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Politics & Government

Redistricting Process Explained by CCSD

There have been no redistricting maps developed yet, but the ultimate redistricting plan will affect 27 elementary schools and will most likely include school closings.

Tuesday night’s South Cobb Redistricting meeting at was well attended as Doug Shepard, chief administrative officer for the Cobb County School District (CCSD), explained the redistricting process to an interested gathering at Livingston Auditorium.

It will likely take 10 to 11 months to properly execute, and it is necessary with three new elementary schools scheduled to open by 2013. is set to open that year, while the new Mableton Elementary and replacement school for flooded Clarkdale Elementary are slated for a 2012 opening.

No one has seen a redistricting map yet, but the ultimate redistricting plan will affect 27 elementary schools and will most likely include school closings. More than one school could have its doors shut in Smyrna, with the likely candidates being , and .

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Among the school closing criteria include enrollments being significantly below average size, the need for extensive renovations, and schools located in contiguous areas that have sufficient capacity to accommodate students.

Redistricting criteria include efficient and effective school sizes, consideration of home-to-school travel time and safety, and the efficiency of feeder patterns. One of the objectives is to eliminate elementary schools that feed into differing middle schools.

Find out what's happening in Smyrna-Viningswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Tuesday’s hearing was the first of three required by state law. It served as an initial public forum and no redistricting maps were proposed.

The CCSD had a laptop set up at the back of the auditorium so parents could share their concerns with school officials. It has has also set up a public commenting wall, similar to a Facebook wall, so the public can make comments.

Shepard explained that he and his staff are committed to answering each email and comment received on the redistricting wall.

The CCSD intends to hold another meeting in September, which would outline two or more alternate plans for redistricting based on citizen’s input.

The next meeting, Round 3, would be held in November.

“That feedback will then be used for Round 3, which is our goal to present a single draft plan,” said Shepard. “At that point, we’re still interested in collecting input on the draft plan. And I want to emphasize that at that point it will only be a draft plan.''

After the three public meetings are held, a plan for redistricting will be presented to the Cobb County School Board in January and February of 2012. The proposed plan will be based on the redistricting decisions suggested by the public at the first three hearings.

The January hearing will be the first of two required by law. Georgia law requires Cobb County schools to hold two public closure hearings when deciding whether to close a public school.

The second of the two hearings will be held in February at which point the school board will take final action.

Check back as Patch will provide further in-depth coverage of Tuesday’s South County Elementary Redistricting meeting on Wednesday.

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