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2019 – 2020 Back-to-School

Readiness Update

Atlanta Board of Education

August 5, 2019

Day One Back-to-School Readiness

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Purpose:To provide an update on the 2019 Day One APS process and

back-to-school readiness to ensure teaching and learning begins on

the first day of school

Roadmap of what you will see:Overview of the 2019 Day One APS Process

Administration's Takeaway:Understanding of the cross-functional efforts undertaken in preparation

for the first day of school

Highlights:

Attendance Campaign

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Day One. Be There. 6th year of campaign

Goals: 1. Continue to increase student attendance on the first day of school.2. Raise awareness about the importance of being present in school everyday.

Campaign Efforts: o Interviews & Day One promotions conducted with various TV, radio, online &

print media outlets including: CBS 46, Fox 5, WSB TV, 11 Alive, ATL 26, AJC, V-103, WAOK-AM, Northside Neighbor, WXIA-TV’s “Atlanta & Co.”

o Distributed yard signs to APS schools and select community centerso Advertised Bash & Day One with APS brand integration in 120 MARTA trains

for the month of July with an estimate of 3.2 million impressions

Day One, Monday, August 12, 2019

APS Back-to-School Bash

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Highlights:• Anticipating 10,000 students and families to attend the 5th

Annual Back-to-School Bash

• We will distribute more than 6,000 backpacks filled with school supplies for students

• Over 125 community partners, agencies and APS exhibitors will help disseminate information about services and programs for APS students and families

• Over 200 parents, community organizations, APS employees and APS high school students will generously donate their time to make the day possible

• Interviews & Back-to-School Bash promotions conducted with various TV, radio, online & print media outlets including: CBS 46, Fox 5, WSB TV, 11 Alive, ATL 26, AJC, V-103, WAOK-AM, Northside Neighbor, WXIA-TV’s “Atlanta & Co.”

Schools and Academics Office

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Teaching & Learning• Summer transition programming for rising Pre-K and Kindergarten

students was offered in schools across the city.• Two hundred eighty (280:150 K-3rd &130 4th-5th) participated in the

Orton-Gillingham (OG) professional learning• One hundred seventy (170) teachers participated in the K-5 Math

Capacity Building Institute• K-5 PLC teacher leaders and administrators participated in both

the ELA and Math PLC Pilot Summer Institutes• K-5 ELA clearinghouse with Board-approved curricular resources

was launched• Approximately 100 instructional coaches participated in an

inaugural three-day Instructional Coaches’ Institute• Approximately 300 new teachers to the district participated in our

five-day New Teacher Orientation• Orientation for 4 New Principals and 20 New Assistant Principals

via two-day intensive workshop

Schools and Academics Office• Student Services

– Planned 2nd Annual Consortium for school staff on health, attendance, behavior, discipline, and special education supports

– July/August principal training on discipline, behavior, crisis response, attendance, and homeless protocols & procedures

• Special Education– Coordinated regional class moves for:– (1) Autism class from Grady HS to Maynard Jackson HS,– (1) EBD class from Burgess-Peterson Academy to Benteen ES,– (1) Pre-K self-contained class from Woodson Park ES to Harper Archer ES &– (1) EBD class from Towns ES to Harper Archer ES

• Intervention & Support– Revision and Delivery of Student handbook/Student Code of Conduct– August orientation/training of all new teachers on discipline, behavior and MTSS

• Student Assignment & Records– Registered over 250 students during centralized summer registration– Coordinated transfer of records for rising 6th and 9th graders

• After School And Summer Programs– New Bridge Program Initiative, to offer rising 6th and 9th graders opportunities to experience their new

learning environments and to get a jumpstart prior to the Day 1– Enrolled 8,847 students in 49 PowerUp programs ranging from K-8 STEAM camps to high school fine arts

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Operations

• Clean schools ready to welcome students!

• School relocations for SPLOST capital improvement projects were completed for:

Newly Renovated Buildings:

Beecher Hills + Gideons+ TAGA + Harper-Archer ES + Hollis Innovation

Temporary Locations:

Hutchinson + Humphries

Internal Moves:

John Lewis Invictus

• HVAC Summer Projects @ Bolton + Brandon Primary + Scott + Slater + Whitefoord

• Flooring Replacement @ Brandon + M.A. Jones + Scott + Smith Primary

• Ongoing bus operator recruitment

Hired & trained 14 new bus operators

• Major Dates:

July 31st Bus routes

finalized

August 2nd Post cards

scheduled to be mailed

August 5th Routes

available on website

• Ongoing school bus maintenance

49 new buses are being delivered

• Transportation Call Center opens on Monday, July 29th

Staffed with 8 call center reps

• Districtwide Community Eligibility Provision (CEP)

FREE breakfast and lunch for ALL students enrolled in 77 APS & APS food-service charter schools

• New Foodservice Management Company (FSMC)

Southwest Foodservice Excellence (SFE)

• Day One Menu – It's a Whole New Ballgame!

• Eat for 5, Convenient, Affordable & Delicious

$5.00 adult and non-APS student lunch meals

• Started planning & training to create bike patrol

• Hired 6 new APSPD Officers to support charter/partner schools

• “Stop the Bleed” training for all APSPD Officers

• Upgraded camera servers @ 10 schools

• Safety inspected all Door Access + CCTV + Intercoms + Clocks + AEDs

• Initiated plan to deploy a new Video Management System district-wide

• Surveys completed to determine best use of GaDOE Security grant

TRANSPORTATION NUTRITION SAFETY + SECURITYFACILITIES

Accountability & Technology

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• Distributed 430 laptops to new teachers and staff during new teacher orientation. Completed email and network account setup for new teachers during ‘on-boarding’

• Expecting to distribute approximately 600 additional laptops before Day One

• Installed 160+ new LED panels and relocated or re-installed ~200 panels/boards across all schools

• Completed school closing / relocation of technology at Fain/Towns, Harper-Archer MS, Harper Archer ES, TAG, Beecher, Hollis, Hutchinson, Humphries and Gideons

• Purchased 8,200 iPads for 1st and 2nd grade Tablet-to-Read initiative

• Validated technology in over 3,200 classrooms, media centers & labs districtwide

• Preparing for re-distribution of 4,600 laptops for all 7th and 8th graders through the T-Mobile EmpowerED grant

• Configuring 3,000+ T-Mobile devices for rising 6th graders through EmpowerED grant

• Refreshed over 325 Xerox copiers to schools and administration buildings districtwide

• Fully staffed and trained 56 new and returningIT field support techs support all schools and administration buildings

• Student Information + Application team have offered 169 hours of Scheduling training for the 2019-2020 school year.

Finance

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• Successful financial management training and online training suite

• Upgraded system and completed year end roll-over for Student Activity Funds (SABO)

• Provided SABO access to all new principals, business managers, book-keepers and secretaries

• Successfully updated signature cards for SABO and provided P-Cards for all school principals and budget center managers

• Updated school readiness risk management forms and requirements

• New Hire employee benefit information located online in the Employee self Service portal

• Implemented warehouse online logistics request service for all district users

• Completed 100% of school test and records pickups and transfers

• Picked up 374 shipments of surplus materials/textbooks from schools to meet instructional learning deadlines

• Removed and auctioned 311 lots inventory from district to assist in providing a safe learning environment, generating $52,947 revenue

• Completed 100% of warehouse textbook orders – 262 orders @ 24,210 books/items

• Completed 100% of warehouse furniture orders – 478 orders @ 45,293 items

• Removed (shredded) over 1,400 boxes of district expired financial records and test materials from the district

Human Resources

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• 100% of Principal and Assistant Principal vacancies were filled

• Only 10 teacher positions remain vacant as of 8/1

– these vacancies will be staffed with substitutes on the first day of school

• Offered early hiring contracts to 15 teachers for turnaround schools and hard-to-fill areas

• Set up one-stop-shop to provide new hires with ID badge, laptop and email at initial onboarding in HR

• Hired 78% of principals and assistant principals internally

• Team of 24 Teacher Recruitment Ambassadors (TRA's) screened over 500 video interviews for teaching candidates

• Implemented more efficient screening and onboarding process for bus drivers, resulting in an improved fill rate from 33% to 100%

• Special education teacher vacancies were the most difficult to fill