Schools

Should North Fulton Get a New Middle School?

If the Fulton County School Board decides against local middle school expansions and approves building a new school instead, North Fulton will have to be redistricted.

The North Fulton area needs 53 more classrooms to ease overcrowding and eliminate portables at the middle school level, according information from to School Board President Linda Schultz. On Monday night, the second of two community forums seeking input on whether or not to build a new middle school in North Fulton was held.

The first meeting was held last week in Johns Creek. Again, local parents and community members stopped by in Roswell to share how they believe the Fulton County School Board should spend SPLOST IV money, the continued penny sales tax which gained voter approval during November 2011.

Click here for more information on projects the SPLOST IV sales tax is expected to fund.

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is one of three North Fulton middle schools, including Taylor Road Middle and Autrey Mill Middle, which are projected to need the most classrooms.

According to Schultz, Crabapple Middle currently has eight portable classrooms, and is projected to need 13 classrooms by 2018. Northwester Middle is another school that is practically maxed out on portables already as well. Other schools in District 1, including , Haynes Bridge Middle and , are not significantly overcrowded.

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District 2's Webb Bridge Middle and Hopewell Middle need 3-6 classrooms each.

Currently the school board is considering two approaches to relieve overcrowding: 1) build a new middle school or 2) build additions at existing schools.

If the county simply adds to existing schools, it will create a greater number of projects to manage, but also minimize the need for redistricting and enable better feeder pattern alignment. Should the board choose to build an entirely new school, North Fulton will have to undergo regional redistricting to realign feeder patterns and figure out how to best redistrict students to fill the middle school that would be built on a Freemanville Road site in Milton.

If you weren't able to attend one of the two forums, parents can still offer feedback online at www.fultonschools.org. The deadline is Friday, March 30 at 4 p.m. to submit your feedback.

The board will determine the best course of action once all the input is collected and taken into account.

What should be done to relieve overcrowding at local middle schools?


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