A divided APS school board decides today whether to dump embattled school chief Erroll Davis
Should Erroll B. Davis Jr. stay or go?
DeKalb is not the only metro school district with a consequential decision pending today.
While the DeKalb school board will vote on a controversial five year plan that includes school closings and redistricting, the Atlanta Board of Education will take up superintendent Erroll B. Davis’ contract extension today,
And the stage is set for a close vote.
At a meeting last week, the nine-member APS board changed its policy, now requiring a super majority of seven votes to extend the school chief’s contract rather than a majority of five votes. At that Dec. 3 session, the board delayed a decision on Davis’ contract for a second time, reflective of the residual anger over his abrupt leadership changes at North Atlanta High School in October.
There are two petitions at Change.org, one for Davis and one against:
The one in favor of keeping Davis — which has 241 supporters this morning — states:
Erroll Davis is the best person to serve as interim superintendent. Davis has proven he is a non-political leader, capable of making tough decisions. Davis came to APS at a moment of chaos, following a decade of turmoil and educational neglect. He restored a significant measure of stability and trust, earning him the support of Atlanta’s mayor and many APS parents and teachers. Extending Davis’s contract provides stability that permits our children to learn and grow.
The one in favor of replacing Davis — which has 83 supporters this morning — states:
Please allow Superintendent Davis’ contract to expire without renewal, and move immediately to find a new Superintendent for Atlanta Public Schools to take over when Davis’ term ends this summer. Atlanta needs a superintendent who can communicate well, work effectively with school leaders, and rise above political maneuvering to provide the best education possible for our students.
For a sense of the public divide over Davis, here is an excerpt from Talk Up APS, which is a system-sponsored blog. Please note that this is not my account, but a report from the official APS blog of some parent comments made during the Dec. 3 board discussion of Davis’ future:
Cynthia Briscoe-Brown- I am here today to ask each of you to vote against extending interim Superintendent Davis’ contract. He lacks the leadership essential to this position. Every one of his stated reasons for “Bloody Friday” have been proven false. This superintendent has lost the confidence of a significant number of the community–he should not be allowed to continue. There are highly qualified individuals who would welcome the challenge of leading APS into the future.
Yvette Bolwaire, former NAHS parent: I come as I did last month in support of superintendent Davis. He has proven time and time again that he is not only willing but capable of tackling, SACS, redistricting and most recently North Atlanta High. It is his responsibility to do what is in the best interest of all students. I am in total support of his decision to restructure NAHS and how it was carried out. What has been characterized as Bloody Friday by some was seen as a long awaited glimmer of hope by those who have waited for years.
–From Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get School blog
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110 comments Add your comment
tjatl
December 10th, 2012
9:57 pm
Ray, it turned out to be a gutsy move. 2 year extension with super majority vote to quell questions about legitimacy. Could have gone either way, though. If only Richt had been so fortunate.
Tired!
December 10th, 2012
10:17 pm
I posted this on an earlier blog but I think it deserves repeating. This entire vote tonight is nothing but politics at play. Mayor Reed should be ashamed of his actions. I am completely disheartened by the push-over board members who voted to extend this man’s contract. Davis has done nothing but beat up on his employees, hire poor leaders, and talk about kids like they are part of some manufactored line…this is pitiful! The entire city is headed for disaster!
Earlier post…Okay. I have been hesitant about saying anything on this blog for fear of retaliation from APS. But I have had it. I am a principal at APS and have had the worst experience at the past Principals’ Meeting. It was focused on Pyramid of Interventions; a document dated from 2006 which still had Kathy Cox’s name. This session was led by Linda Anderson (hired by Karen Waldon)and John O’Connor. The training was pitiful; it did not have any new learning. In fact, we discussed RTI and Pyramid of Interventions in 2004. When principals asked repeatedly for a formal district-created RTI plan, systematic processes, and clear outlined guidelines…the response was “we will get there but first we have to know what we are doing”. So Anderson and O’Connor asked the principals to use valuable time away from school to read a 6 year old document and complete a pyramid of intervention chart in the auditorium of a school…yes, the auditotium… because you do great team work in an auditorium. Then after a series of ‘busy work’ activities, we had a break to recognize three retiring principals and one principal that took a job with TFA. Then after a song…yes, song from a principal…we ended with a slideshow presentation about leadership. I believe the intended reaction from the video was supposed to rouse enthusiasm and support…however, what was heard were crickets…nothing…not one clap, not one cheer…NOTHING. This speaks volumes!!!! Everyone in the room is tired…tired of being told to be quiet and take it…tired of hearing a lot of jargon from people that do not care. It is a sad day in APS. I am afraid that if the current administration stays it will spell catastrophe for our students!
Tired!
December 10th, 2012
10:25 pm
I wish there were enough board members that cared enough about the kids as they do their careers! This group of 9 has no idea what it takes to run a school system…require deliverables from a superintendent…or know the difference between bull and quality! All of them…all of them should go! This is the straw that broke the camels back. Please know that the APS employees were hoping that you would do something profound to help the majority of the students in APS. And please be aware that the majority of our students do not live in Buckhead…have parents in 100 Black Men…or are a part of the Chamber of Commerce or the Mayor’s Office! This is SAD!!!
Andrea Knight
December 11th, 2012
12:27 am
@The Phantom: As the parent who started the petition in favor of extending Erroll Davis, I have access to the zip code info. I am active in SEACS, so via my social circle there are lots of Jackson signatures. But the biggest zip code was 30307, mostly Mary Lin. And there are signers from across the city including Buckhead.
Chris Murphy
December 11th, 2012
6:42 am
@Tired: sorry to hear, if any of the above is true. But that is part of the problem: since you use a handle instead of your real name, you’re just taking up space here. I will ask the principal here though, and see what she says.
Chris Murphy
December 11th, 2012
6:55 am
The Phantom
December 10th, 2012
12:48 pm
Maureen,
If you were able to cross-reference the names on the petition that supports Davis, you would see many names of SEACS members. The same group that ED has promised his total support to, via improvements (ongoing renovation, new principal, restructuring, etc) of Jackson High. Not surprising, because frankly the school needed it, but be aware that is where many of the votes came from.
And totally surprised that the “anti” petition is so low. Do the NAHS parents know about it?
And is the new definition of INTERIM now mean forever and ever?
I am not a member of SEACS, but I do post on their FB page, and work with many of their members on our local schools. Yes, we started the petition and pushed it here in SE ATL. Something wrong with that? It was done precisely to counter the other petition that Maureen posted. I think it made a difference, as some Board members seemed to be paying attention to the political winds; we just wanted to let them know there was more than one breeze blowing.
South East Communities for Schools (SEACS) brought to bear a very good force to make sure the Jackson Cluster schools are getting what each needs to educate it’s kids. Davis has promised us no more than any other school, except full support of the International Baccalaureate Programme (IB), which was started before he was hired. Jackson is the only APS HS that has not undergone a renovation under the successive SPLOST bond votes, so it is just getting its due. And- it is getting an app. $40 million renovation, vs. NAHS getting a total of $120 Million (and rising), but NAHS is also planned for twice as many students. Still, it should be obvious from figures like that that Davis and APS hasn’t ‘favored’ the Jackson cluster: what has happened is that SEACS and neighborhood groups and individuals and companies have held APS’s feet to the fire to get the schools here what they need. So far, the principal hires have been terrific, and other plans are moving well- and producing results. Stay tuned for Jackson HS to be noted on a state-wide scale for its performance in many areas soon.
Chris Murphy
December 11th, 2012
6:56 am
@Jerry Eads: appreciate your comments, and using your real name.
Private Citizen
December 12th, 2012
8:22 am
Tired! the response was “we will get there but first we have to know what we are doing”. … asked the principals to use valuable time away from school to read a 6 year old document and complete a pyramid of intervention chart in the auditorium of a school…yes, the auditotium… because you do great team work in an auditorium. Then after a series of ‘busy work’ activities,
From what I have seen, this is a pretty standard method in Georgia of political managers using people’s time and acting like they have done something. I’ve been through many many of those cafeteria concept meetings where every person there looks like Army-issued hash waiting for the meeting to be over so they can back to their unfinished responsibilities. It gets to the point that even the people running the meeting know they are doing a showy ruse. Yes, there is a real lack of relevance. It’s just hockum to give the political caste something to do. I’ve also been invited by a mayor to be on some similar activity, got a nice letter in the mail with gold letterhead and stuff. Went to the meeting and it went like this: main introduction and then split up into three groups to go do assigned busywork. They misrepresented what they were doing. Once I was in the busy work meeting and realised what was going on, I eased on out the door and left and didn’t even say goodbye. I was pretty upset about it. I’m glad I didn’t get any deeper with it because that mayor is toast / gone. I guess I got the invite to join the political class, but my idea of accomplishment is not sitting around with these folks who control and massage everything. I have much noted how much water or pails the principals have to tote back and forth between the school and the outside initiatives. With this RTTT fiasco and testing, etc. the principals do not have it any better than the teachers. Good luck to you and know that there is at least one sane person, me, who knows what you are having to go through to have a few minutes to try and do your relevant work.
Private Citizen
December 12th, 2012
8:29 am
It would be nice if the manager/ leaders got out of everybody’s hair and stopped requiring such an abundance of rituals. It is almost like the main thing the manager’s do is harass people and detract them from their work. Arne Duncan is the worst attention-suck monster ever roamed the face of planet earth. These jerks mercilessly harass professionals and front for commercial interests that are exploiting the public services.
20/20
December 12th, 2012
8:56 am
@Tired I will be praying for you and all APS employees during this time as I am famliar with the stupidity you speak about. John O’Connor is just clueless alone with Lillian Harris and Karen Waldon. They are all just drawing paychecks on the taxpayer dime and dumb and dumber. It truly is a sad era in APS.