About Buckhead reporter. (Sandy Springs, GA) 2007-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 2, 2019)
BH DECEMBER 2019 ■ www.ReporterNewspapers.net Lovett School seeks to raise enrollment cap after forgetting it BY JOHN RUCH jchnruch@reportemewspapers.net The Lovett School says it has exceed ed a nearly two-decade-old student enroll ment cap agreement for years after previ ous administrators forgot about it. Now the school wants to boost the cap by 100 students - from 1,560 to 1,660 - to legalize its current enrollment and have flexibility. “The school is not seeking campus ex pansion and will remain within its ex isting footprint,” said Courtney Fowler, a spokesperson for the private K-12 school at 4075 Paces Ferry Road. The enrollment at the beginning of the current school year was 1,614, she said. The discovery came as a direct result of the school’s attempt to deal with on-cam- pus traffic congestion, which is an issue on Buckhead’s neighborhood streets as well. The school was awaiting Neighbor hood Planning Unit A review of the re quest, which would be an update to a spe cial use permit that allows it to operate. The application then would go to the Zon ing Review Board for a recommendation, possibly in December, followed by a final vote by the City Council. The school withdrew from NPU-A’s Nov. 5 agenda as neighborhood talks con tinue. Brink Dickerson, chair of NPU-A, said that neighborhood association re sponse would “weigh significantly” in his group’s vote. When Meredyth Cole took over as Lovett’s head of school last year, she soon began work on finding solutions for the school’s campus traffic. Fowler said that the school hired the engineering firm Kimley-Horn and Associates to conduct a traffic study and make recommendations, which could include changes to internal roads and sidewalks. Cole asked whether there was an enrollment cap in place that could affect permitting of such improve ments, Fowler said, “And nobody had that answer.” It turned out there was a cap, set in 2000 and affirmed in a 2007 special use permit update. “Our current enrollment cap has been in place for almost 20 years,” Fowler said, but no one in the administra tion had a memory of it. It appears that city officials nev er checked, and there have been no new buildings or other projects that would have altered the enrollment cap. For at least the past four years, Fowl er said, the school has exceeded the cap. The lowest enrollment in that period is this year’s figure of 1,614. The highest was 1,679 in the 2016-17 school year -119 over the cap. The school is now seeking to set a new cap of 1,660. “Holding the school to the en rollment cap number of 1,560, originally approved nearly 20 years ago, would cer tainly impact the school’s employees, cur rent families and prospective new fami lies for next school year,” said Fowler. And even setting it at the current level would be too inflexible and could mean, for ex ample, not enabling all siblings in the same family to enroll, she said. If the new proposed maximum of 1,660 students did enroll, Fowler said, the exist ing campus could absorb them. “We would not need to add ‘seats’ or staff, and we are not seeking campus expansion,” she said. The big question, of course, is what would prevent the school from forgetting a new enrollment cap just like it did the current one. “As part of our application,” Fowler said, “we are offering to self-report enroll ment annually in writing to the [city] of fice of Planning and Zoning, NPU-A ad ministration and membership, and Paces Civic Association administration and membership.” While awaiting a permit decision and possible roadway changes, Lovett is tack ling traffic in other ways. It gained atten tion earlier this year for launch a limited school bus service that is moving toward expansion next school year. The school also made changes to its student carpool line with the goal of making it more effi cient. And for employees, the school in Au gust launched a carpool program via the state Georgia Commutes program. Community | 3 ilandrhaJe % f'(9 iloli Jay Market J| Visit the market in the space sMfnh next to CineBistro to shop unique items for everyone on your list! Opening Friday, 11/29 - 10am-9pm Additional Days & Hours: Thursdays, 12/5,12/12 & 12/19 3-9pm Fridays, 12/6,12/13 & 12/20 3-9pm Saturdays, 11/30,12/7,12/14 & 12/21 10am-9pm Sundays, 12/1,12/8,12/15 & 12/22 12-6pm IN PARTNERSHIP WITH The Atlanta Foundation for public spaces' To learn more, visit www.townbrookhaven.net or facebook.com/TownBrookhaven OWN A Place Where You Belong BROOKHAVEN www.townbrookhaven.net Conveniently located on Peachtree Road adjacent to Oglethorpe University. FROM IDEAL GYNECOLOGY Your Home for Womens Health SPECIALIZING IN: • Abnormal Paps • Colposcopy • Coolsculpting • Fibroids • Gyn Ultrasound • Hydrafacial • Irregular Bleeding • Menopause • Myomectomy • Pelvic Pain • Pelvic Floor Therapy • Prolapse • Well Women Exam 470-312-3696 www.idealgynecology.com 3200 Downwood Circle, Suite 220, Atlanta, GA 30327