Although he’s not officially on the job, Atlanta’s sole finalist for superintendent has already started working to earn the community’s trust.
The school board announced last week it chose Bryan Johnson, the former superintendent of Hamilton County Schools in Tennessee, to lead the district. By law, board members have to hold a two-week vetting period after choosing a finalist before taking a vote. Atlanta is taking three weeks. During that time, officials have scheduled six community meetings for Johnson. The first two took place at Midtown High School on Monday evening and The New Schools at Carver on Tuesday.
When asked Monday night what attracted him to Atlanta Public Schools and how that influenced his personal goals and visions for the district, Johnson repeated his belief that Atlanta is “poised and positioned to be the best urban school district in the country.”
“As a former superintendent, I wake up every single morning thinking about how we do that,” Johnson said. “When I look at the combination of resources that exist, the focus of the board, the investments that have been made ... there is no reason why this district shouldn’t be in that situation.”
Credit: Seeger Gray / Seeger.Gray@ajc.co
Credit: Seeger Gray / Seeger.Gray@ajc.co
Johnson said he plans to garner a lot of feedback during his first 100 days in office. He pledged to listen and learn as much as possible to grasp the issues the district faces.
“The more you understand what the challenges are, the more informed and equipped you are to make decisions and so we want to make the right decisions,” he said.
Some of the district’s challenges include test scores that haven’t yet reached pre-pandemic levels, declining enrollment and chronic absenteeism. Johnson said addressing lagging attendance rates in some parts of the district would be a priority.
“We’ve got to figure out how to go out and get those students because those students need to be in school, and whatever ‘go out and get them’ looks like — knocking on doors, doing specific types of strategies in partnership with community members — we need our children in school,” he said.
On Monday night, parents urged Johnson to focus on equity in resources across schools and regions of the district, streamline communication and improve students’ experiences in school to increase attendance. On Tuesday, the conversation also included concerns about equity and questions about accountability for administrators. Johnson said he’ll eventually make changes to the central office.
“(There’s) more than $2 billion in this budget,” he said. “There are less than 50,000 students. There’s more than $22,000 spent per student in Atlanta Public Schools. The outcomes are not matching (the money spent).”
Regarding equitable distribution of resources, Johnson said he wants to avoid what he called a “peanut butter spread” approach, where everyone gets the same thing.
“When I (worked) in transportation logistics, we had several hubs across the country,” Johnson said. “Certain hubs needed more resourcing because of a myriad of reasons. We would not be able to spread the resources across all those transportation hubs in same way.”
The same is true for schools, he said.
Credit: Seeger Gray / Seeger.Gray@ajc.co
Credit: Seeger Gray / Seeger.Gray@ajc.co
When asked about how he would engage with principals, Johnson said they are some of the most important hires because they establish a school’s culture. He emphasized the importance of mid-year performance reviews for principals so they can receive feedback and make changes, if needed, before the school year ends.
“Let me say, every principal will have my cell phone number,” he said. “I’m just a little different that way.”
If you go
Here’s the remaining schedule of town hall meetings for Atlanta parents to meet Bryan Johnson. Each meeting begins at 6 p.m. The meetings can also be viewed virtually at tinyurl.com/apsboetv
June 27 - Benjamin E. Mays High School, 3450 Benjamin E. Mays Drive SW
July 2 - Willis A. Sutton Middle School, 2875 Northside Drive NW
July 3 - Daniel M. Therrell High School, 3099 Panther Trail SW
July 5 - Booker T. Washington High School, 45 Whitehouse Drive SW
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