As one of the organizing members of Step Up or Step Down, the citywide stakeholder movement that has monitored every hour of every school board meeting since January, I admit that the board’s proposed leadership change does not instantly solve every problem facing Atlanta Public Schools. But it is an important and critical step toward positioning the district for a stronger future.
After spending almost a year with our board in governance gridlock, it’s time for the adults to stop acting like children and instead begin to truly serve our children.
The future success of public education in Atlanta is at stake, and the outcome here affects not just those who have children in the schools. If you live or work in or around Atlanta, own property, pay sales tax, or are at all interested in the economic future of Georgia, then you are officially a stakeholder in the successful outcome to the problems affecting the board of education.
The question is, do we, as a city, want to be seen as the Silicon Valley for public education, or as the Death Valley? As our board searches for a new superintendent and manages the district’s response to the findings from the CRCT investigation, time is not on our side in choosing which path to take. Every step taken is either a move toward, or away from, a successful outcome.
The two leaders who have percolated to the top of the discussion, Reuben McDaniel and Brenda Muhammad, have demonstrated consensus-building skills and independent thinking during this time of deep divides on the board. But they can’t do it alone — every member must be willing to move forward without rancor or grandstanding, in the interests of the students they are elected to serve.
In a large, diverse school district with an often-divergent array of needs and expectations, an elected board representing us all is a pivotal piece of the complex puzzle in school success. But when a board can’t govern, everything begins to fall apart.
The APS system needs leadership, both from our board and its new superintendent— leaders who will fight for our children and work to improve the education offered in classrooms across the city.
We’re fortunate that this issue has garnered so much attention in Atlanta. When SACS stepped in and placed our high schools on accredited probation, the community came together to demand more and better from our board. The mayor, governor, prominent civil rights leaders, philanthropists, lawmakers, educators, students and parents rallied with a unified voice and call to action.
But the SACS report and the six steps it outlines to preserve accreditation is not some type of miracle MapQuest that will navigate APS down the yellow brick road to the emerald city of success. There’s more work ahead and, collectively, we must continue the rallying cry to “Step Up” in support of our schools. There’s just too much at stake to take any other path.
Julie Davis Salisbury is an APS parent who is active in the Step Up or Step Down movement to help preserve the system’s accreditation.
