East Point parents protest possible school closures
Parents at an East Point elementary school are rallying to halt a plan to close the school in the coming months.
Families of Parklane Elementary School gathered this Tuesday at Impact Church in East Point. The community-led meeting was one of the ways to brief other parents about the school’s pending closure.
Anna Lione attended the meeting. Her daughter goes to Parklane.
“Public schools are very overwhelming and challenging for a variety of reasons for children with different learning needs,” Lione said. “Parklane excels at meeting children where they are and providing those spaces for kids.”
In August, Fulton County School District officials introduced a consolidation plan for Parklane and Spalding Drive Elementary in Sandy Springs.
The next month, the plan moved forward during a board meeting. The district said the course of action was based on dwindling enrollment projections and school conditions.
The district’s Executive Director of Operational Planning Tarika Peeks outlined some of the factors for closure during the September meeting.
“If an elementary school is projected to have fewer than 450 students… they can become candidates for closure. Schools operating below these thresholds are administratively costly to run to maintain. Older facilities in need of extensive, costly repairs that no longer meet our facility expectations can also be considered for closure,” Peeks said.
According to FCS data, Parklane and Spalding Drive currently are around 100 students under the enrollment threshold while both schools need repairs.
Some parents say closing Parklane in particular would impact several students with developmental disabilities, like autism, and others dealing with housing challenges.
“A small community school like Parklane supports vulnerable students better than a big, giant school,” said Bernadette Naro, who has a daughter in first grade at Parklane. “And so going to school with 800 people is very different than going to school with 400 people. That’s a totally different environment.”
Both Parklane and Spalding Drive parents have created Facebook groups for their efforts while a “Save Parklane” petition gains signatures.
In a statement to WABE, District Officials said they’ll make a final decision about closing Parklane and Spalding Drive elementary schools early next year. The district has laid out a timeline of meetings to hear from parents and outline the process for closures.
Parklane Parents plan to carpool as many families as possible to raise their concerns at the district’s next board meeting on Oct. 17.
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