Group Mobilizing Westside Parents Thursday to Respond to APS Challenges (Updated)
Southwest and Northwest Atlanta Parents and Partners for Schools (SNAPPS) meeting Feb. 17 at Cascade United Methodist to discuss "action plan" for probation, new superintendent search.
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An organization of southwest and near northwest Atlanta parents is set to present plans tonight for responding to a range of issues facing the Atlanta Public School board.
Members of the Southwest and Northwest Atlanta Parents and Partners for Schools (SNAPPS) will host the meeting at 7 p.m. at Cascade United Methodist Church, 3144 Cascade Rd.
According to SNAPPS president Shawnna Hayes-Tavares the purpose of the meeting is "to collaborate with the community on behalf of our schools."
"Our advocacy is necessary to ensure that schools on the northwest and southwest are being represented with a collective voice," said Hayes-Tavares, a southwest Atlanta resident and mother of students at Peyton Forest, Inman Middle and Benjamin E. Mays High schools.
At the meeting, Hayes-Tavares said SNAPPS will seek community feedback on a SNAPPS action plan to respond to three main APS challenges: 1) the search for a new superintendent, 2) allegations of cheating on the 2009 Criterion-Referenced Competency Test (CRCT) and 3) the board's Sept. 30 probation deadline to meet six directives and avoid loss of accreditation. SNAPPS is still holding small group meetings to brainstorm and fine-tune the action plan.
In addition, SNAPPS leaders plan to discuss allegations that SRT 4 director Tamara Cotman hampered a state investigation into cheated allegations at several dozen APS schools.
Hayes-Taveres said, SNAPPS has plans that stretch beyond the meet. SNAPPS, she said, plans to serve as a weekly information resource for busy parents and residents in the greater Cascade area by providing them with weekly reports on the outcome of the board's Monday night meetings.
Although at least one other parents' group, Atlanta School Board: Step Up or Step Down, has formed recently around APS concerns, SNAPPS second vice president Jennifer Freeman said her group wants to make sure the voices of southwest and near northwest parents are heard.
Freeman, a Cascade resident and mother of a May High School junior, said SNAPPS, which formed in 2008, has a "very close relationship" with Step Up or Step Down but SNAPPS feels they need a tailor-made response to the troubles facing the system.
Said Freeman, " We want to talk about what, on this side of town, are we going to?”
After going on probation, the board voted unanimously to meet every Monday night to continue to work on the six directives from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). The board set a May 1 deadline to have made significant progress on the six goals; the final SACS deadline to complete the recommendations is Sept. 30.
The six recommendations direct the board to:
- Hire outside mediator to help the board communicate and work together;
- Hire an outside party to aid with the search for a new superintendent;
- Analyze and revise board policies;
- Work on communicating with the community and stake holders;
- Ensure that the actions and behavior of all board members are aligned with board policies;
- Align board policies with the state charter.
The school board SACS meetings are every Monday night at 7 p.m. in the APS CLL building, 130 Trinity Ave. until further notice.
For information about SNAPPS meetings or to join the organization go to: http://snappsatl.org
In This article
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Cascade United Methodist Church
3144 Cascade Rd SW, Atlanta, GA -
Peyton Forest Elementary School
301 Peyton Rd SW, Atlanta, GA -
Mays High School
3450 Benjamin E Mays Dr SW, Atlanta, GA
Grady Parent
7:46 am on Monday, January 31, 2011
SNAPPS president Shawnna Hayes-Tavares has a child at Inman Middle School AND is on the PTA board there. Is that not a double standard? You send your kids to the local middle school in Southwest and Northwest Atlanta, but I get to send my child to a Northeast Atlanta school?
Is this irony? hypocrisy? or both?
Grady Parent
10:08 am on Monday, January 31, 2011
SNAPPS president Shawnna Hayes-Tavares lives on the Westside, but is actively involved at Inman Middle School. She's a PTA board officer. If you lead and support SNAPPS, why send your kids out of zone and dedicate your time and efforts as a PTA VP officer at a school across town?
http://www.inmanmiddleschool.org/HomeSuperintendantCandidates.htm
Editor, can you please update the TAG and link for Inman Middle School?
http://www.inmanmiddleschool.org
Grady Parent
10:35 am on Monday, January 31, 2011
"shawnna hayes-tavares said:
I have a rich history in SW Atl., I went to school & live in SW. We have attended 5 schools & still do in SW Atlanta! My work speaks for itself!"
Are you PTA VP in any of the SW schools as you are in Inman Middle School across town?
My point is if you are so involved and committed to Inman with your time and resources, imagine what an impact you and your neighbors could make at your local school. Isn't that what SNAPPS is all about, president?
Jamie Cox
10:47 am on Monday, January 31, 2011
Since Ms. Hayes-Tavares is involved in educaitonal advocacy on both the west and east sides of town, she will know first hand disparities that exist between schools in each area, and what is needed to improve west side schools.
Grady Parent
10:58 am on Monday, January 31, 2011
Good point. Shawnna Hayes-Tavares for APS school board.
So it is the N.E. side is at fault for what the S.W. side of Atlanta doesn't have? Where have the S.W. parents and leaders been all along? At schools across town?
Grady Parent
12:25 pm on Monday, January 31, 2011
"shawnna hayes-tavares said:
Of course not, no blame to any one side. Thank you for helping with advocacy, we are one system! Let's remember that! All parents want the same, good schools! "
@Shawnna, Great point, we are one system. All families have the same interest in what is best for our students,system and imagine what a true advocacy voice throughout the city could do!
Each child is different and may need certain services or settings for them to excel, I understand that as a parent. However, leaders like Dr. Folami Prescott-Adams and many others have ignored SW Atlanta and sent their own kids across town, ignoring the needs of where they live.
Now she is involved with a charter school on MLK. What does that say about Atlanta education? all schools? schools with no advocates? school in our own neighborhoods? Just food for thought here.
Tammy Garnes
3:54 pm on Monday, January 31, 2011
We all do what we must do to give our kids the absolute best chances we can give them. MANY parents will send their kids to schools on the other side of town, but MOST will not continue to advocate for their neighborhood schools in the meantime. The last thing we need to do is point fingers at someone who is VOLUNTEERING their time to help make their neighborhood schools better. I too live in SW and CHOOSE intown schools. My neighborhood middle school is not up to spec for my child. I've toured, I've sat in on classes and the standards are not what I needed them to be. Will that stop me from volunteering at the school? Absolutely not. We have to BE the change we want to see! Kudos to all the parents out there who sit through BOE meetings for 10 hours, attend all of the emergency meetings (like the one being held tonight) and fight the good fight even when no one else seems to care.
Tammy Garnes
3:57 pm on Monday, January 31, 2011
And let's keep in mind that parents can only do so much. When a system is broken...when the issues that limit a schools ability to succeed are systematic, then it takes years to fix what's broken. The best part of the CRCT investigation and SACS review is that it will cause a massive shake-up in the district...providing parents with an awesome opportunity to incite change.
John Sam
11:16 pm on Saturday, February 5, 2011
The same set of rules do not apply on the NORTHSIDE OF ATLANTA , APS.
APS Board Members should be ashamed. They turned a blind eye to the NORTHSIDE corruption and they represent Ethics in the system??? SHAME - SHAME - SHAME.
www.TopPublicSchoolCorruptionAtlanta.com
APS OFFICIALS AND THE PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS COMMISSION ignored reports and the video taped depositions that proved the following acts were committed by a Northside APS principal:
* Payroll records to obtain a paycheck for the principal’s daughter for almost a year.
* Falsified attendance records of faculty and students.
* Retaliation against teachers willing to report and testify against APS
* Falsified information to obtain a Blue Ribbon School Award.
* Segregation of minority students in Northside Atlanta Public Schools
* Falsified criteria and dates for Bonus Paychecks paid to faculty members.