Two Fulton County school board candidates say they have withdrawn from their respective races because they don’t live in the districts they were running to represent.
Samuel Beck and his wife Stefani de Beck are both Fulton County teachers who qualified last week to run in Districts 3 and 4 respectively. However, the couple live in District 6. State law requires school board candidates to live in the district they run to represent. When reached by phone, the Becks said they were unaware of the law.
“My understanding of how this works was: If I were a resident of Georgia, if I were a resident of the county, and if I were a resident of the school district, I was qualified,” Samuel Beck said.
He likened his confusion to living in both Fulton County and the city of Atlanta but attending Atlanta Public Schools as opposed to schools in Fulton. He didn’t know he had to live in District 3 to run for the seat, Beck said.
“I could live within Fulton County and not attend ... the Fulton County school district,” he said. “So that was my assumption on the matter.”
De Beck said she was also unaware of the rules, only deciding to run a few days ago at the urging of her middle school students.
“They told me ... ‘If you are able to be on the school board, you can help us more,’” she said.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported last week the Becks own a house in the southern part of Fulton County. According to a school district zone map, the house is located in District 6, which isn’t on the ballot this year.
That discrepancy prompted Elizabeth Harris to file a candidate residency challenge with Fulton County’s Department of Registration and Elections. Harris is the campaign manager for District 4 incumbent Franchesca Warren. She has also been involved in community meetings and didn’t recognize the Becks’ names.
“When we saw that … then we just started taking a look at, ‘Where do they even live?’” Harris said. “Because we haven’t seen any information … in the community about any educational communications or any kind of town halls or anything that (de Beck has) participated in.”
Fulton’s Department of Registration and Elections has not responded to multiple inquiries from the AJC about how the Becks qualified to run for office.
Before withdrawing, Beck said he and his wife were not trying to subvert the system.
“We’re parents, we’re married, we’re teachers,” he said. “If we are doing something that is not allowed, obviously, we want to abide by the rules. We’re not in positions where we want to say, ‘Hey, we’re going to fight this’ or ‘We’re going to get a lawyer.’ If we’re not qualified, we’re not qualified.”
De Beck’s withdrawal means Warren will now run unopposed in District 4, but Harris said she didn’t file the challenge to squash competition.
“If people want to serve and present their ... platforms of what they would do for the community, that’s great,” she said. “We don’t have a problem with that. But at the end of the day … the law is what it is. And in order to run, you have to be a resident.”
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