In this month’s newsletter, we discuss our 2020-2022 impact report; job fairs; Atlanta Magazine’s Top 500 Influencers and more. Show your love this February for Atlanta’s education community and make a donation to BIG LOVE!
It’s back-to-school time in Atlanta and across the country. We’re excited to start this school year with new passionate public education advocates who have taken our ARISE Pledge and so many of you that are continuing your support of students and schools!
Another awaited arrival during this period is the Georgia Milestones test results. Milestones data is the resource that informs elected officials and the broader community of how students are performing academically in every school.
This year, we aim to support parents, caregivers, community advocates and supporters in growing their understanding of K-12 public education. We believe that with an informed community of passionate individuals, we can work together to transform Atlanta into a place where every student in every community has opportunity, well-being and self-determination.
We’re ready to do our part in encouraging more people to find their role in supporting K-12 public schools.
Click the link and read more in our August newsletter!
The best school leaders and teachers understand their students’ and communities’ unique needs. They work best when given the trust, freedom, flexibility, and support to serve those needs. Active parent and community engagement are essential to establish levers of support for every student.
To aid schools in serving all students, we are launching our Family and Community Engagement Grant (FACE). We believe parent and community engagement is one factor that will help advance our mission of every child in every community receiving a great K-12 public education.
Click the link to read the full June newsletter and learn more about the FACE grant!
Every child deserves a great public education regardless of where they live. When parents, school leaders, and educators partner to understand the unique needs of their students, children can learn and thrive in school and beyond. To support positive student outcomes in schools, educators and school leaders need our trust to develop and implement approaches that build on students’ strengths and address every student’s learning needs in the classroom.
This month, we’re raising awareness about freedom and flexibility-also known as autonomy-and how it impacts students, families and schools. We invite you to learn more about practices in Atlanta public schools and together, Atlanta can reimagine and innovate for schools everywhere.
Click here to read the full May newsletter!
On May 24, Georgians will vote in the primary elections to determine which candidate will represent each political party in advance of a general election. In Georgia, primary elections are open to all voters regardless of their partisan affiliation. Unlike other states, Georgians only have to be registered voters and not registered to a specific political party. Primary elections give you, the voter, the opportunity to decide who from a pool of candidates should ultimately be nominated by your political party to run in the general election. The last day to register as a voter in Georgia is April 25, 2022.
Click the link to read the full April newsletter!
As students and staff prepare to return to school, I’m thinking about systemic changes and how we collectively and fundamentally reimagine what it means to attend public school in Atlanta.
We have historic opportunities before us. First, Atlanta Public Schools is receiving just over $200 million in federal funding to help address the pandemic’s impact. How we use that funding will impact hundreds of thousands of students over time.
Second, all nine school board seats are on the ballot in November. Voters have a real chance to set the course of our district.
I encourage you to stay active. For example, APS is soliciting feedback on how to spend the federal funding. You also can register to vote, check your voter registration status, request an absentee ballot, and encourage your networks to join in your efforts to remain engaged.
Here’s to seizing this opportunity and creating systemic change for all Atlanta students.
With gratitude,
Click the link below to read the newsletter in its entirety.
Throughout the pandemic, we have added our voice to the chorus calling for policies in education and beyond to not return to “normal” as more people are vaccinated and return to their previous way of life. If we are to move into a reimagined future, we must have objectives in place, goals we want to reach through rethinking and reinventing. I would offer four: to make sure students are safe, happy, loved, and learning.
These goals remain regardless of what type of school that students are learning in, or whether students are learning remotely or in person. The role of families, educators, and local leaders is to mitigate these risks and to create environments — wherever they might be — where students are in position to learn. With some students out of school buildings for one full year, it is imperative that we come together as a community around these types of goals, these types of universal aspirations that can unite families, educators, and policymakers who have been riven by the school reopening debate.
Speaking of educators, let me be the first to wish you a Happy Teacher Appreciation Week!
Click the link below to read the entire newsletter.
Following the close of one of the most extraordinary years in our country’s history, we have started 2021 with a stunning month, a month when the most monumental events bear repeating, even as they are still fresh in our memories.
This month, this month that is still not over, Georgia elected its first Black U.S. Senator and its first Jewish U.S. Senator. The United States faced an insurrection as domestic terrorists stormed the Capitol Building in Washington. The former President was impeached for the second time. And then, two weeks after the insurrection and one week after the impeachment, the United States inaugurated its first woman, its first Black woman, its first South Asian woman as Vice President. All the while, more than 60,000 Americans have died of Covid, just this month.
Amidst all these tectonic shifts, it would be understandable to look for stability in some of the cornerstones of our communities, like our schools. It feels natural, to grasp for some familiarity in a time of such uncertainty. But in education, and in so many parts of our society, we cannot go back to what once existed. It is only by reimagining, by rethinking, by reinventing, that our country will move forward. Here locally, where families in Atlanta Public Schools are once again adjusting to a slowed pace of return to in-person learning, reimagining is our focus.
Before the new year finally arrives, I’d like to take a moment to share some reflections on 2020.
Across Atlanta and beyond, it has been a traumatic year. COVID-19 has wreaked havoc on people’s health, livelihoods, and education, with Black and brown communities feeling the greatest impact. Amidst that landscape, like many of you, redefinED atlanta has sought to meet this moment, even as members of our team grappled with working remotely, taking care of our children, and looking after our loved ones. Looking back, I am proud of the work we led to support students, families, and communities across the city.
Read more to see some of our accomplishments:
This has been a roller coaster of a school year. Families that desired an in-person option for their students in pre-K through fifth grade anticipated today as the date of reentry. With in-person learning now postponed until January 2021, the city’s education community centers our focus on the overarching priority: ensuring we’re meeting students’ academic and socio-emotional needs.
Join our growing collective of parents, educators, community leaders, and philanthropists invested in Atlanta public school education. Together, we will transform this city into a place where every student in every community has access to a great K-12 public education.
Copyright © 2024. All rights reserved.
Privacy Policy | Terms of Use