UPDATED: Cabbagetown: A Community At The Crossroads Of Education

In Cabbagetown, the story had the same ending every time.

Young, 20- and 30-something hipsters moved into the neighborhood, drawn by its eclectic mix of residents, artists and unpretentious vibe. That Cabbagetown is nestled between Grant Park and Old Fourth Ward hotspots, and just a few paces away from I-20 and Downtown, made it an even bigger draw.

Once the hipsters started having kids, however, they had one thing on their minds: Exodus.

"When I first moved here it was the kind of thing where people had kids and the expectation was they’d leave the neighborhood," said Kristen Sullivan, a Cabbagetown resident since 1997 and mother of a four-year-old.

“We’re at the point where historically, people in our situation would be looking to pack up and move out,” she said. “But we don’t want to do that.”

Sullivan and others like her are members of Cabbagetown's new generation of young parents who are rethinking the paradigm of leaving the neighborhood once they have children.

They want to stay put in the neighborhood they've worked hard to improve and make flourish.

“We really have a strong-knit group of families,” she said. “No one wants to go anywhere.”

They're looking to the current redistricting study at Atlanta Public Schools to help them to do just that.

APS has lopsided enrollments at some schools. The result is overcrowding at some schools and under-utilization at others, such as Ed S. Cook Elementary, the school Cabbagetown's children are zoned to attend.

But Cook is not Cabbagetown’s school of choice; parents say they won't allow their kids to attend the school, which is struggling academically.

They're hoping the final plan APS Superintendent Erroll B. Davis Jr. presents to the district's board of education in the spring, rezones Cabbagetown to Parkside Elementary in Grant Park.

Soaring To Excellence?

Cook Elementary, a K-5 institution on Memorial Drive in Atlanta's Capitol Gateway neighborhood, has as its motto: "Moving From Good to GREAT and SOARING to Excellence!"

The numbers tell a different story.

They help explain why parents in Cabbagetown have historically fled to Decatur when their children became of school age, home-schooled them or enrolled them in private institutions.

Parents have had good reason to flee: Cook is the second-worst performing elementary school in East Atlanta Patch and ranks among one of the worst academically performing grade schools in Georgia.

Of the 1,176 elementary schools statewide, Cook ranks at 1,081, based on the 2011 standardized tests scores in math and English/language arts. The year before, Cook ranked 1,038.

The school also was swept up in the cheating scandal that rocked APS last year. The state's investigation into the scandal found that at Cook, 40 percent of the classrooms were flagged for cheating in 2009, though that number dropped to 5 percent in 2010.

Investigators reported two teachers at the school said they had to erase and change answers on standardized tests under pressure from administrators because they feared for their jobs.

Taken in total, parents have little confidence in the school.

“Cook is not a functional elementary school,” said Gray Stewart, who has a three-month-old son with his partner, Amy Foster. “We would like to have a functional elementary school that can serve our children. To force us to have to move or to home school or go to private schools, that’s problematic.”

Even parents willing to give Cook a shot, said their efforts were rebuffed.

At a meeting last month of Atlanta Public Schools parents sponsored by Atlanta City Councilwoman Natalyn Archibong, one Cabbagetown parent recounted how she went to Cook to inquire about the school, only to be told by one of its administrators she’d be better off enrolling her child somewhere else.

An APS spokesman said the superintendent has made academic performance a top priority and that the district is looking at each and every school.

"The Curriculum & Instruction Division is being reconfigured specifically to be in a better position to address the specific needs of individual schools in a timely fashion.  The district’s central office group recently underwent a major reorganization that is specifically intended to position support services such as finance, human resources, communications, etc. closer to the schools," APS spokesman Keith Bromery told East Atlanta Patch.

"That being said, academic supports are already in place to address the needs of underperforming students, including the academic remediation program.  This program includes before and after school; class day pullouts; and Saturday school to provide more time on task for students who need additional support to meet state academic standards."

As for Cook, Bromery said he could not comment.

"While I can’t specifically comment on Cook Elementary School’s issues or that of the Cabbagetown community regarding Cook, the aforementioned plans and supports are certainly designed to help resolve these issues," Bromery said.

Will Cabbagetown’s Voices Be Heard?

Cabbagetown’s response to what has been a contentious redistricting process is the exception to that of many neighborhoods that comprise East Atlanta Patch. Unlike other neighborhoods, such as Candler Park and Inman Park, that want to stay zoned to their local elementary school, Cabbagetown wants to the opportunity to be rezoned.

"It never crossed our minds that we would send Tillie to Cook. It was never an option," said Christina Kennedy-Farr, whose daughter, Tillie, is 13 months old.

Kennedy-Farr, who is expecting a second child with her husband, has unique insight into APS: she is the principal of Hillside Conant School, which serves emotionally, behaviorally and psychologically challenged children. While the school is within the APS district, it is independent.

This week, the Cabbagetown Neighborhood Improvement Association presented its on the redistricting options to APS.

In it, the CNIA advocates for a cluster that would have the neighborhood’s children attend Parkside, then Coan Middle School in Edgewood and Jackson High School in Grant Park.

Under two APS officials are reviewing; Cook's 341 students would merge with the 310 pupils at Hope-Hill Elementary in Old Fourth Ward, which also is under-enrolled.

One option has the merged student body attending the Hope-Hill campus. The other places everyone at Cook.

But neither school is acceptable to Cabbagetown parents, who say they see more potential at Parkside and stronger historical ties to Grant Park.

They say the school is open to parental input and involvement. That, combined with changes going on at Coan and Jackson to improve those schools, could be the basis of a cluster they say will be just as strong as Grady High School's cluster.

“For us, Parkside seems the best option,” said Stewart, who gives that school’s principal and faculty high marks. “We have a lot of can-do spirit, there are plenty of parents who are ready to get involved.”

What Cabbagetown doesn’t have is plenty of children.

The neighborhood only has 30 kids. Of that number, 22 are under six years age.

Because of that small number, some parents fear their wishes to be rezoned to Parkside will be drowned out by demands from larger and wealthier neighborhoods.

“They seem to be getting their way for the most part,” Kennedy-Farr said, referring to the two revised preliminary rezoning options demographers hired by APS released last month. “A lot of neighborhoods that are small in number like us, or low-income, they’re not being heard.”

She added parents who would be willing to help Cook turn around don't have the numbers with just 30 kids to make a big enough difference.

Case in point: only four of the 22 children under six years of age, will be old enough to go to kindergarten this fall.

"With numbers like that, it's impossible to turn around the school," Kennedy-Farr said.

APS officials have repeatedly stressed the redistricting meetings that have been held citywide are designed to ensure that everyone’s voice is heard and that all ideas will be given serious consideration.

"Erroll Davis has said all along regarding the redistricting process that it isn’t the loud, repetitive voices that he is necessarily listening to," Bromery said. "He is, in fact, listening to all input and will ultimately recommend to the Atlanta Board of Education a redistricting plan that makes sense for all concerned from a district-wide perspective."

Being heard, Stewart said, is a serious concern for Cabbagetown.

"It’s the elephant in the room. What do we do to make our voices heard," Stewart said.

"We hope that reasonable heads on the school board will look at all options and come to the realization that the best option for them and us would be to send our kids to the best school available."