Wednesday, July 11, 2012
District 1 board of education representative Brenda Muhammad to host meeting
Atlanta Public Schools Superintendent Erroll B. Davis and board of education representative Brenda Muhammad will meet with the community Thursday night to discuss how to repurpose the shuttered Cook Elementary School. The board of education voted to close seven schools in the district — including Cook — earlier this year in an effort to redraw school attendance zones and make the best use of buildings across the district. Davis and Muhammad will field questions from the District 1 community about plans for the shuttered elementary school on Memorial Drive. Parents at Wesley International Academy in Custer/McDonough/Guice want to relocate to Cook, which they said would give APS $875,000 a year in rent — money that could be used to bolster …
Sunday, April 22, 2012
Zoning Summerhill to D.H. Stanton Elementary violates 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause, residents say
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Letter from district three board member Cecily Harsch-Kinnane
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Sunday, April 15, 2012
The following letter was sent to school board district three stakeholders this week after the final Atlanta Public Schools redistricting decision. Dear District 3 Stakeholders: This week the Atlanta Board of Education gave approval to a redistricting plan that was the end result of a two-year demographic study conducted by APS. The superintendent's final recommendation put in place a system-wide, stable cluster model and was a reflection of the administration's instructional, facility, and financial concerns; feedback from the communities; and input from the board members. The board unanimously approved the proposal with a modification which leaves open three elementary schools that had been slated for closure. The plan does involve some …
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Redistricting plan includes closing seven schools in the district
The fields at Inman Middle School will look a bit different next school year. Between six and eight portable classrooms — also known as trailers — will be installed at the Virginia-Highland middle school to alleviate overcrowding. The Atlanta Public Schools board of education approved a redistricting plan Tuesday night that includes sending students from Hope-Hill Elementary in Old Fourth Ward to Inman and adding portables on campus to create more space for classrooms. Inman currently houses Centennial, Mary-Lin, Morningside, and Springdale Park Elementary students. Previous proposals included a grade six academy at either Cook Elementary or Coan Middle to feed into Inman. Parents and residents in all communities impacted vehemently …
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Replay Patch's live coverage of the meeting.
The Atlanta Public Schools board of education voted to keep Frank L. Stanton, D.H. Stanton and Towns elementary schools open during a long and often dramatic meeting Tuesday night. Following a public comment session of more than four hours, the board accepted all of APS Superintendent Dr. Erroll Davis recommendations except for those three school closures. The unanimoius vote came around 11:30 pm at Jackson High School, the location chosen for the meeting to allow for a larger capacity audience. Read more about Davis' redistricting plan. Readers, if you can't see the live blog because you're reading Patch on a smartphone or other mobile device, you can review the conversation at this RSS feed.
Final proposal will be presented to the board of education on Tuesday
A grade six academy at Cook Elementary School is off the table — for now. In his final proposal, Superintendent Erroll B. Davis said portable classrooms will be installed at Inman Middle School for the 2012-2013 school year to address capacity issues. He said this will give “time to plan for any needed transitions,” which parents from the Inman cluster have actively advocated for. But the sixth grade academy for Inman Middle that was proposed to be built at Cook Elementary on Memorial Drive is still on the table for the future. “Inman has the former Cook facility available to use as a sixth grade academy while the enrollment numbers are assessed and a long-term solution is developed and implemented,” Davis wrote in his final proposal. …
Monday, April 9, 2012
Asks to postpone changes until 2013
The latest petition to surface in the Atlanta Public Schools redistricting debate asks the board of education to postpone changes to the Grady cluster until 2013. “More time is needed to fully explore all options,” petition organizers wrote. “Please do not rush to implement costly, disruptive ‘temporary’ solutions for our cluster.” The final recommendation from Superintendent Erroll B Davis includes expanding the attendance zone for Inman Middle School and creating a grade six academy at Cook Elementary School to feed into Inman. The Grady High School cluster includes Mary Lin Elementary, Morningside Elementary, Springdale Elementary and Inman Middle, among other schools. As of Monday evening, the petition had more than 60 signatures. View…
Sunday, April 8, 2012
A parent-run survey captures opinions from 350 parents
The following letter was sent to Atlanta Public Schools Superintendent Erroll B. Davis on April 6, 2012. Dear Superintendent Davis – You have indicated you reserve the right to modify the final APS redistricting recommendation if new, compelling information and/or data are received before the April 10 board meeting. On April 4, 2012 at 5 pm, I posted a “Grady Middle School” survey on Big Tent, which is a parent forum for the Grady cluster. The survey was to systematically ask questions to determine Grady cluster preferences for middle school. The enclosed data is NEW. Until now, no-one had done a systematic survey to step through a decision tree to determine answers as to “what do people, as a whole, in the Grady cluster want for middle…
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Share your opinion
Now that you’ve had a few days to digest the final Atlanta Public Schools redistricting plan, we want to hear from you. What’s your take on the proposed grade six academy for Inman Middle School at Cook Elementary? Take the poll and share your opinion in the comments section below! Follow city-wide APS Redistricting updates on the Patch Facebook Page. Connect with Virginia-Highland Patch on Facebook and Twitter at @VaHiPatch. Get Patch in your inbox.
Sunday, April 1, 2012
Davis said some issues are still being resolved
An expansion to accommodate the growing population at Springdale Park Elementary is still in the works. According to the proposal released late Saturday night by district Superintendent Erroll B. Davis, Jr., "feasibility seems likely from an architectural perspective." Davis said there are "a few issues left to resolve" and district officials will continue to explore options. Springdale Park parents have pushed for an expansion since the redistricting process began in November. Springdale Park Elementary, which houses students from Virginia-Highland, Poncey-Highland, Midtown and Druid Hills, has 544 students enrolled this year. Enrollment is expected to peak at 756 students in about seven years. The school was built for 450 students, but …
Samuel Inman
9:54 pm on Wednesday, April 11, 2012
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