Atlanta Public Schools needs a superintendent who can grow and retain a stronger education workforce

Atlanta Public Schools Needs A Superintendent Who Can Grow and Retain a Stronger Education Workforce

Metro Atlanta is a magnet for new jobs. Since early 2020, Atlanta has had one of the five largest percentage increases in the U.S. for new jobs. 

On the face of it, this is great news. However, the growth in population and housing prices that have coincided with this period of job creation suggests many of these jobs are not being filled by a local, high-skilled workforce. 

As Atlanta Public Schools continues to search for its next superintendent, it needs to look for a leader who can attract and retain talent. A strong educator workforce is integral to public schools being able to graduate skilled and educated young people who can immediately join the workforce or choose to further their learning in college or technical schools.

In certain aspects, APS is already heading in the right direction. The Atlanta Board of Education built a strong framework for change with the Goals and Guardrails policy it adopted in 2021. The Goals call for specific increases in vital areas such as literacy and numeracy, post-graduation preparedness and college and career readiness. The Guardrails prioritize needs assessments, equity and stakeholder engagement. At a high level, Atlanta Public Schools is a school district with a clear path forward. 

But the state of our schools and our city in the wake of the pandemic requires more. As Rose Scott, host of WABE’s A Closer Look, recently pointed out, income inequality in Atlanta is pervasive, with white families taking home a median household income of $83,722 compared to $28,105 for a Black family.

These persistent gaps in both education and opportunities for Black and Brown students, students with disabilities and learning differences and those experiencing poverty limit our students’ ability to succeed. In the next superintendent of APS, we need a leader who will galvanize progress, strengthen the educator pipeline by combating inequities and inspire other talented educators to work alongside them. 

We believe there are three characteristics the next superintendent needs in order to strengthen the education workforce. 

First, the next leader of APS needs to be more focused on student results than on school types. Parents are far more concerned with whether their child can read than whether their child attends a traditional neighborhood school or local public charter school, and the next superintendent should be, too. 

Having deep experience leading a district with a combination of traditional neighborhood schools, in-district charter schools, partnership schools and innovation schools would be a real plus for any candidate. By developing, managing and learning from highlights on a district-wide level, new ideas can break through, successful models can scale, and more families can access public schools that fit their child’s specific needs and support them in tapping into a life full of self-determination, opportunity and wellbeing as adults.

Our new leader must ensure that these diverse school models do more than create variety; they result in better outcomes for kids. This is especially important for the students whom our district has served poorly — Black, Latinx, economically disadvantaged and those with disabilities — so that zip code, identity and learning differences no longer determine destiny. 

Second, Atlanta Public Schools’ next superintendent must be a relationship builder, willing to check their ego and work closely with others to move the needle forward for children. They must be adept at building coalitions and authentically engaging in partnerships with families, educators, local communities, nonprofits and civic leaders. 

In order to overcome our current student achievement, teacher retention and staff and child wellbeing challenges, we need our next superintendent to work with school board members and staff to create new solutions for old problems. 

It is imperative that they be a savvy political operator in the best sense — one who knows how to build a team ready and willing to make the hard decisions needed to drive large-scale, systemic change to better serve students and our community as a whole.

Last but certainly not least, the next superintendent needs to embrace innovations that serve students better. In our experience, talented people are drawn to — even inspired by — leaders who are willing to shake up the status quo in order to get better outcomes. Consider the many schools across Georgia and the U.S. as a whole that are developing professional apprenticeship programs starting in high school. Such programs prepare students to enter the workforce and help fill the gaps in in-demand fields like construction and mechanical and repair technologies. 

The next superintendent must ask why things are done a certain way and — not hearing a compelling answer — confidently move to develop a more effective way. There should be no sacred cows, no change that is off-limits just because “that’s the way it’s always been done.” Just 34 percent of APS students are proficient or better in reading and writing, and only 30 percent meet that bar in math — this is no time to keep doing things the way they’ve always been done. 

This hire marks a historic opportunity. Atlanta stands as one of America’s most vibrant cities, but our children — especially our Black children — do not have wide-scale access to schools capable of delivering on their extraordinary promise, that prepare them for success beyond high school. Strengthening the workforce is a major imperative. 

Our city must become an educational and economic beacon. Please talk to your school board member today and let them know the time is now for a superintendent who will turn children’s potential into reality.