Governor replaces suspended Dublin school board: Meet the appointees

Gov. Brian Kemp appointed replacements Wednesday for the suspended Dublin City Board of Education, and the new members include former educators, a banker, government consultants and a former human resources director.

Kemp’s executive order describes the appointments as “temporary,” because the suspended board members can still petition the governor for reinstatement. Should no one appeal, the new board members will become permanent and serve until their respective seats come up for election.

New board members 

The appointees are:

• District 1 – Teresa Holliday, program manager with Community Service Board of Middle Georgia 

• District 2 – D’Andrea King, retired Dublin City elementary school teacher

• District 3 – Randy Frederick Green, an energy and sustainability consultant and retired manager for Georgia Tech’s Georgia Manufacturing Extension Partnership

• District 4 – Priscilla Adams, former director of Georgia Military College’s Dublin satellite campus

• Super District 1 – Angela Wright, banking officer and local bank branch manager 

• Super District 2 – David Westerfield, former Mohawk human resources director and Communities in Schools board chairman

• At-Large – Douglas Eaves, local business owner and longtime government consultant.

Kemp suspended the Dublin board Aug. 17, at the unanimous recommendation of the state Board of Education, following a 10-hour suspension hearing, convened under state law after a yearlong financial crisis put the district’s accreditation in peril.

Dublin City faced a projected $13.4 million deficit after the state revealed last August that the district owed $6 million in past-due health plan payments. Suspension hearing testimony highlighted the district’s long history of financial struggles and how the board has repeatedly promised but failed to fix its long-running deficit. It also revealed how the district, with little to no oversight from the local board, nearly misspent and mismanaged its way into insolvency after an influx of more $19 million in federal COVID money led to over-hiring and overpaying staff.

State and federal criminal investigations into the district’s finances are ongoing.

After a 30-day waiting period, which should end next week, the suspended board members have the next 30-day window to petition the governor individually for reinstatement, which would be decided at another hearing. Any board member who does not petition would be permanently removed. 

The law calls for the governor to suspend the board with pay, which Dublin’s members were. However, board members are paid only for meetings they attend, and the suspended board members already had agreed to forfeit their pay with the system struggling.