Our History: Kingfisher Academy, Inc. is located in historic East Atlanta in DeKalb County. Demographic studies showed a large increase in children under the age of 6. This area has rapidly changed over the past ten years. The neighborhoods around East Atlanta have become more middle-class with more medium income families, but there are fewer small neighborhood public schools than ever.

Atlanta’s BuildSmart program and DeKalb’s new combination schools strategy has created very large public elementary schools and has resulted in closing the smaller, more family-friendly schools that the neighborhoods identified with. We were asked to open a very small elementary program in the East Atlanta/DeKalb area.

1998-1999--We opened to a small group of Preschool students, with two teachers.

1999-2000--We experienced a dramatic amount of interest and doubled in size. In January 2001, we began an environmental science program funded by a Captain Planet Foundation award that allowed us to add an outdoor classroom component to our school. We also received several grants that allowed us to offer scholarship monies to families with that need. Diversity is extremely important to our mission and we are proud to have one of the most diverse student populations of any private school in the city.

2002-2003--Due to many requests for a middle-grades cluster, we opened an additional classroom for that group. We joined the peace schools movement and our middle-schoolers collaborated with Friends School in Decatur to sponsor a one-day workshop on peace issues relating to middle-school students. This year, we had five staff members.

2003-2004--We opened an additional preschool classroom emphasizing kindergarten readiness skills. We participated in several service projects at Brownwood Park, Grant Park, Shoal Creek Park, and N.H. Scott parks during that school year. We now regularly have art displays in neighborhood businesses, restaurants, coffee houses, and libraries. We’ve received a couple of small grants and

have been able to offer a before and after school program for our working parents at no extra cost. During the summer before school started, we began renting a 4000 square foot building on Flat Shoals Road. We filled this building up very quickly with a new art room, a science lab, and an additional classroom.

2007-2008 --We moved to a 5200 square foot space at Martha Brown United Methodist on Metropolitan and Moreland with hopes of developing a more collaborative approach with other East Atlanta/DeKalb organizations. We intend to continue to serve the working families that we have always served with a moderate tuition and we intend to remain small and friendly, This year we had 9staff members.

2008-2009 -- We have finished the long process of seeking accreditation for our school. We passed the first hurdle in October of 2008, and with a visit from Dr. Charles Hawk from the Georgia Accrediting Commission in October 2009, he awarded us Accredited with Quality (the highest ranking). He found us in nearly perfect shape in terms of safety, building use, class size. Our focus during thisschool year will be taking continuing education courses to demonstrate our willingness to explore new ideas.

2009-2010 -- We are now moving toward our eleventh year of operation. Our enrollment goes up and down with the economy, but has typically ranged between 48 and 55 students. We have 8 staff members. The space at Martha Brown has given us time to think about what we want in our own building and has made us aware of the attachment we feel to this neighborhood and this side of the city. We will be searching for permanent space over the next two years and expect to find something not far from where we have been for the past six years. We know we will continue our focus on the environment, on outdoor classrooms, on project-based work, on reading real literature and experimenting with drama, and on collaborating with small neighborhood arts and movement groups to allow real world

experience into our planning. Right now, our professional staff is larger than it’s ever been and we have more experienced teachers than ever before. 

Our diverse student body is made up of children from Eastern Europe, from Guatemala, from Sweden, from all over the U.S. Our children are black and white and Hispanic and Mediterranean. We are Christians, Jews, Buddhists, and Muslims. Our diversity is part of our strength and makes every day at Kingfisher interesting. Many of the children that started with us back in 1998 are nearing graduation from high school. The first class is in their sophomore year at college. 

Each year, our alumni visit us and tell us about their feats in high school and what we love to hear is how much they are still “Kingfisher Kids”—full of curiosity, stubbornly determined to learn in their own way, anxious to demonstrate their leadership skill, making plans for colleges all over the US. One

graduate is going to Cooking School and one is headed to become an Outdoor Leadership Instructor. Three of our kids are at Grady and two are at Tri-cities High School. We have three at Druid Hills High School. One of our grads is traveling to Europe with his debate team this coming summer. One has started an environmental studies club at Druid Hills and she has served on the student leadership teams. Our Kingfisher Kids are heading into the world feeling confident and sure of their interests. It’s wonderful for us to observe and a pleasure to know them.