Students return to school while some educators await their fate
When students return to school
- Monday: Cherokee, Henry and Rockdale counties
- Wednesday: Atlanta city, Buford city, Bartow, Cobb and Gwinnett counties
- Thursday: Marietta city
- Aug. 12: Clayton, DeKalb, Fayette and Fulton counties
- Students in Decatur city and Paulding County schools returned last week
For metro area students returning to class this week and next, some things won’t change: They’ll be expected to rise early, stay alert and get back into the homework grind.
But not everything will be the same for some metro area school officials, who remain preoccupied with criminal cases, power struggles, and a set of national standards that state education leaders are still trying to figure out how to test students on.
Shrinking budgets and declining tax revenues also have resulted in shorter school years, smaller staffs and larger class sizes.
After years of rapid growth, only a few new schools are opening, including the new North Atlanta High School, located in a renovated IBM office building near the Cobb County line. The multi-story school cost about $147 million, making it the most expensive in Georgia.
In Bartow County, a new Adairsville Middle School will open. The aging school sustained damage from a 2011 tornado. Every classroom will be equipped with network-ready projectors and interactive pens.
Students in Clayton County and the city of Atlanta will receive free breakfast and lunch regardless of income through a federally-funded program.
Outside the classroom, big issues remain for some school districts:
- Six school board members in DeKalb County are awaiting a state Supreme Court decision on the constitutionality of a law that allowed Gov. Nathan Deal to remove them from office. The removal of board members was prompted by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools' decision to place the district on probation in December.
- Former superintendents in DeKalb and the city of Atlanta are awaiting trial. Former DeKalb Superintendent Crawford Lewis, Patricia Reid and Tony Pope were indicted in 2010 on racketeering charges involving school construction projects. Their trial is expected later this year. Former Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond is interim superintendent and the school district has a new board. Former Atlanta Superintendent Beverly Hall and dozens of other former educators face racketeering charges related to alleged cheating on standardized tests. All have denied the charges.
- Statewide, Georgia's adoption of national curriculum standards has caused political upheaval and charges from tea party activists that the standards amount to a federal takeover of local schools. Though the Obama administration did not require states to adopt Common Core, it has given grants to states that have signed on to the standards, which outline what coursework students should learn in key subjects by grade level.
About the Author
Ty Tagami is a staff writer for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Since joining the newspaper in 2002, he has written about everything from hurricanes to homelessness. He has deep experience covering local government and education, and can often be found under the Gold Dome when lawmakers meet or in a school somewhere in the state.
