The Atlanta Public Schools board turned Tuesday toward its fight to redeem itself and regain full accreditation after the state decided to allow board members to keep their jobs.
Superintendent Erroll Davis readied plans at the board's suggestion to record a video for the district's YouTube channel, aimed at high school seniors unnerved by any possibility they may graduate next year from unaccredited high schools. Policy experts continued to pore over the board's governance manual, with some of the last major discussions on how to make it better set to begin next week.
Board members, who met well into Monday evening working on their next steps, steeled themselves for a crucial next two months, knowing the gaze of parents such as Yvette Boulware remained unwavering.
"It really affects [students'] morale, the way they look at themselves and the way they carry themselves," said Boulware of the board's past actions, which resulted in sanctions for an already troubled district. Boulware's outlook, however, is on its way up.
Eleven members of the state Board of Education unanimously approved an agreement Tuesday allowing the APS board to continue intact, after members were summoned to a hearing to defend their positions. The APS board isn't off the hook completely. The agreement stipulates that they go back before the state board no later than Nov. 4 to update it about its progress.
Boulware, whose son, Arsidez Leon, will be a senior at North Atlanta High School when classes resume Aug. 8. praised the board's recent steps, which include hiring a respected interim superintendent and more openly communicating with parents. If they had lost their jobs, she said, "we would be almost starting from square one."
The November date is not coincidental. The APS board must make significant progress by Sept. 30 to win back full standing with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. SACS, the primary accrediting agency in Georgia, put the board on probation in January because of infighting among its members.
The agency gave APS six mandates for improvement. The mandates touched on various aspects of governance and leadership -- policy making, consensus building, communication -- but generally meant to push the board to work cohesively as a unit.
The board has coalesced behind Davis, the newly retired University System of Georgia chancellor, who started July 1 and signed a one-year contract. He has already been credited by parents and board members for a steady hand in the face of crisis.
On July 5, Gov. Nathan Deal released a searing report that said ex-schools chief Beverly Hall ignored a culture of cover-ups and obstruction that blossomed during her 12-year tenure. It detailed extensive cheating on state tests by almost 180 APS educators in 44 city schools.
The board's attorneys in the weeks since made a convincing argument to state officials that, at the very least, the city district could ill afford another blow to its stability if if the state yanked local board members from their jobs.
Wanda Barrs, chairwoman of the state school board, spoke directly of a "dire need for leadership" in the wake of the scandal. Davis, the only witness to speak at the hearing, offered a blunt assessment of his need for the board to remain.
"I need the support of this board if I am to accomplish what I need to accomplish," said Davis, who will move ahead with plans to fire the remaining 138 employees implicated in the cheating report. District officials said Friday that another 41 have left the system.
Lawmakers passed a law this year authorizing the governor to remove school board members in districts whose accreditation was at risk as of July 1. The hearing Tuesday was the first step in that process. Any recommendation by the state board whether to remove members from office would be sent to Deal, who has final say.
Deal endorsed the agreement Tuesday with the APS board.
"I’m confident that all involved are working actively to promote the needs of Atlanta’s children and to keep the system’s accreditation in place,” said Deal
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