Atlanta parents join national push for accountability in urban school districts

Publish date: 2024-06-08

ATLANTA, Ga. (CITC) — One of the largest public school districts in Georgia is the latest to face demands for a leadership overhaul from parents.

A petition created earlier this month is demanding an immediate change in Atlantic Public Schools (APS).

Parents claim APS leaders have continuously failed at fostering academic achievement, engagement and a positive school climate.

The more than 600 signees say their children's success and futures can no longer bear the brunt.

Let the Atlanta Public Schools Board of Education know WE WANT NEW SENIOR LEADERSHIP -- including a new superintendent and senior cabinet -- to change the trajectory for our kids and implement aggressive strategies that will increase growth and help ALL students achieve," the petition reads.

APS parents point to various elements of data as reasons to oust the district's current leaders, including a state report revealing that 29 of Atlanta's public schools were identified as "failing" last year.

Georgia assessments provide a closer look at how individual APS students are faring.

Nearly 70% of APS third through eighth graders are performing below grade level in English Language Arts (ELA), while 74% are behind in mathematics. APS also had the lowest average SAT score amongst Atlanta's metropolitan districts in the fall.

However, parents claim APS's graduation rates have continued to spike amid these declining numbers.

Many staff, parents' and guardians' worst fears include APS continuing to lower expectations for graduation thus leaving our kids even less prepared for college and careers," the petition reads.

The fears of APS parents are echoed in other urban school districts across the country.

In Chicago, nearly 80% of public school students graduate high school in the traditional four years. However, this rate comes as less than 20% of those same students meet their grade level's established performance levels annually.

Democratic Mayor Lori Lightfoot has frequently touted Chicago Public Schools's (CPS) growing graduation rate, but others question if that truly equates to students being set up for success.

Graduation is one of those metrics that political figures like to look at and say, 'oh, well, everyone's graduating, so we're doing great!'" Angela Morabito, spokeswoman for the Defense of Freedom Institute (DFI), told The National Desk (TND). "But that doesn't matter unless there's actually an education to back that up. We're graduating people in this country who probably can't read the diploma that they're receiving."

READ MORE: Chicago teachers get high marks. The same can't be said for their students.

Chicago is not the only city where community members and political figures have opposing views of academic success.

Baltimore City Public Schools (BCPS) is under national scrutiny as a lawsuit claiming the district is both misusing taxpayer funds and failing to educate students plays out. The ongoing battle was heightened once again last week when a Project Baltimore analysis of Maryland exam scores revealed that 23 BCPS schools have zero students proficient in math.

My immediate reaction is 'take your kids out of these schools,'” one parent told Project Baltimore. “It just sounds like these schools, now, have turned into essentially babysitters with no accountability."

Members of the community are calling for city and school leaders to be held accountable, with several demanding BCPS CEO Dr. Sonja Santelises and each principal of "a failing school" be fired. They cite nearly seven years of neglect to address the "root of the problem" by Santelises, however, other city districts suggest a new superintendent may not promptly solve the issue.

The Rochester City School District (RCSD) is on its eighth superintendent in 10 years, a stat the city's mayor has expressed frustration with.

"Although I don’t run the schools, I’m watching very closely what’s going on there. Very closely," Mayor Malik Evans told local outlet WHAM. "Because they need stability."

However, the Rochester community is looking for more than stability for its children.

A September audit of RCSD, where more than 40% of K-8 students are at least three grade levels behind in reading, revealed that district leaders are inflating grade-point averages. A decades-old curriculum and grading procedure led to students graduating with an incorrect perception of their performance.

Somebody needs to go to jail on this," school board President Cynthia Elliott said. "To have these kinds of scorings, where our children believe and our families are believing that our students are achieving and we’ve lied to them."

A study published by the National Library of Medicine argues that urban districts frequently fare worse than their suburban counterparts due to lower-quality resources, less experienced educators and significantly larger class sizes.

TND reached out to APS for comment regarding the petition and accusations by parents but did not immediately receive a response. This story will be updated if a response is received.

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