Mary Lin Elementary Holds Friday Meeting To Discuss Reorganization of 4th and 5th grades

The Mary Lin Principal's Coffee is scheduled for 8 a.m. Friday, April 5.

CANDLER PARK — Parents of rising 3rd, 4th and 5th graders at Mary Lin Elementary School will want to attend this important meeting called by Principal Mitchell to better understand the upcoming reorganization of the 4th and 5th grades at the school. According to an announcement made in the Inman Park Yahoo Group, "on Friday morning, April 5, 2013 at the Principal's coffee at 8:05 a.m., just before Spring Break, Dr. Mitchell will be discussing a topic that requires parents urgent understanding and attention." Mary Lin, which is in the Grady cluster, serves children in Inman Park, Candler Park and Lake Claire. The topic of discussion is planned to take place just before the start of Spring Break for APS students, and gives parents the …

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Mary Lin Student "Bee"-autifully Takes 1st Place in APS Spelling Contest

On Feb. 7, the Atlanta Public Schools District Spelling Bee was hosted at Gideons Elementary School.

How do you spell champion? T-h-e-o W-e-i-m-a-r. Theo, a student at Mary Lin Elementary in Candler Park, beat out kids from 23 other grammar and middle schools to catpture the 2013 APS District Spelling Bee on Feb. 7. He and scores of others competed in the bee, which was held at Gideons Elementary School. Theo had already taken top honors at his own school, winning the Mary Lin spelling bee on Jan. 17. Sydney Ragland of Young Middle School placed an impressive 2nd, and Wen Lu of Beecher Hills Elementary tied for 3rd place with Amanda Stevens from Sutton Middle School. All four move on to the Georgia Association of Educator Distinct Spelling Bee on Feb. 23. Every year the event is hosted by Atlanta Association of Educators.  According to an…

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Patch Voices

Fundraiser for Beloved Mary Lin Teacher

Kerri Mercer Brooks is battling stage 4 cancer.

by Regina Brewer A longtime teacher at Mary Lin Elementary School, Kerri Mercer Brooks, was diagnosed with oral cancer in 2009. She underwent surgery and was cancer free for three years. In August and then again in December of 2012, the cancer returned and Kerri once again had two additional surgeries. This spring she will undergo chemotherapy and radiation and will continue her fight against cancer.  She has a two-year-old daughter, Kaylee, and is expecting her second daughter in May. Kerri has long been a loved 5th grade teacher at Mary Lin. She is one of those teachers that kids look forward to having each year. Kerri has a wonderful sense of humor and an incredible singing voice. She uses both of these talents to inspire her students …

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Our Patch

Mary Lin Elementary "Bee"-lieves in Spelling

After an absence of several years, the spelling bee returns to Mary Lin Elementary.

by Boyd Baker CANDLER PARK — It’s been a few years since Mary Lin Elementary had a spelling bee. Parent Gary Capelouto used to organize one within the school but it ended when Gary’s kids left the school. Annis Barry in Candler Park felt that Spelling Bees are an American institution that needed to return. “Bees provide a link to the past. Spelling contests have been around since the time of the one-room schoolhouse,” says Barry. Since the school administration didn’t want the Bee to interfere with the school day, Barry worked with volunteers to create a PTA event on Thursday, Jan. 17. Buzzy® for Pain Relief painless shot helper sponsored the event and MoJo’s Pizza in Oakhurst donated dinner for the 6 p.m. event. With 23 students in both …

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Mary Lin Elementary Takes a Stand Against Drug Abuse

School donned red ribbons recently as part of Red Ribbons Week.

CANDLER PARK — Students at Mary Lin Elementary wore red ribbons, crazy hats and loud, mismatched socks last month as part of its celebration of Red Ribbon Week. Part of a national campaign against drug abuse, Red Ribbon Week honors the life of Enrique "Kiki" Camarena, a Drug Enforcement Agent who was abducted, tortured and killed in 1985 while working undercover in Mexico. The week is designed to give kids safe and fun activities and alternatives to abusing drugs. It also aims to help kids understand that they don't have to give in to peer pressure and how to take a stand against drug use.

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CINS to Host Town Hall Meeting with APS Superintendent

Davis to answer questions from parents in the Grady Cluster of Schools.

by Patch Staff The Council of Intown Neighborhoods and Schools, the Atlanta nonprofit that advocates for the Grady schools cluster, hosts its annual Town Hall Meeting with the Atlanta Public Schools Superintendent Oct. 25 at 7 p.m. at Inman Middle School, 774 Virginia Ave. NE. This is the annual opportunity for parents from the communities that comprise the Grady High School cluster of schools — including Inman Park, Candler Park, Lake Claire Old Fourth Ward, Virginia-Highland and Morningside — to ask questions of Supt. Erroll B. Davis Jr. Davis will introduce key members of his team, update the community on what's happening with the district and answer questions from the audience as well as queries that have been submitted to CINS over …

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Patch Voices

APS Redistricting: Lake Claire Supports Option A

'Keeping Mary Lin K-5 is investing in success.'

Editor's note: This is the official position statement of Lake Claire Neighbors in response to the Options A & B currently being reviewed by the Atlanta Public Schools administration and parents. We, the Lake Claire community, thank the demographers, Board of Education, and APS administration for listening to many of the concerns raised by APS communities about the redistricting process. While Option A clearly does not answer the concerns of all communities, we support elements of this option and prefer it to Option B for the reasons set forth below. In a spirit of ongoing dialog, we ask that you continue to invest in the success of the Mary Lin, Inman, and Grady communities by: a) Keeping Mary Lin K-5; b) Providing the SPLOST-funded …

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Patch Voices

The Case For A Fully Inclusive Grady Cluster

Don't dismantle the years of hard work it took to create Grady's high-performing cluster.

by Alex Coffman I and others are interested in any configuration that has our contiguous neighborhoods of Old Fourth Ward, Inman Park, Candler Park and Lake Claire in the Grady Cluster. My neighborhood of Inman Park connects with Old Fourth Ward, the BeltLine and we share a business district together. We have a small Mary Lin contingency that would like to remain a K-5  school as does Springdale Park Elementary, but this is not realistic. I understand the business decisions being made and we have limited resources within APS. As a 25-year-plus resident of the city of Atlanta, I would hate to see all the hard work that has gone on for years to make Mary Lin, Morningside Elementary, SPARK, Inman Middle and Grady High schools that …

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Inman Park

12:18 pm on Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Jennifer- As an Inman Park resident, I do not know any of my neighbors that share Mr. Coffman's point of view and he certainly doesn't speak for me. While I am sympathitec to O4W's pleas for complete inclusion, it doesn't go as so far to state the I think Lin (or SPARK) should be K-2.   more ›

A Conversation With. . .

APS Redistricting: Mary Lin's SPLOST Expansion Was Never Guaranteed

Expansion projects, like the one Mary Lin Elementary community has been expecting through Special Purpose Local Option Sales Taxes, are not guaranteed.

Candler Park's Mary Lin Elementary School has waited a long time for an expansion to the campus that parents believed they were promised. They believed by voting to approve a specific schools tax — called Special Purpose Local Option Sales Taxes — they'd get the funds needed to pay for a physical expansion to the school, which has been overcrowded for years. But in a wide-ranging interview between Atlanta Public Schools Superintendent Erroll B. Davis Jr. and Patch, the superintendent said SPLOST funds are not guaranteed to any project. "Promises were not made in SPLOST," Davis told Patch. "They were indicators of what we would spend the money for if we had the money." The issue is in focus for Mary Lin, which also serves Inman Park and …

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Péralte Paul

2:23 pm on Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Thanks for sharing this info, JB.   more ›

Patch Voices

The APS Redistricting Debate: Inman Park Neighborhood Association Supports Option A

'However, we have serious concerns about the viability of both Options A and B as a long-term solution for our neighborhood, our schools and for the Grady cluster'

Inman Park Neighborhood Association Position Statement: RE: APS Rezoning Proposals A and B Inman Park supports Option A for the following reasons: However, we have serious concerns about the viability of both Options A and B as a long-term solution for our neighborhood, our schools and for the Grady cluster: Inman Park strongly advocates the following:

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