Former North Atlanta principal wants hearing to clear his name. Still think this could have been handled better.
Former North Atlanta High principal Mark MyGrant wants to clear his name against what he considers innuendo and character assassination by APS leadership And he has hired education attorney Glenn Delk to represent him.
According to the AJC:
MyGrant sent a letter Wednesday to Atlanta Public Schools asking the board of education to hold a hearing to clear MyGrant’s name following allegations of “institutional racism” at the school while he was in charge. Attorney Glenn Delk said “what we’re asking is simple: We think he should be given an opportunity to face his accusers and clear his name. If they don’t have evidence, they should issue an apology.” MyGrant was one of six administrators removed from the school Oct. 5
MyGrant is a 27-year APS veteran enticed out of retirement this summer to serve as interim at his former school, North Atlanta High School, while a search for a replacement was conducted. He was scheduled to end his interim stint this week.
He had strong evaluations throughout his career so was surprised when he was unceremoniously ordered out of North Atlanta on Oct. 5. His top administrators were also told to leave the school, their computers confiscated, but they were reassigned and received their computers back a few days later.
And MyGrant says he was even more surprised when his ex boss Davis told nearly a thousand parents, students and community members on Oct. 9 that he had to act quickly and decisively because North Atlanta was a failing school and that dramatic change was needed.
I am still baffled by the manner in which Davis overhauled North Atlanta High. There are a dozen other ways he could have done it and avoided what is turning into a long drama. And the fallout extends beyond the affected employees and the high school community; this public and protracted spat has revived doubts about APS that Davis needs to be putting to rest.
Image and perceptions matter, and Davis has revived the perception of Atlanta as a system marred by fiefdoms and back room brokering. His explanations have failed to satisfy many of the parents of North Atlanta, who believe there is a hidden agenda at play.
And while I have now spoken to Davis twice about it, including a lengthy session at the AJC with other reporters, I don’t get why the school chief felt compelled to act in such a dramatic and urgent fashion. MyGrant only had three weeks left under his interim agreement. Why not wait until then?
Nor do I understand the treatment of the small learning community leaders, all of whom were reassigned and all of whom seem to have been working hard at North Atlanta. Davis contends that they were effective as individuals, but not as a team, which is why he disbursed them throughout the district.
That’s fine. But why show up on a Friday afternoon, tell them to go and confiscate their computers? These folks were not being fired; they were being transferred. I remain puzzled by Davis’ response to me after his North Atlanta High School meeting that taking their computers was simply a precaution against unhappy employees acting rashly or out of anger. Do you transfer people to key positions in your organization if you believe they’re capable of trashing their computers or compromising sensitive data?
Here is a Google doc of the Delk letter and accompanying support data that the attorney made part of the package, including emails and the student performance breakdown done by Midtown forensic accountant Jarod Apperson, which I shared on the blog two weeks ago.
–From Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog
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76 comments Add your comment
Counting the Casualties
November 2nd, 2012
12:02 am
@ Former APS student: evidence please?
When did you graduate? From what school did you come? What were your scores? How do you explain Mr. MyGrant’s evaluations?
Evidence? What do you mean by “certain type of student”? You identify yourself as a “Former APS student,” but it doesn’t sound like you really knew “this Mygrant man.” If you did, could you offer some specifics, please? How did he fail you? (Hint: Argument = assertions plus SUPPORT.)
Sorry, but vague allegations don’t cut it. If you are informed and intelligent, prove it.
Private Citizen
November 2nd, 2012
1:07 am
Georgia Coach Why you want to hide the bodies? You should go into the paving business. Move on? With no answers? Sure hope you’re not training kids for diagnostic medicine.
Seriously, you appear to be for the team – the one that operates in quiet away from the public view.
Former APS student
November 2nd, 2012
6:30 am
@ counting the casualties
The proof are in the numbers! You can choose to ignore but their is obviously 2 different scenarios happening at North Atlanta. Excellent administrators dont lead schools with a 40percent drop out rate! Mygrant may have been excellent with student who are motivated and come from strong background but is obvious he was NOT qualified to deal with diverse student body of north Atlanta. He was responsible making sure ALL children are being educated that walk thru their doors not just one set of students.
FJ
November 2nd, 2012
7:06 am
@ Former APS student: The old expression “you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink” comes to mind here. Apparently Mygrant did a very good job with the kids that actually wanted to learn. Are you really going to throw him under the bus because he couldn’t perform miracles???
Private Citizen
November 2nd, 2012
8:15 am
Former APS Student, Thank you for opening up a little. So if a student is one of the “all” instead of one of the “in,” what should the “all” student rightfully expect upon showing up at NAHS? In other words, can you provide some scenario of a) conditions lacking – please be specific, and b) conditions that should occur? I’d like to know what you’re talking about as I have not ever set foot in NAHS and do not even know the location, etc.
Something to add, if you think that is a crummy experience, try going to a lower tier Georgia public college and getting the same treatment you describe except that you’re paying $3-4k a semester for the privilege. And they’ll use that term, too. “Going to college is a privilege…” while jabbing you with a stick and lightening your wallet or burying you in debt! Georgia – it’s not Boston! (home of 300 colleges and universities).
PS When I went to high school, I rode the city bus to get there, or bicycled 10 miles each way. I didn’t care a wit one way or another about kids who lived by the school or who had nice cars in the parking lot – but everyone was pretty much treated the same. It was ruler flat as far as how everyone was treated. We all took the same chemistry-biology class and the same Chinese lady put the torch to every one of us.
Private Citizen
November 2nd, 2012
8:17 am
clarification – the Chinese lady taught the chemistry-biology class.
Benevolus
November 2nd, 2012
9:34 am
Among the NAHS communities’ abiding concerns, Mr. Davis has proven himself to be an especially poor steward of the very APS and NAHS resources that he claimed so impress him. Without limitation, every NAHS administrator he reassigned was IB certified for administration at the high school level, at a cost to APS — or, in some cases, to parent and community organizations that supported NAHS — of several thousands of dollars each. Furthermore, two administrators in particular each had at least 15 years of relevant, irreplaceable, hands-on experience, working together as IB certified teachers, coordinators and administrators, and including direct — possibly unique — participation in successfully bridging the NAHS cluster’s MYP (IB’s Middle Years Program) across the middle school / high school divide.
Now, APS’ and its private supporters’ investments in these administrators’ distinct training, skills and experience are squandered at schools having no IB curriculum whatsoever (although one has discussed moving that way — kudos to them!). On the other hand, NAHS, the capstone of the nation’s first-ever, fully IB accredited, K-12 public school cluster, must recover, replace and rebuild from Mr. Davis’ casual disregard for these uniquely qualified, trained and experienced professionals, and the NAHS clusters’ extraordinary progress over 15+ years under their guidance, with — who? And at what expense, in time, money, and these kids’ educations?
None of the transition team, as highly qualified, capable, experienced, trained, respected, and loved as they are (including at least two IB certified administrators — only for elementary school), could possibly have been prepared for their three-week interim assignments, with little or no knowledge, experience, or resources to back them up. It was undoubtedly a Sisyphean task, which the community can’t possibly thank them enough for taking on. Still, their assignments at NAHS were needlessly crippled from the start, if not calculated to fail.
Mr. Davis boasted months ago that he would hire for attitude and train for skill. To Dr. Gene Taylor’s credit (not so much Davis’), NAHS may have a good start on its long road to recovery. Much will depend now on the kids’ ability to trust an utter stranger, whose authority is foisted upon them from on high, notwithstanding their natural skepticism that anybody from APS downtown either knows or cares about their school, or would think twice about pulling a similar stunt again. Make no mistake — these young people are SHARP, seeing, hearing and understanding more than many of the adults in their lives may know.
As for Mr. Davis, it’s high time he stepped up to the plate, with credible explanation for his misjudgment — and quit stepping deeper into messes of his own making.
G&G
November 2nd, 2012
9:35 am
@ Former APS Student:
From Jarod Apperson’s analysis posted here on October 17:
“…North Atlanta serves a high needs population. Despite the school’s proximity to wealthy neighborhoods, most of the students attending North Atlanta do not live in the wealthy parts of Buckhead. Students attending North Atlanta through the admin transfer process arrive at the school having attended middle schools ranked in the bottom quartile state wide. They are then expected to integrate themselves with students from Sutton, a school ranked in the top quartile.
Now that we have a better picture of what the school faces when a cohort enters 9th grade, we can approach performance data with an appropriate level of context.
Are fewer students graduating from North Atlanta than expected?
Sixty-two percent of North Atlanta’s freshman cohort graduated within four years. While it is disappointing that any students would fail a grade or choose to drop out of high school, it is not a fact uncommon to APS schools or schools throughout the country. The median graduation rate at APS high schools is 63%, roughly equal to North Atlanta’s. There are two important factors which likely reduce North Atlanta’s graduation rate. First, North Atlanta has a high Hispanic population. Second, the admin transfer process may result in “mismatch.”
According to the U.S. government, as of October 2009, approximately 18% of Hispanics aged 16 through 24 dropped out of high school. Approximately 9% of Blacks dropped out, and 5% of whites dropped out. Nationally, Hispanics drop out of high school at a rate twice that of Blacks and almost quadruple that of whites. If Mr. Davis wants to hold different schools to different standards, the fact that North Atlanta is the only APS school serving a significant number of Hispanics cannot be ignored.
By coming into North Atlanta less prepared than students from Sutton, admin transfers may experience what researchers term “mismatch.” Recent research discussed in The Atlantic has shown that when students are placed in classes where they are less prepared than their peers, they are more likely to become discouraged and drop out.
The time to integrate students is at a young age when gaps can be overcome. Expecting students to arrive at North Atlanta in 9th grade grossly underprepared and succeed in classes with Sutton’s students does a disservice to the students the admin-transfer process is intended to help.
If APS as a whole is unable to properly educate its kids in grades K-8, how can it expect North Atlanta to work miracles in the one/two years before students are eligible to drop out?”
my two cents
November 2nd, 2012
10:45 am
What’s going on at NAHS right now? How is the new leadership doing at this school now?
RCB
November 2nd, 2012
10:51 am
Thank you, Maureen, for changing your intro paragraph. Much better
Nahs dad
November 2nd, 2012
1:43 pm
Dan Whisenhunt, a reporter for the Buckhead Reporter, just published that he received an unsigned (anonymous) copy of a letter sent from NAHS parent(s?) asking APS to investigate institutional racism within the International Baccalaurete (IB) program. According to Mr. whisenhunt’s reporting, this gives credence to Mr. Mygrant’s assertion that that moves made by APS at NAHS were in response to this letter rather than performance issues as Mr. Davis contends.
The IB program has rigorous, objective, internationally designed academic guidelines. It is not a subjective program where an all powerful local academician can decide which students qualify for the program or not.
Not every child gets to be on the team. Not every kid gets a trophy. Not every kid gets into the college that they want to. Not every kid gets into and graduates with an IB diploma. Not every kid is special-some are just average. This is not racism.
I’d wager this anonymous letter and it’s fallout will untimely explain APS actions more clearly than the reasons APS and Mr. Davis have given.
Warrior Woman
November 2nd, 2012
3:33 pm
@Former APS student – Why is the principal at fault if students are stupid enough to drop out and their parents are willing to let them? Put the blame where it belongs – squarely on the drop-outs and their parents. Many of us are tired of spending excessive resources on those that don’t want to learn, at the expense of those that do.
JD
November 2nd, 2012
4:56 pm
There will be an APS Board meeting this coming Monday evening. I am wondering whether Mr Davis will use the occasion to present the results of NAHS’ “assessments”.
In his October 9 meeting with the NAHS community, Mr Davis said he sent such a large number of temporary administrators to North Atlanta because “They are going to be working on assessments among other things. We will talk to Dr. Taylor [incoming principal] about assessments so that by the time he gets here we will be able to give him appropriate information.”
Well, Dr Taylor has now arrived. He has been working as Principal of NAHS for about a week. So I guess he has been given the “assessment” results.
I want to know what the administrators were looking for, and what they actually found.
Monday’s meeting would be an excellent opportunity for Mr Davis to offer up some facts.
Pride and Joy
November 2nd, 2012
5:18 pm
I have some honest questions for the Former APS student How much time did you spend watching TV and texting versus reading your textbooks at home?
How much of your day was spent actually listening in class and actively taking notes as to what she said?
How many days of school did you miss?
how many times were you late?
How much of your homework assignments did you do?
Why is it that the 40% you refer to are failing?
Do the teachers tell the 40 percent something different than the other 60%?
Are the teachers shutting you up in a dark room while she teachers the other 60%?
What is more likely…
The other 40% value an education more than: music, dancing, texting, partying, and sports.
The 40% spend time at home reading to their children, reading newspapers to educate themselves, watch the history channel instead of the Kartrashians, get their kids to school on time every day,and make sure homework is done.
There is no mystery to why 40% of the population performs poorly.
There is no mystery to why the other 60% always performs well.
It’s not race.
It’s values.
It’s a cultural value.
When every mother spends as much time with her child doing homeowrk as she does her hair and manicures, there will be an increase in the education of the 40%.
When every father comes home everyday to his children and reads to his children instead of playing hoops at the park…the 40% will perform better.
When being educated is respected by the community of the 40%, the 40% will perform better.
When kids spend as much time with their nose in a book as they do on the basketball and football courts, the 40% will perform better.
There is a reason why Asian children are rarely ever good in sports but they are always at the top of the academic standings…because it’s where they put their time, their effort and their money.
We should all be “acting Asian.”
Private Citizen
November 2nd, 2012
5:38 pm
Benevelous you pretty much pointed out that the superintendent delivered a karate chop to the IB program at NAHS. To me, at an unsophisticated distance, this supports a view that some of the government school greater admin are particularly aggressive toward meting out rough treatment to any education effort that operates outside of the federal->state->local government school redelivery mechanism, RTTT, saturation testing, vertical power column, etc.
KIM
November 2nd, 2012
6:04 pm
@Former APS Student, you do not understand how the drop out rate is figured. As I have written often before I wish someone from DOE would explain it. What I know is if a principal works hard to keep kids in high school for more than four years and five summers, the student is considered a drop out EVEN IF the student stays in school for more time and opportunity to learn and graduate. Also, if a school does not know where a withdrawing student enrolls after leaving, that student also counts as a drop out. So, when you read that NAHS or any high school has such and such drop out rate, read that with great pause. The principal/school may be greatly hurt by their own efforts to keep kids in school. Maureen, pls. ask someone from DOE to respond to how the drop out rate is figured.
Pride and Joy
November 2nd, 2012
6:14 pm
I’ve lost ALL faith in Errol Davis after this fiasco.
Concerned
November 2nd, 2012
8:39 pm
This comment is not so much about Mygrant as it is about the state of APS. I am completely disheartened by the direction Errol Davis is taking the school system. From his hiring decisions, his policies, his sarcastic comments, and constant need to expose the state of the school prior to him taking over, Davis has done nothing but demean the people who are working so hard to support the students of Atlanta. Davis has assembled a team of high level administrators that provide little to no valued support to the school system. I am frightened by this new direction – from multiple lawsuits, poorly skilled central office administrators (Waldon, Proctor, Anderson), limited focus on Common Core and too much of a focus on data collection that does not truly benefit students, examples (1) 360 degree Principals survey (where more than 1/2 of the principals are interims and are interviewing for their current positions); (2)identifying teachers that signed in late during an October 9th training – literally principals were provided a list of teachers that signed in late – highlighted, placed in an envelope with a label on the front (REALLY, rather than focusing on professional learning for teachers, the personnel at CLL are more intereseted in identifying teachers that signed in late for a training. It is a sad, sad, sad day in APS!
Former APS student
November 2nd, 2012
10:02 pm
Sadly I believe Mygrant probably have many of the same beliefs as you all do – you can lead the horse to the well but you make him drink the water- But we are talking about children. That 40% drop out rate could be cut in half if someone was in position of power that gave damn. As Ive said before it isnt hard to motivate a motivated student. The real challenge is motivating the unmotivated, the ones that are in limbo, the students who want to do well but just dont know how. But again, I ask where are the programs, the services to help guide at risk students at the school. From what I can see there arent any… Why is that? This school has a 40% drop out rate! What was Mygrant and crew doing to improve those sorry rates. Nothing…. Because he was making the parents like some of you on this board very happy with the sorry job that he was doing.
20/20
November 3rd, 2012
12:51 am
Pride and Joy I have also lost complete faith in Enroll Davis due to this same exact treatment of the former nurse supervisor for all of the school nurses. He allowed Karen Waldon from his administration to to lie to the board of education to abolish the nurse’s job after she notified Davis of major problems in the Health Services Department. The nurse has an attorney and lawsuit pending due to retaliation, hostile work environment and forced early retirement resulting in pension penalty after 28 years of great services.
Right one
November 3rd, 2012
5:38 am
Look, IB in APS is a big joke. A Hail Mary to twart white flight, for those who are gullible to believe that IB is the silver bullet to a rigorous educational setting for your child, REALLY??? I would rather
The system work and spend the enormous amount of money that IB is sucking up to add legitimate value to the masses rather than hype a highly diluted IB program that will only service the top 5-10% of students in the school system. Spelman got it right!!
concerned citizen
November 3rd, 2012
8:16 am
The IB from what I understand is available to all juniors and seniors who are interested. @Right One, you are advocating getting rid of a program that has demonstrable results in helping boost college enrollment and is definitely more rigorous, more analytically focused with far greater focus on writing skills than what is currently available through Georgia Performance Standards. From what I understand, the North Atlanta program enrolls the majority of the school students as it is so isn’t that exactly what you were suggesting. Getting the diploma is one aspect of the program but being exposed to and required to complete classwork that is more rigorous throughout the program is the true benefit. This program can’t be watered down as you state since there are IB requirements that must be met through out the program= at each stage of engagement.
Having inexperienced people at the helm of the school where IB is such a substantial part of the educational program is very poor management advice. Having administrators micromanaging the time stamps on meetings for professional teachers is a hideous focus that has less than zero educational outcomes. The seeds of distrust have been sown and now, the micromanagers are taking over. Anyone with a shred of integrity would not allow this travesty to continue. The really good educators will leave and the replacements will allow being micromanaged and there begins the slipper slope of closing of minds. Small mindedness management strategies are unsuccessful in any enterprise so short sighted or ignorant people will employ them. Time cards for meetings, time cards for starting work, sweeping away the valued and experienced people, looking at the disruption and applying micromanaging focus in light of so much smoke and mirrors for the real reasons. How can any professional teacher have any degree of self respect and continue to focus on what they really want to do= teach and inspire students to learn.
Former APS student
November 3rd, 2012
10:24 am
@The right one…. I believe the program is good. I dont think it watered down because North Atlanta has to keep it at a certain standard in order to keep the IB program at their school. The question is…. are resources being equally distributed throughout the school or is it , in your words, sucking up majority of the school resources. I doubt that it is…. What you have here is An administrator who put nothing into place to help struggling complete high school…… Hence the 40% drop out rate.
concerned citizen
November 3rd, 2012
11:00 am
From what I understand from multiple teachers who had worked there/work there, there was Saturday school with many different classes offer to help student who were not successful the previous semester but had acceptable attendance records, specific graduation coaches who were mentoring students, there was school wide focused tutorial time in addition to individual teacher’s mandated and extra tutorial, there was a credit recovery program and there was full investment in extra curriculars and the arts/music program. There was school to work programs for the special needs students. How can it be said that he did nothing to help the drop out rate? Look at the statistics first and then criticize the person.
Urban schools have a fluctuating student body- moving, taking an extra year, getting pregnant/ill/taking care of family member who is small/ill, homeless, going to work, and truly dropping out.
How many of those societal problems that are to be layed at the feet of educators or administrators?
Right one
November 3rd, 2012
12:54 pm
IB is great for some students however because of it’s standards, by design it only attracts 10-15% of the student body, while it is open by nature, there are requirements that filter the students.
I am not against but you don’t go from a failing school to a true IB school by simply saying so
RCB
November 3rd, 2012
7:47 pm
Former APS Student, you stated “That 40% drop out rate could be cut in half if someone was in position of power that gave damn”. Like a parent? Or the student? They have the most power. Why does it have to be someone in a position of power at the school? I just get tired of teachers and principals being blamed for the apathetic attitude of these parents and students.