Nobody Plays Church Better Than Atlanta!

WSB-TV‘s Richard Belcher warned about *community pushback* over prosecuting the APS cheating investigation during a Sunday, July 17, 2011 TV special about the cheating scandal (as they’ve now branded it with special graphics and everything), up to that day’s point.

Go to 5:00 on vid for Belcher’s quote and avoid the audio dramatics at beginning.

I witnessed some of this at the community open house with new, interim APS Superintendent Erroll Davis on July 21, a man not the least bit stingy with his words and rhetorical side roads, highroads and by-ways.

I live-Tweeted during the July 21 community open house and Q&A session with Super Davis. One parent’s heartfelt remarks were powerful:

From my Twitter stream: *Parent in tears at mic over beloved #aps personnel who will no longer be there. People she felt, deeply, loved and cared for her kids.*

I think that’s pretty much what Belcher was alluding to in the TV special. And when that kind of raw (genuine) emotion gets fanned from the pulpit by preachers/emotion manipulators, well… hey, you’ve got yourself some good old fashion religion. A style!

I’m hoping MSM will visit some metro Atlanta churches so we can get their, uh, unique perspective. Because… nobody can play church like we do in the A.

I should also mention that security for the July 21 open house/new Super Erroll Davis was considerable. For good reasons too, I’d imagine.

There is no shortage of emotion-letting & vetting and general hand-wringing going on in Atlanta over the APS cheating matter.

And long-known local crackpots, trashcan media, assorted contract-seeking vultures, citizen journos, Joe Blows, MSM, national media, parents, onlookers, snake-oil sales types, very dubious leaders, people who kinda give a shit, you get the point, are all mixed into this civic stew still bubbling steadily along on the cooker.

Dish it up.

UPDATE: The second July 24, 2011 WSB-TV special on the APS cheating investigation is here.

The APS Scandal As Cast Of Harry Potter

Let’s take a cue from The New Republic and re-cast the Harry Potter series with players from the APS cheating scandal! The New Republic did this same exercise with Murdochgate. (It’s a must-peruse.)

Here are some suggestions:

• Alan Judd – Harry Potter
• Heather Vogell – Hermione
• Mark Winne – Ron Weasley
• Richard Belcher – Neville
• Bev Hall – Voldemort
• Cheating teachers – Dementors
• Sam Williams – Cornelius Fudge
• Renay Blumenthal – Wormtail
• Mayor Reed – Lucious Malfoy
• Tamara Cotton – Umbridge
• Mike Bowers – Dumbledore
• Ryan Abbott – Mr. Longbottom
• Richard Hyde – Snape
• Kathy Augustine – Nagini
• Shirley Franklin – Belatrix
• Vincent Fort – Mr. Weasley
• Jeff Dickerson – Filch

The above could use fleshing out with a brief explanation, as The New Republic did with each of their choices, but as I’m an unpaid blogger and not a paid journalist I’ll have to crowd-source out the rest of this fun job.

APS Embraces Social Media. Finally.

I’ve been watching everything the Atlanta Public Schools (APS) social media person has been doing with their social media outreach via their Twitter/blog/Facebook over the last few critical weeks.

I even met the APS social media person at the governor’s press conference to announce the results of the state’s investigation the other day. We set-up media shop next to each other, coincidentally. 

And WOW what an amazing transformation their social media game has undergone! Just in the last two weeks alone.

Suddenly, they are very responsive to the world around them. To their community here in Atlanta. They’re even dabbling in transparency and straight-up honesty too.

The live Tweets from @APSUpdate during a public forum with the new super Davis last week were very candid. And full of helpful and useful information.

• The APS blog is here.
• Facebook here.
• Twitter here.
• YouTube channel here.

What a difference a criminal investigation can make, eh? But the thing about social media, as any serious practitioner can tell you, social media is a garden; it only produces when meticulously tended.

Let’s watch and see. And participate, cultivate, in this transformation too.

I Spy Scandals In ATL Media

There are two lovely, slaphappy, public office-related messes playing-out right now in Atlanta you won’t want to miss a moment of: the APS cheating scandal and Governor Deal’s trail of dubious dealings.

Thing is, the media attentions applied to both situations are so random and all-over-the-place it’s like Dick Cheney on a quail hunt; you never know where the shots are coming from, nor what they’re going to hit.

There is no clearinghouse of information, so you’re bound to miss something… if you’re not paying close attention.

Investigative journalism is an odd bird. Although news farms like to say they get their content from some pristine well of hard work, that’s not really the case.

Most get their news from the other news farm down the street. And most scandals erupt because people are gossipy tattletales and can’t keep a secret.

And sometimes people will even tell a journalist if they’re a hardcore whistleblower with stuff like paperwork to flaunt, and not just your common trash-talker over at Manuel’s.

But ultimately, it’s up to a near-solo, working journalist to keep the fires of an investigative situation burning… with loads of  seasoned skepticism and doubt mixed-in with better-than-yours sources.

Says longtime, Atlanta investigative reporter, Jim Walls of Atlanta Unfiltered and the AJC :

The trick is to know your topic thoroughly, keep asking questions when things don’t add up, and sometimes even when they seem to. Focus on what people have done, not what they say they’ve done. And do not assume that the most likely explanation is correct, or at least 100% correct. There are nuances to everything.

Social Media and the Growing APS Mess

This particular social media swirl is playing out on my territory, and promises to challenge me to TRY to keep up! But you know I’m the woman for that job.

So, let’s over-simplify until I can do a full (video) report on this matter: Atlanta Public Schools (APS) is in a big brewhaha of a mess. It’s a two-prong mess. I won’t go into full mess details here, as that’s the AJC’s job. But first is the CRCT cheating scandal, and second is the APS board’s probationary status.

All could come to a lovely head of face-to-face steam at tomorrow’s APS board meeting, open to the public at 4:30pm, FYI. At APS. (Stay tuned for that live eventing. I may live-stream here. Haven’t decided yet if I want to venture out from behind the laptop yet though. And come early to sign-in. Who knows what APS might do about the posted times.)

What’s fascinating, in that horrible fascinating way, is being able to watch the social media tactics and approaches (I’m loath to call them *strategies* as it’s all rather amateurish right now) present… almost in real time. Even I may not be able to follow it all. But I’m sure gonna try.

Let’s explore, with a handy scoring system, where we are so far:

1.) APS social media scorecard – 1. And they get a score of 1 (out of 10) only because they have at least established a Twitter feed for their sunny-side-up bits. Sorry, APS. But you haven’t even touched your Facebook page since the summer of 2009. Not much going on your website. And APS Superintendent Beverly Hall’s letter explaining the accredidation probationary status APS is now operating under arrived at homes via the Backpack Network. Call Hermione for a better spell soon, APS. Or you’ll be overwhelmed. If you’re not already.

2.) A Facebook Group called Atlanta School Board: Step Up or Step Down already has 266 members, and was pointed out to me by an APS teacher, so seems some APS teachers are banding together with APS parents. And heating-up neighborhood discussion boards and email chains and petitions. That’s good. I give ’em a 6. They’ve got a’ways to go to keep up with this other group that’s sprung from the PR mess though.

3.) ReCallAPS, so far, is posting fewer Facebook friends than the above group, but I’m certain they will catch-up and surpass. They’ve got a blog going already, and a Twitter feed; Twitter being what will fuel the fires the fastest. Their message seems wishy-washy though, so I’m just giving them a 5. For right now.

For what it’s worth, social media is everyone’s field to play in for communications – crisis or otherwise. Have at it. Make it work for you. Just know it’s a game you don’t want to be on the sidelines merely watching.

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed Carpe Diem-ing

Mayor Reed is savvy like a media fox. He sees nothing anywhere he turns right now, in Atlanta AND Georgia, but a massive leadership vacuum. So why not make hay while the sun shines? By applying leadership in all the right places.

This is called thinking of one’s *bright political future.* All Mayor Reed needs to do is find him a Michelle and a Rahm-like wingman. And then watch him fly outta this red clay political nowhere land.

From Peach Pundit:

Kasim Reed has clout. In a state where no one wants to see the public schools of the capitol city fail, he will be allowed to spend it liberally. The Atlanta Public School Board didn’t just receive a warning from SACS, they received it from the Mayor. Given the power that he has behind him, they best not mistake his threat as more Kabuki theater.

Atlanta Public Schools Turn To Print When Everyone Else Goes Digital

The above photo displays the dubious fate of a brand new newspaper suddenly being produced (at what cost?) by the Atlanta Public Schools (APS) system. It was taken 4-21-09.

This Vol. 1 newspaper product lists a two-page directory of APS administration names in the back – yet not a single e-mail address is included in that contact information.

Yet APS has spent millions of dollars on technology over the last few years – with some of those seeking technology-related contracts now in jail. More on that issue here:

http://www.usdoj.gov/atr/public/press_releases/2008/240669.htm

The dubious method of distribution for this new paper product? Kids’ backpacks.

Could this be another example of wasteful contracting in the Atlanta Public Schools? FYI… I put in a call to the (Boston/NY) company contracted (was there a bidding process?) to produce this paper product for APS, and a call to the Communications Dept. for APS. No one has returned my calls as of 4-23-09.

And if there’s a Spanish-language version of Atlanta Educator, I’ve yet to see it.