Last week, the Atlanta Board of Education reported that to date, nearly $350,00 has been committed to the Atlanta Public Schools Improvement Fund to support the current APS leadership transition. With funds being managed by The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta, corporate donors have committed $200,000 to support the Atlanta Public Schools’ incoming superintendent Dr. Meria Carstarphen’s transition team; in combination with $147,000 previously raised to support the APS strategic leadership initiatives.
In a press release sent out by the Atlanta Board of Education last Thursday, Board Chairman Courtney English stated “As a Board, we wanted to ensure that Dr. Carstarphen could get to work right away, and she also wanted to get started with the transition. It was important that she was able to get familiar with our schools, the communities, and the employees of the district. She also has had a chance to understand the needs and opportunities that exist and plan for what has to be done. Deciding to set-up a separate fund was a good one. We promised to share details of the funding and its use, and this is our first report.”
A group of Atlanta corporate donors have committed to the campaign with amounts ranging from $10,000- $25,000.
See the list of donors below:
AGL Resources
Bank of America
Delta Airlines
Emory Healthcare
Georgia Pacific
Georgia Power Company
Invesco
SunTrust
The Coca-Cola Company
Dr. Carstarphen’s compensation for the transition period and a directed strategic review of major functions within the school system was outlined in the April Transaction Services Agreement. Since then, extensive examination of the system’s legal, communication, human resources, financial and academic departments, as well as a review of Georgia polices and laws, and continued meetings with community stakeholders has taken place. There has also been a large-scale effort to recruit and appoint applicants for school principal and essential leadership vacancies that existed.
As of June 2nd, the school board has approved the hiring of eight new employees to join the incoming Superintendents leadership team. These members will manage functional areas including curriculum and instruction, accountability, communications and human resources. The cost for these functions and other administrative activities related to the transition are also included in expenses paid by for by the fund. Current Atlanta Public Schools Superintendent, Errol B. Davis, and his senior leaders have worked closely with Dr. Carstarphen throughout the process to ensure a smooth transition.
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