Atlanta Schools                                     Documents Information and Links   Compare APS Schools to South Fulton Schools ~ Apples to Apples Business Leaders Applaud APS Superintendent Precedent for Fulton Schools going to APS APS Town Hall at Sandtown June 29th Pose Questions for Atlanta Public School Officials City of Atlanta Information North vs South Fulton Educational Gap

2006 Atlanta SAT Versus South Fulton SAT (apples to apples) The correct Question is not how do Fulton Schools compare with Atlanta schools, but how do South Fulton Schools compare with Atlanta Schools.  Our children are not in the North Fulton School zone. Here are the 2006 SAT scores in descending order by overall score.   District Overall Verbal Math Writing North Fulton Northview 1670 545 583 542 North Fulton Chattahoochee. 1666 545 580 541 North Fulton Roswell 1663 541 559 563 North Fulton N. Springs 1647 553 552 542 North Fulton Milton 1641 541 558 542 North Fulton Centennial 1638 544 557 537 North Fulton Alpharetta 1596 528 555 513 North Fulton Riverwood 1588 535 526 527 Atlanta Grady 1544 525 502 517 North Fulton Independence. 1498 493 503 502 Atlanta North Atlanta 1412 481 464 467 South Fulton Westlake 1336 452 437 447 Atlanta Mays 1331 450 435 446 South Fulton Creekside 1303 436 429 438 South Fulton Tri-Cities 1274 426 422 426 Atlanta Therrell 1238 412 403 423 Atlanta Washington 1216 407 390 419 Atlanta Douglass 1205 406 403 396 South Fulton Banneker 1190 397 385 408 Atlanta Southside 1184 390 397 397 South Fulton McClarin 1148 420 354 374 Atlanta South Atlanta 1147 368 393 386 Atlanta Carver 1145 387 375 383 Atlanta Crim. 1050 339 346 365 Source: http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/stories/0829metsatscores.html   PRECEDENT FOR FULTON SCHOOLS GOING TO APS From the Sandtown Community Association Steering Committee History is bound to repeat itself, when you don't understand it.  And more importantly, ignorance is bliss when an opinion is not based on fact.  Atlanta has a rich tradition of martyrs who sacrificed their lives and pressed for change based on what was right and moral.  Personal gain, political patronage and graft were luxuries their conscience and integrity would not allow. With respect to the whole issue of what is going to happen to the Sandtown schools, we feel compelled to dispel some of the myths out there and misinformation. Annexation is not new in Georgia, and there is precedent regarding the handling of schools when a decision is made to annex.  More specifically, regarding Fulton County and Atlanta, there has been agreement and practice.  There has been a friendly relationship between the two systems, and we cannot understand why there would be change in the process now.  We encourage everyone to review the precedence regarding the transfer of schools from Fulton County to Atlanta after annexation.  This is a list of schools previously built or operated by Fulton County that have been transferred to the Atlanta Public School System: Cascade Elementary – off of Cascade Road and near the Beautiful restaurant Young Middle School (formerly Southwest HS) near Lynhurst and Mays Drive Brown MS (formerly Brown HS) near Peoples Street and Abernathy Connally ES – off of Cascade (the old school burned down and was abandoned, but the school was originally a Fulton County school and turned over to Atlanta Public Schools) Peoples ES (no longer exists) Fulton School Superintendent James Wilson said to the AJC “If the community is annexed, the Atlanta schools would have to negotiate with Fulton to acquire the properties.”  State law prohibits municipalities from giving taxpayer’s assets away. That is why Sandy Springs bought the Fire Stations from Fulton County for $5,000 each.  The negotiation for the schools as he referred to would be on price to compensate the School System for what they expended on the schools.  Just as others outside Sandtown legitimately point out their that some of their tax dollars went toward Sandtown Schools,  Sandtown would be entitled to its share of SPLOST I and II dollars for unmet commitments with an annexation. Even when the last big annexation took place by Atlanta in 1952 to annex Buckhead, there were schools transferred from Fulton County to Atlanta Public Schools.  For those who want to posture and spread fear by saying Fulton County will keep the schools and the Sandtown children will have to attend Atlanta Public Schools by bus, we in Sandtown take issue given there is legal precedence on the historical relationship between these two systems.  If the Fulton County School Board took the position to change the precedent based on history, it would just serve as further evidence of their insensitivity to the needs of the residents in South Fulton. Another idea that is floating out there is that we can challenge the Fulton County school board by filing suit to get redress regarding their failure to treat our children fairly.  Earlier this year, we had an attorney come to us who was involved in the West vs. Hightower case that initially challenged Fulton County and placed them under a desegregation court order.  It was his opinion that for any successful challenge based on discrimination to prevail, the plaintiffs would need to establish intent to do so.  Many legal experts familiar with civil rights legal challenges understand the bar required to satisfy this standard is very difficult to establish and very costly.  Brown vs. Board of Education was decided in 1954, and in 2006 many communities in this country still suffer from educational inequality.  The idea of a legal challenge is quite appealing, when someone is trying to explain away a problem.  But our children cannot afford to wait a lifetime to experience "closing the gap".  It has already been established that the Fulton County School Board has failed to fulfill their commitment to children in Sandtown.  Our concern regarding education has focused solely on poor leadership.  A board member has the power to relieve overcrowding, as a matter of fact, that is how Autry Mill MS successfully got their overcrowding relieved. Many residents fear the unknown and are allowing the fear to overcome their faith.  It is faith that provided Harriet Tubman the will to get slaves to freedom, it was faith that helped Nelson Mandela to focus on the ending of apartheid, it was faith that gave a few residents in Sandtown the will to get the Middle School built even though the school administration said there were not enough students to warrant it. It will be faith that will lead us through the annexation process and continue our goal of building community schools that we can all be proud of.  The same group of parents in Sandtown, who are committed to educational excellence, will be there with annexation. Sandtown Committee Association Steering Committee   SANDTOWN MEETING WITH ATLANTA CITY SCHOOLS JUNE 29, 2006 Questions and answers session:   Is overcrowding an issue in APS, and do you have portable classroom buildings?  A:  Our enrollment has actually been going down between 400 and 700 students per year because of a shift in our demographics. New housing is tending more towards town homes and lofts rather than single family homes, so we have more singles moving in. The Housing Authority Hope 6 program is providing about the only family-oriented housing in the city.  There are pockets of growth—Morningside, for instance-but we have reduced the portables system-wide from 330 to about 100 today.  If Sandtown were annexed, would you be in favor of creating a new district so we would have representation? A:  This is highly speculative at this time. With roughly 5000 students at the 3 Sandtown schools-Randolph, Sandtown Middle, and Westlake-redrawing the lines will probably decrease that number. Getting new representation on the School Board would require 36,000 households.   Who has authority to create new schools? A:  The Atlanta Board of Education (9 members), representing the Atlanta Independent School System.  Funding comes from State (GBE) and some Title 1 funding from Federal government, but 75% of the money comes from local property tax.  Can APS make a commitment to building new schools in SW Fulton before we commit to annexation? A:  No.  Would SPLOST funds, if received, come back to our SW Fulton schools or go into the APS general budget? A:  Can’t speculate on that; our process is to evaluate our capital improvement projects depending on the condition and capacity of all schools to determine priorities. In the last 2 years we’ve seen 40% increase in building costs, and with that consideration, as well as our shifting demographics, we have had to alter and/or modify plans that were made.   Do you have a case study regarding annexation of South Fulton insofar as we will know whether our students will have to “drive by” other schools to get to the ones they will be assigned to? A: No. It is not clear where the lines will be drawn.  If annexed, would the Board consider taking our three (3) schools and keep the community’s control of them? A:  The “Build Smart” program is an APS reform intended on putting a new state-of the-art school in every community by 2008; part of that process is that the experts and demographers will come out and interview and study, then advise the Board on their recommendations. The Build Smart program is a comprehensive reform vehicle for among other things, breaking down large schools into smaller schools. As far as acquiring the schools, Fulton County may keep them, or we are not sure how the process works.  No guarantees.   Is the APS going to get a lot of money from the Belt-line TAD? A:  No.  We will get some parkland, greenspace and athletic fields, but no money will be coming out of the TAD until the bonds are paid off—probably 25 years away. What plans are you using to make schools premier schools? A:  Seven years ago we embarked on a comprehensive school reform plan. We always had pockets of outstanding schools, but our goal is to make all the schools outstanding. It starts with literacy:  we began with elementary schools, making reading the main emphasis so by grade 3 all students would be competent in literacy. We started project “GRAD”, Graduation Really Achieves Dreams. We got business to partner with us in our lowest performing schools; we provided literacy coaches and guidance counselors and in 5 years we turned the graduation rate up dramatically at Washington.  None of those schools today are failing, and with 75% of these students qualifying for the free lunch program, that’s incredible.  Then, our middle schools had challenges—literacy and math.  We spent millions of dollars teaching our teachers to teach these problems areas and using the Bill Gates’ Foundation grant; we have been breaking down the size of schools and using mentors. APS has been said to be better than any school district in the country in having achieved systematic reform. Test Scores:  How does APS rank? A: We rank better in some and worse in other statistical analysis;  we decided to get out of the numbers game of “cherry picking” deciding which students should take the SAT tests; requiring that all colleges-bound students take it, so over all the numbers may not look great.  The state website will soon have current data on the latest AYP, it’s being reviewed now.   How do you account for the inequities in the teaching materials and resources available between the APS schools? A:  The schools have some independence on the financial choices to be made, but all should have access to essentially the same materials.  Are you cutting programs and laying off teachers as Fulton County is doing? A:  No.  APS sought and received a tax increase so we didn’t have to cut back. We have been able to put foreign language, music and guidance counselors—all not funded by the state—in our curriculum, plus increased teachers’ pay by 4%.  Do you have a growth plan for SW Fulton? A:  We recently opened Deerwood Academy  Can you comment on options South Fulton teachers would have in annexed? A: No.  What happens to our students  in October this year (after school starts) if we are annexed? A:  It will take some time, maybe a year, to make necessary changes.   How do you keep a low student/teacher ratio since you say you don’t bus students? A:  We haven’t had the problem. Our issues have been building capacity issues.   What programs do you offer for Vocational Education students? A:  We don’t offer Voc Ed classes anymore because the belief is that all kids need literacy and computer skills to do anything in today’s world.  College prep classes give them those skills.  The lower level courses such as cosmetology, shop, etc., can be taken elsewhere.  What are your top-level schools and are they at or over-capacity? Have any trailers? A:  Mays HS is near-capacity, and no, it doesn’t have any trailers; it is one of the top high schools in Georgia--#42.  North Atlanta and Grady are others.  What kind of development is coming around Mays HS? A:  A number of town homes, with fewer single family homes; not many children projected.  When the numbers at our schools approach overcrowding, we check residential zones and eliminate kids who shouldn’t be there.  Can our students attend Mays if our zone isn’t part of that school’s boundaries? A:  Magnet programs are open to out-of-zone kids from City of Atlanta but there is a limit as to how many can go (academically assessed) and it is open only to rising 9th graders.   What are the top elementary and middle schools? A:  Jackson, Brandon, Smith, Morningside, Gideon, and Capitol View.  “Next Step” Program? A: Mayor Shirley Franklin solicited every Atlanta Public School High School student who wanted to go to college to participate in this; she met one-on-one with each of them (about a thousand students!)  to see what their “next step” needs were, in other words, what was going to keep them from going on to college.  She then provided all those needs.  Comments: Chief of Staff Sharron Pitts added these in closing remarks:  I would like to dispel some myths about APS: some things “used to be”, but take another look! See what’s happening NOW. We have some very important programs  in place that are brand new—we talked about some of them, but another is a program where we got 7 “small Ivies” to give full scholarships to disadvantaged APS students if they could qualify—then we provided mentors, and we got eight (8) students in!  Full scholarships! These programs are working!   Notes by Sherry Finch                                                        Secretary, Sandtown Community Association   Atlanta Public School Information and Links: Atlanta Public Schools APS Charter Schools Atlanta Beltline Work Plan School District Map & Zones Annexation Case Law Need Tools to Review Documents? Get Viewer to read Adobe PDF Documents     Microsoft Windows Media Player Free Download     Get Viewer to view WORD Presentations     Get Viewer to view PowerPoint Presentations                                                                                                               back to top