Summerhill Neighborhood Pushes Parkside Petition

For months, as the Atlanta Public Schools redistricting morphed into a final plan the APS Board of Education will , a small cadre of parents from Summerhill pushed their two-word solution: Parkside Elementary.

The tiny neighborhood got its wish as APS Superintendent Erroll B. Davis Jr.'s includes rezoning Summerhill to Parkside, which is in neighboring Grant Park.

But Summerhill is seeking a little extra insurance; some in the neighborhood have created a petition on Change.org — Support Summerhill to Parkside — to impress upon the board, just how much they want that scenario as the final outcome.

Though currently zoned to attend Cook Elementary in the Capitol Gateway neighborhood to the north, the most vocal parents from Summerhill have pushed Parkside at meetings and in letters and e-mails to APS leaders because they said the community has more historical ties to Grant Park, its eastern neighbor.

Cook closes under Davis' final recommendations.

"We believe the recommendation to zone Summerhill to Parkside, will meet the needs of our children and families that have been displaced by the closure of Ed Cook Elementary," the petition reads. "This is a phenomenal opportunity for our children. Parkside Elementary provides an enriching, educational experience."

Davis' preliminary plan called for Summerhill to be rezoned to D.H. Stanton Elementary in Peoplestown. But Summerhill opposed it, over the school's physical maintenance and safety.

Now, the final plan recommends that D.H. Stanton close, too, and that Cook be converted into a in Virginia-Highland.

Though parents who attend , the petitioners support the conversion.