Thursday, June 17, 2010

Northlake Leader is Governor's Pick for Interim State Schools Chief

44,000 petition signatures needed for access to November election

by Tom Doolittle

William (Brad) Bradley Bryant has been tapped by Governor Purdue to fill the State Schools Superintendent job recently vacated by Kathy Cox. Cox heads to do nonprofit work.

Bryant, who was apponted to the State School Board in 2003 by Purdue, had recent high profile roles in representing the governor and DOE with two failing county school systems--in 2008 serving as one of two liaisons between the state and the troubled Clayton County Board of Education after the district lost its accreditation.


The lifetime Northlake area resident and education advocate from now-closed Henderson High School was a DeKalb School Board member and/or chairman from 1990 to 2002. Bryant attended Northlake's Henderson Mill Elementary School and was in Henderson High School's first 8th grade class upon the school opening in 1968. The future public servant graduated from Washington &Lee University in Staunton, Virginia and earned a law degree from Mercer University. Bryant also served as president of the National Association of State Boards of Education, the Georgia School Boards Association and the National School Boards Association Southern Region


The Republican plans to gather signatures to run as independent for a full four-year term, he said. Cox resigned after the state qualifying deadline, so Bryant cannnot run as a Republican.

Cox's sudden resignation split the superintendent's race wide open. Vying for the GOP nomination July 20 are John D. Barge and Richard Woods. The three Democratic candidates are Beth Farokhi, Joe Martin and Brian Westlake.

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