Decatur, GA — The Decatur School Board announced in its Friday newsletter the board will soon be ready to announce the school district’s next superintendent.

As first reported in Decaturish back in January, the superintendent application process closed on Dec. 18, 2022. The Georgia School Boards Association, which is conducting CSD’s superintendent search, received 34 applications. The finalists will be announced at a board meeting in March, and the next superintendent will be appointed in April.

The newsletter released Friday confirms the district is still on track to announce the finalist in March.

“The superintendent search interviews are underway,” Friday’s newsletter says. “The second round of interviews will happen in early March. Please expect an announcement at the end of March.”

The Georgia School Boards Association, which is conducting the search for City Schools of Decatur, said half of the candidates are local, and half are from other parts of the country.

Interim Superintendent Maggie Fehrman has been encouraged to apply for the job, but it’s unknown if she has because superintendent interviews are not public.

Fehrman took over for former superintendent David Dude in April 2021 after he left the district following months of investigative stories by Decaturish.com that examined allegations raised by the school district’s former human resources director. The School Board gave Fehrman a one-year contract in May 2021. In January 2022, the school board said it needed more time to search for Dude’s replacement. The school board extended her contract in February 2022 for another year, and her current contract began on July 1, 2022.

In other City Schools of Decatur news:

— The Decatur School Board, at its Feb. 21 regular meeting, initiated the planning process to convert two CSD-owned homes into duplexes. 

The board authorized Superintendent Fehrman to apply for two building permits for the homes at 204 Westchester Drive and 927 S McDonough Street. The homes could be converted to duplexes and offered as affordable rental options for CSD employees.

The school board did not decide how to go about subdividing the homes.

For the full story, click here.

— A new federal lawsuit alleges that City Schools of Decatur removed the family of one of its most prominent critics because the district claimed she no longer lived in the city of Decatur.

But April Biagioni says her family met the district’s eligibility requirements while participating in Decatur Virtual Academy, a virtual learning option for families that didn’t want to attend schools in-person during the COVID-19 pandemic. Her lawsuit argues that the district selected her family for removal over her criticism of CSD.

Fehrman, who is named in the suit, had no comment.

“CSD has not been served with the lawsuit and therefore is not in a position to make a comment at this time,” Fehrman said.

Anita K. Bala, a partner at Buckley Bala Wilson Mew LLP, is representing Biagioni.

For the full story, click here.

— A local Atlanta nonprofit is helping put a pep in peoples’ step one pair of shoes at a time. The EcoSneakers founder and a Beacon Hill Middle School student recently appeared on the Kelly Clarkson show to share the work the organization is doing. 

EcoSneakers works to provide those in need with shoes here in Atlanta, but also around the world.

“Some are repurposed to people in need. Those are the ones that are clean or brand new. Some are sent to other countries for micro-enterprises or small entrepreneurs,” said Bobby Johnson, founder of EcoSneakers. “Those are the ones that need a lot of sanitizing, a lot of cleaning or mending, but they’re wearable.”

For the full story, click here.

Zoe Seiler contributed to this story. 

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