FULTON COUNTY, Ga. — Parents made their final pleas to the Fulton County School Board to try to save their schools but it wasn’t enough to save at least one of two schools the district was looking to close.
The school board voted 4-3 on Thursday night to close both Parklane Elementary School and Spalding Drive Elementary School.
Parents from both schools say that the county’s reasons for closing the schools are flawed and hope enough school board members side with them to keep the doors open.
“We’ve been oscillating between anxious and hopeful and then feeling hopeless,” Parklane Elementary parent Gabriella Mooney said.
“I feel like I have this weird mix of excitement and dread,” Spalding Drive Elementary parent Emily Bell said.
Parents told Channel 2’s Michael Doudna that they had a mix of emotions as they waited on the fate of their children’s schools.
“It’s a frustrating process. Our children have thrived here at Spalding Drive,” Parent Steven Bell said.
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But the problem for the district is both schools are small and old, and in a district with declining enrollment, money is a factor.
“Can we continue to spend $7,000 per pupil more to provide small school environments?” Fulton County Schools Superintendent Mike Looney asked recently during a board meeting.
But Spalding Drive parents said those numbers are inflated and the small classes pay off with the second-best scores in Sandy Springs.
“The dollars spent on education at this school are producing outsized results based on the students that are attending here,” Stephen Bell said.
At Parklane, per pupil spending is fueled by high poverty rates, and 1/5 of the student population is in special education.
“We are a school system. We are not a business,” parent Gabriella Mooney said.
Parents at both schools have made their case repeatedly over the past 6 months but believe the ruling will come down to a single vote.
“I think we will be looking at one vote. Either one vote yes or one vote no will be making the decision,” Mooney said.
We have a reporter and photographer at the meeting getting reaction to the closure, for WSB Tonight at 11 p.m.
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