ATLANTA — A petition calling on Atlanta Public Schools to replace its superintendent Dr. Lisa Herring and all of the senior leadership now has over 650 signatures.
A group of education advocates called Transparency Now posted the petition to change.org calling on the school district to get new leadership because of a number of issues.
The petition links to recent math scores citing the APS report that says “Scores indicate 31.2% of APS students in grades 3-8 scored proficient or above in English Language Arts (ELA) and 26% scored proficient or above in Math.“
The Transparency Now petition also mentions low standardized test scores, underperforming schools, low attendance and a spike in disciplinary incidents.
The group also says the school district has failed to share school-level data on the state of transportation as well as safety and security data at the schools.
Akiem Williams, an education advocate with Transparency Now said the school needs new leadership in place to not only address the academic achievement gap but close it.
“Our goal here is to change leadership within APS and we want to see a change. When I say see a change, I mean we want someone to come in aggressively, understanding what the achievement gap is and closing it,” Williams said.
“The data is showing us that students below 20 are performing one way and students above 20 are performing another way and we want to see how we can bridge that gap,” continued Williams, referring to the location of students learning in communities above and below I-20.
APS serves around 50,000 students and superintendent Lisa Herring has served as the head of the district since 2020.
In a statement, the district called the information attached to the petition an “incomplete interpretation of our student data”.
Here is the full statement from APS:
"While Atlanta Public Schools is aware of the petition, the undeniable fact is that many of the points mentioned offer an incomplete interpretation of our student data. We acknowledge that many of these post-pandemic baseline data can be sobering but they also don’t paint a complete picture of our students, their successes, and their academic trajectory. We are keenly aware of the many learning and social-emotional impacts caused by the pandemic and are also evaluating some existing challenges prior to the pandemic while creating and honing solution-based approaches to meet the needs of our current and future students at APS.
We always welcome meaningful and constructive dialogue with our families as we prepare to graduate scholars ready for college, career, and life.
At APS, we are relentlessly focused on student achievement for nearly 50,000 scholars. We have launched a series of data-driven efforts to provide baseline, benchmark, and formative snapshots, in order to understand current student achievement as we implement the Board’s 2020-2025 strategic plan to improve student outcomes.
We cannot and will not ignore the pandemic’s impacts on learning. APS is not immune. Georgia is not immune. We have been working diligently to triage any hindrances to our students’ academic success, even as the pandemic began. This proactive academic assessment and achievement approach creates a gold standard method to addressing student needs from a multitude of angles, following the height of the pandemic."
Williams said education advocates with Transparency Now plan to meet soon to discuss the next steps.