Anonymous Group Releases Alternate APS Redistricting Plan
Group calls for a "renewed" Grady cluster.
The latest petition to surface in the Atlanta Public Schools redistricting debate is calling for a "renewed" Grady High School cluster.
The proposal removes East Lake Elementary, Toomer Elementary, Coan Middle and King Middle from the current Grady cluster, and leaves Morningside Elementary School, Springdale Park Elementary School, Mary Lin Elementary School, Hope-Hill and Centennial Place to feed into Grady.
It's unclear from the online petition who drafted and released the plan.
The petition calls for:
- Morningside Elementary School, Springdale Park Elementary School, Mary Lin Elementary School, Hope-Hill and Centennial Place to feed into Grady
- Enforce the administrative transfer policy at Grady
- More capacity at Inman Middle School
- Support a K-8 proposal at Centennial Place
- Consider alternate middle school configurations
- Avoid split feeders
- Build promised expansions at Mary Lin and Springdale Park
- Plan classroom space for children with disabilities and gifted students
- Reject the split primary model
- Keep Hope-Hill open and do not merge it with Cook
- Supporting data needs to be published and corrected
Behind the scenes, parents speculate that a self-selected group of parents from Candler Park, Inman Park, Lake Claire, Midtown, Morningside, Poncey-Highland and Virginia-Highland drafted the petition.
"We have serious concerns about the viability of either Option A or B as a long-term solution for our neighborhoods, our schools and for the renewed Grady Cluster," those who drafted the petition wrote.
"Both options continue to exclude our neighbors in the Old Fourth Ward from the Grady Cluster middle school in their backyard… Neither option solves the long-term overcrowding issues at Inman Middle School, and we fear we will be revisiting the problem in a few years."
The online petition was posted on Monday. Feb. 12, and has more than 500 signatures.
View the full petition — Voices for a Renewed Grady Cluster — online.
Would you support this proposal? Tell us in the comments!
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In This article
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Morningside Elementary School
1053 E Rock Springs Rd NE, Atlanta, GA -
Springdale Park Elementary School
1274 Ponce de Leon Ave NE, Atlanta, GA -
Mary Lin Elementary School
586 Candler Park Dr NE, Atlanta, GA -
Samuel M. Inman Middle School
774 Virginia Ave NE, Atlanta, GA -
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intownasitis
4:29 pm on Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Not all of the information on the petition is shown here. If you were to see it all, you could speculate as to where it came from.
Jane Kohler
5:01 pm on Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Thanks for letting the community know about this petition. It seems like a well-thought out plan for the Grady Cluster. I read through it all and signed on. Grady needs to have clear feeder patterns. Grady can't continue to take parts of schools and neighborhoods from other clusters. This will help to define feeder patterns. It asks APS to consider various Middle School solutions. Sounds good.
Ashland88
9:11 pm on Tuesday, February 14, 2012
The petition, as far as I can tell, still doesn't put adjusting elementary attendance zone changes on the table within the Grady cluster to also deal with overcrowding at the elementary school level. But it's a good thing that our neighborhoods are stepping up to the plate regarding Hope-Hill's exclusion at the middle school level. What are we going to do about the Old Fourth Ward having to deal with Bedford-Pine alone until the kids get to middle school? The petition seems to lock in elementary attendance zones as they are today.
E Keathley
9:17 am on Wednesday, February 15, 2012
What is the "administrative transfer policy at Grady", and why isn't it/why should it be enforced?
Momkish
1:26 pm on Wednesday, February 15, 2012
The Administrative Transfer Policy covers all of APS. The policy regarding transfer to an overcrowded school is as follows and it SHOULD be enforced because the school is already overcrowded.
Regarding Schools with no available space:
"Schools that have reached 95% or above of the facility’s planning capacity based upon the average current year enrollment and the projected enrollment are ineligible to accept general administrative transfers for the following school year. Additionally, any school with a projected enrollment of 100% or above or with portable classroom(s) is ineligible to accept general administrative transfers."
http://srt5.atlantapublicschools.us/Page/763
But then in the general admin transfer procedures, it says:
"Schools determined to be ineligible will undergo a system review. The system review team can determine that a school may accept general administrative transfers upon review of the following factors: individual grade level capacity, building utilization and facility construction, renovation or relocation. Schools that would accept less than 10 students under the system review would remain ineligible."
http://srt5.atlantapublicschools.us/Page/765