FULTON COUNTY, Ga. — Parents are furious after they say hundreds of students were unenrolled from school after a round of address verifications.
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Channel 2′s Tyisha Fernandes has learned that around 400 students were told Thursday that they are no longer students at Westlake High School in Fulton County. Officials told students that address verifications proved they should be attending other schools.
Students were not allowed to go back to class Friday. Angry parents were trying to get answers from the district at the Fulton County Schools Headquarters/
District officials say that Westlake is way overcrowded, and because of that, the district took a look at the number of kids who came from the feeder middle schools, matched up the numbers, and said, ‘Something just isn’t right.’
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Jonae Rhodes has two children who were attending the school. She said both of her kids, a 9th-grader and an 11th-grader were basically kicked out of school Thursday. Rhodes said she understands why the school did the address verification and that overcrowding can cause safety concerns, but she said she has lived in the proper zone, where she’s been renting a house since 2020.
Rhodes said she brought all the required paperwork to the district that proves that she is a resident in the Westlake attendance zone.
“I am in the district. That was verified yesterday by the school staff that I still live in the district,” Rhodes said. “So why are my kids being punished?”
Fernandes took her concerns to Fulton County administrators who said that parents had to present one property-related document and two utility documents, and that it had to be done on a schedule.
Rhodes said that she did that, but her kids are still at home.
“So it’s just day two. My kids are home. But on the flip side, if I, as a parent, chose to keep my kids out of school, I’d be penalized and I would face consequences that could result in an arrest,” Rhodes said.
Fulton County Schools said they made several attempts last year to notify parents that this was happening and that they had plenty of time to prepare and get their kids enrolled at the proper school.
Rhodes said she’ll continue to fight to get her back at Westlake where they belong.
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