If Mel Gibson made a movie about the unfolding drama concerning the new attendance lines for Fayette’s middle and high schools, he could easily title it “The Passion of the Parents.”

From Fayetteville to the northern reaches of Peachtree City, parents are sounding off on the proposal that will shift students to the new Bennett’s Mill Middle School and change the attendance zone for Fayette County and Whitewater high schools.

During the last week, two groups of affected parents spoke out on the process and offered their view of possible solutions for the board.

In the last few years, residents in the Lakeside and Lakemont subdivisions on Redwine Road have felt like the school board’s scapegoat when it comes to attendance lines. Residents have moved from Fayette County High School to Whitewater High School and now face the prospect of moving back to Fayette County High School.

“My biggest fear is having to move somewhere else in the next two years if there’s another high school built,” said parent David Austin.

For the last few years, many parents have endured having one child at Whitewater and one at Fayette County High School. With this year featuring Whitewater’s first graduating class, many parents thought they were safe from further changing lines. But when the school system unveiled the attendance zones, the two subdivisions found themselves in the firing line once again.

Students in the two subdivisions will also be sent to Bennett’s Mill, but the parents don’t have a problem moving to the new school. They would just like to see the high school attendance zones remain the same.

Armed with spread sheets and growth projections, Austin pointed out the high growth area in the county is near Fayette County High School, while the area around Whitewater High School is experiencing slower growth.

Whitewater High School is currently at capacity, while Fayette County has ample room for more students, but Austin feels this year is an aberration and the two schools’ populations will even out over the next two years.

Across the county in Peachtree City, residents of the Stoney Brook Plantation subdivision on the northern reaches of Peachtree Parkway wonder why their subdivision was chosen to attend Bennett’s Mill Middle School, when Booth is just over a mile south down the parkway.

“We only have 14 students that will go to the new middle school. It’s not like our children would be going to a lesser school, but it just does not make economic sense,” said parent Mike Mitchell.

In a letter to members of the Board of Education, Mitchell asked the board to keep the entire community along the parkway together. If that’s not possible, Mitchell suggested using Lake Kedron as the natural boundary.

“Everything north of the lake, on both sides of the parkway, including Amli apartments, could attend Bennett’s Mill Middle School. This proposal would eliminate the crossover of bus routes to the different schools. It is already difficult to pull out of our subdivision in the morning ... We’re very concerned about the boundaries of the new proposal and what that will do to congestion on Peachtree Parkway.”

In contrast to Smokerise and Kedron Hills, Stoney Brook has only one entrance and exit, which causes great safety concerns for the parents.

“If they had taken the whole area north of the parkway, that would have made sense,” said parent Greg Crook.

Crook added that school officials did an excellent job with such a tough issue, but hopes officials will tweak the final maps before voting on the issue.

“It’s just unfair to the children,” Mitchell added.