The morning after: Did Erroll Davis provide a convincing case for the North Atlanta High shakeup?
Students were among the 800 to 900 people who attended a meeting with Erroll Davis at North Atlanta High on Tuesday night. (AJC/Johnny Crawford)
In his explanation last night to about 900 parent and students at North Atlanta High on why he gutted the school’s leadership team in a blitzkrieg Friday, APS school chief Erroll Davis cited the school’s performance.
Among his comments:
“My view is this school needs to be a lot more than it is presently.”
“Performance data for this schools says it has to improve and improve quickly.”
“From 2007 to 2011, this school did not make AYP. Now, it is an Needs Improvement school, which means under some level of state monitoring.” (Here is the link to the North Atlanta High state report card.)
“The graduation rate is higher than system average. It is at 62 percent, seventh from the bottom at APS. This is not what I want for APS. This is not where we need to be. It means we are failing four out of every 10 of our children.”
Davis was unflappable and polite under tough circumstances. Many people in the audience supported the deposed principal Mark MyGrant, evidenced by the deafening standing ovation MyGrant received when he suddenly appeared and walked through the crowded gym.
Davis took about 60 questions, some of which included sharp criticisms. And he made a good argument that North Atlanta High was not performing up to its potential in its graduation rate.
But then Davis offered a less convincing argument for the purge at North Atlanta High when he cited Adequate Yearly Progress, a measure used under No Child Left Behind to rate schools.
I took two hours this morning to examine that claim.
As of this year, Georgia is no longer bound by AYP. Georgia was among the states that contended AYP was unfair as a school could fail on the performance of only a small number of students. Now, standardized test scores still will count in schools’ annual evaluations, but will carry far less weight as Georgia transitions to a system that will measure students’ readiness to attend college or begin a career after high school.
New designations — Priority schools, Focus schools and Reward schools — replace the “needs improvement” label that state school chief John Barge described as unclear and unhelpful.
The performance of Focus schools is slightly stronger than those on the Priority schools. Priority schools are the lowest-performing 5 percent of public schools in the state; Focus schools represent the 10 percent of schools just above them. The reward designation goes to high-achieving schools.
The state released its list of Priority and Focus schools in March.
North Atlanta was not on either list, although there are plenty of Atlanta high schools on the priority list. (See below where I list them.) The reward list has not yet been released by DOE and is expected soon.
Despite Davis’ emphasis last night on AYP, he hired a new principal for North Atlanta from a school that also did not make AYP.
Gene Taylor is coming to North Atlanta High School from Lilburn Middle School, where he has been principal since 2008.
According to the state 2010-2011 Report Card, Lilburn Middle School did not make AYP in 2010-2011 for academic performance. It was among the 20 percent of Gwinnett schools that missed making AYP, which, in part, stemmed from the escalating standards built into the No Child law
And Lilburn Middle is also on the state’s Focus list this year.
But AYP doesn’t tell the whole story of Lilburn Middle, a 93 percent minority school where 92 percent of students qualify for free and reduced lunches. The system-wide average in Gwinnett for free and reduced lunch is only 52 percent.
When you look at Lilburn’s CRCT performance, you see steady improvement, especially in reading. In fact, 68 percent of eighth graders at the school met the standard for reading and 26 percent exceeded, a remarkable accomplishment for a school where 22 percent of students have limited English proficiency, according to the state report card. The school achieved Title I distinguished School Status in 2009 and 2010.
But neither does AYP tell the whole story of North Atlanta, which exceeds the APS district-wide average on many measures and is, in fact, showing progress.
According to the state report card, 84.7 percent of its students are “Meeting and Exceeding Standards.”
From the report card:
Georgia High School Writing Test: 96.53 Percent Meeting and Exceeding Standard
11th Grade – GHSGT English Language Arts 89.13 Percent Meeting and Exceeding Standard
11th Grade – GHSGT Science 88.13 Percent Meeting and Exceeding Standard
11th Grade – GHSGT Social Studies 83.09 Percent Meeting and Exceeding Standard
To be clear, Gene Taylor has done remarkable work at Lilburn and North Atlanta ought to be thrilled to get him.
But it still isn’t clear why Davis thought that he had to yank the administrative team out of North Atlanta considering that Atlanta has 14 schools on the state’s Priority list and most are high schools. (Here is the AJC story announcing the priority schools.)
Atlanta Public Schools on Priority List:
- South Atlanta School of Health and Medicine (achievement)
- Booker T. Washington High School — Banking, Finance & Investment (achievement)
- Booker T. Washington High School — Health, Sciences and Nutrition (achievement)
- Maynard H. Jackson High School (achievement)
- Hillside Conant School (achievement)
- School of Technology at Carver (achievement)
- Forrest Hills Academy (achievement)
- School of Health Sciences and Research at Carver (achievement)
- South Atlanta School of Computer Animation and Design (achievement)
- Therrell School of Law, Government and Public Policy (school improvement grant)
- Therrell School of Engineering, Math and Science (achievement)
- Therrell School of Health and Science (achievement)
- Crim High School (school improvement grant)
- Douglass High School (school improvement grant)
–From Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog
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139 comments Add your comment
Kathleen Burk
October 10th, 2012
2:29 pm
Today’s AJC article seemed to make the situation even worse. Did Davis really say, as reported on the front page, that if “we didn’t do anything here, the state would have seized this school and fired all the leadership in the process”? That is a ridiculous statement, especially given the demise of AYP and the omission of NAHS on the new lists of troubled schools. Rather than trying to counterbalance this egregiously false statement, the article seemed to present it as factual.
Nahs parent
October 10th, 2012
2:32 pm
@southside parent – thank you for your posts today. Feeder schools for NAHS are set.
@ Maureen – have you asked DOE why the Reward schools haven’t been released yet? Everything said we’d see them in September. I could be we wrong but aren’t all other lists announced and all schools must appear on one list. If NA isn’t on the other lists, shouldn’t it appear on the Reward list?
A curious delay in the announcement. Could Davis have friends at DOE who held it up?
Nahs parent
October 10th, 2012
2:33 pm
@ southside parent – meant to finish that we are happy with them just as you said.
Maureen Downey
October 10th, 2012
2:35 pm
@NAHs, DOE said in March that the list would not be released until late fall. I was expecting it next month. And I don’t think that a school has to be on one of the lists.
Maureen
Truth in Moderation
October 10th, 2012
2:38 pm
“The Focus Schools category is made up of educational facilities which have graduation rates of less than 60-percent over a two-year period and are not identified as priority schools.
#The department of education may also name a school to the list if large within-school gaps exist between the highest achieving subgroup and the lowest achieving subgroup. Subgroups can be determined by race, special needs and family income.”
North Atlanta has “large within-school achievement gaps”. This probably means good-bye to IB so resources can bring up the bottom. The focus will not be on improved education , but “closing the gap”. This is more easily achieved by an overall lowering of standards for the top performing students.
Get ready to home school for 2012-2013.
FYI
October 10th, 2012
2:40 pm
@ Southside Parent, 2:06 pm. “On an earlier article, a commenter referenced the “gangbangers” taking MARTA back to SW Atlanta.”
That was our resident “raciest” Sandy Springs Parent, whose self-righteous posts about the black and Hispanic “outsiders” invading white Sandy Springs demonstrate good reasons not to reside in that area, whether white or otherwise.
This person is enjoying stirring up this faraway racial pot in North Atlanta….”race-baiter,” I believe the term is.
teacher
October 10th, 2012
2:43 pm
@Kathleen Burk …Before you blame the AJC article for making a ridiculous statement, wish you had done your own research for validation.
This is the transcript of what Davis said yesterday taken from APS’s own http://www.talkupaps.com site
“2007-2011, 5 year period, this school did not make AYP. We are a NI4 school, under state monitoring and reporting. If you miss one more year, 6 years, you go to NI5 status. If we did nothing here and had the same performance this year as last and went to NI5, the state would have seized this school and fired all leadership in the process. The good thing is the state has given us an AYP waiver and the state will not take over this school.”
Kathleen Burk
October 10th, 2012
2:54 pm
Today’s AJC article was very misleading in that it did not include Davis’s second statement that the school was not in fact in danger of being taken over. Also, the subheadline of the article is “School was in danger of being taken over”.
Anyone reading the article but not all of these blogs would incorrectly assume that immediate action was needed to prevent a state takeover.
Beverly Fraud
October 10th, 2012
3:02 pm
@Dana: If the North Atlanta parents did take advantage of the amendment (if it passes) and get their own school, given the actions of Davis and APS can we really call the parents (and the company that provides the service) “the bad guys”?
Say what you want about the privateers, but is this not a logical consequence of the LACK of trust in the public schools; a lack of trust that has been RICHLY and FULLY earned as demonstrated in the last few days (and years!) by APS?
CB
October 10th, 2012
3:06 pm
@ Southside Parent – I do NOT contend that approximately 25% of NAHS kids reside in the NAHS zone. I contend that approximately 25% of NAHS kids reside in Buckhead, big difference.
I understand the transfer policy at North Atlanta and I understand the fact that North Atlanta’s school zone encompasses a greater area than just Buckhead.
I do not believe for a second that teacher’s kids are ruining NAHS. My point is that before a school is criticized for test scores make sure there is an apples to apples comparison. In other words, how does North Atlanta stack up against other high schools with a 52% free and reduced lunch rate? I am not so sure Superintendent Davis made this appropriate comparison before his critical remarks of North Atlanta. I also do not think he took into consideration the academic improvement that has been accomplished over the last three years at NAHS.
HS Public Teacher
October 10th, 2012
3:08 pm
As an “outsider” and looking in on this….
It is very odd that Davis made such a dramatic move when in only a few weeks a new Principal was going to be there anyway. Why did Davis take it upon himself to do this? Why didn’t he allow that new Principal to come in to the school and evaluate what needed to change.
If that new Principal THEN decided to move around his staff (assistant principals, etc.), then fine.
But, why did Davis do this only one month prior to the arrival of the new Principal.
That is what seems so very odd to me. It isn’t like that North Atlanta HS was “suddenly” a school that needed improvement. It has been like that for years (per Davis, himself).
Nahs parent
October 10th, 2012
3:15 pm
@ Maureen – I was basing that timing on the information on the DOE website, which was repeated elsewhere :
“Reward Schools – which will be determined based on math, reading and English language arts results – will replace the current Title I Distinguished Schools designation and will be announced in September 2012.”
But if a school can be unlisted it may not matter when the names are released.
Thanks.
HOC
October 10th, 2012
3:17 pm
@Bobo, you are right on…and politics have everything to do with it. Many administrators are not instructional leaders but former coaches and political teachers, ones who spend more time hanging in the offices and games chit chatting with other administrators, etc. They are certainly NOT the most talented teachers. The talented teachers are usually the ones who do not want to be bothered with the nonsense.
This case reeks of politics especially considering the manner in which this was done. The facts do not match up. Seems like a power play.
More importantly, let me say this… I am excited with the attention being given to the matter. Maybe, parents on the southside will take lessons and investigate the leadership being placed in their schools. In order for schools to work, the community has to be involved to pressure the school governance to work on their community’s behalf. Look at some of the other changes. Question your leadership appointments.
Nahs parent
October 10th, 2012
3:23 pm
@HS public teacher – I think Davis placed great emphasis on us not having a “normal environment” and what I took him to mean was that the very active/passionate parents, students, and community may have put pressure on Taylor to keep admin that he didn’t want. This way Davis takes the bullet for Taylor. There may have been some underlying tension between Davis/APS and MyGrant that made it an easier decision. And then there’s the investigation that may or may not be going on.
C Jae of EAV
October 10th, 2012
3:26 pm
Mr. Davis should be ashamed of the excuses he’s offered for his actions relative to NAHS and his statements made in defense of those actions which suggest he has lessor expectations and lessor concern for improving the overall level of performance across APS.
@Bob – I concur that Mr. Davis is distorting the AYP standing of NAHS to justify his actions.
@Beverly Fraud – I concur that an open records request is in order. I’m sure someone got ABSOLUTELY BLASTED for letting Mr. Myson in the building but considering it was an mtg open to the public if they tried to stop him it would have been an even worse situation.
@Dana F. Blankenhorn – The parents & faculty of NAHS with sufficient support vote to convert the school charter tommorrow and they don’t need the charter admendment to do it. Current law allows them that opportunity. Needless to say any attempt on their part to organize for that purpose, I’m sure would be met by STIFF OPPOSITION from the gang on Trinity Ave led by Mr. Davis!!
Jill
October 10th, 2012
3:35 pm
Sandy Springs Parent you are a racist!!
Kris
October 10th, 2012
3:37 pm
@ Beverly Fraud “12:17 pm What are the odds someone in security got totally BLASTED today for letting MyGrant in the building?”
If the guard was not fired on the spot, he/she will get a call to report to HR (in the davis administration term loosely used) he will be ask to surrender his Barny gun, Keys and will be fired with little or no reason. Then escorted by one of his/she former co-workers off campus..
Beware this is a smokescreen to cover up other shady deal’s coming our way.
Under qualified YES Girl/Man for the lottery, casino gambling in Gwinnett, last but not least the charter (line my pockets deal) school where control will be totally taken away from the parents and given to pencil neck bean counters to make profit…
Vote NO o the Charter school Scam.
Just Sayin
teacher
October 10th, 2012
3:39 pm
@nash parent ..when davis was asked to define what his definition of “normal” and “abnormal” was..he refused to do that.
Mygrant was supposed to stay just a few weeks more. Your logic is flawed on why Davis did this.
This is a coverup. The fact that they sent security to kick these people out and these people had no warning that this was going to happen can only lead to the conclusion..that this was damage control and to prevent the administration from taking any damaging evidence out of the building.
Say what you want…..hey maybe you will get your wish of a “normal” environment like Mays High and Douglass at NAHS in a few years !
Nahs parent
October 10th, 2012
3:44 pm
In not saying what is truth. I’m repeating what he said. When first mentioning that this was not a normal environment he referenced involvement and passion of parents. I’m also not saying I agree. I am actually one of the people he referred to. Thanks.
C Jae of EAV
October 10th, 2012
3:45 pm
Okay purhaps some one here can help me out. As I review the AYP report for NAHS, it seems they didnt make AYP because of Academic Performance. Specifically the performance of Black Students in math and Ecno Disadv (what the definition here) in Lang Arts.
Assuming the numbers look the same over the previous 3 years of data reported, it would appear that your trend is quite evident. Am I missing something in my interpetation of the data??
Truth in Moderation
October 10th, 2012
4:00 pm
@Attentive Parent/Invisible Serfs Collar
Your best post yet. Everything you said is true, but sadly, many on this blog are clueless as to what you are talking about. I spent 4 years in the ’90’s researching this and verifying it first hand. The only reason the OBE python has less of a grip on Gwinnett is because enough parents in the ’90’s did get it and threw OBE out, as well as the superintendent.
Too bad for NAHS. The only option for the achievers in that school will now be home school.
Private Citizen
October 10th, 2012
4:11 pm
okay… here goes…
1. The local TV news is reporting that the administrators were all fired. Therefore, this action is putting stigmata on people.
2. Someone needs to confront Mr. Davis about this management method of messing over a school in the middle of a school year. The graduating seniors who need referrals and such have suffered real and unnecessary damage. If I had a graduating student in this school I would be with my lawyer and put Mr. Davis in court and make him account for his actions that show unprofessional process and are way off the curve as expected management procedure. If there is a change in school management, it is to be done in the off season. The academic school year should have continuity. There is no emergency is place to justify this reckless action and people have suffered real damage. The perpetrators should be put in court and made to account for their actions without being able to so easily resort to these disembodied edu-speak that can literally be applied to any situation. It appears to me that a crime has been committed. If crime is not prosecuted, this sets an example where it will continue locally and also set precedent on state level that workers can be abused in this manner.
3. Is this recent action marketing for the charter school amendment?
4. This is an example of management caste doing harsh treatment of worker caste. Someone needs to stand up to it. No professional person will want to work in these circumstances. If this is allowed to persist, there will be brain-drain and Atlanta will be a destination for professional workers to avoid. Yes, let’s include a new category: “Avoidance destination.”
5. Let’s stop with the race talk and look at economic caste. You have a school in a wealthy, an historically wealthy section of the metro area, some might say the historic wealthy area of the Atlanta metropolitan area. So, let’s take the public school there and exploit the resources and put kids there from a different economic caste. Sounds good and we all get along. Now, unrealistically punished and school and mess over the families from the historically wealthy part of town. I do not know who thinks this is a strategy for success. Like I said, if I have a graduating senior at this school, I would put the school system in court and see it all the way through for the damages made upon my child. Citizens have responsibility to police crime, otherwise it will proliferate.
6. Does anyone find this recent classification system to ring hollow? It is complex, it was just invented, and the political caste is using it like a hammer. They have left out the part about when people were nice to each other and worked together for everyone’s good. The political caste are interlopers, have very poor boundaries, and are creating damage to individuals. The individuals need to return the action and put the political caste in court and maybe after 5,000 pages of discovery and several million dollars in claims that are to be decided upon by the court, those who commit this management atrocity will be forced to return to recognising quality public service that does not abuse and harm the citizens of the City of Atlanta and does not injure the reputation and business of the City of Atlanta, something that seems to be taken for granted. I think someone should ring up the directors of the Porsche headquarters and ask them, as newly arrived corporate citizens of the Atlanta metropolitan business community how their management views using collective punishment on workers.
7. It should be noted that there is a certain type of education management worker who already has a full retirement from another career. After achieving this type of reward for themselves, this type managers then steps into education management as a second career, but the reality is that they are not lifers in education and do not have their well being fully invested in one career. When the same abuse the workers who do not have dual or multiple systems of income and retirement for themselves, it is notable. I have before seen one of these persons that already has full medical coverage provided from a prior career then go all harpy about how much they love the children and how every decision is based on their love for the children. You know, the children who do not have eyeglasses and are not going to get them any time soon. I have come to view many public educators as aggressive hypocrites. If someone is damaging your city and abusing career workers, you best do something about it unless you want to be known as an Avoidance Destination.
jsmith
October 10th, 2012
4:17 pm
The bottom line is this. if you have kids you need to do whatever it takes to get them out of public schools… you can continue to fight these incompetent school boards and put up with your kids going to school with hispanic and black kids who live in apartments around your local public school who’s parents could give a crap about education and how their kids behave. the choice is yours…. imo there is nothing more important than my children and therefore if i have to drive the same car and wear the same clothes the rest of my life i will PAY FOR PRIVATE SCHOOL because My CHILDREN are the most important thing in my life !!!!!
Janet
October 10th, 2012
4:18 pm
@Attentive Parent/Serfs Collar
I am not employed in the education industry, but was curious enough about your post to google CASEL/SEL. I had never heard of it. How would this change how teachers teach in the classroom?
Southside Parent
October 10th, 2012
4:43 pm
@CB: You are completely right. I apologize for my poor reading skills and for misattributing you!
The Georgia School Council site has a great tool for comparing your school to similar schools, but it has been offline for a couple of days. From the statements and eyeballing the graduation rates, it sounds like apples to apples, NAHS isn’t where it should be. It sounds like motivated students in the IB programme and whose parents offer academic support at home and who don’t suffer from being misperceived. It must be hard for parents of those kids to reconcile the stats with their own subjective school experience. Looking in from the outside, I’m amazed by all of the great programs at NAHS and impressed with the students.
Beverly Fraud
October 10th, 2012
4:52 pm
“There is BIG $$$$ in teacher education and even BIGGER $$$$ in going around giving professional development seminars. Our last speaker was paid more than $30,000 for a 6 day seminar over a book that I could have read, comprehended, and applied in about 5 hours.”
@Kris, not saying “Vote Yes” but asking, what do you say to a person who says a no vote is a de facto endorsement of the quote above? A de facto endorsement of APS? Of SACS?
If these are “the good guys” the bad guys (the “privateers”) must be some REALLY bad guys.
Southside Parent
October 10th, 2012
4:54 pm
@ Concerned Mom 30329: I met him briefly. He resides in a super involved parents area (Morningside), so I think he’ll get it.
But I think he will also get how a school system should function around kids whose parents aren’t available to volunteer at the same level, or might not always understand the homework. Right now, among schools with high free/reduced lunch rates, Gwinnett’s have some of the best test scores.
Ray
October 10th, 2012
4:59 pm
There had to be something pretty big here that Davis is not talking about. Mygrant evidently knew something was going on because he had hired a lawyer and was making FOIA requests before he was let go. It’s weird that Davis would come speak at a meeting like this without telling people, or even give a hint, as to what was really going on here. But there had to be something.
Kathleen Burk
October 10th, 2012
5:04 pm
@Southside Parent: The students are indeed impressive. Look at the college acceptances for the top 20 2012 NAHS graduates.
http://www.atlanta.k12.ga.us//site/Default.aspx?PageID=29380
It shows a very diverse group of students going to the best colleges in the country.
I hope that any increased concentration on graduation rates (though needed) does not come at the expense of providing opportunities for outstanding students such as these.
Ray
October 10th, 2012
5:05 pm
… and it’s not about AYP.
are you kidding
October 10th, 2012
5:09 pm
Maureen, you are a treasure.
Let’s all meet at AYP central offices and escort THEM out.
Ben B
October 10th, 2012
5:25 pm
I think, based on the scores, that the tests for this school need to be checked for eraser marks. Something does not smell right.
ATL Parent
October 10th, 2012
5:29 pm
The sad thing is that APS/Davis did not handle this professionally. This meeting should have been first and not an after thought. Which means that every blogger is only concentrating on the assumptions of what they think will happen because they were not involved. Unfortunately, assumptions are the reasons that GA is in this failing education climate. Stop assuming, gather the facts and then fight for the best education possible for ALL kids and not a selected few. If you keep pushing for charter schools ran by out of state companies, you will be paying for you childs education before college – either through taxes or forced out of pocket. VOTE NO FOR THE CHARTER SCHOOL AMENDMENT!
Note: Benjamin Elijah Mays is not on the list in this article. Fine job by Dr. Smith and staff.
Right one
October 10th, 2012
5:30 pm
He said it and didn’t even blink
Bar None
October 10th, 2012
5:42 pm
The justification given by Davis for the hostile takeover is weak and quite simply a lie. Based on his assessment of the situation, he should be doing a repeat performance at 7 other APS high schools. Poor performance may be true, but it’s not a new discovery and it’s not unique to NAHS. Clearly something else is going on in this specific case. Maureen, citizens of Atlanta are counting on reporters like you to get to the bottom of this.
bu2
October 10th, 2012
6:03 pm
Clearly, Davis is incompetent or just making things up. How does putting in temps 4 weeks before the new principal help things? Even if he wanted to clean house for the new principal, he could have done it as the new guy arrived, rather than putting in more temps. I was willing to give him the benefit of a doubt on this, but not now. He seems, most likely, to be covering something up and assuming all the people at the meeting would be idiots and accept whatever he said.
Parent
October 10th, 2012
6:11 pm
I have 2 children at NAHS and for the life of me, I (nor my kids) cannot understand why everyone is trying to make excuses for this failing school. Davis made a bold move which I applaud. The AYP/Graduation rate argument makes no difference when your kids come home everyday with ridiculous stories of ineptitude on the part of administrators. Get over it and let the new people get on with business.
HAM-H
October 10th, 2012
6:12 pm
Dr. Davis created such a public mess for the students, teachers and the community. He told everyone wrong information, displayed such unprofessional conduct (see PSC.org for Code of Ethics), misused power, and shaped the future of that school for a long time. The new principal needs to take a long hard look at what he is taking on. The North Atlanta community has always supported private schools when APS did not provide good services. It is that time again.
Most likely, the highest scoring students, AP students, scholarship winners,and many Gifted students, will exit APS just as quickly as they did years ago. CINS worked hard to bring communities back to APS, but the ‘Crap du jour’ will only result in more private and charter schools. Is anyone paying attention to the big picture? As residents and parents, we have worked too hard to support neighborhood public schools – but not if it continues…cheating, lawsuits, legal fees, school administrative ambush, lies, students out of zone, rezoning, lack of working with parents, etc….
APS loves publicity! Decent people are paying a high price!
Dr. John Trotter
October 10th, 2012
6:37 pm
You mean you guys didn’t believe Erroll Davis’s gobbledegook? It was laced in great educationese. He’s quite adept with language. He’s learned to speak the blah, blah, blah of educrats. Hmm.
KIM
October 10th, 2012
6:44 pm
As I suspected and referred to in earlier posts, Davis has not spoken facts to the parents. On channel 2 news tonight, it was reported that his statements about state overtaking the school were erroneous, as were his statement about awful grad rates. Either he is not informed or he is counting on the parents to be ignorant. And, by the way, Gwinnett does very much encourage parent involvement in schools. I don’t know where in the world the impression they don’t came from.
Maureen Downey
October 10th, 2012
6:46 pm
@Nahs parent, Sent a note to DOE on when the reward schools would be announced. The communications person did not know the date but will get back to me.
Maureen
KIM
October 10th, 2012
6:47 pm
@BarNone I agree with you. This is NOT one of the worst schools in APS–how would you even know with all the lying and cheating that has gone on? So, you are RIGHT…there is something else going on here….better watch out other high schools. Do you really think E. Davis can ignore YOU now?
WhiteWolf of the Bones
October 10th, 2012
6:49 pm
They haven’t released the “reward’s list yet, because they are still looking for them. In other words, they can’t find any. Or it could be they really haven’t been able to skew the data enough to make their own ‘points’. Make all the excuses you want…until people take responsibility for themselves there will always be a large “sub group” that performs poorly. And the majority will not take the time to do their own research, or actually read the results of others who have done so.
http://www.invisibleserfscollar.com/ is a great place to start though, if you are really interested.
I don’t have a dog in y’all’s fight, per se…but we are fighting our own down here in Bibb County. It is all connected, and we will all be affected by what is going on.
NAHS Former Parent
October 10th, 2012
6:49 pm
Errol is nothing short if a political hack. As such he brags on the fact that he ran a Fortune 5000 company. If you care to look up his background he ran a small public utility in Wisconsin. Which was overseen be the state. He as also a state assemblyman in Pennsylvania. In other words he really has no “people” skills.
If this “man” would have handled his business as a professional this might not be the problem it is.
The “man’ is nothing short of a snake oil salesman, a charlatan, really nothing more that a tarot reading madame trying to take your money and time.
On top of all this he is a LIAR. Figures lie and LIARS figure. He might have misquoted, but his recent past lends doubt to that.
I really feel sorry for the incoming Principal. He is on an island without support and without any backing.
Good job Errol you really handled this in a ham handed way. Your credibility is down the tubes. Any trust you may have engendered in your time at APS is out of the window.
I do believe that your time should be up, you should do the honorable thing and resign, or your web of lies will catch you like so many flies in a spiders web.
KIM
October 10th, 2012
6:50 pm
After reading everything I can, I think there is a great possibility that the interim principal knew something that will turn up as scandalous for APS.
From the Top to the Bottom
October 10th, 2012
6:50 pm
Wow. Things are getting curiouser and curiouser. According to a representative from the GaDOE, Mr. Davis wasn’t as truthful as he would like for “dumb ‘ol inner city parents” to believe.
Chris Murphy
October 10th, 2012
7:44 pm
Maureen, I’d like to know: with only 188 seniors left in 2012 of a class that started out in ‘07 with 440 freshman, how can NAHS claim an 80+% graduation rate?
former aps teacher
October 10th, 2012
7:53 pm
As a former teacher at a NAHS feeder school, I think it is important to note that the affluent “Buckhead” kids are not the only ones attending college. I have many former students who come from minority backgrounds, grew up in apartments in the NAHS zone and now attend Emory, UGA, GA State, etc…APS has NO interest in improving student achievement. They don’t believe in or support their teachers, administrative staff or students. I can’t even begin to tell you the ridiculous things we were instructed/forced to do all in the name of “improving student achievement.”
NAHS Former Parent
October 10th, 2012
7:56 pm
@ Chris Murphy. The answer is simple. Out of the 440 freshmen coming in the question really becomes two fold. How many of those students transferred to other schools or how many of those students parents had job transfers. The way the new formula is based is precisely on the figures you gave. It makes no allowances for students leaving the system. Look at this in another way. The NCAA has graduation standards for all sports. Think what the Kentucky basketball rate looks like. It seems that every year they have 4 or 5 players leave school and go to the NBA. Since those students are counted until their class graduates they will show 4/14 or 28%, at a minimum, not graduating.
Rick L in ATL
October 10th, 2012
7:56 pm
Erroll better watch out. His stated goal is to prevent APS from becoming “two school systems.” and yet his autocratic behavior here may inspire soon-to-be-charter-enabled affluent APS parents to create exactly that.
This is not the time to try to demonstrate that you’re large and in charge. Even if NAHS had performance issues that couldn’t be ignored one moment longer, you could have handled this a lot better, Erroll.