Edgewood and Kirkwood parents: Do you approve of the idea that calls for Coan to be closed as a middle school and become a sixth-grade academy?

This is just terrible news (once again) for Kirkwood. I really wish I understood why it appears this whole process has been biased against Kirkwood; first, taking Kirkwood out of Grady, then proposing a map that splits the neighborhood in two, and now, taking away the neighborhood's middle school... At least somebody (privileged north-of-DeKalb neighborhoods) are getting what they want. And this should be good news for Centennial and Hope-Hill as well. Looks like Kirkwood will just have to wait another 10 years for a little respect - as if going from one of the worst neighborhoods in Atlanta to one of the most desirable, and making one helluva good elementary school in the process, is just not enough...

I certainly hope so. I don't think there is another example in all of Atlanta where APS is taking students from their neighborhood school and offering that facility up to students from adjacent neighborhoods. It is adding insult (parading privileged students in front of Kirkwood's kids who have to go several miles to an even worse MS) to injury (taking Kirkwood out of Grady in the first place and proposing to close Coan which has recently gotten a lot of independent support for its programs).

Though the Supt. wrote that things are still subject to change, it is becoming increasingly clear that the south-of-DeKalb neighborhoods' votes are not being equally counted. It also looks like any changes will be "minor", meaning our hope that we might be able to stay in Coan, and more so, that we might be able to stay in the Grady cluster, has faded to just a mere glimmer.

Kirkwoodian here. How could we possibly approve of the worst case of redistricting gerrymandering yet? This is a slap in the face, a case of the "have's" simultaneously booting us out of the Grady cluster AND poaching the middle school in the heart of OUR neighborhood.
Yes, we have a strong argument. APS said no islands. So how can the Inman annex be outside the Inman district? And how is it fair or logical for kids who live across the street from Coan not to attend that school? Annexes aka grade academies should only be located in the same feeder area as the school(s) they're relieving.
The much more logical approach is to keep Coan open as a middle school, and redistrict Mary Lin to Coan. This addresses the overcrowding at Inman and keeps keeps ALL SRT 3 middle school students going to their geographically closest middle schools, walkable in most cases. The schools continue to be part of the local community. Yes, Candler Park is much closer to Coan than Inman.

Stop the gerrymandering. It makes no sense for Virginia Highlands 6th graders to bus to Edgewood nor does it makes sense for Kirkwood middle schoolers to bus to Grant Park.

Let's apply some common sense here.

Kirkwood Resident with grandchildren in APS - this keeps getting worse & worse for our neighborhood - out of Grady cluster, our neighborhood middle school closed - where are our children supposed to go for middle school? I particularly do not care for the idea of a "6th grade Academy". I do not think that many parents will be willing to transport their children that far from their homes for only one year in that school. Seems like this plan could start a mass exodus of families from APS...just sayin"

South of Dekalb - Respectfully, it does not make sense to rip kids from Inman and send them to Coan, a failing middle school. Mary Lin families have worked incredibly hard over the last several decades to build up Inman, and it is ridiculous to suggest that as a reward for that hard work and dedication, that community should start over and help build up another school.

Your suggestion that ML should be sent to Coan is fundamentally flawed because you base your argument on the assumption that, if such redistricting were to happen, ML families would happily send their kids. The exact opposite is true. ML families with elementary age kids would either look to private schools or move out of the district entirely, Coan will get no better (or only marginally better), and just as importantly from APS's perspective, it will remain a underutilized and failing school.

I am a SPARK parent. I can assure you that no one at Inman wants to send the 6th graders to Coan. APS is proposing this to save cost. I find it interesting that no one here, or in the article, has even mentioned the incredible $40M proposed to spend on Jackson high (Where in the world did this come from?). Coan is at 36% occupancy, King is at 60% occupancy. One of them is going to be closed. While the King High School cluster has $40M+ spent, the 'privileged' kids Inman have more students added to the cluster (Cook will now be Inman via their merger into Hope-Hill, and some Bethune and Herndon students will be moved to Capitol View).

So what we see here is that the King gets $40M, (Mary Lin gets $12M) while the Grady cluster gets more kids to an already overcrowded system and our kids get bussed out of our district. I am not sure how someone would consider that a 'privileged' result.

I AM A COAN PARENT - First of all, they are closing our elementary school (Eastlake), then, they are going to KICK our students out of OUR SCHOOL just to relieve overcrowdedness in another school, and they took our students COMPLETELY out of the Grady cluster. If this isn't a mess, I don't know what is!!! We will not stand for this!!!

Peralte, thanks for the link to the Jackson announcement. It's from less than 3 months ago. I guess I wouldn't consider a 10 week old announcement old news, but maybe that's just me. It does seem interesting that this significant investment of resources was announced in the middle of the redistricting analysis.

The saddest part of this is the utter lack of compassion from the north-of-DeKalb set. Completely inhuman responses and almost celebratory in their victory over Kirkwood/East Lake children. Yes, folks, the statistics, numbers, commutes, and dollar signs you are complaining about translate to the lives and futures of hundreds of children.

How can you bitch about having to cross DeKalb Ave or that your school is ONLY getting $12, when our neighborhoods are losing an elementary school and a middle school, getting kicked out of their performing high school, rezoned to two poor-performing schools five time further away than their current schools, AND getting walked all over during this entire process. Congrats! you've won; you have successfully negated all of the progress Kirkwood and East Lake have made in the last decade.

We may need some clarification. I think the Coan plan is to send Coan students to King WHILE the facility is re-purposed (or just the 7/8 graders); then all 6th graders (including Kirkwood and Inman) would attend Coan for 6th and transfer to King and Inman for 7/8, depending on district. Is that correct?

Exactly...legalized segregation!!

Doc says this: "Coan will be re-purposed and students will be relocated during the 2012-2013 school year." This implies that after that year, Coan district 6th graders will attend Coan - I don't think there are enough Inman 6th graders to fill up that school. It also says that if this location is unacceptable, will look for another location. My guess is that no one from Grady or Jackson districts will like this solution and it will be tabled.

My other read on this is that the big problem area is middle school and that they are kicking that can down the road.

All:

How exactly did "The Inman community [get] together and [build] their school from the ground up from within"? Likewise, what is the Coan community not doing to build their school from the ground up from within?

What is the map that Inman used, that Coan could also use?

Hey everyone, my colleague, Jaclyn Hirsch, editor of Va-Hi Patch, posted the maps of Davis' recommendations: http://patch.com/A-rvpB

Looks like on the maps, Cabbagetown has been included in Jackson cluster which it wanted, I think, but that portion of Grant Park North of I-20 and West of Cherokee is in Grady, while the rest (and majority) of Grant Park is in Jackson? Am I reading that right? Why split theneighborhood like that, especially when it's such a small portion?

http://www.theshaunsays.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/school_segregation_cartoon1-300x231.gif
Replace 2000 with 2012.

Thanks for the info, flux!

I see it now...it is not ok to send children north of Dekalb AVENUE/"the tracks" further south, but it is ok to send children north of INTERSTATE 20 (proverbial tracks) south of 20? Just looked at Google maps, King is FAR away from Coan...

Anyone want to address the impact of Charter Schools on the closing of these schools? The slow transformation from public to public charter continues. Fluxtration, why don't you go vent some frustrations with the parents in Grant and Ormewood Parks for establishing the Atlanta Neighborhood Charter Middle School? If they hadn't gone and attempted to improve their own kids education by establishing a middle school charter, King Middle would still be at capacity and King/Coan wouldn't have to merge! Shame on them, huh?

I can't help but raise the question, "Is Segregation/Separate But Equal Ok?"...

If north and southside parents choose to segregate themselves and their children from one another, and resources are distributed equally among the schools, is that "ok"?

How did these schools that were once at full capacity reach undercapacity, while some schools are overcapacity? Families move from neighborhoods to neighborhoods for any number of reasons...that's ok, right?

Thanks for the stats, bearcatn8,

It seems to me that the trend is to segregate schools, thru charters, vouchers, redistricting, etc...I'm listening to a radio program about this topic right now, the common consensus seems to be that closing schools in any neighborhood will erode the fabric of that neighborhood, create huge empty buildings which "become" havens for crime and other nefarious activities...pushing that idea further, then that neighborhood's property values will see a tremendous decrease, developers can buy low...perhaps even buy out the existing residents, then sell high to a newer demographic....and...wait for it...reopen the schools, now serving this new population...but again, just a theory...

Interesting point Nic. I don't think that the intent is to segregate schools, but I can't really dispute that charters, vouchers, etc. can have a segregationist effect on schools (in terms of both class and race). However, I have a hard time believing that there is an institutional philosophy in place to destroy neighborhoods so that they can be taken over and resold to more affluent families. If that IS the idea, it is delusional. Families move into neighborhoods that are turning themselves, no?

I suppose it is naive to say that race/class is not an issue in this debate, it clearly is. But I get really bothered when people claim that communities are making their arguments based on race - i.e. "they don't want their kids to go to Coan because they think it is too black." People want their children to go the school where they can get the best education today, not the school that might provide a better education to kids 10 years from now. That really is what it is all about.

The Coan plan is a Red Herring. It was put out there to get the SOD neighborhoods to stop worrying about Grady. Now that we are all unified, we will get Coan back and maybe some parity in funding and personnel. Kirkwood and East Lake will still lose Grady, but hey, we got Coan back right? We should be thankful. The great bait and switch will be how APS realistically plans to reduce over capacity issues at ML.

I hope many of you were at the BOE meeting tonight - it was clear that Atlanta's citizens will not stand idly by while APS favors the north and casts the south aside. No longer. You have awoken a sleeping dragon ;)

The plain and simple truth is the flourish of NOD schools and the concentration of charter schools SOD is due to systemic failure of APS and their inequitable allotment of tax payers $ in SOD schools via facilities, administrative and teacher quality staffing, and quality instructional resources. That is the reason for the $40 mil cash infusion into Jackson. Bottom line is APS in past 20 years has failed our children miserably and continue to do so. I for one would like to see APS BOE SUPER etc take ownership (admit) for this FAILURE and produce a true road map to recovery with tangible outline to success. Not just more generic political wordy promises.

Erroll Davis does not seem like the type of person to throw out a red herring in order to get Kirkwood to quietly accept the Toomer-Coan-Jackson plan. I think we have to take what he's saying at face value. If you look at his live blog comments just before last night's meeting (around 3 pm) it is obvious that he sees nothing wrong with moving Coan kids to King and repurposing the building as a 6th grade academy to resolve overcrowding at Inman. The Candler Park folks don't seem to be up in arms about this plan--my impression is that they are fine with sending their 6th graders to Coan as long as the students who currently occupy the building are cleared out first. As a Kirkwood parent, my prediction and my hope, is that the neighborhood will come together to find a solution for our middle schoolers. Like it or not, the answer might involve another charter school, to serve the students leaving Toomer. I know there are mixed feelings about this idea, but if how can we continue to support APS when it gives us nothing but one unpalatable option after another.

As a north of DeKalb resident and parent of an Inman child, I found the 6th grade academy to be a complete curveball. I find it extremely unfair for both sides of DeKalb and Kirkwood has EVERY right to be upset with this proposal. Sending those childrend to King is unfair and simply doesn't pass the smell test but on the flip-side it seems strange to send the North of DeKalb residents south also. There has to be another location for this 6th grade academy that: A- doesn't cause unfair treatment to the Jackson cluster and- B: a location that it actually IN the Inman district. Unfortunately for Kirkwood, they have paid the price for complete inclusion of O4W (and Centennial) into the Grady cluster.

Thanks for the reasoned view, Inman Park. I'm glad to know that someone outside of Kirkwood agrees that the Coan plan smells to high heaven. I didn't even think it was legal to have students drive past one school to attend another, but maybe that's the point of calling it an "academy." What Erroll Davis essentially said in his comments was "Why should Kirkwood kids care if they drive past a 6th grade academy that they can't attend? The alternative is to drive past an empty building."

@Ramiro
It's not that hard to make AYP when you start off at the very bottom. If 29% of your students are meeting math standards in 2007 and you slowly improve that number to 52% by 2010 then you've made AYP in math standards and yes, we have to say you've made great strides. But you surely recognize that in spite of the progress, those numbers still suggest an underperforming school. Also, I don't know what the climate is like at King right now, but when I was teaching at Harper Archer Middle School, King seemed pretty comparable. That's been 10 years, so maybe it's changed.

While we are all kept busy by this "divide and conquer" strategy, this monarchist is sitting on his $240,000 seat cushion doling out his bidding.
From the Buckhead Patch:
"He also showed a mix of amusement and distaste at what he said was the demanding tone of comments from across the city, particularly Virginia-Highland and Buckhead."

Yes, demands to be represented and acknowledged can be so "noisy", can't they Mr. Davis?

"I'm in no way bound by what the demographers have put out there," he said in the interview at APS' downtown headquarters.

Great, so why did APS use our tax dollars to hire and pay them exactly?

Davis said that the demographers will give him a fiinal recommendation based on their series of community meetings. He said he will weigh community comments he's received, along with the set of principles he issued.

Of course! His principles...When you own the information, you can bend it all you want. How about the communities stand up together and refuse to accept the bullying of any of our neighbors?

Coan Middle School Is Not Just A School, It's A Community That Cannot Be Transferred Or Replaced !

- Smaller classes
- Walkable & Central
- Graduation Generation Program of Emory University
- Confucious Chinese Institute
- Coan Learning Garden (1/2 acre) of Southeastern Horticultural Society
- Coan Health Clinic
- Public Park & Recreation Center Adjacent
- Accessible & walkable afterschool programs
- Program funding not dependent on APS
- Community partnerships that save public dollars

For the kids most of all, Coan Middle School must remain open and growing!

I get wanting to keep a community school open, but at what expense? Who is going to pay to keep Coan open when know one from the protesting parade sends or plans on sending their own child there? It is not responsible to ask the rest of Atlanta to have to pay more tax dollars to keep your small and underutilized school open.

I have yet to understand how certain Toomer leaders are protesting at the Coan rally, yet send their own kids to Decatur with mine.

It's noble to fight for your community, but please stop the grandstanding and identify yourselves as charter schools parents pretending to care for Coan.

@Ramiro,

I'm not trying to disparage King at all. I understand the plan-one middle school for the Jackson cluster. There are good arguments that King should be the school, although I do think the money that would have to be used to renovate King could be better spent. As I understand it, Coan is up and ready as a facility. Whatever the final decision is, I will get behind it and give it my full support. I am so optimistic about the changes that are happening in APS right now, for the whole system and for the Jackson cluster in particular.
I started teaching at HAMS about 10 years ago, and left the system 3 years later in complete and utter despair. The place was an absolute hell hole. I had friends who taught at King and I did have the opportunity to visit the school a few times. From what I observed and heard, it was pretty similar to HAMS. I'm not trying to be unfair-I acknowledge that 7 years is a long time. A lot can happen. Hopefully a lot has happened. But a lot of times when people are talking about school change, they point to AYP as a measure of success or performance. I don't think AYP actually says a whole lot about success or performance. It can tell us that you're headed in the right direction (or that you've focused so exclusively on test scores that you've managed to move the numbers). But regardless of AYP, a school is not performing if only half or so of its students are, for example, meeting math standards.

Coan Middle School is not small, with a capacity is on the order of 900-1100 (APS figures). Though currently underutilized it very clearly offers both the location and available space to resolve worsening overcrowding at Inman Middle School and support other areas as well. Hence the recent suggestion by some to add Mary Lin Elementary to Coan Middle School’s cachement area.

The existing infrastructure and capacity at Coan Middle School can easily and inexpensively relieve the critical overcrowding at Inman Middle School (currently at 113% utilization with future estimates growing to 184% ). Coan Middle School is currently at 34% utilization and can accommodate hundreds of new students immediately with no additional cost to taxpayers.

Kind of a no brainer if we’re talking about cost effective utilization of available public money and facilities. Particularly given the academic and non profit resources participating at Coan Middle School at no additional expense to tax payers.