APS Rezoning Timeline (Draft)
APS Rezoning Timeline (Draft)
Summary of APS BOD Vote per Cecily Harsch-Kinnane, SRT3 APS Rep – April 15, 2012
APS Board Final Recommendation Vote – April 11, 2012
Final Recommendations Posted – April 9, 2012
Mary Lin LSC Letter to Superintendent Erroll Davis – April 10, 2012
Redistricting/School Closure Recommendations (Round 4) – April 2, 2012
Community Meetings and Public Hearings for School Closures – March, 2012
Mary Lin LSC Letter to Superintendent Erroll Davis – March 21, 2012
Summary of SRT 3 Community Meeting – March 21, 2012 (see below)
Superintendent’s Preliminary Redistricting Recommendations (Round 3) – March 4, 2012
Superintendent’s Letter
Feeder School Options A and B
Consultant Team Recommendations – February 28, 2012
Mary Lin LSC Feedback/Position Statement Letter to Errol Davis – February 24, 2012
Cover Letter
Summary of Position
Discussion of Position
Superintendent Erroll Davis Guiding Principles – January 19, 2012
Mary Lin LSC Position Statement – February 19, 2012
Demographers Capacity Study Recommendations (Round 2) – January 30, 2012
Summary of Community Feedback – January 27, 2012
SRT 3 Community Meeting(Round 1)– December 1, 2011
Detailed Version
Summary Version
SRT3 Focus Group – Thursday, October 20, 2011
Data, Graphs, Maps
Final Boundary Maps – April 13, 2012
Round 2 Maps – February 2012
Initial Maps – November 2011
Enrollment Projection Data
Additional Data presented by APS
Additional Information Sources
Superintendents comments, The VA-DH Patch
Superintendents comments, The EastAtlanta Patch
APS Rezoning Forum, Big Tent
ML Neighborhood Associations
Candler Park
Inman Park
Lake Claire
Summary Notes from Community meeting held at Maynard Jackson
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
6:30 pm
General:
- Superintendent Davis explained his basis for making the last round of recommendations. He is very focused on:
-creating “stable clusters” for all APS schools, similar to the model currently used in the North Atlanta and the Grady cluster
-the cluster model allows students to “move together, eliminating split feeder schools” which he feels is a “precursor to success” for
-provides a method of better utilizing resources
-provides a platform for parents to “take ownership of the schools” their children will feed into over the course of their years within the system
- He made it very clear that he was aware of the neglect of the schools on the South side and the recommendations made were focused on rebuilding the foundation in those schools, solve the underutilization issue, improve the education provided to the students, and close the budget gap
- Davis express that he felt he has a handle on the utilization area for the elementary school level, keeping in mind there maybe changes to school closures/mergers in the final recommendation. His greatest concern is at the middle school level
- David also stated several times to “stop asking to bring in other schools/community’s in to solve others problems”
- It was implied that APS had not taken enough action administratively to help close the budget gap; Davis replied that “he asked each budget in the late fall to cut their budget by $15M to help minimize the budget deficit”
- Parents requested APS to establish measurement indicators to determine what aspects of the rezoning are working or not working
- Overall, per Davis…”APS is moving less than 5K students which will allow the district to recover 7K of 13K empty seats
- Per Davis…a large change for next year is “to add an assistant principal to all school no matter the enrollment size”
Elementary Level:
- Mary Lin will remain the Grady cluster
- Mary Lin will receive approximately $15M for select improvements and renovations
- Hope Hill/Cook will join the Grady cluster at the middle school level
- Several parents asked why Toomer could not remain in the Grady Cluster; Davis’s response included:
-Would not eliminate the split feeder issue
-He is willing to make some “hefty investments” both administratively and facility wise to make the schools on the south side better schools
Middle School Level:
- Several questions related to the 6th grade academy for Inman were addressed.
-A parent asked about the success of academy models… Per Davis, academy models have been used around town, around the nation, and has worked fine;
-Davis mentioned several times whether the cluster should ultimately have a 6 grade academy or two middle schools
-Davis also mentioned that he has heard from several parents the desire to have walkability; he agreed that would be the ideal set up but no longer reasonable; as of right now the longest average bus ride is 17.9 minutes
-The Howard and Waldon buildings are in very poor conditions; locations have been reviewed and deemed too costly to revitalize
The majority of the parents asking questions related to the closure of Coan.
-Many parents were uncertain if King offered the same programs as Coan….Per Davis, there are select areas in which both schools have strengths and weaknesses, thus they were deemed comparable.
-By combining the middles schools, APS can better utilize resources and move forward to developing a strong IB program that will feed into Jackson’s IB program
-Davis also mentioned that if he kept Coan open, he felt that it would keep the school at the “status quo” level and he needs time to make “strategic” investments on the south side,
High School Level:
- Davis understands the overcrowding issue at Grady
- The plan is to monitor the growth of the school; allow the administrative and magnet student grandfathered into the system phase out which should put the school at capacity
- There are no plans to expand Grady
- With the redistricting plan, the total # of students will average 1,400; the school will still need trailers, but the number can be managed
- Davis also mentioned that Inman students need to account for ¼ of Grady’s enrollment to maintain Grady at capacity