Tuesday night the Forsyth County School Board provided draft #2 of the proposed attendance line changes for all Forsyth County Schools. Several communities turned out to voice their concern over the changes, most of which centered around the Bethelview Rd. line and those communities on the east side of Bethelview.
Expressing Pain and Praise
As
…
Tuesday night the Forsyth County School Board provided draft #2 of the proposed attendance line changes for all Forsyth County Schools. Several communities turned out to voice their concern over the changes, most of which centered around the Bethelview Rd. line and those communities on the east side of Bethelview.
Expressing Pain and Praise
As with most school redistricting, some communities and families find themselves being moved from a school that may be a mile or two away, to another school that may be five or six miles away. This often doesn’t seem to make sense. While most of the parents that spoke last night vented plenty of frustration over traffic, commute and safety concerns that would occur with the proposed moves, they still had much praise for their school board and the quality of education that Forsyth County delivers.
Communities like Ahsebrooke, Forrest Brook, Silver Leaf and Coventry who are on the east side of Bethelview are being moved from West Forsyth High School to Forsyth Central High School which is a bit further away. You can see a complete list of affected communities for Draft #2 here.
The Real Problem
The redistricting needs to happen because schools are reaching capacity and with new growth, over-crowding will become an even great problem. North Forsyth is at 115% of capacity and West Forsyth is at 108% of capacity.
But that doesn’t speak to the true issue and what might happen in the not-to-distant future. The city of Cumming isn’t growing. Almost every other part of the county has and will continue to see growth, but not in the city where Forsyth Central High School is located. Currently Forsyth Central is at 73% of capacity.
The redistricting will correct an imbalance at that school but future growth will undoubtedly occur in the West and South Forsyth districts. Will the county need to move the high school lines every few years to accommodate Central?
When the high school lines change, feeder patterns need to change as well, affecting elementary and middle school lines. This issue was raised by a Silver Leaf resident last night but I’m not sure how clearly it was heard by the school board.
The Next Steps
You can view the proposed Forsyth County School attendance lines for Elementary, Middleand High School defined in Draft #2. There is another community meeting on October 27th at Forsyth Central. Comments can be made online here until October 31st.
Based on that feedback the final attendance line proposal will be provided to the Board of Education on November 3rd and will be approved on November 17th.