SCHOOL WATCH Board's building plans have parents stewing - Sandy Springs Middle School, Fulton County, Georgia

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SCHOOL WATCH Board's building plans have parents stewing

The Atlanta Journal and Constitution

4-15-99

BY Rick Badie, Staff

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Students and teachers at Sandy Springs Middle School can be freezing cold in

one section of the building while those elsewhere on campus swelter in

overheated classrooms. The school, " built on the cheap " decades ago, may be

a sick building because so many people there suffer from allergies, said

Weaver, president of the Fulton County Board of Education.

" A terrible, terrible facility, " she said.

And one in need of costly repairs. It's so bad that school officials plan to

raze the school and construct a campus in the same spot at 8750 Colonel

Drive. Work should begin on the $23 million project this year, despite

objections from Alpharettans.

Parents north of the Chattahoochee River say they need a new high school a

lot worse than Sandy Springs needs a middle school. The issue --- and the

aggressive way in which Alpharetta parents have pursued their cause --- has

sparked an us-against-them mentality between the communities.

" They could flip-flop the construction " of the middle school with the high

school, said Lainey Ambery, an Alpharetta parent who has lobbied to have the

high school built a year earlier.

" It's not a matter of parents wanting a high school, " she continued. " It's

what the students need. We'll be desperate for it. "

Possibly, but not at the expense of another community, said Weiner, a

Sandy Springs parent who said the issue has created " ill will " in the

county.

Three of Weiner's children attended the middle school. One of them, P.J.,

now a North Springs High senior, saw the doctor for upper respiratory sinus

infections during her years there. Other parents and teachers have told

school officials similar stories.

" My suggestion would be that they look for short-term solutions until they

get the high school they need, " Weiner said. " There isn' t one school

district administrator who doesn't believe we need to replace this middle

school. "

Construction plans call for the replacement of two middle schools --- Sandy

Springs and D. West in East Point. District officials had wanted to

renovate the campuses, but they thought $8 million per school for repairs

was exorbitant.

A new Sandy Springs middle school has been a long time coming. Except for

some renovations, the windowless facility has stayed on the back burner as

construction efforts focused on booming north Fulton.

The high school in question would be one of 15 additional campuses growth

forecasters predict the district will need, mostly up north. Land for the

high school is supposed to be purchased this year with money from a 1997

tax. The tax is expected to generate an estimated $490 million over five

years, paying for 17 schools, and the renovation of existing campuses.

" Nobody north of the river would tolerate their kids going to Sandy Springs

Middle School, " board member Ron said. " The bottom line is they need

a decent middle school, and they need it as soon as they can get it. "

Weaver, the board president, said she has never seen " parents advocate

against a project to serve children in one community in order to get money

to serve their children. "

" The promise to build that school has been made over and over, and it has

never been kept, " she said. " You can't keep doing that to a community. "

Rick Badie, Staff, SCHOOL WATCH Board's building plans have parents stewing.

, The Atlanta Journal and Constitution, 04-15-1999, pp J4.