In the coming year, the Atlanta school district will focus on turning around elementary schools that feed into Douglass and Carver high schools, Superintendent Meria Carstarphen said last week.
Those schools are considered the lowest performing based on their state report card scores and other measures, she said.
More than 40 Atlanta schools are at high risk of state takeover if Gov. Nathan Deal's Opportunity School District plan, which allows the state to take control of low-performing schools, is approved by voters next year—though it's unlikely that more than a few schools statewide would be selected initially.
Improving the Douglass and Carver-cluster elementary schools could mean bringing in a charter school group to operate schools or replacing school principals and teachers, Carstarphen said.
“I know this is going to be hard on people,” she said. But “I’m convinced that the state of the district for Atlanta Public Schools requires that we consider options like this.”
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