Dr. Benjamin Canada has found his first few weeks as Atlanta Public
Schools' (APS) new superintendent very hectic. "I wake up
early in the morning and I get home late at night, and my own
daughter, who's an 11th grader, is saying, 'Can we make an appointment?'-
Dr. Canada said.
Smiling and genial, Dr. Canada took time out of his hectic schedule to talk for two hours with students from thirty schools at a press conference on Thursday, September 15; and on the following day, he gave an extended interview to a student reporter.
"My decision to accept the superintendency of Atlanta was based on one thing, and that is whether I could help give you a better education," Canada told students at the press conference. In both the public forum and the private interview, Canada outlined several of the goals she plans to achieve in order to for give Atlanta students a better education.
One such goal is to increase parental and student involvement in the policymaking process. The community board meetings that last year took place once a quarter will now occur every month. Additionally, Dr. Canada intends to set up a superintendent's advisory cabinet which will consist of student representatives from city secondary schools which is intended to make suggestions to the superintendent and his cabinet.
I really do want to start by asking the board
to let us have a student serve on the schoolboard, because l'd
like to have that student perspective always out there,"
Dr. Canada said.
". . . We want you [students] to learn how to be effective
in gaining access to information and coming up with solutions
as part of the democratic process," Dr. Canada said.
The new superintendent assessing the worth of specific programs and practices in his new "home" system of Atlanta. "My number-one priority is to get a sense of what is currently of value in the Atlanta Public Schools, so we can add to that value," said Dr. Canada. "The academic scores of students would suggest that there is a great deal of work that needs to be done in that area."
Canada is interested in instituting into the Atlanta Public Schools two programs introduced to the Jackson, Mississippi, schools under his leadership. The Reading Recovery program mandates that every student knows how to read by the end of the second grade, and the lnternational Baccalaureate program emphasizes international studies and foreign language.
There are many similarities between Jackson's and Atlanta's school systems, according to Dr. Canada. -All the conditions you would find in any urban center, you would find in both places."
However, Jackson's enrollment is 33,500, as opposed to Atlanta's 60,000. Also, the state of Mississippi has traditionally ranked lower in support for public education.
Dr. Canada's roots in education did not originate
in Mississippi, but Louisiana, where he attended an all-black
high school in a segregated school system. His mother, an elementary
school teacher, came from a long line of educators. "It's
a part of me, it's a part of my life," Dr. Canada said of
education.
He began as a special education teacher in his native Louisiana,
but quit in frustration at the school system's dual pay scale
for whites and blacks. From there, Dr. Canada moved from Louisiana
a to Las Vegas to Seattle and then Tucson, holding such positions
as secondary school teacher, principal, and assistant superintendent.
Dr. Canada finally became superintendent of the Jackson school
system in June, 1990.
Dr. Canada began the newest chapter in his life as an educator
by letting students know his high expectations.
"You are the future of humanity," Dr. Canada told students at the press conference. "While we celebrate and worship you, we will also push you and ask more of you than you're currently giving."
