All North Atlanta Administrators Released, Reassigned
The foundation of North Atlanta High School has been shaken. Today after school, all Academy Leaders and Assistant Principal Melissa Gautreaux were reassigned across Atlanta Public Schools.
In a shocking letter released Friday at 5:30 pm, Interim Superintendent Erroll Davis announced the decision to replace all administrative staff with “transitional academy leaders and assistant principal.”
Published late on the Friday of a four-day weekend in an obscure corner of North Atlanta’s website, Davis’s letter states,
“Effective Friday, October 8, Interim Principal Mark MyGrant will complete his duties at NAHS. Instead, Principal Mentor Sid Baker (former principal of Sarah Smith Elementary School) will serve as the site leader and act as the lead transition agent for Dr. Taylor. Our principal mentor program is part of an improved process for introducing new school leaders to schools, utilizing a site-specific transition program. While Dr. Taylor will immediately begin transitioning as the new principal of NAHS, his official start date is Monday, October 29.
As part of a total leadership transition at NAHS, we have installed eight transition academy leaders and a transition assistant principal.
- Interim Fine Arts Director Raymond Veon and Principal Mentor Cheryl Twyman will serve as the transition academy leaders for the Center of the Arts.
- Federal Grants Specialist Donna McBride and Career and College Readiness Coodinator Kenya Gilliard will serve as the transition academy leaders for the Center for International Business and Entrepreneurship.
- Education Specialist LaDonna Jones and Gifted and Talented Coordinator Gyimah Whitaker will serve as the transition academy leaders for the Center for International Studies.
- World Language Coordinator Anita Lawrence and Principal Mentor Amy Alderman (former principal of Garden Hills Elementary School) will serve as the transition academy leaders for the Center for Broadcasting and Journalism.
- Principal Coach Dr. Gregory Middleton will serve as the transition assistant principal.”
North Atlanta Parent Council Member Andrea Shelton comments on the situation, “I had no idea,” she says, “We were completely caught off guard. The way the news and the letter was handled is so cowardly. It makes me question Mr. Davis’s motive.”
UPDATES:
APS’ Letter can be found here:
Atlanta Public Schools ResponseInterim Principal Mark Mygrant gave an account of what happened in a telephone interview, summarized in Maureen Downey’s AJC blog here.
Yeah this is bull. How can they just relocate an entire staff like that? Something needs to be done. This is not right.
Where was Ms. Gautreaux re-assigned to?
It appears like Maynard Jackson right now, but that information is not verified.
While the situation is shocking and we believe unfair, we must support the new staff with everything we have. Mr. Davis is running a business of educating children the best he knows how. APS has been shaken up and now it’s our turn. It’s time to pull up our boots and deal positively with what we have going forward.
you are right we must all pull up our boots and go forward
Hmm…even if this was the right decision, which I doubt, the way they reassigned the admins withiut even a heads up was pretty rude.
A petition has been started as a request to re-instate the administrative team to North Atlanta.
http://www.change.org/petitions/atlanta-public-schools-please-return-nahs-administrative-team-to-their-positions-at-nahs