Sky View Parents Fight for School, Seek Solutions for Smooth Merger

Parents at , one of three schools proposed to close under both possible elementary school redistricting plans released by the Cobb County School District in October,

“Change is hard, especially for these kids. Some of them, all they know is change. Some consistency in their daily lives would be nice,” said Erin Stack, Sky View’s school council president and

According to , Sky View would close and its students would attend the , to be completed in August 2012. The new school would hold about 900 students, double its current student population.

“For us, it’s more about making sure our kids and our families get support…In a building that size, you start to get lost, no matter how hard you try. It’s inevitable.”

Stack explained that because of the small size and the culture of Sky View, students who struggled academically have been able to excel while attending and after leaving Sky View.

“We would like like to stay there. We’re such a great little school. We’re so diverse. We’re working so hard and so great together…I’m sure they’ll (Mableton Elementary staff and students) be welcoming. I’m sure they’ll be kind. There’s just a lot of what-ifs for us,” Stack said.

Now, Sky View parents are also developing contingency plans to make the merger with Mableton Elementary a smooth one.

About 14 parents met with Cobb Board of Education member David Morgan, who represents Sky View and South Cobb area schools on Thursday. During the meeting Morgan committed to securing a meeting for the parents with Doug Shepard, the district’s chief executive for its SPLOST projects. The parents also discussed options to make the possible transition easier for students and staff if the school does merge with Mableton Elementary as planned.

Stack said the parents said that having a new name for the school could be a way to show that “two schools are combining” and “make it less of an us-them situation…This maybe it may be more of a new beginning.”

Morgan said these conversations were crucial to enabling parents to “feel more like it’s a real process than a culture being imposed on them.”

Sky View parents hope to meet with Shepard this week to learn more about any changes that can be made to the proposed plans as well as the reasons Sky View was one of the schools chosen to close.

“The criteria that was given was very vague,” Stack said. “The way it felt to us it wasn’t really explained.”

When considering school closures, Shepard said district officials chose those that “most closely matched the criteria for school closure.”

The district’s four criteria for closure are:

a. Enrollment falls significantly below the average school enrollment for similarly organized schools elsewhere in the District;
b. The school is in need of extensive renovation to meet current state and system facility standards;
c. Schools located in contiguous attendance areas have sufficient capacity to accommodate students; and
d. The school may provide greater value to the District if sold or utilized in a different manner.

According to Shepard, Sky View’s enrollment is below the district average for elementary schools and that the district had “limited flexibility given the proximity" of Sky View to Mableton Elementary.

Shepard also said the school had not received significant renovation work and that the district, with the completion of the new Mableton elementary school, will have sufficient capacity to accommodate the school’s students.

If the overcrowding and portable classrooms to accommodate it were eliminated at Sky View, the student population “would be at an unacceptably low level for operational efficiency,” Shepard said.

Keeping Sky View open “is still something we could consider, ” Shepard said. However, with the district’s budget crisis, continuing to operate Sky View is unlikely.

“We are looking to reduce operating expenditures that do not impact the classroom,” Shepard said. “This (closure) would have no impact on teachers on a staffing level.”

The administration and faculty of Sky View would likely be placed in other positions at other schools throughout the district, Shepard said.

The two presented redistricting plans were not the only options for Sky View students. Both Austell Primary and Bryant Elementary schools have excess capacity, but district officials chose not to split the student population.

Shepard said, “We felt it would be better to keep that community together.” 

The next redistricting plan is set to be unveiled on Monday, Nov. 14, Shepard told South Cobb Patch.