The fate of two Fulton County elementary schools is expected to be decided in February, a spokesperson said.
Fulton County Schools is considering permanently closing Spalding Drive Elementary in Sandy Springs and Parklane Elementary in East Point due to a decrease in enrollment and aging buildings. Spalding Drive Elementary opened in 1966 and Parklane Elementary opened in 1953, according to the schools’ websites.
The possibility has upset parents of both schools who have spoken out at school board meetings and town halls. It has also concerned both cities’ mayors.
Fulton schools officials said forecasting future enrollment includes looking at birth rates and the number of students expected to enter pre-K, as well as whether new residential development is expected in the communities.
If the two elementary schools close, students would be transferred to new schools starting in August 2025, Brian Noyes, Fulton County Schools chief communications officer, said. When asked why the schools could close, Noyes pointed to two issues.
“People are waiting longer and having fewer kids as a trend,” Noyes said. According to Macrotrends.net the birth rate in Georgia has declined 6 percent since 2021.
Housing is another problem. “Fulton County — in particular in Sandy Springs — the housing has been another trend that we’re watching.” Over the last several years, Sandy Springs has sought to build affordable workforce housing, also known as missing middle (income) housing.
Spalding Drive Elementary parent, Steven Guy, said a parents’ committee to save the school is looking deeply into whether lower birth rates and housing issues are applicable to the north Fulton school.
“I think staff might not have all the data,” Guy said. “We are coming out of COVID. I can count five families in my small neighborhood that have moved into my neighborhood in the past two years or that have young ones on the way. I have a COVID baby. There is no way they have that information.”
The local parents fighting to “Save Spalding Drive Elementary” have collected nearly 2,100 signatures on a Change.org petition.
Some commenters on the petition said generations of family members have attended the school.
Commenter Katie Kloder said her two children attended Spalding Drive Elementary and closing it would be “detrimental to the community… It would make more sense if it was a failing school, but it isn’t.”
Numerous parents also spoke during public comment at a Sandy Springs City Council meeting on Sept. 17, where Mayor Rusty Paul voiced opposition to the school closing.
“We’re all concerned,” Rusty Paul said during a City Council meeting on Sept. 17.
Paul said he believes the school systems’ neglect of the building’s upkeep has led to the decrease in enrollment.
“There are parents who look at those buildings and say, “I think I will send my kids somewhere else,'” Paul said. “And then the population drops. One policy decision to not improve the buildings leads to another policy result that they now use to justify closing the school.”
The Fulton County Schools System will hold community forums on the possible closing of Spalding Drive Elementary school on Oct. 7, Nov. 4 and Dec. 5 from 6 to 8 p.m. at Riverwood High School.
Forums on the possible closing of Parklane Elementary School will take place Oct. 9, Nov. 6 and Dec. 4 at Tri-Cities High School from 6 to 8 p.m.
