The Platform
Royce Mann will stand up for public education and fight for the freedom and resources our students need to thrive.
Literacy
APS has made important progress around literacy, but there is still work to be done. They say it takes a village to raise a child, and this is especially true for literacy! If we build a strong support system inside and beyond the classroom, we can build an Atlanta where all students are active and confident readers!
- Expand science of reading training to all teachers, including in middle and high schools, and provide training and resources to better equip parents and caregivers to be evidence-based literacy champions
- Expand screening for dyslexia to cover all grade levels, ensure students have access to diagnostic testing if characteristics of dyslexia are identified, and provide enhanced training and resources for teachers to support students with reading disabilities, including through multi-sensory education.
- Prioritize curriculum and materials that are culturally responsive and tell diverse stories. At the local level, we can fight the erasure of history by ensuring our curriculum includes the stories of Black, Brown, Indigenous, immigrant, and LGBTQIA+ communities!
Career Readiness
Rather than encourage some students to pursue college and others to immediately enter the workforce, we should equip all students with the tools for both, because in such a rapidly-changing world, it is vital we prepare students to have options!
- Mandate a semester-long life skills course for all APS high schoolers that focuses on personal financial responsibility, making healthy life choices, and common adult responsibilities. Students should graduate knowing how to change a flat tire and file their taxes!
- Increase CTAE offerings and participation in programs that offer trade and professional certifications—prioritizing union apprenticeships, which will help students land good-paying jobs—with the goal of 100% participation amongst high school students
- Work with MARTA to provide free public transportation for APS high school students, allowing more students to participate in extracurriculars and job training programs across the city.
Expand Fine Arts
As a poet and the son of a filmmaker and an arts educator, I know the value of fostering creativity in the classroom and beyond. I am committed to building an APS where every student is exposed to a vast array of career pathways and opportunities in the arts. I am further committed to ensuring this includes programs that are accessible to the thousands of students in APS living and learning with disabilities!
- Support the creation of an Atlanta School of the Arts to serve high school students from across the city
- Ensure every school in APS offers students exposure to all four fine arts pathways: visual art, music, theatre, and dance
- Establish a Curriculum Relevancy Advisory Council to convene leaders from the workforce and local higher education institutions, including leaders in the arts and entertainment, to continually review course offerings and curriculum materials and to provide recommendations to ensure all opportunities are being taken to connect curriculum to relevant post-secondary opportunities
Support Not Suspensions
For decades, overly exclusionary and punitive discipline policies have harmed students, placed unnecessary burdens on families, and created the existence of a school-to-prison pipeline. These policies are also especially harmful to students with disabilities. Students, caregivers, and teachers will all benefit when we embrace an approach to discipline that utilizes restorative practices and centers individualized support for students.
- Hire more counselors with the goal of reducing the student to counselor ratio to 250:1, as recommended by the American School Counselor Association. Currently, the ratio in APS is closer to 500:1.
- Open a resource hub in each school cluster to provide wraparound supports to families
- Shift away from exclusionary and punitive discipline practices and towards addressing the root causes of student behavior through restorative practices, mental health care, and wraparound support. Prioritize healing and growth and not punishment or bandaid solutions.
Fund Our Classrooms
APS has an annual budget of over 1.8 billion dollars, yet students too often lack the support they need to thrive. We can fix this by:
- Getting more money directly to our classrooms by eliminating central office programs and resources that are expensive and ineffective
- Generating revenue and expanding wraparound services through partnerships with businesses and organizations to utilize the numerous vacant properties that APS currently owns
- Advocating for increased funding from the state and fighting efforts to defund our schools! As the federal government continues to propose cuts to education funding, we must work with state leaders to ensure our schools have the resources they need. I have worked with legislators across the aisle at the gold dome to promote mental health, fight book bans, and expand access to higher education, and as your board member, I won’t be afraid to take on the tough fights, whether on the board dais or at the State Capitol.
