Schools

City Council, School Board Pledge Cooperation on APS Redistricting

Two bodies to conduct public meetings on superintendent's final recommendations. Council encourages APS officials to find alternative uses for closed school buildings to the benefit of the impacted communities.

From Patch Reports

The Atlanta School Board and City Council jointly will conduct a series of public meetings on the final APS redistricting recommendations, the panels agreed Monday.

In a meeting on the two current options for APS redistricting offered by demographers, the school board and city council agreed "to conduct a series of targeted community engagement meetings to garner citizen input," according to a city council news release.

Find out what's happening in Midtownwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The meetings will be held to receive comments about APS School Superintendent Erroll B. Davis Jr.'s final proposal, before the school board votes on his recommendations. Davis will give his final plan to the board in early March.

Midtown parent and local author Sherri Caldwell (sherri@rebelhousewife.com) provided an informative live blog coverage of the Monday meeting that can be found here.

Find out what's happening in Midtownwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The city council will receive a briefing packet on Davis' recommdenations. Then, the school board and city council will participate in a joint work session to discuss the proposal, before the public meetings. Davis had already planned to conduct public meetings on his recommendations.

“I am pleased with the in-depth conversation between the city council and the school board during the meeting,” said Atlanta City Council President Ceasar C. Mitchell in a statement. “During the meeting we established concrete next steps to advance the school rezoning process in a productive fashion."

On Monday, council members urged school leaders to meet with city planning officials to incorporate forecast data on future population trends in Atlanta before making a final decision on school rezoning or closings, the council release said.
 
Over the next 10 years, APS expects an additional 5,000 students to enter the system.
 
In addition, council members encouraged APS officials to find alternative uses for closed school buildings to the benefit of the impacted communities.

"Since APS began its capacity study, members of the Atlanta City Council have received numerous communications from citizens expressing their consternation and confusion concerning possible changes to APS facilities, student enrollment and district organization," the city council release said.
 
“We are advocates for the community; negotiators for their concerns,” Mitchell said. “But at the end of the day, it’s the board that will have to make the decision.”


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

More from Midtown