WEST END ATLANTA

Info from Kindezi School

Hello! My name is Kathleen Jones, and I am involved with the Kindezi School, a group that is applying through Atlanta Public Schools to become a public charter school. Kindezi School would be a K-8 charter school in West End, opening its doors in Fall of 2009. This school would be the first of its kind-- class sizes of only six students per teacher, teachers using the tutorial method in order to individualize instruction, and a focus on leadership and the arts. You can read more about the Kindezi School model at http://www.kindezi.org.

The Kindezi team wants to show Atlanta Public Schools that we have parent interest and community support. If you are a potentially-interested parent of a child aged 3 to 7, would you take two minutes to click on the following link and sign the petition of interest? There is nothing binding in signing it-- you're just expressing interest.

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/Kindeziparent/

If you are a local community member and just want to express support for the idea, take a second to click on the following link and sign on!

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/kindezischool/

Thanks for your show of support, and I'll keep you posted on the progress of the school.

Sincerely,
Kathleen Jones

As a parent, I'm fully behind this. When we bought our home in West End, we started exploring education options and then decided that we might only be able to live in the area for a few years due various issues with public schools. This is great because it gives parents options for education. I want to invest in the neighborhood for as long as possible, but I also have to think about my child's future and well-being. I would like to invest in the local public schools, but at this point, I'm nervous about them and my son's ability to thrive there and I know that many others feel the same way. If a decent charter school opened up its doors, I think it would attract many more young families into the area - just see what it's done for Grant Park (a neighborhood we considered but house prices were well out of our range.) Please sign the petition!
I just wish they would've come to our neighborhood sooner...I almost feel like visiting West End was a bit of a last resort as doing a bit of online research shows that Kindezi school has canvassed other neighborhoods for quite some time - this is the second time they've submitted the charter to the school board, so they've been at it for at least two years. I would love to hear why they're just now coming to West End from someone involved with the school. Or have they come before and I'm just new to everything?

Yes, Kindezi School will be a great schooling option for West End parents. As for our presence in West End, we have only recently been talking with the pastor at West Hunter Street Baptist Church on Ralph David Abernathy about possibly using their space for our facility. Before that, we were looking at other facilities in southwest Atlanta, but this possibility has risen to the top. So, we will be continuing to attend local meetings and will keep everyone posted about our pending approval. Thank you for your enthusiastic endorsement!

Kathleen Jones

Kathleen, I was at the meeting.

Would you explain the following
1) how is it possible to keep the ratio 6:1.
2) I heard there is no exam taking as this school is this true. If so, how are the students evaluated.
3)Also some of the charter school in West End give preference to West Enders, is your school willing to give us preference?

Hello,

Thanks for your thoughtful questions about Kindezi School. I will address all three questions/concerns that you bring up:

1) How can Kindezi School afford a 6:1 student-teacher ratio?

In order to make class sizes as small as possible, we will use a "trimmed down" administrative model in which our school administration will consist of a principal, business manager, and administrative assistant. All other staff will be classroom teachers. Teachers will teach two subject areas to classes of six on Monday through Thursday, and students will be in a "large class" environment on Fridays with a 24:1 student-teacher ratio. This will allow 75% of teachers (on a rotating basis) to use Fridays for professional development and assisting in administrative duties. Also, classroom teachers will coordinate and implement "specials" classes such as art, p.e., music, etc. This may seem like a daunting amount of work for teachers, but given that teachers will be working with small groups of students and will have planning time built into every school day, we feel that educators will be very excited about the model.

Having a small administrative staff is the key to paying more teachers' salaries and, therefore, creating smaller classes. Many public schools have a student-staff ratio that is close to 6:1, but their student-teacher ratio is more like 25:1. We feel that a drastic departure from the structural norm is what it will take to create an innovative and effective school.


2) Will Kindezi School participate in standardized testing?

As is required by state and federal law for all charter schools, Kindezi School students will take the annual Georgia CRCT and Writing Tests. While we will not be "teaching to the test", we feel that the data feedback from the CRCT and other standardized tests will provide us with valuable information about the overall effectiveness of our program, and given our model, we expect for all students to meet and exceed state standards. As for assessment on a day-to-day basis, all teachers will be expected to utilize both formal and informal assessments in the classroom in order to gauge student progress and drive instruction.

3) Will children of West End residents be given preference for Kindezi School enrollment?

As our application stands, Kindezi School's primary attendance zone will be NPUs T, S, R and I, all of which lie in southwest Atlanta. Our choice to have a broad primary attendance zone is due to both a lack of total certainty about our school facility (the West Hunter Street Baptist Church facility has only been a recent possibility) and a broad base of support from various neighborhood associations in southwest Atlanta. Our selected attendance zones have been submitted to Atlanta Public Schools along with our charter school application, but we would certainly welcome any questions or feedback on the issue.

Our charter school application is currently being reviewed by APS and we will receive an answer from them by mid- to late-May. I will continue to check the WEND forum for any other questions people have about our school model.

Kathleen,

As a future parent, I am really excited about your school.
How many students is your school looking to accommodate?
How many classrooms are you going to lease from the church? Can you describe the facility that you will have available?

Also, I would like to let everybody know that Dean Leeper (the co-founder) will be at the NPU-T meeting tomorrow to seek its approval. Please come to the meeting and have all your questions answered, so we can make conscious decision.
I realize that due to time limitation the School was not able to have any official presentation before WEND Body. I believe this can be made up at the NPU-T meeting tomorrow.

PLEASE COME as educational options are one of the most important factors for West End.

Kathleen,

You did not specify what kind of evaluations will be done. Since I went to a traditional school I cannot visual the concept of a non testing school. Please help me out.

The members of WEND are having a discussion on our other website about this school and one of the things that keep occurring is that we dont have enough information. Is there some other way to get information on the Kindezi school without going to your website?

Kindezi School would have 24 students per grade and be a kindergarten through eighth grade school, with an ultimate total of 216 students. In our first year of operation we would have 96 students (K-3), and would add on a grade level each year until we are at full capacity.

As for the facility, I don't want to speak too much about it yet, since we still need to go through a formal approval process with members of the church. However, I will say that the amount of empty potential classroom space is more than enough to accommodate our facility needs.