Gwinnett BOE Meeting Tonight May Not Be Routine

The Gwinnett County Board of Education's  regular March meeting Thursday in Suwanee may not be a routine affair.

The system  has elicited controversy in the community with its plans to redistrict the Peachtree Ridge and Duluth school clusters for the coming school year. An example of opposition to the redistricting may manifest itself at the meeting. The meeting falls on St. Patrick's Day, but the audience may be wearing purple rather than green. 

Duluth parents and citizens opposed to the current plans are being urged to show up and speak at all school board meetings, and to wear purple -- the cluster's color -- when doing so.

The meeting is set for 7 p.m. at the Instructional Support Center on Old Peachtree Road in Suwanee. A work session is scheduled for 2 p.m.

Already, board member Mary Kay Murphy of Duluth has said that she will not vote for the redistricting in current form. And Duluth Mayor Nancy Harris read a statement the current redistricting plans at Monday's City Council meeting. Harris is among those on the agenda to address the board at Thursday's meeting. She announced at Monday's council meeting she would read the statement to the school board.

Plans now call for shifting 580 students from Peachtree Ridge to Duluth with about 180 at the high school level. Duluth is concerned because it would regain apartments around Gwinnett Place Mall, but none of the more stable, affluent neighborhoods in the Peachtree Ridge Cluster that Duluth lost in redistricting 10 years ago.

In addition, about 120 students are proposed to be moved from B.B. Harris Elementary School to Chesney Elementary School, both in the Duluth Cluster, to make room for students being moved from Mason Elementary School in the Peachtree Ridge Cluster to Harris ES. Cardinal Lake Estate parents and others want to keep their Harris ES community intact.

Public input currently is being sought about the redistricting. The school board is scheduled to vote on the final plans at its April 21 meeting.

People interested in knowing more about the redistricting plans can visit the GCPS website.