Video: Sparks Fly At Southwest Atlanta School Redistricting Meeting

APS Superintendent faced an auditorium full of angry parents Monday night who are upset at his .

“Did you actually go out into the community and research the schools to see exactly how your plans are going to affect the community?” asked southwest Atlanta resident Haskell Brown. “Were you just looking at saving money when you developed these recommendations?”

The meeting, held at , was the first of a series this week being held throughout Atlanta's public school system.

“We have 13,000 empty seats in our system,” Davis said. “Yes, it costs money to heat and cool those seats, but that’s money that could be used in serving our children, and we are not currently serving our children.”

Davis’ current redistricting recommendations include closing and elementary schools in the Cascade and southwest Atlanta community. He is also recommending closing 11 other schools.

“We have a lot more schools than we have children,” Davis said. “I’d love to keep every school open, but we can’t do that and serve our kids.”

But many parents argued that south Atlanta schools are being unfairly targeted for closure, and that northside schools are being left alone.

“What these northside schools have are stable clusters,” Davis countered. “What we have down here are kids being shuffled from one location to another. I’m trying to give southside schools that same level of stability.”

Davis also said plans are being developed for a renovation of , which will be the primary feeder school into the cluster.

The Atlanta Board of Education will vote on Davis’ final redistricting recommendations on April 10.