FULTON COUNTY, Ga. — It’s the last day of the school year for Fulton County, and also the last day of staying open for two elementary schools.
Parklane in East Point and Spalding Drive in Sandy Springs are both set to close their doors.
The Fulton County School District’s board voted to close both locations in February.
Channel 2’s Steve Gehlbach was in East Point for the last day of classes and parents are still upset.
While the community fought hard to keep both schools open, including the East Point mayor coming to a board meeting to try to save Parklane, both elementary schools are closing for good.
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Thursday was the last time parents would do drop offs for their students, the last morning routine, last walk and last wave and hug for the day at Parklane and Spalding Drive elementaries.
“I was sad. I don’t want them to close,” Diane Fuentes, a Parklane parent, told Channel 2 Action News.
Parents found Thursday not just bittersweet, but frustrating.
“It’s unjustified, it’s detrimental to the neighborhood, it’s tragic for so many kids,” parent Jonas Jenkins said.
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Fuentes, the parent of a Pre-K student, has a daughter in her first and now last year at Parklane. She praised Parklane’s autistic care as the dedicated school in the area for children with those special needs.
“The teachers are good, I love school, love that it’s more like a community and they help a lot of the kids,” Fuentes said.
At the school board meeting earlier this week, Fulton County Superintendent Mike Looney laid out a dire financial future for the district.
He said more consolidation and tough budget decisions are coming.
“I think the future will include additional school closings,” Looney said previously.
After the decision to shutter Spalding Drive Elementary in Sandy Springs was made, a group of parents wanted to establish a charter school at the site, but the district decided to use the building to house the Fulton County Teaching Museum and the Fulton County Schools Archives.
“All the kids got uprooted, all the students got uprooted, and if it’s a financial decision, you should put kids first and if any other decision, it should be kids first, and they didn’t do that,” Jenkins said.
Parents in East Point also heard their soon-to-be empty elementary school may end up as either a new fire station or used for administration, but the district said there hasn’t been a final decision made yet for the Parklane property.
In a statement, the district said the closures would help with managing their resources:
“This move will improve district-wide access to educational programming and historical materials, consolidate staff and resources currently spread across two separate facilities, and allow the district to reduce its overall facility footprint.”
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