Out-Of-District Students Booted From North Springs High School

SANDY SPRINGS, GA — Parents of several magnet students enrolled at North Springs Charter High School are scrambling to find a new place where their children continue their education. That's because a decision by the Fulton County School Board has placed these parents in a bind, as they have learned that their students' enrollment at the school was not legal due to the system's charter contract with the state.

The Fulton County School System said that after a legal review, the district's charter contract with the state of Georgia "does not support the practice" of allowing out-of-district, tuition-paying students to attend North Springs High School.

Spokesperson Susan Hale cited Georgia code 20-2-2066(b.1), which says the charter system "shall enroll students in its system charter schools per the terms of the charter and in accordance with State Board rules." The Fulton School System's charter contract states the attendance zone is "limited to district residents and does not contemplate out-of-district tuition students," Hale added.

Fourteen families are affected by the decision, and FCSS has reached out to those individuals. Hale told Patch the majority of the students impacted are from DeKalb County. Three of those students are seniors and the others are rising sophomores and juniors.

"Fulton County Schools staff have worked with the home district of each of the three seniors to allow a one-time hardship if the student is current with tuition," Hale said. "Also, staff is working with families and neighboring districts/schools to ensure the successful transition of students back to their home schools."

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The issue came to light earlier this month when a resident, Julie Cohen, sounded the alarm about the change and its impact on her daughter, Lauren. Cohen told Patch that she couldn't speak directly to the media, but did use Facebook to communicate her frustration about the policy change.

"To move these kids now is virtually impossible. Public school registrars are closed in July and it is very, very late to try and come up with options," Cohen said in her July 4 Facebook post. "This is a program that has been going on for over a decade."

Her daughter, she added, is a straight-A rising junior, and is "totally immersed" in North Springs high school's culture. Lauren will now have to transfer at the start of her junior year, a sudden development that's "devastated" her, Cohen added.

Kelly Himes Brolly of the Hilbert Law Firm, which is representing seven of the families that have rising 10th- and 11th-grade students impacted by the change, said only some of her clients were told by a phone call that they "could no longer attend North Springs Charter High School through its out-of-district tuition payment program."

Brolly said these students are in limbo, as the continuity of their high school career has been disrupted, "which will certainly result in long-term impacts." The lawyer contends the school system assured parents and students that it would maintain the current practice and students who were admitted for the 2015-16 or 2016-17 school years will be able to continue attending North Springs until their graduation. Those "assurances," Brolly added, were expanded upon in the FCSS Strategic Plan 2020 where they guaranteed continued admission for these students through 2022.

"The FCSS induced these students/parents into an approved magnet program only to now break their promises and warranties," Brock added in a statement. "The result requires numerous students to leave their established friends, programs, teachers, sports teams, leadership positions, and other clubs/community service activities. Furthermore, some students fall within the category of special accommodations, and are now left without their established accommodation plan(s) and/or federal protections at NSCHS. This is a matter of ongoing public concern. On behalf of the impacted families, we are hopeful that FCSS will reconsider its position and grandfather the rising 10th- and 11th-grade students to fulfill FCSS’s promises to permit their graduation from NSCHS. Absent this resolution, the families will have to consider their legal options."

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