Schools

'Renewed Grady Cluster' Petition Launched

Document questions the viability of either of the two Atlanta Public Schools' rezoning proposals becoming a long-term solution for the schools and neighborhoods.

A petition, “Voices for a Renewed Grady Cluster,’’ had already collected 500-plus online signatures by lunchtime Tuesday just two days after it had been formulated.

The latest petition to spring forth from the Atlanta Public Schools redistricting debate is composed by an anonymous self-selected group of parents from Candler Park, Inman Park, Lake Claire, Midtown, Morningside, Old Fourth Ward, Poncey-Highland and Virginia-Highland.

Those signing it did so in raising “serious concerns” about the viability of either of the two APS rezoning proposals becoming a long-term solution for the schools and neighborhoods.

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A 10-point suggestion list to help APS finish with a plan “that best serves our schools, communities, and most importantly, our students’’ is also part of the petition.

The concerns of the document's authors consist of:

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- Options A and B do not honor the guiding principle of keeping neighborhoods together, as both split Midtown and Morningside-Lenox Park:
- Both options propose elementary school zone modifications that would add new students to the Grady Cluster zone while simultaneously excluding currently zoned students.
- Both add portions of Cook Elementary School, not in the current Grady Cluster, to Hope-Hill Elementary School despite our lack of middle school capacity.
- Both rezone parts of Morningside Elementary School to the North Atlanta Cluster. 
- Neither option solves the long-term overcrowding issues at Inman Middle School, and we fear we will be revisiting the problem in a few years.
- Both options continue to exclude our neighbors in the Old Fourth Ward from the Grady Cluster middle school in their backyard.

Do you agree with all or some of these points?

The petition is advocating for:

1. Focus on clusters. We support a cluster focus for district high schools as a means of promoting organic growth and encouraging community support and involvement. We will work together across neighborhoods and schools for a stronger, coherent and renewed Grady Cluster consisting of the following five feeder elementary schools:  Morningside, Springdale Park, Mary Lin, Hope-Hill and Centennial Place (see Item 8).  

2. Operate Grady High School at full capacity. The demographic data reveals that current overcrowding at is due to the presence of too many out-of-zone transfers, rather than to an over-populated attendance zone. Grady’s neighborhoods have worked hard over the past 20 years to make Grady the success it is today. Rezoning any of these communities in order to maintain an arbitrary cushion that will later be filled by administrative transfers is unfair and counterproductive to maintaining support for our public schools. APS should enforce its policy to eliminate administrative transfers to schools that are at or over capacity, like Grady. APS's highest performing traditional high school can and should be operated at full capacity to provide the best educational experience to students in its neighborhoods. 

3. The “New Midtown Middle School” funds are needed in the renewed Grady Cluster, rather than in the North Atlanta Cluster.  There is not enough middle school space to accommodate Grady’s elementary feeder schools. We support Centennial in their request to become a K-8 program (see Item 8). We request that the “New Midtown Middle School” funds be used to provide additional middle school capacity to accommodate the remaining four elementary schools (Morningside, Springdale Park, Mary Lin, and Hope-Hill) feeding in their entirety and, with Centennial, exclusively into Grady High School. Creating sufficient middle school capacity within the renewed Grady Cluster is crucial to its success.

4. Consider alternative grade configurations. We appreciate that APS and ABOE have committed to explore policy revisions to add developmentally appropriate alternative grade configurations that can expand the options available to handle the natural fluctuations in our population and can offer an avenue for neighborhoods to participate collaboratively in a shared solution. These options include K-8, a 5/6 model, and 6th grade academies.

5. Avoid split feeders. Create and maintain consistent feeder patterns within the renewed Grady Cluster. Students from each of the four/five feeder elementary schools should proceed together to the same middle school, and students from the same middle school all should proceed together to Grady High School, allowing for better curriculum alignment and cohesiveness within the three levels.

6. Make a commitment to the cluster-based attendance zones and allocate the resources necessary to support them.  Proceed with the promised expansions at Mary Lin and Springdale Park.  Plan for dedicated classroom space allocated for children with disabilities to attend their neighborhood schools, as well as for gifted sessions.

7. Reject the split primary (K-2/3-5 or K-1/2-5) model for the elementary schools in the Grady Cluster. 

8. Support the Centennial Place mission and its desire to expand to a K-8 configuration. We welcome Centennial’s continued inclusion at Grady, but respect any decision that Centennial ultimately makes for high school assignment.

9. Keep Hope-Hill open and do not merge it with Cook. Closing Hope-Hill will result in three vacant APS properties in one neighborhood and would be devastating for the community. Furthermore, expansion of the Hope-Hill attendance zone to include Cook would overburden the Grady Cluster. Given the location of Hope-Hill, its inclusion in a renewed Grady Cluster middle school arrangement would foster organic growth and help to bring back to Hope-Hill many neighborhood students who have enrolled at other schools. Hope-Hill would gain strength and numbers by the addition of Pre-K classes that could serve the entire renewed Grady Cluster.

10. Supporting data should be published, evaluated and corrected before any plan is implemented. Reliance on inaccurate or incomplete data to create the final plan is detrimental to building and maintaining the trust of our public school communities and families. Conversely, transparency, cluster-driven solutions and attention to the differing needs of each cluster assure the citizens of Atlanta that APS has made significant and positive changes in the way it operates and thus, strengthen its support from stakeholders.

What do you think of these suggestions?

See the full petition here.


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