Some students at 1 other elementary school will move
It looks as if the Fayette County Board of Eduction on March 20 will put the Huddleston Elementary School spot redistricting on hold while going ahead with the spot redistricting that deals with approximately 20 students at Spring Hill Elementary School.
Superintendent Jody Barrow on Monday said the board will consider the recommendation to put the Huddleston spot redistricting on-hold until some time in the future. The recommendation came out of the March 6 work session.
School system officials met recently with Spring Hill parents, though only two parents attended the school’s spot redistricting meeting. Barrow said there was no opposition to the move that would affect approximately 20 students. Barrow noted that those students can continue to attend their current school by having parents request a special exception.
For Huddleston parents, the issue was pronounced, with a number of those parents attending the Feb. 27 and March 6 board meetings. Parents on Feb. 27 voiced their opposition to the spot redistricting expected to affect more than 30 students.
Barrow previously stated that the school system is trying to be thoughtful and proactive with the reality of coming residential development in Fayetteville and Peachtree City, “without finding ourselves later at the edge of a cliff and in crisis” by not having acted sooner. Barrow noted that, with the continued population growth of the county, the day is coming when there will have to be a larger redistricting re-boot.
For their part, Huddleston parents took a different perspective. Parents on Feb. 27 cited a number of issues, such as the distance to school after redistricting, special permission students attending Huddleston, the citing of a “band-aid” approach to the redistricting proposal and questions about why their school is being targeted.
“It’s not about 34 students (at Huddleston). It’s about every school in Fayette County. We’re facing a crisis and we need long-term solutions,” said parent Christy Yung Daniels, taking a global perspective on the issue, then bringing the topic back to Huddleston. “We’re being pushed out for homes that don’t exist yet.”
Her reference was to a long-established school system decision to have approved, but as yet unbuilt, homes east of MacDuff Parkway in the west village of Peachtree City districted for the Booth Middle and McIntosh High feeder pattern. Students living on the west side of MacDuff Parkway will attend Flat Rock Middle and Sandy Creek High.
PHOTO — School bus image by Shutterstock.
