By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher, GwinnettForum
MARCH 18, 2025 | It’s highly unusual when one element of government upbraids another level of government. It happened last week at the Legislature.
A bipartisan group of the Gwinnett delegation to the General Assembly filed a bill last week that criticized Gwinnett School Board Chair Andrienne Simmons for publicly re-dressing new School Board member Steve Gasper. (See a video clip of this meeting.) If this measure becomes law, it would also cut the pay for school board members if they terminated a school superintendent early. The legislation also prevents the School Board from barring its five members from talking to the media.
House Bill 767 was filed by Rep. Dewey McClain of Lilburn, but was co-authored by 11 other members of the delegation, including seven Democrats and five Republicans. The others included Reps. Scott Hilton, Arlene Beckles, Sandy Donatucci, Ray Martinez, Billy Mitchell, David Clark, Marvin Lim, Derrick McCollum, Sam Park, Karen Bennett and Doreen Carter.
All this comes after the school board fired its last two superintendents, and paid a high buy-out figure to keep them from completing their contracts.
Rep. McClain told the Gwinnett Daily Post: “We had one superintendent at (a buyout of) $580,000 and another superintendent at $750,000. That is $1.3 million that the citizens of Gwinnett are paying two individuals not to work,” because the board terminated their contracts.
McClain added about the School Board: “We don’t have any say (word) in what they do. They’re independent. The only thing we do have a say over is their pay.”
School Board members earned $22,243 each in 2024. Under the House Bill 767, the per diem pay for school board members would be $50 each time the school board meets. The bill would not affect the two previous buy-outs, since the legislation cannot be retroactive.
The legislation comes after many people in Gwinnett have been critical of the actions of the school board. That criticism widened when at a February work session, Chairwoman Adrienne Simmons was curt in openly scolding new board member Gasper for speaking independently to the media. (The current school policy is that members will not talk directly to the media.)
For most county and municipal board meetings, there is seldom an outright open break among members of that particular board. While members may differ on matters among themselves, such divergent views seldom break open to the public. In the past, this has been seen as a board being unanimous in most of its deliberations and pronouncements, working in a calm and unified way to provide leadership.
So it was a shock to Gwinnett residents when the new chair of the School Board, Adrienne Simmons, spoke out publicly to Mr. Gaspar. Those reverberations made their way to the Gwinnett delegation, which found common ground to offer legislation critical of Ms. Simmons.
What Gwinnett citizens want and have come to expect is a calm, deliberate approach to governing bodies. The recent firings of the two school superintendents belied that action, coming as they have after years and years of solid leadership by past school boards, and recognition of Gwinnett schools being among the best in the nation.
The current school board should recognize its problems, put petty differences behind, and work to find a new superintendent and keep its activity focused on policy, not operational details, so that the Gwinnett Public Schools can remain among the best in the nation.
Thank you, legislators, for your call of attention to this matter.
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