By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher, GwinnettForum
MARCH 9, 2021 | The new Black majority on the Gwinnett School Board seems intent on curtailing the leadership of Alvin Wilbanks as its superintendent. However, Mr. Wilbanks has a contract through June 2022, and has no intention to leave sooner.
Alvin Wilbanks, to many, is the best school superintendent of any system in Georgia. On the national scene, on two occasions, the school district has won the Broad Prize as the best larger system in the entire nation.
The Gwinnett school system is the predominant large school district in Georgia. It also appears that the only reason the black majority wants to run Mr. Wilbanks away is that he is not Black. Color is a pretty poor excuse in firing anyone, and on its face, is racial in its intent. It is also a violation of Mr. Wilbanks’s civil rights.
Yet the two new Democrats on the school board who won election last fall have as their intent replacing Mr. Wilbanks. They want him gone immediately, but have run across some legal and procedural problems, in addition to Mr. Wilbanks not wanting to leave sooner, that must frustrate the new Black school board members and their followers.
Patience doesn’t seem to be in the playbook of this new majority on the school board, though it should be a major factor. After all, in 16 months, by his own admission, Mr. Wilbanks will no longer be the superintendent.
Wilbanks
The only way to remove Mr. Wilbanks now is to give him a 90-day notice of employment, then pay him for the remainder of his contract.
School board members might have second thoughts of spending taxpayer money, perhaps as much as $500,000, just to see a faster dismissal of Mr. Wilbanks.
Since we have already raised the racial question here, we suspect any search for a new superintendent must include diverse candidates, as it should. The board will probably call for a “national search” for a new superintendent and pay a staffing firm perhaps $100,000 to find them top candidates.
We often question hiring key executives, if a more localized, not national, search would be more fruitful. Picking a person from within the system, or a qualified candidate who has local connections, might be far more efficient to the system than bringing in someone from far away in the long run. What we would not want is to find that the board has picked someone who is a mere crony to the board, and would not stand on their own two feet on key matters before the board.
Some history: when Michael Thurman became the superintendent of the DeKalb County Board of Education a few years back, the system had an operational deficit in its previous year of $11 million. When Thurman announced its next budget, he did not present the taxpayers with a deficit budget. We asked Mr. Thurman how did his school board budget go from a deficit of $11 million in one year, to a positive budget number the next.
We were impressed with his answer: “I read the budget.”
Isn’t it amazing what you can do when you know details? His method impressed us.
Hmmmm. Today Michael Thurman is chief executive officer in DeKalb County. He is one of the most respected Black officials in Georgia. Previously he was the Labor Commissioner, and before that, represented Clarke County in the General Assembly. He has great connections, and his integrity is impeccable. Hmmmm. Would Mr. Thurman be interested in the Gwinnett school position? It would be good for Gwinnett.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
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