APS redistricting plans face strong resistance from some affected communities
The first citywide redistricting in Atlanta Public Schools in nearly 10 years is meeting with strong resistance from some affected communities.
More than 600 parents and community members attended a hearing on Monday night, many voicing concerns about the travel time to their children’s possible new schools, racial diversity and split neighborhoods, according to the AJC.
As many Kirkwood parents commented on this blog over the weekend, one of the latest proposals divides their neighborhood. A Kirkwood parent at the meeting said, “I don’t see a lot of other neighborhoods that are split up into thirds, and I think that’s because some neighborhoods get more respect.”
The proposed new scenarios reflect changes made after more than 8,200 comments and 800 e-mails to APS. There are more community meetings planned – tonight at Young Middle, Wednesday at North Atlanta High and Thursday at Price Middle. All meetings begin at 6:30 p.m.
I received this statement from the Old Fourth community of Atlanta, which is unhappy with the proposals:
Old Fourth Ward residents have roundly rejected both new scenarios proposing comprehensive redistricting of Atlanta Public Schools. Alarmed that the most recent plans proposed by APS demographers perpetuate a long pattern of racial and socio-economic segregation of children living in the middle of the Northeast sector, residents are pushing back.
In an official position statement to APS, Fourth Ward Neighbors, Inc. neighborhood civic association outlines its opposition to new maps that carve out a gerrymandered district excluding Old Fourth Ward children from the rest of the Northeast sector. (see official statement attached) Residents are demanding that APS reject the new proposals, and instead fully integrate O4W students into the sector which incorporates Hope-Hill Elementary School, Inman Middle School and Grady High School.
Hailed by the New York Times as “a cradle of culinary and artistic innovation and a symbol of gentrification,” and dubbed “The Best Bet for the Next Hot Hood” in 2010 by Creative Loafing, Old Fourth Ward is one of Atlanta’s fastest growing intown communities. It boasts an eclectic mix of history with the up-and-coming, seniors with hipsters and historic shotgun houses in close proximity to bold, modern homes. People come from near and far to enjoy the trendy restaurants, hot clubs, arts galleries and tourists attractions that make O4W a unique cultural experience.
With a sprawling new park, expansion of the Atlanta Beltline, transformation of the former Sears building to City Ponce Market, and a trolley line connecting it to Centennial Park, Old Fourth Ward is experiencing a renaissance of confidence. Education remains the one element that falls short of the community’s ideal. An influx of young, middle class residents who are starting their families and now considering their children’s educational opportunities, is bringing the community together to resolve the longstanding educational shortcomings.
Along with the OFW position statement, residents offer a number of possible solutions, including the sale of the old Walden Middle School to fund renovation of the David T. Howard to address middle school overcrowding.
And here is the neighborhood association’s letter to APS school chief Erroll B. Davis and the school board:
When first presented with the choices provided by the initial maps released in early December 2011, Old Fourth Ward was elated that it appeared that Atlanta Public Schools finally had the courage to end the racial and economic segregation in the northeast sector (Old Fourth Ward, Inman Park, Candler Park, Lake Claire, Druid Hills, Poncey Highland, Virginia Highland, Morningside, Morningside/Lenox Park, Midtown, Ansley Park and Sherwood Forest). Given the direction of the second set of maps it is clear that you have not demonstrated that courage.
The Old Fourth Ward deserves and requests full inclusion of our community and schools within the Northeast sector at the K-12 levels via Hope-Hill Elementary, Inman Middle, and Grady High School.
The new maps as submitted by the demographers are astonishing in their scope of racial and socio-economic segregation of the Old Fourth Ward population from their immediate northeast neighbors and the extent to which they violate a large majority of the Priority One guiding principles.
Herein are the guiding principles that the latest options violate with respect to the Old Fourth Ward:
1. Attempt to assign students to schools located closer to their homes
● Violation: In Option B, students living in the furthest part of Old Fourth Ward will travel 2.5 miles to Inman Middle School, while students in the furthest part of Kirkwood will travel 7.1 miles to Inman via surface streets. In addition, some students in the Old Fourth Ward would travel less than a mile to Inman via the Beltline or on surface streets.
2. Attempt to maximize/keep the school feeder concept intact. No more split feeders. Clusters only.
● Violation: Both options create a split feeder at the middle school level.
3. Ensure student safety and transportation efficiency by using major highway corridors and geographic features as zone boundaries. Give weight to traffic patterns, energy efficiency, etc.
● Violation: The Old Fourth Ward community attendance of King and Coan Middle School requires the crossing of a major interstate and/or major railway corridor.
4. Minimize impact on areas that have been redistricted within the last three years.
● Violation: C.W. Hill students were redistricted when they were sent to John Hope Elementary in the 2009-2010 school year.
5. Attempt to avoid splitting neighborhoods.
● Violation: Option B currently presents a split Kirkwood neighborhood, choosing to select a whiter portion of Kirkwood to go to Inman Middle School, forcing out the Old Fourth Ward.
6. Retain ES splitting as a planning tool
● Violation: This planning tool was used in 3 of the 4 Round One options and has since been discarded for Hope-Hill, while this planning tool was kept as a valid tool for a Mary Lin/Toomer merger.
7. Consider SPLOST funded school expansion as a planning tool
● Violation: Old Fourth Ward holds a significant portion of dormant APS sites that could be used for expansion for our NE cluster.
If you accept either of the proposed Options, you, as board members:
1. Admit that it is acceptable to racially gerrymander lower income, minority students out of the Northeast sector at the elementary and middle school levels so that their largely more affluent, non-minority counterparts in close proximity may attend schools without them;
2. Accept that it is a preferable objective to racially segregate children from kindergarten to the 8th grade in the northeast sector;
3. Accept that, as educators, you have decided that in the northeast sector, lower income children are the only student population appropriate to send to middle schools that act as split feeders while a body of largely high income, non-minority students are not sent to split feeder schools;
4. Accept that, as educators, it appears that you have only allowed the low-income minority children of the Old Fourth Ward to attend Grady High School for the sole purpose of retaining Grady High School’s Title I money/subsidies;
5. Accept that, as residents of the City of Atlanta, you have chosen to hyper-segregate the population of students surrounding Dr. Martin Luther King’s home in the Old Fourth Ward to an overwhelmingly lower income, minority school population;
6. Admit there is a perception that your demographers have been heavily influenced by the seemingly segregationist arguments of some within the largely more affluent, non-minority neighborhoods in the northeast sector (based on the comparison of round one and round two maps);
7. Accept that busing non-minority students from the far away neighborhoods of Lake Claire, Kirkwood and Candler Park into Inman Middle School is an acceptable practice even though minority students in the Old Fourth Ward reside within a largely walkable distance to Inman Middle School and should rightfully attend that school;
8. Accept that racially gerrymandering the largely more affluent, majority white neighborhood of Inman Park into the Mary Lin Elementary attendance zone is an acceptable practice even though its walking-distance proximity to Hope-Hill Elementary should have demanded that it is part of the Hope-Hill attendance zone;
9. Accept that you as a board and superintendent have been complicit in the historic and systematic discrimination against poor minority students from the Old Fourth Ward for decades by excluding them regularly from attending elementary and middle schools with the student populations from Inman Park, Poncey Highland, Candler Park, Lake Claire, Virginia Highland, Sherwood Forest Morningside/Lenox Park, Midtown, and Ansley Park;
10. Recognize that it appears your demographers were heavily influenced by supporters of Mary Lin Elementary, Springdale Park Elementary and Morningside Elementary to the complete and total exclusion of the Old Fourth Ward interests that were clearly communicated via the same feedback process;
11. Admit that you have chosen to repeatedly and systematically devote financial resources to majority white neighborhoods in the northeast sector through the construction of new schools and additional classroom space that maintain and support historic racial segregation.
12. Accept that you created an academic and social disadvantage for segregated students’ ability to successfully integrate at the high school level.
13. Accept that as a board, the capacity issues in the northeast sector remain unresolved; that you refuse to allow Hope-Hill’s excess capacity to assist in relieving overcrowding at Springdale Park or Mary Lin Elementary schools; and that you did this in order to satisfy non-minority neighborhoods’ desire to exclude Hope-Hill at the elementary and middle school levels; and that you in turn propose new plans/maps to fill Hope-Hill beyond capacity with lower income minority students as an alternative;
14. Accept that Priority One guiding principles were selectively applied to favor certain communities.
We respectfully request that you immediately reject the revised maps as they pertain to the Old Fourth Ward. We look forward to an immediate revision of these maps that better integrate all communities in the Northeast sector.
–From Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog
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310 comments Add your comment
Wait and see
January 31st, 2012
10:10 pm
You have to divide the elementary enrollment by 6 and then multiply the result by 4 to determine accurately what Grady’s enrollment should be if everyone matriculated through the system. Grady’s numbers are low by about 540 students. Of course, that doesn’t take into account the recent growth at the elementary level that this redistricting is supposed to address.
Alex
January 31st, 2012
10:16 pm
Anon, other school districts have met and passed that equal protection challenge. Boston and wake county come to mind. Rezoning based on SEC was the rationale and it too applies here.
SEC as basis for redistricting
January 31st, 2012
10:30 pm
“Rezoning based on SEC was the rationale and it too applies here.”
That cuts both ways. It’s not unconstitutional to promote SEC integration and it’s not unconstitutional to segegrate based on SEC. To the extent that there is any claim that the maps are gerrymandering, it’s pretty clear that they’re doing so on the basis of SEC (or, more likely, school performance), not race. There are policy arguments against that, and policy arguments for that (impossibility or extreme costliness of differentiating instruction with students of very disparate abilities, high risk of parental flight), but it’s not unconstitutional.
anon
January 31st, 2012
10:34 pm
Alex, are there court of appeals decisions rejecting those challenges? Just curious. I know there is a lively debate on whether strict scrutiny would apply if SEC is used as a proxy for race. I personally don’t think it should, but there are some very smart people who disagree, and the Supreme Court has not yet passed on this question. By the way, I’m not saying that SEC shouldn’t be taken into account; I just found the reference to Brown and forced busing to be annoying. I’ve seen similar suggestions elsewhere, and some people probably think the author knows what she is talking about. Your fight is one for the political forum, not the judicial forum.
Alex
January 31st, 2012
10:57 pm
What is and is not constitutional is of course up to the courts. But litigation is always a long and difficult haul. The threat of litigation is not. And there are a lot of ways to threaten litigation, like starting a $20k legal fund. Still, the grounds for segregation arguments seem to have a lot more footing than whatever legal theory the $20k fund was supposed to support.
anon
January 31st, 2012
11:22 pm
Trust me, there’s nothing intimidating about a $20K legal fund. That’s pocket change. (And wasn’t that designated for the hiring of independent demographers and/or legal action?) Alex, a lot of people, in a lot of neighborhoods, like the idea of sending our kids to diverse schools. It is wrong to assume that we are all your enemies. The question is, how do you get there without imposing too great a burden on our kids? I have some ideas. I’m sure you do, too. But this is a political process, and there are entrenched interests to confront and ramifications that reach well beyond education. Many in the MES/SPARK area are scratching heads right now, too. But I can see the reasoning behind these plans even if I wouldn’t have made the same choices (and I wouldn’t have). Anyway, I was responding to a threat of legal action from an O4W advocate. It is understandable to look for a judicial solution when the political process isn’t panning out the way you’d like. But it’s not going to work for you here.
Always Skeptical
February 1st, 2012
12:01 am
So lets talk numbers and solutions if you don’t want to talk about segregation by class and race.
Lin is full, SPARK is full, Morningside is close to being full, Hope-Hill is half full (even while it carries all of the Bedford Pine population)
Use SPLOST to renovate the existing campus of David T Howard for 16-20 million dollars and place a 5/6 academy there, pulling students out of Lin, ME, Hope,SPARK and Inman Middle)
Put Inman Park in Hope-Hill’s attendance zone.
Hope-Hill becomes nearly a 50-50 split overnight ( race, class..whatever) Inman Park finally has walkable schools until the 6th grade.
Mary Lin may not then need an expansion ( money saved) and the SPLOST money could be used for renovation
Everybody goes to K-4 instead of K-5 and we all have long term ability to grow for the next 10 years.
Problem solved..Oh then we would get everybody complaining about going driving south 1-2 miles to DT Howard when they are not already playing soccer there, kids in 2 or 3 schools (Even at K-12 you could still have kids in 3 schools, K-8, 2 schools)…Blah..Blah..Blah…Blech. Put the kids on a school bus and call it a day
Alex
February 1st, 2012
12:13 am
Of course $20k is pocket change, but the threat was there even if the grounds and funds were flimsy. Happy to hear your solutions that work for the O4W because they certainly weren’t in any of the neighborhood position statements. Granted, those don’t speak for everyone in the neighborhood. But we in the O4W have not heard from any parents in SPARK or Lin who want to work with us save a few anonymous postings on forums here and there.
Just watching
February 1st, 2012
1:30 am
Regarding NAHS being 2400 and being too big….have any of you actually LOOKED at the plans for the buildings that break up the space into small learning communities, each with computer labs, science labs, etc. to support their area? Additionally, the possibility of a 9th grade academy on the same campus is being looked at as well. It’ll be big, but there will be smaller communities within the school.
As for the 6th grade academy at Sutton and 7/8 school at the old NAHS building rather than going with 2 full middle schools….not everyone in the NAHS cluster is in favor of it. It creates yet another transition at a time where transitions are HUGE developmental hurdles (more like roadblocks) for students. Adding another transition at that point is NOT appropriate and could be very detrimental for academic achievement. And to anyone saying, well Sutton already isolates the 6th graders…..my answer is, yeah, but they are still on the same campus and do have interaction with the 7/8 grades. 2 campuses is a logistical nightmare, esp’ly at the MS level.
And seriously, you are talking about NAHS being 2400 students, but all coming from one MS? And how large does that make the MS? Hmmmm….really, a MS of 2400 students, even across 2 campuses that would be TOO FREAKING BIG….and again, developmentally inappropriate. The NAHS cluster needs another middle school. IB certification will just have to be done again at the new school. Yup, it’s a LOT of work. Yup, it costs money. Yup, it’s not a guarantee. Are you saying you aren’t willing as parents and community members to put in that work?
I do agree that if 2 MS are to be in the NAHS cluster, that the feeder patterns for those 2 schools need to be more carefully thought through to preserve the diversity of the cluster that the NAPPS folks are tossing out there as a big reason for keeping just Sutton.
Our cluster is simply too big for only 1 MS. Period. Build another one.
And don’t even get me started on the 2 campus elementary schools….yet another example of APS caving to parents and communities with deep pockets and loud voices. Redistricting into smaller 1 campus neighborhood schools is what is needed. Again, the IB will come eventually.
Just watching
February 1st, 2012
1:53 am
@GM…the United States is a REPUBLIC not a democracy. Go back to your HS history and government books.
To alex 20K from Good Mom
February 1st, 2012
4:16 am
Alex, as commenters have posted, 20K is pocket change when it comes to legal fees. 20K hardly buys a divorce.
…but 20K is a very good start on a playground. It will buy half a playground. Instead of using 20K to fight the system, consider using the money for something positive. You claim that 04wd is poor and disenfranchised so 20K must mean a lot to that community– put it to good use.
To just watching from Good Mom
February 1st, 2012
4:19 am
Yes, just watching, we are a republic as in “and to the republic for which it stands, one nation….” I learned that in kindergarten.
B. Killebrew
February 1st, 2012
8:36 am
Um, a republic is a subset of a democracy. The U.S is not a direct democracy (except in a few small local communities), but we are definitely a democracy.
Democracy: government by the people, exercised either directly (a direct democracy) or through elected representatives (a republic).
Intowner
February 1st, 2012
9:52 am
Spark folks have already publicly offered to help Hope-Hill parents in any way they can (short of dividing their own school):
http://www.bigtent.com/group/forum/message/66058896
This is an incredibly generous offer of time and energy, and I have yet to see any response from O4W. I’m sure Mary Lin parents would offer the same help. Hope-Hill is NOT under capacity if the parents in O4W would simply enroll their own children in the school. It’s so obvious that Hope-Hill capacity will fill up organically when you consider the explosion in growth that has already been occuring in O4W. The huge new park, Ponce City Market, new housing units… new families will continue to flock to this neighborhood. They don’t need to poach from others to improve their schools.
Alex
February 1st, 2012
11:23 am
Intowner, the O4W’s original position statement on the four options expressed how much the community was looking forward to working with either the SPARK or Lin community. I don’t recall any response to that outreach. So, the SPARK community is welcome to tie some specifics to their current offer, even those “short of dividing their own school.” Otherwise, it looks like one big self-serving, yet empty gesture, which probably would have been expressed by some Hope-Hill supporter on Big Tent if David Rein wasn’t moderating so heavily. In fact, in one hilarious comment by a SPARK parent, she said was interested in “marketing” Hope-Hill – you can’t market a school that’s in danger of closing! Did she even look at what was happening to Hope-Hill after she breathed a sigh of relief that the merger wasn’t one of the new options?
Geez, the SPARK “haves” get exactly what they want at the expense of the Hope-Hill population, brutally criticizing the school and the parents who live in the O4W all over this blog and Big Tent, then immediately turn around and offer to help those “have nots.” How incredibly generous.
Alex
February 1st, 2012
11:27 am
Oh, and Intowner, I believe the response to the rest of your post about how Hope-Hill’s under capacity cannot be solved by growth or the high SEC parents in the O4W was persuasively addressed by Lynn on Big Tent, so I won’t rehash it here. In fact, sounds like you are the one who hashed it out with Lynn, so you already know the response to this argument.
Kirkwood30317
February 1st, 2012
11:35 am
@JohnK, you are absolutely incorrect about the boundaries of Kirkwood. The western boundary of the neighborhood extends all the way to Montgomery St. This map from the Kirkwood Neighborhood Organization via the City of Atlanta makes that very clear. Please look at it.
http://ivic02.residentinteractive.com/programs/download.pdf?xinput=39617477&sid=9604
Regarding redistricting:
Option A divides Kirkwood at the elementary level, with western Kirkwood going to Burgess Peterson and the rest of the neighborhood going to Toomer. (This is similar to the current zoning, which splits Kirkwood along the same line.)
Option B divides Kirkwood in three directions and at all levels. Western Kirkwood goes to Whitefoord, southern Kirkwood goes to Burgess Peterson, and northern Kirkwood goes to Toomer/Lin.
I live in the affected area (0.3 miles from Toomer Elem.), and I promise you I am not making this up.
PR by Alex from GM
February 1st, 2012
12:43 pm
Alex, I really enjoyed your big brave PR move.
You want other neighborhoods to help out your community but yet on this public forum where everyone in the world can read and see you criticize the very community you said you expected help from by saying
“… it looks like one big self-serving, yet empty gesture…”
ha ha ha.
What PR machine did you hire to create that message? or did you make that blunder all by yourself?
I won’t judge all of the o4wd by your comments but others might. You might better serve your own community by being nice to those you want favors from.
Toomer parent
February 1st, 2012
1:02 pm
To follow up on Kirkwood30317’s comment (which is true)….
Toomer is at the corner of Hosea and Rogers. And guess what street is the dividing line between the Toomer and Burgess-Peterson districts under Option B – Hosea!
That’s right….under Option B, the kids who live literally across the street from Toomer would not attend it! And BPA is on the other side of two major thoroughfares (Memorial Dr. and I-20).
Still waiting for APS to explain how this aligns with their stated goal of geographical proximity.
Lake Claire Dad
February 1st, 2012
1:26 pm
According to the demographer, the reason for Hosea/Oakview being the dividing line was because they couldn’t justify merging East Lake with Burgess-Peterson unless there was some type of land bridge between the two. Without that, you would have two island districts that are supposed to be together.
Suavez
February 1st, 2012
1:47 pm
@ Alex-Why did you buy a house in O4W if you don’t want to send your kids to school with the poor black kids who live there? Why do you feel the need to bus Spark or Lin kids to Hope-Hill? Do your kids learn by osmosis from sitting next to a Caucasian child? Spark has some horrible teachers anyway. The crct scores are good only because most of the kids are children of doctors and lawyers.
BIG IDEAS
February 1st, 2012
1:54 pm
I’d like to propose turning the Clermont Hotel on Ponce de Leon into an elementary school to relieve overcrowding.
Is the Clermont lounge still in business? It could be used as an after-school activities center with no modifications necessary!
It sits right on ponce, so we can get a perfect 50/50 balance of those well-to-do segregationist “haves” from the VaHi, Poncey, etc areas and the race-riot inciting “have-nots” from the O4W and Boulevard (an island in and of itself).
Once these kids join together for learning in an Atlanta landmark, they’ll realize how awesome everything is and call out their parents for being the knuckleheads who were unable to compromise until that magical day the Clermont Hotel Elementary School opened.
I forgot to say one thing–
Ray
February 1st, 2012
2:29 pm
I think the Clermont Hotel Elementary School idea is brilliant!
Let's Not Fail Our Kids
February 1st, 2012
3:46 pm
I’m sure I will incur the wrath of some of you, but please know that I don’t write this with any kind of “holier than thou” tone. I am just truly saddened to see how much hate, anger and mistrust is circulating on this blog. We all share a very common goal — getting our children the best education that we possibly can. We are the active, involved parents who have dedicated blood, sweat and tears, along with a fair bit of money, to ensure that our children — and others in our neighborhood — get something close to the education they deserve. We are all victims of the failings of the public school system in Atlanta. Many folks with the wherewithal to do so have already fled APS for private and charter schools, but we have stuck it out and worked hard, either because we believe wholeheartedly in public school education, or we do not have any other feasible alternative, or both. I guess what makes reading the entries on this blog so hard are that WE are the hope for APS. We are the ones who care enough to try to right the ship and save APS before it is beyond repair. I’m not sure how we do it — since with the disparate quality of schools in this town, it’s very hard to be accepting of the changes being presented to us — but we need to find a way to come together and come up with workable solutions, rather than tear each other down. APS and the demographers have failed our children. Are we going to fail them, too?
2 middles schools in N. Atlanta
February 1st, 2012
3:53 pm
@ Just Watching. You obviously get it. I agree with you 100% and I hope you are spreading the word. If Sutton consists of Jackson, Smith and Garden Hills and N. Atlanta consists of Bolton, Brandon and Rivers (as in Option B without Centennial) then the two middles schools would have similar ethnic makeup.
FYI
February 1st, 2012
4:03 pm
In the interest of increasing communication efforts, I’d like to point out to “Intowner” at 9:52 am that the link provided to “bigtent” simply leads to a sign-in page for those with passwords. I for one would like to see just how SPARK parents have offered to help Hope-Hill parents.
To FYI from Good Mom
February 1st, 2012
4:10 pm
FYI, you can request to be a member. It’s open to everyone. The group is called APS Zoning. Use the search feature to find the group, then fill in a few pieces of information, then the link to sign up will be sent to your real email account. Unlike on the Get Schooled blog, you have to provide the real one.
GM
suavez
February 1st, 2012
4:17 pm
Do SPARK parents owe Hope-Hill parents some sort of help? Let’s compare our property tax bills and see who contributes more towards APS. We are responsible for our children’s education and you are responsible for your child’s education. If you don’t like the education your child is receiving, supplement it at home. Last time I checked the library was free. Read the story of Benjamin Carson. His illiterate mother worked hard on her own to ensure he was educated, despite being impoverished. If she did it, you can do it.
To Suavez from Good Mom
February 1st, 2012
4:22 pm
Suavez, you asked a good question “@ Alex-Why did you buy a house in O4W if you don’t want to send your kids to school with the poor black kids who live there?”
I suspect Alex wanted to take advantage of the low cost housing and the rapid gentrification of this neighborhood but then he got caught when the real estate bubble burst.
My neighborhood has several of those. People saw how rapidly real estate was rising in my neighborhood, bought houses, painted them beige inside, added some granite countertops and bead board then tried to flip them for a nice profit. It worked like a charm for many people. They made a tidy sum.
so, my theory is Alex is one of those people who moved to 04wd, not to live there, but to be an opportunist in the real estate boom and now the bubble burst, Alex owes more than his house is worth, likely had a kid and he can’t stand the thought of actually living and associating with his neighbors.
He spent all his dough on a nice car and those lovely granite countertops and the big screen TV and now has no money for private school. He desperately and I mean deseperately wants established, affluent families to move into the school that he cannot bear to send his own child to so that they will “raise test scores” and create a perceived good school, which will increase his property values…so that he can afford to get out.
I have absolutely no proof this is the truth but I would be willing to risk a wager on it. Ive seen it happen in my own neighborhood many times lately.
The moral of the story, Alex, is buy a house where you want to live. Don’t put all your money in one investment. Be a Clark Howard type like me and save for a rainy day. I have a 17 year old TV but I can also live two years on my savings.
GM
Crickets....
February 1st, 2012
5:06 pm
Once again the GM is spouting her self-aggrandizing praise left and right. Does this woman have a life? I just scrolled through the back posts and she is here day or night. Doesn’t seem to leave her much time for all of the”do-gooding” we have to hear about from her. Just saying…
Atlanta Cheating, excuse me Charter Scandal by a disgusted Parent Observer
February 1st, 2012
5:14 pm
The Atlanta Cheating Scandal was a smoke screen! Sure, there were some educators that were unethical but not nearly as many as reported. The schools were purposely targeted and Kathleen Mathers was used in the process, learned of the dirty politics and ran with the wind. We are now finding out what all of this was really about. The bigger plan was to discredit public education and black educators. These educators would be forced out of their salaried positions by lies and speculation while being replaced by white educators. This was a full proof recession buster for non-minority educators cooked up by Perdue. The goal was to ensure that the people that would be most impacted by the redistricting would be so dissolusioned by the cheating scandal that they would miss the opportunity to object to these plans for segregation or ignore the handwriting on the wall. I am sure that with the closing of these schools that sit in black communities, more and more charter schools will be allowed to purchase these buildings for little to nothing. With that, black families will most likely enroll their children into these nearby schools that make promises that amount to an empty box of nothing with ill trained, uncertified teachers practicing and experimenting on black children. Erroll Davis arrived on the scene to carry out Sonny Perdue’s agenda. The affluent will get exactly what they want while the black remain disenfranchised. Aaaaah how history repeats itself. This was a modern day lynching of black educators all for property, money, and power. Disgusting!
@ Atlanta Cheating/Charter
February 1st, 2012
5:21 pm
I think you may be on to something. Why would so many educators remain determined to fight for their innocence? I have read that report five times and the more I read it, the more BS I smell! This was never about children and a test. Sad sad reality!
Can't we all just get along?
February 1st, 2012
5:25 pm
Joke! Of course we can’t – we’re human beings. People are always going to disagree.
I am struck once again at how much people use racial terms to describe neighborhoods, when what they are really referring to is class. The important color in this discussion is neither black nor white: it is green.
The Black middle class has been leaving the city of Atlanta for the suburbs, and that is their right. For the last ten years, the white middle class has been moving back into Atlanta, but not into all of it – only certain parts. So for the moment, the poor neighborhoods are predominantly Black, but not the middle class ones like VaHi.
For the moment, the majority of Atlanta’s substantial Black middle class is out in the suburbs….but that will change in about fifteen years, when their children graduate from college and move into the city because the suburbs are just so boring. It’s the cycle of life.
To Crickets Good Mom
February 1st, 2012
7:04 pm
Yes, I have been posting more than ever — and if you don’t like them, just scroll down past them. No one is forcing you to read my posts.
Do-Gooder Good Mom
To ATL CHeating Good Mom
February 1st, 2012
7:12 pm
WOW! I am so impressed at your investigative sleuthing. You blew the lid off the whole vast white wing white conspiracy and figured it all out didn’t you?
All the white people with all the power were so jealous of the fabulous $47K annual teacher salaries that they spent millions and created tests so that the students would deliberately fail them (they were included in the conspiracy) so then then hypnotized all the black teachers into erasing all those test scores so that black teachers could be booted out of their jobs and white teachers could be put in their place.
You’re a genius.
Bwahhh! ha ha ha!!
February 1st, 2012
8:01 pm
The conspiracy theory has me rolling on the floor!!! I think “Atlanta Cheating, excuse me Charter Scandal by a disgusted Parent Observer” poster should get a job as a Hollywood screenwriter. Wow.
frustrated APS mom
February 2nd, 2012
7:50 am
Last night’s SRT 4 meeting proved that there are many unhappy people over here. Lots of animosity towards SRT 3. People are not happy about the middle school situation. Several ticked off neighborhoods. All of the PTA presidents spoke out against both options. I honestly have no idea how all of this is going to shake out.
JohnK
February 2nd, 2012
8:38 am
Can you please elaborate? What are the issues that some in SRT4 are raising that relates to SRT3? Thank you.
frustrated APS mom
February 2nd, 2012
8:53 am
The loudest specific complaint was about moving Centennial Place into our cluster. We are already overcrowded and it doesn’t make sense to bring them in. People are also amazed at how far south the new high school zone dips down. It doesn’t make sense. It would be a whopper of a commute for those CP kids and the older kids that live around there. There is also a general assumption that the demographers caved to the pressures from the Morningside crew at the expense of SRT 4.
Wait and see
February 2nd, 2012
9:17 am
@frustrated, did you stay until the end of the meeting? I felt that the majority were working toward the concept of a 6th grade academy rather than two (or even 3) middle schools. Also, increasing E Rivers capacity when rebuilt to accommodate the “bubble”. The arguments were thoroughly presented with data to back them up. I was quite impressed.
C Jae of EAV
February 2nd, 2012
9:19 am
@ Atlanta Cheating/Charter 02/01/12 5:14pm – The underlying base (i.e Big Plan) of your theory is quite plausible.
How you’ve managed to tie subsequent policy policy positions and adminstrative actions back to your theorized “Big Plan” has some holes. I personally believe your off, but not my that much.
Trust that APS has been no fan of the proliforation of public charter’s over the last ten years, with the exception of KIPP operated schools (which seem to get more out APS than all of the others combined). Specifically to your point about the use of vacent buildings, APS has been quite reluctant to sell or rent (even in the face of legislative changes compelling them to do so) vacant/underutilized buildings to public charter operators with the noted exception of aforementioned.
I personally don’t see the re-districting effort as directly tied to the “Big Plan” you noted. Although I do believe it represents an opportunity for those who support the long term goal underlying your “Big Plan Theory” to seize the moment and further advance their desired public policy positions.
Irrespective of the desires of some to errode public education in GA in favor of a more privitized alternative, this present re-districting effort would have had to be engaged. The previous 10 year facilities plan has run its course and APS has to exercise appropriate due dilligence to formulate another strategic course in this regard.
All concerned stakeholders who espouse their support of developing APS into quality public education system (not just particular schools), will be put to the test. The final result will be interesting to see.
I got my popcorn ready.
GKM
February 2nd, 2012
9:25 am
The new site for NAHS is right by The Trinity School, isn’t it? The distance from Morningside Elementary to Trinity is 10.3 miles (you know, on actual roads since no one flies to school.) The distance from Centennial Place elementary to The Trinity School is 9.3 miles. It was fine with SRT4 when MES was redistricted north but now its an issue when Centennial gets put into NAHS? Give me a break!
frustrated APS mom
February 2nd, 2012
9:35 am
@ GKM: Actually it was NOT fine when Morningside was being talked about. SRT 4 has wanted to keep our boundaries the same all along. I’m not sure what gave you that idea.
@ wait and see: I stayed until about 8:40. People were still lined up to speak. I thought several speakers were repetitive but overall I was quite pleased also.
frustrated APS mom
February 2nd, 2012
9:36 am
@ wait and see: did you hear the North Atlanta PTA president? She was fabulous – I thought she had the best comments of the night.
Curious
February 2nd, 2012
9:53 am
My comment pertains to an issue that I do not think has been addressed on this blog and just minimally addressed in the SRT-3 meetings. I mentioned this on the other AJC blog, so apologize if I am being repetitive.
Most of the over capacity schools in the district are suppose to be closed to administrative transfers, however Grady currently has 298 out of zone transfers- that is 20.3% of the population! That would bring Grady from 1468 students to 1170. Grady’s maximum capacity, according to the demographers is 1275! Before anyone jumps on me for inaccuracies, I found these statics in an APS issued report online that came about during the demographic studies (report is called Student by School Attendance and Residence).
Now while that would alleviate Grady’s capacity issues, there is still a need to minimize Inman’s attendance zone. I would like to point out that Inman has 68 out of zone students. Now while that may not seem like a large number, that is nearly 8% of the Inman population and would bring attendance to fewer than 800 (based on APS current attendance number of 867).
I know that administrative transfer is an APS policy that cannot be altered or addressed by the demographers themselves and many of these transfers are from children of APS employees- which makes this even worse in my opinion.
Instead of us pinning neighborhoods and districts against each other, why don’t we work collaboratively to say to APS that this is unacceptable. Many of the redistricting would be significantly minimized if students actually had to attend the school in their own neighborhoods, not to mention it might solve their under capacity issues.
Wait and see
February 2nd, 2012
10:16 am
@GKM, you are wrong on several counts. We never wanted Morningside. It messes up our IB integration. We don’t want to lose what took years to obtain. There have been comments that, logistically, ME made some sense to be included in our cluster, but that has been about it. Also, since ME’s population is centered in an east/west configuration around the school, the average ME commuter heading to NA would have a shorter commute (and most likely a parent who can afford a car to drive them) than the north/south-configured Centennial Place (where the parent most likely does not have a car). Several people in the SRT3 cluster like to disparage the people of SRT4 as being racist, etc. I don’t think you all are aware that G Hills and Bolton are minority-majority schools, and that E Rivers is about 1/3 of white, black, and brown. Of course, learning about our cluster wouldn’t allow you to continue feeling morally superior!
@frustrated, I stayed past 9:30. I just really needed to truly hear what everyone had to say. Interestingly, there was a man who spoke toward the very end from another SRT, complaining that they were spending any money for the students of North Atlanta. I found this rather sad that he doesn’t feel that the people who pay the bulk of the taxes aren’t entitled to get any of it back in terms of school investment. My children attended E Rivers (and I still have one there), and it has mold issues and has a ton of structural defects. We didvnot have our annual Nutcracker performance because we are now using our auditorium for classrooms. Last year, my son had an entry in a citywide APS art contest, and it was held at a school in a lower socioeconomic neighborhood but the school was obviously very new with absolutely incredible facilities. Could you imagine if the north Atlanta parents had objected to it’s construction? The people in our cluster deserve to have good facilities, too!
Wait and see
February 2nd, 2012
10:20 am
Auto-correct changed my its to it’s. Hate auto-correct. iPad keyboards are big enough pain already!
GKM
February 2nd, 2012
10:20 am
Grady still has the magnet for 11th and 12th graders. Also, I believe that students who were able to transfer to Grady when they still took transfers due to AYP issues, are being allowed to finish there. According to Mr. Davis, unless the parent actually works in the school, the child should not be attending an overcrowded school. But if the child started there before this policy was in place they could be allowed to finish, not sure how APS is handling that. And as far as Inman is concerned, I’m not sure why they would have that many transfers unless the numbers that you saw are for a prior year (last year’s 8th grade was the last grade to allow transfers.) Again, the kids of APS employees may have been allowed to start there, and therefore, may be allowed to finish there.
Wait and see
February 2nd, 2012
10:22 am
Yikes, are not aren’t. Need more coffee!
Curious
February 2nd, 2012
10:30 am
@ GKM. Thank you for your insight into the transfers. Here is my take… I know of at least one sixth grader (child of APS employee) that attends Inman and whose simbling is at Grady just started at Grady this year. They are not even residents in this city.
My question as it pertains to the Grady magnet students is have those figures been factored into the projected attendence numbers? If half of those students will graduate this year and the remainder next year, then Grady would not be overcrowded. I think that APS truly needs to reevaluate the transfers. I find it extremely unfair that children that actually live within the district would be asked to leave so that others can be transferred in. My child is not being redistricted under these proposals, but it is still wrong. APS parents should have to send their kids where they live, just like most of do. If a school is over capacity, no transfers should be allowed…period.