Meredith Tongue, an eighth-grade social studies teacher at Elkins Pointe Middle School, is Fulton County Schools' 2016 Teacher of the Year. "I believe that the kids who need love the most ask for it in the most unloving ways. I think if all educators were to reframe their thinking about kids and the behaviors they exhibit as cries for help, we would be able to reach more at-risk students," Tongue said. Tongue had been nominated as her school's Teacher of the Year five times in the past five years.

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Uta Thomas picks up her son, Jax, during a public hearing in Atlanta on Wednesday, November 5, 2025. She implored the school board not to close Dunbar Elementary. 
"You would centralize education to decentralized families," she said. "You would break apart a community hub." (Abbey Cutrer / AJC)

Credit: abbey.cutrer@ajc.com

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Fulton County Sheriff Patrick Labat gives a tour of Fulton County Jail in  2023. (Natrice Miller/AJC 2023)

Credit: Natrice Miller/AJC