Parents wish for Christmas miracle as they fight to keep Fulton County schools open

FULTON COUNTY, Ga. — Some Sandy Springs parents are holding out hope for the holidays, wishing they’ll get a delayed Christmas miracle in saving their school.

Months after Fulton County Schools announced they were looking at whether or not to close two elementary schools, parents opposed to the plan released a long analysis and report highlighting what they say are flaws in the rationale to close them.

The school district is considering Parklane Elementary in East Point and Spalding Drive Elementary in Sandy Springs for possible closure. The district said the schools had lower enrollment over multiple years and issues with the buildings’ infrastructure.

However, parents of students at the schools say their programs are high-performing and specialized, and the closures of the schools will be harmful to students, and the larger Fulton County community.

“We think shutting the school down would actually hurt Fulton County in the long term, not only would it not solve a capacity issue, we think a lot of people would leave the system altogether,” said Raymond Grote, a Spalding Elementary parent.

Spalding Drive Elementary parents created a ‘Save Spalding Committee’. The committee released a 106-page report. They presented some of it at the school board meeting that evening.

“We do feel the board is receptive to our comments. We have lots of suggestions for the county that would help enrich enrollment, help possibly use their buildings in a more creative, collaborative, and cost-efficient ways,” said Nora Robb, another Spalding Elementary parent.

Among the reasons listed in the “Case to Save Spalding” document were the impacts on capacity, inconsistent data, conflicting models for capacity and need, complicated enrollment forecasts, and what were described as misrepresentations of the condition of the school’s physical structure.

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Channel 2 Action News first reported on the plan in mid-September, when the district confirmed that they were examining how best to address school populations and maintain the district’s resources and assets.

The district said that the schools were old and in bad physical condition when the proposal was made, though parents noted in their report that there were inconsistent adjustments to the building’s conditional rating with “contradicting documented evidence.”

The Save Spalding Committee recommended the school district hold off on its plans to decide on the closure. The superintendent is expected to make his recommendation on Jan. 14, 2025, with a full board vote in February.

“What we’re asking for is time,” Grote said. “We’re asking for five years to come together as a community and help address this problem, this capacity problem.”

Grote said he was contacted by a school near Kansas City, Missouri that was also up for closure. He shared the ‘Save Spalding Committee’ report with those parents, and they used it during their school board presentation. Grote said their school board voted 7-0 to keep their school open and went a step further.

“They have to include the community input in any recommendation going forward,” Grote said.

He said he’d like to see a similar outcome in Fulton County.

“It was a wonderful story, in that, the case that we wrote to help save our school, helped save their school,” Grote said.

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In a statement shared with Channel 2 Action News, the school district said that they’ve been working through a multi-stage effort to engage the community on the topic of the school closures and the redistricting process, as well as having parents be “continuously engaged with Board members at the full Board meetings.”

Parents have also met with officials individually and have reached out to speak with district leadership through “numerous emails and phone calls.”

“Dr. Looney and the Board are listening and taking all of this input into account. We are grateful for the report presented by the Save Spalding group and it is part of the information being considered by the superintendent and staff,” a district spokesman told Channel 2 Action News. “Dr. Looney will present a final recommendation to the Board at the January 14 meeting.”

At the meeting on Thursday, District Four Fulton County School Board Member Franchesca Warren said, “We sit up here as parents who have kids in the system who understand how difficult some of these decisions will be.”

Soon after the proposal was first made in September, the communities for both schools pushed back on the plans and the district began the process of going over plans and public hearings while also meeting with stakeholders.

At one meeting, the mayor of East Point came out in support of keeping Parklane Elementary open.

Spalding Drive parents said they put out a survey to around 500 people in their community. Grote said most of the responses showed if the school closed, parents would either move their children to private school or out of the county.

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