Archive for the ‘Aaron Turpeau’ Category

Republican nominee for governor Nathan Deal, though slightly late, has formally joined the chase for the votes of Georgia’s classroom teachers.

From Walter Jones of Morris News Service:

…Deal wants to let teachers decide when to give required standardized tests in their classrooms and to promote students midyear if they’re ready.

In comments Wednesday afternoon to State Farm agents and executives, Deal also said he favors greater efforts by schools to tackle childhood obesity by serving locally grown vegetables and requiring more daily exercise.

The proposals were the first two planks of an education platform he said he will announce in full next week….

Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle visits with first grade students, including, Jeda Niyomkul, left, at Morningside Elementary School in Atlanta last week. The children were eating cucumber salad. Jason Getz jgetz@ajc.com

Deal said his education ideas grew out of conversations with teachers….

The midyear promotions would combat …

Continue reading Your morning jolt: Nathan Deal would let teachers promote students mid-year, tackle obesity with local veggies »

We’ve snagged an e-mail that shows some of the pressure being applied to beat back a challenge to the leadership of the Atlanta school board and, in turn, Superintendent Beverly Hall.

Below is a note that Aaron Turpeau, a veteran of the Maynard Jackson administrations, sent to several leaders of the city’s African-American community, thanking them for their help in tamping down last week’s rebellion.

In this day of PDAs and very tiny keyboards, we deduct no points for spelling or lack of punctuation. To wit:

From: Aaron Turpeau
To: ‘Albert E. Love’ ; ‘Elson J. Mcgee’; ‘Gerald Durley”H.J.A Alexander’ ; ‘Helen Butler’ ; ‘Jamaal R. Brown’ ; ‘Joe Beasley’ ; ‘Noble Benefield’ ; ‘Richard Cobble’ ; ‘Rita Samuels’ ; ‘Sharita M Edwards’; ‘Sharon J. Hill’ ; ‘Tillman Ward’ ; ‘Tyrone Brooks’ ; ‘W E Burns’

Sent: Wed Aug 18 12:16:57 2010

Subject: School Board MESS

Just wanted to thank those of you who met with me to try to persude 3 members of the School Bd. Not to change policy that …

Continue reading Your morning jolt: A behind-the-scenes peek at the Atlanta school board rebellion »

Many things doing on the Atlanta mayoral front today:

Councilwoman Mary Norwood has called a 4 p.m. press conference at the Summerville home of Mattie Jackson, destroyed in 2008 by a fire that authorities determined was a matter of arson. Don’t know what the topic will be. A look at AJC archives indicates the response time by firefighters was four minutes.

The Atlanta water department has taken umbrage at a Norwood TV ad, in which the mayoral candidate says the city purchased 150,000 water meter lids that don’t fit. Commissioner Robert Hunter, who oversees the Department of Watershed Management, today declared the charge “absolutely untrue.”

Okay, maybe “absolutely” was the wrong word. This from the a press release:

DWM is replacing and upgrading approximately 150,000 meters. However, the number of meters reported with lids which do not fit properly represents significantly less than 1% of the meters.

Presently there are 994 open work orders to replace meter lids, not 150,000 …

Continue reading ATL mayoral doings: Arson, water meter lids, and a Facebook video from Andrew Young »

House Speaker Glenn Richardson informed Gov. Sonny Perdue of his attempted suicide last week, before the matter became public.

“I talked to him in a very personal, emotional conversation. I told him I wanted to visit with him as soon as I got back, because we all want to help him be successful – not just politically, but to be successful personally,” Perdue said in a WSB-TV interview conducted in Dubai, where the governor is attending an air show.

WSB’s Lori Geary, who is traveling with the governor, said Perdue talked to Richardson during a flight between Afghanistan – where the governor was visiting U.S. troops – to Germany.

“I told him there are a lot more important things out there than this other job that we do, which is public service,” Perdue said. “He and his family and his health is more important than any other political decision there. I know that while he is currently broken, he has a great ability to bounce back.”

Details of the incident from Paulding County …

Continue reading Your morning jolt: Glenn Richardson’s overseas phone call to Sonny Perdue »

Two weeks ago, former Maynard Jackson insider Aaron Turpeau distributed a memo written by Clark Atlanta University academics William Boone and Keith Jennings that prompted an immediate eruption in the contest for mayor of Atlanta.

The memo was drawn up on behalf of a group called the Black Leadership Forum.

Although the academics later denied that this was their intention, the memo suggested that Atlanta’s black community unite behind a single mayoral candidate. Lisa Borders, whom the memo identified as the candidate best able to block Councilwoman Mary Norwood, who is white, rejected the thinking.

Kasim Reed, a former state senator in third place, also denounced the piece. Mayor Shirley Franklin called it bigoted.

This afternoon, an open letter from Turpeau, who has been a City Hall insider for decades, began circulating through Atlanta. We included entire memo below, but have bolded the areas of highest interest.

In his postscript, Turpeau speaks of …

Continue reading A postscript: Turpeau says ‘banishment’ followed mayoral memo »