School Board Holds Hearing on Brown Closure

The Cobb County School Board will hold its first public school closure hearing Thursday at 5:30 p.m. to receive feedback from parents and community members about the proposed closures of and elementary schools. The hearing will be held at the district's Central Office at 514 Glover St. in Marietta.

Students at Brown, which is proposed to close in the fall of 2013, will attend the new Smyrna elementary school. Smyrna’s Fitzhugh Lee H.A.V.E.N. Academy will be moved to the Brown Elementary location.

School district officials are still seeking input from parents concerning the fourth south Cobb elementary school redistricting map that it released in late December.

As it stands now, no more public forums will be scheduled. Thursday is the first of two opportunities for residents to voice their opinion before the Cobb school board with the second scheduled for next month. Parents can submit comments on CCSD's public commenting wall or by emailing redistricting@cobbk12.org.

Some recent posts include:

My car leans. | Brown
I understand buildings can get old, and plumbing and heating systems can get old....but New and Bigger is not always the answer. Children in a school, in their neighborhood, the old fashion way, learning in smaller school would allow for more one on one, through out the elementary experience, those are the formative years of development. As we all get older we tend to remember with great fondness our elementary school because of the closeness with our teachers and friends from that time of our life. I can see how there may need to be expansion at the Brown school to accommodate new computer labs or other teaching resources may be necessary, but a new school?? Redistricting??? Please make common sense decisions!!!! Do what is right!! Do only what is necessary to provide a quality education in a warm and loving environment.

Jennifer Brevick | Nickajack
I am still trying to understand how Nickajack could possibly be under capacity. I get that you are building new classrooms but the common spaces in the school - cafeteria, gym, parking lot - cannot accommodate new students. Nickajack is a wonderful school with some serious common space issues already. Will we now have to spend 30 minutes in the carpool lane instead of 10?

Sarah | King Springs
No one has yet answered my questions concerning Teasley. We are almost in Teasley's backyard and yet we are districted to KSE. How is it that Teasley's district is really not changing and they are currently 30% OVER-enrolled according to the data sheets? I would prefer Teasley since it's closer and I would be going with traffic, but it's already over capacity. I've also heard no plans to increase the schools capacity. There are neighborhoods closer to Argyle and the New Smyrna Elementary and yet they are still in Teasley's district. If we are going through the effort to do this redistricting over-haul, let's address ALL the schools.

Do you live in Ward 4 where Brown elementary is located? How do you feel about the proposal to close the school?

How do you feel about Fitzhugh Lee H.A.V.E.N. Academy staff and students shifting to Brown?