Viewpoints: Atlanta’s school problems go beyond cheating

Community must do more to attract white students to the system.

By Denton Harris

While the cheating scandal is top news for Atlanta’s schools, putting Superintendent Beverly Hall on the hot seat, that’s not the major problem.

The big problem is the simple fact that Atlanta’s public schools will never be the kind of schools all of us would wish for until more white parents embrace the system and choose to send their children to it. So let us all work together to find a solution.

Although Hall and her fellow school board members have tried to sell public school attendance to parents — and, yes, the local business community has been led by Sam Williams and the Metro Atlanta Chamber in urging attendance — they all have failed miserably.

According to my latest statistics, the city’s population is about 33 percent white and 61 percent black. The city’s public schools are 83 percent black, 10 percent white and 5 percent Hispanic (this is probably much higher currently), according to 2008-2009 school-year data. These figures don’t include the increasing number of home schooled children. Are we abandoning the public schools to the underprivileged? Atlanta Public Schools is fortunate in having adequate funds in the tax-based budget, plus grants and donations for future growth.

Several years ago I contacted Atlanta’s public school offices with the story of how Vicksburg, Miss., an extremely segregated city, solved their problem. Their efforts resulted in a feature in Time magazine.

Before taking action, their schools were largely segregated with test scores stagnated. Many white parents fled to private and parochial schools, while others began home schooling.

How did Vicksburg win its parents back? By giving them a greater say in which schools their children would attend and a greater hand in shaping school affairs. The district confronted its longtime racial standoff, engaging black parents and wooing white parents back into the system.

The designer of the plan was now-retired Superintendent Robert Pickett. They installed a strategic planning committee. Then they increased the rigor of the curriculum, asking parents to vote on an academic focus for each school.

A reform known as school choice was instituted whereby parents took their choice of three schools closest to home. Assignments to achieve diversity in each school were adapted.

After numbers were crunched, 85 percent of parents got their first choice. And even more amazing, the schools soon had near equal head counts of black and whites. Soon parents were transferring children back and they were joined by some who had been using private schools for years.

The district reported that student attendance and behavior have improved. And drug use has dried up to such a degree that the district lost half of its federal grant to combat substance abuse.

Can this kind of program work for Atlanta? Yes, but only if every segment of our public will agree to get involved. No longer can our recognized community leaders give “lip service” to the public system, yet send their children and grandchildren to private schools.

Denton Harris of Atlanta is a retired banker and investor.

Everyone must answer the emergency call to help educate youth.

By Emmanuel Hall

The Atlanta school system has even greater problems than just a cheating scandal, and it has to do with parental and community involvement with the education of our children.

I know that most children go to school to learn, and most parents want the best education for their children. I also know that far too many parents are either too busy or are simply disengaged with their children’s lives and education.

Public schools must take all who come; they must endure the worst, and there is little they can do about it.

The Atlanta Public Schools system has developed some outstanding students; Martin Luther King and Maynard Jackson come to mind. But, in today’s world, people like King and Jackson are the exceptions and not the rule.

I am one of the lucky people. I get to read to kindergartners at an Atlanta public school.

I can tell you that it was a real treat for me to have the opportunity to help form young minds. It also gives me a chance to give back. I envision a time when my students will remember that old man who told them about the largest bird that can fly, the most powerful river in the world, the smallest bird, and other stuff that they may never need.

I am no stranger to the public school system; in a previous job, I had the privilege to visit public schools all over metro Atlanta. My children and I are products of the Atlanta Public Schools system. So I feel obligated and qualified to express good and bad criticisms.

I can say without reservations that most of the teachers I have encountered are dedicated and passionate about their jobs. At times, teachers will spend their own money when the school falls short in providing needed supplies for students; that should never happen in America.

But I do have questions about the Atlanta school system, and I know I am not alone in some of the issues that concern me.

Why do Atlanta schools, one of the smaller systems in the metro area, spend far more money per student that any of the other school systems? I am sure there are reasons; as a taxpayer I would like to know why.

I have questions about the current formula used by urban schools to teach students. Should we consider that method outdated for today’s youth?

Is the APS leadership qualified to meet the needs of its students? Is the APS leadership willing to accept new ideas?

It disturbs me that too many of our young people have such poor communication skills, and that their best conversation concerns music and/or sports.

I know that the issues with the Atlanta school system are not, and should not, be their problems alone. We all must share in resolving this crisis. The fate of our children is a 21st century civil rights issue, and it needs to be treated that way.

Every church, community leader, business, civil rights, and civic organization must become part of the solution, and the Atlanta school system should welcome all the help it can get.