APS official response on North Atlanta High leadership purge
From Stephen J. Alford, executive director of communications, Atlanta Public Schools, on the purge yesterday of the leadership at North Atlanta High School:
Thank you for sharing your concerns and views about the recent leadership transition at North Atlanta High School. We have been preparing for new leadership at North Atlanta after learning that our principal planned to retire at the end of last school year.
On Monday, Dr. Howard Taylor was approved by the Atlanta Board of Education to serve as the new principal of North Atlanta. We are confident that Dr. Taylor’s leadership will take the school to the next level, a level of excellence that our parents and students deserve.
We understand the concern about timing and continuity, but please know that North Atlanta is replete with determined instructional professionals who are committed to delivering a quality education to all students. In addition, APS will certainly provide enhanced school-level support to ensure that there is no gap in service to students. In fact, each academy has been assigned two transition academy leaders, during the transition process. Permanent academy leaders will be installed by Dr. Taylor as soon as possible.
Keep in mind that among other changes, we will be moving into a new school next year; the move to a new campus coupled with having a new principal and installing a new leadership team is precisely why it is critical that we begin the transition process sooner, rather than later. Our decisions and actions are guided by longterm, sustainable school and instructional programs that will benefit all students.
Make no mistake, we thought long and hard about the transition. In making significant decisions that result in changes to our schools, we owe it to you and all of our stakeholders to weigh many important factors, including how the school is structured, about processes — how we get things done, and about timing. We have done the work and we are confident that we are making the right decisions that are best for North Atlanta.
Making the right decision is not always easy or popular, but it is always right. We are eager to transition to new leadership at North Atlanta High School and deliver an enhanced educational experience that our students and parents deserve. The staff members, students, parents and community stakeholders of North Atlanta High School play a critical role in the success of the transition. Now is the time to begin laying the foundation of North Atlanta’s new direction.
We will be meeting with parents next week to provide additional information about the transition and answer questions that our parents deserve answered. There is nothing more important to APS than providing a quality education to all students. We will work with parents, students, and employees to make the transition successful and enhance the educational experience at North Atlanta. Parents demand excellence from us; we are demanding excellence for our students and parents.
Again, thank you for sharing your concerns.
Stephen J. Alford
–From Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog
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146 comments Add your comment
Big Mama
October 6th, 2012
5:17 pm
I don’t see any reason for the sudden dismissal. Or, for the escort out the door. Must be a political reason.
bootney farnsworth
October 6th, 2012
5:26 pm
the reason for the sudden dismissal is simple.
no warning, no chance to collect proof/evidence of the wrongdoing of the system.
they want to avoid people having the chance to create a paper trial.
I love teaching. I hate what it is becoming...
October 6th, 2012
5:35 pm
No answers here at all…just lots of “double speak”.
Chris Murphy
October 6th, 2012
5:49 pm
“Making the right decision is not always easy or popular, but it is always right.”
This guy is brilliant! He’s even better than Keith Bromery!! An Einstein!
Andrea Shelton
October 6th, 2012
5:50 pm
APS and Mr. Alford – you are long on platitudes and short on facts. Newsflash: You work for us – the parents and students – we make the demands, not you. You’re demanding excellence? We had it; you kicked it out the door on Friday and notified us with a robo-call. That was excellence?
Dunwoody Mom
October 6th, 2012
5:51 pm
Well, there’s your typical Central Office gobbledygook. Speaking from my own experience as a parent, there is nothing more frustrating and irritating than when administrators are moved around without any official reason from the school district. Rumors and all sorts of other nonsense are spread when all parents, and students, want is just the facts. The drama, for the most part, starts and ends, with the School District Administration.
nikki
October 6th, 2012
5:59 pm
Jackson High will also be going to a new school next year as well as getting a new principal this year. Our principal was also approved on Monday, I assume. I wonder why this didn’t take place at our school or maybe it will. So it seems as if what happened at North Atlanta was not necessary or that APS doesn’t care about the students at Jackson because they are not having an overhaul. However I love our current academy leaders as well as our Interim principal Mr. Kenner. APS is a mess and I wonder how many of them on school board actually have students currently in school.
RCB
October 6th, 2012
6:12 pm
Board members may have children, but I doubt they’re in APS.
Ron F.
October 6th, 2012
6:15 pm
bootney: me thinks this was done hastily to try to put the lid back on a can of worms that was about to be dumped on someone’s head. I bet we’ll never know for sure, but an entire administrative team isn’t dumped so hastily just because the system wants to go in a “new direction.” If the recipients of this sudden escort out of Dodge were smart, they’d have the paper trail already in place, and I’ll bet they do. And I’d also bet some promises or threats were made to keep those reassigned quiet. Something’s up that caused this sudden change and it’ll be interesting to see if the public ever finds out.
Maureen Downey
October 6th, 2012
6:16 pm
@nikki, Wondering the same. Sent this note to Mr. Alford:
catlady
October 6th, 2012
6:22 pm
Apparently APS thinks this “statement” will satisfy those who care about their children’s experiences at this high school. Note, APS: This does not appear to be your usual do-nothing, care-little parent group.
EXPLAIN yourself!
NAH Alumni
October 6th, 2012
6:23 pm
Ha this letter is garbage and fluff.
Concerned APS Parent
October 6th, 2012
6:27 pm
So according to Mr. Alford this move was in the works for at least a year. Why not let the parents, teachers and more importantly, the administrators know of this plan. Ambushing us all is always a better move. Well thought out. Why is a new administration needed just because the physical building is new? I believe Dr. Taylor would have welcomed the experience of all the academy leaders at NAHS. They know the students, the procedures, the staff. Now we have in their place double the amount of people who do not know the students, staff or anything about NAHS. BRILLIANT MOVE APS!! Once again, we have a leader who operates in a secret society and does whatever the hell they want without thinking thru the consequences. Now you are scrambling to get us all on board. Enrollment was up at NAHS but I would be surprised if that trend continues. A new building is not what attracts people to a school. It is the people that attracts the people. And right now APS does not look very attractive at all.
Liz
October 6th, 2012
6:50 pm
Seriously? I mean seriously?
As a student who has been attending NAHS for three years, this news is shocking and horrifying. Those administrators were the ones who’ve know me since I was a Freshman, who helped me fill out community service forms, who were helping me plan for COLLEGE.
And you do this at such a critical time, when the IB accreditors are coming?! What if, because of this bizarre and likely political stunt, there are problems with the review? This is not just my, but the education of ALL NAHS students that are being shaken.
I don’t even have words to describe how I feel right now. I just hope you recognize the ramifications of this decision.
Prof
October 6th, 2012
7:05 pm
@ Ron F., 6:15 pm, in answer to Bootney : ” If the recipients of this sudden escort out of Dodge were smart, they’d have the paper trail already in place, and I’ll bet they do.”
Well, in his phone-interview with Maureen earlier today, MyGrant said of his leaving that “I had already cleaned out my office when I retired in June,” and noted that instead of waiting for security to escort him out the front, he simply left out the back door, went to his car, and drove off. Sounds like he left with any paper/computer trail that he had accumulated, and certainly that he had Taken Care of Business in June.
crankee-yankee
October 6th, 2012
7:29 pm
Whatever dirt initiated this is sure to come out. May take a little while, but it will surface. Too bad the kids are taking the initial punch.
Ron F.
October 6th, 2012
7:31 pm
@Prof: assuming there were any business to take care of, which is one of many theories that will get all the more attention because of the bizarre, sudden move by APS. I would think that if there weren’t something more to the story than anyone involved is telling right now, they would have just followed the prearranged plan. A lot of buzz and hullabaloo isn’t something they need more of right now, is it? I’ve been in education too long not to know that changes like this don’t suddenly happen without a lot of unseen and publicly unheard “stuff” going on somewhere. This is yet another reason I’m glad I’m not in a big system. Word gets around in a small town and you can’t just sweep the dust under the rug without somebody talking about it.
North Atlanta Mom
October 6th, 2012
7:35 pm
I think the really crazy part is the other administrators who were reassigned.
Mygrant was on the way out any way, so ultimately it will not matter.
But what did the other administrators do to deserve this?
Did they do anything, I wonder, or were they just collateral damage.
Right one
October 6th, 2012
8:00 pm
Brenda Muhammed’s grandson attends Jackson. You would think that they would have the same concerns for Jackson which actually has some of the same issues as North Atlanta. Will they be getting marched out of Jackson?
Logical Dad
October 6th, 2012
8:00 pm
Complete and utter BS from an unintelligent bureaucrat. Remember Maureen, it’s not the crime – it’s the cover up. This will blow up in Alford’s face (and Davis’, too) before it ends. The corruption in the central office may be a blessing in disguise. Hope Alford and Davis have their resume’s up-to-date.
Deep Looks
October 6th, 2012
8:10 pm
Mr. Alford: Quite a step up for you, huh? Why didn’t the superintendent write the letter like he wrote the first one? Watch out, my friend. You just may follow in the steps of your predecessor. That is one constant with this administration…they always find a fall guy.
chillywilly
October 6th, 2012
8:14 pm
I couldn’t agree with Logical Dad more. Erroll Davis, Keith Bromery, Alford, Chuck Burbridge, Nader Sohrab, and a few more need to be publicly humiliated and walked out of the front door by the SWAT Team.
Deep Looks
October 6th, 2012
8:41 pm
So if this has been in the works for a year, was asking MyGrant to come back and take the reigns done just so you could try to humiliate him along with the rest of the administration?? I suppose that was a typo? I bet right now you are all huddled together in a room with Chantel Mullen while she conjures up some more trash that will only serve to assist you to a quicker route to court. Get ready, Erroll. Your actions may have written a check that your district can’t cash!
Cliff Claven
October 6th, 2012
8:42 pm
Don’t hold your breath on anyone getting in trouble over this. They had a cheating scandal that costs millions of dollars and nothing ever really happened to those in the central office.
Ed Johnson
October 6th, 2012
8:44 pm
APS’ official response cannot possibly begin to substitute for their bad, dehumanizing, unethical, thuggish, bullying, and downright rotten managerial behavior in this matter.
To understand a system, watch what it does, not what it says.
Deep Looks
October 6th, 2012
8:47 pm
One more thing…you care so much about the children, but you do this one day before what may be the final SAT for some of the seniors. Early Acceptance or Early Admissions kids may very well have taken a test in the very school that was filled with Waldon and her henchmen less than 18 hours beforehand. Nice move. It’s all about the instruction and achievement, huh?
Concerned parent
October 6th, 2012
9:15 pm
So let me understand this as a concerned parent as well as an educator of 17 years….Why would you have to escort the principal as well as the administration team out of the building in front of students and teachers because new administration has been hired. This is some inapprorpriate and unprofessional. However, Atlanta is allowing has allowed this superintendent to do whatever he feels like doing because, “there is a NEW day in ATLANTA” …please…it is still political and at the end of the day students are not the priority!
Lizze mae
October 6th, 2012
10:08 pm
This is a mess, what is really happen in APS. Jackson was assigned a principal just like NAHS. So when do they come and shake up Maynard Jackson like NAHS or it’s not that important. Listen let’s have school and teach children. Every school in APS should be as important as NAHS and Grady High School. Don’t let the community determine the importance of the school. Maynard Jackson parent get on board and check out your new principal and see if she is really what her RESUME reads. Don’t be fool by the REAL TALK. What happen to the number one person that was up for the POSITION HAVE ANY ONE ASKED THE QUESTION. Don;t be in the position that we are at NAHS.
Beulah Monroe
October 6th, 2012
10:25 pm
Interesting, now North Atlanta is feeling what some of the schools on the southside felt over the past two years and they want to complain. Interesting, they loved Davis when he was binding over and kissing their—-. But now, they want to complain because he had to make a decision that was not favorable to the elite northside. You all were in line saying how his contract should be renewed, Well, it is your turn now. Suck it up!!!
A betting man would...
October 6th, 2012
10:34 pm
Do you want to bet the school’s admin failed to follow procedures for something like sexual harassment. Tried to hide something, and needed to be put out before they could destroy some evidence.
You are siding with the wrong side, wait and see.
JAR
October 6th, 2012
10:42 pm
Don’t waste our time with this hogwash from Alford. What does Davis the dictator have to say regarding these clarvoyant decissions????
vh3
October 6th, 2012
11:13 pm
Best thing that could come of this fiasco is for it to blow up on Davis and force our spineless school board to get rid of him and his cronies. Davis talks a good talk in public, but many parents who actually have kids in these schools see up close the disdain he often shows for our communities, parents, and students. I don’t believe for a minute he cares one iota about these kids.
Hope these NAHS parents keep pushing to figure out why APS has done this. Don’t let them off the hook!
BTW – nice response back to Mr. Alford Maureen.
Concerned
October 7th, 2012
12:29 am
Wow! I have never read something that supposedly had answers but left me with more questions. This is pitiful. If this [plan] has been in the making for a year, why didn’t APS have community meetings, surveys, task force meetings, etc. I mean really, the Superintendent put together a Task Force for Inman’s overcrowding issues but nothing for North Atlanta. This smells to high heaven. I do not see where anything has gotten better in APS. I believe this entire district is an island of misfit toys!!!! Can APS stay out of the news????
No Name Jane
October 7th, 2012
1:25 am
It is about time things with APS come to light. When Dr. Hall left the whole board should have been impeached. To much money is being handled by the wrong people. This is bigger than just the administrators at these schools, I could not understand why the same board that keep renewing Dr. Hall’s contract for all of those years to are still there. They had to know what was going on (everybody else did) did they not look at the test scores. I am waiting for an investigation in the Contract office to begin. that’s a real story in it self. The food service managers that are employed by APS are forced to do things that are not legal. Sodexo the food service company are allowed to have employees working around kids with CRIMINAL records and felonies, and the managers are force to do things they we all know are not food safety oriented. They are BULLIED daily and are afraid of speaking out for fear of termination. It would be a good idea to talk to the APS food service managers in private or on a personal level.. They have some stories to tell. Sodexo and some food service APS administrators should be marched out also. No private food service company should be allowed to operate in public school. Is it not strange that APS is the only system that uses this company, Again I say why get rid of Dr. Hall and not the food service company she brought with her, or the Board that keep renewing the contracts over and over. I’m just saying !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ivan
October 7th, 2012
7:56 am
Beulah Monroe – You couldn’t be more wrong. Davis has never kissed any part of us. Rather, he has gone against us at every turn – look at Mside. He’s driven more of Buckhead into private schools and now this is spreading (not good for any of us). Plus, this is not even a totally unpopular decision, the question is why did they decide to treat these public servants like criminals instead of with the respect that was due. It goes to the point that Davis thinks he’s a king and acts accordingly and doesn’t have to answer to the community or Board. Alford’s statement is a joke and doesn’t answer any questions. You tell us to suck it up but if all of us don’t start demanding accountability from the people that work for us, next time it could be you. Never been in favor of Davis and hope we get a new Super soon.
Beulah Monroe
October 7th, 2012
8:56 am
Ivan, I hear and understand what is being said; however, it is not about me. I do not think anyone should be embarrassed or escorted out the door during the school hours. We all deserve to be treated with humility and respect. I am sure something egregious must have happened to lead
Mr. Davis to make such a move. Not saying I agree with his method or decision.
Did any of you speak up when the students on the Southside of Atlanta had to endure the same when all of their leaders were removed from the school? At several of these schools, they received new and unknown leaders. The students and parents did not have a say. Again, what is the difference between the students on the Southside and Northside? I really wish that this system could be about ALL students and ALL communities working together for the good of this school system. At some point, we must put race, politics and socio-economics aside for the good of a true and rich education system. Did any of you come out to scream when Mr. Davis closed schools and uprooted students across town from you?
Shame on you Maureen for always jumping on the bandwagon when things are done to certain communities as you ignore the other communities. I know it is your blog; but, is it possible for you to spend more time making sure you provide journalistic equity in your blog?
Bullying is still strong but directed more towards principals from CLL. CLL is top heavy despite where the employees are housed. The schools are not supported. Customer Service is a joke at CLL. What is left?
C Jae of EAV
October 7th, 2012
9:06 am
Definately more APS Central Office gobbledygook ! One thing is for certain you don’t pull a stunt like this without there being some significant in the background driving it. What that something is remains to be seen. I wonder to what degree it may also be tied to the out zone student sweep which was another thunderbolt thrown down last week. Purhaps it’s not about what MyGrant did but what he knew……
@Nikki – APS likely chose not to pull this stunt at Jackson for fear that it would push more SE ATL families in the direction of Drew Charter’s High School which is also slated to open next year. Just a hunch but a pretty plausible one.
Dr. John Trotter
October 7th, 2012
9:06 am
I hate to say it but I don’t think that Richt is mentally tough enough to win at the very top. I mean the level that Saban and Miles win on. He’s a good guy and a good coach (and a great recruiter) but there are only a few who can keep their teams at that level. One is Spurrier. Meyer is another. Look what Spurrier has done at S. C. Watch Meyer turn around Ohio State. I’m just saying…
Dr. John Trotter
October 7th, 2012
9:11 am
I see that I posted the wrong thing on this thread. But, the blah, blah, blah, blah, blah that I was just reading…must have had me fired up! Ha! I presume that Master Erroll and his erudite (not) staff believe that the readers on this blog and the Atlanta citizens as a whole are complete imbeciles. Sometimes these educrats don’t have enough sense to pour p-ss from a boot. They just keep sloshing around in educational bullsh-t and expect the public to buy into it.
Wilbur
October 7th, 2012
9:11 am
Alford should not be allowed to write for public consumption. What a mis-mash of silly, overblown phrases that mean nothing! There does seem to be an incredible arrogance behind the decision to nuke the leadership of NAHS and to feed the public and the parents bureaucratic gobbledegook as a thin substitute for factual, informed leadership. Mr. Alford and Mr. Davis need to be reminded that they are public servants, not masters of the universe here.
Mr. Alford got his swing at the plate and missed miserably. Now we should hear from Mr. Davis who can hopefully be more forthcoming than his underling.
One thing for sure, any thought that Davis has stopped the scandals at APS is no longer viable.
APS grad
October 7th, 2012
9:20 am
This does come off as pretty bizaree for sure. Not that it was intended to be an indictment on the outgoing principal, maybe it was the other administrators, whom APS wanted to get out of there with the new principal coming in. Maybe between Monday and Friday, APS got wind of some potential trouble and figured it was a good idea to clean house. I suspect that more will come of this.
But I am concerned, that Errol Davis might be creating more issues for APS. Let’s be realistic, APS needs North Atlanta to be succesful. More parents are wanting to return to public school and with the new building opening next year, the APS want NAHS to become appealing to all those private school parents and entice them to send their kids to APS. But seems as the bizarre episode will only confirm those parents to keep their kids in private schools.
Private Citizen
October 7th, 2012
10:05 am
I may be a little later coming to this party, but this is what I think.
1. The reason for this is that the old principal retired and a new principal is coming to the school and will bring their own hand picked team with them. And that is it.
2. The public administration aspect of this, expected standards of governance and interface with the public seems to following a pattern I have seen elsewhere in county government where an official or employee is dismissed and the public is told “there are things yet unsaid” or that “we can’t tell you yet” or “there are forthcoming details.” This method of communication is indirect, tacky, and unethical and it breeds a sort of Peyton Place management mentality where intrigue becomes an addiction and occupation that supercedes good clean direct public service management.
3. From a worker perspective, this is a really harsh management method. Are there any ethical guidelines on abruptly moving staff around because someone said so? I have seen very high levels of frequency of moving employees around, both administrators and teachers. It is like they keep the employees in a rotation or playing musical cheers. This is no fun for employees who need to settle in to do a job well and benefit from their own work and methods. On the one hand workers are told to “build relationships” and on the other hand workers are moved from post to post with little regard for their quality of work. I call it playing Chinese checkers with the staff. Did a great job last year? Well, here’s your new post and responsibilities (and no thank you for the great job and recent go-the-extra-mile).
4. This follows a pattern that the bosses have all of the power and the workers have no power. Imagine what would happen to one of these staff or they objected to being treated in this manner. Their “they will continue in the system” status would be changed to being marginalized and put on the griddle. Rule #1: Don’t confront the tyrant unless you have an attorney and are willing to go the distance and even if you win, you are then suspect as the bad apple who made someone look bad.
5. Decided thumbs down on this management style. It treats everybody in a terrible manner except for the tiny group of visionaries and their mayhem. Maybe the new “management team” is really planning on thinning the herd of teachers and putting an increased workload on the teachers who remain. A guess.
Good luck, “valued employees,” and the ulcers are not easy to treat, either.
IMHO
October 7th, 2012
10:29 am
As an employee, reading about this mess has been very disturbing. This is NOT the way to treat professionals or the communities they serve! APS is a mess, but this is NOT the way to handle it! Obviously, APS is trying to cover something up, and the taxpayers deserve answers. Out of zone students (there are still way more than APS wants to admit), Racism, and cronyism are still embedded in the APS culture. Those professionals who could make a difference are being run off. So are the very families that APS needs to improve its schools. Too much focus still on Race and not enough smart people focused on education. To Mr. Alford, Superintendent Davis, and your team of flunkies, many of us are smarter than that. It’s still about money and power. I wish I had answers, but can only report what I see every day. Sad. Goodbye APS – I’m better than this!
Kim Zemmali
October 7th, 2012
10:58 am
This response is insulting. If you’ve been thinking so long and hard about it then why did the transition team coming only find out on Friday afternoon ? They too were blindsided. I hope that is not your definition of best practices. Timing was obviously not a consideration either – we had foreign students arriving from Columbia, the final SAT test for many seniors on Saturday, an upcoming IB visit, and homecoming the next week, just to name a few. Yes, what is right is always right except when it is wrong!
Southside Parent
October 7th, 2012
11:21 am
To those claiming anyone was escorted out of the building: that part is incorrect. It’s bad but it’s not as bad as that.
With the hints of attorneys and impending litigation recurring in MyGrant’s email & comments from NAHS staff, how much advice did Davis take from Sharon Pitts? This style of terminating an employee would have been normal to Davis in his former life, so if Pitts was telling him to do it this way, maybe it’s bad group think between Davis & the office of the general counsel. If they sought feedback from the brand new to APS North Executive Director, & the new to APS principal, neither would have their feet under them yet to be able to push back appropriately.
Still doesn’t explain why Alford couldn’t write a better email.
pioneer
October 7th, 2012
11:38 am
The guy who wrote this board response is wasting his talent. Obama’s machine could make use of him, even though I think Barry has enough poor and rich lined up for reelection over the middle class. Mr. Alford’s jargon is exquisite and the overall sound leaves an intelligent reader thinking that the author is truly one who writes much and says little.
Southside Parent
October 7th, 2012
12:03 pm
@ Beulah Monroe: I’ve been enthusiastic about Davis & Waldon. When this happened, I did think back to comments I had dismissed from others in SE / S / SW, and wonder whether I had been too hasty to approve of Davis/Waldon based on words rather than actions.
Here’s why this was different for me. When I heard protests before, they weren’t from Buckhead or Morningside. They also weren’t from West Manor or Beecher. Instead, they were from schools where performance is very low. Were the administrators fixing the situation or perpetuating it and needed to be removed, but managed to get parents to protest on their side because they didn’t want changes for their kids? Hard for me to say Davis was wrong.
NAHS is different for 3 reasons….
1) NAHS is one of APS’s highest performers – not a great reboot candidate.
2) NAHS is one of APS’s highest performers – why concentrate district resources to NAHS when they are needed elsewhere?
3) MyGrant was leaving. There was no reason to remove him.
KB
October 7th, 2012
12:20 pm
I posted this on yesterday’s blog, but it is still appropriate:
It’s my understanding that in the past week, the English teacher hired a lawyer to ask for e-mails that Principal Mygrant has detailing a long history of reverse discrimination hiring by APS. APS became aware of it and quickly acted/overreacted.
Those e-mails, which APS does not want to be made public, are the reason Mygrant was immediately escorted out of the school (away from the school’s computers). I only hope he has a separate copy of all of them somewhere outside of the school district’s hands.
Robert
October 7th, 2012
12:20 pm
This was just a “showing who’s boss” moment. Erroll Davis lost a LOT of respect from those who thought he would be a “white knight” to clean up the APS mess after Beverly Harvard. He has turned into a tyrant.
I do strongly suspect that there is an element of “black power”-style racism involved. MyGrant hired someone accused of being a “racist” (whether they were or not is irrelevant), which usually means that someone black accused someone white of racism, often as a power play. MyGrant appealed to Erroll Davis, but he found out that Davis is no magnanimous leader. Davis showed who was boss and who had the power. What we don’t know are the facts behind this case, but what happened is certainly NOT the proper way to manage a school system.
bootney farnsworth
October 7th, 2012
1:19 pm
speaking as someone who recently has been on the other end of a school system doing a CYA purge, I’m calling an integrity foul on Afford, Davis, and the whole crew.
sad thing is, they think so little of the citizenry (with a good level of justification) that they can put this crap out and feel comfortable about it
that piece of fiction was breathtaking, even for management. somewhere in fields all over Georgia, bulls fell over dead when this went out
bootney farnsworth
October 7th, 2012
1:21 pm
can’t help but think somebody in the PR office wet themselves when they saw this.
@Sandy Springs Parent
October 7th, 2012
1:24 pm
Some other things that I find interesting. A handyman that I have doing work for me weekly is also working on the North Atlanta High School project. A week ago Friday, he told me that they were working without permits because the city of Atlanta had held them up. I told them that, was nuts since this school was for the City of Atlanta School District. I was sure that some one would see the way and they would be approved.
Now this past Friday, he told me that due to them now being behind they were going to have to work the next 3 Saturdays a minimum of 10 hrs, 10hrs, and 6 hrs. to try to vatch up with concrete concete corring of the floor areas; This work had to work around eother tenants in the new school compldx.
bootney farnsworth
October 7th, 2012
1:26 pm
what do Kasim Reid, Beverly Hall, and Erroll Davis have in common?
(hint, nothing to do with their skin color)
Kim Zemmali
October 7th, 2012
1:27 pm
This response is insulting. If you’ve been thinking so long and hard about it then why did the transition team coming in only find out on Friday afternoon? They too were blindsided. I hope that is not your definition of best practices. Timing was obviously not a consideration either – we had foreign students arriving from Columbia, the final SAT test for many seniors on Saturday, an upcoming IB authorization visit, and homecoming next week just to name a few. Yes, what is right is always right unless it is wrong!
Private Citizen
October 7th, 2012
1:30 pm
“Focus school” label punishes a school for teaching the most capable students and teaching them well. It comes out of nowhere to put stigmata on good performance. It is a most bizarre thing. And then whoever came up with this mixes it up and combines the classification with schools that have low graduation rate. “Focus” labeling is a beat down, a slap for teaching high level kids and getting high performance. It is a real example of bureaucratic dumbing-down, of punishing a school for high performance. I mean,. it is right there, folks, bureaucratic harassment for good performance, which is completely a bizarre “reverse logic” in this politic of demanding results. I would be interested in knowing who authored this categorization system that blights a high performing school as 2nd rate and needing special attention and “improvement.” My understanding is that this came from federal level and the Georgia DOE just witlessly re-delivered it onto the unsuspecting schools who were blind sided with this labelling that came from afar. Where did this categorization system of “you scored too high, how about tone it down a notch?” come from? Who authored it? Does anyone know or is this Chairman Mao era communism where the directives have no source other than the party and you are told to obey.
bootney farnsworth
October 7th, 2012
1:31 pm
at their core- a basic, fundamental lack of integrity.
Beverly Fraud
October 7th, 2012
1:42 pm
“It’s my understanding that in the past week, the English teacher hired a lawyer to ask for e-mails that Principal Mygrant has detailing a long history of reverse discrimination hiring by APS. APS became aware of it and quickly acted/overreacted.”
Sounds like this should be Maureen’s next follow up question, let’s hope HUNDREDS of parents ask it Tuesday as well.
Private Citizen
October 7th, 2012
1:46 pm
If there are emails to be summoned, they should be existent on servers, whether they are deleted or not. System emails are the property of the public.
Wilbur
October 7th, 2012
1:59 pm
Since the APS action against the administrators at APS were “not adverse” these folks will still have jobs of a sort but will not be entitled to make a case in court of to hear evidence of any “crimes”. Seems a perfect way to cover things up and to keep difficult questions from being aired in public.
Things are still rotten at APS!
Attentive Parent/Invisible Serfs Collar
October 7th, 2012
2:30 pm
Here is what I know. The IB Diploma program and the IB Middle Years Programme are aggressively pushing the affective emphasis of changing the student and their attitudes, values, and beliefs instead of pushing content knowledge. Where principals and IB coordinators and teachers have balked, they get reassigned. Preventing Axemaker Minds and levelling (lots of quotes on this one) is a primary purpose of the real implementation and the democratic purpose of schooling that Beverly Hall was pursuing all along. (I have a book she contributed to so this is not inference). That was an issue up in Nashville resulting in a reassignment of a beloved experienced IB administrator. I raised the affective orientation and the mindlessness of the IB Learner Profile with Fulton’s Super, Robert Avossa, at a presentation he gave at Riverwood. I got the blackest look of my life in return for recognizing the issue.
Feature, not a bug, apparently in his mind. But then that is consistent with the tenets of an Educational Leadership doctorate. To push the social interaction and emotional/psychological learning emphasis. I looked it up after that look of scorn.
With IB about to roll back in to NAHS and APS finally in a position to get Fulton (that duplicitous charter) and Cobb (Hinojosa should not have been a signatory to that May 2008 document signing Dallas on to the democratic purpose of schooling and Equitable Education) to follow its lead on what goes on in the classroom, they need NAHS fully on board with the vision. Just like Fulton needed Riverwood.
The IB Learner Profile has been married to the 21st Century Skills movement to get us back to what Transformational Outcomes Based Education functioned as before it became notorious. Joined together the planned IB vision looks a lot like the Hewlett Foundation’s deep learning vision for CCSSI. http://www.invisibleserfscollar.com/when-deep-learning-and-systems-thinking-radicalizes-the-student-factual-reality-ceases-to-matter/
That all fits with the known, provable facts about IB as well as the spokesperson’s insistence this was about instructional issues. That has become shorthand for moving from the transmission of knowledge instruction orientation to Bela Banathy’s dreamed learner-centered vision. Which also fits with the focus on the IB Learner.
PS- I have IB internal documents touting what they are up to, the history, etc. This really is not just an opinion.
Prof
October 7th, 2012
2:55 pm
@ Private Citizen, Oct. 7, 1:46 pm.
Ah, yes. Computer forensics.
For the last 10 years or so all USG faculty and staff have been advised that nothing of confidential nature (tenure/promotion proceedings, anything connected with hirings, etc.) should appear in emails on University computers, for they always can be subpoenaed since we’re a state institution. We too have been warned about servers.
chillywilly
October 7th, 2012
3:08 pm
Here’s what I do know. While Beverly Hall was superintendent, some coworkers of mine in APS Finance Division were also blind sided, publicly humiliated and walked out of the central office building. This unprofessional humiliation happened right after the three employees provided Hall, Finance Managers and other top administrators with a scathing, detailed report of missing & stolen computer equipment worth tens of millions of dollars. In addition to the missing equipment, the report also included details of numerous errors on computer inventory reports that were provided to APS by inventory contractors. The strange thing about this is that APS paid these contractors in access of one million dollars to conduct the district’s inventory. The 3 employees who were publicly humiliated by APS had a combined total of 65 years of experience with the district. So the unprofessional humiliation that they did to Mr. Mygrant, Mr. Colbert and the other administrators is nothing new. It’s a terrible way of doing business and a terrible way of treating your loyal employees, but that’s business as usual at APS. I personally do not feel that Erroll Davis’ contract needs to be extended. He needs to move on and take some of his board members and incompetent central office folks with him. Stand your ground Mr. Mygrant & Mr. Colbert!
Private Citizen
October 7th, 2012
3:18 pm
Prof, I don”t know how you do it. I’m just referring to actual malfeasance in which is would be good for it to see the light of day. It seems to me the type management action that are the subject of this weblog are damaging to persons at least at the personal / stress / health level. Again, are there any ethics or other operational guidelines or can one person just tell another person what to do in an abrupt manner. I mean, this is not the 1890’s. You would think there were some procedural guidelines in place. This harem-scarem management method is disconcerting. This type of treatment should not be a part of someone’s career experience if they have broken no laws or created no emergency. Abuse of power makes for a situation where the meaning of terms becomes malformed. “Whose emergency” “By what definition?”
concerned
October 7th, 2012
3:25 pm
Invisible serf collar are you stating that the IB Learner profile acceptance or lack there of is the reason for this abrupt and unprofessional removal? I am not sure what your angle is. North Atlanta has the oldest IB program in the South- decades. This is not new nor is the learner profile cause for concern. As for content, the curriculum for the various subjects is on the IB website and for certain subjects is 80 pages long in what is content and almost half as much on the process of independent thinking and analysis. Not sure how this is harmful or cause to remove the administration without causing increase in harm to student body in collateral damage?
Private Citizen
October 7th, 2012
3:29 pm
The public shaming and humiliation ritual is not exclusive to APS, but it seems to be a regional feature. I have seen it done, let me thing, 1, 2, 3 times before this and outside of APS. It is done on the local government / school / university level and has the effect of making intimidation of workers and also making a drama smokescreen that detracts from recognizing what the managers of cliche (click?) are doing. Every every case it involves making a bigger than life drama out of something instead of handling it in a rational and productive way, particularly with regard or stewardship of the person who is getting “the treatment.” This type abuse of power needs to stop. It is childish and indulgent and embarrassing for the citizens who are paying the salaries of the power-thirsty persons who indulge in these antics. There are serious ethics considerations. It is now my opinion that any person this happens to should line up three lawyers on their team and sue the abusers for $50 million dollars, and I mean every time. I think this is the sole curative to this local habit of abuse of power and periodically perform the public humiliation ritual upon someone instead of being productive managers that competently steward their mission.
It needs to be said, who teaches the school children? The teachers do. What do you think is the effect on teacher morale and well being of this sort of heavy handed treatment of the mid-level administrators that the teachers work with? It’s like gardening. If you’re spraying poison on the tomatoes, do you think the cucumbers in the next row aren’t going to notice?
Attentive Parent/Invisible Serfs Collar
October 7th, 2012
3:49 pm
concerned–I think I stated it but the IB Learner Profile coupled with 21st Century Skills IS the curriculum. The change in IB initially came with the acquisition of the MYP Programme. MYP was actually created in Africa, Julius Nyerere’s Tanzania to be exact in the mid 1960s. It was always affective in orientation. The acquisition changed the nature of the IB Diploma.
UNESCO is the primary driver of what is going on in education worldwide right now. UNESCO has always been tied to the IB Programme but with its announced goals to get Education for All, Education for Sustainable Development, and the Millenium Development Goals all in place globally by 2015, IB appears to be one of their levers. Along with the accreditation process as I explained here. http://www.invisibleserfscollar.com/is-accreditation-the-enforcer-for-unescos-vision-of-solidarity/
So, the “I had a good experience last year or 5 years ago or 10″ is not really apt. UNESCO has gone on offense and so have their allies the accreditors and IB. That’s just a factual statement. If NAHS is still pushing content knowledge, especially in its top students, they would be violating IB and UNESCO and Quality Assurance policy going forward. They would also be running afoul of AdvancED’s accreditation standards.
Things change. IB and education generally have become cultural weapons against our noetic system and political and economic weapons against the US generally. That’s not a matter of my personal opinion. I have painstackingly put together repeated declarations of just that.
Prof
October 7th, 2012
4:55 pm
@ Private Citizen. Not sure whether you’re being sarcastic (”Prof, I don”t know how you do it. I’m just referring to actual malfeasance in which is would be good for it to see the light of day”) , but please see KB here at 12:20 pm, as well as yesterday on the other blog-thread devoted to this subject. Also Bootney and Ron F. here. All have speculated that the reason for MyGrant being rushed out is to prevent his access to school computers that have something incriminating on them, a common business tactic.
As you also noted, “I’m a little late to this party”; and it’s proving to be soooome party.
Mr. Thomas Anthony Jones, SR.
October 7th, 2012
5:59 pm
A bunch of lies from liars. Fire Errol Brown Davis, JR. He is a Carpetbagger.
Old South
October 7th, 2012
6:25 pm
I don’t know if there is any proof of reverse racism, but I would not at all be shocked if APS is reverse-racist. A number of Atlanta institutions are or have been.
These educators should know that there other cities with children who will benefit from their passion. As Atlanta implodes, other places will desire and pay for the talent you have.
bootney farnsworth
October 7th, 2012
6:31 pm
fortunately or unfortunately, take your pick- the vast majority of admin types are dumber than boxes of rocks. even after warning after warning by the USG, I’ve seen threats, harassment, bald faced intimidation, slander, and worse sent on email.
if anyone really wants to, they can data mine the servers and uncover mountains of “gold”
Old South
October 7th, 2012
6:41 pm
Let me also say, I don’t think APS is smart enough to conspire to erase emails. Doing so would be easy to prove if a case ever got to court. It’s more likely that the APS employees are surprised when their email works, let alone sophisticated tactics like spying. Atlanta is a low-tech city, no matter what the suits says. stodgy is something though that town excels at.
bootney farnsworth
October 7th, 2012
6:42 pm
@ old
if you’ve been here long enough, you’ll remember Maynard Jackson, Reginald Eaves, and the city being outed for blatant, intense, and deliberate reverse discrimination.
its a time honored Atlanta tradition
bootney farnsworth
October 7th, 2012
6:44 pm
@ old
IMO its not they’re not smart enough, they are too arrogant to care.
@Sandy Springs Parent
October 7th, 2012
6:45 pm
The big problem that bosses all over Georgia act like bullies is because there are no Unions. It is in the Public and Private Sector. I worked for one company here in Atlanta owned by two brothers on a daily basis the two of them ran up and down the aisles of our office cussing each other out. They also expected the office folks to work 80 hours days. The guys hung around and talked about Football and Nascar. I dared leave at 6:00, some of the guys said where are you going, I said my work is done, I have to go to the dry cleaner ( business attire was required), I don’t have a wife, I am not standing around talking about Football or Nascar. I left after a year.
The area is also full of over induldged brats who are bullies from childhood, when they get in an office or business setting they only get their postion by who they know. Not on their individual merits. So either they only hire their own buddies or the few that dare hire someone competent after you do all the work for them scream and have verbal fits at you trying to put you down, just like a school yard bully.
bootney farnsworth
October 7th, 2012
6:46 pm
Fran, Ed….
tell us again why some kind of watchdog or union would be so evil to the state.
besides it getting in the way of things like this…
bootney farnsworth
October 7th, 2012
6:54 pm
the unnecessary public shaming is done primarily for two reasons (occasionally it is legit).
-to intimidate those not let go, to remind them what will happen to them if they step out of line.
-because they can. petty, small individuals getting one last ounce of flesh from someone they wanted to destroy
Dee T.
October 7th, 2012
7:06 pm
This has been happening for years. APS has treated teachers like dirt for years…..especially under Beverly Hall. This principal must have been kind to teachers, so he had to go.
@Sandy Springs Parent
October 7th, 2012
7:33 pm
Let’s pray for Atlanta’s sake that Mary Norwood decides to run for Mayor again. It only took my friend from College Mitch Landrue 3 x to finally get the seat in New Orleans. Now everyone, is happy down in New Orleans that they stopped voting based on the color of the Mayor’s skin.
Remember Kasim only won by 700 votes. Those 700 votes to address that had been demolished by the Atlanta Public Housing Authority. The same Kasim Reed who bought $1,000 a ton gravel from on of his backers during the ice storm. The same Kasim Reed who canceled Airport Concessions procurement to make sure his donors could bid. The same Kasim Reed who is making sure that 4 minority vendors, who the Feds have ruled are not eligible for disadvantaged minority work, still got 10 year plus contracts. They including the former mayors wife and daughter. Then their is the Airport Limo contract with his investment partner. The list goes on and on. Is he also having the Friday night poker games as Bill Campbell did at his house.
I saw the Irony of irony yesterday, last night while watching the an old episoide of COPS, based in Atlanta. At the end they gave thanks to Mayor Bill Campbell. I could only laugh, yes soon be fellow convict and convicted felon Mayor Bill Campbell.
So what does Kareem Reed and Bev. have in common, they both head RICO organization and should eventually join Bill Campbell has Convicted Felons. But then again I lived in DC when they Arrested Marion Barry for Cocaine and then voted him back in for Marry. Certain subsets of America do the craziest things. Just look at crazy Glen Richardson, next we will have Pat Swindle running again ( I watched his trail in court, his faimly claimed his step father beat him as a boy, it caused him to be wayward).
jw
October 7th, 2012
7:37 pm
Private Citizen wrote: “This follows a pattern that the bosses have all of the power and the workers have no power. Imagine what would happen to one of these staff or they objected to being treated in this manner. Their ‘they will continue in the system’ status would be changed to being marginalized and put on the griddle. Rule #1: Don’t confront the tyrant unless you have an attorney and are willing to go the distance and even if you win, you are then suspect as the bad apple who made someone look bad.”
DING DING DING!!! Winner! Beginning to believe that the Davis administration is not so different from previous APS administrations. Very sad for the students, parents, teachers, and specialists that work with the students day to day. And very sad for the City of Atlanta.
parent1
October 7th, 2012
7:43 pm
Chillywilly could you please tell me what happen to Keith Bromery he no longer work for APS?
Right one
October 7th, 2012
7:50 pm
Would love to hear the answer to that one
Ron F.
October 7th, 2012
8:04 pm
Even if this all turns out to be nothing in the end, just the speculation on this blog and in the general public has definitely tarnished an already bad reputation in APS leadership. One would think they’d think of that before doing something so public as to escort an entire admin. team out of a school. They just don’t need this kind of bad publicity, but as my granny would say, “you put your neck out there, don’t be surprised if somebody slaps it.”
ATL taxpayer
October 7th, 2012
8:08 pm
There has been a change in leadership at almost every APS high school in the past years. The small school Principals at Therrell, South Atlanta, Washington, and Carver were all told this is their final year. Every staff member at those schools had to re-interview just to keep their current positions. And several weren’t picked back up. Barely a peep was made. As soon as they touch North Atlanta we hear an uproar!!! What makes the north Fulton community think they should be exempt from the “Dr.Hall clean up” ?
Doris M
October 7th, 2012
8:09 pm
Yes, I also want to know what happened to Keith Bromery. Did he leave because he could not abide the hypocrisy? Or was he walked out the door also? Inquiring minds want to know.
chillywilly
October 7th, 2012
8:21 pm
@parent1 – Didn’t know Bromery no longer works here. They must have slipped him out of the side door instead of walking him out & publicly humiliating him like they did others.
Maureen Downey
October 7th, 2012
8:34 pm
@ATL Taxpayer, But this is not reapplying for jobs. I have never quite seen anything of this scale.
APS sent a delegation to a school on a Friday, dismissing the principal and then announcing the leaders of the four Small Learning Communities — some of whom have developed those programs for years — are out and being reassigned other jobs.
I also think many of you are overlooking a major oddity; APS assigned eight Central Office staffers to those four jobs, which seems overkill. These eight folks are supposed to stay in place until the new principal hires his own staff, according to Stephen Alford.
So eight system-wide administrators are going to camp out at one high school for an unspecified length of time?
If APS can dispatch eight administrators to one high school — to fill jobs previously held by only four people — I think there are legitimate questions to be asked about overstaffing.
One of those administrators is the gifted and talented coordinator. Another is World Languages Coordinator. One is the Federal Grants Specialist.
Aren’t these important jobs to APS and its students?
What happens to all their work and their responsibilities? Does this shifting of resources make sense? And are the four NAHS staffers going to jobs that make sense for them?
APS parents need to know this as there are a lot of salaries involved here. Is this a good use of scarce resources?
Maureen
Pride and Joy
October 7th, 2012
8:45 pm
about the way the administration was treated…
This is SOP — standard office procedure in the non-government commercial world — when anyone is fired, they do it late on a friday as a surprise with security there to escort one out.
It is in response to shooting and violence in the workplace. They do it on a Friday afternoon to give everyone all weekend to talk about it and make as little disruption as possible. I’m not saying anyone deserved it. They may be completely innocent or absolutely guilty but the “humiliating” way they were treated is exactly like the standard way we in the commercial world are treated when we are fired or just laid off for no reason we workers created.
Emily
October 7th, 2012
8:51 pm
Good questions. The question is the diversion of all these salary dollars good for the kids of APS? Probably not. Is it good for Davis? Yep.
Seems like Davis has a lot to hide and to answer for. He is working overtime to keep all this away from a due process hearing. Davis is going to lose the confidence of a whole wave of parents with his arbritrary actions and his high handed ways.
Brenda McGowan
October 7th, 2012
8:54 pm
I agree that there has to be another explanation for the public display of disrespect to the outgoing principal and staff. It is not what you do but how it is done that makes the difference. I also want to thank the orchestrators for the fine example provides for the students, the inclusive and transparent decision making and showing the parental and students what accountability means in APS.
Chris Murphy
October 7th, 2012
8:55 pm
Yeah, go figure: 4 SLC heads = around $400,000 (just the salary), plus 8 Central Office Mucketymucks = around $1,000,000, plus MyGrants’ interim pay, and were around $1.5 million. Contrast that to “Priority School” (state status; lowest 5% in the state) MH Jackson HS, where we have to recruit waves of parents and staff to genuflect before the altar on Trinity Ave- to get hall monitors, to provide basic safety and discipline. Yes, there’s questions alright.
Ed Johnson
October 7th, 2012
8:57 pm
“Let’s pray for Atlanta’s sake that Mary Norwood decides to run for Mayor again.”
Here, here!!!
Former NAHS Mom
October 7th, 2012
8:58 pm
I am with Maureen Downey completely: what on earth would make Mr. Errol Davis and others think that summarily dismissing the Principal, so close to retiring, and the dismissal of the other 5 administrators in such a public and disrupting manner. This has NOT been helpful for the students, teachers and parents. These acts smack of intimidation for the teachers and insecurity for the students and parents. Also, the letter that was released by Mr. Stephen Alford today was completely ineffectual in addressing these concerns, in fact, the letter was extremely insulting. I am very glad that our child has graduated from this broken system, but feel great simpathy for the current students, teachers and parents.
Frustrated Taxpayer
October 7th, 2012
9:01 pm
What happened to NAHS administrators, and Mr. Alford’s garbled non-response, show that Davis’ administration is just as ineffective as the previous leader and her team. I cannot fathom anyone with an ounce of Communications experience approving the “transition plan” APS implemented, or giving this “statement” a green light.
Until the media digs deeper and sheds light on continuing corruption at the central office, we will see plenty of good people escorted off the property while inmates run the asylum. This district is (STILL) a mess. As usual, the stench at APS comes from the top.
ATL taxpayer
October 7th, 2012
9:04 pm
“reassignment” is the APS way. They shuffle administrators from building to building. I totally agree that the system is still too top-heavy with new titles and job descriptions for many of the same old people that were “walked out” from previous positions. I have no doubt that the academy leaders that were removed had done great things for the students, but it would not surprise me for a second to find out there were skeletons in the closet that helped aid in their removal. At the end of the day once all the dust settles none of this should be taken out on the new Principal. Imagine the resistance he faces from the students, parents and others. He’s in the hottest seat in the whole room.
Concerned
October 7th, 2012
9:29 pm
Nothing has changed in APS. Just as APS shuffles employees, the superintendents are shuffled…nothing different … Hall = Davis ,Augustine= Waldon, Anderson= Misfit Toy, Proctor=Broken Toy…none of these people have done anything to enrich the lives of children. They have talked alot, put out tons of surveys, created task forces and created tons of jobs using RTTT funds. But what has really been done to support the students. I don’t believe any of these people really care. The entire team of people are a joke. As one blogger stated, they are the left-overs from other districts coming to APS to either make a name for themselves or finish their careers. Who cares about Atlanta? Who cares about APS? But most importantly, who cares about the kids…the kids that deserve a well run school system that wants the best for all. SAD! Shame on all of us for allowing this stuff to continue! I hope the parents ask the tough questions, demand answers but most importantly move forward with getting people in place to make good decisions for kids.
Here we go again
October 7th, 2012
9:45 pm
allegations of racism…where is the crack deputy superintendent Karen Waldon in all of this? I wonder if she has any hand in this?
Atlanta Mom
October 7th, 2012
9:45 pm
ATL taxpayer
” The small school Principals at Therrell, South Atlanta, Washington, and Carver were all told this is their final year”
Hopefully they were told that because small learning communities are going away, and they were given 9 months notice to find a new jobs.
It is my fervent wish that all academy leaders and principals of the small schools were told the same. It is a model that can not be sustained without Bill Gate’s money.
Atlanta Mom
October 7th, 2012
9:46 pm
a new job, not a new jobs (of course in this economy they may need to find multiple new jobs)
Atlanta Mom
October 7th, 2012
9:53 pm
Maureen,
You been concerned about “APS assigned eight Central Office staffers to those four jobs, which seems overkill”
Sounds reasonable to me. These eight office staffers are going to be trying to hold it together at NAHS and hold it together at their “regular” position as well. Surely at some point you’ve been asked to cover for a colleague? It’s not fun to do two jobs at once. So now they have two people covering three positions.
ATL taxpayer
October 7th, 2012
9:56 pm
@ Atlanta mom
They tried to dissolve the small school model at the last minute last school year. (in classic APS fashion) time ran out so they let them ride 1 more year. Hopefully this will be the final year of the failed experiment.
Atlanta Mom
October 7th, 2012
10:09 pm
I think we should all thank Ms. Downey for staying on this story all weekend.
Truth in Moderation
October 7th, 2012
11:06 pm
@Kim Zemmali
It’s Columbia, South Carolina and Colombia, South America.
If you want to impress us with the school’s IB program, please get this right.
Kim Zemmali
October 7th, 2012
11:45 pm
@ truth – point well taken but I didn’t have the IB education, so you can’t blame my error on that. My point stands, but the next time I am responding to a blog while watching a soccer game I will be more careful. Thanks!
Truth in Moderation
October 7th, 2012
11:55 pm
My spouse grew up there, so I guess I’m more sensitive to the spelling than most
I graduated from the old Northside High School, class of ‘75. In it’s day, it was the top public school in the city. I am glad I left Atlanta and chose to home school my children. I have no patience for this political zoo.
JAR
October 8th, 2012
12:03 am
LOL, how ironic, Bigots crying .. REVERSE!!! RACISM!!! LOL
Old South
October 8th, 2012
12:59 am
@Truth, I meet people all over the country who have left Atlanta for various reasons. Most of them dont see a good future for Atlanta.
All cities have their bad sides, but Atlanta has an extremely toxic political segment that will commit suicide before accepting a defeat. And rather than force the issue and watch that suicide, the area is splintering into a zillion cities and municipalities, while the counties fall deeper into decline. It certainly isn’t 1996, and the masks of that era are all coming off now that growth is gone.
Tajaah Brown
October 8th, 2012
2:15 am
I’m a former Sutton Middle and North Atlanta graduate. Mark Mygrant was a superior and professional throughout my time attending both schools. Always giving everyone a second chance and shaping the students plus faculty in a positive & successful future. The allegations and things being said about Mr. Mygrant is far from the truth. The way school system is mistreating is extremely distasteful and pitiful. He has not only help mold, shape, and changed his students future but the students that after my class also have the ability to say the same time. I feel, he is owed a respectful apology and the ability to address his faculty plus the students parents at North Atlanta.
Patrick D. Gaul
October 8th, 2012
8:26 am
What an absolute crock of manure. The new Principal is coming from a “Focus” school, which does nothing to assure me that we are handing leadership over to a stellar individual. The way they removed the leadership reminds me of a hostile takeover, where leadership is removed before the new owners assume control, break up the firm, and sell it. Are we experiencing a hostile takeover? Obviously I don’t expect APS to sell off the school, but I think all parents will need to be prepared for significant changes and a lot of angst. As parents of two teenagers at APS, our biggest decision is whether we move to another school district now, or at the end of the school year. APS has removed every reason for us to remain at NAH!
Ksmith
October 8th, 2012
8:46 am
Since most of you want to sugar coat that facts. Here your go. If you noticed in this letter he says “There is nothing more important to APS than providing a quality education to ALL students.” For time now there has been a division in North Atlanta High. The parent of Buckhead feel that they run the school and really want only those student living in the neighborhood to be able to go there. A parent mad a statement about students being bused in. Who still you uses this term. Might I add that this statement was made at a PTA MEETING that they decided to have at someone’s house. When did we start conducting PTA meeting at a person house. There is also a parent that has keys to the school did you catch that PARENT! These are the same parent that were upset that they chose a African American for the job earlier this summer. They say they thought they would choose someone that know there neighborhood. Erroll Davis just showed that he would not be bought by those rich Buckhead parent like the rest have. You how do I know so much well I have 2 children that attend there one in 11th and the other in 9th. I have attended these meetings and I have never seen anything like it. So let us all stop acting we have no idea where this came from.
FJ
October 8th, 2012
9:51 am
This is so depressing to read. I was really hoping they were going to be able to pull it together for NAHS, but once again the momentum has been stomped into the ground. Way to go, APS. Just when we were trying to trust you again, you remind us why so many Buckhead parents go private.
Carlos
October 8th, 2012
10:35 am
The next person out the door should be the head of HR who arranged for so disrespectful and ham-handed a procedure. Not just reassigned, but kicked out the door.
The idea is to reduce resistance to change, not double it throughout the system by treating those who are being transferred like lepers.
What next? Branding with a big red TRANSFERRED?
Chicagojeff
October 8th, 2012
10:47 am
This is an attempt to subvert the IB accreditation. Common sense would dictate that you would allow Mr Mygrant and his team to complete the two week accreditation process and then hand it over to the new team on the 29th like previously scheduled. Now.. new people are in charge who may or may not be familiar to completing the process. Hence.. subverting the process is what’s key here. Also KSMITH. I’ve attended many a parent meeting at someone’s home in the same school area that we are discussing. It’s not crazy that parents in a local school area want say over what occurs at their local school. That my friend is the barrier that has never been breached. Some parents see the school as a service/business delivering an education to their child. Some parents see the school as a singular entity that operates on its own.. and those parents are sad to say.. willing to accept whatever they’ll receive.
Truth in Moderation
October 8th, 2012
11:10 am
@Ksmith
Have you ever heard of Marva Collins? She was an amazing teacher in the 70’s. Raised in the South, she graduated from college in Atlanta and moved to Chicago to teach in one of the worst public schools in a poor African American neighborhood. She endured for 14 years, yet saw that the school system itself was keeping the kids down. She had had enough and decided, against all odds, to quit and start her own private prep school for these children in a room in her house. Those who could, paid a small sum for tuition, those who couldn’t went free. She demanded excellence of the children in both speaking and writing standard English. Her first class was filled with public school rejects and labeled failures. She told them they could learn and would learn and she would not let them fail. The students were amazingly successful, and all 30 went on to graduate from high school, and many went on to college. All were gainfully employed. Her secret was that she expected and demanded success, and put in the hard work to bring it about. She understood the best way to teach these children, which is usually not the case in public schools. I hope you will take the time to watch the “60 Minutes” shows about her accomplishments. She still inspires many today to think outside the box of public education.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3QIVDEgO5Q
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6litjmzxI0&feature=relmfu
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7LPpsp_Qh0&feature=relmfu
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6litjmzxI0&feature=relmfu
waitaminit
October 8th, 2012
11:13 am
From earlier
KB
October 7th, 2012
12:20 pm
I posted this on yesterday’s blog, but it is still appropriate:
It’s my understanding that in the past week, the English teacher hired a lawyer to ask for e-mails that Principal Mygrant has detailing a long history of reverse discrimination hiring by APS. APS became aware of it and quickly acted/overreacted.
Those e-mails, which APS does not want to be made public, are the reason Mygrant was immediately escorted out of the school (away from the school’s computers). I only hope he has a separate copy of all of them somewhere outside of the school district’s hands.
Involved parent
October 8th, 2012
11:41 am
Ksmith -it is the Buckhead parents involvement with North Atlanta that changed it from the nightmare it was for the past 40 years. Clearly you have a problem with the new parents involvement. Get over it we are here to stay.
Kwanza Fisher
October 8th, 2012
12:22 pm
NAHS Racist?
I was NAHS c/o 2005, and I remember how racist that school was. In 2004 I was one of only two students to be selected for governor’s honors. Sure enough, they mysteriously forgot to include me in the school newsletter, but recognized the Caucasian student for her achievement (I’m African-American). That’s not the only instance of me being mysteriously forgotten about for other achievements. But I went on to Wellesley and studied in China (both places where issues of race are sensitive…and where I experienced negative racial interactions as well). It wasn’t until the end of my high school career when we received our IB scores that I realized that I was actually brilliant and superior to many of the Caucasian students. It wasn’t until I was at Wellesley that I found out that my book and poem commentaries were actually the “work of a genius”, as one Wellesley English professor put it. Also, NAHS should have done a better job of preparing more students of color to undertake the task that is IB, because when I was there IB was white (most of whom were slackers…especially the females) when the rest of the school was black and Hispanic. This created a sense of segregation within the school. If there were allegations of racism, then I applaud Davis for the swift action taken. I’m sure there is a history of complaints regarding this. If the interim principle had anything to do with creating the culture of the school by the time I got there then I would not be surprised to find out that the allegations are true. Of course, I do not have the facts of this particular situation and do not wish the allegations to be true, but I do know what I experienced!!!
Yes, I think NAHS was tinged with a spirit of the belief that whites are superior. You could see it in the way some of the teachers gave clear preferential treatment to whites–like openly establishing personal friendships with students and inviting them to their houses…or taking white students on canoe trips…and doing drugs with them.
Thank you Jesus for leading me out of that mentality and ushering me into a life where I recognize my own BLACK brilliance.
My name is Kwanza Fisher and I am a NAHS alumn who will be throwing her support behind the Mays High Schools and HBCU’s of the world. Rise and Unite: The Black Man is Back
North Atlanta Mom
October 8th, 2012
12:39 pm
“If there were allegations of racism, then I applaud Davis for the swift action taken. I’m sure there is a history of complaints regarding this.”
I agree. If this was really what this was all about, then I took applaud Davis for taking action.
I just wonder if this could possibly be true because I cannot imagine how Ms. Fairley-Nelson, Mr. Colbert, and Ms. Gautreaux were involved.
Prof
October 8th, 2012
1:07 pm
@ Kwanza Fisher and North Atlanta Mom.
Please see the 11:13 am post by waitaminit, that is quoting another post by KB from yesterday. If there is indeed any racism in all this, it’s possible reverse discrimination in hiring, which means–since Principal MyGrant is white– that it’s racism by blacks against whites.
Beverly Fraud
October 8th, 2012
1:16 pm
Kwanza, psst…go back and acknowledge the “principle” typo. And then a question; what specifically would you have liked the school to have done to increase IB participation from all segments of the school community?
NAHS mother
October 8th, 2012
1:26 pm
@ KSmith – I am also a NAHS parent. It’s my understanding that grade-level coffees are commonly held once a year (at the beginning of the school year) at a parent’s home. The purpose of the meetings is for parents to discuss grade related issues – teachers, schedules, etc. I don’t know why those have been held at private homes instead of at school, but the invitations do go out school wide. The hosting parents tend to have larger homes so that a large crowd can be accommodated. I have never been able to make it to one of these meetings, but I have received invitations from both white and black families.
As I said – I wasn’t at the meeting you’re referring to where a question was posed regarding bussing, so I don’t know the context or exactly what was said. Similarly, I haven’t heard anything like that at the meetings I have been able to attend. I personally have not heard complaints from white parents about diversity of the student body at NAHS. I’m not saying there aren’t any or that someone did not make an ignorant statement at a parent coffee. If I had heard a comment from any parent suggesting that there are students who are legally attending the school who don’t have a right to be there, I would have challenged that parent.
I am a PTA member. I do attend meetings when I can. I am not trying to take over the school. Please know that we are out here and we want your involvement at the school in whatever way you can give it.
As to the principal that was chosen this summer – I didn’t even know he was black. I never heard his race discussed. I just heard that he withdrew his name because he decided not to take the job and that parents were upset that the old Riverwood principal had somehow made it into the list of finalists.
I’ve read a lot of negative racial comments posted by people who seem to be both black and white – mostly on the blog titled “Bloody Friday.” From what I can tell, none of those people currently have students who attend NAHS and most seem to have absolutely no connection to the school.
Just please know that there are many many white parents at NAHS who see diversity as a strength and want the best for all the children there.
@ Kwanza – you have an amazing success story. I listen very carefully to stories of current and former students’ experiences because I want to know what NAHS is like for my daughter who is biracial. Maybe it is the function of time or other factors, but it may please you to know that I ask her frequently about whether she sees or feels discrimination in any form at her school – whether among students, student to teacher, teacher to student, etc. She has always told me no.
Good luck in all your endeavors.
Beverly Fraud
October 8th, 2012
1:28 pm
“If there were allegations of racism, then I applaud Davis for the swift action taken. I’m sure there is a history of complaints regarding this.”
Still doesn’t pass the smell test. While you do have a poster who has done Maureen’s favorite thing (signed her name to her post) who has brought us some food for thought about possible dynamics at the school…
But even taken at face value, it doesn’t pass the smell test that bum rushing the principal at the end of school would be the strategy taken if it was a case of “institutional bias”
I would ask Kwanza and others, if a long standing institutional bias was present, why would you bring the guy BACK? And absent a clear and present danger, why would you escort (or attempt to) escort him off the campus in that way?
Seems indicative of something else afoot, does it not?
Entitlement Society
October 8th, 2012
1:31 pm
@Kwanza – mighty weighty allegations you’ve cast out there – “teachers gave clear preferential treatment to whites–like openly establishing personal friendships with students and inviting them to their houses…or taking white students on canoe trips…and doing drugs with them.”
What happened to the teachers when you reported the drug use to administration? I’m shocked it never hit the papers. Surely you would have reported such an egregious violation of ethics and school policies.
teacher
October 8th, 2012
1:44 pm
@Kwanza- You graduated before MyGrant or Gautreaux came to the school. Drug use by a teacher would never be accepted. Do you know that in the last few years the IB diploma program has openned to students in all SLCs to help encourage participation by a more diverse population? Whether it is fair or not, a huge factor for IB participation is parental choice. The slackers you mentioned were probably not in the program because they wanted to be but because their parents made them and may not have even gotten enough points to get the diploma.
Also, please recognize that your opportunities to travel and go to college were largely due to the education and reputation of NAHS and/or the IB diploma program that it offers.
APS High Schools in Practice
October 8th, 2012
2:30 pm
@KSmith. NAHS may make a statement about the busing, but at least one or two Grady High School parents possess an address list of students with their addresses, parents’ names and schools where they are zoned. At least one of them is using the list to “root-out” those attending that high school on fraudulent enrollment.
If such a list exists, parents should NOT have access to it. The district, not the parents, should use the list for the purpose of making this identification.
An offhand comment at a NAHS PTA meeting pales in comparison to the Grady Gestapo parent force now self-appointing itself. Thanks to APS, there is even an anonymous hotline for these parents to use to rip an education from their clutches.
FJ
October 8th, 2012
2:38 pm
I don’t see what the problem is with an anonymous hotline. If the students aren’t zoned for the school and/or don’t have a legitimate transfer in place, they shouldn’t be there. Period. How exactly is that “ripping an education from their clutches” if they are cheating their way in? Grady is overcrowded. It needs to be dealt with.
APS High Schools in Practice
October 8th, 2012
2:54 pm
If the district has a list, it should use it to solve the problem it created by giving some APS high schools better resourced and staffed schools than others.
If some cluster parents and all board of education members had advocated for quality schools districtwide, then perhaps everyone would find a mediocre APS high school experience in their own neighborhood schools and not risk going to jail for wanting to educate their child like those north of I-20.
FJ
October 8th, 2012
3:05 pm
It is the never-ending argument of “they give the north side more” and I am so sick and tired of it. It simply isn’t true. These are public schools we are talking about. If you find one more desirable than another, move into the zone. There are plenty of affordable apartments in the North Atlanta zone. There are schools with empty seats in other areas of APS that are draining our tax dollars because nobody in those areas wanted to close the schools. There are schools that are bursting at the seams on the North Side of town. The kids that are there illegally should be removed. Simple math! I don’t see how in the world anyone could have issues with this concept.
Truth in Moderation
October 8th, 2012
3:44 pm
Northside parents, if you are tired of strife, conflict, and low expectations in public schools, try home schooling. You can get far superior results for a fraction of the cost of a private school. You are in total control of the curriculum and outside activities. If your family has frequent flyer miles, you don’t need an “IB” diploma. My 11 year old has traveled to Switzerland, Ireland, England, Hawaii, Florida, Greece, Crete, Santorini, Egypt, and Turkey on trips that cost less than a trip to Disney World. After finishing two years of Latin, he is currently studying high school level Spanish I (with a native speaker tutor) and high school level anatomy and physiology with a fetal pig dissection lab. He is an accomplished artist and origamist and has had his model displayed in a children’s origami exhibit in New York City. This year he has joined a home school drama club and loves to play Roblox with another home schooler over the internet. For P.E we rotate between swimming, cycling, and running – all using our excellent and inexpensive parks and rec system. His writing and spelling skills are above average thanks to a wonderful home school curriculum called “Excellence in Writing”. Math is the one subject he is not fond of, yet he is already working on pre-algebra skills and doing well. He enjoys reading and is usually in the middle of at least two books. At nine he studied Greek mythology, including THE ODYSSEY, and will often refer to the ancient heroes and tales. From our travels, he was able to see many of the ancient Greek ruins first hand, including the Parthenon. Our country was founded on private schools and home schools. Perhaps it is time to return to our roots.
AlreadySheared
October 8th, 2012
4:34 pm
As Supt Davis wrote a couple of months ago
(http://blogs.ajc.com/get-schooled-blog/2012/08/25/aps-school-chief-atlanta-is-poised-to-succeed/?cp=2)
“Good organizations find isolated pockets of excellence unacceptable.”
AlreadySheared
October 8th, 2012
5:05 pm
Oh, and
“Making the right decision is not always easy or popular, but it is always right. ”
‘There are none so blind/deaf/mute as those who will not see/hear/speak’
AlreadySheared
October 8th, 2012
5:15 pm
Last quote:
Dean Vernon Wormer: The time has come for someone to put his foot down. And that foot is me.
“Animal House”
APS Parent #2
October 8th, 2012
5:36 pm
@Truth in Moderation. Can I be your child?
You should like a wonderful parent and your child is receiving a very rich education.
I now feel pretty incompetent about my parenting job. Why didn’t I think of this myself before my kids hit the age where they are indoctrinated to like public school?
FYI
October 8th, 2012
6:05 pm
@ Truth in Moderation. Still at it, I see. On the recent blog, “Pre-K Turns 20″ where you deplored all mothers who sent their children off to pre-K, I posted this–which you did not deny–
“@Truth in Moderation. Do you deny that you have posted many times here that you are home-schooling your children? That on a recent blog about college-age students you stated that during college yours will be living at home?
… Back about six to nine months ago, you were posting many fundamentalist/millennial readings of contemporary events. Most memorable to me was your post stating that the idea for America’s three branches of government came from the “fact” that the Founding Fathers all were Christian and were following the idea of the Trinity.”
There’s more to education than book-learning and trips to foreign countries.
bootney farnsworth
October 8th, 2012
7:22 pm
come on everybody, lets admit it.
this whole mess is a very elaborate setup by a mostly black school board governing a mostly black system lead by a black chief – all for the purpose of setting up a white guy so he could be fired to get
back for all them lazy white girls floating thru the system while helping keep the black students down.
“kwanza” – a made up black holiday (bigoted event?) – do you have any idea how stupid this sounds?
almost as stupid as your accusations.
Ed Johnson
October 8th, 2012
8:16 pm
“Thank you Jesus for leading me out of that mentality and ushering me into a life where I recognize my own BLACK brilliance.”
@Kwanza, who told you your brilliance is “BLACK?” Where or from whom did you learn such silliness? Perhaps you learned it from Jesus. Did you?
It seems you define yourself by the color of your skin more so than by your wonderful and beautiful humanity. Do you?
Truth in Moderation
October 8th, 2012
8:42 pm
@APS Parent #2
It’s never too late. I know many parents who started home schooling their children in middle school and even high school. Check out the home school community near you. Most have lots of social and academic groups (co-op teaching). Many former teachers have found ample opportunity for part-time employment as home school tutors. You can spend a lot of money or a little. It’s up to you and your personal budget and creativity. I’ve been at it for 20 years. Each year has been very different, and quite an adventure. If you are able to travel, even taking a year off to do so is well worth it. Good luck!
Insider report
October 8th, 2012
8:48 pm
Don’t crucify Mr. Davis and his team until you know what really does happen inside the walls of N Atlanta! He probably doesn’t even know the half of it. Many of us on the inside approve of what was done if not the nature of how it was done. Many of you have been fooled for many years.
Wilbur
October 8th, 2012
9:31 pm
Should “allegations of racism” cause people to be publicly embarrassed a school disrupted and professionals reassigned? What exactly does an allegation of racism mean?
How about allegations of drug use or allegations of corruption or any other allegations.
Allegations are just that unless there is some meaningful corroboration.
Truth in Moderation
October 9th, 2012
1:59 am
@ Wilbur
You might find this interesting.
http://hillbuzz.org/extreme-black-anger-in-chicago-at-obama-he-done-did-it-he-ruined-it-for-us-white-people-dont-feel-guilty-no-more-and-wont-do-stuff-for-us-now-64493
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October 9th, 2012
3:11 am
[...] APS official response on North Atlanta High leadership purge Thank you for sharing your concerns and views about the recent leadership transition at North Atlanta High School. We have been preparing for new leadership at North Atlanta after learning that our principal planned to retire at the end of last school … Read more on Atlanta Journal Constitution (blog) [...]
Bowmom
October 9th, 2012
9:06 am
Really?! This response is for the birds.
Erroll Davis and APS BOE, you are OUT OF CONTROL. You are the ones who need a house cleaning! “Security!!!”
Current NAHS Student
October 9th, 2012
10:51 am
I am outraged by the actions of APS. There is nothing good coming out of their brick building downtown. Their recent actions are just proof of their blatant incompetence. Something has to be done. In my years at North Atlanta, the administrative team has been crucial to my school’s success. John Denine has worked so hard to get International Studies where it is today. It is completely ridiculous to claim that North Atlanta needs a “new direction.” APS honestly cannot take credit for any of the good at North Atlanta. Again and again they have proved to be corrupt and self serving. Mark Mygrant in no way is racist. When will APS realize that not everything has to do with race? North Atlanta is a diverse and healthy school environment. It sickens me that these people in authority are trying to ruin that.
North Atlanta High: Expect a crowd tonight for school chief meeting. And tough questions. | Get Schooled
October 9th, 2012
11:40 am
[...] APS denies it was politics, saying the removal of the four school leaders was planned for quite a while so that the new principal can hire his own team. Of course, that raises the question of why the transfers were done in such stealth fashion on Friday. And why a similar purge didn’t occur at Maynard Jackson High, which is also getting a new principal. [...]
Clear Vision
October 9th, 2012
5:52 pm
Just a thought……has anyone even considered that there is the possibility that this situation was warranted?? Regardless of how you feel about Mygrant and the administration, clearly there must have been some strong evidence to warrant this action. Surely, APS would not open themselves to possible litigation based on them moving without proper legal grounds.
atljan
October 10th, 2012
4:59 pm
Ok, We’ve all been employees and many of us have been employers, as well. When is it preferable that the new and old employees not overlap? Ok, maybe you have a bad apple whom you need to show to the door ASAP. . .but when have you wanted to gut an entire operation and leave no one to train the new folks? Is that how you have seen “transitions” take place in your line of work? Do you want the new team to come in, midstream, without anyone to show them the system of operations currently in place? Heck no, not ever, and especially not in anything as complex as a school–where kids’ college applications are at stake.
There is something fishy here. If Mygrant and company were the corrupt side of the equation, we would have heard about it by now. My guess is, Mygrant had dirt on folks downtown and they found out about it. Buh-bye.
Truthteller
October 10th, 2012
11:22 pm
Truth of the matter is there was racism taking place at NAHS!! Davis made the statement to appease the media and parents. He has to protect the whistleblower that was brave enough to report it. For several years black students have been shoveled into a specific SLC within the school and disproportionally disciplined and blatantly disenfranchised. This is not an opinion it’s fact. After the whole story comes out I’m sure the community and biased media won’t acknowledge the superintendent acted swiftly and properly in the best interest of the school as a whole and not just to a certain segment of the parent base. It’s rare to say, but in this case APS did the right thing. Kudos