Atlanta’s school system is preparing to ditch the idea of independent theme-based schools on a single campus at Washington High, one of four public schools in the city that tried the concept over the past seven years.
The Atlanta Board of Education voted unanimously Monday night to end the small schools at Washington High and consolidate them under one principal instead of three.
Two of the three small schools lag in academic achievement, and a more unified school would allow students to have more access to educational opportunities offered elsewhere on campus, said Board of Education member Byron Amos, whose central Atlanta district includes Washington High.
The school system has explored combining all of its small-school campuses, but a merger is being pursued first at Washington High after the school board heard from parents and students, Amos said. The other small schools are at Therrell High, South Atlanta High and the New Schools at Carver, Amos said.
The proposed transition at Washington High drew some opposition from students and parents when they spoke at the school board meeting Monday.
“It almost seems to me we are playing trial and error with children’s education,” said Bashel Lewis, an 11th-grader in Washington High’s Early College.
Others said they want academics emphasized in all subject areas, including at the lower-performing schools of Health, Science and Nutrition and Banking, Finance and Investment.
“The test scores of all the schools should be improved, not just in one school,” said Cassandra Rainey, whose daughter is a 10th-grader in the Early College.
Superintendent Erroll Davis recommended the change at Washington so students have access to more fine arts, technical and advanced-placement instruction. He said a unified school would be more equal to all students and provide for campus-wide scheduling, testing, registration and activities.
The transition to a single school will be completed by the beginning of next school. The subject areas emphasized by the former schools will continue to be offered as part of the larger school, similar to the academies at North Atlanta, Grady, Mays, Jackson and Douglas high schools.
Brianna Curtis, a senior at Washington, said the structure of the school matters less than the amount of educational help provided to help students meet expectations.
She said students have fallen behind because they didn’t get academic support years ago during Atlanta’s cheating scandal, when their standardized test scores were faked.
“Teachers are teaching standards that past teachers should have taught,” Curtis said. “We need more teachers instead of substitute teachers. We need teachers to enhance the weaknesses of students instead of teaching toward the test.”
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