Atlanta’s new superintendent greets staff, students on first day of school

Bryan Johnson, the new superintendent of Atlanta Public Schools, began the first day of the 2024-25 school year at 5 a.m. Thursday at the Lakewood Bus Depot. He was joined by APS interim Superintendent Danielle Battle. The pair greeted staff and thanked them for their work.

“They are the first face for so many of our students,” Johnson said.

Johnson is not officially the superintendent yet. He’ll be sworn in on Monday. Until then, he’s serving as a consultant to the district. After Monday, he will essentially switch roles with Battle. She’ll become a consultant to Johnson.

“It’s bittersweet,” Battle said about passing the torch. “I’m excited about it. I’m excited about the leadership of Atlanta Public Schools. We set a great foundation to put the focus on literacy and put the focus where it should be. I’m looking forward to supporting (Johnson), whatever he needs.”

After the buses fueled up and left to start their routes, Battle and Johnson began a tour of schools. Media were allowed to shadow the duo at Sylvan Hills Middle School in southwest Atlanta, where they visited classrooms and talked to teachers and students. Johnson said he plans to visit each of Atlanta’s 87 school campuses in his first 100 days on the job.

Credit: Ziyu Julian Zhu/AJC

As school districts across the country struggle with a shortage of teachers, APS says it is starting the school year with no teaching vacancies, an accomplishment Johnson called “incredible.”

“When you go back and think about the commitments that were made with the budget, the increases in salaries , it makes a difference,” he said. “People come for money; people stay for culture.”

On average, APS teachers received salary increases of 11% this year. Nonteaching school staff got 3%-5%. Employees also received one-time bonuses for certain positions, such as teaching at a high-poverty school.

The school board announced Johnson as the district’s sole finalist for superintendent on June 18. At the time, he was working as the executive vice chancellor and chief strategy officer at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC). Perhaps more important to the APS board was that Johnson led the Hamilton County school district in Chattanooga, Tennessee, from 2017-2021.

When asked about his priorities for the year, Johnson said improving literacy tops the list.

“It’s a civil right, making sure that our students can read,” he said. “A lot of times, people think about literacy and (don’t) understand fully what it is. So when we talk about literacy, we talk about a child’s ability to speak, to listen, to write, to comprehend. So that will be a critical area that we will double down on.”

Reading scores are embedded in the Georgia Milestones English Language Arts exam that students in grades 3-8 have to take annually. Although Atlanta’s English scores have ticked up the last few years, just 36% of third graders scored “proficient” (on grade level) or higher during the last school year.

APS is training teachers on a new literacy plan aligned with a body of research called “the science of reading.” The methodology focuses on letter sounds and fluency in the early grades. Older elementary grades work on vocabulary development and building reading comprehension.

At Sylvan Hills, students were already at work the first day. Math students were working on expressions, equations and even defining statistical questions. Music students were tapping new beats with their feet.

Credit: Ziyu Julian Zhu/AJC

Eighth grader Johne Floyd Jr. admitted it’s hard to return to school on Aug. 1 when it still feels like summer outside. He had some advice for his fellow students.

“Keep pushing even though you don’t want to be here,” he said. “(You) got to get an education.”

Back to school

The school year started this week for quite a few public school districts in metro Atlanta, but some of the state’s biggest districts will see students return to classrooms on Monday.

Tuesday: Decatur and Rockdale

Thursday: Atlanta Public Schools, Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, Douglas, Forsyth, Henry and Marietta

Friday: Buford

Monday: DeKalb, Fayette, Fulton and Gwinnett

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