The Office of Equity + Social Justice Celebrates 2024 APS Equity Champions

Staff from the Office of Equity + Social Justice traveled to schools and offices across the district to surprise and celebrate the 2024 APS Equity Champions — the district’s fourth cohort of staff, departments, and teams who actively model the APS Equity Dispositions (for teachers and leaders), support the APS Equity Commitments, and demonstrate significant equity impact in our school communities.

Bearing a large presentation check, glass trophy, and individual certificates, Equity + Social Justice team members thanked each of the honorees — teachers, administrators, district leaders, counselors, staff, and departments — and recognized their efforts to help all APS students thrive and succeed. 

Each finalist was nominated by a peer or colleague for their commitment and dedication to advancing educational equity in Atlanta Public Schools.

One of this year’s honorees, Haydee Romero, is an instructional math coach and master Dual Language Immersion (DLI) teacher at Bolton Academy. In her nomination letter, Principal Shavaun Mincey lauded Romero as an “equity champion who ensures equitable learning environments and teaches teachers about learning strategies that are best for multilingual students.” In addition to starting a WhatsApp group for Bolton Academy’s Spanish-speaking families, Romero also established a language leaders campaign for Hispanic/Latino students who were less engaged in school activities.

“Haydee not only considers the Hispanic communities, but she is inclusive of all communities and pushes us to consider students and staff typically at the margins when making school decisions. She is a role model in this work,” Mincey noted.

Romero is thankful to be celebrated for her work on behalf of students.

“I was extremely, extremely surprised,” she said. “To be an Equity Champion means that all our students are being thought of and taken care of.”

Erica Long, APS Chief of Student Experience, said she had a wonderful time helping to surprise the district’s Equity Champions. 

“What stood out the most to me was how genuinely shocked the honorees were! I took that to mean that the work of advancing educational equity comes so naturally that our Equity Champions were not looking for recognition or acclaim,” Long said. “Their work embodies the equity commitments of Atlanta Public Schools.”

This past spring, the Office of Equity + Social Justice received over 100 nominations and selected 17 recipients: 10 individuals, three schools, and four departments as APS Equity Champion honorees. Each finalist was selected based on qualities that include:

• Championing a culture of belonging and inclusion
• Having conversations with students and staff about issues of social justice
• Amplifying diverse voices by cultivating self-love, appreciation, and respect for others
• Modeling asset-based views of diversity by acting with cultural competence in interactions, decision-making, and practice
• Practicing critical self-reflection about identity, beliefs, and biases

Equity Champions serve one-year terms as ambassadors for advancing equity across the district, participate in equity-focused professional learning opportunities, and collaborate with the APS Office of Equity + Social Justice on key initiatives. 

In addition to district recognition, APS Equity Champions are awarded access to microgrants (up to $5,000) to support equity-focused conferences and workshops. 

For newly minted Equity Champion MacArthur Randolph, who is a professional school counselor at B.E.S.T. Academy, being an Equity Champion means hard work, passion, dedication, and working with today’s youth and showing them the importance of giving back to their communities. The school regularly engages in community service projects to help the homeless in Atlanta.

Randolph’s nomination letter lauded his efforts. “By empowering students through service, academic support, and personal mentorship, he cultivates a generation of young men who are not only equipped to overcome their challenges but are also motivated to contribute to a more equitable society.”

“That’s one of the things we do big here at B.E.S.T. Academy,” Randolph said. “It’s all about giving back. We always feel like giving back is building leadership skills within our boys. They’ve done an amazing job not only with me trying to implement community service with them, but they come to me and say, ‘Mr. Randolph, we love giving back to the homeless, so what can we do differently this month?’”

“Building that legacy on making sure that kids understand how important it is to give back because it builds so much within our boys. I’m going to continue to do that throughout the school year,” he added.

Here is a complete list of the 2024-2025 APS Equity Champions:

Individuals:
Kelli Charleston, Special Education Teacher, Carver Early College
Maria Grovner, Coordinator of School Counseling 
Tanyette Hill, Social Studies Teacher, John Lewis Invictus Academy
Dr. Tony Jones, Counselor, Crawford Long Middle School
Dr. Andrew Lovett, Principal, Benteen Elementary School
Carla Maxberry, ESOL Teacher, Harper-Archer Elementary School
Dr. Tiffany Proctor, Signature Program Coach, Cascade Elementary School
Haydee Romero, Instructional Coach & Master DLI Teacher, Bolton Academy
MacArthur Randolph, Professional School Counselor, B.E.S.T. Academy
Dr. Nakiesha Sinclair, Assistant Principal, Morningside Elementary School

School Award:
Atlanta College and Career Academy
Crawford Long Middle School
Usher-Collier Elementary School

Department Award:
Fine and Performing Arts Department
Office of Early Learning
Secondary ELA/Literacy
South Atlanta High School SGA

Congratulations to all of the 2024 APS Equity Champions! The Office of Equity + Social Justice is excited to spotlight all that our Equity Champions do – directly and indirectly – to help APS scholars thrive and succeed.