Blog
When I arrived in Atlanta in 2014, so many educators, families, students and neighbors embraced me as the new superintendent. They not only welcomed me but also offered to be my friendly guides so that I could understand the unique characteristics of each school and every community. Among the first people I got to know…
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Mornings like today are the ones I cherish most as part of my work in Atlanta Public Schools – getting to celebrate excellence in teaching and learning! Today was especially special because – as is tradition in APS – we surprised three extraordinary teachers to give them the news: You are a finalist for the…
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Five years ago, the state required every school district to choose an official model for how it operates and establish a new contract with the State of Georgia. After many, many months of intense research, community engagement and planning, the Atlanta Board of Education on July 1, 2016, voted to become a charter system operating…
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Number of APS seniors taking SAT college entrance exam soars to 90% thanks to high school principals, counselors and Achieve Atlanta When SAT scores for APS arrived from the College Board today, the most eye-popping statistic was this: 90% of the graduates from the Class of 2019 took the test, that’s a dramatic 33 percentage…
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With pride, we call Atlanta the Gateway of the Southeast, the Cradle of the Civil Rights Movement, the architect of the New South, the home of the world’s busiest airport and even “The City Too Busy to Hate.” Yet it is sobering – no, make that heart-breaking – to know that it is also one…
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Thank you … thank you … thank you! If I were to even attempt to non-stop to thank everyone who donates to Atlanta Public Schools through DonorsChoose.org, it would take me – assuming that each heartfelt thank you would take at least 10 seconds – at least one day, 19 hours, eight minutes and 50…
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District reports highest number of graduates to date – 2,506 students! APS decreased by 2.0 percentage point from all-time high last year. Whenever the day arrives when the Georgia Department of Education releases official graduation rates, I can always expect a mix of news. And as it happens every year, the news for Atlanta Public…
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The part of my job as superintendent that I love more than anything is when I get to visit our schools and classrooms and see our educators and students in action. And as superintendent, I fully understand that my work is wholly dependent on our team leading where they work in our district. There are…
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At least four times each year, I engage with local reporters from print, broadcast and even our high schools journalists to talk about what’s happening in Atlanta Public Schools. I convened the latest Superintendent Quarterly Media Roundtable on Wednesday afternoon at the Alonzo A. Crim Center for Learning and Leadership. As part of the formal…
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I am proud, honored and humbled to be your superintendent, the superintendent of Atlanta Public Schools. Over the past five years, I have used this blog to inform you – the APS community – in a direct and transparent way about our work on behalf of Atlanta’s children. This morning, the Atlanta Board of Education…
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