School Redistricting Map Upsets Milton, Roswell Parents

A day after the Fulton County Board of Education was presented the school system staff's final recommendation on redrawing high school district lines, several hundred comments had already been made.

The opening of a new high school on the Bethany Bend-Cogburn Road site in August 2012 also will be the starting date of the new attendance zones expected to be adopted by the school board in June.

Yngrid Huff, director of Operational Planning for the school system, said the online form had received approximately 200 responses by early Wednesday morning, with another 75 responses coming in via email. That doesn't count what individual school board members may have received directly.

But in Milton, people are coming unglued over the latest redistricting plan, said Julie M. Martin, a city resident and Realtor.

"Sadly, the people who were happy with the last map were not vocal enough in their support and now look at what has happened," she said, referencing Facebook comments she's received.

"Of the communities that are still in a contentious situation and voicing opinions on the plan are residents in the same community who are saying they like the plan," Huff said. "So not everyone is in agreement in those communities."

Milton resident Martin said no plan will please everyone.

"The reality is that someone will be upset no matter what solution is proposed....they were unhappy that the schools were overcrowded, too. It is a no win situation," Martin said.

She agreed with Huff's point that it's in the best interest of the community that the new school be successful.

"People need to turn their focus in that direction," Martin said.

However, Roswell's Sweet Apple neighborhood, comprising a number of subdivisions, has quite a few unhappy residents.

Based on the outcome of the final map proposal, most of “our comments weren’t taken into serious consideration,” said Edenwilde resident Krista Elema.

The system’s calculations project that there are approximately 34 students for each year from the Sweet Apple community – including Edenwilde, Summerhill Farms, Crabapple Lake and Crabapple Parc neighborhoods.

That’s only 136 students, so we just don’t understand why they can leave us where we are, said Elema.

Fulton County Schools spokeswoman Susan Hale has said that the system is not trying to tear apart communities, they are merely building a new community. However, Elema and her neighbors disagree.

“That’s not the case for us,” she said.

The students in the Sweet Apple community would continue to attend Roswell area schools until high school when they would move into the Milton High School district, which leads to the problem of engaging them in city feeder sports and other activities that would connect them to the community. Under the proposed redistricting certain students will leave behind the school friends they’ve grown up with to attend a different district for high school.

“We just don’t see why that needs to be done,” said Elema. “It’s not worth breaking up a community.”

Parents from the Sweet Apple community neighborhoods recently lead a procession through Crabapple to to demonstrate just how congested the area is. It took Roswell area residents in 48 vehicles, 32 minutes to travel 2.2 miles.

“They say they put students first, but in this case, they aren’t putting our students first,” Elema said.

Huff, however, said the school system commissioned a bus to make the same 2.2-mile trip. Driving from the intersection to Milton High took approximately four minutes, but they didn't run into traffic or red lights, making for a quick trip. A return trip took closer to seven minutes, both much less than what residents accomplished. She said a caravan of cars would not be typical in the morning.

"We will continue to run similar analysis throughout the remainder of the school year to verify the accuracy of the estimates," Huff said.

She also wants to encourage bus ridership, especially in the morning when traffic is heaviest. The afternoon doesn't have the same delays.

"If we could increase bus ridership in the morning, that would help alleviate traffic as well," Huff said.