Thousands across metro Atlanta head back to school

ATLANTA — Thousands of students across several major metro Atlanta counties are returning to class Monday.

The 2012 school year begins for school districts including Atlanta Public Schools, Coweta, Clarke, Douglas, Gwinnett and Henry counties. Some students will have to adjust to major changes in the area.

In Atlanta, many students will enter new schools because of redistricting. In April, the school board voted to shut down seven schools: two middle and five elementary schools. The district superintendent said school leaders made changes they think will have minimal impact on the students.

"These schools that elementary students will have to go to will be relatively close to their previous schools," Erroll Davis told Channel 2's Fred Blankenship.

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Students attending a new elementary school in Douglas County will be released early for the first three days. District officials said students at Factory Shoals Elementary in Lithia Springs will get out at 2:15 p.m. Monday and Tuesday, and at 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday. Dismissal will resume at 2:45 p.m. Thursday.

Channel 2's Darryn More went to North Gwinnett High School in Suwanee, where construction projects were under way. For the first time in a decade, the county will not open any new schools, but North Gwinnett students will get several new classrooms.

North Gwinnett will add a new building to replace older buildings built in the 1950s and early 1960s. The construction project is funded by an extension of the penny sales tax approved by voters last year.

WSBTV