Delta pledges $500K to help south Atlanta schools

‘Some of greatest needs sit in our own backyard,’ airline’s president says.

Delta Air Lines said it is launching a partnership with Atlanta Public Schools focused on improving third-grade reading proficiency at two schools near the company’s headquarters.

State test results last year showed that about one-third of Atlanta students are on grade level in reading and writing.

Delta says it is donating money and books to go to Dobbs Elementary and Hutchinson Elementary, which are several miles from Delta’s corporate campus near Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.

“Some of the greatest needs that we have sit right here in our own backyard,” Delta’s president, Glen Hauenstein, said.

The company is donating $100,000 a year for five years to Atlanta Partners for Education, while another $312,200 is coming from contributions by officers and directors and a matching donation from Delta’s foundation. Employees also donated more than 1,200 books through a book drive.

Atlanta Public Schools superintendent Meria Carstarphen said the donation will go toward literacy “for two of our schools that need it the most.”

Delta’s TechOps maintenance staff are donating four bookcases they built from surplus aircraft parts.

Going forward, Delta employees will volunteer at the two elementary schools. The company also plans a coat drive in the fall.

CHAD RHYM PHOTOS / CHAD.RHYM@AJC.COM Delta and Atlanta Public Schools kick off their new partnership with a special event Thursday at the Delta Flight Museum. Volunteers from the audience carry books and classroom-cabinets donated from Delta into school buses.

Superintendent Meria Carstarphen speaks about the school district Thursday while addressing Delta Air Lines President Glen Hauenstein. Carstarphen says the partnership between APS and Delta will help improve literacy “for two of our schools that need...