It's the largest redistricting in the history of the Cobb County Schools, but the last public forum to discuss the proposal drew a calm crowd representing a tiny fraction of those affected.
About 70 people turned up for the event at South Cobb High School Wednesday evening though the redistricting will affect over 15,000 students at about 20 schools over the next two years. Several school board members and officials were there to hear their comments.
The most vocal parents were from a neighborhood in Smyrna that was drawn out of the attendance zone for the new Smyrna Area Elementary School, which will be built if the school board approves the contract Thursday.
Under the current plan, new parents who've been moving into the Cheney Woods neighborhood and fixing up homes would have to send their kids to a struggling school with a relatively large proportion of poor students. They said they would move or choose private school instead.
"If you guys give us the option, we'll make you proud," said Jamie Hughes, a mother with a baby boy on her hip. "Right now, we just don't feel there's a viable option the way the map is drawn."
The school system is planning the new attendance lines because population changes have left some schools overcrowded and because some outdated schools need to be replaced. Cobb is building three new schools, closing two and shifting students around to balance attendance in this part of South Cobb.
Public hearings over the closings are scheduled in January and February, with a final vote on the plan expected in February.
School board chair Alison Bartlett noted the contrast from a prior forum when concerned parents from the closing schools filled the meeting space. She said officials have been in talks with them, promising to transfer programs, such as a parent tutoring effort, intact to the new schools. Few, if any, of those parents came Wednesday.
"I guess they're happy," Bartlett said.
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