Newspaper Page Text
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