Atlanta Public Schools (APS) is a school district based in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It is run by the Atlanta Board of Education with superintendent Dr. Meria J. Carstarphen. The system has an active enrollment of 54,956 students, attending a total of 103 school sites: 50 elementary schools (three of which operate on a year-round calendar), 15 middle schools, 21 high schools, four single-gender academies and 13 charter schools. The school system also supports two alternative schools for middle and/or high school students, two community schools, and an adult learning center. One of the well known Middle Schools, Sutton Middle is known for the filming for one the Mean Girls-Mean Girls 2. On the now sixth grade campus, 7&8 graders get their own campus apart from the sixth graders with the former North Atlanta High School Campus.
The school system owns the license for, but does not operate, the radio station WABE-FM 90.1 (the National Public Radio affiliate) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) public television station WPBA 30.
Governance
This Is Atlanta Public Schools - Atlanta Public Schools Alumni Video.
The Atlanta Board of Education establishes and approves the policies that govern the Atlanta Public School system. The board consists of nine members, representing six geographical districts, and three "at-large" districts. One person is elected per district to represent the schools in a given district for a four-year term. Under the provisions of the new board charter, approved by the Georgia Legislature in 2003, board members elect a new chairman and vice chairman every two years. The day-to-day administration of the school district is the responsibility of the superintendent, who is appointed by the board.
School board members
- District 1 - Leslie Grant
- District 2 - Byron Amos
- District 3 - Matt Westmoreland
- District 4 - Nancy Meister (Vice-Chair)
- District 5 - Steven Lee
- District 6 - Eshe' Collins
- Seat 7 - Courtney English (Chair)
- Seat 8 - Cynthia Briscoe Brown
- Seat 9 - Jason Esteves
APS leadership
2014-2015 school year
- Meria Carstarphen, Ed.D., Superintendent
- Steve Smith, Associate Superintendent
- Karen Waldon, Deputy Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction
- Chuck Burbridge, Chief Financial Officer
- D. Glenn Brock, General Counsel (Nelson, Mullins, Riley & Scarborough LLP)
- Larry Hoskins, Deputy Superintendent for Operations
- Alexis Kirijan, Ed.D., Chief Strategy Officer
- Tony Hunter, Chief Information Officer
- Ron Price, Chief Human Resources Officer
Schools
High schools
- Benjamin E. Mays High School
- BEST Academy High School
- Booker T. Washington High School
- Coretta Scott King Young Women's Leadership Academy High School
- Daniel McLaughlin Therrell High School
- Frederick Douglass High School
- Henry W. Grady High School
- Maynard H. Jackson High School
- The New Schools at Carver
- Early College
- School of the Arts
- School of Health Sciences & Research
- School of Technology
- North Atlanta High School
- South Atlanta High School
Middle schools
- BEST Academy Middle School
- Charles Lincoln Harper-Samuel Howard Archer Middle School
- Coretta Scott King Young Women's Leadership Academy Middle School
- Crawford Williamson Long Middle School
- Jean Childs Young Middle School
- John Fitzgerald Kennedy Middle School
- Joseph Emerson Brown Middle School
- Luther Judson Price Middle School
- Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School
- Ralph Johnson Bunche Middle School
- Sammye E. Coan Middle School
- Samuel M. Inman Middle School
- Sylvan Hills Middle School
- Walter Leonard Parks Middle School
- Willis Sutton Middle School
Elementary schools
- Adamsville Elementary School
- Barack & Michelle Obama Academy (formerly DH Stanton Elementary)
- Beecher Hills Elementary School
- Benteen Elementary School
- Bethune Elementary School
- Bolton Academy
- Boyd Elementary School
- Brandon Elementary School
- Burgess/Peterson Elementary School
- Cascade Elementary School
- Centennial Place Elementary School
- Cleveland Avenue Elementary School
- Connally Elementary School
- Continental Colony Elementary School
- Deerwood Academy
- Dobbs Elementary School
- Dunbar Elementary School
- Fain Elementary School
- Fickett Elementary School
- Finch Elementary School
- Frank Lebby Stanton Elementary School
- Fred A. Toomer Elementary School
- Flat Rock Elementary School
- Garden Hills Elementary School
- Gideons Elementary School
- Grove Park Intermediate Elementary School
- Heritage Academy
- Hope-Hill Elementary School
- Humphries Elementary School
- Hutchinson Elementary School
- Jackson Elementary School
- Kimberly Elementary School
- M. Agnes Jones Elementary School
- Mary Lin Elementary School
- Miles Elementary School
- Morningside Elementary School
- Oglethorpe Elementary School
- Parkside Elementary School
- Perkerson Elementary School
- Peyton Forest Elementary School
- Pine Ridge Elementary School
- Rivers Elementary School
- Sarah Smith Elementary School
- Scott Elementary School
- Slater Elementary School
- Springdale Park Elementary School
- Sycamore Elementary school
- Thomasville Heights Elementary School
- Towns Elementary School
- Usher Elementary School
- Venetian Hills Elementary School
- West Manor Elementary School
- Whitefoord Elementary School
- Woodson Primary Elementary School
Non-traditional schools
- Alonzo A. Crim Open Campus High School
- APS/Community Education Partnership (CEP) School
- The New School of Atlanta
- West End Academy
Single-gender academies
- The B.E.S.T. Academy at Benjamin S. Carson (Business, Engineering, Science, and Technology)
- The Coretta Scott King Young Women's Leadership Academy
Evening school programs
- Adult Literacy Program
Charter schools
- Atlanta Classical Academy
- Atlanta Neighborhood Charter School
- Centennial Academy
- Charles R. Drew Charter School
- The Kindezi School
- KIPP Vision Academy
- KIPP Vision Primary
- KIPP West Atlanta Young Scholars Academy
- The Latin Academy
- University Community Academy, an Atlanta Charter School, Inc.
- Wesley International Academy
- Westside Atlanta Charter School
Former schools
High schools
- Boys High School, 1872-1947
- Charles Lincoln Harper High School, 1963-1995
- Commercial High School, 1888-1947
- Daniel O'Keefe High School, 1947-1973
- David T. Howard High School, 1945-1976
- East Atlanta High School, 1959-1988
- Franklin D. Roosevelt High School, 1947-1985
- Fulton High School, 1915-1994
- Girls High School, 1872-1947
- Harper-Archer High School, 1995-2002
- Henry McNeal Turner High School, 1951-1990
- Hoke Smith High School, 1947-1985
- Joseph Emerson Brown High School, 1947-1992
- Luther Judson Price High School, 1954-1987
- North Fulton High School, 1920-1991
- Northside High School, 1950-1991
- Samuel Howard Archer High School, 1950-1995
- Southwest High School, 1950-1981
- Sylvan Hills High School, 1949-1987
- Tech High Charter School, 2004-2012
- Technological "Tech" High School, 1909-1947
- Walter F. George High School, 1959-1995
- West Fulton High School, 1947-1992
- William A. Bass High School, 1948-1987
- William F. Dykes High School, 1959-1973
Middle schools
- Austin T. Walden Middle School
- Central Junior High School
- Daniel O'keefe Middle School, 1973-1983
- Henry McNeal Turner Middle School, 1989-2010
- John Fitzgerald Kennedy Middle School
- Marshall Middle School
- Sammye E. Coan Middle School
- Usher Middle School
- Walter Leonard Parks Middle School
- West Fulton Middle School, 1992-2004
Elementary schools
- Adair Park Elementary School
- Anderson Park Elementary School
- Anne E. West Elementary School
- Arkwright Elementary School
- Ben Hill Elementary School
- Blair Village Elementary School
- Blalock Elementary School
- Burgess Elementary School
- C.D. Hubert Elementary School, renamed Atlanta Tech High in 2004
- Capitol View Elementary School
- Caroline F. Harper Elementary School
- Center Hill Elementary School
- Chatthoochee Elementary School
- Clark Howell Elementary School
- Collier Heights Elementary School
- Cook Elementary School
- D.F. McClatchey Elementary School
- East Lake Elementary School
- Edmond Asa Ware Elementary School
- Edwin P. Johnson Elementary School
- Emma Clarissa Clement Elementary School
- English Avenue Elementary School
- Evan P. Howell Elementary School
- Fountain Elementary School
- Fowler St. Elementary School
- Harwell Elementary School
- Herndon Elementary School
- Home Park Elementary School
- I.N. Ragsdale Elementary School
- Joel Chandler Harris Elementary School
- John B. Gordon Elementary school
- John Carey Elementary School
- John F. Faith Elementary, renamed C.D. Hubert in 1963
- John P. Whittaker Elementary School
- Jonathan M. Goldsmith Elementary School
- Lakewood Elementary School
- Laura Haygood Elementary School
- Lee Street Elementary School
- Luckie Street Elementary School
- Margaret Mitchell Elementary School
- Minnie S. Howell Elementary School
- Moreland Ave. Elementary School
- Mount Vernon Elementary School
- North Ave. Elementary School
- Oglethorpe Elementary School
- Peeples Street Grammar School
- Riverside Elementary School
- Rockdale Elementary School
- Slayton Elementary School
- Spring Street Elementary School
- Sylvan Hills Elementary School
- Thomas Jefferson Guice Elementary School
- Walker Street Elementary School
- Waters Elementary School
- White Elementary School
History
Before 1900
Established by ordinance of the Atlanta City Council, the Atlanta Public Schools opened three grammar schools and two high schools in 1872 to educate the youth of the city. This brought the total number of schools offering free education to the city's children to seven, as the Freedman's Bureau had established two schools for "Negro" children in 1866.
Integration
On August 30, 1961, nine students â€" Thomas Franklin Welch, Madelyn Patricia Nix, Willie Jean Black, Donita Gaines, Arthur Simmons, Lawrence Jefferson, Mary James McMullen, Martha Ann Holmes and Rosalyn Walton â€" became the first African American students to attend several of APS's all-white high schools.
On September 8, 1961, Time magazine reported:
Last week the moral siege of Atlanta (pop. 487,455) ended in spectacular fashion with the smoothest token school integration ever seen in the Deep South. Into four high schools marched nine Negro students without so much as a white catcall. Teachers were soon reporting "no hostility, no demonstrations, the most normal day we've ever had." In the lunchrooms, white children began introducing themselves to Negro children. At Northside High, a biology class was duly impressed when Donita Gaines, a Negro, was the only student able to define the difference between anatomy and physiology. Said she crisply: "Physiology has to do with functions."
In a 1964 news story, Time would say, "The Atlanta decision was a gentle attempt to accelerate one of the South’s best-publicized plans for achieving integration without revolution."
By May 1961, 300 transfer forms had been given to black students interested in transferring out of their high schools. 132 students actually applied; of those, 10 were chosen and 9 braved the press, onlookers, and insults to integrate Atlanta's all-white high schools.
Brown vs. the Board of Education of Topeka had established the right of African American students to have equal opportunities in education, but it was not until 1958, when a group of African American parents challenged the segregated school system in federal court, that integration became a tangible reality for students of color in Atlanta.
Adding to the accolades for the students and the city, President Kennedy publicly congratulated residents during an evening address and asked other cities to "look closely at what Atlanta has done and to meet their responsibility... with courage, tolerance and above all, respect for the law."
In 2012, Atlanta Public Schools produced a documentary to honor the 50th anniversary of the district's desegregation efforts. In January 1972, in order to settle several federal discrimination and desegregation lawsuits filed on behalf of minority students, faculty, and employees and reach satisfactory agreement with Atlanta civil rights leaders who had worked over a decade for a peaceful integration plan. Atlanta Public Schools entered into a voluntary agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice, with approval and oversight from the U.S. Department of Education, in an attempt to desegregate Atlanta Public Schools. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, a majority of Atlanta Northside public schools had either token integration, or none at all. Faculty and staff assignments to schools had remained mostly segregated as well.
The justice department allowed the school system to create and use a plan consisting of partial district busing; voluntary and "M to M" (minority to majority) transfers; redrawing attendance zones; closing outdated and underutilized schools; building new schools; and mandating and implementing equal employment opportunity guidelines for hiring, training, promotion, assignment, vendor selection, bidding, contracting, construction, procurement and purchasing. The school system was also converted from a K-7 elementary and 8-12 high school grade system into a middle school 6â€"8 grade program, starting with the 1973/1974 school year. The curriculum was also updated to have studies more balanced, inclusive, and diverse, with content culturally and historically significant to racial minorities.
With strict guidelines, oversight and timeline implementation of the voluntary desegregation plan, the federal courts agreed not to order and enforce system-wide a mandatory busing desegregation program for APS that had been federally enforced in other cities up to that time, most notably Boston, which resulted in widespread anti-busing violence in 1973-74 that Atlanta civil rights leaders desired to avoid. Along with this program for racial balance, the school system's first African American Superintendent, Dr. Alonzo A. Crim, took over leadership of Atlanta Public Schools in August 1973. He remained superintendent until his retirement in 1988.
Cheating scandal
During the 11-year tenure of former superintendent Beverly Hall, the APS experienced unusually high gains in standardized test scores, such as the Criterion-Referenced Competency Test. In 2009, Hall won the National Superintendent of the Year Award. Around this time, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution began investigating the score increases and suggested evidence of cheating. A state report found numerous erased answers in an analysis of the 2009 test scores. Tests were administered under much higher scrutiny in 2010, and the scores dropped dramatically.
The state of Georgia launched a major investigation as cheating concerns intensified. The investigation's report, published in July 2011, found evidence of a widespread cheating scandal. At least 178 teachers and principals at 44 APS schools were alleged to have corrected students' tests to increase scores, in some cases holding "cheating parties" to revise large quantities of tests. Hall, who had retired in June 2011, expressed regret but denied any prior knowledge of, or participation in, the cheating. The new superintendent, Erroll Davis, demanded the resignation of the 178 APS employees or else they would be fired. The revelation of the scandal left many Atlantans feeling outraged and betrayed, with Mayor Kasim Reed calling it "a dark day for the Atlanta public school system." The scandal attracted national media coverage.
See also
- Truancy Intervention Project, Inc.
References
External links
- Atlanta Public Schools
- Atlanta Public Schools
- Atlanta Top Public Schools List
- Atlanta Public Schools at the Wayback Machine (archive index)
- Atlanta Public Schools zoning locator
- U.S. Department of Education: Comprehensive School Reform Program