ATLANTA — Parents and students will get a first glimpse of potential school attendance zones for next year during the second round of redistricting meetings set for Oct 3 at Alpharetta High School.
The public will have an opportunity to review early plans and provide feedback on the draft proposals for enrollment boundaries. The new attendance zones go into effect the start of school in August 2023.
Planners with the Fulton County School System are sifting through the hundreds of comments received following the first round of redistricting outreach on Sept. 12. During that meeting, the public was asked to provide input on how decisions would be made on new attendance zones.
That input is being used as district staff create draft maps for round two on Oct. 3.
Although the community is encouraged to engage in the process and provide feedback, the decisions will ultimately be driven by established criteria set by the Fulton County School Board.
“We are always grateful for the engagement of our parents and community,” said Chief Communications Officer Brian Noyes. “And the input we receive is a valued part of our evaluation process.”
However, he added, the final zones will follow the approved criteria which considers geographic proximity, instructional capacity, projected enrollment, traffic patterns, previous rezoning, special programs, and school feeder alignment.
“[Community] feedback is evaluated on the quality of how they relate to the criteria, not the volume of responses,” Noyes said. “Form letters and petitions on the same point will be considered together as a single comment.”
He encouraged the community to attend the public sessions which allow for more interactive conversations with staff and community.
After the meeting, the district will put the alternative map proposals online to gather community comments and feedback.
Until then, the district is not accepting online comments about the zones. However, anyone with questions about the process can send an email to the district at planning@fultonschools.org.
Revised boundaries could potentially impact all 47 public schools in the North Fulton region. Schools with open enrollment, such as charter schools, would not be impacted by new attendance zones.
A similar rezoning process is underway for schools in South Fulton.
