Community Update

Ode to Erroll Davis,

Atlanta Public Schools
Superintendent

“There was a boldness in his walk, a comfort in his honesty and trust
in his abilities…”

He Dared to Be Great…To Care about Children First!

As Mr. Erroll B. Davis said goodbye as the Superintendent of
Atlanta Public Schools yesterday at two ceremonies, APS said goodbye to a great
leader!  Let us go back a little to get
the entire picture of his greatness.  July
1, 2011, the first day of work for Mr. Davis, 3 days later the governor’s
investigation in the Atlanta Public Schools cheating scandal was released.  This 800+ page document unveiled a criminal
element as to be charged on the RICO statue. 
This crime was not against adults making bad decisions or against
country, this crime was against children. 
Children had been cheated out of their constitutional right to receive a
free an appropriate education. 

Now imagine if you will a broken board of nine, the business
community’s pressure, local elected officials butting in, the interest groups
outcry, parents angry, community is confused, teachers are ridiculed, children
victimized in an environment meant to facilitate education, growth and
development. 

In the rise of confusion also laid at APS’s feet were
threats of SACS accreditation, declining graduation rates, more accurate and
yet more dismal CRCT test scores, school closings and Charter Schools expanding,
all of this with the governor, the mayor, the district attorney, community and the
world not just watching, but glaring at APS. 
And this man, standing no more than 5’6”, walks in after retiring and
having no personal training or background in education, was charged to save APS
from itself.  Some thought of him as an
outsider, appointed by the power structure, or some favor from an elected
official.  All of us were not clear of
what he would bring to APS or even where he came from.  

But, prior to him being appointed board members reached out
to find out if I assume parent leaders would be okay with his appointment.  I said that I was not happy with the two
choices that were presented and that I would not be upset if we chose an
interim and took our time to find the best fit. 
But it did not take long before I knew he was the best fit at the right
time. 

There was boldness in his walk, a comfort in his honesty and
trust in his abilities. He was a breath of fresh air.  Finally no more politics as usual with our
children’s lives!  But what I don’t think
he knew was the degree of politics in Atlanta. 
The demographics study coupled with the closing of schools, told a story
of how politics work in Atlanta. The accreditation and rezoning/school closings
awakened a city that fell asleep on Hall’s watch and now was paying for the
long sleep, by awakening to a nightmare, in which Erroll B. Davis had to fix.   Now,
the North Atlanta community was fighting for an 11-story building promised to
them by the Hall administration.  Not
only did politics play a part, the evil side of Atlanta came out and reared its
dirty laundry with race and class.  Underserved populations did not want the only
hope left to be closed down, and the “haves” did not want to merge with “those
children and parents”.  So a proposed 17
schools goes down to 7 and even in these politics Erroll took the hits.

 I watched him be
ridiculed by the worst of what Atlanta had to offer, he was being called an
uncle Tom, a race traitor and even was pictured as a Klux Klux Klansmen, what a
low.  Although, I remember embracing him
after the flyer surfaced at Maynard Jackson HS and let him know everyone did
not feel that way.  He stayed for a four
hour meeting in which the automatic lights went out and we had to use cell phone
lights, he stayed to answer every question. Or while at Douglass HS being
called every race traitor one can think of, walked right into the audience
without security escort and faced those who had accused him of being a traitor.  I watched him in the North Atlanta gymnasium
after he had the guts to break up another ring of mafia, “the elite”.  After releasing the believed racist and
classist staff, he stood amongst that community to be shouted at by adults and
children.  The Drew Charter School
expansion he resisted against, and although the previous mayor Shirley
Franklin, and the elites of Atlanta came and urged his support, he did not
waiver, he was simply outvoted by the board. 
He has challenged the city of Atlanta to pay monies owed to children and
although some feel “the nerve of him”, he did not waiver.  He had the audacity to make bold statements
about disparities in APS no matter the audience, to commission the equity audit
and to make hard choices about long-term “so-called beloved” principals, had to
take courage. And in a city too busy to hate we have become a city too busy to
love, particularly if you do not agree with the status quo.

This man walked in his authority and whether you agreed with
him or not, liked him or not, was able to convince him of your opinion or not, approved
of him or not, he had the courage to say “what about the children?”  His legacy will always be his courage to
speak up for children, no matter the cost. 
He listened, he learned and he acted. 
We thank him for listening to all stakeholders, learning more to be
better and acting on making a difference for our children!

For those of you who do not attend board meetings, this
author, to bid my final farewell used words to guess as to what the “B” stands
for in Erroll B. Davis. He are some:

Bewildered by the injustices of children

Beacon of light for the voiceless

Beloved by your supporters

Brave in your decision making

Benevolent in your spirit

Blatant in your approach

Bold in your stance against disparities

And A Bad M#@@&!

Walk in Greatness, for you have set us on a course that I am
sure you cannot imagine.  As a product of
APS, a parent of four children in APS, a parent leader/advocate in APS, I will
do my best to not let your legacy be in vain.

Thank You Erroll B.
Davis

By Shawnna
Hayes-Tavares

These are my claims to his fame…

ü 
 fired all
the cheating staff and waited for those others to be cleared

ü 
 helped
and supported the past board with making it through SACS accreditation and
stabilizing the system

ü 
 put
systems of ethics and honor in place

ü 
Demanded excellence and fidelity

ü 
Improved leadership accountability and training

ü 
 helped to
break up silos and create a more streamlined vertical alignment

ü 
 addressed
and cleaned up budget disparities

ü 
 equalized
programming through the arts and Foreign Languages

ü 
Reorganized departments implicated in the perpetuation
of intimidation and fear

ü 
 closed
schools to ensure that resources were re-directed to schools needing support

ü 
enhanced social media/communications

ü 
enhanced parental involvement

ü 
was not bullied by the business community, elite
of Atlanta or entitled parents

ü 
was not afraid to admit shortcomings or
challenges  

ü 
made it possible to have input and be heard

Greatness cannot be talked, it must be walked.  Thank you for walking in greatness!