As the population continues to grow in North Fulton, so does the need for new schools. North Fulton’s newest high school is now under construction in Milton on a 64-acre parcel at Bethany Bend and Cogburn Roads. It is directly across the street from Kings Ridge Christian School — just west of Highway 9 and north of Windward Parkway. Provided everything stays on schedule, the school will open its doors for students in August 2012. Starting with just freshmen in 2012-2013, the new school will ultimately be able to accommodate 1,900 students in August of 2015.

Right now in northwest Fulton County, more than 1,350 students overcrowd the high schools. Roswell High School is overcapacity by 488 students, Alpharetta High by 196, and Milton High by 676. Even though the new school will be able to relieve this significant overcrowding, everyone is not heralding its arrival with great joy. 

RUMOR HAS IT . . .

As the redistricting process begins later this month, rumors are flying about potential changes to the attendance zones. One parent even reported that the middle school girls trying out for cheerleading in the Roswell High feeder system are being told that they should contact Milton’s cheering organization as their neighborhood will be redistricted. 

Other reports state affluent Roswell subdivisions Wexford, Edenwilde and all neighborhoods along Cox Road will be leaving Roswell High and that groups of students from apartments rampant with crime along 400 will be coming to RHS to take their place. 

IT’S MORE THAN JUST A SCHOOL, IT’S ROSWELL

“In this community, our kids grow up together. They become like brothers with their friends — and the families become close, says Claire Bartlett, parent of two currently at RHS and an active Booster. “A strong sense of community is one reason why the school system built an addition to RHS two years ago rather than a new school.” Neighborhoods just did not want to leave Roswell, Bartlett maintained. 

Roswell High School, (RHS) located at King Road and Hardscrabble Road, was established in 1949 at the site of Roswell’s first school on Mimosa Boulevard. In 1954, grades 9-12 separated from the lower school and settled in a brand new building near the present day Roswell City Hall. The current building was opened in 1990 and is the oldest high school in North Fulton, with Chattahoochee opening a year later, in 1991. Including recent additions, RHS has a building capacity of 1,975 students. The overflow is handled with portable classrooms on the campus.

WOOD WEIGHS IN

With regard to redistricting, Mayor Jere Wood of Roswell, said, “I have faith in my school board.” He went on to add, “ . . . I would expect them to consider the boundaries of the community. The school has been in place since 1954 and there are traditions connected to the community . . . I would hate to see it divided. I think they make a mistake if they ignore the boundaries of the community in which a school is located. It could ruin the culture of the school and that affects the community.”

And that’s just what Mark Campbell, president of Roswell High’s Touchdown Club and Brookfield homeowner, is concerned about “Schools that have a significant level of parent involvement are better schools.” He went on to add, “The school is a part of our lives. I just don’t see that in other schools where there is a higher number of less permanent families.”  

PARENTAL SUPPORT AND TEST SCORES AT RISK

In fact, Campbell has a reason to be concerned. The most recent statistics on the FCSS website (2007) show a “mobility factor” of 22 percent at RHS. If all the neighborhoods selected to be rezoned to Milton are single family homes from the school’s northern border, then the mobility factor may jump to as high as 27 percent — more if the total enrollment of Roswell is reduced below state capacity. And even more than that if additional students from apartments are moved from Centennial High to Roswell.

Campbell reflected on an experience he had recently at his son’s tennis match against a high school with a higher mobility factor. He choked up a bit saying, “It was heartbreaking. These kids had absolutely nothing. They showed up in street shoes. . . There were only one or two parents there. . . I worry that that will happen to Roswell.” Is that to be the fate of the City of Roswell’s namesake school?

PLAN COULD DEVASTATE HORNET FOOTBALL DOMINANCE 

The Roswell Hornet football program has a national reputation and a storied history. With several state championship trophy displayed in their awards cases, the football Hornets are a perennial playoff entrant and state finalist contender almost every season. One of the ingredients that makes this possible is when families with young football athletes move or are re-located to North Fulton, parents often check out the football program before deciding where to settle or buy a home. Roswell gets many future football stars in this fashion – by default based on the history and reputation of their program. But if the school falls backward academically, parents from out of town will likely seek an alternative – like Milton or Chattahoochee – who can combine good football with solid academics. 

Of all the factors that can affect a school’s test scores, and thus its rankings in nationwide reports, experts say that poverty is number one. The best way to understand a school’s poverty level is to look at the percent of children who qualify for free or reduced price lunch. Currently at RHS, 20 percent of the students participate in the program. Again, if the redistricting process results in 488 more affluent kids moving to Milton High School, then the percentage of “free and reduced” goes to 25 at Roswell. It could go even higher if more kids are moved, or if economically challenged families are zoned in.

BUT DO THEY WANT TO GO?

Parents in the neighborhoods north of RHS have differing views, but many want to stay at Roswell. Says Donna Steeves, Wexford homeowner and parent of a Roswell student and a Sweetapple student, “I would rather stay at Roswell High School. My kids have grown up in this group. If we move, it’s a whole other group of kids. . . I like the diversity at Roswell. I would much rather have my child go to a school that is real world.”  With the entrance to the Wexford subdivision less than three quarters of a mile from RHS, Steeves adds “I enjoy the convenience, too.” 

According to Bartlett, “Roswell High School put Roswell on the map. It has built this sense of community and people are nervous about losing this. The whole feeder program has been in place for a long time. It is certainly something parents have relied on as they have started their boys and girls in the sports programs at the Roswell Rec. — Parents dream that one day their child will have an opportunity to play for Roswell.”

FOR SALE

A concern of Campbell’s as he gears up this year’s fundraising efforts, is finding enough parents to take on leadership roles. Some parents of freshmen are unable to make a commitment because they don’t know if their sons will be playing for Roswell. Some think they will be rezoned to Milton and others say they are considering selling their house or switching their children to private school in order to escape Roswell High once it starts to fall apart. 

But don’t put that sign in your yard just yet, says Linda Schultz, School Board VP, who represents most of Roswell. She says these potential new zones are merely conjecture at this point. “Maps have not been drawn. That is part of our community process,” Schultz said. 

NO MAPS HAVE BEEN DRAWN

According to Yngrid Huff, Executive Director of the Operational Planning Department for Fulton County Schools, “We start with no maps. First we gather input from the community on the Board-approved criteria.” The first public meeting to gather that input will be on Wednesday, February 23 at 7 p.m. at Alpharetta High School. 

North Fulton’s last experience with redistricting was for elementary schools back in the fall of 2008. The community meetings then drew more than 900 people to the Milton Center, which is its capacity. This time, Huff and her team are gearing up for 1,500 participants and so Alpharetta High was chosen as the location for all three scheduled community forums.

ELEMENTARY AND MIDDLE SCHOOLS WILL SEE SMALL CHANGES

In order to keep very small groups of students from being the only ones going from a particular elementary or middle school on to a different middle school or high school than most all the other students in their school, there will be some “very small tweaks” to the feeder alignment. According to Huff, “We are not expecting to make large changes to elementary or middle school boundaries at this time because we’re not adding capacity.” 

REDISTRICTING PROCESS IS TRIED AND TRUE

According to Huff, “This process has been used since the board approved the [redistricting] criteria in 2000, and we’ve done about 26 schools since then. It absolutely does work. There is equity in the process. Everyone has an equal voice.”

In the first of three community meetings, the school system staff will first outline the redistricting process and establish ground rules for facilitated small-group input sessions. Then participants will move to breakout rooms and give input related to the redistricting criteria. Staff will review public comments and apply Board-approved redistricting criteria to develop alternative attendance zone plans prior to the next community forum.

The Board-approved redistricting criterion includes Primary Criteria of geographic proximity, building capacities, and projected enrollment for some number of years out. When primary criteria provide for more than one option, the options are then evaluated on the basis of Secondary Criteria including traffic patterns, previous rezoning in the past three years, special programs, and school feeder alignment.

According to the FCSS redistricting website, “Neighborhoods and collections of neighborhoods are the geographical units used to define school attendance zones. Neighborhoods will be defined based upon factors including natural geographic barriers such as rivers and major roads, identifiable residential subdivisions or apartment complexes, established homeowners’ associations and shared amenities such as swimming pools.“

The school system staff will return with two or three alternative attendance zone maps at the second community forum on March 16. The public will again be invited to AHS at 7 p.m. to provide input in the same way as they did in the first meeting. Then the staff will incorporate the feedback into one or perhaps two draft plans to be reviewed and commented on by the community at the final forum at AHS on April 13 at 7 p.m. 

The staff will make one more revision and present a final draft plan to the Board for their review in May. The Board will take comments at their regularly scheduled Board Meetings, Work Sessions, and individual Board Member Community Meetings. The Board may choose to accept the plan as is, or they may make changes on their own before approving a final plan.

The community will be invited to participate on-line, as well as in person. Huff said that last time, over 10,000 comments were received on-line, but she cautions that many were repetitive. “Parents need to keep in mind that it’s the quality, as it relates to the criteria, not the quantity.” 

In the end, very few participants were unhappy with the results of the last redistricting. In fact, most parents came away pleased with the process and the results.

PLAY YOUR PART

Schultz recommends that the community get involved in the redistricting process and stay involved until the final board vote expected in June. “I want to encourage the community to stay involved the entire time . . . Because throughout the redistricting meetings, the maps can change and your individual neighborhood could be affected when it wasn’t before,” said Schultz.

For more information on the process, criteria, and maps when available, go to www.fultonschools.org/redistricting.

The Beacon will provide ongoing coverage and analysis of this critical issue. To subscribe to The Beacon, go to www.beaconcast.com/subscriptions. For questions or comments, email me at nan@beaconcast.com.