The APS Redistricting Debate: Old Fourth Ward Parents To Rally On Sunday

Parents from the neighborhoods that comprise the Old Fourth Ward are planning to rally this Sunday in support of keeping Hope-Hill Elementary, their neighborhood school, from being closed.

The rally is scheduled to start at 1:30 p.m. from the Ghandi statue outside the Martin Luther King Visitor's Center; 450 Auburn Ave. Participants plan to march to the former David T. Howard High School at Randolph and Irwin streets.

Hope-Hill could close and its students rezoned to attend Cook Elementary in the nearby Capitol Gateway neighborhood under sweeping redistricting proposals currently being reviewed by Atlanta Public Schools officials.

"We're having to so that it could be heard nice and clear: We want full inclusion in the Grady cluster and we want Hope-Hill to remain open," Priscilla Borders, spokeswoman for the Fourth Ward Neighbors' education committee told East Atlanta Patch.

The redistricting ideas, which also include closing Cook and rezoning its students to Hope-Hill, are part of the district's efforts to address overcrowding in some schools and underutilization in others.

Both Cook and Hope-Hill are underutilized.

Old Fourth Ward has already seen its middle school, Walden, as well as Howard, close. In both cases, the properties remain empty.

Old Fourth Ward parents want to prevent Hope-Hill from joining that casualty list.

They also want APS to consider alternatives such as reopening Howard — Martin Luther King Jr.'s alma mater — as a middle school, to alleviate overcrowding.

Indeed, Inman Middle School in Virginia-Highland is overcrowded. Five elementary schools — Centennial Place, a portion of Hope-Hill, Morningside, Springdale Park and Mary Lin in Candler Park — feed into Inman.

"A revitalization of David T. Howard, this could be something that benefits not just us, but all of the surrounding neighborhoods," Borders said.

An APS spokesman said every idea is being considered.

"Superintendent Erroll Davis has consistently stated that everything is on the table when it comes to the redistricting effort," district spokesman Keith Bromery told Patch. "The district would certainly consider reopening currently closed facilities to address overcrowding in keeping with cost, efficiency, safety and other considerations."