The Fulton County School Districts is moving forward with an $18 million renovation plan for North Springs High School amidst calls an entirely new school. But Sandy Springs Mayor Rusty Paul, who attended a recent community input meeting planned to discuss what improvements need to be made, said in a recent interview that he still believes a new North Springs High School could be built following that input process.
He said in the interview after the meeting that he supports the consultants’ plan to get feedback from the community. But after the feedback process is completed, he believes it would be “appropriate” for the district to ultimately decide a new school needs to be built instead.
“I believe from conversations I’ve had with the community that would be an appropriate outcome,” Paul said of the possibility the district could decide to build a new school.
“It will be really obvious that there’s going to have be some major upgrades made,” he said.
A new North Springs High would help support the city’s new policy goal of promoting redevelopment in the north end, Paul said.
“While there’s no direct ties [to the redevelopment policy effort], it would have a major impact on it and that’s why I’ve been involved in the process,” he said. “Nothing has a more powerful impact on your ability to bring in young families, which is one of our target groups, than good schools. Nothing has a more powerful impact on your ability to bring in more jobs.”