I think someone mentioned at APS comment session last night Kirkwood still would like to see a K-8. Why not close Toomer and Eastlake and turn Coan into K- 8?

As far as relieving Inman Middle APS needs another operating facility in the Dekalb Ponce corridor from a basic planning perspective. Howard , 9th hole or another location makes sense.( what happened to 30 mil midtown middle school funds in this discussion). The city state and federal government made a major commitment to this corridor with Freedom Park Path and beltline and APS should use these SPLOST funds to add a new facility in the interests of sustainability and projecting for future growth in this area

I think turning Coan into a K-8 would be a good idea as well. What we need on this side of town in another elementary school.

Wow, Taking away Edgewood and Kirkwood's neighborhood school and concentrating the students into an overwhelmingly poor/low performing school? Providing the Inman parents with an entire school as an overflow site while ruining our attempts to improve our neighborhood schools here in Grant, Ormewood, Cabbagetown, East Atlanta, Edgewood and Kirkwood!!!! This is really bad for the future of our area. I predict more charter schools popping up in the near future and APS having more under capacity schools around here. We lower-middle class folks work very hard to help our communities, buy old houses and fix them up, and cannot afford private school. So we use Charter schools when our local schools are bad and won't work with us to improve. Why all this Beltline hype when the school system is not going to actually work with us to make the schools good? Neighborhood improvement = renovated/new houses + low crime + middle class families with kids + good schools. Now we have increased the tax revenues and are receiving no consideration at all for what our children need. If we will sell our houses in SE and move to the burbs what will happen to all the schools we are now investing in?

The k-8 is a great idea. Why does APS refuse to even consider it? As an (Inman Park) commenter stated on another thread--the Coan option doesn't pass the smell test. Another charter middle school is probably the end result of this plan. I know it's gotten harder to get a charter approved, but it's not impossible. If this last plan is really the best APS can offer us, we will have to get creative to find a solution for our middle schoolers.

How can you justify putting 6th graders only from another community in a school thats already an undercapacity school with 6-8 saving the district money.Since inman is overcrowded it would make more since to redraw the lines so that some of their neighborhoods would be zoned to coan. I guess common sense isnt that common.

Why take our school and give it to people who really think that their children are to good for that school and area. Work with the neighborhood to save coan don't just push us aside we have be over looked for to long. .Work with us not against us our kids well being is just important to us the highland community kids are important to them

Good lord! APS! Grow a pair and move Mary Lin to Coan for middle school for crying out loud. I'm sure the demographic at Coan would be darned closed to 50/50 Black/White if you did so. It would be not very different than what exists at Inman Middle now. I just can't believe that this silly 6th grade academy is all APS can come up with. I also can't believe that they are letting racism and classism rule the day.

Kirkwood, Edgewood and East Lake families have worked too hard to just throw away their community schools right when they are on the brink of success.

I like the idea of moving Mary Lin to Coan. Makes a hell of a lot more sense than this idiotic sixth grade academy in OUR school. I was so pissed when I saw this that I couldn't breathe. All the work that's gone into improving the Coan area, as well as that sweet ass garden behind - just to take it from us and give it to the schools that refuse to mix with our students. If APS doesn't grow a pair, they are going to continue to spend more and more money to appease the monied crowd. If they move Mary Lin to Coan, they wouldn't have to spend the money to expand Mary Lin, since there would be probably be a mass white exodus further north. Talk about saving money. Done.

Sarah and Jennifer should start the hermaphrodite mom's club - with all this talk of growing cojones. I think the land of NOD is not thrilled either. If everyone zoned to Coan went to Coan we would not be talking about male jangly parts. BTW How many Kirkwood/ Eastlake and Edgewood kids do you think will be taken out of Jackson and go to Drew Charter high?

I don't think they want to grow cojones themselves, so no need for a hermaphrodite club. As a Kirkwood parent, I fully identify with the emotion they're expressing. There's a lot of fear about the future right now. It's similar to the fear the Lin people feel about the prospect of being zoned to Coan, but in reality less founded. Both King and Jackson are apparently getting a major commitment of resources in the redistricting and if you look at the communities they serve, it's pretty obvious that they're on the rise. If APS had made the full implications of the King/Jackson plan more clear, I doubt there'd be all the hoopla. I'm fully on board now and others are starting to come around. That's why I'm not advocating for any new dangly parts for the district. With the infusion of resources, and the commitment of the communities they serve, King and Jackson are going to be awesome and the charter movement, already damaged by the Ga. Supreme Court's decision, will slowly wilt away.

Kirkwood parent - Can you elaborate on the King commitment of resources or point me in the right direction? I was aware of the Jackson stuff but not anything special for King. I think taking Coan was such a surprise, and kind of a slap to the face, that it's just going to take a little bit to get used to. Hey ESL - how do you know we were talking about ovaries? Don't those come in pairs? I should probably know that

Anyone have the seating capacity, vacant, used, etc. data off-hand?

How many students are enrolled at Coan (A)? What's its total capacity (D)?
How many students are enrolled at East Lake (B)?
How many students are enrolled at Toomer (C)?

If A + B + C </= D, then combine the schools into Coan (k-7/8), keep the other buildings available for when enrollment picks back up.

is 6th grade the largest # of students countywide? How does 8th grade rank? Can the high schools accommodate 8-12?

Jennifer, at the meeting, Mr.Davis very clearly stated that he is going to invest in King by both changing it architecturally and by investing in its academic success. He said that King is going to get an IB program. He also said that all Coan's current grants and programs will be transferred to King. He also emphazied that he thinks that Coan needs to be closed because nobody wants to go there...it looked like The 6 academy was kind of after thought... I know it doesn't make anyone feel better but I would like to straighten the facts...
My apologizes for typos and an inventive language:) always blame iPad:)

Hi Jennifer--

Do you ever go on the KNO website? I posted some of the information on the "Going Forward" thread under the Kirkwood and education link under the name Renee Kazanecki. I was so angry when this proposal came out I couldn't see straight. The idea of sending our kids to King and repurposing the Coan building to be used exclusively for Inman just enraged me. The next day on facebook I saw a post from a friend who works for APS -- the gist being that she couldn't believe there was a "battle" for Coan when most folks in our neighborhood had previously bad-mouthed and written the school off. I responded and tried to get her to understand our point of view--and that turned into a discussion during which she enlightened me about the plans for King/Jackson. At some point during the discussion, I came around to the idea that the Jackson cluster, including King and all of its elementary schools, are the real schools on the rise in this district and where we probably want to be. I can go find our discussion and paste some of it in here, or you can friend request me on facebook (Krista Everly) and see what she had to say. I still support the K-8 idea for Toomer, mostly because I used to teach 6th grade in a huge APS middle school and I know some of the problems with the model. But the plans for King/Jackson, the neighborhoods involved and the level of investment (which some people in other clusters are complaining about) are awesome.

Krista-
I saw your post on the KNO website. I live in Kirkwood, have two children who attend Toomer - a school I love and am very active in. And I too, am coming to the conclusion that we folks south of Dekalb should definitely turn our efforts toward the Jackson cluster. The only thing I cannot reconcile myself to is having Inman use Coan! I certainly don't know the ins and outs of these things, but it seems ideal if we could consolidate Toomer and Eastlake there, and turn it into a K-8 school. The distance is much closer for the schools that would feed into it (Toomer, East Lake, Edgewood), and it would feel less scary than sending our kids to a MS in a relatively far away neighborhood, both of which many of us don't know anything about. Someone wrote (maybe you?) that the ABOE is having a meeting on the subject of K-8 schools. If true, perhaps creating a K-8 school at Coen is not just pie in the sky. I have no interest in fighting to get my kids into the overcrowded & too large Grady cluster. I'd rather benefit from all the resources and funding that will be going into the revitalized (and much smaller) Jackson cluster!

Thanks for the info, Kirkwood Parent!

Well, I am not a fan of any schools closing, but if they "must", they should merge into the building with the largest number of seats...count me in on any protests or rallies to keep Coan operating as a middle or elementary school!

Kirkwood Parent: Would you mind e-mailing me? I have a question I want to ask you off-thread.

It's easier to deal with Coan closing as long as the 6th Inman Academy does not happen there. As long as Inman Middle kids are in that building and we are not allowed to be there, it will be a distraction for us as a neighborhood and it will cause problems getting everyone behind a plan for OUR kids. Inman Middle Annex/Academy has to be located in another place or else there will be a battle over who gets to go to school there - whether it's to everyone's detriment or not. Also there may be some alternatives for the Coan building that we can't even look to explore yet that would benefit OUR neighborhood. Right now, the facility in our neighborhood will only be used to benefit other neighborhoods who have outright told us that the building is acceptable for them to use as long as our kids aren't in it.

We need to be talking about how Coan and E Lake Elementary should be re-purposed to help the communities that they are located in, and we need to focus on the practical matters at hand. If our kids are going to be bused to King, we need to talk details and extracurricular activities, and how to improve parental participation, etc.

I think you're right-it puts salt in the wound. I don't think Davis understood this initially. When he was asked at the Mar. 5 meeting whether it would be unfair to have Kirkwood kids drive by a school they weren't allowed to attend, he basically said, well, it wouldn't be any more unfair than having them drive by an empty building. He has a point, but I think most people agree that the Coan as Inman academy plan raises some issues of equity and just doesn't smell right.

And yet, the Inman parents are now planning bus routes, etc. to Coan, a school they found totally unacceptable last week. What? Dekalb Avenue? Dekalb Avenue looked like a 12 lane interstate to them last week, and this week, well, it's just takes a hop, skip and jump to cross that silly little street.

Did you also hear that they were making special buses just for Morningside kids that would be gold- plated, on 32" rims and have extra cushions in the seat for the long commute to COAN? As long as you Kirkwood folks are going to go the manipulation and hyperbolic route let's see some real imaginations coming from SOD. How about the jet packs that get distributed by APS to Inman Park kids so they don't have to touch the ground before they land at COAN?

And by the way, if you guys get those jet packs, let us know. I think we might could use them as well if the ultimate decision is to send us to King - that's a haul.

Look, ESL, I'm not saying you guys asked for Coan. Clearly, you didn't. I'm just saying it is the wrong place for the Inman kids to go to a 6th Academy as the children who live around the school will be denied entrance to that school and bused by the school much farther away. As I previously said, right or wrong, if you guys are there, it will be a distraction as it's unfair and morally reprehensible for APS to flaunt you guys using Coan in front of us. If King is the best solution, we need to focus on King, but, sadly, this will be a focal point. Please imagine if your neighborhood school were closed to you and other children from another zone were there while your kids couldn't be. It'd make you mad, right? And I'm just wondering where all of your loud objections are to dangerous DeKalb Avenue now. Please, speak up and voice it again! Seriously!!!! Please, because I want you guys to go to school in another location so that my neighborhood can begin to heal and focus on what we need to.

I'm with you on that - we need equal access to all jet packs !!!!

For everyone questioning the 60% existing capacity at King Middle, keep in mind that the O4W will be leaving King and going to Inman. The Grady cluster advocated for full inclusion of the cluster (for O4W in particular) and I certainly understand and appreciate that. However, I do not agree that Kirkwood should have to pay the price for this.
I understand Mr. Davis' point in consolidating King and Coan, for capacity and budget reasons, but using that space for kids outside the area just adds insult to injury.
On the other hand, I know that many parents in the Grady cluster are very upset also about this proposed 6th grade location- this was not what they asked for either. The frustration should not be necessarily taken out on those parents, as much as it should be aimed toward APS. Just out of curiosity, if APS does proceed with the sixth grade academy, but decides somewhere other than Coan, where do you propose that be? I have heard that the vacant schools in O4W are in such bad shape due to age, vandalism, theft...that those sites are not currently on the drawing table??

Rally For Coan Middle School's Future
... OUR Future
COAN MIDDLE SCHOOL
1550 Hosea Williams
This Saturday 3/10 @ 9:45am- 10:30am

APS intends to close Coan Middle School to the communities of East Lake, Edgewood and Kirkwood. APS then intends to take the Coan building and use is as a 6th grade annex for Inman Middle School. The children of our communities will no longer be able to attend their own local middle school, while Inman Park children can. Instead our kids will be bused 5 miles to King middle school.

• Our children will no longer be able to walk to school.

• Coan's outside funding and innovative programs will not follow our children to King Middle School.

• Once the 6th grade annex is no longer needed the Coan building will sit empty, along with two others in NPU-O.

• We are joining together to tell APS to INVEST IN COAN! APS has historically neglected Coan Middle School – Enough is Enough! Don’t close down our kids’ school because the system never invested in it.

East Lake, Edgewood & Kirkwood are resilient communities that have overcome obstacles - our kids deserve to have a great middle school – in their neighborhood. This plan is short-sighted and not a long-term strategy for our communities.
Strong Schools = Strong Communities!!!

Can we also rally to close Toomer and Eastlake and make Coan K-8 ? I'll make some signs.

"Academy" schools are just segregation for the 21st Century. They are a way to provide an allegedly better school product while hoping the unwashed dirty masses do not figure out how to work the system for tapping into that Academy product.

Coan Middle School has a capacity of 900-1100 (APS figures). Though currently underutilized it very clearly offers both the central location and available space to resolve worsening overcrowding at Inman Middle School and to support other areas. 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 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.

Caon Middle School is a fiscally responsible solution providing cost effective utilization of available public money and facilities. This is especially true given the academic and non profit resources participating at Coan Middle School at no additional expense to tax payers.

It is also about ending the practice of using NPU-O communities as throw aways in re-districting and resource allocation (evidenced by the historical short changing of Coan).

@Earl- you have a good handle on some numbers but what would COAN utilization be if every student zoned to COAN went to COAN? What would be utilization numbers if you close Toomer and Eastlake and made COAN k-8 which is being considered for multiple locations according to yesterday's ABOE curriculum meeting. You are driving a solution that affects other neighborhoods which is against recommendation of Davis and other board members. if you stick to your own hood interests and convince Kirkwood and Eastlake to press for COAN to be k-8 you Save COAN. This constant refrain of trying to influence APS to place other neighborhoods into COAN that do not want to go there has proven very damaging to cross neighborhood relations. Kirkwood has developed a reputation that will out live redistricting. You can easily get to 80% utilization of COAN if you close Eastlake and Toomer and add some Edgewood students. That is a winning strategy that saves tax dollars - and will repair the damaged relations with neighbors NOD.

@ESL, I completely agree with you. For some reason, people in our neighborhood aren't getting behind the K-8 idea, which really would solve a lot of our problems without creating problems for other neighborhoods. We have a lot of people throwing the racism argument around, i.e., "Candler Park and Inman Park parents won't send their kids to Coan because they're racist." Well, then what do you think explains our reluctance to send our own kids to Coan? And don't you think it might be just as racist to say "hey, could you people please put some white kids into our school before we have to go there ourselves?"

K-8 is a brilliant idea, but instead of pursuing it we're picking fights with other neighborhoods.

Please note that what I am reporting is based on the consensus statements of both Kirkwood and East Lake, reflecting your difficulty in finding support for K-8 at Coan. Note as well that K-8 at Coan would cause loss of Emory's Graduation Generation programs and much other increasingly effective middle school programming now available at Coan Middle School.

A major issue is increasingly acute overcrowding at Inman Middle School and a geographically well located and underutilized Coan Middle School. True cost effectiveness and efficient facilities management clearly supports a Coan Middle School receiving elementry populations currently contributing to overcrowding at Inman Middle.

It continues to amuse me how those more than happy to dictate Coan Middle School outcomes are so often those complaining about the origin of much more effective and cost effective solutions One need only look at Big Tent to determine the source of damaged relations with those NOD.

@Earl, there is no reason a K-8 at Coan would result in the loss of any of Emory's programs. Look at Emory's statement of why it would be hard to transfer those programs to King. Nothing in that statement suggests that it would be difficult to keep the programs at Coan in a K-8 model. I would imagine that Emory would support the K-8 model because it would allow the community resources to be even further concentrated and, likely, even more effectively used.

I understand that at least Kirkwood reached a consensus decision on the issue (although I would say that the landscape has changed since February 10). It's just hard for me to understand the reasoning underlying the decision.

LOL - the survey question reads as if it were a "push poll". Anyone with even a modicum of understanding realizes Coan is not beig closed in order to create a 6th grade academy for the Grady area. As things are currently drawn, there are not enough students to keep King and Coan both open. One had to close, and APS chose Coan. APS also needs more middle school space to feed into Inman, and looked at the available options and thought Coan would be a good fit. I think virtually no-one thinks Coan should used for a Grady 6th grade academy. The questions should just be simply "Should Coan be closed?"

I think the Coan as a K-8 is a great idea, and feel even more stongly about keeping Coan open after reading the response from Emory re: Coan. I had no idea how involved they were in the area schools and think APS should do everything in their power to nurture and grow that relationship.

If Inman is overcrowded by, let's say, 80 students, could 80 children (their parent(s)) be allowed to choose to go to Coan? Kinda like M-to-M, except...wait, exactly like M-to-M!