Through the

1990s, the eastern part of Coweta County has been one of

the fastest growing in the region.

Tuesday

night, a concerned parent told the Coweta County Board of

Education that the board should consider expanding White

Oak Elementary School, which lies in the highest growth

part of the county.

Daniel

Kazmierczac said an expansion of the school would help

solve the overcrowding problem without having to draw new

boundary lines to accommodate the growth.

Many of the

parents at White Oak have devoted a lot of time and

effort at the school, he said, adding that he believes

their children should be allowed to stay at White Oak,

not be forced to attend another school.

Last May,

the school board came under fire for trying to combine

the populations of Newnan Crossing Elementary and White

Oak Elementary.

The school

board called a public hearing last spring to discuss a

controversial proposal to put all kindergarten through

second grade students at Newnan Crossing and third

through fifth grade students at White Oak. With nearly

300 parents on hand ready to joust, school board Chairman

Mike Sumner defused the crowd before the first shot could

be fired.

"We

have decided not to recommend adoption of the proposal to

the superintendent," said Sumner.

The

announcement set off a one-minute display of applause and

cheers from the crowd. Sumner said the school system

would establish a committee to work on the problems at

the two schools this summer and look at other

alternatives next fall.

The

deciding factor, according to the board chairman, was the

number of e-mails the system received about the issue. He

estimated the system received more than 100 e-mails, with

50 of them arriving at the office Wednesday.

The school

board is trying to solve three problems, Sumner said.

First,

White Oak is overcrowded. The school has 800 students

this year.

Second,

Newnan Crossing is being under-used with a population of

only 450 students.

Third,

there is a high concentration of at-risk students at

Newnan Crossing.

The board

chairman said the newly established committee would look

at possible solutions including redistricting and

building an addition at White Oak.

Since the

issue was first brought up at a school board meeting

earlier in May, parents organized to try and keep the

schools with their current configuration and rumors have

swirled through the county about why the board was

considering such a drastic proposal.

One rumor

concerned Pathway Communities Development Corp.'s new

development, SummerGrove. SummerGrove is a planned

community of 2,000 homes on Lower Fayetteville Road that

is currently zoned for the Newnan Crossing school

district.

Residents

have claimed that Pathway was behind the school

consolidation proposal to help the company's homes sell

better, but superintendent of education Richard Brooks

denied that Pathway was even a consideration in the

debate.

The school

system's committee on the White Oak situation is

scheduled to come to a decision later this fall and

report back to the superintendent.