Joseph SchwartzburtSavannah Morning News
“This does not impact every student,” explained Superintendent Denise Watts, Ed.D., of the Savannah-Chatham County Public School System (SCCPSS) Long-Range Facilities Plan.
According to SCCPSS, the plan "calls for the shifting of attendance zone boundaries for a number of schools, as well as the closure of two schools and repurposing of those facilities. The changes will also better align school attendance boundaries to improve transportation efficiencies and reduce the distances many students currently travel to school.”
In other words, hundreds of students' and families' assigned schools will change.
“This does not impact every school or every family,” Watts continued while speaking at a press conference on Nov. 6, at the Whitney Administrative Complex, 2 Laura Ave. She introduced the plan at the Nov. 1 School Board Informal Session, and the plan will be voted on at the next board meeting on Dec. 6. She stressed that stakeholders should understand that only certain groups of families will be affected by shifting facilities based on where they live. SCCPSS.com has a dedicated Family Planning Guide available for review online.
Watts reiterated that she and district leaders understand that changes to students’ school assignments can have an emotional toll on students, families and staff. To mitigate that toll and prevent misinformation, she will be holding parent planning meeting dates for affected schools.
Watts also reemphasized that the district does not plan to reduce staff. She did say that by closing certain facilities the district seeks to lessen, “duplication of staff members, but no teacher or principal or staff member will lose a job. We will fill vacancies with existing staff.”
SCCPSS parent planning meeting dates
Savannah-Chatham School Board: November meeting unveils big changes for district
What school facilities are affected in the plan?
At the heart of the plan are seven recommendations. Within the recommendations are detailed descriptions of how schools will be affected down to the numbers of students being shifted among schools to maximize realignment of zones. Maps for Realigned Attendance Zones became available this week, as well. Families within the impacted schools are encouraged to review this street-level impact data.
Watts assured that the Choice Program will be minimally affected. “So that in the event where there are changes to a school in which students are afforded an opportunity to be in the Choice Program, we will look at how we implement that program in the new site. Or, those students could also have the potential to stay in the existing site.”
She said the plan’s recommendations provide solutions for reducing capacity at the overused schools by right-sizing enrollments, improving safety and transportation routing, as well as drawing “more logical attendance zones. It also provides for a swing space so that when we are renovating a site, we do not have to leave students and teachers on that particular site.”
She acknowledged there will be pros and cons to any plan the district presents, but cited that implementation was long overdue. A top benefit touted is approximately $3.5 million in cost savings. A full cost analysis is still underway.
“Obviously, in rolling out this plan, we will also have to assume some costs,” she said. The district aims to have the cost analysis complete before the board’s vote in December.
Not all recommendations are based on rezoning needs
One plan recommendation has to do with a United States Department of Justice (DOJ) directive. Deputy Superintendent of Teaching and Learning Bernadette Ball-Oliver clarified that “between 50-60 K-8 students” would be moved from the Coastal Georgia Comprehensive Academy (CGCA), 2001 Cynthia St., to Isle of Hope K-8, 100 Parkersburg Road. The CGCA serves students with “severe emotional/behavioral disorders, as well as students with moderate to severe autism.”
The number of students was not included in the presentation shared at last week’s school board meeting. According to the plan, Isle of Hope “has been historically underutilized, with a capacity of 850 students but currently enrolling only 605. Funds will be budgeted to make any modifications to the site needed to serve the needs of this student population.”
The DOJ directive stems from a Federal lawsuit originally filed in 2016. That DOJ suit alleged “the State of Georgia, discriminates against thousands of public school students with behavior-related disabilities by unnecessarily segregating them, or by placing them at serious risk of such segregation, in a separate and unequal educational program known as the Georgia Network for Educational and Therapeutic Support Program (GNETS).”
A district representative stated that SCCPSS had already moved CGCA's high school students several years ago to the new Herschel V. Jenkins High School, 1800 E. DeRenne Ave.
When asked if the district had looked to other districts in the state and country as examples on how to manage attendance zone realignment, Watts said, “Not only have I spoken to other districts, I've actually lived this in two other districts myself having closed 10 schools in Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools…also in Houston Independent School District, and I think many of the things that we are encountering right now are typical reactions and responses.”
She conceded that continued communication with students and parents is paramount. She specifically highlighted a need to carefully communicate with the English speakers of other languages (ESOL) and immigrant community members who will be affected by these changes.
She attributed the rise in the ESOL population to two main factors: a natural trend of the country becoming more diverse and the industry growth in the Savannah area, particularly the Hyundai plant.
She said the plan does not actually adequately support the overall growth that West Chatham is seeing. “We need a school, schools, in that area today. The plan seeks to alleviate some of the growth so that it will give us time to prepare as the growth continues.”
Joseph Schwartzburt is the education and workforce development reporter for the Savannah Morning News. You can reach him at jschwartzburt@gannett.com.
