Parents: Keep the Grady Community Together

Three Atlanta Public Schools board of education members met with the Grady High School community Tuesday night to field questions about Atlanta Public Schools redistricting.

The meeting was organized by the Council of Intown Neighborhoods and Schools after a demographic survey commissioned by APS found that local schools — most of which are already overcrowded — won't have enough space for students coming through the district over the next ten years.

Schools in the cluster include Centennial Place, Hill-Hope, East Lake, , , , Toomer, Coan, , King and Grady.

The four options on the table range from closing schools, and combining some elementary schools to create primary learning centers for kindergarten-through-second-grade and third-through-fifth-grade.

Questions from parents ranged from how the feedback on redistricting will be taken into consideration, what the timetable would be for rezoning and if factors such as quality of education and transportation issues have been taken into consideration.

Board members said the public will have several opportunities for public input in late January and early February once the two new options are released by the demographers.

Quality of education is a topic that has been brought up at several community meetings over the past few weeks, and board member Reuben McDaniel said “having an effective classroom for every student” is a major focus in the district.

Many parents advocated Tuesday night for their neighborhood and school, begging the board to keep neighborhoods together and avoid moving kids out of the desirable Grady cluster.

But other parents called for a united Grady cluster, reminding parents that Grady is “the sum of all the schools that feed into it.”

“Before we start fighting amongst ourselves, we need to work together to strengthen our cluster,” parent Anne McGlamry said.

Deputy APS superintendent Steve Smith also joined the board members Tuesday night and said the administrators “have no intentions of destroying” neighborhood schools “that are really quality and that are working.”

He said the administration will take time after the holidays to read through the feedback and community input.

“Our intent is to do what is right for children,” Smith said.

The timetable to implement a plan is uncertain, but Smith said administrators will consider exemptions for high school students within one year of graduating.

Parents said the Friday, Dec. 16, deadline to submit feedback and complete the survey is too short and suggested extending the deadline to allow neighborhood leaders to meet as a community and discuss the issues as a group

“I think we are going to have to think of new solutions… that keep the Grady cluster what it is,” an Inman Park resident and parent said Tuesday night.

Suggestions from parents included creating a sixth grade academy at an annex and building an addition at Grady High on one of the parking lots. Last week, Springdale Park parents started a .

Other comments included urging the board members to consider using underutilized space at schools such as East Lake Elementary School, which is slated to close in all four options on the table.

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

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