APS Board Chairwoman: 'Something is going to have to happen somewhere'

For weeks, Atlanta Public Schools officials have been telling anxious parents that no decisions have been made regarding school consolidations and closures.

At various meetings with parents around the city, APS board members and district officials have sought to assure them that rumors they've heard about their school being on a list for closure is just that: rumor.

But at a meeting with the Council of Intown Neighborhoods and Schools at in Kirkwood Wednesday night, Brenda J. Muhammad, APS board chairwoman, told parents changes are inevitable.

"The reality is that some changes are going to have to be made," Muhammad said, alluding to an ongoing demographic study of the district.

That study aims to project which parts of the city are expected to see increases in population and could be the blueprint for other changes APS might undertake such as consolidation of schools and new construction.

"We have less than half the students in the system than we had 10 years ago," she said of the nearly 48,000-pupil district. "But we have, basically, the same number of schools and the money is a lot less.

Muhammad represents District 1, which has 20 schools, including Benteen Elementary, , King Middle School and .

"Nobody wants to see something happen to their school," she said, "but something is going to have to happen somewhere. So it's very important for communities to start talking and putting together plans for whatever happens down the road."

Wednesday's meeting was designed to give parents updates on two key scandals that roiled the district this year.

After nine embarrassing months of living under the threat of losing accreditation because of dysfunctional board leadership, parents were told it has addressed the key concerns raised by the Southern Association of Schools and Colleges.

Whether SACS, which received the board's final report Set. 12, agrees with the board's assessment, remains an open question. SACS is expected issue its own report Oct. 30.

"It was a wake-up call," board member Cecily Harsch-Kinnane said at the meeting.

She represents District 3, which includes , , and .

"None of us are proud were are proud of the risk we put the system under, the fear we created for the students and the parents and the faculty of Atlanta Public Schools."

The district also is recovering from a widespread cheating scandal that drew national attention, led to the resignation or firing of teachers and administrators and an ongoing investigation.

But the five board members who attended said new safeguards are in place, such as limiting access to standardized tests and all APS personnel being required to take ethics training as a condition of employment.

Parents also were given an update on the Common Core Standards, a set of education benchmarks adopted by nearly every state that students will be judged against.

While they don't establish a set curriculum the CCS gives guidance on what a child should know before being promoted to the next grade.

Under CCS, students will be given four tests during the school year — two to assess student progress and show were they may need help — and two to ultimately gauge their mastery of and proficiency in those core subject areas such as math, reading and English.

Those tests will replace the Georgia Criterion-Referenced Competency Test in 2014.

Board members also pressed upon parents the importance of passing a new, one-cent Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax that will be presented to voters on the ballot Nov. 8. If approved, the money collected would go toward building new schools, refurbishing existing buildings and other purposes such as upgrading school buses and service fleet vehicles.

If it fails, the district will have to go into its general fund to pay for such projects.

Building the new North Atlanta High School is expected to cost about $100 million at-large board member Courtney D. English said.

But the district's general fund budget in the current fiscal year is $457 million.

"Without SPLOST, we would have been in a position — if we needed to ease overcrowding — we would have had to dip into our general fund budget," English said, adding the SPLOST initiative is critical. That would mean taking one-fourth of the general fund budget to build a school or "look at some drastic options."