Superintendent addresses parents, students over ousted principal

ATLANTA — Atlanta school Superintendent Errol Davis addressed parents Tuesday night after North Atlanta High School interim Principal Mark MyGrant was let go.

MyGrant, an assistant vice principal and top academy leaders were all unexpectedly removed from their jobs Friday.

His dismissal has caused an uproar among parents and students from the school.

"We can handle change. We really can. But change is really different from ambushing a community of parents," parent Andrea Shelton told Channel 2's Tony Thomas.

Davis met with parents and students for 90 minutes Tuesday night over the sudden release of the administrators.

He said MyGrant's release was a personnel issue and wouldn't get into details about why.

Davis told everyone at the meeting that he wants the performance of the school system and North Atlanta High to be on a better level.

"My goal is to move as quickly as possible to a higher level of performance," Davis told the crowded gymnasium.

He also said North Atlanta High has missed AYP for five years and improvement had to be made.

"With the commitment of the parents here, with the resources we have here, this high school should be number one in every performance factor," Davis said.

Students have signed an online petition asking for the administrators to be reinstated and for APS to explain.

MyGrant said he was let go after unfounded allegations surfaced that two employees he hired were racist.

He delivered documents to district headquarters Tuesday, claiming they prove his innocence.

MyGrant said the 25 pages of materials he delivered to the district will prove he didn't try to hire racists.

He also made an appearance at Tuesday evening’s meeting. He said he didn’t believe all the talk about failed test scores.

“If that's the case, should I not have been evaluated with that the last four years? I've had excellent evaluations and I again feel this is just greed gone wild,” MyGrant said.

“I would, quite frankly, rather have people angry at me for the decisions I've made than angry at the new principal,” Davis told Thomas after the meeting.

Wednesday will be the first day of classes at North Atlanta High since all everything happened. Temporary administrators will be on hand.

The new principal, who was hired from the Gwinnett school system, starts at the end of the month.

WSBTV