Amendment 1 has been defeated. Now what?
ATLANTA – “Now that Georgia voters have spoken and the effort to take local control away from parents and communities has been defeated, it’s time to bring everyone to the table to look at approaches that are actually showing positive results in helping to address the challenges faced in under-performing schools and their communities,” said Dr. Sid Chapman, president of the Georgia Association of Educators (GAE), a major player in the coalition that helped to recently defeat Amendment 1.
“We want to thank all of the organizations and individuals who gave of their time, effort and donations to help ensure the public knew the complete background of Amendment 1 and why it wasn’t in the best interest of our children.”
“Our underperforming public schools are generally reflective of the communities of which they are a part,” he said. “We are talking about challenges that are systemic throughout these communities. What is going to be needed is an all-handson-deck community centered approach to address the underlying issues leading to the underperformance of the schoolchildren in these communities. Right now the community schools approach is the best we’ve seen that addresses the complex problems faced by these schools and communities.”
Chapman is speaking to the core issues of hunger, poverty, parental/guardian absence or neglect, and how they combine to negatively impact learning environments. “First, our educators who work in these struggling schools are to be commended for doing their best to help children who, on many days, come to school either hungry, neglected, and/or tired, all through no fault of their own. These entire school communities, from the principals and teachers to the bus drivers, custodians and food workers, are often working with very limited resources and providing what they can out of their own pockets to help these children just make it from day to day. So one can understand the challenges of not only getting these children to concentrate in classes, but whether their environment outside of school is
even conducive to understanding and completing homework and other school assignments.”
“This past summer GAE leaders visited many of the affected schools and communities and surveyed its members in these areas,” said Chapman. “We heard some initial ideas, but now we will be going back to try to fully get at the underlying issues affecting these students’ ability to succeed.”
Chapman notes that some of the ideas they’ve heard so far include expansion of pre-k, which is something the governor agrees with, along with wraparound services, as a start. “There will need to be many stakeholders in these conversations who also have potential remedies. There will need to be a community engagement process and the many factions of our coalition are committed to helping make that happen.”
Chapman stresses that his organization acknowledges Gov. Deal and his commitment to education and student
success especially in regards to underachieving schools. “No one disagrees that something must be done to help these schools,” he said, “but we -- and apparently the voters -- simply disagreed with the governor that the OSD model was the way. Georgia’s citizens served noticed that whatever remedy is put forth must be implemented locally, inclusive of students, parents and other stakeholders in these communities, for only then will success be comprehensive and sustainable.”