North Fulton School Zone Redistricting Passed Unanimously

The Fulton County School Board approved the proposed redistricting plan during a 30-minute meeting on Tuesday night board meeting at Dunwoody Springs Elementary School.

The attendance zones to accommodate the new high school being built on Bethany Road passed unanimously, without any public comment, discussion or changes to the current proposal.

District 2 Board Member Katie Reeves made the only comment on agenda item 5.26 before the motion passed.

Calling the North Fulton redistricting “absolutely massive,” Reeves thanked the staff for their efforts.

"As there always are a few outstanding items that really just can’t be supported by our transportation department and can’t be supported without affecting other students," she said. "And although there may be items on here that I think ‘I’d love to be able to tweak...I can’t not support the good work done by our staff.”

The motion then passed without further discussion, with a vote of 7-0.

The rest of the meeting went very quickly, providing an anti-climatic resolution to what had been previously passionate discussions on the redistricting.

Lisa Martin and Stacy Christie, who were present at the meeting to represent the Centennial High School cluster, said they were not surprised by the lack of drama.

“The Board did their due diligence in listening to every angle. People had the opportunity to be heard,” said Christie.

Martin added that, “People were more vocal during this redistricting than they have been in the past. This was the first redistricting since the North Fulton cities have incorporated and I think that made a difference and invigorated people.”

Regardless of the cause, people were certainly vocal during the process, with roughly 2,255 people in attendance across the three public forums and over 10,000 email, fax and online comments.

Susan Hale, spokesperson for the school system, applauded the staff for their efforts in a process that is never an easy one and turned the focus to the children.

“In the end, the kids are resilient and will carry on. They will make new friends,” Hale said.

Prior to the start of the meeting, the board held a short cake and punch reception to welcome the 14 new Fulton County principals.

The Board also held a work session in the afternoon, specifically addressing the charter system process. Martha Greenway, deputy superintendent for Organizational Advancement, summarized the exploration phase and the five-year contract proposal.

Starting from the beginning, Greenway explained “Why a Charter System?” noting that “State law now requires all school systems to convert to an IE2 contract, a system charter contract, or state they are satisfied with the current structure by June 2015.” 

 “It has long been the practice of this school board to provide as much autonomy as possible to the local schools,” said Greenway, which has led the school board to decide upon a decentralized track and ultimately, upon a charter system.

“[And to] allow individual schools to have the option to request changes through agovernance council, based on individual school needs,” she said.

Since October 2010, over 900 people have attended the school board’s seven community forums to give their input during the charter exploration. The board also heard input from student groups at eight additional schools, created an online forum and utilized social media to build awareness of the process.

The public feedback reflects a desire for more rigorous, responsive and flexible instruction, curriculum and staffing to meet the differing needs of students, Greeenway said.

They heard from all sides, including teachers who wanted performance-based retention and placement decisions for all staff, she added.

The terms “options” and “flexibility” directed most of the discussion, since they are clearly desired in this autonomous system, but must be based upon research with processes for evaluation and monitoring.

To guard against concerns of unchecked experimentation, Greenway stressed that any flexibilities, options and waivers will take time to phase in. Operating under a system of “earned empowerment,” governance councils will be certified and meet certain standards before they are eligible to petition for flexibilities like co-teaching Social Studies and Language Arts or the use of non-certified teachers for elective courses.

Another public concern relates to the “governance councils” and who will be the governing body of the school versus an advisory council.

Hale said, “In Sandy Springs, where many of the schools already operate as charter schools, the difference will not be as profound since they’re already familiar with the idea of a governing council.”

To ensure fair representation by all parties, a suggestion was made to have two members–in addition to two parents, two teachers or administrators selected by the principal and two teachers elected by the faculty–that are not “parents or school employees” and would be elected by the remaining council members.

Board members Reeves and Brian seemed to disagree on that point, proving that there are still many issues that will need clarification. One large area of clarification will be concerns of cost, which were mentioned, but not at length.

The School Board will take a summer recess, with the next meeting being on Tuesday, Aug. 9. The charter system process continues, with the goal to submit a charter system petition to the Georgia Department of Education in November.