As perk, school system employees get to choose which schools their kids attend; BoE billed for $42,801 for redistricting expert

While some county elementary schools could see up to 60 percent of their students moved to other schools under proposed new redistricting plans, employees of the Fayette County School System itself have no such worries.

System rules allow every school employee — from superintendent down to janitor — to send their own children to schools where the parent or guardian works or — upon approval of a petition — to another school deemed not overcrowded anywhere in the county, regardless of where they live. Employee petitions have to be approved by top system officials.

School board policy states flatly, “A student shall be allowed to attend the school in which a parent or guardian is a permanant teacher or employee.” That rule applies whether the particular school is overcrowded or not.

The perk allows many system employees who live outside Fayette County to bring their children from their out-of-county residences into Fayette schools.

School records reveal that 283 children of system employees attend elementary schools outside their districts of residence.

And the officials driving the redistricting process are declining to let the public know where they send their own children.

The Citizen sought to find out how many of the county’s top school administrators send their students to schools out of their residential districts. The school board attorney responded to the request and said The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act prohibits a school district from releasing that information.

The Citizen then asked the county’s top administrators, including Superintendent of Education John DeCotis, Assistant Superintendent of Operations Sam Sweat and Coordinator of Safety and Discipline C.W Campbell, to volunteer the information, but no responses were received.

The school system did release the number of special permission students attending schools out of district.

In elementary schools, 794 students attend different schools, while 273 middle school students and 443 high school students attend out of district schools for a total of 1,510 students.

The leaders in out of district students are Kedron Elementary with 106, Whitewater Middle with 71 and Whitewater High School with 147 students.

Reasons for students attending out of district schools include being the student of a system employee, medical issues, state law and other.

The Board of Education is tentatively planning to vote on the new attendance lines Monday night, after holding an 8 a.m. workshop at the school board office tomorrow morning. The workshop was originally set for Dec. 11 at 7 p.m., but had to be changed because of scheduling conflicts.

One of the more controversial elements of the plan closes East Fayette Elementary and repurposes it for use as the county’s alternative school.

Getting outside help to plan the redistricting cost taxpayers at least $42,801.83, The Citizen has learned.

A detailed analysis by The Citizen shows the Fayette County School System shelled out the money to Associated Planning and Research to help with the recently unveiled elementary school redistricting plans.

In invoices obtained under the Open Records Act, President Kelley Carey of Associated Planning sent four invoices over an eight-month period for the services he performed on driving this year’s boundary process.

The first invoice dated March 30 is for $5,000, which covered a workshop with the school system.

In June, Carey sent the system a bill for $5,224.64. According to the invoice, the system was billed $2,800 for 16 hours of senior professional planner time, or $175 an hour and $2,200 for 20 hours of senior planner time at $110 an hour. The system was also billed $180 for two maps and $44.64 in travel costs.

Another invoice arrived at the school system in August for $4,362.50. The costs were for 4.5 hours of service for the senior professional planner and 32.5 house for the senior planner-demographer. The invoice covers the May 17-July 30 period and includes developing the methodology for drawing the new lines.

The final bill was sent in October for $28,214.69 and came with a note to Assistant Superintendent of Operations Sam Sweat.

“Sam, kindly review the attached statement for services and forward for payment as soon as convenient. We have held off billing thinking the committee would land on an option without continue (sic) to probe at the map with their interests. But, the meetings have continued. Hopefully, we are at a fulfillment point for their different concerns. Certainly, it takes more time to do it this way, but it is far less costly than bad public opinion. So, I really do need to cover the accumulated costs since mid August without going into yet another month.”

The invoice covers 85 hours for the senior professional planner, along with 114.25 hours for the senior planner, and $872.19 in travel and expenses.

As for closing East Fayette, on The Citizen’s website, 70 percent of more than 500 voters in a nonscientific poll implore the board to keep the school open. The majority of speakers at the Dec. 3 public hearing also urged the board to keep using the school.

If the school is closed, East Fayette’s students will be moved to Spring Hill, Minter and the new school in Inman. Because of the influx of the students, many of the students at Minter and Spring Hill would be moved to new schools.

“Minter will be decimated,” said Ellen Kirkus at last week’s public hearing.

Under the school system’s plans, Minter could lose 60 percent of its current students, while Spring Hill could lose 50 percent. The total number of students moved under Option A, which closes East Fayette, is 2,424 or 27 percent of the elementary school population. Under Option B, which keeps the school open, 1,705 students, or 19 percent would be moved.

“Gwinnett County is moving 23,000 students, but that’s only 15 percent of their school populations,” said Mary Beth Crumly during the hearing.

The final vote on the proposal is expected to occur Monday night at 7 p.m. at the school board’s office on Stonewall Avenue in Fayetteville.