Five seek to distinguish themselves in Atlanta school board race
When the five candidates for Atlanta School Board’s District 2 seat line up Monday for their second candidates’ forum in less than a week, Shawnna Hayes-Tavares will be paying close attention – as if she had a choice.
“Right now, I don’t love any of them. But by that same junction, one of them will be the next member of our school board,” Hayes-Tavares, president of Southwest and Northwest Atlanta Parents and Partners for Schools (SNAPPS), which is hosting the forum Monday at 6 p.m. at Brown Middle School, 765 Peeples St.
Byron Amos, Angela Brown, Dwanda Farmer, Michael Jeter and Donald Walker are vying to fill the seat left vacant by former board Chairman Khaatim Sherrer El, who resigned on July 11 with two years left on his term amidst one of the nation's largest incidents of academic fraud in history.
Here is a snapshot of the five candidates for the Nov. 8 election:
- Amos, who has run for office in the past, has been a recent target of media scrutiny after the Atlanta Federation of Teachers withdrew their support of him. Amos is an executive for a small record label, whose vulgar and misogynistic videos were on his Facebook page. Amos was not featured in any of the videos.
- Brown, a resident of the Historic West End neighborhood, is the executive director of First African Community Development Corporation and pastors Northern Heights Presbyterian Church. She is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta.
- Farmer has been a regular political candidate, although this is her first bid for the school board. She has run for the Atlanta City Council three times, including her 2009 bid for City Council Post 1-at-large. She serves on the Summerhill, Mechanicsville and Peoplestown Board and the Mechanicsville Civic Association.
- Jeter has been active in the Atlanta Public Schools, according to his campaign website, including serving as Advisory Council President for W.F. White Elementary School and president of the J.F. Kennedy Middle School PTA for five years.
- Walker is a college psychology professor at DeVry University and visiting professor at Atlanta Metropolitan College. His mother taught at APS for more than 25 years.
About the Author
Ernie Suggs is an enterprise reporter covering race and culture for the AJC since 1997. A 1990 graduate of N.C. Central University and a 2009 Harvard University Nieman Fellow, he is also the former vice president of the National Association of Black Journalists. His obsession with Prince, Spike Lee movies, Hamilton and the New York Yankees is odd.
