ATLANTA,None — The redistricting controversy had hundreds of frustrated parents packing a school auditorium Wednesday night.
A parent told Channel 2's Amy Napier Viteri they are worried a proposal to rezone students not only splits communities but places students' safety in jeopardy.
Hundreds of parents showed up at North Atlanta High School to let Atlanta Public Schools demographers know how they felt about the latest proposals.
Nobody Viteri spoke with was happy with the revised plans, which, if approved, could send some kids to new schools as early as the fall.
Parents wearing T-shirts and holding signs let APS demographers know they are not happy with the second round of proposals they said would divide neighborhoods.
In some cases, parents argue the plan would move students from schools their neighborhoods have helped build.
"We would be moved from a school where our children can walk to currently. And now they would have to go three or four miles and cross over Peachtree Road," parent Jeremy Moeser said.
Moeser's Argonne Forest neighborhood has been a part of Morris Brandon Elementary School for 50 years and he said there is capacity for it to stay that way.
"It is separating several of the neighborhoods and splitting us up," Moeser said.
Elizabeth Young's children go to E. Rivers Elementary. She said one proposal would send them to a proposed new school in midtown off Northside Drive.
"Northside Drive does not have any sidewalks and you have to cross the highway," Young said.
"That's input we're looking for, so if people really feel that way, that's something the demographers here will take into effect," APS spokesman Keith Bromery said.
Mitch Wickland is a local school council member for E. Rivers. He told Viteri redistricting might not even be necessary for this cluster if the district had done more research into capacity options for existing schools.
"It really comes down to just that piece, that 'Why didn't you do a site assessment before you started this whole demographic analysis process?'" Wickland said.
Some parents expressed disappointment that Superintendent Errol Davis was not at the meeting.
Demographers will revise the plans based on community feedback and submit that version to Davis who will present it to the school board in the spring.
Depending what the board decides, some students could be starting at new schools in the fall.
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