Dr. Lisa Herring

Spring Break is upon us! A much-deserved break for sure!

I have no other homework for our students and their families and for our teachers and our staff than to take time to reconnect with your friends and love ones, take time to relax and enjoy the spring weather, and take the time to rejuvenate so you – so all of us – can commit to ending the school year strong.

And, remember, Don’t Wait! Vaccinate!

I do have a few reminders for Spring Break.

Virtual for Week after Spring Break

First, due to an expected high volume of staff and family travel during Spring Break, we are taking the precautionary step of transitioning to virtual instruction for the week of April 12-16.

All students will participate in classes virtually, and most staff will work remotely that week. We ask that those who plan to travel also plan to follow the travel guidelines recommended by the Centers for Disease Control, such as getting tested and quarantining.

Students who opted for face-to-face instruction may return to our schools for the week of April 19-23.

Five Days a Week in the Fall

As we look toward the 2021-2022 school year, we will return to five days of in-person instruction each and every week! We are opening our doors and are eager to welcome all of our students back into our schools for face-to-face teaching and learning.

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

While our default method of teaching will be face-to-face in our school buildings, virtual learning pathways will be available through Atlanta Virtual Academy (AVA) and Atlanta Virtual Academy Jr., (AVA Jr.).

For AVA (Grade levels 6-12), students will receive direct instruction five days per week and will be on a traditional bell schedule. There will be no asynchronous instructional days and no simultaneous teaching. An intervention block will be embedded into the school day and families can choose direct instruction five days per week or self-paced instruction.

Students in AVA Jr. (PreK-5) will receive direct instruction five days per week, they will be on a traditional bell schedule and an intervention block will be embedded into the school day. There will be no asynchronous instructional days and no simultaneous teaching.

Again, face-to-face instruction will become our main option next school year, but families will have an opportunity to enroll in virtual learning pathways. We will discuss all of this in greater detail during the Board of Education meeting on Monday, April 12. I encourage you to join us. That meeting will be held live on the Board of Education’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/apsboard and will also be available for viewing on-demand.

That’s The Week for this week. Please enjoy your Spring Break. Stay safe and healthy and, of course, be well. 

This week, we are in the middle of our mass vaccination event for our staff at Mercedes Benz Stadium through our partnership with the Fulton County Board of Health. The vaccinations are being administered in two doses with the first occurring this week. The second dose will be provided on April 14, 15, and 18.

Our employees were among the first in Fulton County to get this round of vaccinations. We are so grateful to the Fulton County Board of Health, Fulton County Government, and Mercedes-Benz Stadium for their partnership.

We implemented our health and safety mitigation efforts starting with health screenings and social distancing protocols, we advanced to surveillance testing, and now we have reached vaccinations. We encourage everyone to get vaccinated. It’s an important component in our layered approach to keeping everyone safe.

Updated CDC Guidelines

Recently, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) updated its guidance on social distancing in schools, which would relax distancing requirements from six feet to three feet in some cases. We are reviewing these guidelines but because we are already in the last nine-week quarter of this school year, we do not plan to make any districtwide changes to social distancing in schools.

I should note that for the final nine weeks, 40% of our students returned to in-person instruction, and we have made accommodations for all of them. We have excluded no students from returning to face-to-face instruction if their families selected that option.

Throughout this process, we have used the guidance from the CDC in combination with other health and mitigation strategies in our schools and buildings. We will continue to take this layered approach in keeping our students and staff safe and will keep you updated as we look toward the 2021-2022 school year.

Five Days a Week in the Fall

Speaking of the 2021-2022 school year, we are excited to say that APS intends to return to five days of in-person instruction each week! We are opening our doors with wide-open arms to welcome all of our students back into our schools for face-to-face learning.

We don’t intend to have asynchronous Wednesdays and no simultaneous teaching. We will provide virtual engagement as an option for the fall. More information about the fall will be presented during the April 12 Board of Education meeting, and I encourage you to join us.

Employment with APS Incentives

Also, as part of our planning for the 2021-22 school year, our Human Resources team is providing a series of hiring incentives to encourage qualified teachers and substitutes to join the best team in public education today!

We’re offering:

• $500 for 50 in-person, newly hired substitutes
• $800 or $1,000 for teachers hired for Turnaround Schools
• $3,000 Early Hiring Incentive for special education teachers, career and technical education (CTE) teachers, and dual-language immersion (DLI) teachers hired before June 1, 2021

Anyone interested in joining Atlanta Public Schools should visit apscareers.org!

Academic Recovery Academy

Here’s a reminder that registration begins next week for our Summer Academic Recovery Academy. The registration window will be open from April 1 through April 30.

Remember, all students can attend and are welcome to register for our Academic Recovery Academy.  However, select students will receive individual invitations and will be strongly encouraged to attend based on various academic criteria.

Our Academic Recovery 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.  Learn more on our website.

Week After Spring Break

We have a week to go before Spring Break, so I want to remind you that due to an expected high volume of staff and family travel during Spring Break, we are taking the precautionary step of transitioning to virtual instruction for the week of April 12-16.

All students will participate in classes virtually and most staff will work remotely that week. We ask that those who plan to travel also plan to follow the travel guidelines recommended by the Centers for Disease Control, such as getting tested and quarantining.

That’s “The Week” for this week. I want to thank everyone across the Atlanta Public Schools community for the extra levels of engagement, especially as we held Cluster Conversations for every cluster in the district. The dialogue will inform our efforts for the future of our schools and our work to Reimagine Atlanta Public Schools.

You can re-visit the Cluster Conversations at www.atlantapublicschools.us/2021ClusterConversations.

Thanks again. Please stay healthy and, of course, be well. 

As we review The Week in Atlanta Public Schools, I want to remind everyone about how new opportunities to receive COVID-19 vaccinations move us closer to a healthier and safer school community.

With educators and school staff now eligible for vaccinations, we are gearing up for our mass vaccination event at Mercedes Benz Stadium through our partnership with the Fulton County Board of Health. The vaccination will be delivered in two doses with the first dose on Wednesday, March 24; Friday, March 26; and Saturday, March 27.

Our employees will be among the first in Fulton County to get this round of vaccinations. We are so grateful to the Fulton County Board of Health for their partnership and want to say thank you for all that they do to help keep our community healthy.

I also want to remind everyone who wishes to get the vaccine to get registered at myvaccinegeorgia.com.

Academic Recovery

We recognize that learning loss has occurred throughout the pandemic. To mitigate that impact, we plan to launch the Summer Academic Recovery Academy (ARA) over the next three summers. I’m happy to share that All APS students can attend and are welcome to register for the academy. The registration window will be open from April 1st through April 30th.

Our Academic Recovery 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. Students can receive virtual or in-person instruction that will address unfinished learning and academic learning loss, provide hands-on lessons via Power Up Programming, and recover course credits in an engaging, incentive-filled environment with embedded whole-child and social-emotional supports.

Transportation and meals will be provided for in-person learning students who attend the full day. Virtual learning students will be provided meals at designated pickup sites throughout the community. We are excited to offer our Academic Recovery Academy and will continue to keep you updated on the program.

Summer Camp Expo

To help our families plan for the summer, the Office of Family Engagement through its Parent as Partners Academic Center will host the Annual Summer Camp Expo from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Friday, March 26. This VIRTUAL event helps families register for camps and enrichment programs relating to financial life skills, investing, job shadowing, mentoring, arts, camping, horseback riding, and college and career readiness. You may register here.

Our partners include these wonderful groups:

• Wealthy Habits
• Young Wall Street Traders
• Girls, Inc
• Junior Achievement of Georgia
• Steve and Marjorie Harvey Foundation
• Zone of Light Studios
• Breakthrough Atlanta
• Girls Scouts of Greater Atlanta

Deputization Ceremony

And for the great news of the week, I was proud to join with our own Police Chief Ron Applin and Fulton County Sheriff Patrick Labat as the sheriff’s office deputized our school resource officers in a special ceremony at King Middle School.

This week, our SROs were bestowed with the ability to endorse laws outside of our school district. This authorization allows them to serve our students beyond the borders of school.

Even with a pandemic and while many schools were closed, these officers protected our schools, conducted welfare checks when necessary, and helped prepare us to reopen. Now that they are deputized, they can complete more of their duties without the delays of securing other authorization within our county.

Many thanks to Sheriff Labat, Chief Applin, and, of course, to our amazing school resource officers who have done so much for the Atlanta Public Schools community!

That’s “The Week” for this week. As always, be engaged, stay healthy and, of course, please be well.

I want to pause to reflect upon the recent shootings that occurred across Atlanta earlier this week that killed eight people, including six who were of Asian descent. Although the motive for this incident is still under investigation, what I know as an educator is that we need to spend more time as a community on some of the critical work beyond academics, such as social emotional learning, wraparound supports, and equity.

As I have mentioned in our cluster conversations and will continue to discuss, Atlanta Public Schools (APS) added two simple but essential words to our mission: equity and life. We have spent much of our recent conversations focused on equity, but I want to emphasize the addition of the word “life,” in that we graduate all students ready for college, career, and LIFE.

I am convinced that if we truly prepare our students for life, we can go far in eliminating the ignorance and confusion that we have seen in recent times, especially social injustice, violence, and intolerance of different cultures and viewpoints. And if any school district can do it, APS can — as the flagship school system for Atlanta, the birthplace of the Civil Rights Movement.

Remember, in uncertain times like these we have crisis services and social emotional supports available for students and staff if they need someone to talk to as well as resources for parents and staff on talking about difficult issues. I encourage you to take advantage of these resources, and please be well.

Talking with Children About Issues of Violence and Race: 

• https://www.apa.org/res/parent-resources 
• https://centerracialjustice.org/resources/resources-for-talking-about-race-racism-and-racialized-violence-with-kids/ 
• https://www.pbs.org/parents/talking-about-racism 

The Asian Americans Advancing Justice organization also provided these links:

1. Sign on to our collective community statement.

2. Donate to support the victims and their families.

3. Share crisis response resources.

Over the course of the pandemic, I have used this space and other platforms to celebrate teachers, staff, partners, and the community for their invaluable support and services toward virtual teaching and learning and our eventual reopening of schools and buildings.

But this week, we must acknowledge and thank another group that has been essential in the work – the Atlanta Board of Education. Yes, it’s School Board Appreciation Week in Georgia!

 I am pleased to take this time to recognize them for their contributions, service, and leadership to Atlanta Public Schools and the entire Atlanta community.

The role of being a member of a school board – especially on the Atlanta Board of Education – can be both tireless and thankless. I don’t know that we can ease the stress of the work, but we can certainly thank them for their service.

From a personal standpoint, I could not have made it this far into my first year as superintendent of Atlanta Public Schools without the support of each and every member of this Board. They have been instructive, hands-on, and engaged. Their leadership certainly has contributed to the work to continue effective teaching and learning despite pandemic and social unrest in our city, state, and nation.

Thank you, Chair Jason Esteves (Seat 9), Vice Chair Eshe’ Collins (District 6), Leslie Grant (District 1), Aretta Baldon (District 2), Michelle Olympiadis (District 3), Nancy Meister (District 4), Erika Mitchell (District 5), Kandis Wood Jackson (Seat 7), and Cynthia Briscoe Brown (Seat 8).

As a token of our appreciation, we prepared this short video.

As we talk about The Week in Atlanta Public Schools, I want to thank the parents, the teachers, the staff, the students, and the community members from the Carver, Mays, and Douglass clusters who have already participated in our Cluster Conversations.

During these conversations, we engage in an honest, in-depth discussion about the district’s challenges and triumphs. This collaboration lays the foundation for reimagining the future of Atlanta Public Schools.

The conversations continue next week – from 5:30 to 7 p.m. each Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, as shown by the schedule on your screen.

Please join and lend your voice and talents to our mission to graduate EVERY student ready for college, career, and life. Learn more on our social media channels and our website at http://www.atlantapublicschools.us.

Post-Spring Break Plans

As a reminder, Atlanta Public Schools follows Centers for Disease Control (CDC) guidelines on travel and quarantining. As such, we ask those who intend to travel during Spring Break to get tested 3-5 days after travel AND stay home and self-quarantine for a full 7 days after travel.

As we continue our focus on protecting student and staff health and safety and in light of an anticipated high volume of student and staff travel during Spring Break from April 5th through 9th, we are taking the precautionary step of transitioning to virtual instruction for the following week, April 12th through 16th, to help maintain low rates of COVID-19 spread in our schools and buildings.

To repeat: All students will participate in classes virtually from April 12-16. Please take the necessary steps to prepare for virtual instruction that week.

To help inform our decision, we surveyed our staff about their Spring Break travel plans. Among 4,900 response, 59% of our teachers and 53% of staff indicated that they had travel plans. In addition, the week of April 12 coincides with the dates of the second dose of the Pfizer vaccine for staff as part of our mass vaccination event at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Remote teaching and learning that week will provide more flexibility for our staff to receive that second dose.
We remain committed to offering in-person instruction this school year and will return students and staff to our facilities in the safest way possible.

I am grateful for the efforts of our educators and staff who have supported in-person learning along as well as virtual teaching and learning options since January 25.

Vaccination Update

With the opportunity to receive COVID-19 vaccinations, we move even closer to better health, safety, and well-being for everyone in our community. Educators and school staff are now eligible for vaccinations in the state of Georgia.

Through our partnership with the Fulton County Board of Health, we have secured up to 8,000 allocations of the Pfizer vaccine and are scheduled for the very first days they are available in Fulton County. That means we can guarantee appointments for the vaccine for all of our employees.

The vaccination will be delivered in two doses. The first dose
will be administered at the Mercedes Benz Stadium beginning on Wednesday, March 24; Friday, March 26; and Saturday, March 27. The second dose will be provided on Wednesday, April 14; Friday, April 16; or Saturday, April 17.

Again, our employees will be among the first in Fulton County to get this round of vaccinations. We are so grateful to the Fulton County Board of Health for their partnership and want to say thank you for all that they do to help keep our community healthy.

Race2Read Update

Finally, a Race2Read update!

Last week, I introduced you to our partnership with the Urban League of Greater Atlanta to improve literacy and our challenge to the APS community to read more than 10 million minutes.

This week, we passed the halfway mark at 5 million minutes! Congratulations! Remember, join the campaign and log your reading minutes at Race2Read.org!

That’s “The Week” for this week. As always, be engaged, stay healthy and, of course, please be well.

As we move into March, Atlanta Public Schools began celebrating National Reading Month, which was founded to celebrate Dr. Seuss. The month kicked off Monday with Read Across America Day, which is designed to encourage children of all ages to read every single day. Atlanta Public Schools is doing just that and more with our Race2Read campaign.

We have partnered with the Urban League of Greater Atlanta to help develop a city that reads. Collectively, APS students, staff and community stakeholders are challenged to read more than 10 million minutes.

Literacy is the most vital of educational skills, so this month is really aimed at giving students a chance to improve their reading skills. Additionally, if we encourage our students to read every single day this month, by the end of the month, reading should become a daily habit.

You can join our Race2Read campaign at Race2Read.org!

Cluster Conversations

Next week, I will start a series of Cluster Conversations in partnership with members of the Atlanta Board of Education where we go from cluster to cluster to share our strategic vision for Atlanta Public Schools and engage in a dialogue with students, families, and staff about reimagining the future for education in Atlanta.

The conversations will be held virtually from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., starting on Monday, March 8, with the Carver cluster and continuing through March 24 as shown by the schedule.

We have spent much of this school year working toward teacher preparation for virtual teaching and learning. We are grateful for the work to date.

Now, I want to turn the focus on our future and doing the next steps toward ensuring that EVERY student graduates ready for college, career, and life. Let me encourage you to stay engaged with the conversation, especially when we have our conversation with YOUR cluster. You can find more details on our social media channels and on our website at www.atlantapublicschools.us.

Spectators for Spring Sports
Finally, I want to share that APS now allows a limited number of spectators for athletic events this spring.

Masks will be required for all spectators at any APS-sponsored event, whether it be on each individual campus or at one of the shared APS facilities at Crim, Lakewood, and Grady. All fans will be required to participate in normal screening protocols, including the answering of screening questions and temperature checks, prior to entering spectator areas.

Stadiums at Lakewood and Grady can accommodate about 30% capacity this spring, and crowds at school sites are limited to about 200-250 fans, depending on the venue.

Fans will be expected to socially distance at all times during spring athletic contests. Schools will be able to have concessions at their events. However, they are only to use pre-packaged food. No open grilling or cooking will be allowed at this time on any school campuses for spring sporting events.

Safety comes first as you root for your favorite teams!

That’s “The Week” for this week. As always, be engaged, stay healthy and, of course, please be well.

As I celebrate my first Black History Month as superintendent of Atlanta Public Schools, I have thought about the underlying evolution and purpose of this traditional part of our school calendar. While we certainly celebrate those African Americans who shaped our culture, our politics, and our way of life, do we do enough to delve into our personal heritage or our own possible impacts on the history to come?

As for my own history, it is humbling for me to reflect on the many trailblazers, historians, civil rights leaders, and cultural architects who have shaped my journey and the black female leader that I am. My journey has been shaped by the fact that I am a granddaughter of both a sharecropper and business owner. I forever celebrate that I am a daughter of a pastor and civil servant.

This same history, my history, is crafted and impacted by a personal journey steeped in education and faith, shaped by the influences of attending Spelman College, here in Atlanta, often rated as the country’s top Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

In knowing my history, I know that strong African-American men and women help give me the strength and assurance to tackle such challenges as achievement gaps, equity, or learning, leading, and serving others during a pandemic. And, the creation of a new division in APS focused on equity and social justice promises to be history in the making for our district.

I share more in my blog at www.talkupaps.com, and I encourage you to take a look.

Drive-up & Walk-up COVID-19 Testing at Douglass High

This week, I am proud that we launched a drive-up and walk-up COVID-19 testing site for our students, families, staff and the community at Douglass High School located at 225 Hamilton E. Holmes Drive, NW!

The District is teaming up with some of Atlanta’s leading healthcare organizations – Viral Solutions and pediatric researchers from Emory University and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta – to bring highly efficient drive-through PCR COVID-19 testing at no out-of-pocket expense to the entire APS family.

Our APS family also has the choice of being tested again at the same time, using new, emerging, easier, and simpler methods. This second free test will help researchers develop test-at-home technologies that will save lives – from Atlanta to all across the globe. Each person tested receives a gift card, along with the assurance that they played a part in helping end this global pandemic.

The outdoor testing area is located on the north side of the building, and will be open from 9 AM – 6 PM, Monday through Friday, through the end of the school year.

Donation of Air Purifiers

We must also thank Operation HOPE, 100 Black Men, and other philanthropists for another recent generous donation to Atlanta Public Schools. These groups donated more than 100 air purifiers at the Alonzo A. Crim Center for Learning and Leadership this week, which we will soon distribute to our schools.

A big thank you to John Hope Bryant, Tommy Dortch, and Fred Maxik for helping us continue to protect our Atlanta Public Schools community. Thank you!

That’s “The Week” for this week. As always, stay healthy and please be well.

As I celebrate my first Black History Month as superintendent of Atlanta Public Schools, I have thought about the underlying evolution and purpose of this traditional part of our school calendar. While we certainly celebrate those African Americans who shaped our culture, our politics, and our way of life, do we do enough to delve into our personal heritage or our own possible impacts on the history to come?

The tradition of Black History Month boasts of a nearly century-long history, stretching back to Dr. Carter G. Woodson. Known as the “Father of Black History,” Dr. Woodson created Negro History Week in 1926 to mark a moment when African Americans could reflect and honor their own heritage and celebrate African-American contributions to our country.

Dr. Woodson chose the second week of February for this special week because the week included the birthdays of both Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809) and Frederick Douglass (assumed to be February 14, 1895).

Forty years later, during the Civil Rights movement, the week became a month, and President Gerald Ford became the first president to officially issue a message recognizing Black History Month. The celebration has become a standard for classrooms around the nation ever since.

We are fortunate in Atlanta in that we do not have to look too far for inspiration. Atlanta has a rightful claim as the birthplace of the Civil Rights movement, so we can talk about Kings and Youngs and Lewises. In fact, many of our own schools were named in honor of some of the most distinguished African-American men and women, which also include Dr. Woodson and Mr. Douglass!

But I think Dr. Woodson meant for his challenge of nearly a century ago to breathe more life into the effort than to simply call the roll of the usual men and women of distinction. I think he wanted all of us to go beyond celebrating the past and honoring our heritage.

He wanted us to realize that all of us are part of Black History. While we must appreciate our heritage and understand the past, we must use those lessons and examples to impress our own impact upon the future of our schools, our nation, and the world.

Please consider some recent words from Tauheedah Baker-Jones, the district’s first Chief Equity and Social Justice Officer. In her equity blog last week, she takes us through an especially intriguing part of her own family history to reveal how her ancestors, their Georgia roots, and her family’s generational fight for equity has informed her own work today in Atlanta Public Schools. The creation of a new division focused on equity promises to be history in the making for our district.

As for my own history, it is humbling for me to reflect on the many trailblazers, historians, civil rights leaders, and cultural architects who have shaped my journey and the black female leader that I am. My journey has been shaped by the fact that I am a granddaughter of both a sharecropper and business owner. I forever celebrate that I am a daughter of a pastor and civil servant.

This same history, my history, is crafted and impacted by a personal journey steeped in education and faith, shaped by the influences of attending Spelman College, here in Atlanta, often rated as one of the country’s top Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

In knowing my history, I know that strong African-American men and women – whether they be Kings and Woodsons of our past or Obamas or Harrises of our present – help give me the strength and assurance to tackle such challenges as achievement gaps, equity, or learning, leading, and serving others during a pandemic.

When I speak to our young scholars, I want them to know that they are the architects of history as well. My challenge – and I think Dr. Woodson’s challenge as well – is for us to consider Black History as everyone’s history. It’s my history, your history, our history.