Fulton County Schools faces backlash over Spalding Drive Elementary closure plan

Some parents and community members believe the decision to close Spalding Drive Elementary School in Sandy Springs has already been made, despite a series of upcoming community input meetings.

Fulton County Schools Chief Operating Officer Noel Maloof told parents last week that the school board won’t make a decision until February 2025. Other FCS staff repeated that point during a Redistricting 101 virtual presentation held on Monday. Some parents aren’t convinced after learning community meetings scheduled in the next three months are dedicated to creating new attendance zones following Spalding’s closure.

“They’ve essentially told us, it comes down to money,” Spalding parent Kim Parkman said. “There’s a deficit. We’ve been told that by closing schools, we make up that deficit. But are we the right choice?”

Tarika Peeks, FCS executive director of Operational Planning, said during the Redistricting 101 presentation that as staff works on redistricting, they will consider geographic proximity, traffic patterns, and enrollment balance to create new attendance zones if Spalding closes.

“Please keep in mind that students are not always assigned to their closest school, and all three criteria must be considered,” she said.

Attendance zone options will be presented at the second community meeting, according to the FCS redistricting timeline . A final draft plan will be revealed during the December meeting, with a revised version presented to the school board in January. A vote is expected in February 2025 on Spalding’s closure and new attendance zones. Redistricting hearings would follow.

Parents were upset to hear that in the closure consideration for Spalding staff will only consider criteria set in FCS policy, which does not include academic achievement.

Kim Parkman said her family specifically moved to a neighborhood so their kids could attend Spalding Drive Elementary. They don’t know what they will do if the school closes.

“By closing this school, we will have to separate our child from all of his friends and then make that decision again three years later when it comes to middle school,” she said.

Parkman said her children are still recovering from the COVID-19 learning loss and were fast-tracked to catch up at Spalding. She said the closure adds to the mental load on her children, who aren’t developmentally able to process the situation.

“FCS is moving at an accelerated pace with processes that suggest the decision has already been made to close Spalding Drive in spite of the consistent academic achievements of its diverse student body,” parent Stephen Bell told Rough Draft.

He said the transition from telling parents academics don’t matter to drawing new attendance zones gives the impression that FCS views their children as “interchangeable widgets” and not students receiving an education.

Bell said he and his wife have spent the past two weeks learning about policy and budgets, new state laws, and getting a more complete picture of the school cluster.

“We all hope that the board chooses to invest in a high-performing school rather than shut it down,” Bell said.

Parkman said FCS staff has provided contradictory information about open enrollment.

The confusion increased with a change in FCS policy. Before this year, a school needed two classrooms available to qualify for open enrollment, which meant Spalding did not qualify. Deputy Chief Operations Officer Yngrid Huff said this year the policy changed to no more than 95 percent of state enrollment capacity numbers.

Huff said open enrollment would not affect closure recommendations if the students selecting Spalding came from other Sandy Springs elementary schools. But that wouldn’t eliminate the problem of too many classrooms for too few students in the Sandy Springs area.

Dwindling enrollment in Sandy Springs

This school year, the Sandy Springs region has 1,668 fewer students than the Georgia Department of Education established as its enrollment capacity. The region had 46 more classrooms than were needed, according to FCS calculations.

Closing Spalding and declining enrollment will lower its over-enrollment to 1,215 students. However, with six elementary schools, the region will have only 12 more classrooms than needed.

Spalding Drive Elementary’s enrollment has been below 450 students since at least the 2015-2016 school year, according to figures provided by FCS. Parents didn’t know that was a problem until their school was recommended for closure.

Ison Springs Elementary, which had 745 students in 2015, dropped below 450 students for the first time this school year.

An FCS spokesperson said that school closure recommendations are made if an elementary school in the Sandy Springs region has an enrollment below 450, neighboring schools have space, and the building needs major repairs.

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