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Deeply-Divided Atlanta School Board Delays Vote on Superintendent

By Stan | Published on: December 4, 2012 Comments (0)

The Atlanta School Board on Monday night delayed again a vote on whether to renew the contract of Superintendent Erroll Davis.

The decision to postpone the vote came after Davis supporters lost a key procedural vote that means it will take only three votes on the nine-member board to block the extension of Davis’ contract, which expires in June.

The board met in executive session for more than three hours before emerging around 11 p.m. and approving a motion by District 4 board member Nancy Meister to require a super-majority of seven votes to extend Davis’ contract instead of the usual simple majority of five votes.

Meister said the policy change would help keep the board in good standing with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools accrediting agency, which recommended the board decide by a super-majority when it hired Davis in 2011. The board then voted unanimously to hire him. Meister’s motion to require a super-majority passed 5-4 over strong objections by board chairman Reuben McDaniel.

The board then voted 8-1 to appoint a search committee in January to look for a new superintendent. But Davis opponents couldn’t get enough votes to defeat a motion by vice chairman Byron Amos to delay the vote for the second time. The board first postponed the vote in October. Amos’ motion to delay passed 5-4.

The board will meet 3 p.m. Monday, Dec. 10, to decide Davis’ fate as superintendent. That gives supporters a week to try to corral seven votes on a board that seems deeply divided.

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