“I was very impressed with how polite everyone was last week.”

That was Fayette County School spokesman Melinda Berry-Dreisbach’s assessment of the boundary hearings last week at Booth Middle School.

More than 150 people filed into Booth Middle School’s gym last week to voice their opposition to the Fayette County Board of Education’s plan for new elementary school attendance zones that are designed to relieve overcrowding at three elementary schools.

By far the biggest group at the hearing was a group from Wilshire Estates in Peachtree City. The subdivision is just off Ga. Highway 74, and is within walking distance of the South Complex.

The School Rezoning Committee’s proposal moves 107 students from Wilshire Estates that are currently attending Peeples Elementary to Braelinn Elementary. The move inflamed the passions of the parents who attended the meeting with signs and maps.

Many of the parents were upset that they were asked to move their children again in such a short period of time. In 2001, residents of the subdivision watched their children moved from Braelinn to Peeples to relieve overcrowding at Braelinn. Now, the school system is asking the students to move back to Braelinn.

But Wilshire Estates residents were not the only outraged parents.

Laura Lyn Preble, who lives in Cobblestone Creek, said she looks directly at Peachtree City Elementary from her backyard and is just “seems silly” to move kids in her area from there to Kedron.

The school proposals call for moving 70 students from Burch to Cleveland Elementary and North Fayette, 147 students from Peachtree City Elementary to Kedron Elementary and 107 students from Peeples to Braelinn Elementary. The total number of students moved is 324 and is expected to be voted on by the Fayette County School Board Dec. 19.

Berry-Dreisbach said her office has received a few phone calls about the proposals, but have not been overwhelmed by angry parents’ pleas. The Fayette County Board of education made no comments during last week’s meeting, and is expected to vote on the proposed maps during the Dec. 19 meeting.

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