When the Atlanta Public Schools’ (APS’s) yellow busses roll down East Brookhaven Drive this fall, Jackson (11) and Blayne (8) Schickel will be among the Historic Brookhaven kids onboard. Jackson is starting sixth grade at Sutton Middle School’s Powers Ferry Road campus and Blayne is matriculating into third grade at Sarah Smith Elementary School.

 

“She’s excited to move up to the new campus,” says mom Courtney of Sarah Smith’s third-through-fifth grade campus on Wieuca Road. The Old Ivy Road building, which houses kindergarten through second grade, opened as Sarah Smith Elementary in 1952. The “new” campus opened in 2010 and the school split into two locations.

 

Jackson has been part of Sarah Smith’s dual language immersion program. In the program, students spend half their day in English-only speaking classes and the other half in Spanish-only instruction. Jackson, who is now conversational in Spanish, will continue the dual program at Sutton with about half of his classes. Courtney says her son is looking forward to merging with sixth graders from other area elementary schools as well as being able to sample Sutton’s extracurricular activities and club sports.

 

“Our kids love going to school,” says Courtney.

 

Jackson and Blayne aren’t the only Schickels involved with APS. Dad Matt is co-treasurer for the Sarah Smith Education Foundation (SSEF). Through various fundraising activities, the parent-run SSEF works to augment the curriculum-related needs of teachers above what APS can provide. For example, the Foundation might pay for a teacher to attend a training class not provided by the school district. A few years ago the SSEF bought Prometheus boards for all the classrooms.

 

“It keeps you close to the school,” says Matt of his involvement.

 

August isn’t just the beginning of school; it’s also the month when fall sports and other activities kick off. Both Jackson and Blayne play baseball, basketball, and soccer. Jackson also plays chess. Blayne has participated in robotics and tried a variety of after-school offerings at Sarah Smith.

 

But mostly, “they are outdoor sports kids,” Courtney says. Over the summer, both Schickel children played baseball. Blayne is the all-star girl on a boys’ team and also part of Baseball for All, a girls’ baseball league designed to recognize and encourage girls in sports. She plays on the Georgia 10-and-under team, the Georgia Peaches. The team went to Kentucky in July for a national all-girl tournament.

 

Courtney, who retired three years ago from her role as chief revenue officer for a start-up technology company, jokes that fall is actually when the kids slow down a bit. Matt is a partner at EVE, a transportation and logistics investment firm.