School leaders to redistrict for some north Fulton schools

Once the new Esther Jackson opens in August 2016, the Highway 9 school will reopen with a new identity to the students in its newly developed attendance zone.

Classroom additions being built at three middle schools — Autrey Mill Middle School, Hopewell Middle School and Taylor Road Middle School — also require attendance zones in area schools to be examined so enrollments can be balanced, according to Fulton school officials.

High school boundaries will be reviewed at the same time to address any feeder pattern misalignments that could occur from middle school adjustments.

Each time redistricting is under way, the school system holds three rounds of meetings to gather information needed to draft a redistricting proposal.

During the meetings, the public can review the school board’s redistricting criteria and can comment on residential development, traffic, previous redistricting, special programs and other issues relevant to the criteria used for redrawing attendance lines.

When considering redistricting, education leaders will look at criteria such as distance travel times for students, the number of students who can be accommodated and projected enrollments.

Parents and others also can participate online through the redistricting website once it goes live Oct. 8.

The Fulton school board is scheduled to vote on the new attendance zones in February 2015. Changes in middle school attendance zones will go into effect August 2015 with elementary zone changes to come August 2016.