North Atlanta Parents for Public Schools (NAPPS) Virtual Meeting Recap

Last week, I had the opportunity to join in on this semester’s NAPPS (North Atlanta Parents for Public Schools) virtual meeting. This session gives an opportunity for all principals of the North Atlanta cluster (Sarah Smith Elementary, Jackson Elementary, E. Rivers Elementary, Bolton Elementary, Morris Brandon Elementary, Garden Hills, Elementary, Sutton Middle, and North Atlanta High) to highlight news and achievements from the current academic year and share their vision for the academic year ahead.

At the April 12th Board Meeting, Superintendent Dr. Lisa Herring will confirm that the 2021-2022 learning model for APS is 5 days in-person learning with no more asynchronous learning days.

Learning Loss: APS received $90Million in CARES Act funding. A portion of these funds have already been allocated to a specific school (to fund their intervention programs). Each APS school is now required to have a 30-minute block of guided intervention 3 times/week. (Note that many of the schools in the North Atlanta cluster have already implemented 1 block into their schedules so this measure would be stacked on top of the existing scheduled block). Funds will be focused on ELA and math recovery.

Read below to learn about the news from each of the schools:

Bolton Academy:

Principal Anita Lawrence shared the following achievements from this current school year:

• 1 of 3 schools in the district to participate in BookNook + SpelREADS.

• Received $10,000 donation from Bof A to increase technology in classrooms

• Received Donor’s Choose fundings to supply all 3rd-5th classes with Cool-Down kits to support emotional self-regulation in the classrooms 

Morris Brandon:

Principal Jay Bland shared the following achievements from this school year:

• 5 year IB re-authorization resulting in significant drop in MTBA from 2015 - 14 matters to be addressed 5 years ago—inquiry-based assessments, transdiciplinary learning. 

• 2 5th-graders finished 1st in APS tech fair and moving onto State. Literacy focus- finalist in APS Race2Read challenge.

• Piloted surveillance testing for APS through weekly testing of over 400 students and staff (pilot schools, including Sarah Smith)

E. Rivers:

Principal John Waller shared the following achievements from this school year:

• Reading Bowl: Won district, region, and state

• Science fair: Best in grade level in 3rd, 4th and 5th. 1 student won best in show.

• IB: Evaluation Visit - commendations, philosophy, organization, and resources 

Garden Hills:

Principal Stacey Abbott shared the following achievements from this school year:

• Connection to parents (holiday events, etc.)

• Ongoing professional learning on Concept-based inquiry teaching while revising/improving all grade level programs of inquiry.

• Cousins gifted $10k in donations

Sarah Smith:

Principal Emily Boatright shared the following achievements from this school year:

• Redoing their playground - 1 of 4 schools selected for Atlanta Community Schoolyards. Contributed to redesign of lower playground at Primary Campus.

Jackson Elementary:

Principal Brent McBride shared the following achievements from this school year:

• First place in GA Young Authors - Grades 1, 2, 3, 4

• APS Tech Fair in Robotics

• IB recertification (virtual) - one of first schools to go through virtually at the beginning of the pandemic.

• COGNIA - formally AdvancedED. 1 of 2 public schools in the nation with dual certification in IB and STEM. Recommended to receive national STEM certification through COGNIA. If they receive the certification, they will be the 7th school in APS with STEM certification designation

Sutton Middle:

Principal Gail Johnson shared the following achievements about Sutton this year:

• RAMP: ASCA Model Program designation (only 2nd school in APS to earn this distinction)

• MS Reading Bowl: first place in district and region competitions. American School Counselor Association. Grounded in equity and access, this program supports all students. 

• Given constraints due to the pandemic, this is where they’ve landed.

• Stressed that the foundations laid by faculty and teachers at the 6 elementary “feeder” schools are to be appreciated for predictable success at Sutton.

• In regards to a 2021-2022 school year, parents should be urged to “plan for a traditional middle school experience.”

North Atlanta High:

Principal Curtis Douglass shared the following achievements about NAHS this year:

• GA Dept. of Education awarded NAHS as an AP honor school. They also achieved awards as: AP School of Distinction, AP Expansion, AP Humanities, AM Humanities Achievement, AP Stem School, AP STEM Achievement School - correlates to AP scores (Douglass underscored that the AP track is“viewed as secondary to IB curriculum, which we value as our signature program.”)

• Mock trial made it to state - first time in school history. 

• Acceptance rates to Tech and UGA continue to be higher than overall acceptance rates for each college (trend has been on the up and up for the last 4 years). 53% who applied to Tech were admitted. 49% of seniors who applied to UGA were admitted.