Atlanta's New Mayor: Andre Dickens

The sixty-first mayor of Atlanta, Andre Dickens, was sworn into office on January 3, 2022 to serve for a four year term. He graduated from Atlanta Public Schools and Georgia Tech and served on the City Council for eight years. In the first round of voting, Dickens received 23.0% of the vote, but won the runoff election by more than 63.0%.

One of Dickens’ main focuses in his term as mayor is to repair the strained relationship between the City and the Atlanta Public School System. During his time on city council, he created the City of Atlanta/Atlanta Board of Education Joint Commission, an administration that focuses on keeping the city and it’s schools on the same page. On his campaign website he has planned to:

• “Foster a spirit of partnership between the City and APS. For too long, APS and the City have been at odds. I will hire a Chief Education Officer who will address youth and education issues from cradle to career, including pre-k, student internships and job training, and coordination with technical colleges.”

• “Convene an APS/Mayor’s Office Task Force with key constituents to ensure that the City does all it can to support our schools.”

• “Strengthen coordination between APS and the Atlanta Department of Transportation to ensure that the City provides traffic safety improvements (cross walks, stop signs, flashing beacons, etc.) in school zones, including prioritizing sidewalks within a ½ mile of schools.”

Andre Dickens has big plans for the city of Atlanta and has promised, as said in his inauguration speech, to “[come] together to move Atlanta, ALL of Atlanta, to a brighter future”