Through the 1990s, the eastern part of Coweta County has been one of the fastest growing in the region.

Tuesday night, a concerned parent told the Coweta County Board of Education that the board should consider expanding White Oak Elementary School, which lies in the highest growth part of the county.

Daniel Kazmierczac said an expansion of the school would help solve the overcrowding problem without having to draw new boundary lines to accommodate the growth.

Many of the parents at White Oak have devoted a lot of time and effort at the school, he said, adding that he believes their children should be allowed to stay at White Oak, not be forced to attend another school.

Last May, the school board came under fire for trying to combine the populations of Newnan Crossing Elementary and White Oak Elementary.

The school board called a public hearing last spring to discuss a controversial proposal to put all kindergarten through second grade students at Newnan Crossing and third through fifth grade students at White Oak. With nearly 300 parents on hand ready to joust, school board Chairman Mike Sumner defused the crowd before the first shot could be fired.

“We have decided not to recommend adoption of the proposal to the superintendent,” said Sumner.

The announcement set off a one-minute display of applause and cheers from the crowd. Sumner said the school system would establish a committee to work on the problems at the two schools this summer and look at other alternatives next fall.

The deciding factor, according to the board chairman, was the number of e-mails the system received about the issue. He estimated the system received more than 100 e-mails, with 50 of them arriving at the office Wednesday.

The school board is trying to solve three problems, Sumner said.

First, White Oak is overcrowded. The school has 800 students this year.

Second, Newnan Crossing is being under-used with a population of only 450 students.

Third, there is a high concentration of at-risk students at Newnan Crossing.

The board chairman said the newly established committee would look at possible solutions including redistricting and building an addition at White Oak.

Since the issue was first brought up at a school board meeting earlier in May, parents organized to try and keep the schools with their current configuration and rumors have swirled through the county about why the board was considering such a drastic proposal.

One rumor concerned Pathway Communities Development Corp.'s new development, SummerGrove. SummerGrove is a planned community of 2,000 homes on Lower Fayetteville Road that is currently zoned for the Newnan Crossing school district.

Residents have claimed that Pathway was behind the school consolidation proposal to help the company's homes sell better, but superintendent of education Richard Brooks denied that Pathway was even a consideration in the debate.

The school system's committee on the White Oak situation is scheduled to come to a decision later this fall and report back to the superintendent.

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