Naomi Kalu and her twin sister, Amelia, have been taking dance lessons since they were 3 years old. They’ve attended the North Metro Academy of Performing Arts in Norcross since kindergarten. Now the girls are in the fifth grade and Naomi’s favorite class at North Metro Academy is not dance, but math.
“One of the most important things I’m learning here is to be a leader, and help kids younger than me to grow up not being a bully,” said Naomi, 10.
Until this fall, the school of more than 300 students was a struggling charter campus. Then North Metro Academy’s governing board decided not to apply for a charter renewal and the Gwinnett County Board of Education decided to absorb the school into its district.
The school’s lease will expire at the end of this academic year. After that, the future is uncertain.
This year’s students come to North Metro Academy from within the boundaries of 51 different Gwinnett elementary schools. They could be returned to area schools after the lease ends, then-Superintendent J. Alvin Wilbanks said in May.
“We cannot pay for a facility for an elementary school whenever we have room in our own facilities,” Wilbanks said.
Alternatively, some schools in Gwinnett, the state’s largest school district, have enough empty space to possibly house North Metro Academy, said Al Taylor, associate superintendent of operations.
District leaders are still weighing options for how and where to keep North Metro Academy going, said Sloan Roach, a spokeswoman for Gwinnett County Public Schools. A decision has not yet been made.
Credit: Steve Schaefer
Credit: Steve Schaefer
Uncertain future
Naomi and Amelia’s mother, Emma Thelusme, picked North Metro Academy because she knew the performing arts classes would make the twins excited to go to school.
“It promotes discipline as well,” she said.
They will graduate next year to a traditional Gwinnett middle school.
“I’m really happy that we’re ending fifth grade on this note and I hope they get to give that to many more students beyond us,” Thelusme said.
Beauty Baldwin, who was Georgia’s first black female superintendent when she led Buford City Schools, founded North Metro Academy in 2014. She remains on the school’s advisory council.
In the first four years, the school went through three principals. Its scores on the state’s report card improved but still came in well below average. Concerned, the Gwinnett school board granted a charter renewal for just one year instead of the typical five.
That year ended in June 2020, after the coronavirus pandemic shut down schools and suspended testing and accountability requirements. Recognizing the necessary academic data couldn’t be obtained, the school board granted North Metro Academy extensions through June 2022.
But concerns about academic achievement persisted, and this spring, an ad hoc school district committee that reviews charter renewal applications recommended that North Metro Academy not re-apply.
“There wasn’t high confidence that it was going to be approved,” Taylor told the school board.
Credit: Steve Schaefer
Credit: Steve Schaefer
New support
Taking over North Metro Academy would allow the school district to provide oversight, training and staffing for academic improvement, Taylor said. The board of education voted unanimously to accept the school in May.
North Metro Academy is now the only themed elementary school in the Gwinnett district. The school is still a magnet for students across Gwinnett County whose families can provide transportation.
All students at North Metro take dance, music, set design and theater, rotating through one each day. About half stay after school for a plethora of clubs, including guitar, orchestra and leadership organizations, Principal Rodriguez Johnson said. There is a big musical production every year — past performances include “The Lion King,” “Peter Pan” and “The Wizard of Oz.”
Some of the students are professional child actors who work in metro Atlanta’s booming film and television industries.
The school district this year provided new literacy materials and a math instructional coach, Johnson said. An assistant superintendent helps him directly. North Metro Academy is one of three schools statewide that the Georgia Department of Education recently chose for a new arts integration award.
Credit: Steve Schaefer
Credit: Steve Schaefer
Many children came to North Metro Academy over the years from traditional schools where they were not doing well, said Gregory B. Levett, CEO of the eponymous funeral home chain and former chair of the charter governing board.
“When they came and got exposed to the arts part of it and the way that the teachers teach at North Metro Academy, it really changed their whole thinking about academics and their grades tremendously improved,” said Levett, who continues to serve on the advisory council. “That’s why this is so important, to maintain this school.”
Johnson and Levett said they trusted district leaders would find a new home for the school rather than dissolve it.
“We’re confident that we’ll be able to continue the program,” Johnson said. “We’re a staple in the community.”
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