Principals, legislators and Sandy Springs city officials gave updates about education, legislation, city infrastructure and more to members of the High Point Civic Association during its annual meeting on April 10.
High Point President Mary Ford started the meeting with an update about the organization, which includes residents and businesses south of I-285 and east of Roswell Road in Sandy Springs.
The association decided to continue its partnership with the Daffodil Project and honored the organization’s founder and president, Andrea Videlefsky. It also handed out two $3,000 scholarships to Riverwood High School students.
High Point also plans to hold its own fall festival, as well as a candidates’ forum in the fall for elections. Ford asked members of the association to volunteer their time to help with these projects.
Educators from schools that serve High Point students shared updates. High Point Elementary Principal Danielle Miller said enrollment at the school is a bit more than 700 students.
“We are literally bursting at the seams, which is a great thing. We have kids coming back from private schools coming to fourth and fifth grades,” Miller said. “Our Pre-K lottery this year had over 60 in-zone candidates when we’ve never even had more than 40.”
Thomas Garrett, principal of Ridgeview Charter Middle School, said that Ridgeview was named a Title One School of Excellence. Test scores are rising at Ridgeview just like at High Point Elementary, Garrett said.
Principal Kindra Smith of Riverwood High School said her school benefits from the work the elementary and middle schools do to prepare students. Riverwood has 82 scholars offered admission to the University of Georgia this year. Another student is going to Yale. Smith expressed pride in the school’s 97.5% graduation rate.
Legislators discuss antisemitism, anti-squatting bills
Rep. Betsy Holland (D-Buckhead) and Sen. Josh McLaurin (D-Sandy Springs) shared news from Georgia’s recent legislative session.
Holland said legislation that cleared both chambers included HB 30, which added a definition of antisemitism in Georgia’s hate crime law. House bills making it easier for people to get licenses in certain fields were also passed. Holland said that debt or tuition forgiveness would also help people going into high-demand fields such as nursing, teaching, engineering, truck driving, construction and law enforcement.
Holland said the House also saw mental health as a high priority, and said they are trying anything they can to get social workers, psychologists, and school counselors into those jobs by making the jobs as attractive as possible. McLaurin told the High Point audience that the state budget includes significant raises for many state employees, including teachers.
McLaurin also said that the Georgia General Assembly passed anti-squatting legislation.
Another bill that passed requires clerk’s offices to verify the identities of people recording deeds as a measure to stop deed theft. Another bill tightened regulations to help prevent predatory house-buying practices in which less sophisticated homeowners sell their homes for much less than they are worth.
The legislature also passed a bill to offer a tax credit for the safe storage of firearms. McLaurin said that stronger gun control measures that he supports were not put to a vote.
Sandy Springs on infrastructure
Sandy Springs City Manager Eden Freeman said the city’s lawsuit over water with the city of Atlanta remains in negotiations, but she hopes they will conclude in the next year.
“But realize that we have been working to address this for pretty much the last 18 years,” she said.
Freeman said that the Sandy Springs City Council approved some changes this year to encourage redevelopment, including allowing “stick-built” instead of steel and concrete requirements for some multi-story buildings. A two-story height minimum for the City Springs district was removed.
The 15,000 cars that used to cross over on the Mount Vernon Highway bridge will get to start using the new bridge by the end of the month, Freeman said. The new Roberts Drive bridge opened two weeks ago, and the Pitts Road bridge should open in the second quarter of 2024.
Freeman also said that work on Johnson Ferry Road and Mt. Vernon Highway east of Roswell Road will create two-way traffic on both roads and add a connecting street with stoplights next to the Sandy Springs Library branch. That work is out for bids, and the city expects that project and another project adding sidewalks and turn lanes along Mt. Vernon Highway to the Sandy Springs MARTA station to be completed by the end of 2025 or early 2026.