1 out of every 4 elementary students may be moved; E. Fayette to be closed

Fayette County’s elementary school redistricting committee may recommend to the school board Oct. 29 that more than 2,400 students change schools next year.

If the board goes along with the recommendation, 28 percent of the county’s 8,772 elementary students could be switching schools, and East Fayette Elementary School would be closed.

During last Thursday’s meeting, committee members heard from consultant Kelley Carey, who has helped the committee sift through various maps and growth projections. Carey was pleased with the results from the committee.

“It’s not every district that has this much public input on redistricting,” said Carey.

Carey showed the committee numbers indicating that closing East Fayette would save the school system about $644,000 a year in reduced staffing costs. Although the entire staff could transfer to the new Inman Elementary School, the system would not have to hire a new staff for the new school.

But where would the students who attended East Fayette go to school next year?

If the committee approves the map that it has shaped over the last few weeks, a dramatic sea change could occur in where students attend elementary school. Here are some of the projections:

• 327 East Fayette students would be shifted to Spring Hill Elementary.

• 215 East Fayette students would attend Inman.

• 290 Spring Hill students would be redistricted to Minter Elementary.

• 280 Minter students would head to the new school in Inman.

• 203 Peachtree City Elementary students would be shifted to Kedron Elementary.

• 127 Huddleston students would be sent to Kedron.

• 110 Minter students would be redistricted to Brooks.

• 85 Peeples students would shift to Minter.

The huge redistricting represents a paradigm shift for the school system to geographically center more students around the county’s elementary schools that have big footprints.

Carey also recommended that the school system look at expanding Peachtree City Elementary.

Even after all the new lines are drawn, Peachtree City and Burch Elementary will still be overcrowded.

Burch’s situation should be alleviated when Tillman Elementary opens in 2009, but Peachtree City will remain over capacity.

One committee member suggested the system look at calling for a Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax to help pay for any expansion of the original elementary school in Peachtree City.

The committee will meet Oct. 22 and 25 before making a report to the Board of Education Oct. 29.

The board has the final say on any redistricting efforts and is expected to hold public hearings in November to allow concerned parents to voice their opinions.

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BoE may hear options for redrawing districts Oct. 29

by John Munford

Tuesday’s meeting of the elementary school redistricting committee has been postponed.

Assistant School Superintendent Sam Sweat told the Fayette County Board of Education that there was not enough time between last Thursday’s meeting and Tuesday for consultant Kelley Carey to prepare new figures for the committee.

The committee now plans to meet Monday, Oct. 22 and Thursday, Oct. 25.

The committee ultimately will present several redistricting options to the school board, perhaps as early as Oct. 29. Though Sweat initially recommended the presentation be just to the school board, several board members noted a larger venue such as an auditorium might be needed for that meeting because of the public interest in the new maps.

Board chairman Terri Smith said she felt the initial presentation of the redistricting options “will be well-attended.”

Sweat said he couldn’t guarantee the presentation will occur Oct. 29, because it depends on the committee’s wishes. The plan is for each alternative to be presented by a different member of the committee, Sweat said.

School board member Bob Todd said he’d rather the process go a little slower and be done right.

After the initial presentation of the committee’s recommendations to the board, there will be at least two workshops on the matter with the school board before a potential vote to adopt a redistricting plan, officials said.

Sweat said the goal is to create a plan that will last five years. The committee has previously discussed the possibility of closing East Fayette Elementary in the same year that the school system will open Inman Elementary.

Sweat said the process has been frustrating to him at times, noting that it’s partly due to the difficulty of getting such a large group of people to come to a consensus.

There are 28 citizens serving on the committee including a representative from each of the county’s 17 elementary schools, six middle schools and five high schools, Sweat said.

“We’re making excellent progress,” Sweat said.