As-Salaam Alaikum, New and Returning families! Dear Parents and Students:

The 2011-2012 school year is ripe with promises of revitalizing and redirecting our efforts to the ideals of Islamic education at its best! To start us out on the right foot we will open our year with a new administrative structure that will advance our students academically, our educational goals and our reach into the broader community. for the upcoming school year we will have a more distributed leadership structure in place. In addition to a school director, we will now have a principal for the elementary and high school. The role of the principal will be the leader of teacher leaders whose great work will be to inspire students to do meaningful work that will prepare them for their future. The director’s role will focus more on administrative, fiscal, marketing, and planning functions. The principal will assume greater responsibility for day-to-day operations. The roles of the administrators will shift to directly addressing and supporting the needs of students. Supporting this framework will be an instructional lead teacher for the elementary and middle schools. With this structure in place we can assure that students are being engaged, that the curriculum is balanced to include technology, the arts, and rich media experiences. Assessment practices will be research-based, and each student will move forward after achieving mastery Insha-Allah, this will provide us with the capacity to maintain a constant direction towards academic excellence, sound practices and procedures, Islamic values and commitments, and the capacity to act strategically. In order to sustain this momentum we will need the full support of every stakeholder as we work to attain the future we have envisioned. The initiative of the Majlis Ashura and the Consultative Board in restructuring administrative leadership and responsibilities are planned to accomplish the organizational objectives of clarifying who is responsible for what and holding those responsible accountable. Those objectives also include improving the quality of decision-making and a greater sense of ownership of the school by its stakeholders.

As we worked through last year’s concerns we came to a shared understanding of the changes needed to ensure an even greater future for our school and school community. We understand that we must focus on transparency and educating our parents and community about the need for reform and doing this on a regular basis and utilizing multiple media and approaches to accomplish this goal. We also must continue to work within our community to develop the vision even further of what our school could and should be. Working together with the IPTSCA, the town hall initiatives, the Faith Institute, and the community in general, we can formulate a vision of how our school should operate and identify the practices of teachers, administrators, parents, students, and community that are consistent with the vision.
The curriculum will be enhanced this year with the addition of a Hafiz program, an additional foreign language, more male teacher leaders in the middle school, and three dynamic teacher teams at each level. The quality of work of students and Islamic Adab will be the central concern at each level. Our target goals are reading proficiency at every level and improving mathematical and scientific skills at every level, and a strong team of teachers, headed by our School Improvement Chairperson, Sis.Janette Nu’Man, has defined Islamic standards for our core areas including Arabic and Islamic Studies.

Throughout the year we will be implementing these standards along with state and national standards of excellence. Integrating Islamic Adab with the skills required for the 21st century such as creative thinking, collaboration and teamwork, interpersonal skills, goal setting and problem solving will expand what is taught in each core subject and re-establish our students at the forefront of excellence! Underpinning our curriculum will be an even stronger focus on personal discipline, morality, cleanliness, integrity, and development of the “self”, and each month, some aspect of Self-Development will be the central theme of character building.

Come prepared this year to be an active participant and partner in your child’s education. The entire community will be involved in helping to set and attain high standards for our school. This is just the beginning of creating our children’s and our own future.

Sincerely,
Safiyyah Shahid
Director of Mohammed Schools of Atlanta

“…That not only is the child born with that motivation of intelligence, but also with that motivation that results in work, industry, and production. That is what the world doesn’t want you to know- That it’s your nature, it’s your purpose on this earth to be intellectual, to be mentally productive, and to be industrious, creative, and productive both with mind and hands.”

-Imam W.D.Mohammed
Scholar, Thinker, Leader

It is so easy to drift into feeling discouraged about our children and students…especially with the high social and academic expectations we set upon them. Somehow, we think that students today are not as motivated as in former times. But think about it for a minute; when I was growing up, I heard similar complaints from my teachers and principal that students of the day were not performing as well as former students. I disagreed then and now. Perhaps it is the lens that we use to see our children that is quite different from the lens that they see themselves. However, when we reflect on the above quotation by Imam Mohammed, we recognize that it is our responsibility to bring the best out of our students by reinforcing what Allah has already placed in them.

“…Our goal is to teach all students to accept their G’d given responsibilities and full potential, as we provide a nurturing environment that engages students in discovery and critical thinking.”

-Mohammed Schools Mission

So, what am I suggesting?…In our Mission to create the ultimate Mohammed Schools Experience , we should offer recognition (positive reinforcement) especially to our students for the tiniest steps in the right direction. In the words of Mark Twain, “I can live for two months on a good compliment.”

One of our Arabic teachers, Jamila Bouchta, models positive reinforcement by using a gentle and tone as she encourages and praises students for the smallest step in the right direction. In return, she is rewarded with full cooperation and respect from students. Jamila says we all need to have more patience, understanding, and compassion with our children and each other.

Positive Reinforcement…use it literally, starting now!!!

Principal/Director Shahid

February 2010

“An Overview of the SACS Review!”

Dear Parents,

Before you know it, we will be hosting our five year Quality Assurance Review (QAR) from Advance-Ed, our accrediting agency. We have submitted our Standards Assessment Report (SAR) and we are very pleased with our results. On Wednesday, February 3, 2010, we will have a Pre-Visit with our chairperson for the QAR visiting team, Ms.Pat Summers. During this meeting we will discuss the logistics for the upcoming visit such as hotel accommodations, transportation, and meal arrangements, as well as the schedule of activities for the 2 days.

During the visit, the team will interview the Director/Principal, the school leadership team, teachers, students, parents, Consultative Board members, and members of the community. The team will also examine artifacts and practices that provide evidence of the seven standards:
1.) Vision and Purpose
2.) Governance and Leadership
3.) Teaching and Learning,
4.) Documenting and Using Results,
5.) Resource and Support Systems,
6.) Stakeholder Communications and Relationships, and
7.) Commitment to Continuous Improvement.

These are the standards that accredited schools are expected to meet, and, In-sha-Allah, our school is in compliance with these standards.

Parents are needed on the logistics committee to help ensure that the visiting team is treated to the highest quality of hospitality. If you are interested in serving on the committee, please call Sis. Edwina at (404)378-1042. If you are willing to be interviewed by the team, please let Sis. Edwina know as well. Those being interviewed will meet with the leadership team and will receive a list of topics the team will discuss.

On another note, we are enlisting the support of all our families for our “Day of Majesty” fundraiser. It is a critical part of fulfilling the financial obligations of the school! We are gearing up for a wonderful weekend during Moonlight Ball, but before we can move forward on that, we MUST fulfill our obligations towards the Day of Majesty. We are asking that each students 3K-8th grade raise AT LEAST $150 towards this fundraiser. Each High School student, we are asking that they bring in $30 for the month of February. Those $30 represent 30 years of uninterrupted Islamic Independent Education! It is a mighty accomplishment to celebrate, and we know that you feel the same. For all families that do not feel compelled to participate in the “Day of Majesty”, please remember your obligation through your Fundraising Contract-that all students are obligated to participate at the $150 level.

Thank you for all that you do on behalf of the Mohammed Schools! May Allah continue to bless us with 30+ more years of Islamic Independent Education!

As-Salaam Alaikum

Safiyyah Shahid

Our tuition is one of the lowest among private schools in the metro area. Tuition costs at some other private schools range from $13,000 to $20,000 on the high end.

While we are proud to say that our tuition did not go up this year, a fact that has helped many parents, the drop in enrollment along with family tuition assistance means that fewer dollars are available for staffing. Within the first weeks of school, we saw that we were headed for a monthly deficit of $12,000 based on current enrollment. To address this issue, we were forced to eliminate a full time position in the middle school and cover those classes with other instructional staff who held at minimum a bachelor’s degree in the field of science. In this way we are able to meet critical certification and education qualifications required by our accrediting agency.

In addition to middle school reassignments, modified budgetary allocations have been put in place for the early childhood department involving Pre-K 3, 1st and 2nd grades. At the high school level we have put in place credentialed staff in the Counselor’s Office, an AP teacher in the English department and a social studies teacher to fill a vacant social studies position.

Again, these decisions support our instructional priorities to utilize school resources more effectively. As we move into the future, we envision a school where all Muslim parents who desire to put their children in Mohammed Schools will be able to do so. Our goal is to increase our capacity to best use the resources we already have more strategically, including staff, time, and money.

We thank you for your support and encouragement as we reprioritize and reorganize to become the school we have envisioned for the success of our students!

Respectfully,

Safiyyah Shahid
Director/Principal