Pro-Charter School Activist Aiding New APS Majority
(APN) ATLANTA — A Buckhead activist who has been a staunch supporter of privatization, especially of public schools, has been aiding the new Board Majority of the Atlanta Public Schools.
Glenn Delk, who wears many hats, has been representing the Board majority in the lawsuit, recently ruled upon, concerning the takeover of the Board by the new five-member majority.
The majority is also known as the Gang of Five, led by the new Board President Khaatim S. El, and also includes Courtney English, Yolanda Johnson, Nancy Meister, and Brenda Muhammad.
Delk admitted to the representation in an email from Delk to another party, obtained by Atlanta Progressive News; it has also been widely reported by other media.
In addition, Delk represented School Board Member Courtney English in his ethics complaint involving the inappropriate use of an APS credit card for personal use.
English confirmed Delk’s pro bono representation of him in an interview with APN.
Delk is an attorney with Lightmas and Delk, an advocate for private school vouchers and charter schools, and chairs the Education Committee of the Buckhead Coalition of Neighborhoods.
In a September 07, 2010, op-ed column appearing in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper, Delk openly advocated for the Georgia General Assembly to enact something called a Parent and Taxpayers’ Trigger.
The trigger would allow a majority of parents to vote to force the school system to take action against a failing school; three choices for action would include closing the school, replacing the principal, or changing the school to a charter school.
Two Buckhead parents, Kim Kahwach and Allison Adair, filed an ethics complaint against the five, on November 04, 2010, according to a copy obtained by APN. The complaint charges the Gang of Five with “the employment of legal representation that also represents charter schools.”
“APS Board member Courtney English accepted legal services apparently, free of charge, and soon after all five said board members accepted and paid for legal services from well documented, pro-charter, privatization, advocate, Glenn Delk,” the complaint states.
“Mr. Delk has been documented since 1993 for many legislative proposals and has advocated for a City of Buckhead since 2008. All five members knew of his affiliations with Charter Schools and the Fulton County Taxpayers Foundation,” the complaint states.
The Commission met last week and said that the complaint did not contain sufficient evidence to warrant a hearing.
Delk did not immediately return a message left at his law office seeking comment.
El told Atlanta Progressive News that he was not aware of the trigger proposal, but that he would not comment for this story. He asked that APN email him questions in writing.
APN asked El what his position was on charter schools, but he said he would only answer in writing.
English confirmed in an interview that Delk served as a pro bono attorney for him in his ethics complaint, adding that Delk had been referred to him by Doug Rosenbloom.
When asked if Delk had pressured English into supporting charter schools, English said, “No, not at all. I think he’s done an amazing job keeping his personal views separate from the legal representation piece.”
When asked for his position on charter schools, English said, “If it works, let’s do it. Whatever the ‘it’ is, there is no silver bullet. The level of innovation when it works that charter schools allow for, we need to look for ways to engage those strategies in a traditional public school setting.”
When asked if Delk had approached him about his parent trigger proposal, “We have conversations about education in general. I saw the article in the AJC [by Delk] but that’s about it. I don’t know enough about it,” to know whether to support it, he said.
State Sen. Vincent Fort, a supporter of El, told APN that he was aware of Delk’s role, but he said Delk was chosen because in his opinion he was a superior attorney.
Fort said he thought whether Delk expected anything in return was a fair question to ask. “The attorney-client relationship is very close and you can imagine that other issues may come up,” Fort said.