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Fulton County parents push back against proposed school closures

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Published  November 21, 2024 10:52pm EST
Fulton County
FOX 5 Atlanta

Parents against school closures

Parents in Fulton County are continuing to speak out against the plan to close two schools -- Parklane Elementary and Spalding Drive Elementary.

The Brief

    • Parents are protesting Fulton County Schools' plan to close Parklane Elementary and Spalding Drive Elementary, citing concerns about community impact and student success.
    • The district says declining enrollment and deteriorating buildings, constructed in the 1950s and 1960s, are driving the proposed closures.
    • Parents dispute the enrollment data and have offered to raise funds for renovations, urging the school board to postpone the February decision.

FULTON COUNTY, Ga. - Parents in Fulton County are continuing to speak out against the school district’s proposal to close two schools: Parklane Elementary in East Point and Spalding Drive Elementary in Sandy Springs.

"My son struggles with anxiety, and he is this fantastic little person that needs a lot of support," said Fulton County parent Gabriella Mooney.

Her son Max is a first-grader at Parklane Elementary School in East Point, where she says he has found incredible support for his anxiety.

"This school has been a safe haven for my child. He’s reading at a third-grade level, doing math at a second-grade level—this child is thriving in this environment!" Mooney said.

That’s why she has been fighting so hard against the district’s plans to close the school and redistrict the students.

Fulton County Schools cites declining enrollment and the deterioration of the school buildings as reasons for the closures.

The district’s records show that Parklane was built in 1954, while Spalding Drive was built in 1966. However, they are not the oldest schools in the district, nor are they in the worst condition, according to the FCS Facilities Assessment.

"To have that kind of community and to think that we can rip that apart… We have a teacher that has been our music and art teacher for 20 years. To think that they would be ripped from this community over b.s. and for unclear reasons is devastating," Mooney said.

Mooney and other parents dispute the district’s enrollment projections, which predict continued declines at both Parklane and Spalding.

Mooney also says the community would be willing to step up if the district doesn’t want to pay to renovate Parklane.

"We will raise the money. We'll fix it up ourselves if that's necessary. But give us time to prove that we are invested in this school," she said.

Several parents of children at Spalding Elementary attended Thursday’s meeting as well.

"We want to keep that wonderful environment for our children and the students in the school going as long as we can," said parent Lauren Rosenbaum.

Currently, the board is on track to make a final decision on the school closings in February.

School board members declined to interview with Fox 5 on Thursday, but they maintain that this is not a done deal and that a final decision will be made in February.

Mooney says if the district decides to close Parklane, she might pull her kids out of Fulton County schools entirely and enroll them in private schools.

"And none of us want to do that. All of us want to support our community schools, our district, and the community we live in," Mooney said.

She is urging the district to postpone the February vote, citing other FCS school closure decisions that took much longer to finalize.