Fulton Schools’ leadership team said they will “customize” their classrooms to better meet students’ needs this year in order to turn around low test scores and graduation rates.
Students will be able to use the district’s Wi-Fi and their own personal technology devices to look up information during class. Those falling behind academically will be able to enroll into a new virtual academy during and after school.
And administrators hope to use the district’s new “charter status” to generate new ideas from parents and community members on how to educate their children. The special state designation shifts power from the superintendent to locally appointed school governance councils.
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“Our focus this year is on the personalization of education,” said Scott Muri, the district’s deputy superintendent for academics.
The superintendent and his leadership team held a news conference at Riverwood International Charter School on Friday to let the public know about the start of the school year this Monday.
Superintendent Robert Avossa introduced new principals, laid out academic goals for the upcoming school year and gave an update on how the system was doing with its new system charter status.
Fulton stretches almost 75 miles from north to south and is the fourth-largest district in the state. Administrators expect to serve about 95,000 students this year, 1,000 more than last year.
The district doesn’t suffer the sort of financial woes surrounding districts face because of state budget cuts. The board recently approved a 3 percent pay raise for its staff, and teachers won’t face any furlough days this year.
“We made the tough decisions early,” Avossa said.
While its northern half contains some of the best schools in the state, Fulton’s southern half, made up of mostly minority and poor students, has some of the state’s worst schools.
Avossa lauded several schools for improving their standardized test scores, but he admitted there was a lot more work to do.
The board recently set a goal of increasing its graduation rate from 70 to 90 percent by 2017.
This year, teachers will be able to use new assessments to better identify in which areas students are struggling. Counselors will refocus their efforts on students’ health, academic and career needs.
The state designated Fulton as a charter system last year. That status has given the district broad flexibility from Title 20, a 3-inch book of rules that regulates everything from how schools spend their money, to who teaches what and how long they teach it. Charter schools are expected, in return, to improve student performance. Last year, the district trained governance councils at each of its schools.
“We want to push decision-making, authority and autonomy closer to the schoolhouse,” Avossa said.
The councils are made up of three parents, two teachers, two school-based employees, two community members and the principal.
Avossa said schools spent most of last year electing and training their council members. He hopes that the councils will begin to tailor their schools’ budgets, strategic plans and the hiring of principals this year.
Avossa also spoke of several renovation projects throughout the district, new teacher training programs and technological advances such as installing surveillance cameras on school buses.
“We hope to have a great year,” Avossa said. “We want to lead the way in Georgia.”
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