GCPS Redistricting Input Forms due April 1

The deadline is near for anyone wanting to give written input on the proposed redistricting involving the Peachtree Ridge and Duluth school clusters.

Boundary input forms are due to the by Friday, April 1, as part of the public input process. Input will be considered by school system planners, and any changes to the current redistricting map will be posted on the GCPS website April 18.

A public meeting will be held April 20, and the school board is scheduled to vote on the redistricting April 21.

The system currently plans to shift 580 students from the Peachtree Ridge cluster to the Duluth cluster for the 2011-12 school year. An additional 120 students would be moved within the Duluth cluster because of this. Overcrowding in the Peachtree Ridge cluster prompted the process.

Many Duluth residents have protested the plans because, among other things, the area around the Gwinnett Place Mall (in the 30096 ZIP Code) would be returned to the Duluth cluster. That area is heavy with transitional housing. Many of the more affluent areas around in Suwanee would remain in the Peachtree Ridge Cluster.

The plan already has drawn the opposition of Duluth Mayor Nancy Harris, the Duluth City Council and Gwinnett school board member Mary Kay Murphy.

For more information about the proposed redistricting, visit the GCPS website.