Dr. Lisa Herring

APS families, I recognize how the COVID-19 pandemic has placed even more challenges on our community when it comes to student attendance. But did you know that missing just two days per month indicates that a student may struggle to do well in class compared to their classmates with fewer absences? The connection between attendance and school success is a direct and strong link.

I’ve visited 25 schools so far this year, and without exception I have seen welcoming places that foster an excitement for learning and preparation for the future. In-person learning with whole-child supports is what can and will make a difference when it comes to your student’s success. 

Absenteeism is an indicator and cause of educational inequity. Data shows us that fewer absences are tied to better learning and a better chance at finishing high school. 

That’s why I want to highlight attendance today, because September is National Attendance Awareness Month. This is the ninth annual nationwide campaign to increase awareness and combat chronic absenteeism. This year especially, the campaign centers around the transition back to school for both students and families after 18 months of learning disruption.  

The theme “Rebound With Attendance!” highlights our goal to cultivate strong, trusting relationships among children, families, teachers, and other critical school staff so that students can focus and learn. 

How to Get Involved

APS social media channels will be using #SCHOOLMATTERS and I invite you to join us as we hashtag to highlight the efforts of staff, schools and our Social Work Department… and most importantly, the efforts of our families and students to “Rebound With Attendance!” 

Also, The APS Social Work Department is sponsoring a poster contest for students in all grades. Students, draw a picture based on the theme “Rebound With Attendance” and submit a photograph of your drawing to elesha.curvey@atlanta.k12.ga.us by September 24, 2021. Then stay tuned as the department selects winners for elementary, middle, and high school!

APS students and families, I want to share with you the results of Georgia’s 2020-2021 standardized testing (which were released this morning) while stressing the importance of context. 

I’m sending a separate message to our teachers, administrators, and staff outlining the same details, but I want to provide a message specifically to our families. Why? Because I know it is helpful to get a plain explanation about what these numbers mean, and how to consider them within the context of pandemic-related challenges. 

If you have a student in Atlanta Public Schools, then you already know about End-of-Grade (EOG) and End-of-Course (EOC) testing that happens annually. It is a statewide effort and follows federal requirements. Depending on your student’s grade level and coursework, they may or may not have to take certain tests in the spring of certain years.

As usual, the numbers from last spring’s testing were just released. This is where the “as usual” ends, however. 

Because of pandemic challenges brought to our doorstep last school year, we are encouraging parents and families to contextualize when consuming results about your student or your school. We are also advising you to be wary of comparing year-to-year numbers. (These tests were meant to measure a typical learning environment, and the number of test takers this past spring was drastically lower than in a typical year. Participation data was included with this year’s data release, so you can take that into consideration.) 

Here are some key pieces of information and takeaways, boiled down for you. 

Where to Find the Data Details

• The Georgia State Department of Education’s webpage with full, downloadable results
• The State’s Frequently Asked Questions regarding this year’s data

What APS Already Knew

• Learning disruptions were varied and persistent last school year.
• These disruptions created a steep decline in participation for state testing.
• From the beginning of the 2021-2022 school year, APS must address learning loss, have a plan in place, and provide students with all the supports they need for academic recovery (as well as social/emotional and mental health).

APS Participation Numbers

• 34% of students in grades 3-8 took the Milestones End-of-Grade assessments.  Of those tested, 36% scored proficient or above in ELA and 28% scored proficient or above in Math.
• Less than 20% of students enrolled in High School courses requiring an End-of-Course assessment took the test.  

APS is Getting Students Back on Track

• We have developed and implemented the APS Academic Recovery Plan. It is a three-year plan, and it has three parts:
  • A new K-12 Universal Screener to identify academic challenges and opportunities
  • The Summer Academic Recovery Academy (ARA) to mitigate learning loss and achievement gaps
  • Required school-based intervention blocks, classes, or courses (enrichment/acceleration) at all schools

Effects for Students and Educators

• We were able to waive promotion/retention consequences tied to Georgia Milestones for the 2020-2021 school year.
• The state temporarily lowered the EOC course grade weight to .01%.
• There won’t be a College & Career Ready Performance Index (CCRPI) in 2021.

• Teacher and leader evaluations will not be impacted by the 2020-2021 data.
• Schools will not be newly identified for Comprehensive Support and Improvement (CSI) or Targeted Support and Improvement (TSI) this year.

The most important point I’ve gleaned from this data is that in-person instruction is directly tied to student achievement. That’s why we are hopeful about preserving in-person instruction by following stringent health and safety protocols, and encouraging vaccination. I ask for your continued support in this effort.

Below is our official statement regarding the data released today. 

Thanks for taking the time to read this and carefully consider the state’s assessment results! Have a great week, and please be safe. 

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Monday, August 16 – Georgia Milestones test scores were released today for Atlanta Public Schools and for the state. These scores should be interpreted in context due to the COVID-19 pandemic and differences in participation.

The Georgia Department of Education is encouraging educators, parents, and communities to remember that the Georgia Milestones tests were designed to measure the performance of students in a typical educational environment, so results should be interpreted in the context of the pandemic and associated learning disruptions, along with varying access to instruction. The scores were released along with participation data, since some students did not participate in testing last year due to the pandemic.

Scores from APS show:

• 34% of students in grades 3-8 took the Milestones End-of-Grade assessments.  Of those tested, 36% scored proficient or above in ELA and 28% scored proficient or above in Math.
• Less than 20% of students enrolled in High School courses requiring an End-of-Course assessment took the test.  

Overall, less than 35% of eligible students participated in Georgia Milestones testing during the 2020-21 school year. This was largely due to conditions created by the pandemic and testing flexibility granted by the Georgia Department of Education. Guidance issued by State School Superintendent Richard Woods made clear, in line with federal guidance, that school districts should not require virtual students to come into the building solely for the purpose of taking Georgia Milestones if they were uncomfortable doing so due to the pandemic, and should ensure parents understood this option was available to them. 

“Georgia Milestones was designed to measure instruction during a typical school year, and 2020-2021 was anything but,” State School Superintendent Richard Woods said. “Rolling quarantines, rising case counts, and shifting instructional models impacted the educational experience for students throughout the state. Given all this – along with statewide differences in participation – we expected some decreases this year. Georgia educators and students have worked extremely hard and these results do not reflect or diminish their efforts. With educators already working to get students back on track and the vast majority of school districts offering five days a week of in-person instruction this year, I’m confident students will receive the support they need to make up any lost ground.”

In response to this academic learning loss and in alignment with the district’s commitment to ensuring every child is prepared for college, career, and life, APS has developed an Academic Recovery Plan that spans the next three school years: 2021-2022, 2022-2023, and 2023-2024 (effectively June 2021 – May 2024).  APS’ Academic Recovery Plan includes three components: Adoption and implementation of a new K-12 Universal Screener, Implementation of a Summer Academic Recovery Academy (ARA) and Implementation of a required school-based intervention blocks, classes, or courses (enrichment/acceleration) at all schools.

Students take Georgia Milestones End of Grade (EOG) tests in grades three through eight, and End of Course (EOC) tests in identified high school courses. The Georgia Milestones assessment system meets the federal requirement that states test students in math and ELA in grades 3-8 and once in high school, and in science once per grade band (3-5, 6-8, 9-12).

 When considering summary scores, stakeholders are encouraged to:

1. Consider the percentage of the total population tested and take extra caution in interpretation in cases where a low percentage of the enrolled student population was tested at a given school or district.

2. Consider the representativeness and prior achievement of the tested population and take extra caution in interpretation in cases where differences indicate the students who did test this year are not representative of the total student population.

3. Avoid punitive or accountability applications of these outcomes.

4. Contextualize any changes in achievement with any local complexities systems and schools may have faced within this last year (e.g., mode of instruction, enrollment rates, attendance rates). 

How should parents use Georgia assessment results to support their children?

Parents will receive an individual student report that will detail a student’s performance along with summary information about aggregate performance at the school, system, and state levels. The results can provide a helpful check for where their child is excelling, as well as where they may need more support. We encourage parents to consider their child’s results within the context of the variety of potential learning disruptions they may have encountered, and recommend that they heavily weight the results of formative assessments administered throughout the years along with coursework and grades.

Thank you for attending the Back to School Bash! Our volunteers and sponsor partners had a blast distributing 6,000 backpacks stuffed with school supplies, 5-day meal kits, and many other important resources.

It’s energizing to see our students and families getting ready for Day One. I am excited for you to start back to school this Thursday, August 5th! 

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I hope you’ll follow along with me Thursday, Friday and Monday as I travel across the district visiting all of our clusters to kick off the 2021-22 academic year. (Follow here and @drlisaherring on Instagram and Twitter as I share highlights.) 

Our teachers, administrators, support staff, and board members are working hard to make sure this will be an excellent school year for you. I have so many updates and new, positive initiatives to share with you in the coming weeks. But today I want to spotlight our quarantine protocols which were shared during yesterday’s board meeting.  

Quarantine Protocols

The first thing you need to know is there’s a difference between quarantine and isolation:

• Quarantine keeps someone who might have been exposed to the virus away from others.
• Isolation keeps someone who is infected with the virus away from others, even in their home.

Knowing that difference, the other piece of information we all need to understand to make this a successful school year is who needs to quarantine after exposure to a positive case. People who are not vaccinated and have been in close contact with someone who has COVID-19 need to quarantine.

Our Health Information webpage on the APS website will help answer many of your additional questions, such as:

• What counts as close contact? 
• Who doesn’t need to quarantine after exposure?
• Who will quarantine? Just those in close contact, whole classes, whole grades, whole schools?
• After the school year starts, what will outbreak related closures look like?
• If a student or teacher tests positive for COVID-19 but is asymptomatic, can he/she still report to school?
• What is the time frame for reporting exposures to parents?
• Why does APS require masks to be worn indoors?

Our Health Information webpage gives you detailed information about how APS will handle contact tracing and tracking, how you should report exposure, testing “whens and wheres” and the benefits of vaccines for eligible students and staff.

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Health and safety for all is at the forefront of our planning, but you will also want to know what your student’s instructional plan may look like in the case of COVID infection or exposure in their classroom or school. We have plans in place for all the potential scenarios, and our FAQ section of the Health Information webpage breaks that down for you.

Special thanks to our department of Student Services and Health Services  for the thorough update they provided for our APS Board. 

I also want to thank our board members for their thoughtful questions about health safety details and planning. They want to make sure everyone in our community is aware of current information and knows where to find emerging information as the school year progresses. 

Please keep up with our #MaskUp protocols and our health screening tool, and let’s all do our best to be healthy, especially to protect those students under 12 who are not yet eligible for vaccination. 

I wish every student and every family a great start to the 2021-22 school year! 

My heart is filled with so much pride when I think about the graduating class of 2021. Despite a global pandemic, these resilient scholars persevered and overcame unprecedented challenges, and now they are officially proud graduates of Atlanta Public Schools. They are ready to soar to the next chapter of their lives.

And, I am so pleased that we were able to safely host in-person commencements, and that our graduates were able to celebrate this major milestone and see their peers — in person!

During our graduation celebrations this week at Georgia Tech’s Bobby Dodd Stadium, I implored our scholars to find their purpose. As commencement denotes, one era of a student’s life has come to an end as the rest of their lives are just beginning. And while many people spend a lifetime trying to figure out what their purpose is, those who do, find fulfillment, direction, drive, and peace.

This caused me to reflect on the significance of each of our schools’ namesakes, and how that indelible imprint serves as a road map in our scholars’ quest to find their purpose.

Drew Charter School

Drew Charter School opened in 2000 as Atlanta Public Schools’ first charter school. Consider the school’s namesake — Charles R. Drew — the renowned African-American surgeon who made breakthroughs in the transfusion and storage of blood. He changed longstanding misconceptions and biases about race and science.

His methods were revolutionary and he is the reason many lives are saved every single day. He also went on to educate a generation of black physicians at Howard University. I would argue that Charles R. Drew found his purpose.

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KIPP Atlanta Collegiate

Consider the legacy of KIPP Atlanta Collegiate’s namesake – Henry McNeal Turner – an African-American minister who was elected as the first Southern bishop of the AME Church.

He was also a part of the “Original 33,” the first 33 African-American members of the Georgia General Assembly being among the first African- American state legislators in the United States. 

He represented my hometown of Macon and helped pave the pathway for black political leaders. I would argue that Henry McNeal Turner found his purpose. 

KIPP Atlanta Collegiate Class of 2021! You've made it! Superintendent @DrLisaHerring delivers a compassionate address to the graduating @KAC_Warriors! #APSGrad2021 pic.twitter.com/lrLET8ZEzv

— ATL Public Schools (@apsupdate) May 24, 2021

Benjamin E. Mays

Then there is Benjamin E. Mays, the renowned educator who taught and mentored many influential Atlanta leaders, including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Julian Bond and Maynard Jackson.

After nearly three decades as president of Morehouse College, he went on to preside over the Atlanta Board of Education from 1969 to 1978.

He too knew how important it is to find your purpose as he said, “ Every man and woman is born into the world to do something unique and something distinctive and if he or she does not do it, it will never be done.”

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B.E.S.T. Academy/CSKYWLA

The B.E.S.T. Academy experience is designed to align with young men’s strengths and develop them into a community of learners who are globally competitive, transformational leaders.

I know these young men are already well on their way to finding their purpose.

And young women attending Coretta Scott King Young Women’s Leadership Academy only need to consider the legacy of their school’s namesake. Coretta Scott King created her own legacy in the movement to end racial injustice, and was clear in her purpose saying, “I am not a symbol, I am an activist” as she not only upheld but expanded Dr. King’s legacy after his death.

Douglass High School

Consider the legacy of Douglass High School. Frederick Douglass – a prominent abolitionist, author and orator – was born a slave, escaped at age 20, and went on to become a world-renowned anti-slavery activist. His abolitionist newspaper, The North Star, became the most influential paper published in its era.

He believed that education was crucial for improving one’s life and knew how important it is to find your purpose as he said, “Man’s greatness consists in his ability to do and the proper application of his powers to things needed to be done.”

Henry W. Grady High School

As the final graduating class of Grady High School, Grady scholars are already finding their purpose. Students were actively involved in the renaming process of the school. Spurred by student input, the newly named Midtown High School celebrates the rich diversity and thriving culture of Midtown Atlanta. They are leaving a legacy of change for their alma mater and the Midtown High School students to follow for generations to come. 

D.M. Therrell
Named after school leader and phone pioneer Daniel McLaughlin Therrell, Therrell’s namesake served as a school board member for 25 years and was instrumental in creating the current independent and elected Board structure. The school leaders, counselors, teachers, and mentors at Therrell continue to instill hope in our graduates by maximizing their potential in a rigorous, relevant and nurturing environment.

These scholars are prepared and well on their way to finding their purpose.

#CeremonyHighlight: @APSTherrell Salutatorian Eric Radford Means, Jr. never lost sight of his goals! #APSGrad2021 pic.twitter.com/yFHGAcoO8p

— ATL Public Schools (@apsupdate) May 26, 2021

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South Atlanta
And consider the South Atlanta mascot, the hornet. Its honeycomb, a hexagon, is the symbol of the heart and represents the sweetness of life found within our own hearts. These scholars are prepared to embark on a new journey of greatness. Their passions will certainly lead to purpose.

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Maynard Jackson
Consider the legacy of Maynard H. Jackson, the first African American to run for and serve as mayor of a major southeastern city. He pursued excellence for our city and helped create an Atlanta that boasted the world’s busiest airport now named for him, increased opportunities for minority and women-owned businesses, hosted the Olympic Games and attracted new residents to what is now considered a world-class city.

Booker T. Washington
Consider Booker T. Washington. He was an educator, author, orator, and adviser to several presidents of the United States.

He said, “success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome.”

Our Washington scholars have the tools, talents and drive to overcome any obstacles in their way.

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Carver STEAM and Carver Early College
George Washington Carver, the most prominent Black scientist of the early 20th century, said: “When you do the common things in life in an uncommon way, you will command the attention of the world.” When graduates find their purpose, this can lead them to do the uncommon…to live outside the box.

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North Atlanta

Scholars at North Atlanta can take inspiration from their school mascot, the Warrior and this quote from 18th century Japanese writer and philosophist Chozan Shissai: “A warrior must only take care that his spirit is never broken.”

These mighty warriors are ready to conquer their purpose and ascend to higher heights!

Nothing can stop @APSNAWarriors Salutatorian Brendan Weinbaum! #APSGrad2021 pic.twitter.com/L4LrARJ7Fr

— ATL Public Schools (@apsupdate) May 28, 2021

I just love their beautiful smiles! Congratulations to the mighty North Atlanta High School Class of 2021! Let’s get ready to celebrate! #APSGrad2021 pic.twitter.com/cp3YiBfw52

— Dr. Lisa N. Herring (@DrLisaHerring) May 27, 2021

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My Wish For Our Scholars

What I wish for our scholars is that they walk into tomorrow with certainty, confidence, and clarity rooted in their education at Atlanta Public Schools … and rooted in the love and sense of belonging afforded them by all those around them.

May our scholars know that they can walk on knowing that they are equipped to boldly embrace the future, even one that may bring a pandemic or civil unrest.

I extend a huge congratulations and best wishes to the Class of 2021 on this monumental achievement. May our scholars be well, and may they find their purpose.

As we enter into the final stretch of this school year, I encourage everyone – our students, our teachers, our staff, our families, and our entire community – to maintain the commitment and energy to finish the school year strong.

We have overcome many obstacles and explored many new ways of teaching and learning. Do not let up!

Deadline Reminders for Summer Academic Recovery Academy & AVA

Although a few weeks remain for School Year 2020-21, I need our families to complete their planning for the summer and to also start thinking about next school year.

I strongly encourage our families to consider enrolling in our Summer Academic Recovery Academy, which addresses learning loss over the pandemic and provides much-needed credit recovery and enrichment opportunities for our children. The academy is a full-day program from June 2^nd through June 30^th for all grade levels. The program includes literacy and math learning each morning and hands-on lessons through PowerUp programming in the afternoon. Please visit our SummerAPS website at www.atlantapublicschools.us/summeraps for more information.

The enrollment deadline is Friday, May 7!

I also want to remind everyone about the upcoming deadline for Atlanta Virtual Academy for the 2021-2022 school year. While our default teaching method for the new school year will be face-to-face instruction, we are providing virtual learning pathways through AVA and AVA Jr. for parents who wish to have their children learn in a virtual environment.

The deadline to enroll in either AVA for middle and high school students and AVA Jr. for kindergarten and elementary students is Saturday, May 15. For registration and more information, visit www.atlantapublicschools.us/AtlantaVirtualAcademy.

National Teacher Appreciation Week and National School Principal’s Day

I know you will join me in celebrating National Teacher Appreciation Week next week! We cannot begin to express our admiration for our many teachers who have faced the extraordinary challenges of teaching this school year. I am so proud of them. #ThanksAPSTeachers!

In addition, tomorrow, Saturday, May 1, is National School Principal’s Day and we acknowledge and appreciate our principals for their hard work, especially this year. The pandemic hit our schools hard, and our principals remained on the front line as good stewards of our school community.

I’m not sure there are enough words to adequately thank our teachers and principals, but I encourage you to take moment to celebrate them with us!

Thanks for your engagement through the rest of the school year. Stay safe and healthy and, of course, be well. 

Following the verdict in the Derek Chauvin trial, we in Atlanta Public Schools must continue to create spaces for conversation and peaceful protest about this issue and other social justice matters facing our nation.

As I shared on my blog, students, teachers, staff, and community members regularly express fears, worries, and questions about events they see almost every day on their televisions, computers, and phones. For me, I remain ever anxious about how we create space for difficult conversations and, when necessary, peaceful protests.

We cannot shy away from these conversations nor from the need for some to protest. We must recognize that social justice can take on different meanings for different segments of our communities and strive to find agreement among disagreement.

We created the new Center for Equity and Social Justice for this very reason. This new center provides guidance and resources to enable our teachers, staff, students, and community to equip themselves with the tools for productive conversations that lead to peace, love, and understanding as well as those tools required for the responsible airing of grievances through petition or protest.

Thanks to the work of Tauheedah Baker Jones, our Chief Equity and Social Justice Officer, and members of both her team and our Social Emotional Learning team, we have compiled a bank of resources to help with such discussions. I encourage you to explore these resources so that you can navigate through difficult discussions.

Deadline Extension for Summer Academic Recovery Academy Registration 

We have extended the registration deadline for our Summer Academic Recovery Academy.

Parents now have until Friday, May 7, to enroll in the summer program, which addresses learning loss over the pandemic and provides much-needed credit recovery and enrichment opportunities for our children. The academy is a full-day program from June 2 through June 30 for all grade levels that includes literacy and math learning each morning and hands-on lessons through PowerUp programming in the afternoon. All students are welcome to register and some select students will be strongly encouraged to attend based on academic criteria.

For registration information and more information, visit our SummerAPS website at www.atlantapublicschools.us/summeraps.

AVA Registration Deadline is May 15

As we’ve shared previously, our default instructional model for the 2021-2022 school year will be in-person five days per week. Virtual learning pathways are available through Atlanta Virtual Academy (AVA) and AVA Jr. The deadline to enroll in AVA or AVA Jr. is May 15. More information is available at www.atlantapublicschools.us/AtlantaVirtualAcademy.

If you are interested in a virtual learning pathway, please complete the survey in the Parent Portal via Infinite Campus by May 15.

Earth Day at Young Middle School

On Thursday, Atlanta Public Schools recognized Earth Day, which is on April 22 every year. Although many of our students are in virtual settings this year, many of our teachers found innovative ways to incorporate lessons about the environment to coincide with this day to celebrate the Earth.

In celebration of the 50^th anniversary of the first Earth Day, our district will take advantage of partnerships with Georgia Tech with virtual tours of the Atlanta Greenspace; the Atlanta Botanical Gardens with numerous virtual presentations about rainforests, endangered carnivorous plants in Georgia, and careers in botany; Trees Atlanta; and iNaturalist.

The Wolfpack of Young Middle School on Earth Day broke ground on a community garden with members of the schools’ EarthGang, and other dignitaries. What a fitting and innovative way to support our young scholars at Young Middle!

Accolades for Howard Middle Renovation

Finally, I want to share that the Atlanta Business Chronicle, as part of its annual Best in Atlanta Real Estate Awards, has cited the work on David T. Howard Middle School as the area’s top Revitalization project of the year.

In awarding Howard, the newspaper praised the district’s intense effort to respect the history of the building and the Old Fourth Ward neighborhood as well as the district’s efforts to work with school alumni. The Atlanta Business Chronicle also noted that while the revitalization effort preserved numerous historic efforts – partly by referring to original 90-year-old blueprints – the resulting Howard Middle School has become a model for 21^st-century education.

One of our partner schools, KIPP Woodson Park Academy with its campus that includes a YMCA Early Learning Center and a community health facility run by Whitefoord Inc., was one of two finalists for the award.

Congratulations and I want to say a special thank you to our District Operations team for a job well done!

That’s The Week for this week. Thanks for your engagement through the rest of the school year. Stay safe and healthy and, of course, be well. 

Dear Atlanta Public Schools Family,

Like many educators across our nation, awaiting the impending verdict in the Derek Chauvin trial created a certain anxiety and impatience within me. Many have opinions about this case, but now that the jury’s final decision has been announced, we must continue to create spaces for conversation and protest about this issue.

No matter the verdict itself, we can expect some to cheer and some to cry foul. At the same time, the verdict stands as the model of perfect justice for some while marking a travesty of justice for others. Hopefully, disagreements will remain civil; however, many expect some violence in the aftermath.

Our students, teachers, staff, and community members regularly express fears, worries, and questions about events they see almost every day on their televisions, computers, and phones. The trial combined with claims of police brutality and recent shootings including those in our own city have put many on guard for the next incident that could – again – be in our own city or neighborhood. For me, I remain ever anxious about how we create space for difficult conversations and, when necessary, peaceful protests.

As educators, we are charged with teaching our young scholars. In past years, we focused mostly on reading, math, social studies, and science. Our changing culture necessitated that we also focus on social emotional learning and life skills. Today, we must also prepare our students to address social justice and other challenging, polarizing circumstances not found in textbooks.

In short, we cannot shy away from these conversations nor from the need for some to protest. We must recognize that social justice can take on different meanings for different segments of our communities and strive to find agreement among disagreement.

We created the new Center for Equity and Social Justice for this very reason. This new center provides guidance and resources to enable our teachers, staff, students, and community to equip themselves with the tools for productive conversations that lead to peace, love, and understanding as well as those tools required for the responsible airing of grievances through petition or protest.

In her own blog, Tauheedah F. Baker Jones, our Chief Equity Officer, shares her insights and provides resources for educators, parents, and young people who must continue to create spaces for conversation.

As you strive to cope and understand, I encourage you to explore these resources so that you can navigate through the difficult discussions.

Yours in Service,

Dr. Lisa Herring

TEMA: Crear espacio para la conversación y la protesta pacífica en torno al juicio del oficial Chauvin

Estimadas familias de Atlanta Public Schools:

Al igual que muchos educadores en toda nuestra nación, esperar el veredicto inminente en el juicio de Derek Chauvin creó cierta ansiedad e impaciencia dentro de mí. Muchos tienen opiniones sobre este caso, pero ahora que se ha anunciado la decisión final del jurado, debemos seguir creando espacios para la conversación y la protesta sobre este tema.

No importa el veredicto en sí, podemos esperar que algunos aplaudan y otros se quejen. Al mismo tiempo, el veredicto se erige como el modelo de justicia perfecta para algunos mientras marca una parodia de la justicia para otros. Esperemos que los desacuerdos sigan siendo civiles; sin embargo, muchos esperan algo de violencia después.

Nuestros estudiantes, maestros, personal y miembros de la comunidad expresan regularmente temores, preocupaciones y preguntas sobre los eventos que ven casi todos los días en sus televisores, computadoras y teléfonos. El juicio combinado con denuncias de brutalidad policial y tiroteos recientes, incluidos los de nuestra propia ciudad, ha puesto a muchos en guardia por el próximo incidente que nuevamente podría ser en nuestra propia ciudad o barrio. De mi parte, sigo siempre ansiosa en cuanto a cómo creamos espacio para conversaciones difíciles y, cuando sea necesario, protestas pacíficas.

Como educadores, estamos encargados de enseñar a nuestros jóvenes estudiantes. En años pasados, nos centramos principalmente en la lectura, las matemáticas, los estudios sociales y la ciencia. Nuestra cultura cambiante requería que también nos centráramos en el aprendizaje emocional social y las habilidades para la vida. Hoy en día, también debemos preparar a nuestros estudiantes para abordar la justicia social y otras circunstancias difíciles y polarizantes que no se encuentran en los libros de texto.

En resumen, no podemos rehuir estas conversaciones ni la necesidad de que algunos protesten. Debemos reconocer que la justicia social puede asumir diferentes significados para diferentes segmentos de nuestras comunidades y esforzarnos por encontrar un acuerdo entre los desacuerdos.

Creamos el nuevo Centro de Equidad y Justicia Social por esta misma razón. Este nuevo centro proporciona orientación y recursos para que nuestros profesores, personal, estudiantes y comunidad se equipen con las herramientas para conversaciones productivas que conduzcan a la paz, el amor y la comprensión, así como las herramientas necesarias para la presentación responsable de quejas a través de peticiones o protestas.

Tauheedah F. Baker Jones, nuestra Directora de Equidad, comparte sus ideas y recursos a continuación para educadores, padres y jóvenes que deben seguir creando espacios para la conversación.

A medida que se esfuerzan por hacer frente y entender, los animo a analizar estos recursos para que puedan manejar estas discusiones difíciles.

Saludos cordiales,

Dra. Lisa Herring

We’re back! I hope everyone had a great Spring Break and started the final stretch of the school year refreshed and recharged. I know our first week was fully virtual, but we will be in our schools – for those families choosing in-person teaching and learning – on Monday, April 19.

We continue to push forward toward a full return to school as our schools, buildings, and community become healthier and safer environments thanks to our vaccination efforts and mitigation protocols. In the meantime, we will continue our surveillance testing across the district. Safety is the priority!

Summer Academic Recovery Academy

We know we have work to do to address learning loss over this past year. That’s why we’re excited to introduce our Summer Academic Recovery Academy. Registration is open now through the end of April and all of our students are welcome to attend.

Our summer academy will be a full-day program from June 2nd through June 30th, and it combines an academic recovery model with a focus on literacy and mathematics with our Power Up programming for students in grades PK-12. I encourage our families to register their children for this unique educational opportunity this summer. You can find more details on our website at www.atlantapublicschools.us.

Plans for 2021-2022 school year

Remember, we will return to five days of in-person instruction each and every week for our 2021-2022 school year.

With this plan, all students will receive direct instruction on a traditional bell schedule. There will be no asynchronous instructional days nor simultaneous teaching. And, all schools are required to implement intervention, acceleration, and enrichment blocks.

Keep in mind that our default method of teaching will be face-to-face, but virtual learning pathways will be available through Atlanta Virtual Academy and Atlanta Virtual Academy Jr. We will be asking parents to inform us if they plan to enroll in AVA or AVA Jr. You can do that now through May 15 in the Parent Portal.

Much like face-to-face instruction, AVA and AVA Jr. will operate on a traditional bell schedule. There will be no asynchronous instructional days nor simultaneous teaching, and there will be an intervention block built into every school day.

For AVA Jr., students from kindergarten through fifth grade will receive direct instruction every school day. But AVA students in grades sixth through 12^th will work through self-paced instruction five days per week.

Again, face-to-face instruction will become our default option next school year. You can select AVA or AVA Jr. in the Parent Portal. That selection must be made by May 15.

That’s The Week for this week. Thanks for your engagement through the rest of the school year. Stay safe and healthy and, of course, be well.