Dr. Lisa Herring was officially sworn in as the new superintendent of Atlanta Public Schools in a brief ceremony on Wednesday morning, July 1.
In her remarks, Herring thanked the Atlanta Board of Education for their vote of confidence in selecting her to succeed Meria Carstarphen. Herring also acknowledged the challenges the district faces, most immediately the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
“We stand in a space of anxiousness, curiosity, worry, hope and optimism,” Herring said.
The new superintendent also compared the work that must be done as “two seasons.”
“We are in a season of renewal and our children must be well,” she said. “They also must be loved well, taught well, encouraged well. But well isn’t good enough. We have to do more.”
Herring also said this was a “season of fear and uncertainty,” and attributed some of that to the ongoing protests against racial injustice and the pandemic.
“What I know for sure those who are ushering in the change of this season are the children who have been taught well,” she said.
Herring and the school board are expected to make a decision mid-July on how the 2020-21 academic year will proceed. APS will decide if students will return to the classroom, continue to learn from home, or if there will be a hybrid of the two.
“My heart is grounded and my head is structured for doing, unapologetically, what is right for our children,” she said.
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