APS remains a tale of haves and have-nots, demonstrated by high-performing and booming schools in Buckhead, Midtown, Virginia-Highland and Morningside and under-capacity schools, even in gentrifying east Atlanta where Superintendent Meria Carstarphen wants to close Benteen and Whitefoord elementary schools.
As one parent said, “Atlanta is not a large city. Its best schools are minutes away from its poorest neighborhoods. What separates the students are zoning lines.”
At a meeting Monday night about the proposal, puzzled community members in east Atlanta cited the surge in young families with toddlers in strollers. Why would APS shut down schools with an obvious baby boom underway? Because those young middle-class families aren't choosing the neighborhood schools, opting for charters or private schools, said Carstarphen. Today, about 10,000 out of Atlanta's 52,000 students attend charters, she said.
Some parents suggested APS redraw the entire district to rezone students from overtaxed classrooms in affluent neighborhoods to empty seats in southeast Atlanta, creating more socio-economically diverse schools in the process. Parents in those higher-income communities, many of whom bought their homes because of Inman Middle, North Atlanta High or Morningside Elementary, would resist any such effort, as they’ve done in the past.
Should those lines be changed or is Carstarphen’s strategy — merge schools that have empty seats so there can be pooled and better resources afforded those larger schools — the more expedient route? She is proposing closing under-capacity schools in several south and east Atlanta neighborhoods and sending students to nearby schools.
To read more, go to the AJC Get Schooled blog
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