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Schools’ showdown MondayTue, 11/20/2007 - 5:26pm
By: John Thompson
Facing the involuntary transfer of more than 2,000 elementary school students, will the Board of Education pick Map A, Map B, or ‘none of the above’? For nearly six months, the Fayette County Board of Education has remained silent while a committee drew up new elementary school lines for next year. But next Monday promises to be a meeting for the ages as the board finally gets hands-on input into the new lines. In 2006, board member Marion Key was the lone member to vote against building a new elementary school in Inman. A week after seeing the new lines unveiled, Key has a lot of questions. “It just concerns me that so many kids are going to be moved out of Minter [Elementary School]. It’s almost going to be like a new school next year,” she said. This year’s redrawing of the lines put the residents of Fayetteville at ground zero when it comes to the number of students being moved. One of the more controversial aspects of the new lines involves closing down East Fayette Elementary and moving the alternative school and other programs several blocks across Fayetteville to the county’s oldest school. Both Minter and Spring Hill Elementary could see their populations dramatically shift next year with the influx of students from East Fayette. Key is not quite sure that East Fayette will close, but offered a new wrinkle if the board decides to shut it down. “I think we could use it or the Lafayette Education Center to house the students for one year that will attend the Tillman Road elementary school,” she said. Currently, Burch Elementary School is one of the system’s most overcrowded schools, and Key would like to offer that school some relief next year instead of waiting until Tillman opens in 2009. Both plans offered by the committee shift at least 2,000 students next year, which is the biggest movement in the school system’s history. Option A would close East Fayette and repurpose the school for programs that are currently held at the LaFayette Educational Center. Assistant Superintendent Sam Sweat said this option would move about 25 percent of the county’s students, which amounts to more than 2,200 students. Option B keeps East Fayette open and moves about 20 percent of the students. Spring Hill, Inman and Minter would all be small schools with just over 300 students each at the schools. The process started in March when the committee was established to set new lines for Inman Elementary School, which opens next year. The board is also drawing lines for the elementary school on Tillman Road, which is set to open in 2009. Balancing empty rooms with overcrowded schools is one of the objectives committee members used in redrawing school attendance boundary lines. Other objectives the system presented include the following: • To not build another elementary school for several years and to maintain the new attendance boundaries for at least five years. • To leave capacity in schools serving areas of higher growth rates. • To disrupt as few students as possible with the changed boundaries. Key is hoping the maps can be tweaked to try and disrupt fewer students. School officials are hopeful the process can be completed in December, but there is still a public hearing to be held and a final vote on the proposals. Sweat said he expects Monday’s workshop meeting to be full of questions and said the final decision is now in the board’s hands. “I think the committee did some excellent work, and our consultant provided us with valuable demographics that we will be using for years,” Sweat said. Consultant Kelley Carey told the board that the redistricting process was about the “sharing of burdens and needs, and not about trade-offs between schools.” The consultant also told the committee this fall that a Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax would be needed to fund additions for the school system, because there was not any available construction money for new classrooms. Monday’s meeting starts at 7 p.m. at the board’s meeting room at Stonewall Avenue in Fayetteville. login to post comments
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