Brown asks about plans for property and whether it is related to new stadium.
Hoskins says it is not related to new stadium.
Hoskins: 630 Kennedy St.
Amos: This property actually rests in English Ave and not Vine City, right before you get to North Ave. If we could change our records to indicate English Ave.
Hoskins: Proposed use of the property is for affordable housing.
Amos: I am familiar with the organization and they are doing much-needed work in a much-needed community. I stand behind the organization.
Brown: How does new lease compare with current lease in reference to payments.
Davis: We will get that to you before the legislative meeting.
On December 2, 2013, the Atlanta Board of Education approved the conversion charter petition for Centennial Place School. Centennial Place School will open in the fall of 2014 serving grades K – 6 and add one grade each year until reaching full articulation in Year Three serving grades K – 8.
Middle-grade students living in the Centennial Place zone currently attend Inman Middle School. Under the proposed plan, students living in the Centennial Place zone currently attending Inman Middle School will continue at Inman through high-school matriculation. Beginning next year, 6th-grade students who live in the Centennial Place zone will no longer be zoned to Inman, but will attend Centennial Place. In Year Two, students eligible for 6th– and 7th grade will no longer be zoned to Inman and will attend Centennial Place. In Year Three, all middle-school students living in the Centennial Place zone will no longer be zoned to Inman Middle School and will attend Centennial Place.
Amos: I’ve had parents who were concerned about being able to keep their child at Inman or Centennial. It was disappointing to me and them that they would not have that choice. Although it is a conversion vs start up charter, we are pushing people into a charter system when there is a traditional school they can attend.
Davis; We are essentially doing a redistricting and part of a larger redistricting. If you remember, we were looking at building a 6th grade academy or new middle school because of student growth. Because we zoned the students of Centennial out, we were able to put a small addition onto Inman in the $6M-$10M range. If we were to open this zone for all to attend, there will be some who will not want to go to what we believe will be their zoned school. We believe that the only way to make this school (Centennial) successful we must make it a zoned school. Based on the parent, staff and community vote the majority agreed with this choice. I fully understand that there will be people in the community who want to go to a proven school, an excellent school. If you open that opportunity you must consider that you did not give Toomer that opportunity when we moved them into the Coan zone. I don’t think you want, I don’t think you should have a zone where we have multiple different middle schools you can go to within the zone. Obviously I am implying that the conversion charter is more like a traditional school than others would like to imply.
Amos: How many middle school kids will be in the Centennial zone? Ballpark? Realistically is that number of kids enough to reduce the number of kids. Are we interrupting the educational plans of families to get to a number that we would never be able to get to anyway.
Davis: By zoning them out we were able to meet our capacity goals at Inman. One of the things I have a concern about is risk. We have a very well functioning elementary school there. {Supt. speaks about “what if” a hiccup takes place at Centennial and parents decide to “bail” and attend Inman – if option were given}
Amos: Because I was here, I will be the first to say we made a lot of mistakes in redistricting. Let’s not compare or talk about giving people opportunity. We didn’t give a lot of people opportunities.
Grant: I feel that there are a lot of people who feel like there was a bait and switch or did not pay attention. My hope is that the programming and the way that it is being presented to the community will help.
Davis: This is a communication and understanding issue. I don’t think you have to say this is going to be the zone next year, but I do believe you have to say this will be the zone at some time. If you want to say this is the effective zone at the end of next year or the following year, it will stress Inman some if some decide to go there but it won’t break the bank. These concerns can only be a 2-3 year concern. If you want to defer, the question is how long do you want to defer.
English: That might be a prudent next step…
Meister: I have a suggestion. Since we have to make a determination about the direction of the district as a whole, it makes sense to wait to do that.
Davis: You are talking about a decision that would need to be made by June of next year.
Alexis Kirijan, Organizational Advancement: We can send a letter of intent anytime between now and January of this coming year. Once you send a letter of intent is alerts the state but a final decision must be made by June 2015.
Note: The “decision” being referenced is around what type of Operational System APS will use in the future. 2015. Choices are IE2, Charter or Status Quo.
Esteves: Instead of setting an arbitrary date, let’s go back to the community and come up a community based date of when the transition can happen.
Davis: I think you are correct on that. I think there were a lot of things we didn’t do during redistricting. One thing we did do is establish stable clusters. We have seen in other parts of the city where stable clusters and forming cohorts has resulted in better education outcomes, as opposed to those where students come into and out of the cluster.
Brown: Is there anything in the charter for Centennial which requires this change?
Allen Mueller, Charter Schools: We would be adding 80 6th graders, with 80 each year with ultimately 240 students added to the campus. As it relates to the charter – we have created a special situation where you have residents zoned to 2 schools. So yes, there was something in the charter that necessitated this…we zoned families to 2 schools. I want to point out that there is nothing in GA law that says charter schools are schools of choice. The conversion charters are hybrids in that they can have a geographical zone the way a traditional school does.
Westmoreland: The parents, during the vote, they were aware the entire time of the changes to zoning?
Davis: We had discussions about grandfathering, what would happen to the 7th graders…
Westmoreland: Does anyone know when we told these families that they would not be going to Inman?
Mueller: It was communicated October 2. The votes happened in December.
Note: APS did not conduct the parent meetings surrounding the decision of charter conversion for Centennial.
Davis: One of the things that always comes up is the sibling issue.
Esteves: What conversations were had with the stakeholders?
Davis: They like harmony, like everyone does in their community as it relates to a timeline, but they are not responsible for the impact on Inman and the overcrowding. The real issue is whether you don’t make this change permanently. If you don’t make it permanent you run the risk of us not being able to accommodate these students. You can do this in a year, you can do this the next year, that’s not the issue. We don’t believe it is prudent to leave open a zone where you can go to 2 different middle schools. It makes it unstable when we worked very hard to create stable clusters.
Mueller: I was approached by the principal and asked if we could leave it open for both initially. I am assuming that these are the same parents who are concerned now. We have seen within our district that the longer kids stay in a program, the more dedicated they are to a school, the better those students perform. This school has high goals to outperform the state and the district. The best chance for success is the K-8 route to meet their goals.
Brown: Are the 80 students for 6th grade currently living in the zone or are some transfers?
Mueller: I assume this includes students who are not living in the zone.
Brown: If we limit it to the students who currently live in the Inman zone, this could be a significantly smaller number. I’ve had it reported to me that there are only about 20-30 students from Centennial who are actually zoned to go to Inman. I don’t have support for that but I don’t think you have support for that either.
Muller: What complicates this is that one of the largest homeless shelters in the city is near Centennial and their cycle is a little different. Even if they don’t live in the zone that is their address of record.
Davis: The decisions about who could come to Inman were always about those who were zoned to Inman. When we made the decision about those who were zoned to Inman, we made the decision about the expansion of Inman. It may not be 60 (or 80), but it was number that led us to believe that it was sufficient to allow a smaller scaled facility to be built at Inman.
Lee: If we are going to extend this thing out and we have a plan to build – and if we are extending this thing out and then give people options, is this going to be a problem when it comes to space?
Davis: These renovations are designed to address peak periods in the cycle thru 2020. We could manage thru the 3 years. Part of the design is to remove all portables and put in this. I don’t know if we would even remove all the portables in the first year. The issue is not the first couple of years, but long-term it would cause problems.
Lee: So construction will proceed as planned?
Davis: Yes, we can manage for the short time, but not the long run. If the board is comfortable, I can bring back at the legislative meeting I can bring back a proposal to change the zone at the end of the 3 year growth period. If the board is not comfortable changing at all there is no reason for me to do this work.
Grant: At least do a 3 year phase-in. I think that gives a proof of life for the school and an opportunity for parents to buy in. I want to make sure that we as a board show the community that we will have good engagement with them.
Esteves: Unless there is a reason why we have to pass this tonight, why can’t we have a conversation with people in that cluster.
Davis: There must be some certainty brought to this process. As Larry said we are looking to spend $6M to $10M right away. If you decide this I need to go out to that community (Inman) and say “oops” we have an issue.
Mueller: I have an update. 60 out of 80 6th graders live in the Inman (now Centennial) zone.
Brown: Not all of the rising 6th graders will opt to go to Inman, many will opt for the new 6th grade at Centennial. At least we hope they will.
Davis: Yes, we need a critical mass to deliver an educational program. I will pull this item and we will come back next month with a 3 year approval and change it there because we really need information to move forward with construction.
English moves on to the Jackson cluster action item.
Davis: As you are aware, there are two schools in the Jackson cluster, Coan and King. Despite the hard work of parents, both schools are underutilized. As we asses the challenges we believe the elementary schools are in a better place than the middle schools. There are about 500 students at King and about 250 at Coan. Schools can’t offer robust sports programs, clubs, bands, orchestras…particularly at Coan. We’ve had extensive conversations with the community, to the extent that we are numbing some fo the members of the community. They’ve given us feedback thru community meetings and online surveys (600 responses) and there is not 100% satisfaction with any suggested plan. I suggested early that we should have one school and about 55% of the respondents agreed. 40% did not agree. Some did not answer that question. What we heard loud and clear is that everyone wants an investment in the schools and their programming. We ‘ve come to a universal agreement on that issue. We all also agree that there should be a high level of innovation in the programming. I’ve asked the community to spend 6 months discussing what they would like to see in their middle school. At the same time we would engage a university partner to discuss potential lab school type uses for this facility.
I had earlier proposed one school – consolidating both schools – suggesting the King site as the preferable site. One of the issues was what happens to the Coan site and students in the building for the 2014-2015 school year. That question is going to have to wait until next week. One of the points that was made is that if you were to move all of the students into King, how soon does construction and renovation begin at King? We have, now that I look further in the budget, I see $10M as a stage 4 project for King. The real issue here now with respect to Coan students next year, is should we move all the students into Coan because changes will be taking place at the King building. The other question is if it takes a while to get those changes started should we move the kids at all. I hope to have an answer by next week. The critical path to that answer is knowing how soon we could start construction. The normal cycles may not be appropriate in this case. I will have more in a week or so.
Grant: I am fine if we put this off for another week, but people don’t know where they are going to school next year. I want to make sure we are making this decision based on (people) not facility.
Davis: You are right, we have learned (lists examples of previous moves) that we have to do a better job and we are committed to putting additional counselors, social workers and security in place when we make these transitions.
–This ends the Committee of the Whole meeting–
Board of education has entered into Executive Session. Community meeting will begin next, following the end of Executive Session.
6:45pm
Board has returned from Executive Session.
Presentation now being made in honor of the APS WOLFPACK – our student athletes who participate in adaptive sports and athletics. These athletes play football, basketball and handball. Their next wheelchair basketball game will take place this Saturday, April 14, 2014 at 2:00pm at the Sanders YMCA on Moores Mill.
We will now begin our community meeting. We have 48 community members signed up to speak. The board members will allow public comment for one hour, followed by the legislative meeting and then remaining speakers will be allowed to address the board.
COMMUNITY SPEAKERS
{Please note that the comments below are a SUMMARY of speakers who have signed up to speak this evening}
First speaker is an APS bus driver who asks that the BOE pay more attention to bullying on APS buses and provide timely responses to violence against students and traffic. Suggests that the BOE implement a 3 day time limit to respond to incidents, follow the district’s own 3 day response policy to incidents and other policies currently in place, provide monthly bus bullying updates to the BOE and give drivers more monitors on routes where these incidents take place.
Speaker (Bus Driver): Thank you for giving us a chance to speak tonight. Every year, turnover is becoming higher and higher. We need to be treated more fairly and not be treated with retaliation for standing up for Atlanta kids. We need productive labor meetings, a check and balance structure, we need to require managers and supervisors to follow policies and summaries of incidents by managers and supervisors should be given to BOE members on a quarterly basis.
Speaker (Bus Driver): I had the pleasure yesterday of meeting the new superintendent. Like everything, Atlanta is the tale of two cities. The current superintendent rode in a clean bus, but guess what, the driver paid for that. If we want clean buses we have to buy supplies, we have to wash our buses. I would like to personally invite the new superintendent, Ms. Carstarphen, to accompany me on an unannounced ride around APS. I want her to come to Lakewood and see what the women have to deal with on a daily basis. No one should deal with that. I love APS. I love working for the children. But there is something we need to do to make it better all around. We are the first person kids see in the morning and the last person they see in the afternoon.
Speaker: I’ve been a bus driver for 26 years. The transportation rules are not being honored as it relates to field trips. The grievances have been torn up and have never been seen. We need to follow the actual policy. The first speaker touched on the need for more monitors. Currently monitors only work on PEC routes and when an IEP’s designate them.
Speaker: My mother was a cafeteria worker for 30 years. Today there are men and women working in our cafeterias who are just as dedicated as my mother was. They should not be treated as disposable jobs. My granddaughter attends Heritage Academy. A year ago they received an 88 on the health inspection report because hot foods were not staying hot and cold foods were not staying cold. A year later, with functioning equipment they have an A. Yesterday, Ms. Carstarphen said where there are high needs, there needs to be a serious investment. Let’s turn our cafeterias around. We are all in this together.
AFSCME representative speaks on behalf of drivers and cafeteria workers. “We are excited about her coming on board. We support not only her, but also the process….she deserves an opportunity to succeed because what is at stake is not politics, but our kids and their future.” Says that if you saw what some children were forced to eat, the public would be shocked. AFSCME has a white-paper that speaks to solutions for cafeterias and their workers.
Student Speaker: Hello and good evening everyone. We attend Continental Colony and we came to welcome Ms. Carstarphen to Atlanta Public Schools. Ms. Carstarphen we need you to come to our school and make it a better place. Thank you to the school board for choosing her. Please save these balloons and cards for when she comes back from Texas.
Note: Board takes its first ‘selfie’ with the students and their gifts 🙂
Speaker: I am here today for the students, parents and alumni of Booker T. Washington High. I stand for the student who on last Saturday had a 5 hour travel event. He traveled 3 hours on the bus then walked 2 hours. We asked why he did this and he said for a better opportunity and a better life. Our children at Washington deserve better. There was never a transition team for the principalship of Washington High. Yes, we’ve had a principal coach but that person does not consist of a team. You have to understand that we are flat-lining at Washington. We are about to bleed out. We have a principal telling kids and parents to withdraw and attend Carver. This was told to the children and parents at a PTA meeting. It was a toxic move when you announced that they would not be at the school next year but did not immediately remove them. We are not going anywhere. We bleed blue and white. The next principal needs to come in and be ready to go to work on day one. We need someone who understands our heritage and legacy. Hopefully the new superintendent understands that we are not going away. We are at the table and no longer on the menu.
Speaker: (Taught at Washington for 19 years, is an alumni and became principal in DeKalb) Washington is now a school in disarray. Washington was built for thousands of students. The enrollment when I was there was 3,000 plus. It is now less than 800 students. Somethings gotta give. Let me change channels – I taught music for 19 years. There is a big concern about music in APS. I read an article that talked about the Gwinnett system. They said that 90% of the students in the district were involved in music programs. We had numbers like that when I was in school and was a teacher. Back when I taught at Washington I had as many students in my band program as they have in the entire school. We have lost our grip on music. Fulton, Cobb outstanding band programs. Best band in the southeast is in Cobb and did his student teaching under me. We had ballet, modern dance, boys chorus, girls chorus and of the music programs.
Next speaker is a Sodexo representative who speaks about the multitude of awards given over past few years to APS cafeteria programs. She continues with an explanation of the food safety measures taken by the company and its workers in APS cafeterias.
Speaker: I believe you have selected a great superintendent. I was skeptical, but my research and the opportunity to talk with her, show her to be a person of substance that focuses on kids. I also have a name that is difficult to pronounce, so I identify with her. We are hopeful and excited, but she is one person, we hope as her supervisors, you will hold her accountable to improve openness at aps and make sure parents have a place at the table.
Speaker: The last several months are a great example of changing the culture. First, the budget process. It has been more open, but I still have to depend on people like Bob Stockwell and Raynard Johnson to help me understand how much support is going to the classroom versus the central office. They are great, but I shouldn’t have to depend on them. You can do better.
During the Jackson Cluster middle school discussion, aps has actually tried to set a big table. You have released several proposals. You’ve held community meetings, built task forces that included elected parent leaders, principals, teachers, even foundations that support our cluster schools. But that is just the beginning, we have a long way to go and many difficult decisions and hard work ahead. Keep working to improve our partnership so we can do the heavy lifting together.
Student Speaker: I would like to talk about the suspension rate. My 13 year old cousins have been suspended several times. My family feels really bad and my cousins feel bad and don’t like being judged. I tell them all the time that I am really sorry for them.
Speaker: My daughter started in public school but due to the low reading and math scores and my wife put aside her career as a nurse to homeschool her. My daughter would love to be back in the public school with more social activities.
Next speaker demands that Kennedy Middle School is not closed. Says that he is demanding equity for all students. He also would like to see students impacted by the CRCT cheating scandal tracked and given proper remediation, specifically students from Bethune Elementary.
Speaker: We wrote a proposal 5 years ago asking for K-8 at our school. In May of 2013 it seemed like it was a possibility. We were extremely disappointed and deflated in February with the abruptness of pulling that off the table. I am extremely excited for Centennial. It seems like if you are allowing K-8 at Centennial why wouldn’t you allow it at other schools. This is something our students need and our community needs. The neighborhoods of Kirkwood and East Lake really need K-8 at Toomer to retain students so that they will eventually make it to Jackson.
Next speaker asks that in the future camera feeds are used in the meeting room so that media does not block the public from being able to see what is happening at the front of the room. He also asks that the board focus on obesity in students and submits a proposed high school graduation policy that brings students into the political process.
1962 graduate of Booker T. Washington asks that the building be maintained on the outside as a historic monument and refurbished on the interior.
Speaker: I come before you to voice my concern about the changing of the school code. I was told that they are wanting to issue Washington a brand new school code starting July 1st, 2014. A school code works like a social security number and it is tied to our history and funding. I’ve also requested that someone submit something to me in writing about who is making this decision and I have not received a response. I am requesting that someone respond to my email in writing and they will be held accountable. We need to combine all of our history into school code 4568.
Speaker asks that special needs children are not ‘warehoused’ in special education programs. Says that she was impressed by Ms. Carstarphen’s take on special needs education.
Speaker: We’ve had a few opportunities to meet Dr. Carstarphen and we will grow with her and work with her. I want to say thank you to Mr. Davis and his senior cabinet. I believe that we have had some great people here.
8:12pm This ends the first hour of public comment. Legislative meeting will begin shortly.
8:30pm LEGISLATIVE MEETING now beginning.
Roll Call
REMARKS by BOE chair Courtney D. English:
Good evening to everyone here and in our viewing audience. Thank you for joining us for the April 2014 legislative meeting of the Atlanta Board of Education.
I am pleased to report that earlier today, April 14, 2014, the Atlanta Board of Education voted unanimously to hire Dr. Meria Joel Carstarphen as the next superintendent of Atlanta Public Schools. Out of nearly 470 candidates who wanted to become APS superintendent, we selected Dr. Carstarphen, who brings nearly 20 years of education and experience to Atlanta. She has served in diverse, urban public school districts, such as Austin, Texas; Saint Paul, Minnesota; and the District of Columbia.
Dr. Carstarphen believes in developing the whole child – that is, meaningfully addressing not only children’s all-important academic needs, but also their critical social and emotional needs. Her appointment marks a significant step toward achieving educational excellence for all of our students. We believe this day is an important moment for our children, our communities and our city.
The next superintendent will officially join our team on July 7, 2014. She will replace Superintendent Erroll Davis. On several occasions, I’ve said that it takes a special kind of person to run into a burning building. That’s exactly what Erroll Davis did when he retired as the chancellor of the University System of Georgia on Thursday, June 30, 2011, and reported to work at APS on Friday, July 1, 2011. He was supposed to serve for 90 days.
Instead, he’s been serving and sacrificing and leading for almost three years. He did what he didn’t have to do – and that is, run inside a burning building to help save children. For that service, he deserves a round of applause.
Of course, everyone knows that fire is painful. But what we sometimes forget is that it’s also purifying.
Atlanta Public Schools is going through a purification process. And in the middle of the process have been countless hard-working students, parents, teachers, principals and employees – surrounded by committed community partners, elected officials and education advocates.
On behalf of my colleagues, I want to thank everyone for their support, as well as their tough love. Please continue to hold us all accountable. We’re ready to get it right for our students. They are our top concern about above all else.
And speaking of students, I have a couple of congratulations to mention before we hear from Superintendent Davis:
Congratulations to the system’s valedictorians, salutatorians and STAR Students! Just before spring break, they were honored at an annual ceremony at Georgia Power. Each val, sal and STAR Student was surprised with a Samsung Galaxy Tablet, courtesy of Staples. We thank our partners and wish our high-achieving students all the best.
Congratulations also to our student-athletes! Earlier today, board members had the pleasure of meeting the Atlanta Wolfpack basketball team. Serving on this talented team are elementary, middle and high school male and female students who have special physical needs but unlimited talent and spirit. The Wolfpack hold several state championships. And as their season continues, we appreciate their inspiration and ability, as well as the support of their coaches, parents, teachers and bus drivers.
With that, I’ll turn it over to the superintendent for his remarks and report.
REMARKS from Superintendent Davis:
Good evening and thank you, Mr. Chairman, for those kind words. And now that it is official, congratulations to Dr. Carstarphen on her appointment as the next superintendent. Exciting, hope-filled time for APS students, parents, employees and community members Hope everyone had a restful spring break.
During spring break, we received some wonderful news. Rita Simmons, our 2013-14 Districtwide Teacher of the Year was named one of the 10 finalists for the 2015 Georgia Teacher of the Year, the state’s top teaching honor.The announcement was made last week by State School Superintendent Dr. John Barge. Ms. Simmons teaches gifted and talented students at Cleveland Avenue ES.
What’s especially exciting and encouraging about Ms. Simmons’ selection as a state finalist is that it marks the fourth one in a row for APS. APS holds the distinction of being home to a winner of/finalist for the state’s top teaching honor during four consecutive years:
Jadun McCarthy, the winner of the 2012 Georgia Teacher of the Year award, is from Bibb County Schools and is now an APS employee.
Elisha Gray, a finalist for the 2013 Georgia Teacher of the Year, is an APS employee.
Tamika Ball, a finalist for the 2014 Georgia Teacher of the Year, is an APS employee.
And, again, Rita Simmons, a finalist for 2015 Georgia Teacher of the Year, is an APS employee.
This is a strong sign that this school system attracts and retains high-quality education professionals. The Georgia Teacher of the Year will be chosen at a banquet May 16. Congratulations and best wishes to Ms. Simmons!
Certainly, as we wind down the school year and prepare for a smooth transition in the superintendent’s office, there are several significant district projects still under way. As I’ve said often, we have made some progress – dropout rate, graduation rate, inclusive practices, financial position, etc.
More road to cover – have yet to achieve fully the excellence, ethics, equity and engagement (4 Es) we all envision across this school system. Therefore, one project we expect to finalize in the next couple of months is the district-wide equity audit. Earlier this calendar year, we partnered with Georgia State University to assess equity across all APS schools.
Questions that will be explored in the audit:
Are effective teachers equitably distributed across our classrooms and schools?
Do all students have equitable access to rigorous academic programs?
What gaps persist in student achievement?
Our underlying assumption: Every student in our system has the right to the best possible education.
Audit will give us reliable, objective, transparent information needed to deploy resources strategically and equitably so that all students can have a genuine opportunity to reach their highest potential. The audit began in February, and final report expected to be available in June. There is a huge interest in the results – understandably so and the audit report will be shared widely with the public.
Let me remind students and parents that major state-required exams will take place during the month of April. Because of the emergency school closings this year, we shifted forward one week the testing window for administering the CRCT to students in grades 3-8; the testing will begin April 23 and end May 1 versus the original start date of April 16. The schedule for the other major exams – EOCTs – remains unchanged; EOCTs begin April 29 and end May 12. Certainly, our system will maintain the rigorous testing protocols that have been in place since the 2010 testing season.
Again, I thank everyone who continues to serve our students – indirectly or directly.
I appreciate everyone’s hard work/unwavering commitment.
With that, Mr. Chair, I have no additional prepared remarks.
The superintendent will now read tonight’s consent agenda. View the agenda and detailed attachments here: http://www.boarddocs.com/ga/aps/Board.nsf/Public
Agenda is approved by board.
Legal items: The board entertained 4 items in executive session. 2 are listed on tonight’s agenda.
Davis: I just want to say that I am very appreciative of this Board of Education. This is a hard working Board.
Amos: Remembering the resolution that was passed that mentioned the transition team for Washington, can you give us a date that this team will be named?
Davis: I want to do a little work on what has been done. It may be a matter of semantics more than anything else. We were not allowed by the state to put a principal in there, we had to put another leader in the school who is leading the process. I need to get more information before I can pass judgement on those comments. I will look at what we are doing and find out why people have a concern. If the only concern is someone who is not included, then I certainly understand and appreciate that. If it is a legitimate concern that nothing is happening, I need to understand why. We made a commitment to be inclusive and we will honor that commitment.
Amos: What we are looking for is a team of people to go in and assist the person currently there, as per the resolution.
Esteves asks for an update on live streaming.
Dan Gillette, Communications Department, explains that live streaming is expected to be available for the May BOE meeting. We will publish the link of the next few weeks after we troubleshoot any issues.
Note: The communications department will keep you updated on the availability of live streaming via the blog, Facebook, Twitter and school websites.
RESOLUTIONS
Board of Education reads a resolution that asks 1-5 increase in class sizes throughout the district.
Class Size Resolution
WHEREAS, the State Board of Education recognizes that Georgia continues to experience financial
hardships resulting in financial exigency; and
WHEREAS, the State Board of Education has granted an exemption from all statutory and regulatory
class size maximums for the 2014-2015 school year when a local board of education submits an adopted
and signed resolution to the Georgia Department of Education; and
WHEREAS, the Atlanta Board of Education understands that the local board of education is responsible
for meeting all federal and state accountability rules; and
WHEREAS, the Atlanta Board of Education understands that the local board of education is responsible
for meeting all federal and state health and safety requirements; and
WHEREAS, the Atlanta Board of Education understands that the local board of education is responsible
for all federal and state reporting requirement; and
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that effective for the 2014-2015 school year only, the Atlanta
Board of Education authorizes the Superintendent of Schools to increase the class size maximums to
exceed the current requirements by:
1 to 5 students in grades K-12 in Regular Education,
1 to 5 students in English Language Learners (ELL),
1 to 5 students in Gifted,
1 to 5 students in Early Intervention Program (EIP),
1 to 5 students in Remedial Education Program (REP),
1 to 5 students in Vocational (CTAE),
1 to 5 students in Alternative Education Program (AEP), and
1 to 5 students in Special Education classes.
Adopted this the 14th day of April 2014.
Meister asks for a 1-3 increase .
English: We have approved class size waivers every year. We do this every single year, it does not mean that the actual class sizes are increasing.
Davis: I think Ms. Meister is right, at some point we need to turn this around. It has been our focus to invest millions of dollars into great teachers – but reasearch shows that class size is not in the top half of the most important things you can do to improve the education of a child. Our average class size for the entire district last year was 19 students.
Burbridge: We hae 1 teacher for every 13 students in APS not inclusive of Title I teachers and those we can hire from other funds. It also does not include special area teachers.
Lee: I read the resolution and I understand it is the same resolution we pass every year. I want us to start looking at ways that we can reduce the number down. I know I’ve been to some classes where you cannot even move with the number of students and desks in some classes.
Davis: When the system had the choice, previous to this administration, it made the choice that we would focus on a quality teacher in every classroom. As I talked to you about the law of large numbers, if you remember, if you put one more person in each school you are talking over 100 learning sites which equals $8M. More than one teacher at each school and you’re talking about multiples of $8M dollars. You can say everything you want to about fat in the CLL and you can wipe the place clean and you still will not be able to put teachers in all sites. I’ve said it before, you have too many learning sites. We have sites that have classes that are exceptionally small. What we’ve been able to do with Title dollars in all but 7 schools is make significant changes in class sizes. That’s not to say you will never walk into a crowded classroom, but these across the board additions of teachers in classrooms has a cost. Some of our highest performing schools have some of the most crowded classrooms.
Amos: We danced this dance about 3 weeks last year. Lowering class size does have significant impacts as far as financial. In my district if we lower class sizes we would have to keep schools open. I would like to put a substitute motion on the floor if it is proper, that we approve the resolution with a 1-3 waiver except in the area of special education.
Motion made by Amos. Second by Lee.
Point of order – BOE discusses the motion and whether it is appropriate. English asks that Amos’ motion is taken off the table. Original motion/resolution is now in play.
Westmoreland talks about being a recent APS teacher with 35 kids (high school) and continuing to be effective.
Davis: EIP qualifies separately. We look at how many qualify and provide that to the extent that we can. If you look at our qualifying compared to our neighboring districts we qualify far more. We want to remind everyone of the process. We use these ratios to make an initial allocation of teachers – step one. Step two is that we then have discussions with principals about special needs teachers. We tend to meet most, if not all of those needs. When we leveled last year, our leveling data said we should reduce our teacher workforce. After discussions with principals we actually increased the number of teachers. This is part science and part art. We have these discussions with principals and try to respond to the extend that our resources will allow. We want to make decisions but you want to make informed decisions. Any variance of this resolution, you should understand the financial implications before moving on that. If you want to know the cost of a +1 vs a +3, we should cost that out. Just 1 teacher per school is $8M. I would caution changing any resolution without a full understanding of the impact of the decision. We are at a point in time, as I said, the most important thing is a great teacher in every classroom.
English: We usually approve the class size waiver when we approve the budget. I would suggest we table this until after the next budget commission meeting. All of the work on the budget has been done assuming the +5.
Motion to approve the resolution has been withdrawn.
–END OF LEGISLATIVE MEETING–
Note: The legislative meeting will air this week on Comcast Cable channel 22.
The community meeting will now continue with comments from stakeholders.
Speaker says that he wants to stand with the Board as they move forward with the renovation of the David T. Howard building. Reminds BOE of the history of the building and its impact on the community.
Speaker: The most important thing in the classroom is the teacher. I and others in the community invite you to think about how you think about things. I invite you to think about APS as a social system and not a mechanical system. Let’s look at the teacher being the teacher in the classroom and a great administration in a school. If you had great teachers in a classroom, how would you know? It was my pleasure some time ago to have a conversation with a Tuskegee Airman. In the conversation I said, I could ask you about all of the discrimination you guys put up with…but what I want to know is what was it like to fly the Mustang. He looked surprised at the question, pulled back, then pulled forward with a look of ecstasy and said – other than my wife, that was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever done. So how will you know if you have great teachers in the classroom? Is it because you tell them they are great or they tell you they are great. If I were to ask them about their experience in Atlanta Public Schools, would they say “It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever done?”
Speaker: We have been asking since December how closing year round schools will affect us (teachers). We were sent a letter saying that we would not be paid after July 15 until August 30th. I would implore the board to think about how this will impact teachers. We were not given any options. We were told that we could apply for summer school but summer school was closed. They opened it back up for us, but there were issues with the system. The response from HR was that we would have to live with it and make adjustments.
Speaker asks that for-profit businesses not be allowed on APS properties. Speaks about a specific group allowed to utilize Brown Middle School. “The West End is back.”
Speaker says the combining of Kennedy and Brown Middle School populations has been a stressful situation. Asks that Kennedy be kept open. Says that area now rented to Patchworks group should be given back to the school for their use. Speaker would like to be a part of the redesign committee and have an opportunity to continue to meet with architects and developers.
Speaker: I am the SPARK LSC chair. The budget shows a reduction of a 120 classroom teachers. The budget shows the addition of SST specialists. I am a very strong supporter of services for children with special needs, but I don’t support this plan. We were told that principals requested this. I would you like you to circle back to the principals and let them know that they are losing 78 flex teachers in order to gain 50 SST specialists.
Booker T. Washington parent asks about the process for taking the school from 3 schools on 1 campus to 1 school.
This concludes tonight’s community meeting.
9:55pm MEETING ADJOURNED
