Gov. Deal to name new DeKalb Co. School Board members - DC Breaking Local News Weather Sports FOX 5 WTTG

Governor Nathan Deal plans to announce new DeKalb County School Board members on Wednesday. Deal is expected to make the announcement during a news conference from his office at 11 a.m.

The governor earlier removed six of nine board members as the school district faces the potential loss of accreditation.

Gov. Deal said he'd reviewed a list of 12 potential finalists and said DeKalb County will have six highly qualified new school board members when he announces the appointments.

"It is, I think, a good commentary on the citizens of DeKalb County that we've had so many very, very qualified people who have at least shown an interest in this process," Deal said.

A special panel began reviewing more than 400 candidates for the DeKalb board late last week, with the school district's accreditation at stake, the pressure has been on to get new board members in place as soon as possible.

The governor's office has now released the names of 63 applicants interviewed for the six open seats. (SEE THE NAMES BELOW)

The new developments followed a tense meeting Monday involving the governor and leaders of civil rights groups

"We're not speaking on whether the school board members deserve to be in place or not. That's not the issue. The issue is whether a governor should act like a dictator. Whether a governor should have the single power to remove someone that was elected by the people,"  Edward DuBose of the Georgia NAACP said on Monday.

Deal said he has focused on maintaining the district's accreditation for DeKalb students, and said he said he would give that message to new board members.

"Get to work. Do the important things that we need to do to fully restore accreditation so that the deserving young people in this school system will not in any way be adversely affected by the consequences of adults' actions," Deal said.

The State Board of Education recommended suspension of six of nine DeKalb County School Board members following a 14-hour hearing last month.

The final candidates who were interviewed are listed below: