Principal for a Day: Sylvan Hills Middle welcomes Pat Willis and Courtney Gay

Pat Willis visits a sixth-grade English/language arts class.

Pat Willis, executive director, Voices for Georgia’s Children, and Courtney Gay, community affairs manager for the Atlanta Braves, were Principals for a Day at Sylvan Hills Middle School where Gwen Atkinson is the principal.

Their day started with orientation, followed by a tour of the school’s single-gender structure for its 442 students. Atkinson took Willis and Gay to visit Program for Exceptional Children self-contained classrooms and inclusion classrooms, as well as each wing of the school where sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade girls and boys are separated.

Courtney Gay visits a sixth-grade social studies class.

Following classroom visits, the principals had a meeting with Sylvan Hills’ instructional team to explain the various programs offered by the school, including the Success For All (SFA) reading program. Sylvan Hills’ SFA students are divided up by teams and the students name their teams after colleges. After the meeting, Willis and Gay had an opportunity to co-teach with teachers Johanna Melton, Cedric Peeples, Latanya Bailey and LaShawn Thompson.

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