400 apply for 6 vacant DeKalb School Board seats

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — More than 400 people have applied for the six positions available on the DeKalb School Board.

The deadline for applicants passed on Wednesday, and now a panel appointed by Gov. Nathan Deal will begin the process of replacing the six suspended members of the school board.

Many of the 403 applicants are parents in the district. They said it was time to stop being angry about what was going on with their children's education, and instead step up to do something about it.

One applicant told Channel 2 Action News he has been critical of the board for years, so now he feels it is time to take action.

"My desire is first to restore full accreditation to the school system, and to make sure that's a primary in everybody's mind. And then work with the other members, whoever they may end up being, to take whatever steps necessary to improve student performance," applicant Mike Hassinger said.

Deal has assigned a committee to help select the new board. That committee is expected to start discussing how to vet the applicants later on Thursday.

Earlier this week, a judge upheld Deal's decision to remove six of the nine members of the school board.

One of the six suspended school board members wrote a blog post on Wednesday saying that she wants to resign.

Jester told Channel 2 Action News last month that investigators from the school accrediting agency, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, used budget information she uncovered to strengthen the agency's case against the school district. The director of SACS said that is not true.

WSBTV