I. Concept
Paper for Grant Park Neighborhood School Inc.
Why we want to establish a charter public school
This document outlines the aspirations of a committed and diverse group
of families to establish an extraordinary public school in Atlanta's Grant
Park neighborhood. Our goals are to revive the community and parental involvement
which is at the heart of the highest traditions of public education; to develop
a truly diverse neighborhood school that is open and welcoming to all; and
to create a school which leverages its parental and community involvement
to create an environment of the highest academic achievement.
For
decades, the public educational options for children of this historic inner
city neighborhood sitting in the shadows of downtown Atlanta and Turner Field
have been inadequate. Hundreds of families disappeared from our community,
first in a cynical wave of "white flight." While individual teachers
and educators worked valiantly and admirably to serve children, the nearly
100-year-old Slaton Elementary School currently serving much of the
neighborhood was severely neglected both by the city school system and the
community which should have come to its aid. The building was allowed to fall
into a state of serious disrepair. The student population of Grant Park was
illogically carved into attendance zones which sent them to five different
Southeast Atlanta elementary schools. Frustrated and confused by the
bureaucracy and low academic achievement, many families obtained transfers for
their children to attend schools in other parts of the city. Still other
families, black and white, simply abandoned the public schools altogether. The urgent needs of the remaining, often lower-income,
children often went unmet.
In recent years, Grant Park has seen a dramatic revival of community
spirit. It is emerging as one of Atlanta's most energetic and eclectic neighborhoods,
made up of people who have chosen to live in a place that is racially and
economically diverse. The neighborhood also has experienced a largely-unnoticed
boom in the number of families with young children. The Grant Park Parent
Network ("GPPN"), a non-political organization of parents who live
within Grant Park, was formed in the Spring of 1997 to work toward making
the neighborhood an ideal place to raise children. Helping create an ideal
learning environment for young children is the backbone of that effort. In
1998, the network incorporated as a non-profit 501(c)3 organization to actively
pursue that effort. Today, the network has grown to include families with
a total of nearly 200 children, and new parents are added almost every week.
We believe that for public education to flourish in our neighborhood,
the families of Grant Park must pull together behind a single school and let
the children of our neighborhood, in every race, creed and background know
one another and learn from one another. To that end, we seek to open the Grant
Park Neighborhood School, a public elementary charter school, in the fall
of 2000. Its attendance zone will be the ethnically and economically diverse
area defined by the city's official boundaries for Grant Park.
Our broad vision is that all the children of our community, lower-income
and middle-class, African-American and white, Asian and Hispanic, will have
the option to attend a challenging, nurturing, and egalitarian school - freed
from the budget and bureaucracy-driven constraints which sometimes stifle
leadership and excellence in traditional schools.
The Grant Park Neighborhood School will be a small, secure haven in
the city guided by a governing board composed of closely involved parents,
educators and community leaders. The
school will rekindle the larger community's commitment to all its children,
begin restoring confidence in the traditions of public education and reintroduce
families to public schools. Under a curriculum plan tailored to Grant Park's unique student
population and community institutions, our school's teachers and administrators
will be empowered to fully use their skills and to act as complete partners
in creating a warm vibrant learning environment.
While
preserving all that is best about traditional public schools -- doors open to
children of all races and creed, strong community support and inclusive values
-- the school would operate under an independent charter approved by the
Atlanta School Board and the Georgia Board of Education. We envision a charter and curriculum,
developed in consultation with Atlanta Public Schools, the Georgia Department
of Education and education experts from local universities and colleges, which
will establish a school built around small classes, an innovative calendar and
hours of operation, a creative curriculum, highly motivated teachers, intimate
parental involvement, and close ties to community institutions such as Zoo
Atlanta. In every area, the overarching goals will be to maximize the academic
performance of all students while deeply involving parents, teachers and the
community in the lives of children. Academic achievement will soar.
The school would be governed by its own independent board of trustees
made up of parents and educators, who will be closely accountable to the school's
charter and parent community. The board will decide how to allocate school
funds, guide the leadership of the school, and monitor the school's compliance
with a clearly articulated set of goals for high academic achievement.
The
Grant Park Parent Network will act as a supporting organization, soliciting
parental involvement, raising funds, hosting community activities and
maintaining broad neighborhood enthusiasm. The aim is to create an environment
for children, teachers and engaged parents which is exempt from certain
limiting state and local rules, regulations, policies and procedures, so that
the school and its community are free to innovate.
Our vision for educating students
The students of the Grant Park Neighborhood
School will be encouraged to share the same motivated, independent spirit
on which this community saved its homes and banded together against crime
and indifference. They would learn to appreciate, restore and preserve the
ecology and grace of our Frederick Law Olmstead-designed park. Through relationships
with neighborhood institutions such as Zoo Atlanta and the Grant Park Conservancy,
the school’s children would learn an appreciation for the world's animal
life and their own responsibility to be its stewards.
The development of each student at the Grant Park Neighborhood School
will be closely monitored, with teachers and administrators in frequent contact
with parents. Every classroom and office will be equipped with technology,
and teachers will be equipped to use e-mail and the Internet as well as more
traditional means to update parents on each child's performance, the school's
ongoing activities, assignments and special opportunities.
The teachers and administrators also will be required to report frequently
to the school's governing board and auditors. Specific achievement and development
goals will be set, and the school's staff and leadership will be held closely
accountable for the attainment of those goals. At the same time, our school
and its parent leadership will recognize the unique skills and experience
of the school's educators. So long as goals are being achieved, the administrator
and teachers will be empowered to implement the curriculum, programs and policies
as their best judgment dictates. Our goal is that teachers will be enthusiastic
leaders of their classrooms and feel it is a privilege to be a part of the
Grant Park Neighborhood School, sentiments that will encourage the same approach
toward learning by the students.
Similarly,
the Grant Part Parent Network will be a dynamic promoter of the school,
relaying to the community by similar means the needs and accomplishments of our
students. Through our relationships with higher educational institutions, the
media, local business, major corporations and our neighbors, we will pursue
ongoing fundraising and public relations campaigns aimed at equipping the
school superbly, rewarding the staff for exceptional achievement and generating
a broad awareness in the community of the important role of public education in
our neighborhood and city.
Physically, the Grant Park Neighborhood School will be an idyllic sanctuary
at the city's center. Regardless of its actual location, which is yet to be
determined, the grounds will be landscaped to be a calm, inviting home for
learning. Individual classes, with the help of parents and supporters, will
plant and tend small gardens on the grounds. Children will learn about the
environment from the flora around them. Visually, the school will be a bright
cheerful place with large windows and natural light cascading into classrooms.
The artwork of teachers and students and bright bulletin boards will line
the hallways. Neighborhood craftsmen and parents will donate substantial amounts
of time for the upkeep and improvement of the school.
Among the school's highest aims will be not only to educate the children
but to teach them a set of values and a deep sense of the principles of equality
and citizenship which lie at the heart of our democracy. The children will
learn to be responsible for their own actions and of their responsibility
to one another. Community service, even exhibited in small ways, will be strongly
encouraged, through visits to our neighborhood senior citizens' centers and
projects in the park and at the zoo.
Resources to be utilized in developing an educational
plan
During the two years that the Grant
Park Parent Network has explored school issues, it has established
relationships with a host of educators, charter school principals and parents
and professionals with expertise in developing an educational plan. In early 1999, the network formed a
sub-committee to begin drafting a charter for the Grant Park Neighborhood
School. It is currently reviewing the charters of several existing charter
schools and the standard operating guidelines for public schools in Atlanta and
Georgia.
The
sub-committee also has begun interviewing professional education consultants to
assist in a series of town hall meetings and the actual composition of the
charter. The committee also will seek input and assistance from educators at
local institutions of higher education, including Georgia State University and
the Atlanta University Center.
Representatives of the network have also begun discussing its plans with
senior staff members of Atlanta Public Schools, in hopes of receiving guidance
and advice. The network also has maintained an ongoing dialogue with charter
school experts at the Georgia Department of Education.
What we see as the benefits of a charter school
For more than a year, the school committee of the Grant Park Parents
Network has been studying ways to promote school improvements in its neighborhood,
as well as the desires of parents in the community. Its members solicited input from parents, met with Atlanta
school officials, visited numerous schools, gathered research and attended
PTA, NPU and board meetings. They
closely examined the benefits and disadvantages of seeking a charter school,
versus other innovative efforts attempted by Atlanta Public Schools in the
past, such as site-based management or reconstitution of an existing school.
The committee also studied the Atlanta Public Schools' current plans to consolidate
Grant Park’s aging Slaton Elementary School and Ormewood Park's Anne
E. West Elementary School into a planned new facility in the eastern area
of the neighborhood.
While
the committee found scores of educators and parents dedicated to providing
quality education, its members became convinced that a neighborhood charter
school is the way most likely to bring large numbers of Grant Park families to
public education in an environment of high academic achievement.
The most powerful advantage of the charter school concept is that it
will operate independently of the larger public school bureaucracy and the
regulations which govern it. This
is important because so many Grant Park parents have lost faith in the ability
of traditional inner city public schools to provide secure, academically superior
educational opportunities for their children. Particularly in the wake of
recent tragedies across the nation, some parents have express concerns about
the safety and learning environment of traditional schools. State funding
formulas have resulted in classes that are too large to allow the kind of
nurturing environment needed in an exemplary elementary school. Other parents have expressed frustration
in their dealings with the school system, on matters ranging from inconsistent
bus routes to unclear administrative procedures. For almost all parents, the
Atlanta Public School's system of haphazardly-followed attendance zones is
confusing and discouraging. To win these families back to public education, they must be
offered a school in which parents tangibly feel a clear sense of collective
input and control. By allowing
parents to take the lead in establishing a school that limits class size,
follows clear governing procedures, and is directly accountable to specific
academic goals, we believe a charter school is the most likely route to winning
Grant Park parents and children back to public education.
We
believe that in the charter school environment, energized and involved parents
will converge with dedicated and inspired educators in a way that will
dramatically benefit children. The strongest students will continue to be
challenged, even as those with the greatest needs receive the focused attention
and resources that will enable them to excel academically.
Another
important reasoning behind forming the Grant Park Neighborhood School is
logistical. The new school currently planned by APS will not be large enough to
accommodate the rapidly growing population of children of the two
neighborhoods. The system has undertaken little or no research to determine the
actual pupil population or needs of the area, and the system has been unable to
establish what the attendance zone of the new school will be. Independent
demographic research performed for the parent network indicates that a minimum
of approximately 530 children of elementary school age currently live in Grant
Park. Within a few years, that
number will have increased to more than 650, studies show. Another 300 children
of that age currently attend Anne E. West. As a result, the West-Slaton school, planned for 537
students, is at great risk of being seriously overcrowded and understaffed from
its opening day.
Moreover,
the West-Slaton facility is not scheduled to open before 2001 or later. Given
the years of delay which have already been experienced, many of the families
with toddlers currently living in the neighborhood may have already given up by
then. The opportunity to reconnect
them to public education will have been lost.
In
addition to all of that, our plans for the Grant Park Neighborhood School
represent a tremendous opportunity for both Atlanta as a city and Atlanta's
public school leaders. A dramatic moment is at hand in Atlanta's intown
neighborhoods; thousands of families, black and white, who in past years might
have fled the city as their children reached school age, today want instead to
raise their children in a rich, racially-diverse and urban environment. A key component of leveraging that
enthusiasm will be for families to find schools in which they have a deep sense
of involvement, where their input is clearly welcome, and where they are
convinced their children will be safe and well-taught. If Atlanta Public
Schools can welcome the creativity and innovation offered by these new
participants in the city's schools, all the children of the city will benefit.
The success of the Grant Park Neighborhood School would palpably benefit
Atlanta and its public schools. First,
hundreds of middle class parents and students long thought lost to the city's
public schools will be delivered back to public education. The school system will benefit from the
resulting diversity and vested interests of neighborhood parents who want
to see their community, as well as their children prosper. Our school will also build on the accomplishments
and experiences of families who stayed with public schools and have worked
tirelessly to make them stronger. As children matriculate through the Grant Park Neighborhood
School and into middle school, Atlanta Public Schools can demonstrate its
expanding ability to offer safe and academically superior schools to all citizens,
both those enrolled in traditional elementary, middle and high schools as
well as those attending charter schools such as the one in Grant Park.
Finally,
the experience of the Grant Park Neighborhood School could serve as a model for
others seeking to improve public education in Atlanta. This school will demonstrate the value
of restoring meaningful attendance zones, so that the energy and goodwill of a
neighborhood can be marshaled behind a community school. On many fronts, our successes will
hopefully map the way for other charter schools. The very presence of our school, as a dynamic and innovative
new player in the city's educational offerings, will hopefully stimulate
creativity and inspiration at traditional public schools intown.
Steps already taken to develop a charter
From
the beginning of this effort in 1997, the Grant Park Parent Network has worked
to forge a common community vision for the ideal public school in the
neighborhood. That process has involved both working to build broad support for
education initiatives, as well as exploring how parents and others in the
community believe their school should operate. The broad outlines of the school
which have emerged from that process will be at the heart of our charter.
The
effort began in January 1997, members of the parent network met with our
Atlanta Public School board representative, Ms. Brenda Muhammad. In the weeks
that followed, parents began meeting regularly to consider school options, met
with the principal of Slaton Elementary and discussed the charter concept at a
meeting of the Slaton PTA.
In
March 1997, a neighborhood meeting was held at which information about charter
schools was disseminated and several dozen parents discussed their vision of a
school for the community. The
following May, another neighborhood meeting was held at which Ms. Muhammad
talked with parents about their current concerns and aspirations for a new
school.
In the year that followed, representatives of the parent network pursued
a broad based campaign to become informed about education issues in the neighborhood,
make contacts within the Atlanta Public Schools, galvanize interest among
area parents and to learn what the parents' vision for a new school would
include. Members attended virtually every school board and board committee
meeting, met directly with school administrators and principals, school board
members, interviewed charter school and traditional school principals and
visited the campuses of public and private schools.
In July 1998, the group
published its findings and conclusions to that date in the Porch Press, a
monthly newspaper circulated to all households in Grant Park and two adjoining
neighborhoods. The group's recommendation was that parents pursue a charter
school.
Three
months later, the Grant Park Neighborhood Association endorsed the concept of a
charter school and formed a joint ad hoc committee to assist in developing the
charter and implementing it. Later, the association voted to give the parent
network $2,500 to assist in preparation of a charter and the formal creation of
a non-profit organization.
Over
the next five months, the group devoted much of its energy to developing a
basic vision for the school, which was encapsulated in the network’s
“Concept Document.” In February 1999, the concept document was
circulated to community leaders, including the Rev. Timothy McDonald, head of
Concerned Black Clergy, school board members Ms. Muhammad, Aaron Watson and
Norman Johnson, local and state elected officials, state Department of
Education officials, and the Georgia Partnership for Education Excellence. In addition, an executive summary was
distributed to 40 business owners and other leaders in the community.
In March 1999, a shorter summary document with contact information,
prepared in English and Spanish, was distributed to all 2,500 households in
Grant Park. The following month, teams of parent network members went door-to-door
through lower-income areas of the neighborhood, talking or distributing information
directly to approximately 500 families about plans for the schools, asking
for their input and leaving information about how to become involved. In April 1999, the parent network newsletter,
mailed directly to 150 families and distributed in large quantities through
area businesses, included an update of the school committee's efforts and
contact information for interested parents.
How we will complete the charter writing process
How parents or guardians of prospective students will be
involved in developing the charter
Through
our steady efforts thus far, we believe that plans for the Grant Park
Neighborhood School are already firmly grounded in a basic grassroots effort,
in which virtually every member of the community has been directly asked to
participate. We received an overwhelmingly positive response.
The next, more formal phase of writing the charter will begin with
a similarly broad community based effort. Two “brain-storming”
sessions are scheduled for May and June of 1999, to which every family in
Grant Park has been invited. An outside consultant will facilitate open discussions
concerning the school's size, management, location, curriculum, staffing,
community governance, funding and other issues.
Subsequent
to those meetings, the consultant will work with a subcommittee made up of
diverse parents and community leaders with backgrounds in education, business,
marketing, social work and child development to write the formal charter. Over
the summer and early fall, the group will draft the proposed charter, while
simultaneously meeting with Atlanta Public School administrators and board
members.
This
process will include extensive review of existing charters and the
effectiveness of their schools, as well as private and public school business
plans and curriculum. The committee will also work closely with local entities
such as the Grant Park Conservancy and Zoo Atlanta to secure their commitment
to support the school.
The
charter petition will systematically address all the issues required by State
of Georgia and Atlanta Public Schools, including but not limited to, the
educational program, the mission and vision of the school, the age and grades
of the school population, number of students, enrollment process, attendance,
discipline, retention and dismissal policies, instructional methods, staffing,
calendar, transportation, food services, special populations, personnel
policies, and financial policies and procedures.
An
initial draft will be completed by December 1999 and will be distributed widely
in the Grant Park community for further review and revisions. A final charter
will be submitted to Atlanta Public Schools by January 2000.
How we will develop a business plan
What sources will be utilized
Our
business plan is designed with three critical phases: charter development,
school startup, and the first five years of operation.
As
a group of individual private citizens, we have deliberately worked to minimize
our expenses during the first, and still ongoing, phase. At minimal costs, the
group incorporated itself as a non-profit corporation, established accounts
with a neighborhood credit union, and secured pro bono legal and accounting
services. Through fundraisers and donations, the group has raised funds
sufficient to finance its operations and community outreach efforts thus far.
The Grant Park Neighborhood School Inc. made its first annual tax filing in a
timely manner earlier this year.
As we approach the final portion of the charter development phase,
we have initiated a more formal process to develop a business plan. It is
led by a neighborhood parent with significant professional experience in the
creation and analysis of financing and business plan proposals. Also available
to the effort are two certified public accountants and a senior executive
in one of Atlanta's major banks, all of whom are parents in the neighborhood.
We will also rely heavily on Atlanta Public Schools officials, our outside
consultant and other professional educators for assistance in drafting the
portion of our business plan specific to the hiring and compensation of teachers
and staff, as well as other areas of specific educational and instructional
requirements.
The
business plan will cover entirely the nuts and bolts of planning, opening and
operating the school; the costs of each element of the operation and funding
sources, in addition to the per-student funding received from Atlanta Public
Schools. The business plan will cover all aspects of the school operation
included in the charter itself, such as, but not limited to, staff salaries,
building acquisition and renovation, utilities, food service, transportation,
professional fees, maintenance, supplies, personnel benefits, etc.
The
business plan for the startup and operational phases of the school will be
developed on a parallel track to the completion of the charter document. At the
time the charter is submitted to the Atlanta Public Schools, a complete plan
will be in place.
Several
efforts critical to that process are underway. A subcommittee is identifying
and evaluating possible sites for the school, including a formal analysis of
the physical needs and renovation costs of the two school structures within the
neighborhood which will no longer be in use as schools as of 2001. Separately,
the committee is actively seeking corporate partnerships through businesses
based in our area, other civic-minded Atlanta corporations and through the
Atlanta Chamber of Commerce.
Evidence of support from the Atlanta Board of Education
As
discussed elsewhere in this application, members of the Atlanta Board of
Education, as well as system officials, have been actively informed of or
involved in the Grant Park charter school process from its inception. Moreover,
the system has indicated a basic openness to the charter concept by issuing
detailed guidelines to be followed by any charter applicant.
The board also has repeatedly discussed two specific charter school
initiatives already under proposed in Atlanta, and several members have publicly
indicated support for the charter concept. On May 3, 1999, the board voted
to approve a charter for an elementary school in Atlanta's East Lake community.
In
addition, our board representative, Ms. Brenda Muhammad has indicated her
personal support for our plans. We have also received encouragement to move
forward with our plans from two other current board members.
Furthermore, we have received clear signals of broad political support
from other influential areas. A
unanimous vote of support for the group's goals and for a charter school was
received from the community during the October 1998 meeting of the Grant Park
Neighborhood Association. Vern McCarty, our city councilman, and other neighborhood
association and NPU leaders have indicated their support for such a school.
We
continue to actively solicit input and support from members of the school board
and senior system staff members. We are confident that we have identified the
key concerns of a majority of the board, that we continue to actively address
those suggestions and issues, and that our petition will be positively
received.
How we will use the $5,000 planning grant
In
keeping with our pattern of maximizing all of our financial resources, our
group will devote the $5,000 state grant to key areas critical to the
development and success of our petition. We expect to use the funds primarily
as a portion of funding for an education consultant to assist with developing
the charter and for formal physical needs assessments of potential school
sites. As the budget permits, we will also devote funds to a more precise
demographic study of our potential student population, continued outreach
efforts to our community of parents and supporters, and additional research on
best-in-classes practices at existing schools.
II. Timeline for Grant Park
Neighborhood School Inc.:
March, 1999: Grant Park
Neighborhood School Inc. forms charter-writing subcommittee
April-May, 1999: Locate, interview
and select Charter Consultant.
May - June, 1999: Town hall
meetings/Parent and neighborhood input solicited
June - August, 1999: Charter draft
developed, completed
Sept - Oct, 1999: Community review
of Charter draft
Nov - Dec, 1999: Charter finalized
Jan, 2000: Charter submitted to
local school board
III. Budget for the
Grant
Park Neighborhood School planning grant
Income:
Department of Education grant: $5,000
Expenditures:
Formal Assessments of physical
needs at Slaton
Elementary and Art's Exchange
buildings; inspections
will determine cost and feasibility
of renovating: (1,000)
Education Consultant: Will
facilitate community wide
meetings (brainstorming sessions);
provide input in the
development of the charter; assist
with writing process: (2,500)
Demographic study on the pupil
populations
of Grant Park and Ormewood Park to determine
specific needs issues, growth in
student numbers: (500)
Outreach: Funds to cover cost of
distributing information
to neighborhood on progress of
charter - Newsletter,
Periodic inserts in Porch Press,
Supplies for Community
meetings, etc.: (500)
Research/Information gathering, including, if needed,
travel to visit existing charter schools:
(500)