Wednesday, December 5, 2001
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Wednesday, December 5, 2001 |
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BOE: No negative comments wanted Public to get one hearing on new school attendance lines By MONROE ROARK
With 450 new students showing up for classes each year, the Fayette County Board of Education is facing one of its least favorite and most controversial tasks: Redrawing school attendance lines for next year. The board has set one public hearing on the proposed attendance zone changes for which speakers must sign up beforehand. But the board doesn't want to hear "negative comments" about neighborhoods, schools, students or educators, according to the "attendance boundary guidelines" distributed at the Monday meeting. The limitations are "to ensure that the meeting generates constructive ideas and suggestions," the board document said. The board has scheduled a special called meeting for next Monday, Dec. 10, at 7 p.m. in the Fayette Middle School gymnasium, 450 Grady Ave., Fayetteville, to allow public comment on the proposed lines. The board is expected to vote on the new districts at its regular meeting the following Monday, Dec. 17, two weeks after the new attendance maps were first unveiled to the public. Assistant Superintendent Stuart Bennett presented the maps with the proposed new lines at the school board's meeting Monday afternoon, and spent a few minutes explaining how the committee that researched the issue came to its conclusions. There was no public comment or board comment after Bennett's presentation. The changes being recommended are intended to meet the needs of the system, which is growing at a rate of about 450 students per year, for five to six years, Bennett said. The proposed new lines have kept movement of young people between school districts to an absolute minimum, Bennett added, although he went on to say that more drastic changes could be necessary in several years as growth continues. Another high priority in the process was to keep from splitting up neighborhoods or subdivisions, and while that occasionally made for some unusual lines, that was accomplished, Bennett said. In compiling the information needed to draw the maps, school officials spoke to municipal officials as well as builders and developers to get the most accurate possible information on future development, Bennett said. The maps reflected this, as each district was identified with actual current school enrollment as well as numbers of approved building permits signifying future possible residences, Bennett said. The elementary school districts for the 2002-03 academic year include two new schools that are coming on line next fall Sara Harp Minter Elementary on Ga. Highway 85 south of Fayetteville, and Cleveland Elementary on Lester Road on the western edge of Fayetteville. School officials expect Harp Elementary to open with as many as 620 students, Bennett said, putting it close to the normal elementary school capacity of 800. Cleveland Elementary, in the center of the county, should open with far fewer students, but that district could be adjusted to ease the load at surrounding schools and plenty of residential growth is expected to continue in that area in the meantime. The following year's map includes an elementary school slated for the West Village area of Peachtree City, called the Katz Area school by officials at Monday's meeting. Current projections show that school could open with about 450 students for the 2003-04 school year. The middle school and high school maps are unique in that they are essentially the same map. Drawn to show lines for the 2004-05 school year, when the newest high school opens in the Lisbon area south of Fayetteville, the maps are uniform throughout the county, with no overlapping between middle schools and high schools. Thus, Fayette Middle feeds Fayette High, Flat Rock Middle feeds Sandy Creek, Booth Middle feeds McIntosh, Rising Starr Middle feeds Starr's Mill, and Whitewater feeds the new school, as yet unnamed. School officials project that Fayette County High, currently the most populous school in the county by far, will have an enrollment of just under 1,400 when the new school opens. Fayette County High's current enrollment is 2,168. Local citizens are encouraged to attend Monday's public hearing and voice their opinions on the maps now being proposed, and some comments could lead to changes being made before the Dec. 17 vote. Parents and community members wishing to address the board will need to sign up before the meeting begins. A sign-in sheet will be placed on a table outside the gym, and only those who sign up will be permitted to speak, in the order in which they sign up. Speakers are advised to avoid asking many questions, since the board will be there strictly to listen to their opinions, although staff will be available to answer general questions if necessary. Each speaker will be limited to five minutes, so that everyone who wishes to speak has an opportunity to do so. Negative comments about neighborhoods, students, personnel or schools will be withheld.
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