator Tate. How could she expect to have any leadership role on the APS issue, given that she’s NEVER spoken up on it? No town hall meetings, no proposed legislation, no press conferences. Nada. That’s especially shameful since Tate is an APS grad.

Horecena Tater

January 20th, 2011
2:56 pm

I have been disenfranchised. I am outraged. I have been dissed by the man yet again. Like my sister before me, I must speak truth to power. I have no idea what I’m indignant about, but it’s my job to be so. Oh yeah, victim. I’m a victim too.

SPSU

January 20th, 2011
3:21 pm

Deal ought to tell the APS to kiss off & that they (the elected clowns of Atlanta) handle this garbage by themselves. Deal is trying to make everyone happy but will end up making no one happy. This is a lose/lose situation for him.

Let’s look – Clayton, APS, pssobly DeKalb – all Democratic controlled areas with crappy schools and the residents keep electing these incompotent people. Let them get what they deserve.

Dabo

January 20th, 2011
3:44 pm

Douglas, So Nathan Deal doesn’t owe anything to Atlanta?…..well, then, that’s the only people he doesn’t owe !

Roekest

January 20th, 2011
4:05 pm

Beskin has no business getting involved in this matter. What exactly are her credentials again?

[cue crickets chirping]

She doesn’t seem to mention any on her campaign website. Just a cute little blurb about her family and church.

Washington DC’s former school chancellor is free. Maybe Deal should replace the entire board with Michelle Rhee.

atlmom

January 20th, 2011
4:11 pm

We do so need Kira Willis. That would be a good person to help with this.

Bobby Anthony

January 20th, 2011
4:46 pm

Public schools should be supervised by the elected officials from the community represented. Both state and federal governments should be banned from interfering in what should be the local government’s right to educate their children in a manner which best represents the communities’ moral and philosophical value. We are not all alike across this great nation which is still experimenting with a notion called federalism.

Corruption Rules

January 20th, 2011
5:08 pm

The corrupt morons running the school system don’t want anyone looking over their shoulders, so they can bleed the system dry with millions in deals and contracts, while the schools are run into the ground. more of the same in corrupt atlanta—it never ends.

OG Hmmmmm here

January 20th, 2011
5:16 pm

Until you show me worthy candidates to run against Tate or Fort, expect them to keep winning in their districts by wide margins, White influx or not.

Buckhead Resident

January 20th, 2011
5:21 pm

Beth is certainly qualified for this position.

She is intelligent, well spoken and level headed.

She also has built key relations with the governor, republican leaders in the legislature and Mayor Reed.

For too long Buckhead residents who pay for these schools have felt left out of the equation- Beth in her role as liason will finally give Buckhead a voice.

Seeking Humanity

January 20th, 2011
5:22 pm

Well, it’s a good thing that the state’s economic recovery is in no way linked to the school systems in and around the state capital. As long as jobs can be created in every other town in Georgia, the state should be just fine (other than a lack of water, but who cares about water?)

Atlanta Native: S.H. Archer High Graduate

January 20th, 2011
7:45 pm

Buckhead resident? You’re kidding, right? Do you really think Buckhead residents are the only ones who “pay for these schools”? Every property owner within the city limits pays for these schools. And, the last time I checked, your neck of the woods got the best of EVERYTHING that APS had to offer any child. Northside, North Atlanta, North Fulton, Sutton — some of the best schools in state. I don’t know where you are from, but I am an Atlanta native and a graduate of APS schools. My high school was underfunded, understaffed, and left to die on the vine. Those of us who did make it to college obtained college prep classes by enrolling in weekend and after school programs at Emory, GSU, Clark, Spelman, and Morehouse. The nice APS Buckhead schools had plenty of college prep classes (and knowledgeable teachers!) for any child who wanted or needed them in-house, i.e. standard curriculum. Perhaps you and your Buckhead brethren should consider sending your kids to one of the APS schools instead of the many private schools in Buckhead, Vinings, or the Woodward campuses. Have ground to stand on before you make a stand. And, understand that when the tax money hit the APS pot, we all got screwed — not just Buckhead.

Julie Brown

January 20th, 2011
8:24 pm

The question is: Who brought Beth Beskin to the table? I am willing to bet her name was given to Governor Deal. In addition, I hope she takes politics out of the equation and focus on what is in the best interest of the children. Also, she cannot flip-flop on the hard choices as she did in the 2010 election. Beskin, first stated she was a candidate for Fulton County Commission District 2, which would have been pretty dumb to run against Commissioner Robb Pitts. Moving forward from dumb to dumber, she ran against State Senator Horacena Tate in a majority African American district as a Republican. Simple math should have told her that the numbers were not there. For the sake of the Atlanta Public School System, I wish her much success with the task she is charged with and pray that we do not have a Sarah Palin II reporting back to the Governor. The good part is, Leader Abrams will be at the table.

LRAdams

January 21st, 2011
6:11 am

What has taken place in Clayton County and APS is to say the least heartbreaking. Both these of these school systems were given our most precious children. They had and have the responsibility to educate them. They have failed in the worst possible way. These children will go out into life not knowing they are not prepared to succeed. They graduated and feel they are prepared and are on their way to opportunity. To me this is comparable to leading the lambs to slaughter.
Deal and the city of Atlanta are treating this as if someone forgot to bring the dog in last night. These children will fail and blame themselves for not being good enough. Well Mr. Deal you don’t need to wait for anybody else to do what is necessary; they had their chance and failed miserably. So man up and get moving.

White Rule

January 21st, 2011
11:45 am

Yall talk about picking cotton… but what Christians/ whites did to slaves was nothing compared to how Islam treated black slaves! If anything, compared to how Arabs and Asians treated blacks, our white ancestors deserve alot of credit for being humane compared to how other races have treated blacks.
http://debate.org.uk/topics/coolcalm/slaves2.html

SusanB

January 22nd, 2011
10:18 pm

These over-the-top racist comments on this page are hard to stomach! And I’m white myself. Yes, it is a complete slap in the face to appoint a Republican who lost her effort to unseat Senator Tate, a Ph.D. educator, who serves on Senate Education Committee, and is extremely knowledgeable with a long and strong track record on the issues facing education today. Rep. Ed Lindsey should have manned up and accepted a co-liason positon with Rep. Stacey Abrams from the governor’s office to APS. It is to the credit of the Democrats, Black and white, that they didn’t allow this egregious appointment faux pas to derail the overall discussion about working together to have the SACS issues on board governance addressed and put behind us.