Governor suspends DeKalb BOE members

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Act­ing on the rec­om­men­da­tion of the State Board of Edu­ca­tion, Gov. Nathan Deal today sus­pended six mem­bers of the DeKalb school board. Deal announced that he has appointed a panel to nom­i­nate replace­ments and has tapped Brad Bryant, a for­mer DeKalb school board mem­ber, to act as his liai­son to the DeKalb board and Super­in­ten­dent Michael Thurmond.

“The stakes in this case are high; the future of almost 100,000 stu­dents hangs in the bal­ance,” Deal said. “There­fore, I have accepted the unan­i­mous rec­om­men­da­tion of the State Board of Edu­ca­tion to sus­pend six mem­bers of the DeKalb school board. I have met with Super­in­ten­dent Michael Thur­mond, and I believe he can play a vital role in get­ting the sys­tem back on track. I look for­ward to a pos­i­tive work­ing rela­tion­ship with Super­in­ten­dent Thur­mond on behalf of the chil­dren of DeKalb County.”

Brad Bryant, liai­son to Gov. Deal

Bryant cur­rently serves as the exec­u­tive direc­tor of the Geor­gia Foun­da­tion for Edu­ca­tion for the Geor­gia Depart­ment of Edu­ca­tion. He pre­vi­ously served as the department’s gen­eral coun­sel. In 2010 he was appointed by then-Gov. Sonny Per­due as state super­in­ten­dent of schools to fill the unex­pired term of the out­go­ing super­in­ten­dent. For 10 years, he served on the State Board of Edu­ca­tion and also served on the DeKalb County Board of Edu­ca­tion from 1991–2003. Bryant is a mem­ber and past pres­i­dent of the National Asso­ci­a­tion of State Boards of Edu­ca­tion and also served as pres­i­dent of the Geor­gia School Boards Asso­ci­a­tion in 2002. He is a mem­ber of the State Bar of Geor­gia and earned his law degree from Mer­cer Uni­ver­sity, his master’s in Busi­ness Admin­is­tra­tion from the Uni­ver­sity of Geor­gia and his bachelor’s degree in Busi­ness Admin­is­tra­tion from Pres­by­ter­ian Col­lege. Bryant resides in DeKalb County.

Nom­i­nat­ing panel

Ken­neth Mason, Chairman

Mason was appointed to the State Board of Edu­ca­tion in 2011 as the mem­ber for the 5th Con­gres­sional Dis­trict, which includes a por­tion of DeKalb. He is the direc­tor of Urban Ini­tia­tives for the South­ern Regional Edu­ca­tion Board where he pro­motes col­lege and career readi­ness for all stu­dents. Mason earned a bachelor’s degree in Physics from Hen­drix Col­lege in Arkansas and a master’s in Teaching/Education from the Uni­ver­sity of San Fran­cisco. He resides in Atlanta.

Garry W. McGiboney

McGi­boney serves as the Asso­ciate Super­in­ten­dent of Pol­icy and Char­ter Schools at the Geor­gia Depart­ment of Edu­ca­tion. He has more than 30 years of expe­ri­ence in pub­lic edu­ca­tion, hav­ing served in sev­eral school level and dis­trict level posi­tions. McGi­boney has a Ph.D. in both school psy­chol­ogy and edu­ca­tional admin­is­tra­tion from Geor­gia State Uni­ver­sity and is a state cer­ti­fied psy­chol­o­gist and a state cer­ti­fied medi­a­tor. He resides in Stone Mountain.

James E. Bostic, Jr.

Bostic is man­ag­ing direc­tor at HEP & Asso­ciates, an edu­ca­tional con­sult­ing com­pany and a part­ner at Cole­man Lew & Asso­ciates, Inc., an exec­u­tive search firm In Char­lotte. He has more than 25 years expe­ri­ence in the paper and for­est prod­ucts indus­try with Georgia-Pacific Corp. He served as a mem­ber of the South Car­olina Com­mis­sion on Higher Edu­ca­tion and chaired it for five years, served on the Geor­gia State Board of Edu­ca­tion for nine years and has served on the Board of Trustees for both Tuskegee Uni­ver­sity and Clem­son Uni­ver­sity. He is cur­rently a mem­ber of the Board of Trustees at Wof­ford Col­lege and serves on the Board of Direc­tors of ACT, Inc. Bostic earned his bachelor’s degree and his doc­tor­ate degree in Chem­istry from Clem­son Uni­ver­sity. He resides in Atlanta.

Ali­cia Phillip

Phillip is pres­i­dent of the Com­mu­nity Foun­da­tion for Greater Atlanta. Named as one of Geor­gia Trend’s “100 Most Influ­en­tial Geor­gians” and one of the “100 Most Influ­en­tial Atlantans” by the Atlanta Busi­ness Chron­i­cle, Phillip has led the foundation’s grant-making, fundrais­ing and col­lab­o­ra­tion with donors, non­prof­its and com­mu­nity lead­ers for 37 years. Philipp received a bachelor’s degree from Emory Uni­ver­sity and a master’s in Busi­ness Admin­is­tra­tion from Geor­gia State Uni­ver­sity. She resides in Decatur.

Sadie Den­nard

Den­nard works as a region exter­nal affairs man­ager for Geor­gia Power’s Metro East Region in south DeKalb. She served three terms as a mem­ber of the Atlanta Board of Edu­ca­tion and is a for­mer pres­i­dent of the Geor­gia School Boards Asso­ci­a­tion. She received her bachelor’s degree from Amer­i­can Uni­ver­sity, and she’s a dea­con at Atlanta’s Friend­ship Bap­tist Church.