Atlanta Public Schools redistrcting
The Atlanta Public School system will close 10 of its schools under a sweeping redistricting plan.
The final proposal was released Saturday by Superintendent Erroll Davis. The plan will eliminate about 5,500 of 13,000 extra seats.
The plan also organizes schools in a "cluster" format, where groups of elementary schools feed into the same middle and high school. It will be voted on April 10. Davis says he can change the final recommendation if new, compelling information or data are received before that meeting.
"While it is difficult to propose the closing of any school, it is a necessary step to ensuring that all of our schools are enrolled to minimum capacities so that essential educational resources can be equitably distributed," Davis said in a letter posted on the school system’s website. "As it is now, under-enrolled schools are not eligible for the resources that schools that are at or near full capacity receive."
13 schools were to be closed under a plan released in March. Instead, 10 schools will go. New to the list are Stanton and Towns Elementary schools.
"Y'all close this school, it is going to mess the whole community up," Jason Goodman told Channel 2 Action he lives in the Stanton Elementary district.
Other elementary schools to be cut are Capitol View, Cook, East Lake, Herndon and White. Parks and Kennedy middle schools are also slated to close.
The new list does save Thomasville Heights, Boyd, Fain and Humphries Elementary schools. Coan Middle School was also taken off the list.
"We stayed up and we checked at midnight, and we actually went out to celebrate," said Cindy Smith, the parent of two Coan students.
Since the redistricting process started last fall, thousands have crammed into community meetings, and the district has received more than 9,000 comments on proposals released by demographers in the past few months.
Davis said that many schools with low enrollment are not eligible for state funding for the resources they receive.
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