August Summit Recap: Investing in Students, Strengthening Schools, and Opening Doors on the Westside
At August’s Transform Westside Summit, neighbors, educators, partners, and community leaders came together to celebrate the progress taking place across the Booker T. Washington cluster and consider what more is possible when an entire community invests in its young people.
Westside Future Fund (WFF) President & CEO John Ahmann and Chief Development Officer Jon Ingram welcomed attendees before a devotion from Broderick Thompson-Smith, Founder of Music Without Limits and a Home on the Westside homeowner. Following time for fellowship and an update on Home on the Westside, the morning’s featured presentation, “Principals in Partnership: Advancing Student Success Across the Booker T. Washington Cluster,” brought together school leaders from across the cluster to share their accomplishments, challenges, and priorities for the year ahead.
Making Space for Every Voice
Drawing on his work as a music producer and teacher, Thompson-Smith compared a community to a song: every part has a purpose, and young people already carry creativity, intelligence, vision, and stories within them. The role of a teacher, mentor, or neighbor is to help them recognize the value of what is already there.
“Our young people already have music inside them. They have creativity, intelligence, vision, stories that deserve to be heard,” Thompson-Smith shared.
He connected that lesson to his own journey through Home on the Westside, where he progressed from renter to homeowner by working on his credit, saving, and staying committed to the process. His reminder that transformation requires opportunity, support, accountability, and patient investment became a fitting throughline for the conversation that followed.
Celebrating Progress Across the Cluster
The featured panel included Dr. Teruko Dobashi, Principal of M. Agnes Jones Elementary School; Melanie Sithole, Principal of Tuskegee Airmen Global Academy; Lateisha Andrews, Assistant Principal of Herman J. Russell West End Academy; Annique McMillian, Assistant Principal of Hollis Innovation Academy; and Tiauna Crooms, Principal of Booker T. Washington High School.
Each leader shared meaningful signs of progress.
At M. Agnes Jones, students and teachers have helped the school move off the turnaround list while achieving some of the district’s strongest year-over-year growth in math. Dobashi described students not simply as learners, but as mathematicians, critical thinkers, and advocates who are already finding ways to speak up for their school and community.
At Tuskegee Airmen Global Academy, math proficiency has grown from approximately 11 percent to 40 percent during Sithole’s tenure. The school is also serving as an accelerated literacy model, with two teachers supporting every pre-K through third-grade classroom and a focused set of strategies designed to strengthen early reading.
Andrews highlighted growth in academics, attendance, and discipline at Herman J. Russell West End Academy, crediting the school’s focus on collaborative planning and strong Tier 1 instruction. McMillian shared that Hollis Innovation Academy is seeing math growth across its K–8 classrooms after investing in professional development that helps teachers understand both the standards and the work they place before students.
At Booker T. Washington High School, Crooms pointed to continued growth across algebra, biology, social studies, and graduation outcomes — progress she connected to the work taking place throughout the cluster, from elementary school through high school.
Together, the updates painted a picture of a cluster moving forward with purpose. They also made clear that progress is not the result of any single program or moment. It is built year after year by students, educators, families, and partners working toward a shared standard of excellence.
Holding High Expectations — and Providing the Support to Reach Them
Across the panel, attendance emerged as one of the most urgent shared challenges. Leaders emphasized that students cannot benefit from strong instruction, caring teachers, or new opportunities if they are not consistently in the classroom.
But they also cautioned against treating attendance or behavior as isolated issues. Neighborhood safety, housing instability, transportation, access to food and supplies, and other circumstances can all shape how a student arrives at school — or whether they arrive at all.
Panelists explained the response must combine high expectations with an effort to understand and address the reasons behind a student’s struggle. That can mean meeting a student at the door, connecting a family with wraparound services, creating meaningful incentives, or drawing on the community to help identify and remove barriers.
Dobashi drew on her own experience as a former foster youth to explain why compassion should never become an excuse to expect less from a child.
“Excellence is the bar. It’s the standard,” she said.
Students may need food, social-emotional support, mentorship, or other resources before they are ready to learn. Providing those supports is part of holding them to the same high expectations — and showing them that their circumstances do not determine where they are going.
Moving From Achievement to Access
When Ahmann asked the panelists what support would make the greatest difference, their answers returned repeatedly to intentionality.
For Crooms, the need is access and networks. Booker T. Washington students can graduate with dual-enrollment experience, career certifications, and the skills needed to take their next step. But credentials alone do not automatically place a student in the room where an opportunity becomes available.
“Access and network. We can get them there, but we need someone to support in opening those doors to get them there at the table to interview, or to show them how to network and what needs to be done,” Crooms said.
At the elementary level, Dobashi emphasized exposure and consistency. Students need opportunities to discover interests they may not yet know they have — and adults who return often enough to build lasting relationships. McMillian echoed that need for Hollis’ middle school students, particularly as they prepare to transition into the academic, arts, and career pathways available at Booker T. Washington High School.
Andrews called on partners to invest in the people standing before students each day by celebrating teachers, expanding professional learning, and creating more opportunities for educators across the cluster to collaborate. Sithole asked the community to help tell the story of the cluster’s schools and the high-quality opportunities already available within them.
“You can be our advocate by telling our story,” Sithole said.
Turning Conversation Into Connection
The audience conversation demonstrated what that advocacy and partnership can look like in practice.
Attendees raised questions about marketing the cluster’s schools, supporting teachers, restoring the pool at Hollis Innovation Academy, strengthening athletic programs, and reducing the financial barriers that can prevent students from participating in extracurricular activities. Others used the opportunity to offer direct connections — from mentorship and PTA support to courtroom visits and year-round student internships through the Fulton County Magistrate Court.
The offers reflected a central message of the morning: partnership is most powerful when it begins by listening to what schools say they need. It is not simply about bringing a ready-made program into a building. It is about building relationships, matching community resources to clearly identified priorities, and continuing to show up.
Just as every part of a song helps create the whole, every educator, family, neighbor, institution, and partner has something to contribute to the future of Westside students. When those voices come together around high expectations, patient investment, and meaningful opportunity, the entire community grows stronger.
Missed the event? Watch the full August Transform Westside Summit on YouTube.
