Atlanta Public Schools needs a superintendent who can develop and retain a stronger educational staff

Atlanta Public Schools needs a superintendent who can develop and retain a stronger educational workforce

Metro Atlanta attracts new jobs. Since the start of 2020, Atlanta has seen one of the five largest percentage increases in new jobs in the United States.

On the face of it, this is great news. However, the growth in population and real estate prices that has coincided with this period of job creation suggests that many of these jobs are not being filled by a highly skilled local workforce.

As Atlanta Public Schools continues to search for its next superintendent, it must look for a leader who can attract and retain talent. A strong educational workforce is essential for public schools to be able to produce qualified and educated young people who can immediately join the job market or choose to continue their learning in university or technical schools.

In some ways, the APS is already moving in the right direction. The Atlanta School Board built a strong framework for change with the Goals and Guardrails policy it adopted in 2021. The goals call for specific increases in vital areas such as literacy and calculus, post-graduation preparation, and college and career preparation. The guardrails prioritize needs assessment, equity and stakeholder engagement. At a high level, Atlanta Public Schools is a school district with a clear path forward.

But the state of our schools and our city in the wake of the pandemic demands more. As Rose Scott, host of WABE’s A Closer Look, recently pointed out, income inequality in Atlanta is pervasive, with white families earning a median income of $83,722, compared to $28,105 for a family black.

These persistent gaps in education and opportunity for Black and Brown students, students with disabilities and learning differences, and those in poverty limit our students’ ability to succeed. In the next APS superintendent, we need a leader who will galvanize progress, strengthen the pipeline of educators by addressing inequities, and inspire other talented educators to work alongside them.

We believe the next superintendent needs three characteristics to strengthen the education workforce.

First, the next APS leader must focus more on student outcomes than types of schools. Parents care much more about whether their child can read than whether their child attends a traditional neighborhood school or a local public charter school, and the next principal should be too.

Having extensive experience leading a district with a combination of traditional neighborhood schools, within-district charter schools, partner schools, and innovation schools would be a real plus for any candidate. By developing, managing, and learning from district-wide highlights, new ideas can emerge, successful models can evolve, and more families can access and help public schools that meet their child’s specific needs. access a life full of autonomy. -determination, opportunities and well-being as adults.

Our new leader must ensure that these diverse school models do more than create variety; they lead to better outcomes for children. This is especially important for students our district has underserved – Black, Latinx, economically disadvantaged and disabled – so that zip code, identity and learning differences no longer determine destiny.

Second, the next superintendent of Atlanta Public Schools must be a relationship builder, willing to check his ego and work closely with others to get things done for kids. They must be able to build coalitions and authentically engage in partnerships with families, educators, local communities, nonprofit organizations, and civic leaders.

To overcome today’s challenges in student achievement, teacher retention, and staff and child well-being, we need our next superintendent to work with school board members and staff to create new solutions to old problems.

It is imperative that they be savvy policy operators in the best sense of the word – those who know how to build a team ready and willing to make the tough decisions necessary to drive large-scale, systemic change to better serve students and our community in its entirety. .

Last but not least, the next superintendent must adopt innovations that better serve students. In our experience, talented people are attracted, even inspired, by leaders willing to disrupt the status quo in order to achieve better results. Consider the many schools in Georgia and the United States as a whole that are developing professional learning programs starting in high school. Such programs prepare students to enter the workforce and help fill gaps in in-demand fields like construction and mechanical and repair technologies.

The next superintendent must ask why things are done a certain way and, without hearing a convincing answer, act with confidence to develop a more effective way. There should be no sacred cows, no changes forbidden simply because “it’s always been this way.” Only 34 percent of APS students are proficient or better in reading and writing, and only 30 percent meet that mark in math—now is not the time to continue doing things the way they always have been done do.

This hiring marks a historic opportunity. Atlanta is one of the most vibrant cities in America, but our children – especially our Black children – lack widespread access to schools that can deliver on their extraordinary promise, which prepares them for success beyond High School. Strengthening the workforce is a major imperative.

Our city must become an educational and economic beacon. Please talk to your school board member today and let them know that now is the time for a superintendent who will turn children’s potential into reality.

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