Kids get a behind-the-scenes look with state Sen. Jason Carter.
Fred A. Toomer Elementary School's second and third grade toured the State Capitol in late February and met with their representatives. State Sen. Jason Carter (D-Decatur), pictured above, spent 20 minutes in a lively round of Q&A with the students. — Douglas Wood, Kirkwood
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Nearly 100 Howard University students opted to spend their Spring Break week helping others here in Atlanta.
Nearly 100 Howard University students decided to travel from their Washington D.C. campus to Atlanta to celebrate their Spring Break in an "alternative" fashion. These students actually opted to mentor elementary children at Toomer Elementary School in Kirkwood and Hope-Hill Elementary School in Old Fourth Ward rather than go on a typical Spring Break vacation. Jordan Duckens, a reporter for Howard University News Service, wrote an article about the students' experiences on Alternative Spring Break this past week and shared a portion with East Atlanta Patch readers. “I feel like I got a good taste of a variety of personalities with the kids,” Gooden said as the bus left Hope-Hill Monday afternoon. “I had some who were wilder, some who …
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Students competed in the Continental Societies’ Annual Spelling Bee.
KIRKWOOD — Fred A. Toomer and Gideon Elementary School competed Saturday, Feb. 23rd in the Continental Societies’ Annual Spelling Bee held at Fred A. Toomer Elementary School. More than 60 children participated from 3rd to 5th grades. The competition went 17 rounds with Toomer 4th grader Nicolas Sullivan taking first place, Toomer third grader Elian Chavez winning second place and Gideon Elementary's Ziya Rainwater, a fifth grader, placing third. — Douglas Wood
Students at Toomer Elementary brought their favorite stuffed bears for a check-up at The Teddy Bear Hospital.
KIRKWOOD — The medical staff of the Teddy Bear Hospital tended to the beloved furry patients of Toomer Elementary School students earlier this month and were assisted by the highly talented students themselves. Fifteen students from the Emory School of Medicine used their classroom knowledge to pose as bear doctors and perform basic medical examinations on students' teddy bears, while teaching vital lessons to the kids. "The doctors assessed the teddy bears by taking x-rays, checking their blood pressure, heart rate, and more. The children participated in the check-up by examining their eyes, giving them shots, and listening for their heartbeat," according to APS' Talk Up blog. The true purpose of the teddy bear examinations was to educate…
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East Atlanta Patch recognizes the accomplishments of one talented Toomer student this week.
KIRKWOOD — The Atlanta Public Schools blog, Talkup APS, has just released its Student Spotlight of the Week article in which a talented student from Toomer Elementary School was acknowledged for his recent academic accomplishments. Alex Yang, a kindergarten student at Toomer, is a bright child, "who excels in all subject areas, has artistic talents, and is also bilingual," according to the APS blog. This 6-year-old can speak both English and Mandarin. His mother was once a Chinese language teacher at Toomer, but is now teaching at North Atlanta High School. According to the blog, Alex's favorite subjects are reading and math and he himself says, “I like math because it has lots of numbers.” His teacher also is very impressed with his …
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East Atlanta school — along with Toomer Elementary in Kirkwood — has been without a permanent art teacher since early October.
By now, Reid Tankersley expected his refrigerator door to be showcasing his kid's artwork from her classes at Burgess-Peterson Academy in East Atlanta. Problem is, there isn't any. Burgess-Peterson's regular art teacher is out this school year on sabbatical. An interim teacher was brought in and she split her time between Burgess-Peterson and Toomer Elementary in Kirkwood. But Tankersley and several other parents have expressed concerns to Atlanta Public Schools officials that their kids have not had any real art lessons and that supplies for those classes have gone unused. The interim art teacher then went on leave in early October. She is scheduled to return in January. APS officials say they have a solution that should please parents at…
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Celebrity chefs visit the Kirkwood school.
The students and staff of Toomer Elementary School in Kirkwood celebrated National School Lunch Week with visits from celebrity chefs. The visits included Chef Michael Deihl, executive chef of the East Lake Golf Club; Kirkwood resident and Chef Christian “Kit” Kiefer, owner of Kiefer's in Marietta; Ardra Tippett, owner of Cake Café Atlanta in East Lake, and Chef Kevin Outz, Chef and owner of The Spotted Trotter in Kirkwood. The visits were designed to raise awareness about the importance of eating balanced and healthy school lunches.
Kirkwood school's students join others across Atlanta and around the world to highlight walkability.
Scores of children and parents from Toomer Elementary School in Kirkwood walked to school Wednesday morning to highlight walkability and promote pedestrian safety. Toomer's kids joined students from other schools including, Burgess-Peterson Academy, Drew Charter School, Mary Lin and Whitefoord elementary schools in highlighting walking as part of the International Walk to School Day. Walk to School Day events raise awareness of the need to create safer routes for walking and bicycling. The events also stress the importance of issues such as increasing physical activity among children, pedestrian safety, traffic congestion and concern for the environment. For example, at the southwestern corner of Hosea L. Williams Dr. and Rogers Street, …
An education tribunal upheld the firing of former Toomer Elementary principal Tonya Saunders, who is accused of telling teachers to cheat on a 2009 state exam.
Former Toomer Elementary principal Tonya Saunders’ firing in a 2009 test cheating scandal was upheld on Thursday by a tribunal of educators Thursday, the AJC reported. Saunders was accused of telling teachers to cheat on state exams in 2009. According to a state investigation in 2011, she told teachers to make students go back and check incorrect answers, and she told teachers to look ahead in the exam booklet to make sure they taught all the material on the test, investigators alleged, according to the AJC. Saunders denied doing anything wrong. She was on medical leave when the 2009 exam was given. Her attorney, Michael Kramer, said she fully cooperated with the investigation and passed a polygraph test when questioned about cheating, …
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Two Candler Park fathers say DeKalb Avenue is dangerous barrier for children.
Being able to walk to one's neighborhood school and to do so safely is one factor parents consider in deciding where to live and which school his or her child will attend. Parents in Candler Park, who are zoned to Mary Lin Elementary, say they have grave concerns about one of the proposals they and others whose children attend Atlanta Public Schools are reviewing regarding a massive rezoning of schools in the district. The proposal of concern is the one that would combine Mary Lin — which is in Candler Park and also serves children from Inman Park and Lake Claire — and Toomer Elementary in Kirkwood. The schools essentially would become two campuses, with one campus serving the kindergarten and first grade classes. The other campus would …
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7:22 pm on Monday, February 6, 2012
Peralte, if you want an example of kids not walking Dekalb b/c of danger, the kids for Inman condos get off on Haralson Ave. and walk through our abandoned lot to get home. I started leaving the gate unlocked near my front door so that they (and the bus driver) wouldn't have to deal with that split at Dekalb. more ›
Alice Jonsson
9:30 am on Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Both Reid and Joe have spent countless hours on their community schools. The issue is with the procedures regarding teachers who are having problems coming to work and how the district ensures there are highly qualified teachers in the classroom if for some reason the regular classroom teacher can't be there. There is a huge problem with substitute teachers in APS. That's not a criticism of any … more ›