Fulton Schools To Hold Second Redistricting Meeting

The second of three meetings the Fulton County School System has scheduled to address the redistricting process for two new schools and classroom additions at three middle schools will be held next week.

The meeting is set for 7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 5 at Alpharetta High School, located at 3595 Webb Bridge Road.

One new school already under construction sits at the intersection of Highway 9 and Thomas Drive in Roswell. Scheduled to open in August 2015, it will temporarily serve as Esther Jackson Elementary School for one year only so that school can be torn down and be rebuilt on its current site.

Once the new Esther Jackson opens in August 2016, the Highway 9 school will re-open with a new identity to the students in its newly developed attendance zone, the school system said.

Classroom additions under construction at three middle schools — Hopewell Middle School in Milton and Taylor Road and Autrey Mill middle schools in Johns Creek — also require that attendance zones in area schools be examined so that enrollments can be balanced.

High school boundaries will be reviewed at the same time, but only to address any feeder pattern misalignments that could occur from middle school adjustments, the Fulton school system added.

During next week’s meeting:

• Staff will present alternative proposals that were developed with established criteria and community input from the first forum.
• Community members comment on strengths and weaknesses of each plan in facilitated small-group discussions.
• Prior to the next community forum, staff condenses the number of attendance zone alternatives based on public input.

Each time a redistricting effort is under way, the system holds three rounds of meetings to gather information needed to draft a redistricting proposal that best meets the community’s needs. Fulton uses a process that encourages public discussion before developing a proposal, which allows the community to have maximum input in how the proposed attendance lines are created.

A third meeting is set for 7 p.m. Dec. 10 at Centennial High School, 9310 Scott Road in Roswell. At that meeting:

• Community members review and provide input on revised attendance zone alternatives in facilitated small-group discussions.
• Staff uses comments to develop final attendance zone options for Board consideration.
• To maximize input, parents and community members also can participate online through the redistricting website once it goes live on Oct. 8.

During the meetings, community members will review the school board’s redistricting criteria and can comment on residential development, traffic, previous redistricting, special programs and other issues relevant to the criteria used for redrawing attendance lines.

The Fulton County School Board is scheduled to vote on the new attendance zones in February 2015. Changes in middle school attendance zones will go into effect in August 2015 with elementary zone changes following in August 2016.

(Photo credit: Patch file)