New Atlanta Public Schools superintendent Dr. Bryan Johnson attended a parent-organized community meeting on August 27th at Virginia-Highland Elementary. This meeting allowed Johnson to receive parent feedback on concerns and priorities.
This community-led conversation is more informal compared to the circuit of APS meetings Johnson is set to embark on. Johnson said interacting directly with parents as the superintendent is valuable to him.
“Engaging with parents is so important because you get to hear about issues directly,” Johnson said. “We are so fortunate to have the privilege of hearing directly from parents and other community members.”
The meeting contained a question and answer section, where parents and teachers were able to make statements and ask Johnson about their concerns.
“The level of engagement is amazing,” Johnson said. “I really appreciate how engaged the community is in making sure the students get what they need.”
One of the parental concerns addressed was violence in schools. David T. Howard parent Jinnie Page spoke about her child’s experience in the first month of school.
“Safety is a really big issue right now for me,” Page said. “Nineteen days of school, and in my son’s sixth grade class there have been four violent attacks on children, including my son. You can have the best academic program out there, but if I can’t send my kid to school without being concerned about his safety, we’re failing.”
Johnson agrees that safety in schools is a priority and that, entering his term, he is working to support schools in identifying violence and potentially supporting the students responsible for the increased violence.
“Safety is important,” Johnson said. “I would love to understand what’s happening at the schools, in the classrooms, with the students. We can look into what may already be in place and how we can come alongside and support these children individually.”
Midtown parent Jennifer Keenan voiced concerns about overcrowding in the Midtown cluster and asked how redistricting may be handled.
“One of the biggest concerns and pressing issues in this cluster is overcrowding, at Midtown in particular,” Keenan said. “We’ve had meetings like this in the past where analyses have been done [showing] how many classrooms can be crammed into Midtown and how many kids can be crammed into these classrooms. But those analyses have missed a critical piece of the puzzle, [which] is how many kids can walk through the hallways, how many kids can use the bathrooms, how many kids can use the cafeteria, and how many kids can use the media center. The school is bursting at the seams.”
Johnson reassured parents that the redistricting process is being discussed, but communication and organization with stakeholders will happen first.
“We’ll go through, communicating what that redistricting process will potentially look like,” Johnson said. “First we need to make sure the community is really clear about that, then we just have to see what the next steps are. I won’t tell you blindly what that will be because that’s something that we need to do together.”
Midtown parent Brittany Schwartzwald spoke on the new personal electronic device policy and the additional infrastructure she believes is needed to support it.
¨The students used to use their phones for hotspots because everything at Midtown requires internet, but now that they don´t have their cellphones anymore, they don’t have their hotspots,¨ Midtown parent Brittany Schwartzwald said. ¨Is there a way for the district to support technology use inside Midtown?”
When asked how to bring issues like these to Johnson’s attention, he responded by encouraging as much communication as possible.
“My job is to serve people, so if you email me I’ll respond,” Johnson said. “If you have a specific issue, raise it, don’t hold that back.”
Johnson will now be moving on to his APS led series of meetings around the entire district. As he continues to talk to new people, he stated he wishes to keep his focus on listening to the issues of those in each cluster to shape his decisions in his role.
“My main goals are to listen and learn,” Johnson said. “It’s a great opportunity to hear from everyone and learn what folks think.”
