An Atlanta school board member is leaving his post to run for City Council.
Byron Amos, who represents a central Atlanta district on the school board, said Tuesday he will step down as he campaigns for the council’s District 3 seat.
The council vacancy was created by the November death of Councilman Ivory Lee Young Jr.
Amos, 46, is among 10 candidates who qualified by Friday to run in the March 19 special election. The winner will fill the remainder of Young's term through 2021.
State law calls for Amos’ school board seat to be vacated automatically upon qualifying to run for the council seat, said Georgia Secretary of State spokeswoman Tess Hammock.
Amos said he initially received different opinions about whether he would be required to leave the school board. But, he said, departing is “the right thing” to do.
“I am stuck between the letter of the law and the intent of the law,” Amos said. “I am resigning from the Atlanta Board of Education because we really want this race to be about the people of District 3 and not let it be a distraction if I am on the school board or not.”
Amos said he also left his city job of four years working at the airport in order to run for the council seat.
He was elected to the school board in a December 2011 special election. His current term would have expired in 2021.
His departure from the school board will require a special election to fill the remainder of his term. An election date has not been set but likely will take place June 18 or Sept. 17, said school board Chairman Jason Esteves.
Esteves said the school board’s rules did not require Amos to resign.
“I told him that we could not advise him on that,” Esteves said.
Other candidates who qualified by Friday's deadline for the City Council District 3 seat are: Shalise Young, wife of Ivory Lee Young Jr.; Greg Clay; Matthew Charles Cardinale; Jabari Simama; Erika Estrada; Ricky Brown; Antonio Brown; Patricia Crayton and Mesha Mainor.
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