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No new elementary schools needed?

By J. FRANK LYNCH
jflynch@thecitizennews.com

The number of new students enrolling in Fayette County schools slowed dramatically over the past year, leading Superintendent John DeCotis to shuffle school construction priorities.

Now, the county won't need a new elementary school “for at least five years,” DeCotis said, but two new middle schools will be required.

Figures released last week by DeCotis showed 21,597 students were enrolled countywide on Aug. 17, just 382 more than were on the rolls in September 2003.

That’s a growth rate of just 1.7 percent.

In actual numbers, 200 more students were enrolled at the high school grades on Aug. 17 compared to a year ago and 202 more were enrolled at Fayette middle schools.

But the enrollment in the elementary grades actually declined by 20 students from a year ago, to remain virtually unchanged.

“The last few years we’ve been averaging about 500 new students,” said DeCotis, emphasizing that the totals weren’t that far off the mark. “We credit that 500 a year average on the good planning of our municipalities” to control growth.

Besides, said DeCotis, enrollment increases in Fayette County have traditionally taken a slow and steady course, instead of the huge summer leap that many communities see year after year.

“That’s one of the trends we’ve seen, but we don’t know why,” he said. “Growth is more steady and controlled all year around here.”

Neighboring Coweta County had 578 more students on its opening day Aug. 6 compared to a year ago, officials there said. Coweta expects to add more than 1,000 new students by the time Labor Day rolls around, a spokesman said.

But that doesn’t compare to nearby Henry County, where more than 2,400 new students showed up on the first day of school, a spokeswoman said.

DeCotis suggested that the aging of certain neighborhoods, particularly in Peachtree City, was the reason for the slight drop in enrollment in the elementary grades.

“We’re starting to see a transition in certain neighborhoods with older families moving out and younger families moving in,” said DeCotis, though the Huddleston Elementary district is one that showed an unexpected spike in enrollment this fall, he said.

“If you drive the community there are still a lot of subdivisions going up,” said DeCotis. “The elementary populations are going to continue to increase.”

That’s why the board of education still intends to build two new elementary schools if voters approve a $65 million bond referendum on November’s general election ballot.

But because of the leveling off of enrollment in the elementary grades, those schools won’t necessarily be built right away, DeCotis said.

“That was one of the debates that we went ‘round and ‘round to try and resolve,” DeCotis said. “We were originally asking for three elementary schools, but now we’re seeing a need for just two and we’ve moved them to the end of the project list.”

When board members approved terms of the referendum last week, they agreed to go with two separate series of bonds instead of one. The first set for about $35 million would be issued in January should voters approve the plan and would fund the construction of a new middle school adjacent to Cleveland Elementary, and additions to several schools, including Peeples and Brooks elementary schools, and Rising Starr Middle.

The second set of bonds for the remaining balance of the funds approved by voters would be issued on an as-needed basis, said DeCotis.

“If the bond were to pass we probably wouldn’t have a need for new elementary schools for five years at least,” said DeCotis. “But it doesn’t have to be done right away.”

“The middle schools is the most crucial need right now,” he said.

Fayette’s middle schools posted the largest numerical growth rate from a year ago, and Rising Starr, with 1,200 students, remains the county’s largest middle school. J.C. Booth isn’t far behind, with 1,157 students. Whitewater Middle has 1,142.

Plans to build onto both Sandy Creek High and Whitewater High have been removed from the next five-year building program, DeCotis said.

Sandy Creek, with a capacity for 1,500 students, has never been full. This year, it has enrolled 1,296. But Whitewater High, which also opened this year with a capacity for 1,500, already has 830 students in just ninth and tenth grades.

Adding another grade at Whitewater has significantly reduced the enrollment at Fayette County High, which saw 1,799 students on Aug. 17. Starr’s Mill High has also seen a slight drop in enrollment, to 1,748.

But McIntosh High has grown by more than 100 students over a year ago, to 1,645.

DeCotis said he expects the system to continue to grow.

“The last few days we’ve added more and we’ll be adding many right through Labor Day,” he said.

DeCotis reminded parents they have until Sept. 1 to prove residency by providing a copy of leases, mortgage, utility bills or sworn affidavits.