Posted August 13, 2014/Meria/Sutton Middle School

Getting the ‘Scoop’ with the ‘Supe’ at Sutton Middle School

When the savvy 8^th grade reporter Drew Sheldon of Sutton Middle School escorted me into the “Sutton News Station,” I knew I was in good hands. The Sutton news team hit me with one big question, “What is your plan for making Atlanta Public Schools a great school system?” I had an opportunity to talk about changing the culture within the district, being intentional and specific about teaching the whole child and understanding our core purpose as educators. Check out the video interview below.

Sutton uses a “school within a school” structure where each grade level has its own group of administrators who work to implement the International Baccalaureate (IB) Middle Years Programme (MYP) with fidelity. I had one question for Drew about what he would want me to do differently in APS and the interview ended with a discussion about…you guessed it….school lunches! After hearing from the students I headed to the cafeteria, to experience an APS middle school lunch for myself.

Talking to the news crew about my hopes for APS.

I’ll dedicate another post to food and nutrition in the district, but I will say that while the rosemary baked chicken was pretty tasty I noticed that almost all of the students sitting near me chose to bring their lunches to school. I’ll be working with the nutrition department this year to find out how we can make our district’s lunches more appealing to students.

Sutton is currently located on the former North Atlanta High campus in a beautiful facility. The abundance of natural light and big bright courtyards are inviting and encourage collaboration and inquiry. New principal Buck Greene was a gracious host. Even though this is my second visit, I promise to spend more time in classrooms so that I can see the staff and students in action on the next one.