The Fulton County Schools Board of Education at its Feb. 20 meeting voted 4-3 to close Spalding Drive Elementary School at the end of the school year.
Board members Michelle Morancie, Katie Gregory and Franchesca Warren voted against the closure. Board members Kristin McCabe, Kimberly Dove, Sara Gillespie, and Lillie Pozatek voted for the closure.
“The board members who voted for closure simply did not understand that we value the community school we have,” Steven Guy, strategy chair for the Save Spalding Drive Elementary committee, told Rough Draft Atlanta after the vote. “While we might go to a school that has similar performance metrics, it is not a community school.”
Guy said the community group appreciated the board members who voted to keep the school open.
“We simply wish they had listened to the entire community and political leaders to delay the vote allowing the proper time to make a truly informed decision,” Guy said.
Before the vote, Morancie asked why the district moved to close the schools without giving parents more notice. She asked that the board give the community a chance to work with the district to increase enrollment and improve the building.
“The community was understandably frustrated to hear that just as ground was broken for the North Springs, a feeder school would be taken away,” Morancie said. “Many Spalding parents felt that they were blindsided by this proposal, and the anxiety within the community is palpable.”
Gregory said alienating those parents who run student government councils, PTAs, and booster organizations would not help fill North Springs with students.
Board Chair Kristin McCabe cited declining enrollment as a problem across the district. She said the school district’s student population has dropped by 8,000 in the last six or seven years. McCabe said Spalding Drive’s student-teacher ratio for fifth grade is 18 students per teacher. Keeping small classroom sizes would require higher tax rates, McCabe said. District policy allows for up to 30 students per classroom.
McCabe asked Superintendent Mike Looney if they should keep from closing schools that show high performance in academics. Looney said that would be discriminatory.
Gillespie said the district needs to spend taxpayer dollars on academic success and not on buildings that are becoming more expensive to maintain.
Three public meetings were held last fall to develop the redistricting plan. The board voted on Jan. 24 to move forward with the closure. The district held public hearings on Feb. 11 and 20.
The board’s vote moved forward a redistricting plan involving four Sandy Springs elementary schools. Current Spalding Drive students will attend Heards Ferry or Woodland Elementary Schools. Some Woodland students will attend Ison Springs Elementary School for the 2025-2026 school year.
Parents will be notified in late March about the closure, redistricting, and Change of School Assignments (COSA). Parents can request that their children attend a specific school outside of their attendance zone through COSA.
Tarika Peeks, executive director of operational planning, said the closure will affect 264 current K-4 Spalding Drive students and redistricting will affect 276 students. Rising fifth graders at Woodland can choose to stay at their current school, but they must maintain satisfactory attendance, behavior, and academics and must supply their own transportation.
The school board also voted to close Parklane Elementary School as the district opens a new Conley Hill Elementary School. Warren, Gregory and Morancie also voted against the Parklane closure.
