School board rep: Until we know truth about North Atlanta High, delay extension of Erroll Davis’ contract
School board member Nancy Meister, who represents the North Atlanta High School community, clashed with board chair Reuben McDaniel over allegations of institutional racism at North Atlanta High, as revealed in emails obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
APS school chief Erroll Davis replaced the leadership team of the Buckhead high school 12 days ago, angering hundreds of parents who packed a meeting last week to demand an explanation.
At the meeting, Davis was in the unusual role of attempting to convince 900 parents and students that their beloved school was not nearly as good as they thought. Many parents remain dissatisfied with Davis’ explanation of why he purged the school leaders and believe there is a political subtext at work.
Their suspicions have been fueled in part by a series of emails.
In the emails, board chair McDaniel asked APS Associate Superintendent Steve Smith to collect data from North Atlanta that breaks down the school’s graduation rates, and other performance metrics, by race. He asked for an ethnic breakdown of teachers and staff who were recommended for positions by interim principal Mark MyGrant.
“I think it is critical that we understand these issues as we go through the principal selection process so that we can factor in some of the skills required to address the racial issues at North Atlanta in our new leadership,” McDaniel wrote in an email.
Meister responded in an email 35 minutes later that the analytical search for evidence of racism shouldn’t be focused just on North Atlanta, which is in her district. “We should have this conducted for all high schools across the district. This will allow us to have an equitable and fair analysis across all schools,” Meister wrote.
McDaniel wrote back that he agreed gathering data across the district “would be interesting,” but not practical. He wrote: “My purpose for requesting the data is to begin to understand statistically the evidence I have received from parents at North Atlanta indicating that we have a problem there that is based in an institutional racism mentality.”
Now, Meister is taking her concerns public. Here is a note she sent out to her District 4 constituents:
I have received hundreds of emails and telephone calls over the past week. In response to your concerns, and in an effort to answer your questions about my position, I am copying you on a note that I have sent to the Board Chair, Reuben McDaniel.
As many of you may or may not know, I have been a parent in this system for 16 years and my sons graduated from North Atlanta. There are so many of great families, amazing teachers and incredible students at this school. Although this past week has been extremely painful, I have confidence that this community will remain committed and engaged. Decades of work has gone into this cluster and I know we have a committed community here to make our schools the best they can be.
And here is the note that Meister sent APS school board chair Reuben McDaniel:
I understand from your email that there is a possibility of a legislative meeting next week, the purpose of which is to consider an extension of Mr. Davis’ contract. This letter is to inform you, the entire board, as well as my constituents who have been inquiring about this topic, and the state of North Atlanta, of my grave concerns about scheduling such a vote at this time.
First, I believe any consideration of extending Mr. Davis’ employment should be delayed until a complete and thorough investigation of the controversial firing and reassignment at North Atlanta High School has been initiated and completed.
While I fully understand and respect that it is in realm of the Superintendent to hire, fire and re-assign employees, the way in which the termination of Mr. MyGrant was executed and academy leaders reassigned, is cause for concern. The complete reassignment of an entire administrative team, a new Principal taking over at the end of the month, without any consideration to the repercussions, remains a mystery. At the very least, I believe that the district representative and not just the Board Chair should have been apprised of the situation and asked for opinions with regard to their constituency, prior to its execution.
Additionally, I firmly believe the entire Board should have been made privy to an unprecedented decision of this magnitude. While the Superintendent claims this to be a simple personnel issue, I can tell you my/our constituents have lost all trust in Mr. Davis, given his changing explanations and abrupt actions.
On Friday, Mr. Davis gave no reason other than he wanted to give the new principal an opportunity to put his permanent leadership team in place. That explanation failed to clarify why Mr. MyGrant was abruptly terminated two weeks before his long-scheduled departure. Subsequent, Mr. Davis’ explanation to a meeting of nearly 1000 parents and students became one in which he acted to save North Atlanta from being taken over by the State of Georgia as a “failing” school.
When the State DOE unequivocally denied that it ever contemplated such an action the explanation changed again, claiming that North Atlanta was woefully underperforming academically. I believe this to be factually inaccurate. If I am incorrect, I question whether it was ever communicated to the interim principal, prior to coming out of retirement that this situation existed. It is my hope that the Superintendent’s team would initiate a plan with any school in this situation.
In addition to the reconstitution of North Atlanta, I believe the Board should, before voting on Mr. Davis’ contract, investigate the anonymous allegations of alleged racism at North Atlanta, an issue you raised in a series of e-mails with me and mentioned in response to a question from a TV reporter on Friday.
I believe you and I should agree to publicly release those e-mails so the public can make a determination as to the delicate nature of the libelous allegations. We need to clear the air on this issue once and for all, given the nature of the accusations, the anonymous nature and the lack of any factual support.
Finally, I believe we should postpone any decision on an extension until the Board concludes its Superintendent visioning work for APS. When a contract extension was first brought up, the Superintendent’s Visioning Committee had preliminary discussion about a visioning session. While we have done some work as a full board, it is not complete. Through our diligent SACS work we agreed that oversight and accountability, a topic we addressed in the past, was one we committed to focus on in the future. Given the State of the Schools speech in August, this Board needs to govern and set administrative expectations with an immediate sense of urgency so that the parents of the children attending one of the failing APS schools identified by the Superintendent have some hope of improvement.
Remember, Mr. Davis said 80% of APS’ schools were failing, that we’re operating a dual system of schools, and that none of the over 220 education reform models and initiatives tried by APS over the years, had worked.
We owe it to the students, parents and taxpayers of Atlanta to make sure we have the answers to all of these questions before extending a contract for an additional year. However, should this Board decide that a vote is in order, it is my desire that through our lessons learned and our SACS agreement, we adhere to our previous endeavors.
As a reminder in our SACS work required action #5 suggested that a final selection of the Superintendent should be determined by more than a simple majority vote of approval by the Board. We, as a Board then made a decision to require a 7 to 2 vote of the seated Board members, for hiring of a Superintendent or Interim Superintendent. It is my hope that we come to a consensus around this.
I hope you can appreciate and understand my concerns and those of the community that I serve.
Nancy
–From Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog
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80 comments Add your comment
Prof
October 17th, 2012
2:11 pm
@ Maureen. I want to thank you for changing the 9:42 am posting name to “The other Prof.” Just so there’s a distinction. (Not to be confused with the posters “The prof” or “GT Prof”…..)
APS High Schools in Practice
October 17th, 2012
2:16 pm
@What would happen if all the APS high schools were examined? – October 17th, 2012 @ 12:35 pm.
EXCELLENT QUESTION!!!!! Are the Mc”D” Brothers (McDaniels and Davis) moving the railroad tracks higher than I-20 and now to the southern border of the NAHS community? Are you now saying that the African-Americans living above that line or whose kids are enrolled in that cluster matter more than the African-Americans living below that line or whose kids are enrolled in clusters to the south of that line don’t matter to APS?
Mr. McDaniel, you infrequently travel outside of the NAHS community to hear and meet with your city-wide constituents. Now it seems clear why. Your actions show that you truly place less value on African-Americans whose homes don’t carry a Buckhead zip code.
Mr. McDaniel, are you aware of the large number of educated and affluent African-Americans who choose to attend NAHS over Grady HS because of what they claim is institutionalized racism at that school? Are you also aware that in the almost all African-American schools that their issue of “ism” is class and they are disenfranchising the “Title I” students?
McD Brothers, if you are the conductors of an APS Train leading to the path of educational excellence and equity across APS, then why aren’t you stopping each and every APS high school to disaggregate the data by race, sex, class and special needs/gifted to see which stops serve ALL children and which stops serve only SOME children? Your refusal to do so is quite telling to the rest of the city.
APS shouldn’t hold it against the children who don’t get to pick their parents or their zip codes. 50 years after the desecration of the Atlanta City Schools, surely, we can do better. Do you really think the United States Department of Justice going to turn a blind eye if this issue is raised?
Mr. McDaniel, I challenge you as board chair to “Take a ride on the APS train” throughout the city and post disaggregated data for all high schools out by grade and SLC or SLS on the APS website and each high schools’ website. If APS can’t do that, then why? What are you hiding?
Or, is this just a political move for your own self-interest to pretend you care about African-Americans or APS? We’ll know by where the train travels.
Ray
October 17th, 2012
2:35 pm
Yes, “APS High Schools in Practice” confirms my earlier point. Some scream: Davis/McDaniel are racists! While others scream, even on the same issue: Davis/McDaniel are reverse racists! Only in Atlanta.
Dr. Proud Black Man
October 17th, 2012
2:55 pm
@ RCB
I was being sarcastic. When you get through with your GED pstudying, look it up if you’re still confused.
skipper
October 17th, 2012
3:06 pm
Congrats to the APS school board…..they have done more to perpetuate (and, unfortunately, substantiate) racism than the klan. If whites do stuff…its “racist” (and sometimes, is, for that matter.) But, God forbid let a black (see APS) act like a ‘hood and its all about payback. MLK is rolling in his grave..is the buffoonery of APS what he fought for???
Beverly Fraud
October 17th, 2012
3:14 pm
It APPEARS that SACS wanted a 7-2 “supermajority” to make sure a BOE suddenly racked with guilt did nothing untoward Beverly Hall (the “bidness” choice) before her contract ran out.
Now it looks like Meister is using that same SACS mandate to keep the McDaniel crowd from sweeping this ALL under the rug. Her leverage?
She doesn’t need 5 votes now; she only needs THREE. The question APPEARS to be, if she gets the three, will Markie Mark Elgart try yet ANOTHER political power play and try to bully the three, much the same way the Furious Five were bullied when they tried to oppose Hall?
Now what happens if the three are WHITE? Does the “bidness” community eat three of their own in order to pave the way for Davis to remain?
Or are these conversations a little too impolite to have at the Piedmont Driving Club?
RCB
October 17th, 2012
3:24 pm
Dr. Proud….Okay, you were being sarcastic. Nice try. Insults about a GED are not insulting to me personally, but may be to those who are trying to obtain one, DOCTOR.
JD
October 17th, 2012
3:41 pm
Former Supt wrote: “Does APS have a policy which allows the Supt. to make personnel changes without BOE approval? The law is quite clear that hiring, firing, and reassignment can only be done by the BOE upon the recommendation of the Supt. Has the law been changed?”
Can anyone answer those Qs?
APS High Schools in Practice
October 17th, 2012
3:48 pm
@Beverly Fraud. Great points except that SACS didn’t want a supermajority, Mr. McDaniels and the others in his clique wanted it when they were the minority on the board.
Mr. McDaniels would have his clique of 5 votes (with Byron Amos who carries any water jug McD asks him to in exchange for being named as Vice Chair at his second official board of education meeting), but for the other whitey on the board who represents the Grady HS community will likely defect to the north of I-20 line.
Mr. McDaniels is going to disappoint Mayor Kasim Reed and his klan because he is stumbling on the Davis’ contract extension they told him to get. The AEF and the business community should take note about his political effectiveness before they push McDaniels higher up in Atlanta political arenas. The only thing he has really done is to take the head musical chair and seat his pick for vice chair as well as throw the NAHS community into topsy turvey.
Mayor Reed, you need to find a new lackey.
Top School
October 17th, 2012
3:53 pm
“Grady is a tale of two schools. High income white children get one education. Low income black children get another and it is not fair.” @midtownTeacher
The special privileges of white administrators elementary to high school in Northside APS were allowed under the Buckhead manipulated leadership of Beverly Hall.
SEGREGATION = to separate or set apart from others or from the main body or group; isolate: to segregate exceptional children; to segregate hardened criminals.
Anyone on the APS board can see this clearly in video testimony at Top Public School Corruption Atlanta. The Northside APS administrators work around the APS systems set of rules for hiring, additional bonus checks to Northside teachers, falsified student attendance to obtain additional teacher positions, the hiring of family members by a Principal…these are only a few of the unethical private school attitude acts that were allowed under the Hall administration.
What should Davis do?
Expose the NORTHSIDE segregation and the high income privilege of a select few in APS.
I think he has taken the bullet to expose the shameful hidden acts of segregation of ATLANTA’S minority run public schools in the NORTHSIDE APS DISTRICT 4.
bootney farnsworth
October 17th, 2012
4:26 pm
if APS extends Davis while this disaster plays out,
1-APS should be investigated
2-APS should be sued
3-APS should have all funds frozen until they reverse said decision.
JD
October 17th, 2012
4:40 pm
During the meeting in NAHS gym Oct 9, a questioner asked Dr Davis something along the lines of “Why did you oust the administration in this particular fashion? Why did you humiliate them?”
His answer was something along the lines of “We thought about and planned this for a long time. We decided to do it this way in this unique case. Now we will go back and review how this worked out to see what improvements we might make in the future.” (If anyone can find his exact words, please post them.)
I’m wondering whom Dr Davis was talking about when he said “we”. I don’t think he meant the “royal we.” He did not mean the APS board. He did not consult with the whole board, nor even with the one Board member who represents NAHS’ district.
So who DID he consult with? Did they have authority to do what they did?
Did they follow appropriate procedures? Did they leave appropriate notes & records of their decision-making process?
A dozen days have passed since NAHS’ “bloody Friday” and I still don’t know answers to those questions.
Top School
October 17th, 2012
5:02 pm
Posted by Pragmatic1One – Wow!!! When Mr. Davis was bringing the ax down on the Black educators, the media and the white constituency was singing his praises & wanting him to stay. Now that his “heavy hand” is being equitably distributed and is now affecting the predominantly white community, he needs to go. Accountability cuts both ways and I am glad Mr. Davis is letting the white constituency know they are not immune to ACCOUNTABILITY. As for Blacks, always remember history & reflect from a historical context coupled with your current observations. Systemic racism is more rampant than ever, although it may not be overtly de jure, it is definitely de facto.
I think I posted back five or ten years ago on Maureen’s blog…that the Atlanta Public School Systems problems stemmed from race issues that were not properly addressed in the history of integrating the schools during the civil right movement.
Now that it is properly surfacing … Atlanta can deal with these hidden secrets and offer up solutions that can properly heal the wounds.
Both races are responsible for hiding these issues…
I think it is honorable for DAVIS to attempt to challenge the BUCKHEAD political machine that drives this train wreck.
Was not a year ago that I stood at the NAPPS meeting at Garden Hills Elementary and asked Erroll Davis — Will the new Superintendent allow Buckhead Administrators to receive special privileges in the cheating in their schools? Will ALL individuals involved in cheating be carefully scrutinized before the opening of next school year?
It has taken a full year of his administration for the issues of Northside Privileged to surface.
Now, that the ugly truth about what has been going on in the politics of Black Privileges to white schools in exchange for White corruption in the hidden attempts to segregation of ALL students both black and white on the lower end of the scale.
Ms. Meister needs step up to the plate with the BUCKHEAD political leaders and look for the solution. Instead she seems to engage in politics that continues to hide it. This issue has been dodged and hidden for sometime now. It is time to act with some honesty and integrity….and deal with the facts that make this so difficult to solve.
Maybe someone should file a grievance…LOL
That’s what I attempted to do! Signed Sealed and Delivered…I proved that doesn’t work!
Prof
October 17th, 2012
6:16 pm
A vast silence from Superintendent Davis since his school meeting last week.
As I posted earlier on another blog-thread, perhaps Davis doesn’t WANT to renew his contract at this time.
another comment
October 17th, 2012
7:24 pm
Please run for Mayor Mary Norwood. Then everyone must prevent the blatant stealing of the election by 700 votes by the Atlanta Black Mafia. Everyone sees how corrupt Reed is with his $1,000 gravel contract to his buddy during the storm. The concessions contracts, stop and start to include his buds. The inclusions of minorities who are no longer disadvantaged, including Mayor Jackson’s widow and daughter Brook. His business partner having the limo dispatch contract and a limo contract. My question is, is he having the card games at his house on Friday nights like Mayor Campbell. That is how Campbell got the bribe money by winning the card games, not the gambling trips. Ricky Rowe, made the mistake of telling a friend of mine he wasn’t welcome to a prebid meeting at the Water Department. Only Friday night poker players were. My big question is when will Kasim be outed? I have a feeling we are getting very close.
yagottabekiddingme
October 17th, 2012
8:02 pm
@APS High Schools in Practice: “Mr. McDaniel, are you aware of the large number of educated and affluent African-Americans who choose to attend NAHS over Grady HS because of what they claim is institutionalized racism at that school?”
Nice try, but one cannot ‘choose’ NAHS over Grady due to the enforcement of enrollment documents. You go to school in the district where you live. Magnets are no longer the APS format. Get your facts straight!
Former APS student
October 17th, 2012
8:31 pm
You North Atlanta parents is in deep denial if you think that YOUR school was serving ALL students well. BECAUSE THEY WERENT. Those administrators was just looking out for the ones whose parents can potentially write the big checks when ever needed. Many kids was being left behind at North ATLANTA. TOO MANY STUDENTS! its not JUST ABOUT YOUR little darlings. That administration responsibility was to over see 1200 children education Errols Davis responsibilty is to over see 50,000 children. Black, white, hispanic, asian, rich poor, homeless, special ed or gifted. It is their job to make sure that each child who walk through those doors get a decent education. And that, North Atlanta parents, WAS NOT HAPPENING AT THAT SCHOOL during the last five years that pricipal was employed at that school. That is a problem. A problem I am GLAD Dr. Davis had the guts to address this . I am glad that he is NOT kissing yall behinds!!! Because the only people you care about is your lil darling, because you dont give a damn about anyone else. If you did you would be outraged at the fact that the sorry principal and his administration held their position for so long. They shouldve been gone a long time ago!!!!!!!!!
Top School
October 17th, 2012
8:43 pm
@Former APS student … I think the posts you are censoring would be allow the debate to continue. What’s going on Maureen? Are Buckhead parents banning together to try to put the fire out? Beverly Hall was a scapegoat…used by the business community to drain the ethics of the system. They continue to protect her in exchange for the secrets she keeps for them.
Just like the Northside issues…Northside parents run the show….and Davis is attempting to change the dynamics so that ALL children benefit from the Northside educational program.
Truth in Moderation
October 17th, 2012
11:00 pm
@Prof
Add a little “TM” by your name and trademark it. You can sue if someone tries to use it. Hey, it worked for a blogger named Fred.
JD
October 18th, 2012
12:19 am
The emails between McDaniel and Meister show that McDaniel wanted data from North Atlanta, and he wanted it broken down by race. Is that what the temporary administers are working on there? Is that the “assessment” they are doing?
Here’s why I’m asking: Dr Davis replaced NAHS’ 4 4 administrators with 8. He said “From talkupaps’ transcript – Dr Davis explaining why he’s installing 8 transition administrators to replace the 4 being reassigned:
“I’ve gotten comments about why so many people coming in here. They are going to be working on assessments among other things. We will talk to Dr. Taylor about assessments so that by the time he gets here we will be able to give him appropriate information.”
Does anyone know what type of assessment they are doing? Is it a breakdown of data by race or some other assessment to dig up data to support a charge of institutionalsystemic racism”? Will the assessors interview existing teachers and students?
Private Citizen
October 18th, 2012
5:28 am
Have the receipt right here, recently purchased crushed concrete (similar to gravel) for $18. / ton. Recently stopped at the upscale place to check price, quoted retail for gravel @ $38./ton – bring your own truck. First price is contractor price, second price is high retail to general public.
Southside Parent
October 18th, 2012
12:31 pm
I don’t understand the outrage directed towards McDaniel. Here’s what McDaniel’s emails show:
1) Many NAHS parents came to McDaniel alleging black children were being treated unfairly at NAHS. We all know this is true, because there are a large number of NAHS parents on this blog making those same statements.
2) McDaniel asked APS staff to pull together the information they could access so he could see if there was validity to concerns brought to him by constituents.
Isn’t this what you want out of your elected officials? I don’t always agree with McDaniel, but I’m always impressed with McDaniel at board meetings and the one time I’ve spoken to him directly. He understands complicated information and tracks it. I am unable to say the same of Meister. The email change between Meister and McDaniel heightens my perception of Meister as a nice but emotionally reactive person who isn’t keeping her focus on the substance.
Prof
October 18th, 2012
1:31 pm
@ Southside Parent.
1) Anonymous bloggers’ comments aren’t evidence of anything. There were an equal number of bloggers on those blogs claiming that black children were not being treated unfairly, many of these posts by self-identified black students at NAHS.
2) A charge of institutional racism in a school that receives public funds is a very serious charge, not least because it breaks federal law. If McDaniels is going to investigate to gather evidence, then he should do so for all the APS high schools. That is Meister’s point. As another blogger pointed out, one needs to do that to see whether NAHS is typical or just an exception (an “outlier”) that should be addressed. If it’s typical, then correction should be done for all the APS high schools as well.
It looks as if McDaniels is selectively choosing one school because he is unduly involved in this particular personnel case….also called by SACS “micromanaging by the School Board.”
Also, if you look at the data assembled in the later blog on this subject, you’ll see that the ethnic group with the most problems at NAHS aren’t the African American students but the Hispanic students. Maybe McDaniels should refocus his concerns onto this group.
Right one
October 18th, 2012
6:03 pm
Mcdaniels child attends Sutton, I believe
IB Mom
October 18th, 2012
9:23 pm
McDaniel’s daughter does attend Sutton but I believe it’s because her mother lives in the school zone. Don’t know which school district Rueben lives in.
Southside Parent
October 18th, 2012
11:47 pm
@Prof:
1) I didn’t mean NAHS the claims are true. I meant that we know it is true that the claims have been raised by NAHS parents. (& Grady parents, & probably coming to Jackson in the next 3 to 5 years.)
2) McDaniels represents NAHS. McDaniels resides in NAHS. McDaniels has constituents complaining about a specific situation. He is checking into that specific situation. If you called the gas company because you suspected a leak, would you be angry if they checked your house? No, of course not. As to legal liabilities, it’s not the investigation that creates the liability. It’s the underlying facts that create the problem, and will only be worse if left to fester.
Prof
October 19th, 2012
12:39 pm
@ Southside Parent.
1) Oh. When you wrote, “We all know this is true,” I took “this” to mean the allegations, not those making the allegations. I see your point.
2) McDaniels represents an entire school district that includes the one school, NAHS, doesn’t he? I think that Meister is requesting that he investigate all the schools in the district the way that he wants to investigate NAHS, to see if they too have such “institutional racism.” Is it a pattern for all the district schools, or just NAHS? Again, it is a federal crime. If it is indeed true for all the district schools, then it is imperative that all correct it at once. If it’s only true for NAHS, then just the one school can be corrected, more quickly. Why single out one school? is I think Meister’s point. I also doubt that NAHS is the only APS school where this complaint haws been made. For example, you suggest that it may be true also at Grady and Jackson.
One more thing. McDaniels is chair of the entire School Board, so his concerns should be with the entire APS and not just one district.
Prof
October 19th, 2012
12:49 pm
P.S. A suspected gas leak in one house really isn’t the same as suspected institutional racism in one school. The school isn’t literally in imminent danger of blowing up. Also, physical gas leaks can be immediately detected, unlike the general, indirect nature of institutional racism in schools.
Atlantaparent
October 19th, 2012
2:58 pm
Mr. Davis must go and please don’t forget your staff on the 8th floor!!!!!!!
Right one
October 19th, 2012
9:33 pm
Looking for Erroll to ride off in the sunset on Monday. He doesn’t need this