Schools
MNA advocates expansion of SPARK, Inman and Grady to support growing student population
The Midtown Neighbors' Association releases its position statement on the Atlanta Public Schools redistricting as it applies to Midtown.
Editor's note: The Midtown Neighbors' Association has drafted a position letter to APS Superintendent Erroll B. Davis, Jr., the APS school board and the Atlanta city council concerning the current APS rezoning. The MNA shared its letter with Midtown Patch.
Dear Mr. Davis, APS Staff, Atlanta Board of Education, and Atlanta City Council Members,
Again, thank you for your commitment in working to achieve balanced capacity utilization in Atlanta Public Schools, and to create attractive, high performing schools.
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As you know, Midtown children were rezoned less than three years ago, and we thank APS for avoiding the disruption of Midtown’s students in this round of rezoning and for keeping Midtown in our current feeder pattern of Springdale Park Elementary (SPARK), Inman Middle School, and Grady High School.
We also thank APS for keeping Midtown as one community. As we have discussed, Midtown is a stable, vibrant, socially and economically diverse community. Our current high achieving public schools (Springdale Park Elementary, Inman Middle School, and Grady High School) are critical to our neighborhood’s stability.
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Please note Midtown’s feedback on your March 4, 2012 proposal.
- Midtown supports the expansion of SPARK, Inman MS, and Grady HS to support the growing population of students.
- Midtown supports the feeder/cluster system.
- Midtown supports the APS goal of planning for capacity expansions to endure the next 10 years. We realize that the enrollment projections are simply estimates. And we also realize that families move into neighborhoods that include high performing schools. Thus, we request that APS design school expansions to handle the projected growth rather than treating the projection as a temporary bubble.
- Midtown supports continuity and less transitions, especially at the upper grade levels. Thus, we are opposed to an offsite 6th Grade Annex (unless it is a temporary solution while building on site), and any other higher grade offsite annexation. There is no precedent within APS that suggests a single grade academy (at the higher grades) is worthy of consideration. Due to afterschool activities, tutorials, and the need for increased parental involvement, we feel that an offsite annex is not the best solution. We therefore request that APS expand on or very near Inman Middle School’s campus. Midtown does support the K-8 model, which has been proven within APS. We also support other grade configurations, as long as they contribute to continuity and less transitions.
- In planning for expansions, please plan for dedicated classroom space allocated for children with disabilities so that students may attend their neighborhood schools. Please also expand with room for gifted pullout classes.
- Thank you for removing Coan Middle School as the proposed location for the 6th grade annex. We support the use of existing facilities where appropriate. However, it is not feasible to have an outside neighborhood and feeder system use the assets sitting in another neighborhood/feeder pattern. Coan Middle School is in the Kirkwood/Edgewood area and is now proposed to be in the Jackson HS feeder pattern. These neighborhoods must deal, on a daily basis, with the traffic, school activities, student population, and other civic considerations. If you “open” a school in any neighborhood, it only makes sense to “invite” the students of that neighborhood. Using Coan MS for Inman MS’s 6th Grade Annex only adds to the divisive nature of this process. Please consider investing in sites within Grady High School’s feeder boundaries to expand middle school capacity.
- Blighted APS school sites should be either repurposed by APS or the city, or should be sold. Leaving these sites in disrepair hinders the economic development and progress of those neighborhoods.
- Thank you for posting the projected enrollments in your March 27th report. These enrollment projections do not include the K-8 or 5-8 charter school students. As there are limited charter high school opportunities within APS, please reconsider adding that population to the projections.
- Please post the financial implications of any future proposals. For example, please explain the cost of expanding and staffing/operating Inman MS versus the cost of “building” and staffing/operating (including transportation) a 6th grade annex offsite.
Midtown supports its public schools and is committed to helping APS in any way with the redistricting process.
Thank you for listening.
Midtown Neighbors’ Association:
Greg Guhl, MNA Board President
Geoff Rogers, MNA Board Vice President
Nancy Reynolds, MNA Board Secretary
Mary Cobb, MNA Board Treasurer
Graham Balch, MNA Board
Terry Bond, MNA Board
Rick Day, MNA Board
David Harman, MNA Board Community Engagement Chair
Sharon Just, MNA Board
Dana Persons, MNA Board Education Committee Chair
Marcia Rubensohn, MNA Board
Tony Rizzuto, PhD, MNA Board Land Use Chair
Kendra C. Taylor, PhD, MNA Board
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