Archive for the ‘Cherokee’ Category

The state Department of Education released its list of Alert Schools today.

The new DOE accountability designations — priority schools, focus schools and reward schools — replace the “needs improvement” label in No Child Left Behind that educators deemed unclear and unhelpful. These three designations target  “Title I” schools that have a high percentage of low-income students. DOE also designated a fourth category, “alert schools,” so the state can focus on struggling schools that do not necessarily have a high percentage of low-income students.

DOE defines Alert Schools are those that need to raise student achievement on statewide assessments in the areas of graduation rate for high schools and subgroup performance and subject performance for elementary and middle schools. Alert Schools can be Title I Schools or Non-Title I Schools.

The criteria used to identify Alert Schools are:

(1) Graduation Alert Schools: High Schools whose subgroup …

Continue reading State DOE releases list of Alert Schools today »

Readers of this blog will be familiar with the tensions in Cherokee between the school system and the legislative delegation and the board redistricting legislation that resulted. You can find quite a few posts on the issues if you search Cherokee.

It will be interesting to see whether the school system’s opposition to the state charter school amendment will have any impact on voters in November.

Here is a good summation of the Cherokee situation from the AJC’s Jeffry Scott:

For 10 months a battle has raged in Cherokee County over charter schools. A bill passed by the legislature putting a charter school amendment on the ballot November has done little to clear the smoke or diffuse the heat.

It has just ignited new opposition in the county and given rise to the prospect that the debate and battle could expand across the state, say opponents of the amendment that would give Georgia the power to create charter schools without local school board approval.

Over the last year …

Continue reading Cherokee provides view of natural tensions over charter school amendment »

Dr. Frank R. Petruzielo (Cherokee schools)

The gloves are off in the Legislature where lawmakers are going after a school district and board they perceive as hostile to charter schools.

What’s surprising to me is that they are going after Cherokee, a system that is among the state’s high performers and where the majority of parents would probably express confidence in the schools. That does not mean all parents are happy, but Cherokee has an enviable record of achievement.

House Bill 978 would realign the Cherokee county school board and effectively remove the elected school board chair and vice chair, according to the Cherokee Tribune. Now, the school board has seven members elected county-wide and members elect their own chair and vice chair.

An angry Cherokee Superintendent Frank R. Petruzielo is firing back at lawmakers, and he is not mincing his words about what he deems their lack of support for the schools and their efforts to undermine them:

Cherokee County …

Continue reading Cherokee school chief: Lawmakers are no friends of county’s highly rated school system »

In response to a call for greater school choice in his county, Cherokee Superintendent Frank R. Petruzielo has proposed an ambitious academies model that would offer specialized programs in science, technology, fine arts and performance arts, as well as a rigorous IB academy.

These desirable new programs would be county-wide and require students to meet admissions criteria.

Here is a memo Petruzielo sent on the academy programs, which I think parents in Cherokee will find very appealing.  In the case of the science, technology, engineering and math academy, Cherokee could tap its Race to the Top funds, which have the expansion of STEM programs as a stated goal.

In response to Board Member Mike Chapman’s request at the August 18 School Board meeting that staff develop a conceptual framework and ideas for increased school choice within the School District, I am proposing for the Board’s consideration establishment of a Cherokee Academies initiative – – a system of …

Continue reading Cherokee to consider ambitious expansion of choice programs in its public schools »

The 16 commission charter schools are scrambling to win local approval now that the state high court has ruled against them. (AJC photo)

Despite initial pessimism from some charter school advocates, both the Cherokee and Gwinnett boards of education appear open to two  charter schools whose futures were jeopardized by a recent Georgia Supreme Court decision.

The high court ruled that a state commission created by the Legislature in 2008 could not approve charter schools over the objections of the local boards. The commission had approved 16 such schools, most of which now must be legitimatized by their local boards to continue to operate. (There are also statewide virtual schools in the mix, and their fate remains unclear.)

The charter schools and the state are asking the state Supreme Court to reconsider its 4-3 vote, but legal experts say that is unlikely. In any case, the affected charters are not taking any chances and are pleading their cases to their local boards.

In …

Continue reading Gwinnett willing to work with Ivy Prep to keep charter school alive. Lawmakers meet Friday. »

As metro areas grow, school lines shift. Several districts are in the midst of redistricting, and the process is rife with emotions, recriminations and strife.

Many homeowners contend that they bought their homes because of the local schools and rebel when they’re told five years later that their fifth grader will now be leaving friends and the familiar to journey to a new school.

My mailbox is full of e-mails from parents across metro Atlanta telling me about proposed redistrictings that they feel send their children to either a less successful school or a school where the kids won’t know anyone. Some of the parents have maps to show how their small area is being carved out to attend a new school while everyone around them is staying put.

They often report that the school board members carefully drew the maps so their own kids or grandkids or constituents have the least turmoil. (Such accusations are common in DeKalb where most changes are perceived to have a political …

Continue reading Should family income play a role in redistricting? What should matter? »