Sense of Security Restored in APS With Help From Erroll Davis

As anybody who has been following the Atlanta Public Schools accreditation probation should know, SACS restored APS’ accreditation status on Tuesday. According to the Atlanta Board of Education Chair Brenda J. Muhammad, the board has completed four out of the six tasks assigned by SACS. They have until Sept. 30, 2012, to complete the last two.

As an APS student at North Atlanta High School, I was very concerned with the whole situation regarding the system's accreditation. My parents and I were even starting to think about where to go in case the situation ended badly. Last year, I was not very confident that APS was going to keep its status as an accredited school system. My opinion on the whole case has changed however, and it is mostly due to the new Superintendent Erroll Davis.

Last week, Davis attended a community meeting at North Atlanta. I was scheduled to attend and interview Davis for a story that was supposed to run in The Northerner’s November issue, but I was stopped short due to a broken-down car in the middle of Northside Drive.

However, I was in charge of producing the audio clips of the meeting and the podcast for our website, so I ended up listening to the whole meeting. I was extremely impressed with Davis and his staff and how they orchestrated the meeting. I remember watching the news one day recently, and they were comparing Davis’ meeting style to former Superintendent Beverly Hall’s. Hall’s meeting required attendees to submit questions beforehand. Davis’ meeting was an open discussion, and for that I applaud him.

I believe that Davis has done a phenomenal job getting the board to work together and to make progress on the tasks given by SACS.

I am also very happy that APS is no longer on accreditation probation, because North Atlanta is a great school, and I was not very happy about the possible thought of the loss of accreditation.