APS students experienced living proof that “graduation really achieves dreams” during Project GRAD pep rallies at the South Atlanta Education Complex and The New Schools at Carver this past week.
Read the press release here.
There’s a great story in the AJC today by Gracie Bonds Staples about how local school systems (including APS) are fighting obesity with innovative strategies. The story includes one of our favorite community partners, rock-star chef Linton Hopkins (Restaurant Eugene, Holeman & Finch Public House), and his work at E. Rivers Elementary.
But there’s also great work being done all over APS, which Staples captures nicely in this passage …
Officials at many schools have discovered that students will choose healthful food when given a choice and will take nutrition to heart if they are taught about the positive impacts on their bodies.
“Two years ago, I was making more pizzas,” said Katrina Church, cafeteria manager at Usher Elementary School in Atlanta. “Now I’m making more salads and turkey sandwiches.”
Although chicken nuggets seemed to be the top choice at Usher on a recent Monday, a good number of kindergartners seemed to enjoy salads and turkey on wheat. A few even munched on raw broccoli.
The key, Church said, is making food appear more appealing.
Zakiria Render, 6, was among those who chose salad.
“My mom always gives it to me at dinner,” she said.
The National School Boards Association’s Council of Urban School Boards of Education (CUBE) has awarded the Annual 2009 Award for Urban School Board Excellence to the Atlanta Board of Education. The announcement came today at a special awards ceremony in Austin, Texas.
Read the press release here.
Atlanta Public Schools’ Special Olympics master’s level softball team brought home gold medals by winning the state championship held Oct. 2-4 in Statesboro. After a grueling three-day competition, the team ended up No. 1 in the state of Georgia. APS Special Olympics athletes also competed in the softball-skills competition, winning gold, silver, bronze and fourth-place ribbons.
The winning team was comprised of student athletes from North Atlanta and Mays high schools, and the Bobby Dodd Institute (BDI). Other APS athletes from these schools also participated in the softball skills competition and were awarded a total of five gold medals, two silver medals, one bronze medal and two fourth-place ribbons. The list of APS student athletes who participated in the state championship were:
Team Players: Skills Players:
Brandon Black Grace Ashby
Kirby Broughton Nikki Brown
Shonta Campbell Carrie Crayton
Travis Greene Tioka Harris
Mike Hightower Ashley Martel
Lloyd Howell Nasha McCoy
Jermaine Parks Catrina Perdue
Robert Perdue Jasmine Spencer
Jermaine Russell Mamie Strickland
Aquinas Tolan Faith Williams
The team coaches are Patricia Merkerson from BDI, Lisa Oglesby and Mike Slack from North Atlanta High, and pitching coach Wendell Hale from Washington High School, who was an integral part of the team’s success. Student chaperones included Dondra Perkins, Natalie Jefferson and Mike Sullivan. The APS Program for Exceptional Children Special Olympics program is under the direction of Regina Gennaro.
Atlanta Public Schools’ nutrition department is proud to offer its featured Produce of the Month, in which they select a produce item that will be an integral side item in school meals. October’s selection: North Carolina sweet potatoes.
For the uninitiated, there are approximately 400 different types of sweet potatoes. The sweet potato has yellow or orange flesh, and its thin skin may either be white, yellow, orange, red or purple. Sometimes this root vegetable will be shaped like a potato, being short and blocky with rounded ends, while other times it will be longer with tapered ends.
Atlanta Public Schools has been awarded the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting by the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada (GFOA) for its comprehensive annual financial report (CAFR).
The award is considered the highest form of recognition in the area of governmental accounting and financial reporting, and its attainment represents a significant accomplishment by a government agency and its management.
“We are very proud to have earned this national recognition from such a prestigious organization for our work in the area of financial reporting,” said Chuck Burbridge, chief financial officer for Atlanta Public Schools. “We work hard every day to manage the school district’s financial resources with the view in mind of providing maximum support for our students to facilitate their academic achievement.”
GFOA is a nonprofit professional association serving approximately 17,500 government finance professionals in the United States and Canada.
APS, Project GRAD Atlanta and Communities In Schools had planned to jointly host rallies to motivate eighth-graders and ninth-graders about going to college, but the events were washed out by the floods.
“Destination: College” has been rescheduled:
Oct. 15, South Atlanta Educational Complex, 9:45 a.m.
Oct. 16, The New Schools at Carver, 10 a.m.
The events are also designed to encourage ninth-graders from the three Project GRAD high school campuses to sign a covenant pledging their commitment to higher learning.
Just a reminder that the deadline for the 2010 Atlanta Families Awards for Excellence in Education (AFAEE) is just around the corner! If you have any questions, please contact Michele Alford at 404-802-2664 or malford@atlantapublicschools.us.
For more on the organization, visit the Web site at www.atlantafamilies.org. For previous coverage about the awards and winners, check out this press release from last February. It’s an amazing award and has meant a lot to its winners. So don’t pass up on this excellent opportunity!
At the SmarterCities NYC forum that takes place today and tomorrow, APS Superintendent Dr. Beverly L. Hall will join other education, business and political leaders for a discussion on how cities in America can be transformed to become smarter. Scheduled to take part in a panel discussion on education, Dr. Hall will have an opportunity to share Atlanta’s best practices for smarter schools. The event – which is expected to draw an audience of 500 – is sponsored by IBM in collaboration with the city of New York, the Partnership for New York City, City University of New York, the National Governors Association and the U.S. Conference of Mayors. The event is expected to be broadcast over the Internet. For more information, check out this Web site.
B.E.S.T. Academy eighth-grade history teacher Patia Odom-Mitchell was honored by the National Coalition of 100 Black Women’s metro Atlanta Chapter as an “Unsung Heroine” during their 13th annual luncheon on September 18. She is the founder of Dreams, a mentoring program that provides cultural outings and volunteer opportunities from middle school to students’ junior year of college.
Many of Odom-Mitchell’s students have returned to mentor new students in the program after graduating from college, which is a true testament to her impact on the APS success story. Odom-Mitchell was one of five honorees being recognized for making powerful changes in their communities.
In other B.E.S.T. news, the school’s football team was photographed with the coaches from the Football Classic this morning. The 100 Black Men of Atlanta also provided 2 tickets to the Classic this weekend for each student with perfect attendance from the beginning of school.