"Step Up" Group Shifts to Long-Term Effort to Support Public Schools

The Step Up or Step Down group announced Monday that it will shift to long-term support of public education through formation of a new organization, "Step Up for Public Schools."

The new group will be represnt a "sustainable effort to foster advocacy, community engagement and innovation in support of public education," the group said in an announcement.

Julie Davis Salisbury, a Buckhead parent and a member of the group’s 12-member organizing team, said in a statement, “as community members, parents and civic leaders, the responsibility rests in our collective hands to continuously improve public education and its service to our children, our neighborhoods and the economic future of our nation.

"This sense of responsibility is motivated by both moral and economic concerns, given that public education in general serves a greater percentage of children in poverty than do private institutions," Salisbury said.

The group after the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and its parent group, AdvancED, . The group monitored the school board's eventually successful efforts to end the probation.

The new group's shift in course comes as the APS and Atlanta School Board make long-term decisions affecting public schools after the passage last week of SPLOST IV. Under the continuation of the 1-cent sales tax, a new elementary school is planned for Midtown, along with renovations of neighboring schools.

The parent group "calls for the broader community of public education stakeholders to continue pushing for a heightened sense of engagement and responsibility — to Step Up for Public Schools at the school board level, within district administrative offices, during legislative sessions, inside individual schools and throughout surrounding neighborhoods," the announcement said.
 
For information about the group, follow them on Twitter and Facebook or visit the new web page. Contact organizers directly at StepUpForPublicSchools@gmail.com.