Northside Opinions: Educators optimistic despite challenges Leaders of Northside schools weigh in on the coming year Home Edition

• Published in: The Atlanta journal-constitution (2001)
• Main Author: GAIL DEAN, JULIA BERNATH, KATHIE JOHNSTONE, NANCY ROCHE
• Format: Newspaper Article
• Language: English
• Published: Atlanta, Ga Atlanta Journal Constitution, LLC 07.08.2005
• ISSN: 1539-7459

We celebrate our achievements in Fulton County. We are extremely proud to report: Of the 10 schools in Georgia with the highest 2004 SAT scores, six were in Fulton. Every Fulton County elementary school made "Adequate Yearly Progress," a cornerstone of the No Child Left Behind Act. Newsweek magazine named six Fulton County high schools to its list of "Best High Schools in America." For the sixth consecutive year, Fulton is one of the Top 100 Places to Live for Quality Music Education. Student achievement is the primary concern for the school system. The number of Fulton schools making "Adequate Yearly Progress" in 2004-2005 shows a continuing upward trend in achievement. Ninety- two percent of Fulton schools made AYP, up from 88 percent in 2003- 2004 and 75 percent in 2002-2003. For the second straight year, all Fulton elementary schools made AYP. Here are a few highlights: We are very pleased that all 24 schools have made "Adequate Yearly Progress" for 2005. Forsyth was one of 55 school systems in Georgia that had every school in its district make AYP. We are thrilled with the gains our students and teachers have made because we are already hitting benchmarks projected for 2010 for the No Child Left Behind Act. We are excited that even with the rapid student growth, the Board of Education was able to roll back the millage rate from 15.50 to 14.708, thus passing along a tax reduction to Forsyth County residents. The millage rate continues to be the lowest in both metro Atlanta school systems and the fastest-growing systems in the state. The Forsyth County Academy, our first state charter nontraditional high school, will open Aug. 15 to support students who need additional assistance to graduate or have dropped out of school. The goal of the academy, which will be operated in partnership with Lanier Tech, will be to increase our graduation rate. We are converting all permanent classrooms to "21st Century Classrooms," consisting of Promethean Interactive Whiteboards and EIKI Multimedia Projectors. The goal of this investment, which is funded by the March 2005 bond referendum, is to boost student achievement even as rapid change impacts the system. Forsyth is the first school system in metro Atlanta and the second in the state to provide interactive whiteboards in all 1,500 classrooms. Using bond and SPLOST funding, numerous summer renovations have been completed in all schools, and we have bought land at the intersection of Nichols Road and Old Atlanta Road for our fifth high school. We have also begun construction of West Forsyth High School (opening 2007), as well as construction of Silver City Elementary, Little Mill Middle (our first two-story middle school), and Shiloh Point Elementary (also two-story), which will all open in 2006. We will open seven new schools in the next three years to accommodate an annual increase of 2,000 students. Because of this rapid growth, the first draft of new school zones for 2006-2007 will be available in late fall, at the earliest. When the draft is ready, every interested person will be able to give input and make suggestions for enhancing the plan. Once our process for redistricting has been determined, it'll be posted on our Web site, www.forsyth.k12.ga.us, and in newspapers.