I disagree with APS board member. Redistrictings are not always in “best interest of the children.”
As we have been reporting on the blog, Atlanta is in the midst of a redistricting that may wrest some kids from strong schools and reassign them to weaker ones.
An AJC.com news story on the issue today features this quote: Atlanta school board Chairwoman Brenda Muhammad said the district wants feedback and hopes parents understand the plans will likely change once input is compiled. “We encourage responses and recommendations,” she said. “I am hopeful parents will understand at the end of the day, the final decision has been made on fairness and what is in the best interest of children.”
While I respect Ms. Muhammad, I have to disagree with her. Redistricting occurs because of financial and administrative needs, not academic needs. Decisions to redraw lines and close schools may be fair and in the best interest of the district’s financial bottom line but the decisions are not in the best interest of every individual child. There will be kids who lose out on a better education because they are shifting to a school that is struggling academically.
In some school districts, schools are not that far apart academically so redistricting, while emotional, does not mean any significant change in the quality of instruction or academic outcomes. That is not the case in Atlanta where performance can vary a great deal from school to school.
I have received several e-mails over the last few months from unhappy DeKalb parents whose schools closed last year. Their new schools are not as strong. Parents complain about the cultures, saying their old schools had higher expectations for students. I suspect a few APS parents will be just as unhappy with their new schools when this is over.
Here is an except from the story:
For the first time in almost a decade, the district is planning to redraw attendance boundaries to relieve schools that are overcrowded and shutter schools with sluggish enrollment. APS has enough seats to serve 62,500 students but has roughly 49,000 enrolled.
Four scenarios were released in late November to start discussions about new school boundaries. The maps were created by outside demographers and mapping specialists, and they will change as the district receives results from a demographic survey and considers parent and community feedback. Superintendent Erroll Davis is expected to make a final recommendation early next year.
Each scenario calls for multiple school closures and for additions or new schools to be built in crowded North Atlanta. School lines across the city will have to be redrawn to accommodate the changes.
That’s got parents such as Cole Cowden upset about the possible outcome.
Cowden said his family relocated to a neighborhood just north of Atlantic Station and fell in love with Centennial Place Elementary School. One of his children now attends high-performing Inman Middle School with another set to start in 2014. But preliminary maps show his neighborhood redistricted to attend Kennedy Middle School, one of the schools where state investigators say cheating occurred in 2009.
Cowden doesn’t like that the early scenarios only consider which schools are full and which ones are empty, and he doesn’t think the district is really taking into account the public’s input.
“APS stood by while a contractor created a set of tracks,” he said, “and now I am on the wrong side of the tracks.”
Atlanta’s enrollment changes are similar to those occurring in cities across the country, said Jerome McKibben, a demographer and consultant hired to work on the APS redistricting. After the housing bubble popped, many families stopped moving from the city to the suburbs. As a result, districts such as APS are seeing an enrollment spike in early grades.
–From Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog
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141 comments Add your comment
Byte Me
December 12th, 2011
7:40 am
saying their old schools had higher expectations for students
Perhaps the parents need to vocally express their higher expectations for the school to the school’s administration. If you don’t demand better results from the school, how can you hope to get it?
Atlanta Media Guy
December 12th, 2011
7:44 am
Isn’t McKibben the demographer that lied, when they worked with DCSS redistricting back in 2004, Clew’s Crew tried to sell the property on North Druid Hills which closed Kittredge and they had to find a new home? McKibben fudged the numbers so Clew could get what he wanted. DCSS ignored parents, DeKalb Planning and the Atlanta Regional Commission. They provided false numbers about the growth around Nancy Creek Theme School, which ended up overcrowding the other two schools around Nancy Creek. Both of those schools, Huntley Hills and Montgomery had to bring in trailers, learning cottages, to handle the increase in students and the area in and around Chamblee continues to grow.
McKibben has a website that actually states they will make the numbers work. Whatever the client is seeking in change, the demographer can make the numbers work. Most parents were happy with the change, but some parents were angry since the numbers McKibben used did not jive with what was actually happening in the neighborhood. APS parents you better watch McKibben carefully.
NorthAtlantaParent
December 12th, 2011
7:45 am
I find it hard to believe, after a cheating scandal and near loss of accreditation, that anyone in the city of Atlanta would believe that APS has the capacity to consider either “fairness” or “the best interests” of our children. The fact that this study was released for public comment in December, a busy month when people’s attention is diverted to other things, smacks to me of APS trying to solicit feedback while not *really* soliciting feedback. It is almost as underhanded as the vague demographic survey — completed by all of 4,800 Atlanta residents — the objective of which was nebulously defined, at best. APS should be working on re-building parents’ trust because history has shown that NOT to be suspicious of their motives is a recipe for disaster.
Atlanta Media Guy
December 12th, 2011
7:53 am
I was just reminded by someone that McKibben was the one that used the cut and paste of a Fairfax Virginia report for DeKalb County. Parents discovered this through the process that Clew desperately needed or rather wanted. Clew and crew really wanted to sell that property to Sembler but they had to move the school. The economy tanked and the property was not sold. APS parents watch McKibben closely! Is this the same McKibben that worked with DCSS back in 2004? Just wondering…..
grammy97
December 12th, 2011
7:55 am
Pay very close attention to ALL the numbers! Currently these demographers want to re-zone the children from Berkeley Park and Underwood Hills in order to “solve” the crowding at E. Rivers School. There are fewer than 20 children from Berkeley Park at E. Rivers right now. How will our 15 – 20 students, spread across 6 grade levels relieve the crowding? Why should these children be uprooted? What proof do the parents have that the new school will supply what E. Rivers has?
HS Public Teacher
December 12th, 2011
7:56 am
It should read, “If redistricting are done properly and without bias, then they are in the best interest in the education of children.”
Beverly Fraud
December 12th, 2011
8:05 am
How does it feel to get PLAYED Step Up and Cover Up. You said NOTHING when the cheating scandal was mainly affecting POOR and MINORITY children, all the while helping to prop up Hall in exchange for not having “those” children soil your pristine environment.
Now that Hall is gone and El is gone and they DON’T NEED YOU maybe you will finally see what a PAWN you were.
Pity the poor children, but YOU are getting what you RICHLY and FULLY deserve.
frustrated APS mom
December 12th, 2011
8:07 am
I would like to know how much of our tax dollars went towards creating these 4 options. APS has stated that they developed the options with no input from communities or the board. Now they are trying to tell us that they need and want our input. Couldn’t they have saved a lot of money and time by getting community input first? Parents all over the city are stressed, worried, and angry about this right now. North Atlanta and Midtown communities don’t want to be chopped up and pasted together. The feeling is mutual. APS should let us handle our own overcrowding issues. We have some very capable and involved parents that could do a much better job than these demographers are doing.
frustrated APS mom
December 12th, 2011
8:10 am
@ NorthAtlantaParent – SO TRUE!!!
V. Powell
December 12th, 2011
8:12 am
The APS board should tell us their goals in re-districting. I would think that the goals would be to keep class size at a number where the students can get special attention. Keep disruption of students to a very low level. Keep thhe traveling time getting to school as low as possible. Make sure that change is not for the betterment of private schools.
Also, let’s put on the table; budget vs actual last year and current year-to-date vs. the budget after the change.
iRun
December 12th, 2011
8:16 am
@Bev Frau -
Who is that directed to? APS Parents?
iRun
December 12th, 2011
8:17 am
Josh, don’t be a jerk. Please. If you’re a parent, act like a grown up.
k teacher
December 12th, 2011
8:17 am
Redistricting is a fact of life. States are redistricted, counties are redistricted, cities are redistricted … schools can’t be any different. Demographics change, people move, neighborhoods are built out or “infilled” … numbers have to be maintained at the level to which a building is built to accommodate.
Beverly Fraud
December 12th, 2011
8:19 am
“I find it hard to believe, after a cheating scandal and near loss of accreditation…”
Correction: Loss of accreditation was NEVER a threat. This was pointed out, on this very blog IMMEDIATELY after it was “threatened”…that in fact the board could be en masse dancing on a stripper pole at Magic City, BARNYARD ANIMALS IN TOW and accreditation will still be “restored”.
And of course that is EXACTLY what happened. No hindsight NEEDED, (just a willingness to open one’s eyes and THINK)
Elgart, Reed, and the business community was counting on an UNINFORMED citizenry to make the ploy work. And it scared the bejesus out of the Step Up and Cover Up crowd, that’s for sure!
The entire episode was a POLITICAL POWER PLAY by those who tried to MINIMIZE the cheating scandal. It didn’t work, because the cat was out of the bag (and Sonny wasn’t putting it back) and so the board was made to “jump through hoops” to create the APPEARANCE they had “earned” SACS trust back.
Amazing how many people are STILL falling for the “system almost lost accreditation” when nothing could be further from the truth.
And now you’re trusting these same people to draw lines “in the best interest of children”?
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Beverly Fraud
December 12th, 2011
8:24 am
Well iRun is it not a fact that the Step Up and Cover Up crowd had next to NOTHING to say about Beverly Hall when the scandal was affecting mainly POOR and MINORITY children?
Do you remember any OUTRAGE from that crowd, even when it was apparent to anybody with a clue that MASSIVE, WIDESPREAD cheating was taking place?
Yet they were MORE THAN HAPPY to prop up Butler-Burks and company, even AFTER it was known she conspired with Hall to HIDE the Porter report (aka “one of the final nails in the coffin” that buried Hall’s denials and obfuscations)
Now that they are no longer needed in a feeble attempt to save Hall…
carlosgvv
December 12th, 2011
8:28 am
Saying a school is “struggling academicallly” is just a nice way of saying the performance level of teachers is low, teachers are threatend by their students, drugs are everywhere and some students are routintely robbed, beaten and raped by other students. And, of course, cheating will be rampant. Hey, is this a great country or what!!!!!!!!!
iRun
December 12th, 2011
8:33 am
Bev – are you an APS parent? Because I have a VERY different memory of this than you.
Then, again, my part of town tends towards activism in this regard.
Atlanta Media Guy
December 12th, 2011
8:39 am
I’m not against redistricting. It’s a fact of life and the population moves force districts to do it. Our census, every 10 years, provides the needed information to make informed decisions. make sure McKibben is using the most recent numbers. McKibben will make the numbers work for APS and how they want to proceed. Parents in 2004-5 discovered many mistakes in the “Fairfax Cut and paste” DCSS report. Parents then kept digging to find out where the demographer was getting the numbers from. Those parents never got the truth. DeKalb Planning was in the middle of a huge rezoning program created by Vernon Jones, however the demographer ignored those plans and never spoke with DCSS. The Atlanta Regional Commission never spoke with the demographer about the effected areas. All I want APS parents to do is to read the report carefully and make sure the numbers jive with the truth. If this is the same McKibben, who did DCSS’ report, do not trust anything until you verify it. Demand transparency and the truth!
Beverly Fraud
December 12th, 2011
8:44 am
iRun, I would just ask you to look at comments, or LACK thereof in the months after the cheating scandal broke (from the Step Up and Cover Up crowd) and compare it to the VOCAL comments from that crowd AFTER accreditation was “threatened”.
What were they saying about El’s “illegal” takeover (that a judge ruled PERFECTLY LEGAL) Plenty.
What did they say about Butler-Burks before El’s takeover, even when it was DOCUMENTED that she ACTIVELY conspired with Beverly Hall to hide evidence of cheating from the rest of the board?
Where was the “activism” concerning Butler-Burks duplicity before El took over?
Dr NO / Mr Sunshine
December 12th, 2011
8:47 am
“We encourage responses and recommendations,” she said. “I am hopeful parents will understand at the end of the day, the final decision has been made on fairness and what is in the best interest of children.”
I think she meant the “best interests of political correctness and at the expense of everyone.”
Dr NO / Mr Sunshine
December 12th, 2011
8:49 am
APS…
Watch and Learn. AHH HAHAAHAA!!!
iRun
December 12th, 2011
8:50 am
@Bev – I dunno. But it’s all we talked and blogged about over here. And then the neighborhood orgs were talking about it non-stop.
R. Hill
December 12th, 2011
8:52 am
“There will be kids who lose out on a better education because they are shifting to a school that is struggling academically.”
This is the root problem. Why should one school be different from another? Parental involvement aside (and while it is key to student’s success let’s just compare apples to apples for a minute and talk about the schools themselves) each school in the district should be providing a quality education to it’s students regardless of location.
If the city is going to be in the business of education, that education needs to be consistent across the board. Each and every school be expected to perform to a certain standard just as each student is (or should be). Show parents that the district values all children. Is that really so much for taxpayers, parents and students to ask?
Dekalbite
December 12th, 2011
8:54 am
This was exactly the problem in DeKalb. The schools were so uneven in performance that when it came to redistricting, there was huge resistance on the part of many affected families. In systems like Gwinnett, Rockdale, and Mariettacity for example, most of the schools are pretty standard in offerings and achievement. Therefore, the pushback is less. APS and DeKalb need to address the inequities between the schools before redistricting. The money DCSS saved was marginal compared to what it could have saved with eliminating some of the administrative positions, outsourcing some departments, etc.
WAR
December 12th, 2011
8:57 am
ahh the voices of reason so early in the morn do fear the superior and forlorn. (i have no idea what that means because i just made it up). good morning all. just want to say the tired, poor and huddled masses yearning to be free from failing schools and inadequate instruction will invade your community momentarily. prepare yourselves. its gonna get ugly.
Beverly Fraud
December 12th, 2011
8:58 am
The sad, (scary actually) part of all this is that without the AJC REPORTERS (yes I AM leaving out the editorial board, and members thereof who continued to defend Hall even AFTER cheating was evident) Hall most likely would be in place today.
The “bidness” community (”Let’s try to finesse this past the governor”) would have supported it; Reed would have supported it, the Step Up and Cover Up crowd would have supported it.
An organization (APS) of such apparent INSTITUTIONAL ROT as APS demonstrated throughout the years, and it took an EPIC FAIL to get people to FINALLY act.
Sad.
WAR
December 12th, 2011
8:58 am
r hill
the answer to your question is: yes.
Once Again
December 12th, 2011
9:02 am
Getting your children out of the government prison system that passes itself off as a school system would be in the best interest of your kids. How much longer are you going to put them through this punishment? Don’t they mean more to you than this? Homeschool, private school, and work for the dismantling of the government run “education” system so that you can get your freedom and your money back to spend as you see fit and so that thousands of innovative businessfolks can begin providing superior and more cost-effective options than those available today.
Beverly Fraud
December 12th, 2011
9:05 am
“If the city is going to be in the business of education, that education needs to be consistent across the board.”
If you want consistent learning across the board r hill, you must have consistent teaching CONDITIONS. But if you have schools in APS where it is NOT uncommon that a teacher be PHYSICALLY THREATENED or even PHYSICALLY ASSAULTED with little to NO consequences for the student you CANNOT have the consistent teaching you are so seeking.
But we don’t want to address THAT, because THAT requires holding parents and students and ADMINISTRATORS accountable, instead of playing the “blame the teacher” game that has become America’s favorite pastime.
Josh
December 12th, 2011
9:08 am
We will be moving our children out of this corrupt, reverse-racist school system.
This study, like the educators and administrators who are responsible, is a fraud.
APS parent
December 12th, 2011
9:08 am
I’d like to see what long term plans are in place to address the extreme inequality in the Atlanta Public School system and to make sure every child in the city has a “strong” education available to them regardless of where they live. Then maybe we won’t have public freak outs every time they need to redraw the boundaries.
Josh
December 12th, 2011
9:09 am
@Beverly Fraud – and I bet this “threatening” action occurs by those who excel on the CRCT and live in nice areas of Buckhead, huh?
A couple years ago, I heard Inman (Middle School) referred to as “Buckhead upstairs, Bankhead downstairs.”
People just piss away opportunity.
Can’t blame APS for that. Blame parents, blame society, blame demographics.
WAR
December 12th, 2011
9:14 am
josh
hahahahahahahahahahahahaha
reverse racism? let me get this right. aps openly or covertly discriminates against whites to keep them from attending predominantly black schools because whites will sully the pristine, cultural fabric of the black schools?
hahahahahahahahahahahaha.
maybe you didnt mean reverse racism. find another coined phrase.
iRun
December 12th, 2011
9:23 am
OK, this is no longer a discussion. It’s now a circus. I’m out. Going to talk to people about this IRL.
Dr NO / Mr Sunshine
December 12th, 2011
9:23 am
In the long run it really doesnt matter. The jails will remain filled with these children who’s parents do not care. You know who you are.
CTPAT
December 12th, 2011
9:33 am
As long as you have large elements of a community who don’t value education, you will end up with unequal schools. I totally understand parents who don’t want their child moved from a school where students are not only performing academically but where parental involvement and support is the norm to one where this isn’t the case. But, as with Dekalb County, the reality is this: redistricting will happen and so long as you’re child will still end up in a decent school, you should keep your mouth shut (I have a hard time feeling sympathy for parents moving out of Morningside or SPARK into E. Rivers). But, everyone should support those communities who are being asked to go to a school that is objectively inferior (by way of example, in DCSS, those neighborhoods moved out of Druid Hills HS into Clarkston). Stop trying to protect your little world and focus on what is, in fact, best for students (lord knows if you let your neighbors end up in a horrible school and they all jump ship, who’s going to protect your neighborhood next). Focus on the real issues not the perceived ones.
Former APS Teacher
December 12th, 2011
9:35 am
Anyone who believes APS has the “best interests” of their children in mind is a fool. Every asinine policy or decision they make is allegedly “in the best interests of children.” Wrong- it’s in the best interests of the ignorant and incompetent individuals who run that pathetic excuse for a school system.
Jennifer
December 12th, 2011
9:51 am
100% on target – student reassignments are often benefit the districts – and are not the done for the student.
And I know that all over metro Atlanta communities, you will find many schools just miles apart that are arguably not academically similar.
For parents it is important that you take a look at the tenure & credentials of the staff, the “program” funding (special education/gifted/ESOL) and the foundation/booster club money invested into the school. Here is the best website ocrdata.ed.gov .You will be amazed when you look at the subgroup composition of advanced classes by school and other information.
Dana Blankenhorn
December 12th, 2011
9:57 am
APS is re-segregating. Simple as that. Don’t sugarcoat it. Don’t hand us jargon. Just state the truth.
APS is re-segregating because the Atlanta area is re-segregating. You build new city lines around white areas, around wealthy areas, so none of that tax money can trickle down on poor areas, on black areas.
Same thing here. Buckhead is going to get a new North Atlanta High palace on the old IBM land, no matter what the cost, and kids from the south side are going to get what they got before the whole “magnet program” stuff started. The shaft.
I’m not saying APS has a choice in this. They either re-segregate or lose all political support among white voters in the city. Let’s just not pretend it’s something else.
The ghetto is returning to our lives as fast as our leaders can make it happen. Because we, the people want it that way.
Beverly Fraud
December 12th, 2011
10:00 am
“I totally understand parents who don’t want their child moved from a school where students are not only performing academically but where parental involvement and support is the norm to one where this isn’t the case.”
I understand as well…TOTALLY. But don’t, as the Step Up and Cover Up crowd did PRETEND you care about all the children in the system when you stood by and did NOTHING when the cheating was affecting mainly POOR and MINORITY children.
If they had stood up against THEIR board members who were DESPERATELY trying to prop up Hall, then they might have a little more credibility now. But they were MORE than willing to sacrifice the poor and minority children to the Hall facade of “miracle gains” in tacit exchange for having their school be left alone.
NOW they want to complain when they feel double crossed.
zeke
December 12th, 2011
10:02 am
Get one fact correct, IN ATLANTA AREA SCHOOLS, NOTHING IS EVER DONE FOR THE BEST INTEREST OF THE CHILDREN! If it was, they would only teach-English, science, chemistry, biology, physics, lots and lots of math, and, both Georgia and US History, no more left wing feel good socialist b.s. of man made global warming, multiculturalism, social studies, and, wealth redistribution!!!
B. Killebrew
December 12th, 2011
10:13 am
Dana Blankenhorn wrote:
“APS is re-segregating. Simple as that. Don’t sugarcoat it. Don’t hand us jargon. Just state the truth.
APS is re-segregating because the Atlanta area is re-segregating. You build new city lines around white areas, around wealthy areas, so none of that tax money can trickle down on poor areas, on black areas.
Same thing here. Buckhead is going to get a new North Atlanta High palace on the old IBM land, no matter what the cost, and kids from the south side are going to get what they got before the whole “magnet program” stuff started. The shaft.
I’m not saying APS has a choice in this. They either re-segregate or lose all political support among white voters in the city. Let’s just not pretend it’s something else.
The ghetto is returning to our lives as fast as our leaders can make it happen. Because we, the people want it that way.”
Well said. And totally accurate. This is the cold-hard truth. Let’s face it.
Beverly Fraud
December 12th, 2011
10:13 am
Will Chairwoman Brenda Muhammad answer Maureen’s concerns? We can guess what former chair Burks-Butler would have done-DUCK and COVER.
Is Brenda Muhammad willing to hold herself accountable on THE preeminent education blog in Atlanta?
(No doubt made so by its contributors LOL)
Another Mom
December 12th, 2011
10:26 am
@ R.Hill “Parent involvement aside” You will never be able to compare apples to apples because you cannot put parent involvement aside. That will always factor into the schools and how the children perform in the schools. Always. My kids go to “high performing schools.” When there is an academic problem, parents have their kids privately tested, hire tutors, get them in occupational therapy, speech therapy, language therapy, on and on. They don’t wait for the school to identify the problem and help. So guess what, when the kids take those standardized tests, the results are higher. Is it becuase of outstanding teachers, maybe, but then again, we’ll never really know, will we?
Beverly Fraud
December 12th, 2011
10:29 am
“I’d like to see what long term plans are in place to address the extreme inequality in the Atlanta Public School system and to make sure every child in the city has a “strong” education available to them regardless of where they live. ”
Problem with that APSparent is you can’t address THAT without addressing DISCIPLINE. And try as you might to blame teachers for the lack of “classroom management” (Really? Students are allowed to PHYSICALLY ASSAULT teachers with little to no consequences and it’s the TEACHER’S fault? Really?) to truly address the issue you have to hold STUDENTS and PARENTS accountable.
And APS is not willing to do that.
And, by the way, the Step Up and Cover Up crowd is NOT at fault for that. But even IF they don’t raise their children to behave that way, they MUST know it’s a problem, and they didn’t hold their board members accountable for it. Now they are faced with the possibility their children may go to a school where such is an accepted practice, and they are nervous. They SHOULD be, but more to the point the should HAVE BEEN.
Josh
December 12th, 2011
10:36 am
@Dana Blankenhorn
I’m not sure we are re-segregating. In my area (as per deleted comment above), they are re-INTEGRATING. As per “demographic study”, we’d go from 58% black to 99% black.
(we’re not)
Josh
December 12th, 2011
10:38 am
@ iRun – “act like a grown up”
Like the APS administrators, teachers, and demographers (oh wait they hired those) acted like “grown ups” all of these years?
See: CRCT results. Very “grown up”.
Now we HAVE to go private school. I have no more money or patience for “acting grown up.”
Beverly Fraud
December 12th, 2011
10:43 am
Of course Maureen’s post begs the question as to why she would “respect” a board member who SAT ON HER HANDS FOR YEARS while a corporate culture of administrative RETALIATION and WIDESPREAD, MASSIVE CHEATING festered.
If ANY of the current board is re-elected, the citizens of Atlanta will be guaranteed of one thing: A school system they FULLY and RICHLY deserve.
Beverly Fraud
December 12th, 2011
10:51 am
Maureen says she “respects” Muhammad? Did Muhammad respect the citizens of Atlanta when she PUBLICLY APPLAUDED Beverly Hall upon her departure from APS?
When you PUBLICLY APPLAUD the superintendent in charge during THE largest cheating scandal in United States educational history, “respect” is NOT the word that comes to mind.
Nor should it be.
Make sure McKibben is using the most recent numbers...
December 12th, 2011
10:54 am
This is an excellent point – which population dataset from the U.S. Census is being used for the demographic analysis? The U.S. Census has both the actual census data from 2010 as well as an extrapolated dataset from a rolling 3-year survey called American Community Survey (ACS).
There were a lot of questions about the mid-2000’s data for Atlanta released by the Census, mostly because it showed inflated population estimates, which were later corrected by the actual census count. Which of those numbers were used in the demographic analysis?
If they are not using the most recent Census data, then their analysis is suspect – the recent Census data are accurate, the ACS estimates from mid-decade are incorrect.