JROTC cadets are put to the test during Summer Leadership Challenge

Lt. Col. Rooker, who leads our Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps (JROTC) program here at APS, is spent a week earlier this month with high school cadets during their annual summer camp at at Fort Benning! The JROTC Cadet Leadership Challenge is held near Columbus, GA at the Fort Benning Army base and gives our high school…

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E. Rivers Earns Project Achievement Award!

Earlier this spring I blogged about what a great time I had at our ribbon cutting for the newly renovated E. Rivers Elementary School. Mr. Jere Smith, director of Capital Improvements for the district, has informed me that Rivers has earned a “Project Achievement” award and recognition from the South Atlantic Chapter of the Construction…

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APS Reviews Grade-Changing Issues across District

When I became superintendent of Atlanta Public Schools a year ago, I knew that many parts of the school district were broken, some even before the CRCT cheating of 2009. I knew that we had a lot of work to do to change the culture of APS and restore its integrity and public image. A…

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Achieve Atlanta: $20M for APS scholarships! This kind of investment will change the lives of APS students and the landscape of Atlanta’s workforce forever.

I am thrilled about an incredible new partnership for our district with Achieve Atlanta, an organization spearheaded by The Joseph B. Whitehead Foundation and The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta.  This initiative will dramatically increase the number of APS students graduating from high school and then entering and successfully graduating from colleges and technical schools. …

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11 Year Old APS Student Edith Stubbs is Publishing Her First Children’s Book

We have so many talented students in our district, and I am proud to recognize this particular young lady for such a spectacular achievement. 11-year-old, Edith Stubbs “Speedy” McGruffin of Mary Lin Elementary School is publishing her first book “Amelia – The Crazy Jumping Hedgehog.” Edith says it was right before her 10th birthday and…

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Music and the Arts Remain at APS

Due to incorrect information circulating, there is a lot of confusion about the status of music and the arts in our schools. In fact, some are suggesting that Atlanta Public Schools simply eliminated all music and arts in one fell swoop. We have not. APS is one of the few districts in the state that…

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