District 4 Board of Education member Nancy Meister on Dec. 3 succeeded in delaying a vote to extend Atlanta Public Schools Superintendent Erroll Davis’ contract.
According to a recap of the meeting posted on the Talk Up APS blog, Meister convinced the board require that a super majority of members approve any contract extension. This means that seven of nine board members would have to approve the contract extension instead of five.
Meister’s motion passed in a 5-4 vote, with board Chairman Reuben McDaniel voting against. The vote came around 11 p.m. after a lengthy executive session.
The board scheduled a special meeting for Dec. 10 at 3 p.m. to reconsider the superintendent’s contract.
Several parents representing North Atlanta spoke during the meeting, asking the board to vote against the extension. Much of the anger at Davis stems from his controversial decision to remove North Atlanta High’s leadership team on Oct 5. Davis said the move was about academics, but emails between McDaniel and Meister show that McDaniel was investigating claims of “institutional racism” at the school prior to the leadership changes.