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Stung by public anger, schools want to improve method for redrawing attendance linesTue, 01/30/2007 - 5:02pm
By: John Thompson
After last fall’s attendance boundaries hearing that left many parents feeling exasperated and left out, the Fayette County School System has decided to do things a little differently this year. Boundaries will be set this fall for the new elementary school that will open on Ga. Highway 92 and Inman Road in August of 2008. But before the first line is drawn, a new way of communicating information and getting input will be developed. Assistant Superintendent of Operations Sam Sweat told the Fayette County Board of Education at their retreat Saturday morning that a task force would be established. “We can do a better job,” Sweat said. The task force will feature one representative from each of the county’s 17 elementary schools and will offer input to the boundary committee on the new lines. Still unannounced is whether the individual school representatives will be parents or school system employees or some combination of the two categories. Sweat said he took responsibility for the controversy that swirled around last year’s decision, but said the school system just didn’t communicate well with the public. “People thought something behind closed doors was going on with developers. We just didn’t provide enough information on the front end of the process,” he added. Board member Janet Smola suggested that representatives from the county’s middle and high schools should possibly included in the task force, because of the feeder patterns from the elementary schools to the higher grades. Sweat said he would look at the idea, but said he didn’t want a task force that was too large and unmanageable. He estimated the task force would probably be formed in April and start working on boundary lines, so the committee could evaluate all the proposals next fall. login to post comments |