Submitted by Carson Matthews
The Buckhead Blog
On Friday the Atlanta Public Schools, APS, released it’s latest plans for a redistricting project that has received lots of parental and community scrutiny. From a Buckhead standpoint, there was a lot of concern with entire neighborhoods moving in and out of elementary schools, Sutton Middle School overcrowding, and the new North Atlanta High School. In a big way, Buckhead homes are bought and sold according to the school district they fall into. It’s a really big deal to both homeowners and home buyers alike.
I can tell you that many parents in the Pine Hills neighborhood were able to breath a sigh of relief with the new plans which keep their neighborhood in the Sarah Smith Elementary School district, one of the top elementary schools in the city of Atlanta. The question is, will it stick and which plan will make the cut?
Carson blogged live as the meeting was going on and here are his notes from Wednesday nights meeting:
“Tonight I am at North Atlanta High School for the APS redistricting meeting. Currently the PTA presidents from each School in the Northside cluster are asking questions of the APS panel. There is a lot of skepticism around the information the demographers are using to make their decisions and recommendations. I will say the buzzer is keeping things fun. Each speaker is allowed 2 minutes to speak and almost every one has run over. At 2 minutes the buzzer goes off no matter what is being said, grabbing chuckles from the crowd.”
*A solid question being asked is why is Morris Brandon being targeted for redistricting only 2 years after actually going through a redistricting with Warren T Jackson?
* So far most of the parental input is based around their homes and parts of neighborhoods being redistricted out of Morris Brandon, Sarah Smith and E. Rivers. All of the represented neighborhoods thus far are heavily impacted by the elementary school they fall into, and redistricting out of those schools will likely affect property values.
* A parent from Garden Hills just drew a standing ovation and a few tears from the crowd after a request that these decisions be made without racial or ethnic prejudice.
* Still loving the buzzer…
* Nancy Meister said that dividing neighborhoods was never their intention and will likely get cleaned up in future recommendations.
* Neighbors talking about an exodus from public schools because of this process and questionable info coming from the demographers…
* Two middle schools allows twice as many kids to be involved, be on a staff, and be on a team…and not get lost in the crowd that a huge middle school could bring…coming from a Middle school teacher…
* Overall there was a nice representation from the greater Buckhead community, and believe me, each neighborhood has an opinion. The APS has a tough decision in front of them to pull this together and keep people happy. Not that keeping us happy is the goal, but I hope communities and community schools are kept together.
For more information regarding the redistricting maps click here.