Fulton Schools Dispute Group's Claims About Redistricting

Fulton County Schools redistricting plans to give overcrowded schools relief with the addition of a new high school at Bethany Bend remains a controversial issue in North Fulton.

“The plan to add the eighth general high school in North Fulton shows no compassion or common sense. This plan will move 3,500 children in order to fill a new school with 1,600 students. It crosses city lines, causes traffic jams, and diminishes a community’s identity,” said Mike Nyden, head of The Roswell Organizing Committee (ROC), which considers itself a motivated group of citizens dedicated to “having concern for children and the community integrated into any school redistricting process.”

The school system recently released three alternative plans at the second of three redistricting community meetings, which are being held at Alpharetta High School. Each of the plans has their detractors, according to residents who attended the meeting.

But Fulton School Board member Linda Schultz contends that at most 3,000 children are moved in any of the three alternatives.

Fulton County officials say they intend to listen and address potential problem areas so that they can present the best hybrid of all three alternatives at the April 13 redistricting meeting.

“We are in the middle of the community input process and the maps will change before Round Three,” said Schultz. “One map will be presented for Round Three, which will take components from all three proposed maps. There can still be changes to that map prior to the final proposal being presented to the Board of Education in May.”

The redistricting will be one of the largest in North Fulton history. The largest was in 2004 and affected 7,500 students, according to Schultz.

“Our primary criteria is geographic proximity, projected enrollment and capacity of the building,” said Schultz, in reference to the redistricting process. “Attendance boundaries are filled starting at the outer boundaries of the district. In the case of Roswell High, this is the Cobb border to the west, and the river to the south. It is possible that schools reach capacity before neighboring subdivisions are assigned.”

The ROC insists that the school board is not staying true to its process of realigning school boundaries based upon proximity.

“There’s no logic in their proposed maps,” said ROC spokeswoman Claire Bartlett. “We could live three blocks from Roswell High, but next year our kids may have to travel 40 minutes to a new educational palace, even though ‘proximity’ is supposed to be the main consideration for redistricting. This raises huge concerns for child safety.”

Nyden worried about the vehicles of redistricted students that will soon travel to the new school.

“No roads lead to Bethany Bend. And the intersection, at Cogburn Road, will be a parking lot to nowhere,” he said.

Not so, says the school system.

“Traffic studies are considered when drawing potential boundaries and information was received from the cities of Alpharetta, Milton and Roswell,” said Fulton County Schools spokeswoman Susan Hale.

And Jason Wright, communications manager for Milton, confirmed that the city bought land on Ga. 9 that backs up to the new school site for the future police and fire headquarters.

"We are currently working with the Fulton County Board of Education on plans to use a portion of the land to connect to the new school site. This is an ongoing process, so there’s simply no way to say at this point that it will happen. We are in contact with Fulton County Schools though, often," Wright said.

Wright said that's not all the city is doing. It has both money and plans for improvements at the intersection of Cogburn Road and Bethany Bend.

"The School Board will improve the portions on its land, Milton will improve the other three corners–then the whole intersection will be resignalized," Wright said.

He said dialog is required between Milton's Community Development (for plan approval) and Public Works (who draw out and do the work) departments and the Fulton County School Board in relation to this joint project.

"This is a locally-funded, locally-sponsored project. We have other previously identified projects–the Cogburn bridge replacement and the Hopewell/Cogburn/Francis intersection improvement–that exist independent of the school, but will certainly tie into to traffic patterns in the area.

Even so, Nyden said that he has seen little effort on the part of the school board to connect with the city councils of North Fulton.

“This is a prime example of taxation without representation and a terrible manifestation of the unintended consequences of when one political body works independently from another,” he said.

But Schultz says she has reached out to city council members in North Fulton and even offered to meet with Roswell Mayor Jere Wood.

Without redistricting schools would suffer, according to Schultz.

Roswell High School has a capacity of 2,000, but currently accommodates 2,463. By 2015, Fulton County projects 2,602 will be enrolled if nothing is done to relieve the overcrowding and the numbers are projected to grow to 2,874 by 2017, said Schultz.

Fulton School System projections revealed in its packet for the second round meeting likewise show Milton's capacity of 1,950 already at 2,626 this year, and rising to 2,915 in just four years. if no changes are made. Alpharetta High would fall slightly from this year's 2,321 enrollment figure to 2,205 in the 2014-2015 school year, which is still above stated capacity of 2,175.

“We understand that the redistricting process can be an emotionally charged issue, and for that reason, our district takes great strides to make sure the process is open and provides ample opportunity for community involvement,” said Hale.

Fulton High School Enrollment Projections* & Capacity

*Without new school