Duluth, Peachtree Ridge Parents Speak at Hearing

While Duluth Cluster parents and citizens speaking at a public hearing Wednesday (April 20) night expressed support for a revised school redistricting proposal and appreciation to the Gwinnett County Board of Education for listening to them and making changes, residents of three Peachtree Ridge Cluster neighborhoods appealed to the board to vote against the new plan or table voting on it.

The school board is scheduled to vote during a meeting at 7 p.m. tonight (April 21) at the GCPS Instructional Support Center in Suwanee. A third redistricting map reflecting changes based on comments at last night’s hearing is slated to be posted on the Gwinnett County Public Schools website at 1 p.m. today.

When a revised map was posted on the website last Friday (April 15), residents of Cresswell, North Cardinal Lake Estates and Woodbridge neighborhoods discovered they were unexpectedly slated to be redistricted from the Peachtree Ridge Cluster into the Duluth Cluster starting with the 2011-12 school year. The redistricting has been proposed by GCPS to relieve overcrowding in the Peachtree Ridge Cluster and increase enrollment in under-capacity Duluth Cluster schools. The initial redistricting map posted March 7 had drawn considerable opposition from Duluth city officials, parents, teachers and students.

The revisions were based on input forms collected by Boundary Committees in affected schools and forms obtained on the GSPS website submitted to the GSPS Planning Department. Speakers representing the three neighborhoods affected by the most recent changes complained to the board that they had not been involved in this process. 

The revised map indicates areas along the railroad tracks (Buford Highway) and Davenport Road in Duluth would be moved from the Peachtree Ridge Cluster back into the Duluth Cluster. Shifting the area along Buford Highway would return desirable businesses that were taken away from the Duluth Cluster in redistricting 10 years ago when new Peachtree Ridge High School opened. City officials and others have objected to potential return of apartments near Gwinnett Place Mall and transitional housing along Davenport Road.

The new plan does not redistrict students at Harris Elementary School in the Duluth Cluster as originally proposed to make room for students from Mason Elementary School in the Peachtree Ridge Cluster. It redistributes the students from Mason that were slated to be redistricted into the Harris attendance zone. Some of the Mason students would remain there, some would go to Harris and others would attend Chesney and Chattahoochee elementary schools.

Under the updated map, 134 Mason Elementary students would move to Chesney, 106 to Harris and 40 to Chattahoochee for a total of 280 Mason Elementary students to be redistricted. This compares to 128 Harris students that would have moved to Chesney and 274 Mason students that would have relocated to Harris totaling 402 under the former proposal. The proposed changes also affect middle and high schools in the Duluth and Peachtree Ridge clusters.

“I feel the board listened to the concerns of the Duluth Cluster. I support this new map and hope this will be the map voted on tomorrow night,” said Christy Espy, parent representative for Harris Elementary. Denise Montroy said she was pleased with the updated map. “It’s a good start to bringing back neighborhoods and businesses lost in the 2003 redistricting.” Duluth Cluster schools will welcome the new students, Montroy said. “I urge all of you to vote ‘yes’ for the map as it stands today.”

Chip Sweney, speaking for himself and his wife Leigh Ann, parents of children at Duluth High and Middle schools, told the board: “We are appreciative of the improvements made to the original proposal. The new proposal has reunited some neighborhoods within the Duluth Cluster and designated businesses on the Buford Highway corridor as part of the Duluth Cluster. Thank you for listening to our voice. This is a positive step toward restoring the Duluth community.”

“If you are open to making more changes, we respectfully ask you to consider bringing more of the Duluth City Limits neighborhoods to the Duluth Cluster,” Sweney said. “This would further demonstrate a commitment to balance enrollment, maximize capacity and minimize transportation costs, while further reuniting our community.”

“Thank you for not disrupting the B.B. Harris Elementary students, as was the plan with the original proposal,” said Amanda Helmstetter, a Berkeley Elementary School parent. “I like the fact that we have moved more kids out of Mason and into Harris and Chattahoochee Elementary to better balance the elementary schools….and that many of the businesses along the Buford Highway corridor are now back in the Duluth Cluster.”

“However, there is still work to be done,” Helmstetter said. The current proposal still does not balance the enrollment across both clusters, fix the overpopulation at Peachtree Ridge High and address overcrowding at Berkeley Lake Elementary, she said. She urged the board to vote ‘no’ on the redistricting proposal and allow the GCPS Planning Department to work on a developing a better plan.

John Pelchat, a Duluth High parent, asked the school board to “reconsider, slow down and allow new voices to be heard and allow their creativity to come into the process.”

Carlos Sanchez, a Hull Middle and Mason Elementary parent and resident of the Cresswell subdivision, pointed out to the board that Cresswell is the only neighborhood in the area along Buford Highway proposed to be redistricted back into the Duluth Cluster. The rest are businesses, Sanchez said. Residents were surprised to discover their subdivision was slated to be redistricted when the new map was posted last Friday, he said, and had not had an opportunity to participate fully in the public input process. “We thought we were safe,” he said. There are only 40 students in the subdivision, he said. “That’s not a lot of impact on relieving overcrowding.”

Hull Middle School parent JennMarie Benson, a North Cardinal Lake Estates resident, said her neighborhood is the only one on Bunten Road not included in the Peachtree Ridge Cluster on the updated map. She asked that North Cardinal Lake Estates be allowed to remain in the Peachtree Ridge Cluster. North Cardinal Lake Estates includes about 60 homes and 20 students, according to William Whipple, a Mason parent, who also spoke against redistricting the neighborhood into the Duluth Cluster.

Karen Lougee, a Peachtree Ridge High parent, requested the board remove proposed redistricting of Woodbridge subdivision containing about 92 homes off Ga. Hwy. 120 into the Duluth Cluster from the revised plan. Several other Woodbridge residents also told the board they wanted to stay in the Peachtree Ridge Cluster.

Presentations by speakers from both clusters were punctuated by applause. Remarks by Peachtree Ridge Cluster parent Joylena Williams generated the loudest response. Williams, a New Orleans Hurricane Katrina refugee and Duluth transplant who "pulled herself up by her bootstraps" after the disaster, said she was "personally insulted" by comments that have emanated from the Duluth Cluster about apartment dwellers. "I lived in those apartments," Williams said. "Are they saying my children are not educatable?" She reminded the audience that anyone's economic situation can change and they shouldn't judge others. "Every kid is worthy of a great education," Williams said.

School board member Mary Kay Murphy, whose district includes the Duluth and part of the Peachtree Ridge clusters, thanked parents and citizens for coming to the hearing. "I'm very encouraged to see how much you love your schools and communities," she said. "We will do everything possible to make the redistricting transparent and successful. We look forward to what the Planning Department will bring us tomorrow." 

Any further revisions to the map would be based on comments at the public hearing. The school board can also make last-minute changes prior to voting.