As the new school year becomes less new and students and staff are adjusting to the reality of the 2022-2023 school year, some fresh faces have appeared around the building. One of these belongs to Byron Barnes, the new Assistant Principal to North Atlanta and head of attendance.  

A native Atlantan, Barnes spent his early years in the walls of Mays High School – a fellow APS school. Barnes attended both Morehouse and Rust College and earned his master’s and leadership certificate from Georgia State University. Starting the 1996-1997 school year, he ventured back into the halls of his youth at Mays and began teaching social science. “It’s really a cool story,” said Barnes. “There was one teacher at Mays who truly inspired me to pursue education and become a teacher. When he retired, I was the one to take over his classroom.”

Since his first year teaching at Mays High School, Barnes has been in the district for twenty-seven years. He may be a new face in our school, but he is certainly an expert when it comes to all things APS. After teaching at Mays High School, he switched to the instructional technology department, educating his own past educators on the emerging world of technology. In the years after leaving Mays, Barnes worked at Crim High School, Therrell High School, and Midtown High School, in an array of unique positions. In the past 2021-2022 school year, he was busy working for the Atlanta Virtual Academy. However, he quickly realized that he belonged in a physical school, rather than a digital one, with a constant community of students and staff. “Even though virtual learning is stimulating as a technology person, being a social science teacher at heart I much prefer being around people as opposed to staring at a screen all day,” said Barnes.

Having been all across APS, it is safe to say Barnes has expertise in the area of public education. However, North Atlanta presents a new array of individuals, cultures, and an ever-growing student population- an atmosphere he is eagerly embracing. Being the assistant principal overseeing school-wide attendance, he has the unique opportunity to combine his tech and social backgrounds to make informed decisions on how to best support the student body. Having worked with students for a large portion of his life, Barnes truly understands and cares about the growth and success of each teenager at North Atlanta. “High school students don’t always know what they want to do with their lives,” he said. “But my biggest piece of advice is that you want to do everything in your power to expand your options for the future, not limit them.”

Barnes’s wide array of experience in education will prove him to be an asset to the mighty North Atlanta community. Welcome to the Warrior family Mr. Barnes!