Gwinnett County school board members Thursday evening unanimously redrew some boundary lines that will require several thousand students to attend new or different schools this fall.
The changes were made as Gwinnett prepares to open two new schools in August and expand another school to meet the ongoing student population growth in Georgia’s largest school district. Gwinnett’s enrollment increased by about 3,000 students this year, which is greater than the entire student enrollment in about 70 Georgia school districts. Gwinnett, which has about 176,000 students, has redrawn some of its boundary lines eight times since 2005.
The frequent changes have drawn criticism that Gwinnett school officials are inadequately assessing where growth is occurring in the county. Some parents are worried about a different type of change: how their children will adapt to a different school away from their friends.
Several dozen parents appealed to board members during Thursday’s meeting to keep the current boundary lines, citing concerns such as that their children will travel longer distances and their safety could be at risk. Others complained their children will attend schools of lower quality.
Several residents called for board chairman Dr. Robert McClure to recuse himself. McClure has agreed to sell about 30 acres he owns in Lilburn that will become part of a new 222-home subdivision. Resident complaints include that the planned subdivision will bring more students to the Parkview cluster area and add to overcrowding in some schools.
“We deserve transparency and you leave us only with suspicion,” resident Frank Rasler said to McClure.
McClure has said the redistricting plans were in place before county commissioners approved the subdivision proposal in October. He denied any conflict of interest and voted for the changes.
School district officials made some slight changes in recent weeks to the boundary lines, and decided not to make changes to two areas, including the portions of the Parkview cluster that drew the most criticism from parents. The decision drew applause from most audience members.
“It shows the power of being involved,” said Fenton Gardner, who recently bought a home in the Sugar Hill area, in large part, he said, because of the schools. “I feel we made our case.”
Board members and officials defended the changes Thursday, saying most were proposed by committees from each school and were done to reduce overcrowding.
“It is a very difficult process,” said Steve Flynt, Gwinnett’s chief strategy and performance officer.
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