APS Board Member Harsch-Kinnane Encourages Community Input on Redistricting

The following letter was sent from Atlanta Public Schools board member Cecily Harsch-Kinnane to the community on Monday, Dec. 5.

Dear District 3 Community,

This week we all got our first look at the four proposals from the demographic team that was hired by APS to help us shape a meaningful plan to deal with capacity issues in the district.  

For this first rendition, the demographers’ proposals were driven by a very limited set of parameters – enrollment and capacity – and thus provided us with proposals that were somewhat limited in their perspective.

The purpose of this first round was to provide us with a starting point for discussions about what is factual, number wise, and what is possible, vision wise.

The proposals do provide us with the very critical and objective information that we need as a foundation as we start now to interweave the other immensely valuable considerations – community concerns, instructional programs, proximity, historical perspective, financial responsibility, and educational policy – into proposals moving forward.

I know we have asked you to provide feedback on these proposals, but I am asking you now to please disregard these specific proposals, as written, in your thinking going forward.  

Your input about what you value in your schools and communities is important and appreciated. Please continue to provide this information.

But building coalitions around or against a particular option or spending time trying to reconfigure these proposals to represent the interests of one neighborhood is not a productive use of time. And in doing so I worry that we will end up devaluing what we most cherish – communities made up of neighborhoods and schools that represent a diversity of people and ideas and place a premium on a shared sense of community.  That has been the overriding message that has come through in the many emails I have received and in the many phone conversations I have had.

I will be forever grateful for what my own children have gained from their diverse school experience. I am proud to represent a district that feels it is profoundly important that this experience be protected for future students.

Please continue to share your constructive feedback. It is welcome and necessary as we work toward a thoughtful and sensible plan!

Sincerely,

Cecily Harsch-Kinnane