Grady Cluster Planning – Session 1
December 12, 2014 – Inman Middle School Media Center
Attendees
Travis Norvell, Atlanta Public Schools Office of Organizational Advancement;
tnorvell@atlantapublicschools.us
Timothy Guiney, Principal, Grady High School; tguiney@atlanta.k12.ga.us
Betsy Bockman, Principal, Inman Middle School; bbockman@atlanta.k12.ga.us
Maureen Wheeler, Principal, Hope-Hill Elementary School; mtwheeler@atlanta.k12.ga.us
Brian Mitchell, Principal, Mary Lin Elementary School; bdmitchell@atlanta.k12.ga.us
Yolanda Brown, Principal, Springdale Park Elementary; ycbrown@atlanta.k12.ga.us
Sharon Bray, LSC Rep, Grady High School; sharonebray@yahoo.com
Christa Martin, PTA Rep, Grady High School; mart791@bellsouth.net
Kathy Boehmer, LSC Rep, Inman Middle School;
Regina Brewer, PTA Rep, Inman Middle School; rab63@comcast.net
Priscilla Borders, LSC Rep, Hope-Hill Elementary School; pjborders@comcast.net
Tamara Jones, LSC Rep, Mary Lin Elementary School; tjones@keepers-bags.com
Kim Meyer, PTA Rep, Mary Lin Elementary School; kimmymeyer@comcast.net
Michelle Constantinides, PTA Rep, Morningside Elementary School; michelle.constantinides@gmail.com
Jennifer Ide, LSC Rep, Morningside Elementary School; jennifer.n.ide@gmail.com
Heather Hallett, LSC Rep, Springdale Park Elementary School; heather.hallett@hallettcapital.com
Mark Rebillot, PTO Rep, Springdale Park Elementary School; mark.rebillot@ubs.com
Meeting Notes

Introduction to APS Cluster Planning (T Norvell)
o Introduction to process, stepping aside to let the group work
o Grady cluster has some structure already and not too much administrative support
required
o Question - Why were teachers not included? (H Hallett)
 Fluid process, but didn’t want the group to be too big (T Norvell)
 Also did not want teachers pulled out of class for this work (M. Wheeler)

Grady Cluster – Who are we and what do we value? (T Guiney)
o Survey distributed to 7th & 8th grade students at Inman and students at Grady – based
upon CTAE – career interest areas
 Inman results distributed (attach to notes) – arts #1, stem #2
 Still compiling all student survey results, will look at this again
o Need to define Grady cluster mission and vision
 APS adopted mission and vision statement
 Mission: With a caring culture of trust and collaboration, every student
will graduate ready for college and career.
 Vision: A high-performing school district where students love to learn,
educators inspire, families engage and the community trusts the
system.
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o
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 mission and vision adopted by the group, support voiced
Online survey distributed to all stakeholders
 Question - do we need further stakeholder input? (R Brewer)
 Under 400 respondents, is that enough to decide upon community
priorities?
Signature theme – can we use data to narrow our scope and find a defining
priority/quality for our cluster
 CTAE options and preferences provide some insight
 Need to develop 5 to 7 priorities for the cluster plan guided by theme
Principals met and discussed ideas for signature theme (T Guiney)
 Interest in the arts clearly prominent in cluster and at Grady
 Discussed idea of college prep with arts focus

General Discussion of Cluster Priorities, Realities and Needs
o Community partnerships such an opportunity and important factor in APS schools (T
Jones)
 university partnerships and urban location with many businesses and
community groups with vested interest in schools
o Need to talk about sharing resources across the cluster (B Bockman)
 After school programs, partnerships, etc – take stock of what we have and who
has access
o Need for the mission and vision to reflect the realities of poverty and graduation
rate/college attendance (H Hallett)
o Also need to also address the fact that 35% of kids at Inman were not a part of a feeder
elementary (B Bockman)
 Define this
o Graduation rate at 80 percent, highest in the district, need to talk about how to
increase, but we are doing relative to APS (T Guiney)
o Need to coordinate student support services across the cluster, strengthening the
connections (T Jones)
o Need to have the support services connected across schools so that there is a safety net
(M Wheeler)
 From elementary to middle to high – ensure that awareness of student needs
follows the student
o Letter sent to Tammy Workman, Asst. Supt of Student Support Services, regarding the
allotment and coordination of student support (M Constatinedes)
 M Constantinedes will distribute that letter to group
 M Wheeler will contact Ms. Workman to ask for an audit of student support
services in grady cluster schools

Stakeholder Survey Data Review (T Guiney) (**attach to notes)
o 383 participants, 62% parents, 31% staff, 3% students
 Cluster vision preferences; #1 – skills for global society (IB), 2 – college prep w
dual enrollment, 3 – STEM

High school career cluster preferences; 1 – stem, 2 – arts, av, technology, health
sciences, 4 – IT
 Interesting difference btw parents and students (T Jones)
 Survey limited to CTAE pathways (career, technical and agricultural
education) (S Bray)
o Not realistic/real world choices presented

Current Career/Interest Area Offerings at Grady (T Guiney)
o Grady had the 4 main career academies and pathways
 Would add options and fit them into the academy model
 Academy model is gone (grant has expired) and pathways are expanding
 Looking for input on how to structure the offerings/pathways
o Many on committee do not have experience at Grady, hard for us to understand the
model and give feedback (R Brewer)
 Can the group have a primer on the experience at Grady
 Michael Mays at Grady can give a high school CTAE overview (T Guiney)
o Principals have already talked – college prep/stem – requires investment in personnel

General Discussion of Cluster Priorities, Realities and Needs
o Signature theme possibility– college prep with emphasis on art (M Rebillot)
 No push for whole cluster to stem?
 If college prep, allows the flexibility to include stem and arts but a singular focus
may preclude some of the partnerships with universities and programs that we
can now include (M Wheeler)
o Informing the budget
 From budget perspective, cost benefit analysis --- can we offer all of the options
that we want? Answer is most likely no (M Rebillot)
 Already have a facility problem and might be looking for SPLOST allocations (T
Guiney)
 IT review and long term plan , graphic design offerings, computer labs, etc --inform the budget and must fit into the CTAE (T Guiney)
 Yes, budget is limited and have facility issues --- need a further review (S Bray)
 Example – engineering pathway, asked Dr. Mays for a review to qualify
the program for CCRPI, he said can’t even begin to think about
 Mandate for milestone testing online, so technology overview will be important
(C Martin)
 State requirement of getting 100% online milestone 3 year roll out not
realistic (T Guiney)
 Sharing resources must be a part of the cluster technology planning (S Bray, T
Jones)
o Hearing that Grady’s diverse offerings may have spread resources and priorities too thin
(H Hallett)


Priority setting and cluster visioning may need to refocus on skills we want every
student to gain through experience at Grady
Think everyone is in agreement on the basic skills that should be the focus of
education in our cluster (M Wheeler)

Small group breakout (T Guiney)
o Discuss the potential signature theme of college prep with an emphasis on arts; is this
sufficient and what does this look like?
 Need an audit to know what we are offering and then compare that to what we
need
 H Hallett will come up with a form for every school to fill out
 Arts emphasis can be integrated throughout curriculum in elementary schools
as well
 How are schools doing this now? Can we share best practices
 Really need the flexibility to allocate resources across the cluster according to
need
 New charter and cluster planning should lead to greater flexibility
 Audit will help identify needs across schools

Wrap up -- thoughts on signature theme of college prep with emphasis on arts
o Focus on what are the top workplace skills for entry level employees
o Focus on what are the top college entry skills required
o Communication to community – need to inform people about what the committee has
committed to do (T Jones)
o Do we need to query the community on the IB option before we decide upon college
prep? (C Martin)
 If we don’t community will ask the question (R Brewer)
o Ideally narrow down 5 priorities (T Guiney)
 Partnerships, people, programs that can support these priorities

Action Items
o Follow up with Tammy Workman on student support services overview for cluster (M
Wheeler)
o Southeast Atlanta Cluster compiled an audit document, will get a copy to look at and
use as potential model (T Norvell)
o Prepare audit document for every school to fill out (H Hallett)
 Curriculum resources
 Staffing
 Course offerings
 Student support services
 Community partnerships
 Foundations/financial resources

Next meeting is January 16th, 8:15 in the Hope-Hill Media Center
o
Open meeting