Board of Education

November ABOE Board Chair and Superintendent Remarks
Committee of the Whole Meeting
(November 5, 2012)


EXCERPTED REMARKS FROM THE BOARD CHAIR

Good evening to everyone here and in our viewing audience. Thank you for joining us for the Atlanta Board of Education’s October Legislative meeting. I have three important announcements to make. APS Accreditation Restored First, my colleagues and I are ecstatic about the much-anticipated news concerning the system’s accreditation. In a letter dated today, November 5, 2012, the parent company of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (or SACS) informed us that it has fully restored the accreditation status of Atlanta Public Schools. For more than a year, students, parents, employees and board members have been on a journey of self-reflection and hard work. As a result, SACS moved our high schools up from “accredited probation” to “accredited on advisement” to now, “accredited,” which is the agency’s highest rating. We remain committed to continuing the work we started, and we thank everyone for their involvement and leadership, especially Superintendent Davis and his team. Parent Engagement Month I must emphasize that parents have played a central role in the regaining of our accreditation. So it’s quite fitting that my second announcement is that November is Parent Engagement Month in Georgia. On behalf of my colleagues on the board, I would like to thank the parents of this school district for your passion and advocacy. We encourage everyone to get and stay involved. For ongoing parent-related activities, please check with your school principal, parent-teacher organization, local school council and parent leadership group. In addition, please take note of the many parent workshops and other activities happening all yearlong at the district level. Congratulations to Outstanding Educators and Partners Congratulations are further in order for several educators and partners. Recently board members; Byron Amos, LaChandra Butler Burks, Cecily Harsch-Kinnane, Courtney English and Brenda Muhammad; Superintendent Davis and I had an opportunity to participate in two community tributes: First, the Atlanta Families' Awards for Excellence in Education surprised eight of our educators each with a grant of $7,500. The grants will fund innovative academic projects, support professional development, and signal the community’s appreciation of teachers and principals who are doing a fine job for their students. We congratulate the eight award recipients, and we thank the Atlanta Families for their generosity over the years. Please visit the district’s website for the names and schools of the award recipients. Second, the Atlanta Partners for Education Celebratory Awards Luncheon recently took place. Mayor Reed, news anchor Jovita Moore and corporate sponsors helped to recognize our schools and community partners for their outstanding partnership programs. The awards luncheon was really part of a larger annual undertaking called Project for a Day (formerly known as Principal for a Day.) As part of Project for a Day, approximately 150 Atlanta business and civic leaders dispersed throughout the city to participate in a hands-on, student-focused activity on nearly every APS school campus. Professionals from Target, Coca-Cola, Georgia-Pacific, IBM, Junior Achievement, Project GRAD Atlanta, Tyler Perry Studios and other companies participated. We thank and salute all of our community partners and schools for working together to support education. Again, for more information about these awards and countless other examples of the good taking place across APS, please visit www.atlantapublicschools.us. You will find pictures and videos on the media gallery, and stories on the Talk Up APS blog. With that, I will turn it over to Superintendent Davis for his remarks and report.


EXCERPTED REMARKS FROM THE SUPERINTENDENT

Good Evening to Everyone; I share the Board’s excitement about the full accreditation status of our high schools and I thank the countless individuals – both inside and outside APS – who are deeply committed to building excellence across this system. I want to acknowledge Dr. Kirijan and the Organizational Advancement team for their efforts facilitating our accreditation work. Before we get to the consent agenda, I have two brief updates. Title I Reward Schools The Georgia Department of Education recently released its list of “reward schools” under the state’s new accountability system. Let me explain that reward schools rank among the top schools in the state for either having high performance or high progress made by students over the past three years. ○ High-performing reward schools are the top 5 percent of Title I schools. ○ High-progress reward schools are the top 10 percent of Title I schools. Rankings are based on tests scores, graduation rates and progress in closing achievement gaps. Six APS schools met the criteria to become a 2012 reward school: 1. B.E.S.T. Academy Middle School 2. Carver Early College 3. Drew Charter School 4. Inman Middle School 5. South Atlanta School of Law and Social Justice 6. Washington Senior Academy Please join me in congratulating students, teachers, parents and administrators from these reward schools. Strategic Plan Reminder and Rollout As we recognize and glean best practices from our reward schools, we cannot overlook that our system also had schools named earlier this calendar year as “priority” or “focus” schools. To achieve success for ALL of our schools, we have begun rolling out our Five-Year Strategic Plan. Our Strategic Plan is a roadmap to provide us with a clear direction for moving forward and to hold us accountable for specific outcomes from now until 2017. In fact, as part of its decision to restore our full accreditation, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools positively cited the District’s Five-Year Strategic Plan. To sum up the Plan at its simplest, we are focused on four guiding principles (excellence, ethics, equity and engagement). The Plan also includes 10 objectives that all lead to one top objective: improve student achievement* (11 objectives in all). As part of the plan, we are closely and publicly monitoring such areas as higher graduation rate for ALL students, more inclusion of students with special needs, Advanced Placement achievement, and much more. We are making the plan available to employees, parent groups and community members; and the entire Strategic Plan can be downloaded from our homepage (APS Strategic Plan 2012-2017) or with assistance from the Parents As Partners Academic Center. I encourage everyone to take some time to review it, understand it and embrace it – so that all of us who care deeply about this school system can work together toward the success of every school/every child. COW Presentations and Special Presentation* Earlier today, the board heard two presentations during the committee of the whole meeting: ○ Monthly financial update from CFO Chuck Burbridge ○ 2013 proposed legislative priorities from Associate Superintendent Steve Smith Both presentations will be posted online, as well as accessible from the Parents as Partners Academic Center. At this time, we have a special presentation to pay tribute to some outstanding educators in APS.