There’s one thing Karen Waldon isn’t saying when she meets parents and community members still reeling over the Atlanta Public Schools cheating scandal:
“Trust me.”
The veteran educator, who recently took over the No. 2 job in Atlanta Public Schools after working as an administrator in the Henry County system, said rebuilding trust takes time and must come through actions.
Even though Waldon said she’s impatient when it comes to improvement, she knows the district can’t regain overnight the faith lost when cheating was uncovered at 44 schools.
“What I say to them is they will see over time they will have no problem trusting this leadership,” Waldon told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “When you operate from a true level of transparency, people know what I say is what I mean.”
Waldon was hired in September as the deputy superintendent for curriculum and instruction, an important role in any school district but especially one trying to figure out how to rebuild its academic credibility.
The position formerly belonged to Kathy Augustine, who emerged as one of the key figures in the state cheating investigation. Augustine may face criminal charges and the loss of her professional certification after being accused of withholding public documents, making false statements and aiding in “falsifying, misrepresenting or erroneously reporting the evaluation of students.”
Augustine has denied any wrongdoing, but the allegations cost her a job as superintendent of the DeSoto Independent School District in suburban Dallas.
For Waldon, 53, a colossal task lies ahead. She must help rebuild the district’s leadership team, which was decimated when 43 principals and other top leaders were ousted after the release of the state investigation. She must see that students affected by the scandal get proper remediation. And she must help break down the culture of fear and intimidation investigators said led to cheating.
Former co-workers say she is up to the task.
Henry County administrator Raymond Bryant Jr. was hired by Waldon and worked closely with her for about five years.
“In any leader, you want to be able to trust them — that their actions align with their words. She did that,” he said. “She walked the talk. That is what sets her apart from other leaders.”
Waldon was brought to Atlanta to complement business-minded Superintendent Erroll Davis, who took over in July. Davis, a corporate executive before entering the public sector, said he wanted a counterpart with a strong background in education.
Waldon rose up through the school district ranks. She grew up in Brunswick, graduated from the University of Georgia, taught high school English for 15 years in DeKalb County, worked as an assistant principal in Rockdale County and became a principal and district administrator in Henry.
During interviews for a new deputy superintendent Waldon stood out as the clear choice because of her attitude and experience, Davis said.
In Henry, she served as assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, in which she oversaw teaching and testing. Most recently, she was assistant superintendent for leadership services, in which she supervised all 50 principals and developed new tools to build consistent leadership across the district.
Atlanta parent Abby Martin attended two recent community meetings at which Waldon was the speaker. Martin said she is cautiously optimistic about Waldon’s leadership and praised Waldon for visiting neighborhoods and taking questions from parents.
“When all the [cheating] stuff came out, no one would step forward and say ‘I am accountable,’ ” Martin said. “She came into this meeting and said ‘I am accountable.’ That’s not something I have heard from APS in a long time.”
Waldon said her first turn as a principal, in 2000 at Austin Road Middle in Henry County, was the job that most prepared her for the role she is in today.
Austin Road was in the middle of a demographic shift from mostly white students to mostly black when Waldon took the reins. She was determined not to let the school’s academic standing slip. Inspired by the leadership book “Good to Great” by Jim Collins, which still occupies a prominent place on her desk, Waldon said she envisioned a great school and assembled a group of teachers who bought into that vision.
The school was one of top performers in the state, and Waldon was named a 2006-07 high-performance principal by former Gov. Sonny Perdue.
“There is a Scripture that says without vision, people perish,” she said. “I believe if you don’t have a clear sense of where we are now and where we need to be, you can’t get there.”
Waldon, who will earn $165,000 annually, said she is still crafting her vision for curriculum and instruction. First, she wants to hear more from parents, educators and community members.
In general, she believes testing is important but only measures the minimum of what children should be learning. Kids need to be critical thinkers, she said, and have a broader view of the world.
One of her first actions as deputy superintendent in APS was to make more children eligible for the remediation being offered in light of the cheating scandal. Waldon didn’t just want to include students who were failing, but those struggling as well.
In her modest office on the seventh floor of APS’ eight-floor downtown headquarters, pictures of her family adorn the bookshelves, and decorative balls and burgundy throw pillows add pops of color to the otherwise generic office space.
But on a visit to the office, one feature stood out: its orderliness. There were no stray papers on her conference table, no stacks of books or folders on her desk.
When asked, Waldon admitted she and her secretary had done a little “staging” before the interview. A mound of papers was shoveled into a crate and stashed in the bathroom, she said. Another stack was in the office across the hall.
“See,” she joked after the confession, “told you I was transparent.”
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Karen Waldon
Age: 53;
Experience: Former assistant superintendent, principal in Henry County Schools. Assistant principal in Rockdale County, 15 years as a high school English teacher in DeKalb County.
Education: Master’s degree, Georgia State University; bachelor’s, the University of Georgia
Family: Two children, husband James Waldon
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