Wednesday, May 15, 2013
This is your opportunity to voice the qualities and skill sets you want to see in the next superintendent of Atlanta Public Schools.
The Atlanta Board of Education’s Superintendent Search Committee has released the schedule for four community input sessions — May 15, 16, 20 and 21. The sessions are designed to give citizens the opportunity to provide feedback on the characteristics they believe are critical in the next Atlanta Public Schools superintendent. The Superintendent Search Committee has pledged to gather input from all key stakeholders such as parents, teacher and students. “All members of the search committee affirm the importance of gathering extensive community input in this search,” said committee chair Ann Cramer, who is a retired IBM executive and mother of former APS students. “We hope everyone interested will take advantage of this opportunity, and we …
Thursday, March 21, 2013
The Grady High School Theater Department presents their Spring musical, 'Anything Goes' from March 21-23.
Following the success of hit TV shows like 'Glee' and 'Smash', the theater students at Grady High School kick-off their opening performance of their Spring musical, 'Anything Goes' on Thursday, March 21st. The play will be shown at 8 p.m. inside the Main Stage of the Grady High School theater from March 21st to March 23rd. According to the GradyGram on the school's website, students and residents in the area are encouraged to, "set sail with the production that has everyone talking!" Anything Goes is a Cole Porter musical, full of slap-stick comedy. When a broken-down broker stows away to follow the love of his life, two unlikely couples find that sometimes the search for lust and love requires clever disguises, tap dancing sailors, …
Friday, March 8, 2013
Grady senior writes that "late or not, anyone could bring a gun to school if they wanted and still can."
By Olivia Veira APS has a million dollar question in its lap that it can’t afford to answer: how do you make schools more secure? Just a few days before a Grady High School student shot herself in the leg, Grady began one of the most intensive security protocols that I have seen in my four years at Grady. We had to take our bags off, shed our electronics and walk through metal detectors while teachers half-heartedly patted our bags. But, no system is perfect. And this one certainly had its loopholes. For example, I, and every student with classes in the gym or the trailers, could walk straight to my gym class, unchecked. In fact, I had gym with Morgan Tukes on Feb. 27. Grady’s security is, just as it was, a farce. Superintendent Errol B. …
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
The Atlanta Board of Education has approved calendars for traditional and year round schools.
The Atlanta Board of Education voted Monday to approved calendars for traditional and year round schools that vary only slightly from the current school year calendar, according to the Atlanta Public Schools website. Cecily Harsch-Kinnane, the school board member for District 3, said that under the new schedule for 2013-2014, "we still have breaks (in October and February) but not so long so that it helps to relieve childcare hardships. ... "I am happy with the amended calendar." Some of the obvious changes include moving the first day of class. Instead of students returning on August 6, which was the first Monday in August in 2012, the coming year's start date will be Wednesday, August 7. Winter break stays the same from December 20 …
Monday, March 4, 2013
Final approval of the calendar for the next two school years is expected. School safety could also come up.
The Atlanta Board of Education will meet Monday and is expected to adopt a new calendar for the 2013-14 and 2014-15 school years. The Live Blog of a mid-January meeting included the Superintendent's Report on the calendar issue: Changes from past calendars include the consolidation of all schools to a single calendar as well as changes to the scheduling of some staff work days. For 2013-14 and 2014-15, the superintendent’s proposal provides flexibility to principals and supervisors in the scheduling of one (1) teacher work day and in the scheduling of 200-day and 220-day staff members (e.g. counselors, social workers, assistant principals) outside of the teacher work year. This will allow schools to tailor their staff schedules to best …
Friday, March 1, 2013
APS director of security says during Thursday's community meeting at Grady that the timetable on responding, evaluating and resolving problems related to school security and safety was immediate and ongoing.
Editor's Note: After a Grady High School senior brought a gun to school Wednesday and accidentally shot herself in the leg in the courtyard, Atlanta Public Schools’ officials called a community meeting at the school Thursday night to discuss the incident. Here is coverage from a Midtown Grady parent including the transcript of a live blog from the event. The APS Twitter account @apsupdate was also live tweeting from the event. APS administrators praised Grady High School for immediate response to the crisis situation on Wednesday, while acknowledging gaps in current security procedures. While there seemed to be a great effort toward transparency and cooperation to make sure our children are safe at APS schools, many questions about the …
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Parents' concerns over campus security escalated following Wednesday’s incident when a student brought a gun to school and accidentally shot herself in the thigh.
After a Grady High School senior brought a gun to school Wednesday and accidentally shot herself in the leg in the courtyard, Atlanta Public Schools’ officials have called a community meeting at the school Thursday night to discuss the incident. And it is expected that the tempers of some parents could be hot, just as they were Wednesday as parents milled around outside the school waiting to bring their children home. One parent, who asked not to be identified, said to Patch, “I’ve been fed up with APS for 10 years … We should be able to send a child to school within our neighborhood where we live amongst civilized human beings without fear of a gun.” The 17-year-old girl who brought the weapon — a pink .380-caliber handgun — on campus, …
Friday, February 8, 2013
Students from all over the district attended the 2013 Technology Fair.
Results from the APS Technology Fair are listed below. This year students from all over the Atlanta Public School district came out to B.E.S.T. Academy to partake in the fair. Over 500 first place winners from 16 different recognized regional technology fairs across the state will compete at Macon State College on March 9, 2013 in over 13 different categories. According to the APS Blog, "All first place winners from APS will advance to the State Technology Fair competition. Atlanta Public Schools will be well represented." Local winners represented a plethora of schools. Please take a look at the complete list of APS Technology Fair winners.
Thursday, February 7, 2013
Atlanta Public Schools’ Superintendent Erroll B. Davis is expected to attend and discuss middle school capacity issues.
At the start of the school year, Atlanta Public Schools Superintendent Erroll B. Davis Jr. delivered a state-of-the-district address that outlined the challenges and work the system faced. Now, school principals will hold their own forums to provide an update on the state of the schools in each cluster. APS leaders in the East cluster will discuss the academic offerings in the schools and answer questions at a Feb. 7 meeting scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at Grady High School. One of the hot topics among parents in East Atlanta Patch, is the status of a sixth grade academy to relieve overcrowding at Inman Middle School. Inman pulls students from Mary Lin Elementary in Candler Park and Hope-Hill Elementary in Old Fourth Ward, as well as schools in…
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
On Tuesday evening APS parents are invited to meet and discuss Atlanta's Public Schools with city representatives.
Do you want to be more involved with your children's education or with school safety decisions? If so, you should make it out to the 2nd Annual Parents for Atlanta's Public Schools Legislative Reception on Tuesday evening. This reception will be held at Atlanta Public Schools, Center for Learning and Leadership, 130 Trinity Avenue, Atlanta, Georgia 30303. All parents and community members in Atlanta who support public education in Atlanta's public schools are invited to attend the "2nd Annual Parents for Atlanta's Public Schools Legislative Reception" on Tuesday, February 5, 2013 from 7:00 to 8:30 pm. Specially invited guests include the state elected officials in the Atlanta-Fulton County Delegation, our city's elected officials and the…
Southern Hope
9:56 am on Friday, March 22, 2013
I went to see this play last night because that's what parents do when their kids have friends in a play. But WOW, this is an amazing play...the singing, the tap dancing, even a live orchestra....worth seeing even if you know absolutely nobody there....and that's a high endorsement indeed. :) more ›