All PBA neighbors should be interested in the APS Comprehensive Long Range Facilities Plan. This plan was first released on August 22nd, and is set to be presented to the Board of Education in November and voted on in December. All scenarios are currently in draft form and can be changed based on community feedback. Regardless of whether you have school-aged children or children in APS these changes will affect your property value. When completing the survey, note that you are “Rivers ES” / “Sutton MS” / “North Atlanta HS”.

While all three proposed scenarios do not directly affect E. Rivers, scenarios 2 & 3 affect Sutton MS and propose creating two separate middle schools that would feed into North Atlanta HS. This means that it would be possible for some of the less academically strong elementary schools to be grouped into one middle school, while the others attend a separate school. If, for instance, E. Rivers were grouped with Garden Hills and Bolton Academy, that would likely underperform a middle school comprised of Morris Brandon, Jackson, and Sarah Smith. The creation of two middle schools creates the possibility of making our district less desirable to future homebuyers. PBA is in support of one Middle School feeding into North Atlanta High School: Scenario 1.

Also, the question becomes what to do with the facilities that APS closes — Question 8. Proposed uses include green spaces, early learning centers, and technical schools, but also “affordable housing” and to “eliminate blight.” These buildings are in single-family zoned neighborhoods. Consider what you would like next door to you? Once these buildings are granted a “use” variance, it will be hard to undo.

We invite you to learn more at the links provided above, and strongly encourage completing the survey. 

 

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