Alpharetta Elementary PTA

Legislation and Publicity

The Legislation Committee serves as an information gathering source focusing on Fulton County educational issues and how they impact education at Alpharetta Elementary. People are needed to attend school board and community meetings. This committee also promotes school activities in our community by contacting the media about upcoming programs and projects taking place at Alpharetta Elementary.

Please contact Candy Waylock for questions related to school legislation or publicity.

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Proposed redistricting riles Milton, Roswell parents

Draft map changes “complexion” of Milton High, say parents

BY CANDY WAYLOCK – waylock5@aol.com

As the Fulton County School System edges towards a final redistricting map for area high schools, tensions appear to be rising among those who are impacted by the coming changes.

The system released a draft map during the third and final round of community meetings last Wednesday; presenting a plan which culled the three prior drafts into a single map. The changes primarily impact students at Roswell and Milton high schools, in anticipation of the new high school opening on Bethany Bend next year.

Planning staff were faced with two options to fill the new school, which sits nearly roughly parallel to the east of Milton High School: an east/west divide or a north/south split. The draft map shows more of an east/west split which “stacks” attendance zones for Roswell, Milton and Bethany Bend.

The end result is the northern section of the current Roswell attendance zone moves over to Milton, with many neighborhoods along Birmingham Highway in Milton heading to the new high school.

It is this scenario which appears to be frustrating parents from both Roswell and Milton; many of whom took to the “e-waves” with petitions, letters and vents criticizing the maps, the process and school staff.

“The fact of the matter is the [Fulton County School System] mishandled this redistricting from the start with a Pandora’s box of potential maps and then caved to the “squeaky wheels,” said parents Kelly Brolly and Denise Hackman in a letter sent to the Fulton School Board and many neighborhoods throughout the Milton cluster.

The two, who chair the Milton/Alpharetta Cluster Committee, expressed concerns for the future of Milton with the proposed changes.

“With this plan, the entire complexion of Milton High School will change from AP course offerings to the arts to music and sports,” wrote Brolly. “It quite simply guts Milton by removing some of the most committed, involved, invested, and active neighborhoods along Birmingham Highway and Freemanville Road.”

Parents also commented the traffic patterns support a north/south route, which should have been considered more highly, especially given the number of teenage drivers.

On the other side, many members of the Roswell High School community were equally vocal during the small group sessions of their desire to remain at Roswell, and not be zoned to their arch-rival school. Many decried the loss of established subdivisions and the fact city lines should have been considered before sending Roswell city kids to Milton.

Others were more pragmatic in their view, choosing to accept the situation rather than fight it.

“Someone’s got to move…that’s just the way it is. And I guess, unfortunately, it will be my kids,” said LynnAnn Agnew, who learned Wednesday her street is proposed to go to the new high school instead of Milton.

Her home sits at the outer edge of boundaries for the Bethany Bend school under the proposed draft map. Agnew lives about eight miles from the Bethany Bend site, and only four miles to Milton.

In the end, said Fulton Board member Katie Reeves, 1,800 students need to be moved to Bethany Bend and the only logical place is to move them from the closest high schools: Alpharetta, Milton and Roswell.

Sensing there would be dissension in her community with the draft map, Reeves made a call to the Planning Department to learn the details. Under Fulton County policy, board members are not involved in drawing attendance lines, but will have the opportunity to make changes when the staff’s recommended plan is submitted next month.

“As soon as the [draft] map came out, I called down to the Planning staff and asked for their reasons and justification for [this map],” said Reeves, whose district includes Alpharetta and Milton high schools. “I was told the key reason was because they had heard most people did not support so many students being moved from throughout the district to fill one school. This plan affects the fewest students.”

To point, the three maps presented during the second redistricting meeting would have uprooted nearly 5,000 students and impacted lines at every high school in North Fulton. The current map rezones approximately 2,200 students, primarily at Roswell and Milton high schools.

These changes came as good news for many parents in the Johns Creek area who were braced for more upheaval, just two years after a bruising redistricting process to open Johns Creek High School.

The current draft plan does not change the boundaries of Chattahoochee or Centennial high schools. It provides for one major change to Johns Creek High School. Under the draft map, St. Ives subdivision off Medlock Bridge Road will be re-zoned back to Northview High School. The subdivision is located adjacent to Northview.

Alpharetta High school will also be tweaked under the current draft plan. A relatively small pocket of students, primarily those who currently attend Cogburn Woods Elementary School, will be re-zoned to Milton High School.

Reeves admits she has been inundated with information from parents as the redistricting process moves towards final approval.

“I have received emails in favor of the draft map and e-mails from people who are not supportive of this map,” said Reeves. “But at the end of the day, I know we all want every school in North Fulton to be strong. And with the leadership we have in place, I truly believe that will remain true.”

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FCBOE taps North Carolina administrator as superintendent finalist

Robert Avossa to take over from Cindy Loe on June 1

BY CANDY WAYLOCK - waylock5@aol.com

A top administrator from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (North Carolina) has been tapped to become the new superintendent of the Fulton County School System, replacing Cindy Loe who will step down on June 1.

Following a 14-day public comment period, which began April 11, the Fulton School Board plans to formally offer the position to Avossa.

Robert Avossa (a-VAH-sah) currently serves as Chief Strategy and Accountability Officer for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, which is one of the largest systems in the country with more than 135,000 students. In this position, he has managed district and state testing, conducted independent research on student and teacher performance, and developed a platform and assessments for the district’s 2014 strategic plan.

Unlike many school districts, Fulton generally does not narrow its superintendent search down to three finalists, opting instead to select one finalist for the 14-day comment period. A spokesperson for Fulton Schools said a total of 41 people applied for the superintendent position, but was unaware how many applicants were actually interviewed by the board of education.

At only 39 years old, Avossa will lead an all-female board of education, and be among the youngest members of the administrative team. However, Avossa indicated this unique position is something he is accustomed to in education.

“Obviously the education field is predominately female, but I think gender plays very small part in the way one approaches this work,” said Avossa in an interview from his Charlotte home. “And it doesn’t hurt that I come from a family with three sisters and a strong-willed mom!”

While he was aware there were several high-profile vacancies in the Atlanta Metro area for superintendents, including Atlanta City Schools, Cobb and DeKalb counties, Avossa said he was only interested in applying for the Fulton County opening.

“It is really important to me to make sure my family is happy in a place where they can be comfortable in the school system and the community,” said Avossa, who is married with two school-aged children. “My wife (Kellee) and I spent time in Fulton County and really liked it.”

Secondly, he felt the Fulton County School System is on a similar path to Charlotte Mecklenburg, as far as using many of the accountability programs and procedures to measure achievement.

Avossa plans to begin work on June 1, but will collaborate closely with Loe over the next two months to ensure a smooth transition. Several “meet and greets” for the community will also be scheduled in the coming weeks.

Selecting Avossa as superintendent also lends credence to Fulton’s intent to actively pursue charter system status. Fulton has been studying three large systems with charter-like models as they pursue charter status; one of which is the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School System.

Prior to his move to Charlotte, Avossa spent more than 10 years as a teacher and principal in Florida, primarily in the Orlando area. There, he was principal of a large Title I elementary school, and the principal of a comprehensive high school with more than 3,250 students. His work in these positions earned Avossa the designation as Young Educator of the Year in 2003 in Florida.

Before assuming his current role as Chief Strategy and Accountability officer for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, Avossa served as the area superintendent of the district’s South Learning Community and as Chief of Staff to the superintendent.

Avossa is aware of the perceived North Fulton-South Fulton gap in achievement levels; however he says this is a situation he has faced in his career. As an area superintendent with Charlotte-Mecklenburg, his 30 schools included one of the top performing schools in the state, along with several who could be found at the other spectrum.

“I made a concerted effort to push all my kids to a higher level of rigor, and I saw pass rates on AP exams go up dramatically,” said Avossa. “I think a lot of time we talk about ‘closing the gap’ as a single issue. But I look at it as every child has a gap that needs to be closed–and we need to see if that child is giving their absolute 100 percent best.”

Recognizing teacher morale may be impacted with furloughs, budget cuts and bigger classrooms, Avossa said he does not have the “silver bullet” to make it all better. What he does promise is to “listen, learn and lead.”

A native of Naples, Italy, Avossa immigrated with his parents to the United States as a young child. He holds a bachelor’s degree in exceptional education and behavior disorders as well as a master’s degree in special education, both from the University of South Florida. He also holds a specialist’s degree in educational leadership from Nova Southeastern University. He is a doctoral candidate at Wingate University with an expected graduation date of summer 2011.
‘Meet and Greet’ at Centennial HS April 20

The public is invited to meet Robert Avossa, finalist for the Fulton School superintendent, during a forum on April 20 at Centennial High School in Roswell. The meeting is part of a 14-day public comment period held before the school board can formally tender the position to Avossa. During these forums, Avossa will share his educational philosophies and personal background as well as engage in a Q&A session.

A reception begins at 6:30 p.m. in the school auditorium; followed by the community meeting at 7 p.m. Centennial High School is located at 9310 Scott Road in Roswell.

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Fulton School System continues move towards charter system status by 2013

Public meetings draw nearly 1,000 participants, comments

BY CANDY WAYLOCK

Five Town Hall meetings and thousands of comments later, members of the Fulton County Board of Education are working their way through a process which may lead to becoming the largest charter school system in Georgia.

Nearly 1,000 people, including staff, parents and community members turned out for a series of meetings last month to submit their vision of the “ideal school.” Specifically, school leaders were looking for input on curriculum, instruction, school culture, funding, hiring of teachers and administrators, and monitoring results and accountability. This input will be used to develop the charter school proposal.

The comments have been compiled onto more than 70 pages of notes, detailing down to the numbers how parents “voted” on each suggestion. The information gathered from the meetings and web site forum will be summarized by staff, then presented to the Fulton County Board of Education next month, noted school officials.

“Our next steps [include] meeting with student focus groups in December at eight schools, and conducting Facebook discussions with recent Fulton graduates,” explained Allison Toller, director of communications for Fulton Schools.

She added it is still too early in the process to determine the direction for Fulton Schools in the future. The board could make the decision to continue on the present timeline and begin drafting a charter proposal; take another year to study charter system status; or choose not to go forward with the charter system idea.

“In January, the board will reflect on all of the input, comments, and questions they received through the community engagement phase of this process as well as make a decision on what to do next,” said Toller. “As to which way they’re leaning—it’s still too early to tell.”

Parents at the public meeting were particularly interested in exactly how becoming a charter school system would impact the classroom, and what the changes could bring.

“I can’t say that I was for or against the charter idea before I attended the meetings, but I know that I will support the Charter System if it moves forward,” said Catherine Johnston of Alpharetta, who has three children in the Fulton School System.

She said the presentation on the differences between the current system and a charter system was especially valuable.

“I definitely see value in becoming a Charter District to [provide] the flexibility to instruct our children in the way that makes sense for each school,” said Johnston. “Since our county is so large, the needs of each area vary. It’s time for [Fulton Schools] and Georgia to address those issues and let communities have more say in what works for them.”

Should the school board opt to end the charter system discussion, it faces another crossroads. Georgia is mandating all state school systems, by 2013, either convert to charter system; an IE2 (Investing in Education Excellence) system; or continue unchanged.

Fulton had considered, and rejected for the most part, a move to IE2 which they felt would limit broad flexibility.  While Forsyth and Gwinnett school systems opted for IE2 status, Fulton decided last year it was not in their best interest to do the same.

Keeping the school system “status quo,” and subjecting it to the whims and follies of the political system with little local control or input, seemed the least appealing of the three options.

Drafting a charter petition

If satisfied the public supports a move to charter status, the system will begin developing the charter petition, which contains the road map for Fulton Schools and how it proposes to operate under a charter system.

As a charter system, Fulton Schools would enter into a five-year contract with the state that defines the operational and instructional practices in place at each school in the system. At the local school level, these functions would be selected by a governing board, however overall control and management would remain with the Fulton Board of Education. Local school advisory councils (LSAC) may still be in place, providing advisement and guidance.

In exchange for increased flexibility, the charter system must demonstrate improved performance over the length of the contract.

Some areas of charter system flexibility that must be addressed in  the petition, is how Fulton plans to make personnel decisions, including hiring school principals and teachers; financial decisions; curriculum and instructional methods; resource allocation at the school level; and establishing and monitoring the achievement of school improvement goals.

The flexibility would be extended to each school, meaning local schools could define their own goals and methods, as long as they were consistent with the system charter and supported higher achievement.

Items that could not be “waived” under a charter include a host of federal and state regulations, including provision of the No Child Left Behind Law, Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), state assessments such as the CRCT and End of Course tests, civil rights laws, fair labor standards, and program requirements for students with special educational needs.

Time line

Once the proposed charter petition is developed by Fulton Schools, another round of public hearings will be held this spring to gather input on the charter petition. It must be submitted to the state Board of Education (GBOE) for final approval by Nov. 1, 2011. The state board will make its decision by March 2012.

The Fulton County School System could begin the 2012-2013 school year as the largest charter school system in the state, and one of the largest in the nation–joining Boston, Charlotte and Las Vegas school districts in charter status.

Fulton Schools currently has six conversion charter schools and eight start-up charter schools, with interest growing each year to establish additional charters. The start-up charter schools would remain separate, operating under the provisions of their own charters; however the conversion charters could move to join the Fulton charter.