Painted picnic tables promote outdoor dining
101-year-old Garrie Phillips was at Pearl Harbor ► PAGE 7
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Governor blunts Dunwoody’s mandatory mask ordinance
New DeKalb superintendent takes office STONE MOUNTAIN, Ga. — Cheryl Watson-Harris was sworn in as the superintendent of DeKalb County Schools earlier this month at the Robert R. Freeman Administrative Complex in Stone Mountain. DeKalb County Superior Court Judge Gregory A. Adams presided at the ceremony. Watson-Harris’ husband, son and family members attended as well as School Board Chair Marshall Orson, Board Vice-Chair Vickie Turner and Board Member Dijon DaCosta. “I applied to be the superintendent of DeKalb County because I was excited about the work, the legacy and all of the incredible things you’ve accomplished so far,” Watson-Harris said. “I really, truly believed that I had the skillset, the experience, the passion and the drive to come here and to work alongside you to help DeKalb soar to new heights. I am truly humbled and honored to be selected, and I am looking forward to our journey together.” Watson-Harris brings experience from her roles in New York and Boston. Before accepting the role of superintendent of DeKalb County Schools, WatsonHarris served as first deputy chancellor, as well as in other executive positions, for the New York City Department of Education. Previously, she served as a network superintendent and as a principal for Boston Public Schools. “Today, we begin a new chapter in
By PATRICK FOX pat@appenmediagroup.com
SPECIAL
DeKalb County Superior Court Judge Gregory A. Adams completes the swearing-in ceremony for Cheryl Watson-Harris, the new superintendent for DeKalb County Schools. The ceremony took place earlier this month at Robert R. Freeman Administrative Complex in Stone Mountain.
the history of the DeKalb County School District,” Orson said. “I believe we have chosen a superintendent who will continue the progress we’ve made and lead us to the future that we all envision for DeKalb’s children: a vibrant, strong district that provides every child with a high-quality education that will enable them to be successful and productive.” Watson-Harris has an undergraduate degree from Marymount College and a master’s degree in education from Harvard University. She is currently a doctoral candidate at New York University’s
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DUNWOODY, Ga. — The Dunwoody City Council joined a handful of Georgia cities July 13, passing an ordinance mandating the wearing of protective masks in public within the city. But the order died before it went into effect. The mandate, which was scheduled to begin July 16 and run for one month, required all persons within the city limits to wear a mask or a cloth face covering over the nose and mouth when inside a commercial location or other building or space open to the public. It also required masks when in an outdoor public space where it is not feasible to maintain social distancing of not less than 6 feet from another person not from the same household. The vote was 5-2, with council members John Heneghan and Jim Riticher opposed. Both stated their frustrations with state leadership, but they said they were bound to follow Gov. Brian Kemp’s own call not to exceed provisions of his statewide order. For more than a week, Kemp had said local jurisdictions cannot enforce harsher mandates than he has outlined in his statewide executive order, and local laws doing so are unenforceable. Kemp made that point again on July 15 — a day before Dunwoody’s ordinance was to take effect — by updating his own executive order to include language specifically suspending any local orders that mandate the wearing of masks.
Savannah and Atlanta already enacted their own mask mandates earlier this month, and other cities had prepared to follow suit. In anticipation of Kemp’s action, however, the Dunwoody City Council passed a resolution at the same meeting that would substitute the term “require” with “strongly recommend,” if the governor called out cities with mandate orders. In arguing for the original mask mandate, Dunwoody Mayor Lynn Deutsch said she has followed the numbers since the pandemic began, and she has seen the toll it has taken on people and on the healthcare community. “This is the one thing we can do to protect the healthcare community,” Deutsch said. During discussion of whether a mandate was legal at the time, the council majority argued that the city would simply be acting in “furtherance of the governor’s order,” which advised citizens to follow guidelines set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Dunwoody City Attorney Bill Riley said the city could sustain its ordinance if challenged by asking whether the governor can restrict what kind of furtherance a local government can employ to a governor’s order. That argument apparently became moot with the Kemp’s later announcement. Dunwoody’s ordinance includes
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