APS Redistricting: Poncey-Highland Official Position

The following letter was sent to Atlanta Public Schools administrators, local officials and neighborhood associations on behalf of the Poncey-Highland Neighborhood Association on Dec. 15.

The purpose of this letter is to convey Poncey-Highland Neighborhood Association’s (PHNA) position on the 4 initial APS redistricting proposals. We are aware these are proposals designed to elicit feedback from communities and are not ironclad and final; PHNA finds that none of the proposed options fully address the issues APS wants to ameliorate while allowing fundamental core values of the communities involved to remain intact. We believe that in order to achieve a positive goal for all, more time and input from the communities involved is important.

PHNA is certain that a slower, more deliberate process is required. Our neighborhood and surrounding communities have a long history of working in collaboration to solve difficult problems. Our track record is strong, including issues pertinent to this current debate. Poncey-Highland has been through significant change in our schools in the recent past. Our neighborhood was redistricted in 2009 from Mary Lin to SPARK. We worked together with APS and Druid Hills, Midtown and Virginia Highland to build SPARK into a successful community school. SPARK has become an anchor of this community in short order and we wish to remain a part of the school we worked so hard to build.  SPARK is already recognized for record of academic success, a high degree of parental involvement, excellent walkability, and is supported by hundreds of families in the community.

PHNA supports the following principles:

• We support remaining in the community schools our children currently attend; SPARK, Inman Middle and Grady High School. In 2009 the Poncey-Highland elementary age children were redistricted from Mary Lin to SPARK and those children are still working through that change in location, building, process and momentum. PHNA supports keeping our neighborhood children at SPARK to continue building SPARK as a vibrant and strong school community. Rezoning at this time will disrupt this process.

• We support keeping our neighborhoods together – keeping Poncey-Highland, Druid Hills, Midtown and Virginia Highland in SPARK builds bonds among children and communities that create a fabric for the kind of schools APS would be proud to serve.

• We support the K-5 school concept. Keeping our children in one school through the fifth grade builds upon the strength of a good community school.

• We support walkable neighborhood schools. As much as possible, keep our schools within a walkable distance from our homes. Walkable schools contribute to a quality education by reducing absenteeism and increasing parental involvement.  They also decrease costs by streamlining and simplifying transportation.

• We support the expansion of Springdale Park and Mary Lin’s capacity.  SPARK is currently almost 100 students over capacity for a building that was only opened two years ago.   When the parking lot property was purchased, provisions were made to use this area for future expansion; furthermore, property exists adjacent to and in close proximity to the school may be available for purchase.  We understand from APS Board Members that SPLOST funding is available to start building immediately in the northern end of the property. Under any scenario, the need for increased space at both schools is clear; the time for that expansion is now. 

PHNA shares similar core principles with other neighborhoods affected by the APS rezoning proposals and realizes this is a complex issue with multiple factors to be addressed. For this reason, PHNA believes a more comprehensive and deliberate process that allows our communities to work together to find a common solution is absolutely necessary.  Inman Park Neighborhood Association and Virginia Highland Civic Association proposed action through the Local School Councils and PHNA agrees with this approach:

• Combine our SRT’s Local School Councils with the initial School Reform Team-3 (SRT-3) Focus Group to create a single task force charged with ensuring all community and stakeholder proposals are heard and included in the rezoning process

• Dispatch this task force, under LSC bylaws, to engage appropriately with APS, demographers, and the Atlanta Board of Education (ABOE) to arrive at one to two new SRT-3 rezoning proposals to submit to demographers, APS, and the ABOE for actual rezoning consideration.

• Use this task force, under Local School Council bylaws, to build community trust through constructive parent and community stakeholder engagement across neighborhoods. Ensure that all voices and options relevant to this SRT and high school cluster are shared and clearly communicated throughout the process – from the demographic analysis to Superintendent Davis’ recommendation to final ABOE decisions.

It is our sincere hope that the Atlanta Public School system will join with us in our efforts to find an alternative and mutually beneficial solution to the good problem we face in these neighborhoods of growing student bodies.

Sincerely,

Lenore Carroll, PHNA President, on behalf of the Poncey-Highland Neighborhood Association

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