An August resolution by Coweta County School Board designed to formulate a recommendation for new district lines for elementary and middle schools came to fruition Dec. 13 with the announcement that the work done by committees comprised of parents and school administrators had been completed.

Though the proposed district lines were not discussed at the Dec. 13 meeting, Superintendent Blake Bass said the board would take up the issue in January.

In his opening remarks, Bass stressed that the Dec. 13 meeting was the first time the board as a whole had been presented with maps outlining the proposed changes in district lines. He said the elementary and middle school committees had been charged with recommending school lines for the 2006-2007 school year. Associated with those recommendations were three goals, Bass said. One goal was to create new district lines to populate Welch Elementary School on Freeman Road and Lee Middle School on Willis Road. The schools will open in August 2006. A second goal was to remedy any school in Coweta County with district enrollments that were either under capacity or over capacity and to change the districts so as to shift students from overcrowded schools into schools with available classroom space, Bass explained. The third goal, he said, was to observe all applicable laws related to redistricting and, in particular, to address issues of racially-identifiable schools.

“We passed on to the Department of Justice the assessment of our committees’ work,” Bass said. “And by doing so we did address the issue of the racially-identifiable schools. We have four schools that were racially-identifiable. In three of those we had an excess of the black population over the percentage recommended by the Justice Department and in one school we had a percentage of white students that was over the recommended percentage.”

Several parents that had served on the committees had remarks for board members. They complimented committee members on their efforts, adding the hope that the proposed maps will reflect their intention to make any potential transition as easy as possible.

The proposed new boundary lines were not discussed at the meeting. Bass announced that the maps would be available for the first time Dec. 14 on the school system Web site at www.coweta.k12.ga.us.

Bass and board members said they appreciated the work and efforts of the committees in meeting the challenge put before them.

“The parents in these committees did a tremendous job,” Bass said. “They were conscientious in their work and they were unselfish. In fact, several parents ended up redistricting themselves out of the school where (their children) now attend. I want to express my appreciation to those parents. They did an outstanding job. They had a mission. They understood their mission. And by concentrating on what was best for the students and for Coweta County, I think they did a tremendous job.”

The school board adopted a resolution in August to set up two committees composed of parents and administrators to make recommendations on new district lines for the 2006-2007 school year. The committees contained two parents from each elementary and each middle school. Prior to reaching consensus on their proposal, committees met with each principal, representatives from each school, Human Resources and Transportation departments, Bass said.

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