Schools

Mary Lin Could Add More Desks Under School Redistricting Proposal

Consultant's study also calls for closures of Burgess-Peterson Academy, Benteen, East Lake and Thomasville elementary schools

When Atlanta Public Schools faced the possibility of losing its accreditation, the district lived under a summer of fear.

That threat passed but APS may need to brace itself for a winter of parental discontent stemming from a proposed redistricting plan that calls for the closure of several schools in southeast Atlanta, including Burgess-Peterson Academy and East Lake Elementary.

Closure of these schools would increase the capacity at .

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APS released several proposed rezoning and school closure or consolidation scenarios Tuesday that call for drastic changes for several schools in southeast Atlanta neighborhoods.

The proposals come amid several meetings district officials have scheduled this including:

Find out what's happening in Virginia Highland-Druid Hillswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

  • Erroll B. Davis Jr., APS superintendent at 7 p.m. tonight at , 774 Virginia Ave. NE and
  • 6:30 p.m. on Dec. 1 at Parkside Elementary School in Grant Park, 685 Mercer St. SE.

But the proposals drawn up by APS' consultants are sure to leave parents in East Atlanta Patch neighborhoods upset and angry:

OPTION 1:

  • Mary Lin Elementary: Expand total student capacity by adding 176 seats
  • Thomasville Elementary: CLOSE
  • Cook Elementary: CLOSE
  • Burgess-Peterson Academy: CLOSE
  • East Lake Elementary: CLOSE
  • King Middle School: CLOSE

OPTION 2:

  • Mary Lin Elementary: Expand total student capacity by adding 176 seats
  • Burgess-Peterson Academy merges with Toomer Elementary
  • Parkside Elementary merges with Cook Elementary
  • Mary Lin Elementary merges with Hope Elementary
  • Benteen Elementary: CLOSE
  • Thomasville Elementary: CLOSE
  • East Lake Elementary: CLOSE
  • Whitefoord Elementary: CLOSE
  • King Middle School: CLOSE

OPTION 3:

  • Mary Lin Elementary: Expand total student capacity by adding 176 seats
  • Hope Elementary merges with Springdale Park
  • Benteen Elementary: CLOSE
  • East Lake Elementary: CLOSE
  • Whitefoord Elementary: CLOSE

OPTION 4:

  • Hope Elementary merges with Springdale Park
  • Mary Lin Elementary merges with Toomer Elementary
  • Benteen Elementary: CLOSE
  • East Lake Elementary: CLOSE

All year, district officials have said no final decisions have been made, but at an October meeting of the Council of Intown Neighborhood Schools, Brenda J. Muhammad, APS board chairwoman, told parents changes are inevitable.

"The reality is that some changes are going to have to be made," Muhammad said, alluding to the demographic study.

"Nobody wants to see something happen to their school," she said, "but something is going to have to happen somewhere."

But the bulk of the closures seem to be affecting those schools south and east of downtown — the exception being Candler Park's Mary Lin — while children more affluent North Atlanta and Midtown would have new schools constructed for them.

"This is a starting point," said Doug Wood, CINS co-president. "That's why it's important to come out to the meetings, hear the logic behind it and provide input.

"The bulk of closures are going to be coming from underutilized schools, but how they reconfigured it, is that fair?"


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