(Editor’s note: You can see the map here.)
Press release
Athens ISD administrators have received some questions in regard to the elementary school realignment which will become effective at the beginning of the 2015-2016 school year. In an attempt to address potential concerns among the widest audience possible, the most common questions, with our responses, are compiled below. Please read on.
Q: Looking at the map, the area zoned for Bel Air is much smaller than the areas zoned for Central Athens and South Athens. Why is that?
A: This is a natural question to ask. Bel Air’s footprint on the map is much smaller than that of the other campuses. So it appears as though Bel Air will have far fewer students. Rest assured that is not the case. The disparity is a result of population density. There are neighborhoods immediately north and west of Bel Air where many school-aged children reside. By contrast, South and Central Athens, in order to net approximately the same number of students as Bel Air, must extend their boundaries into more rural areas. In those cases, an area on the map that represents several square miles might only account for a handful of students.
Q: Yes, but won’t Central Athens have more students than Bel Air and South Athens?
A: It will slightly, and there’s a good reason for that. Central Athens (which is still Athens Intermediate School until this school year ends) is bigger than the other two schools and can accommodate student pick-up and drop-off on both its north and south sides. As a result of this realignment, the overall student populations at Bel Air and South Athens will be marginally reduced from their present numbers, which should alleviate a bit of the traffic congestion at those campuses. In addition, we’re currently building eight new classrooms at Athens Intermediate (soon to be Central Athens) and will be adding a traffic lane parallel to Madole Street.
Q: When you say “slightly” bigger, what do you mean?
A: It’s impossible to provide exact figures, because we don’t know how many new pre-K and kindergarteners will be enrolling for the next school year. And, of course, there are always a few students who move into and out of the district. However, we can offer an idea based on current numbers. Focusing on kindergarten through fourth-grade, if realignment were to become effective immediately, there would be approximately 440 students at Bel Air, 440 at South Athens, and 480 at Central Athens. So, using current data, that’s about 40 more students at Central Athens, who will be spread across five grades at a larger campus.
Q: How similar will the three campuses be in terms of ethnic diversity?
A: Very similar. Again using our current data, the ethnic breakdown between the three campuses would be within 3 percentage points of one another if realignment were already in effect. That means the populations in the categories of American Indian/Alaskan, Asian, African-American, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, Hispanic, and white would not vary by more than 3 percent in any category from campus to campus.
Q: We were not assigned to the campus that is closest to our house. Why not?
A: The most challenging goal of the realignment process was locating the boundary lines in a way that would produce approximately the same number of children at each campus, with almost identical ethnic and socio-economic breakdowns, and not have across-the-street neighbors at different elementary schools. Using a software program designed for just such a task, lines were drawn and redrawn until that goal had been achieved. In so doing, there was simply no way to avoid the scenario posed above happening in some cases. We understand this can be frustrating for affected parents, and we appreciate their understanding.