Newly-appointed Atlanta Public Schools administrators discussed their plans to make improvements throughout the district during the monthly SNAPPSgeneral body meeting Monday night at Peyton Forest Elementary School. Parents in attendance were particularly concerned about the direction the district is taking after a cheating scandal and recent news that less than half of APS schools in southwest Atlanta made adequate yearly progress (AYP). The curriculum will receive immediate attention, said Karen Waldon, Deputy Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction.  “I've come here as a support for …

Organizers of a new booster organization for Mays High School and its feeder schools will hold a general body meeting 10-11:15 a.m. Sat., Nov. 5, at the Southwest Branch Library, 3665 Cascade Rd, across from Starbucks. On the agenda are parade results, Black History Month and SPLOST IV but the news Wednesday that Mays High and several of its feeder schools did not make AYP is sure to be a hot topic, as well as the five candidates in the Nov. 8 election to fill the District 2 seat vacated by Khaatim Sherrer El. "The recent AYP standings affirm what we already know-- that we have lots of work …

Southwest and Northwest Atlanta Parents and Partners for Schools (SNAPPS) will host a meeting focused on curriculum Mon., Nov. 7, at Peyton Forest Elementary School. The SNAPPS' meeting, entitled "Curriculum: A Pathway to Systemic Change," is from 6-8 p.m. at Peyton Forest, 301 Peyton Rd. According to a news release about the meeting, Deputy Superintendent of Curriculum & Instruction Karen Waldon; New Coordinator of Talented & Gifted Gyimah Whitaker; and Newly Appointed Director of Special Education Constance Goodson will attend. Though curriculum is the official focus, news Wednesday that …

West Manor Elementary School has launched a new Internet tutoring initiative this month with the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System.  The program, called ECampus, is the library’s online learning suite of tutoring, test preparation and educational resources for all ages. On Oct. 3, West Manor administrative coordinator Juree Hall and child services manager Tisa Jackson talked to students about the program and began registering every West Manor student for an eCampus library card. The registration number on the card will provide students and their parents with access to the public library’s …

The first 11 educators being investigated in the Atlanta Public Schools test cheating scandal may learn next week whether they will lose their professional certificates. The Georgia Professional Standards Commission will hear evidence gathered by an agency investigation into 11 educators' cases in the CRCT cheating scandal on Thursday, according to a report by WSBTV.com. The educators include a principal, teachers, and administrators. These will be the first cases to be acted upon by the agency after the governor's report exposed a massive cheating scandal in the Atlanta Public School system…

Organizers of a new booster organization for Mays High School and its feeder schools will hold a general body meeting 9-11 a.m. Sat., Aug. 27, at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, 306 Peyton Road. Embracing Mays Community and Cluster Schools (EMC2) seeks to "embrace the positive legacy of the Mays community" and improve the overall quality of the schools. The organization's three main goals include: 1. Work with the cluster schools to improve communication between the schools , parents and the community at large. 2. Highlight the positives of the Mays High cluster schools, in order toincrease …

The 6th, 7th and 8th grade students at Young Middle School celebrated a new school year Friday and—with their cheers, laughs and show of school spirit—symbolically put the CRCT cheating scandal behind them. Dressed in their red, white and gold school colors, the students listened to inspiration remarks from Mayor Kasim Reed, met celebrities such as Terry Vaughn of "The Steve Harvey Show" fame, and competed in an upbeat musical-chairs-style dance contest orchestrated by popular Hot 107.9 DJ Jazzy McBee. Though no student spoke on the dias, city leaders made it clear that every child at the …

Students who have gotten used to seeing the faces of familiar media specialists in their school's libraries may be disappointed when they return to school today. That's because some media specialists have been reassigned because of the Atlanta Public Schools' cheating scandal. Although not implicated in Atlanta's cheating woes, several media specialists, who spoke off the record to Cascade Patch, say they will find themselves in unfamiliar settings. They have been transferred from their old schools and told to report to new ones. The move, in itself, is not unusual. Media specialists and …

Popular WAOK 1380-AM radio personality and former Atlanta City Councilman Derrick Boazman has changed the date of the next meeting with volunteers and concerned citizens to continue organizing a Saturday school program for Atlanta Public Schools students affected by the recent cheating scandal. The meeting is now set for 10 a.m. Sat., Aug. 6, at St. Peter Missionary Baptist Church, 1558 Venetian Dr. A state investigators' report found evidence of 44 Atlanta Public Schools of cheating on the 2009 Criterion Reference Competency Test (CRCT) standardized test. In early July, Gov. Nathan Deal …

The state's investigation into cheating on the 2009 Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests (CRCT) has marred the image of the Atlanta Public Schools and resulted in a rapid-fire effort to remove 178 educators—including 38 principals—across the city this week. But 20 schools in a database of investigators' findings— published earlier this month by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution—are listed as having received "clear" reports. None of the schools are in southwest Atlanta, as defined by Cascade Patch (see Editor's Note). They are: Forrest Hills Academy/APS-CEP Partnership School, 2930 Forrest …

Almost two-thirds of the 44 schools implicated in the Atlanta Public Schools test cheating scandal are in greater southwest Atlanta and set to receive new principals by Wednesday, according to a Cascade Patch review of a state investigation and school district records. Seventeen elementary and four middle schools within the boundaries of Cascade Patch (see Editor’s Note below) were identified in the investigators' report, first published in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, as having “severe concern” for cheating. According to the state, this rating indicates “24.5% or more of the testing …