The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Superintendent remains focused on her job
Outgoing Carstarphen: ‘I came to Atlanta on a mission of faith.’
Atlanta Public Schools Superintendent Meria Carstarphen says she remains committed to the job during her remaining months as the district’s leader.
Carstarphen spoke at a highly anticipated Atlanta Press Club lunch Thursday, more than a month after the school board announced it would not extend her contract when it expires June 30The superintendent said she intends to stay “as long as I can” so long as she’s able to work in an environment with “high expectations and rigor.”
She said the community wants to see APS continue to do good work and wants her to be accessible and visible.
“They want to know that APS is not going off the rails at a critical time,” Carstarphen said. “Hopefully, that gets us to the
appropriate transition point, if it comes to that. But, as far as I’m concerned, I think, that it’s imperative that we do the job that we were brought here to do.”
She said she hasn’t thought about what she’ll do after leaving the district.
“APS is incredibly demanding, and the staff and the kids really deserve my full attention,” she said.
In her remaining time as superintendent, she said she’ll concentrate on literacy initiatives, implementing strategic and school turnaround plans, and identifying places and programs where the district needs to devote more money or staff to solve inequities.
During her prepared remarks, she focused on vast discrepancies between Atlanta’s affluent and poor and stressed the need to make sure low-income students receive an education that gives them choices after they graduate. She said that’s a key to breaking the cycle of poverty.
Carstarphen described the challenge of coming to APS in 2014, in the wake of a cheating scandal that had left the district in disarray.
“I came to Atlanta on a mission of faith that rose above any adult agenda: A mission to help kids who were cheated, families who were deceived and taxpayers who were shortchanged,” she said.
She said the job was one of the biggest challenges in public education. The community once seemed to be “hardened” against APS.
Carstarphen pointed to signs of hope and improvements made during her tenure. Still, she acknowledged it will take more time to close academic gaps between white and black students and finish the work.
Now, she said, “that elusive, aspirational vision almost seems within our grasp.”
Five school board members, in interviews after the contract announcement, said they did not support extending Carstarphen’s contract. They cited a variety of reasons, ranging from a need for more financial and academic accountability to the desire to find a new leader to guide the district through its next five-year strategic plan, which begins in 2020.
The board has begun a search for a new chief and aims to have someone on the job by July 1.