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Sunday, November 3rd at 10:30 am
Please join us for a downhome Bluegrass-style worship
service, followed immediately by a delicious BBQ lunch
with all the fixins! All are welcome, admission is free!
Donations for the lunch appreciated!
Our Mission:
Love God,
Love People,
Moke Disciples
MisIVCREEKL
COMMUNITY CHURCH
590 MT VERNON HWY NE
SANDY SPRINGS, GA 30328
mistycreekchurch.org
S£NH\ W&Q&
FOUND PROPERTY
The following is a list of properties located at the Sandy Springs Police Dept.
If you believe that you are the owner of this property, please email
sspdproperty@sandyspringsga.gov.
■ Three silver colored rings with stones
■ Gold Colored band with stones
■ Silver colored band
■ Gold colored necklace with
heart pendant
■ Gold colored necklace
with cross pendant
■ Gold colored ring with clear stones
■ Ulysse Nardin Watch
■ Necklace with stones and
#3 Pendant
■ Bulova watch with clear stones
■ Gold colored earrings
with stones
■ Gold colored necklace
with pendant
Proof of ownership and a valid ID will be required to claim any property. Items
will be sold separately in a public internet auction beginning December 2024.
Property and Evidence
sspdproperty@sandyspringsga.gov
7840 Roswell Rd #400, Sandy Springs, GA 30350, USA
The auction's website is www.propertyroom.com
SANDY SPRINGS
Spalding Drive Elementary
considered for closure
More than 200 community members from the Spalding Drive
Elementary School zone attended a meeting to find out why their
school got a closure recommendation. (Photo by Bob Pepalis)
By Bob Pepalis
Some parents and community
members believe the decision to close
Spalding Drive Elementary School in
Sandy Springs has already been made,
despite a series of upcoming community
input meetings.
Fulton County Schools Chief
Operating Officer Noel Maloof told
parents during a September meeting that
the school board won’t make a decision
until February 2025. Other FCS staff
repeated that point during a Redistricting
101 virtual presentation held on Sept.
23. Some parents aren’t convinced after
learning community meetings scheduled
in the next three months are dedicated to
creating new attendance zones following
Spalding’s closure.
The community meetings will be held
at Riverwood High School from 6 to 8
p.m. on Oct. 7, Nov. 4, and Dec. 9.
“They’ve essentially told us, it comes
down to money,” Spalding parent Kim
Parkman said. “There’s a deficit. We’ve
been told that by closing schools, we
make up that deficit. But are we the right
choice?”
Tarika Peeks, FCS executive director
of Operational Planning, said during the
Redistricting 101 presentation that as staff
works on redistricting, they will consider
geographic proximity, traffic patterns,
and enrollment balance to create new
attendance zones if Spalding closes.
“Please keep in mind that students are
not always assigned to their closest school,
and all three criteria must be considered,”
she said.
Attendance zone options will be
presented at the second community
meeting, according to the FCS
redistricting timeline. A final draft plan
will be revealed during the December
meeting, with a revised version presented
to the school board in January. A vote is
expected in February 2025 on Spalding’s
closure and new attendance zones.
Redistricting hearings would follow.
Parents were upset to hear that in the
closure consideration for Spalding staff
will only consider criteria set in FCS
policy, which does not include academic
achievement.
Kim Parkman said her family
specifically moved to a neighborhood so
their kids could attend Spalding Drive
Elementary. They don’t know what they
will do if the school closes.
“By closing this school, we will have to
separate our child from all of his friends
and then make that decision again three
years later when it comes to middle
school,” she said.
Parkman said her children are still
recovering from the COVID-19 learning
loss and were fast-tracked to catch up at
Spalding. She said the closure adds to
the mental load on her children, who
aren’t developmentally able to process the
situation.
“FCS is moving at an accelerated pace
with processes that suggest the decision
has already been made to close Spalding
Drive in spite of the consistent academic
achievements of its diverse student body,”
parent Stephen Bell told Rough Draft.
He said the transition from telling
parents academics don’t matter to
drawing new attendance zones gives the
impression that FCS views their children
as “interchangeable widgets” and not
students receiving an education.
Bell said he and his wife have spent
the past two weeks learning about policy
and budgets, new state laws, and getting
a more complete picture of the school
cluster.
“We all hope that the board chooses to
invest in a high-performing school rather
than shut it down,” Bell said.
Parkman said FCS staff has provided
contradictory information about open
enrollment.
The confusion increased with a change
in FCS policy. Before this year, a school
needed two classrooms available to
qualify for open enrollment, which meant
Spalding did not qualify. Deputy Chief
Operations Officer Yngrid Huff said this
year the policy changed to no more than
95 percent of state enrollment capacity
numbers.
Huff said open enrollment would not
affect closure recommendations if the
students selecting Spalding came from
6 | OCTOBER 2024
ROUGHDRAFTATLANTA.COM
