Greetings, Brandon Families!

Over the past few months, I have been updating you on our work as a school to be “intentionally exemplary.” Now that we have successfully entered the second semester of school, I would like to focus this month on updating you on some “hot topics” at both the school and district level to keep you informed on the continued forward progress of both Atlanta Public Schools and Morris Brandon specifically.

First, you may have read about the district’s intent to become a Charter System beginning in the 2016- 2017 school year. This has come about as part of a state requirement for all school systems to select an operating model this school year. The district formed an Advisory Committee who helped inform this decision of the district to pursue the Charter System model. While the decision has been made, the plans for how this impacts individual schools are a work in progress. There will be no significant changes for next school year based on this decision; however, all of the planning work will continue this school year and next to implement the Charter System model in 2016-2017. Perhaps the most exciting piece of this decision is its potential to provide individual schools with more flexibility in decision making based on the specific needs and priorities of the school. Class sizes do remain a priority and continue to be a point of focus as we look at the type of flexibility we need at Morris Brandon.

At the same time that this work to transition to a Charter System operating model is occurring, schools have been working very closely as clusters to develop cluster plans around specific themes. As part of the North Atlanta cluster, I have been very involved in collaborative work with the other North Atlanta cluster principals and Local School Council representatives to define the vision, mission, and priorities of our cluster. This work will help to inform our transition to the Charter model described above and will help to be intentional about the flexibility our cluster and school need to operate effectively and efficiently based on our needs. As a cluster, we continue to be committed to the International Baccalaureate program K-12. There is an opportunity on Feb. 25 at 6:30 at North Atlanta High School to attend one of our Cluster Planning sessions to learn more about the direction we are proposing and the flexibility we are seeking as a cluster as well as to provide input.

Finally, we are still on schedule for the Primary Campus expansion project to be completed for the 2016- 2017 school year. Construction is expected to begin in March or April of this year. As this project begins, we will be providing detailed updates via the Bee Mail and the website to keep you abreast of any procedural or operational changes implemented during the construction phase. Additionally, our Main Campus is slated for a major HVAC overhaul this summer.

Of course, this is just the summary of the major work that is occurring in our school district. These topics will be the focus of the January 27th PTA meeting at 6:30, and I will continue to provide updates via the website and Bee Mail as the work progresses. It’s an exciting time to be part of Atlanta Public Schools and Morris Brandon! Thank you for enjoying the journey with me!

Sincerely,

Kara Stimpson Principal