Gwinnett School Leaders Adopt Controversial Redistricting Map

The Gwinnett Board of Education quickly and unanimously voted Thursday (April 21) night to approve the April 15 Duluth Cluster/Peachtree Ridge Cluster school redistricting map posted on the Gwinnett County Public Schools website with two exceptions recommended by Supt. J. Alvin Wilbanks. North Cardinal Lake Estates off Ga. Hwy. 120/Bunten Road and the Cresswell subdivision off Buford Highway will be allowed to remain in the Peachtree Ridge Cluster.

Wilbanks announced his recommendation prior to the start of the 7 p.m. meeting. The Woodbridge subdivision off Davenport Road will be redistricted into the Duluth Cluster.

“The decision will not be what everyone wants,” said Wilbanks, “but whatever school they (students) attend, they will be well educated.”

Residents of all three areas had complained to the school board at a public hearing Wednesday (April 20) night that they had not been been able to fully participate in the public input process because they had not been slated to be redistricted under the initial March 7 map. After the revised map posted last Friday (April 15), these residents were surprised to learn they were to be shifted into the Duluth Cluster. The April 21 map reflecting the latest changes is now posted on the GCPS website. 

Hull Middle School and Mason Elementary School parent Carlos Sanchez, who urged the board to reconsider and allow Cresswell to remain in the Peachtree Ridge Cluster at the April 20 public hearing, said after Thursday night’s vote: “It’s unfortunate things got to this point, but the outcome makes more sense than the previous proposal. We should now focus on being one Duluth community.”

The April 15 map had been posted on the website shortly after 1 p.m. Thursday with a statement that the Planning Department recommended its adoption. After its release, residents of Cardinal Lake Estates were relieved that 128 Harris Elementary School students would not be moved as originally proposed to make room for students at Mason Elementary School. Harris is in the Duluth Cluster, and Mason is in the Peachtree Ridge Cluster.

All the revisions were the result of public input from parents, teachers, students, and citizens.

With the board’s decision to allow Cresswell to stay in the Peachtree Ridge Cluster, the city will only get back about half of a stretch of Buford Highway that the April 15 map had indicated. Cresswell is the only subdivision off a section of Buford Highway that had been proposed to be returned to the Duluth Cluster in the April 15 map. The rest of the section includes businesses.

City officials had sought return of Buford Highway businesses that had been redistricted out of the Duluth Cluster 10 years ago when Peachtree Ridge High School opened. Under the final plan, the city will still get back apartments around Gwinnett Place Mall and transitional housing along Davenport Road that it had not wanted because of the challenges they present to the Duluth Cluster.

North Cardinal Lake Estates resident Michelle Doss, speaking at an open forum just before the Thursday night meeting after Wilbanks’ announcement, told the school board she was “very pleased our neighborhood is staying in the Peachtree Ridge Cluster and that you listened to us last night.” Several residents had appealed to the school board at the Wednesday public hearing to allow the neighborhood to remain in the Peachtree Ridge Cluster. It had been slated for redistricting into the Duluth Cluster.

Mason parent Brian Garrett expressed dismay that Woodbridge was not included in the exceptions. “We’re the only subdivision being moved out of Mason,” he said.

The board moved the redistricting issue up on the agenda ahead of the presentation of numerous recognitions to students and teachers traditional with the April meeting.

An updated chart accompanying the map indicated that 241 students would be redistricted from Mason Elementary School in the Peachtree Ridge Cluster to schools in the Duluth Cluster. New figures showed 134 Mason students would be shifted to Chesney Elementary, 95 from Mason to Harris Elementary and 12 from Mason to Chattahoochee Elementary. The redistricting would also affect middle and high schools. The total number of students redistricted from Mason would be 505.

The Duluth Cluster/Peachtree Ridge Cluster redistricting would be effective with the 2011-12 year. It was proposed by GCPS to relieve overpopulation in the Peachtree Ridge Cluster and increase enrollment in under-capacity schools in the Duluth Cluster.