The Proposed Inman, Grady Cluster

To many parents, Atlanta Public Schools redistricting means more than just which neighborhood school their child will attend.

The Grady High School cluster, which includes in Virginia-Highland, is known as one of the most diverse and close-knit clusters of schools in the district, and parents have voiced concerns about how the cluster as a whole will change with the redistricting process.

Currently, Inman, Coan Middle School in Kirkwood and King Middle School in Grant Park feed into Grady High.

Under the two proposed plans released by the school district Friday afternoon, only Inman Middle School students would attend Grady.

Some students from Cook and Hope Elementary would attend Grady for high school, but would attend Coan or King for middle school.

Seven elementary schools —Centennial Place, Hope-Hill, East Lake, , , and Toomer — currently feed into Grady.

But under the proposed options that aim to address capacity issues, East Lake Elementary would close and Centennial Place students would attend N. Atlanta Middle and High School in Buckhead.

Grady — which was built for about 1,326 students — has faced overcrowding issues for several years.

Trailers are used as classrooms and lack of undeveloped land around the school rules out an expansion. About 1,468 students attend Grady.

Inman Middle

Currently, five elementary schools — Centennial Place, a portion of Hope-Hill, Morningside, Springdale Park and Mary Lin — feed into Inman, which is also overcrowded.

In an effort to alleviate the overcrowding, only Morningside, Springdale Park and Mary Lin students would attend Inman under the new proposals. Students from Toomer Elementary School in Kirkwood would only attend Inman and Grady under option B.

Here’s a look at what both options mean for Inman and Grady:

Option A:

Middle School:

• Mary Lin Elementary, Springdale Park Elementary and Morningside Elementary feed into Inman Middle School.
  
  • Inman would include students from Morningside, Midtown, Virginia-Highland, Ansley Park, Sherwood Forest, Poncey-Highland, Inman Park, Candler Park, the Atlanta portion of Druid Hills and Lake Claire.
    • The entire Hope-Hill community would be rezoned to King Middle (A portion of students from Hope-Hill currently attend Inman).
    • Centennial and a very small portion of Morningside and would be sent to N. Atlanta Middle or a proposed middle school.

High School:

• Mary Lin Elementary, Springdale Park Elementary, Morningside Elementary Hope-Hill Elementary and Cook Elementary feed into Grady High School.
  • Grady would include students from Morningside, Virginia-Highland, Poncey-Highland, Old Fourth Ward, Midtown, Ansley Park, Sherwood Forest, Inman Park, Candler Park, Lake Claire, and the Atlanta portion of Druid Hills.
    • Kirkwood and East Lake would be rezoned for Jackson.
    • Centennial and part of Hope-Hill (west of I-75/85) would be redistricted to N. Atlanta High School.
    • A portion of the Cook community (the Grady Antoine neighborhood, Capitol Gateway, a part of Grant Park north of I-20, and Cabbagetown) is added to Grady in this option.

Option B:

Middle School:

• Morningside, Springdale Park, Mary Lin and Toomer would feed into Inman.
  • The school would include students from Morningside, Virginia-Highland, Poncey-Highland, Midtown, Ansley Park, Sherwood Forest, Inman Park, Candler Park, Lake Claire, a portion of Kirkwood and the Atlanta portion of Druid Hills.
    • The entire Hope-Hill community would be rezoned to Coan Middle (A portion of students from Hope-Hill currently attend Inman).
    • A slight portion of Morningside (Armour Circle) and Centennial are redistricted to the proposed N. Atlanta Middle School in Buckhead.
    • Half of the Kirkwood neighborhood (north of Oakview) is added to Inman in this option.

High School:

• Morningside, Mary Lin, Springdale Park, Toomer, Cook, Hope-Hill would feed in Grady.
  
  • The school would include students from Morningside, Virginia-Highland, Poncey-Highland, Midtown, Ansley Park, Sherwood Forest, Inman Park, Candler Park, Lake Claire, Old Fourth Ward, a portion of Kirkwood and the Atlanta portion of Druid Hills.
    • East Lake, the southern part of Kirkwood and a portion of the Hope-Hill community would be rezoned to Jackson High.
    • Centennial is redistricted to N. Atlanta.

Which of these options do you support? Tell us in the comments!

The detailed maps are attached to this article and available to download on the APS website.

Follow city-wide APS Redistricting coverage on Facebook. Read more about redistricting on the VaHi Patch Atlanta Public Schools Redistricting Page.