Education Archives - Reporter Newspapers

APS to take input on new superintendent search at Oct. 28 meeting

by Hannah Greco | Oct 14, 2019 | Buckhead Reporter, Education | 0

Atlanta Public Schools will begin its search for a new superintendent with a community meeting at Bolton Academy on Oct. 28. The meeting will be held on the school’s campus at 2268 Adams Drive and will begin at 6 p.m. In September, the Atlanta Board of Education announced it will not renew current Superintendent Meria Carstarphen’s contract. Carstarphen recently appeared at an Oct. 10 Buckhead Council of Neighborhoods meeting and spoke on her choice to continue fighting to stay in her current position. The district is asking for feedback from the community about the traits and skills the new...

APS to hold facilities master plan meeting Oct. 16

by Hannah Greco | Oct 14, 2019 | Buckhead Reporter, Education | 0

Atlanta Public Schools is holding a facilities master plan meeting at Sutton Middle School on Oct. 16. The meeting will be held on the school’s campus at 4360 Powers Ferry Road from 6 to 8 p.m. Facilities master planning aims to establish capital improvements, set guiding principles for budgets, support a structure for system-wide instructional programs and serve as part of the new five-year strategic plan, according to the district. The district’s current five-year strategic plan ends in 2020 and a new one will be in place for 2020-2025. The district’s draft timeline projects to have the final recommendation...

APS chief blasts tax breaks, defends job; gains Buckhead Council support

by John Ruch | Oct 11, 2019 | Buckhead Reporter, Education, Politics, Slideshow, Top Stories | 0

Atlanta Public Schools Superintendent Meria Carstarphen renewed her blistering criticisms of tax breaks on luxury developments — while acknowledging such stances may have cost her the job — at an Oct. 10 meeting where the Buckhead Council of Neighborhoods agreed to join her advocacy. Carstarphen’s Buckhead appearance came a month after the Atlanta Board of Education controversially and still somewhat mysteriously said it had decided not to extend her contract. That makes for an awkward situation where she has about eight more months to serve under her current contract and is actively stumping for the board to reverse its decision....

Traffic and enrollment increases are concerns at Austin Elementary redistricting meeting

by Hannah Greco | Oct 7, 2019 | Dunwoody Reporter, Education, Top Stories | 0

Parents with children potentially affected by a redistricting of DeKalb County elementary schools in anticipation of Dunwoody’s new Austin Elementary School say they are mainly concerned with how the plan addresses traffic and enrollment increases. Parents also had mixed feelings about opening the new school with portable classrooms. The new, 950-seat Austin opens in January 2020 at 5321 Roberts Drive and the new districts will be in effect in August 2020. The district originally planned to use the current Austin site, 5435 Roberts Drive, but now says it is unfeasible. In the long term, additional seats will be needed for...

Cross Keys North school redistricting raises concerns about traffic and community

by Hannah Greco | Oct 7, 2019 | Brookhaven Reporter, Education, Top Stories | 0

Redistricting for a new DeKalb County elementary school – temporarily called Cross Keys North – could increase travel times and harm Brookhaven’s sense of community, parents said at Sept. 25 meeting. Parents also strongly opposed changing Doraville’s Oakcliff Elementary from a theme school to a neighborhood school. The new, 950-seat elementary school will open in August 2020 at 3630 Shallowford Road in an effort to alleviate the overcrowding of surrounding schools. Cross Keys North is a placeholder name. According to the DeKalb County School District, the name should be finalized before the second meeting on Oct. 16. The surrounding...

APS superintendent to discuss tax break impacts at Buckhead meeting; transit also on agenda

by John Ruch | Oct 4, 2019 | Buckhead Reporter, Education | 0

Atlanta Public Schools Superintendent Meria Carstarphen will talk about the impact of development tax breaks on her district’s funding at an Oct. 10 meeting of the Buckhead Council of Neighborhoods. Officials involved in local transit projects are on the agenda as well. Carstarphen was scheduled to appear at a September BCN meeting for the same discussion, but canceled shortly after the Board of Education confirmed it will not renew her contract after June 2020, setting off an explosive and still mysterious controversy. In 2018, Carstarphen spoke at a BCN meeting where she slammed the tax implications of downtown’s Gulch...

Lovett tackles campus traffic the old-school way: buses

by John Ruch | Oct 1, 2019 | Brookhaven Reporter, Buckhead Reporter, Dunwoody Reporter, Education, Sandy Springs Reporter, Top Stories | 0

Faced with Buckhead’s ever-increasing traffic, the Lovett School is experimenting with an old-school alternative: buses. The private K-12 institution kicked off the 2019-2020 year with a pilot program offering paid school bus rides to and from its Paces Ferry Road campus for students on two select routes. Meredyth Cole, Lovett’s head of school, says the response has been good and, if it remains strong, will result in two more routes next year. “They’re just so relieved not to be sitting in that traffic,” Cole said of the response from parents. Lovett opened its current campus in the 1930s, when...

U.S. Rep. John Lewis to attend ribbon-cutting his namesake Brookhaven school

by Hannah Greco | Sep 27, 2019 | Brookhaven Reporter, Education | 0

U.S. Rep. John Lewis will attend a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new Brookhaven elementary school named for him on Oct. 4. The ceremony will take place at John Robert Lewis Elementary School at 2630 Skyland Drive at 10 a.m. and is open to the public, a press release said. The 900-seat DeKalb County public school opened at the beginning of the school year on Aug. 5. It is the first public school in the nation to bear Lewis’s name. “John Lewis is an American icon who has dedicated his life to the highest ethical standards and moral principles,” said...

Fulton Schools superintendent speaks about experience as high school dropout at SSPC luncheon

by Hannah Greco | Sep 20, 2019 | Education, Perimeter Business, Sandy Springs Reporter | 0

The new superintendent of the Fulton County School System, Dr. Mike Looney – a high school dropout himself – says he hopes to lower the dropout rates by partnering with local businesses. “In Fulton County schools, we have one student that drops out of school every six minutes,” Looney said at a Sept. 11 Sandy Springs Perimeter Chamber of Commerce luncheon. “That is way too many.” Previously, while working as a high school principal in Alabama, Looney partnered with a local retail business to help children struggling with math to get hands-on experience in balancing a cash register and...

School graduation rates decrease for APS and DeKalb, increase for Fulton

by Hannah Greco | Sep 19, 2019 | Brookhaven Reporter, Buckhead Reporter, Dunwoody Reporter, Education, Sandy Springs Reporter | 0

Graduation rates decreased for DeKalb County and Atlanta public schools last school year, while Fulton County’s increased, according to data from the Georgia Department of Education. Statewide, the graduation rate rose to 82% in 2019 from 81.6% in 2018. DeKalb County School District DeKalb’s graduation rate for 2019 was 73.4%, a decrease over 2018’s rate of 75%. Chamblee Charter High School, located on the border of Chamblee and Dunwoody at 3688 Chamblee Dunwoody Road, and Dunwoody High School, located in Dunwoody at 5035 Vermack Road, are two of nine schools in the district with rates above 80%. Chamblee Charter’s...

New principals take the lead at Holy Spirit Prep

by Reporter Newspapers | Sep 14, 2019 | Buckhead Reporter, Education, Sandy Springs Reporter | 0

New principals take the reins at Holy Spirit Preparatory School’s upper and lower school this year, according to the school. Dr. Edward Lindekugel has been named principal at the Upper School, which is based in Buckhead. Kyle Pietrantonio takes the new position of principal of the Lower School, based in Sandy Springs, and also serves as head of school. Heather Kerutis becomes director of the preschool. Lindekugel in 2018 founded and led the Catholic School Services division of the Southern Teachers Agency, the nation’s oldest teacher and administrator placement firm, the school said in a press release. Pietrantonio came...

Wildcats Weekend: Dunwoody High’s football team trounces Chamblee

by Reporter Newspapers | Sep 10, 2019 | Dunwoody Reporter, Education, Slideshow | 0

The Dunwoody Wildcats had one of the best games of Friday night football on Sept. 6, blowing out the Chamblee Bulldogs 37-0 at North DeKalb Stadium in Chamblee, the home field for both teams. The win put the Dunwoody High varsity team to an even 1-1 in the first two games of the season, following an Aug. 30 loss to St. Pius X. The remainder of Dunwoody’s schedule: Sept. 13, at Cambridge; Sept. 30, vs. Northview; Sept. 27, at Alpharetta; Oct. 4, vs. Pope; Oct. 18 vs. Centennial; Oct. 25, vs. North Atlanta; Nov. 1, at Chattahoochee; Nov. 8,...