Inman Middle Parents: APS Redistricting Maps Fail to Address Overcrowding

Parents across metro Atlanta fail to agree on many issues in the school redistricting debate.

Residents continue to fight to keep neighborhood schools open, , among a long list of other issues.

But Monday afternoon, parents from the zone agreed on a major concern in the neighborhood: the redistricting proposals fail to address overcrowding at Inman.

“Just about every plan shows a large group of students coming through Inman Middle School way beyond our capacity,” Inman local school council chair Mike Szalkowski said.

The Monday afternoon meeting was organized by the Inman Middle School local school council to begin drafting a response to the two proposed redistricting maps released in late January.

Szalkowski said the first round of four proposals released in November 2011— — seemed to address the projected overcrowding at Inman in the next few years.

But the latest plans fail to recognize the lack of space for students in a community that continues to grow.

Demographers hired by Atlanta Public Schools will not release forecast data for the new proposals, so passionate parents are left to crunch the numbers themselves.

Parents estimate between 1,100 and 1,200 students could be zoned for Inman by the 2016-2017 school year.

The district reports the school can house about 980 students, but parents argue small classrooms at the school bring the capacity down to fewer than 900 students.

Currently, 860 students attend the Virginia-Highland middle school.

“If there’s a fire in the building, what happens with 300 extra kids?” parent Stu Platt said.

Inman principal Paula Herrema said the school is “full” and more students would become a safety concern.

Centennial Place Elementary in Midtown, in Candler Park, in Morningside and just outside Virginia-Highland all currently feed into Inman. The schools include students from neighboring communities including Inman Park, Lake Claire, Poncey-Highland and Druid Hills, among others.

The Latest Redistricting Proposals

In both proposals, students from Centennial Elementary in Midtown would go to N. Atlanta for middle and high school.

Option A moves a small portion of Morningside to a proposed Midtown Middle School in Buckhead along with Centennial students.

Option B moves Centennial to the N. Atlanta cluster and brings Toomer Elementary in Kirkwood to Inman. Toomer kids would come to Inman in this option because of a split campus with Mary Lin. Mary Lin parents are fighting vehemently to keep Mary Lin kindergarten-through-fifth-grade.

Herrema said only about 100 students from Centennial currently attend Inman, and parents argue that cutting such a small number of students from the zone makes little to no impact on overcrowding.

“I don’t know what the right answer is, but I know that probably plan A or plan B are not the right answer,” Szalkowski said. “It doesn’t address what we need here at Inman.”

Next Steps

Local school councils across the city are preparing statements for the Atlanta Public Schools administration and board of education. The Inman council is putting together a special committee to draft their statement.

The committee will include two Inman teachers, Herrema, parents from the four feeder schools and representatives from the Inman local school council and the parent teacher organization.

Szalkowski said the group will meet next week to begin brainstorming how to address the overcrowding at Inman without cutting out a neighborhood or feeder school.

“We are not going to be saying we like plan A. We are not going to be saying we like plan B,” Szalkowski said. “We are going to be saying we need to address overcrowding at Inman and neither plan A or plan B does that.”

Follow city-wide APS Redistricting coverage on Facebook. Read more about redistricting on the VaHi Patch Atlanta Public Schools Redistricting Page and VaHiPatch twitter.