SCCPSS: Redistricting: Parent Input Wanted

Parents and community members, school district leaders want to hear from you as they talk about a redistricting plan for the county's more than 34,000 public school children.

You can ask questions and voice your concerns about the upcoming rezoning at several public input meetings. The first meeting is tonight at Beach High School at 6: 30 p.m.

One of the big reasons for redistricting is folks moving around to different areas in the last 10 to 15 years. More families with young children are moving to the western part of the county.

New schools are being built now to accommodate the need. The K-8 Godley Station school is set to open at the beginning of next school year. Also, new programs are being introduced in some schools.

Some schools are being under-utilized while others are overcrowded.

There are changes in grade spans set to take place in several of the district's existing schools.

"Out in the new areas of Pooler and Port Wentworth, we've heard some feedback about where those students attend school. With our construction of the new Godley Station K-8 school, we're starting to hear from parents about what students will attend that school and certainly a lot of parents want their children to attend that great new school," explains Otis Brock, Chief Operations Officer with SCCPSS.

The redistricting will continue for the next three years as other new schools are built; the new Pulaski Elementary on Hunter Army Airfield's base, the new Beach High, and Gadsden Elementary.

The first step to planning for the redistricting is getting as much community input as possible.

"We really want to just hear from the community, what's important to them in terms of where their children go to school and where their neighborhoods go to school and what things we as a school district should see as important in assigning attendance zones for schools," explains Brock.

Brock says getting input is crucial because plans made now will have a long-lasting, positive impact on the children of Chatham County.

He says they want to bring schools to the size they need to be, so they're operating under or at capacity and minimizing the use of portable classrooms across the district.

Tune in to News 3 at 11. Tuquyen Mach will bring you information and public input from tonight's meeting.

Other meetings are as follows:
-Thursday, September 17 Groves High 6:30 p.m.- 8 p.m.
-Monday, September 21 Jenkins High 6:30 p.m.- 8 p.m.
-Thursday, September 24 Johnson High 6:30 p.m.- 8 p.m.
-Monday, September 28 Savannah High 6:30 p.m.- 8 p.m.
-Thursday, October 1 Windsor Forest High 6:30 p.m.- 8 p.m.