Crowded field hoping to win vacant state school superintendent's job
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Posted 5:55PM on Tuesday, August 13, 2002
ATLANTA - The candidates trying to succeed Linda Schrenko all seem to agree on one thing -- one of the top priorities for the new state school superintendent should be to rebuild relationships between the department and lawmakers, local districts and parents. <br>
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Democrat Joe Martin said, ``The new school superintendent has got to stop the bleeding. We've got to get our house in order.'' <br>
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Martin lost to Schrenko in 1998. <br>
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Schrenko, who is running for governor, has clashed with Democrat Governor Barnes, legislators, school board members and teacher organizations. <br>
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Democrat Barbara Christmas said the next superintendent must restore morale in a department that has been used as a political football by politicians in both political parties. <br>
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The Georgia Association of Educators endorsed Martin's bid for the Democratic nomination, passing over Christmas, longtime head of its larger rival, the Professional Association of Georgia Educators. <br>
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Other Democrats in the race are former education professor Theresa Bey, school administrator Larry Wayne McNorton, teacher Phyllis Lowther Turner and former deputy state school superintendent Peyton Williams Junior. <br>
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On the Republican side, the GAE endorsed state Representative Kathy Cox, a teacher from Peachtree City, over former state Representative Mitchell Kaye, a financial appraiser from Marietta.
