Wesley International Academy to Move to Former Cook Elementary School Space

Agreement is for one year as school — which wants to stay in the Jackson cluster — seeks a permanent solution.

Atlanta Public Schools and Wesley International Academy have reached a preliminary agreement that will allow the charter school to move into the now-closed Cook Elementary School for the 2013-14 academic year. Both sides expect the deal to be finalized and signed in the next few days. It is only for one year, but it will save Wesley, a K-8 school, roughly $700,000 in rent it pays to Imagine Schools Inc. for its current space in Custer/McDonough/Guice. That money will instead go toward teacher training, supplies and student materials, and other education-related investments at the school, which serves baout 700 kids. “This is a big deal for us. This negotiation was hard fought,” Kamau Bobb, Wesley’s board chairman, told East Atlanta Patch…

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Wesley International Academy's Phoenix Bots Take First Place

They now advance to the regional robotics tournament on Jan. 12 at Clayton State University.

Wesley International Academy to Host Open House Dec. 6

Prospective students entering Kindergarten through eighth grades in the 2013-2014 school year are encouraged to attend.

Wesley International Academy is hosting an Open House on Thursday, Dec. 6, 2012, from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at 1049 Custer Ave. Wesley International Academy offers students a highly rigorous academic environment which focuses on a unique foundation of three core principles: an authorized International Baccalaureate (IB) Programme, single gender classroom setting and daily Chinese Mandarin instruction for all students.   Prospective students entering Kindergarten through eighth grades in the 2013-2014 school year are encouraged to attend. New student applications will be accepted Jan. 1, 2013. To stay up-to-date on the enrollment dates, deadlines and process, visit the website at www.wesleyacademy.org. Wesley International Academy is open to …

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Two Wesley International Academy Students Share Chinese Honors

Wesley International Academy students shared honors at Georgia State University’s Confucius Institute recent Chinese calligraphy contest.

Help Wanted

Who's Hiring?: Wesley International Academy

Music teacher wanted.

Wesley International Academy the K-8 public charter school in Custer/McDonough/Guice, has a position open for a music teacher. As a prerequisite for all positions at Wesley, all employees must: Specfically for the music teacher position, all candidates should understand: To Apply:  Submit résumé and letter of interest to: duke.bradley@wesleyacademy.org.

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APS Superintendent Wants Cook Elementary For Teacher Training Lab

Cook off the table for Wesley International Academy, but Davis says there other options.

Atlanta Public Schools Superintendent Erroll B. Davis Jr. wants to use the now-closed Cook Elementary School as a teacher training center. "It is my intention to use Cook as a teacher excellence institute," Davis said in a meeting Thursday night with a group of parents mostly from the Jackson High School cluster. "We're going to train teachers and take them out of the classrooms in a more timely manner if they're not performing in a way that we'd like." The institute would serve as a lab of sorts, tapping into the expertise at Georgia State University, he said. Teachers would get classroom instruction and practice on avatar or virtual students, he told the parents and teachers and principals in attendance. He said he wants Cook — one of …

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Wesley International Academy Names New Principal

Duke J. Bradley III, picked from pool of 150 applicants.

by Lee Landenberger After an extensive national search, Duke J. Bradley III has been named the new principal at Wesley International Academy. Wesley International Academy, an Atlanta Public Schools charter school in its sixth year, serves students kindergarten through eighth grade in a single-gender setting. The school, located in Southeast Atlanta's Custer/McDonough/Guice community, follows guidelines set by the International Baccalaureate Organization’s Primary Years and Middle Years programs. It also has an extensive Mandarin Chinese program. Nearly 150 applicants for the principal position were interviewed over four months. The search committee consisted of three board members, three parents and five staff members. “When I introduced …

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Wesley International Academy Parents Address APS Board

Charter school pleads its case for a bigger school.

Wesley International Academy, the charter school in Custer/McDonough/Guice, has space needs. Atlanta Public Schools has seven newly closed schools it hopes to repurpose to other uses. One of those schools — Cook Elementary in Capitol Gateway — just got an $8 million facelift, to boot. Those reasons were just a few that parents and supporters of Wesley International gave APS board members Monday during its monthly meeting. Their cause wasn't on the board's agenda, but Wesley supporters wanted to ensure that board members heard and understood their arguments. APS officials say they're looking at several different use options for the now-closed schools, but that no final decisions have been made.

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Patch Voices

APS Redistricting: Wesley International Academy Parents To Press Cook Utilization

Parents say allowing their charter school to relocate to Cook, which closed this year, makes sense on several levels.

Editor's note: To parents of Wesley International Academy in Custer/McDonough/Guice, it's a no-brainer: Their charter school needs a new home. Atlanta Public Schools closed seven schools amidst falling enrollments and property tax revenue, including Cook Elementary in Capitol Gateway. Wesley parents want to rent Cook and APS' approval would mean $875,000 a year in rent to the district — money, parents say, that could be used to bolster academic programs. Wesley parents, who already have 657 signatures on a petition for the Wesley-to-Cook initiative, plan to make their case for APS to support the measure as well as more attention to the Jackson High School cluster at the June 4 meeting of the APS Board of Education. Richard Quartarone, a …

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APS Redistricting: Wesley International Academy Wants To Utilize Cook Campus

WIA parents create petition to draw attention and support for move.

A group of parents at Wesley International Academy in Custer/McDonough/Guice have started a petition to convince Atlanta Public Schools officials that the public charter school should be allowed to move in to Cook Elementary School. Cook, which is a few miles away from Wesley's current home on Custer Avenue SE, is one of seven APS schools that will close at the end of the 2011-12 school year. "According to Superintendent Davis, the 'sole purpose' of closing Cook Elementary and other schools was the 'improvement of the education delivered to students every day,' " the petition reads. "Wesley pays $875,000.00 in rent to a real estate company in Virginia. If Wesley moves to a closed school, this $875,000.00 can improve education for APS …

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