Coan Middle School Gets $1.5 Million

An Emory University alumnus is donating $1 million to Sammye E. Coan Middle School in Edgewood to kickstart an education initiative aimed at boosting student achievement and keeping children on track to remain in school.

Rick Rieder, chief investment officer of fixed income at BlackRock, the asset management firm, said the goal is to address those factors that affect students' ability to succeed academically.

His donation will fund Graduation Generation-Atlanta, which is a partnership of the Atlanta Public Schools, Emory University's Office of University-Community Partnerships and Communities in Schools of Atlanta, a nonprofit organization.

Students from Emory, which donated another $500,000 to the project, will serve as tutors as well and the university's learning camps for middle and high schoolers will support summer programs in mathematics, science, reading and writing and college prep.

Rieder, who also is involved in an urban education program in the Newark Public Schools in Newark, N.J., said he picked Coan, which has 387 students, because of its success and the potential to serve as a model for other schools.

"This was largely the success the school has had as well as Emory's and Communities In Schools' vision around what could happen, not just in the schools but in this community and the potential growth in this community," Rieder told East Atlanta Patch Wednesday night, following a ceremony at the school announcing the program.

"And it all came together as this would be the perfect fit to start this program and hopefully it's going to grow to whole lot more schools within this community and broader."

That APS is currently threatened with the loss of accreditation and is on wasn't too much of a concern for him, he said.

"I'm absolutely convinced that it's all about teachers and the administrators," Rieder said. "Once you have a successful group implementing programs like this, it's going to be successful so I never had a question about that at all."

Coan's principal, Toyna Saunders, said by targeting middle schoolers, it will reduce drop-out rates and increase the number of students going to college and impact other societal ills such as crime.

To that end, the program will address some of students' home life issues which may impact their ability to perform well in school, she said.

"First we're going to make sure the children have all of the resources that they need, from tutoring to personal needs — if they lack clothing, if they're experiencing any type of difficulty at home — we're going to work with the children with those problems they may have or be experiencing," Saunders said.

Addressing those needs will allow them to "come to school every day with the right attitude, positive frame of mind, prepared to learn."

Another critical component is addressing parents and their needs, so the school created "Coan U" offering vocational and GED classes for them, Saunders said.

"It's very important our parents be educated because when they're educated, they push the importance of education to their children."