Others include facility size, the potential to add extra classrooms, and racial and economic diversity. Distance, however, is a prime consideration. For the Garden Homes and Westwood neighborhoods, proposed assignments to Irving Park Elementary, Aycock Middle and Page High School represent the closest possible options in the eyes of the mapmakers, Priddy added. Students from these neighborhoods currently are assigned to Bessemer Elementary, Kiser Middle and Grimsley High School. About 90 neighborhood children are enrolled in public schools.
Residents say more children attend private schools.
Parents were hoping that the redistricting plan would end years of having to travel across town to get to Bessemer. A 20-minute drive makes it difficult to eat lunch or spend any time at the school, parent Barbara Beeson said. But we knew it was worth it because we would end up at Kiser and Grimsley. Residents had their fingers crossed for an assignment to General Greene Elementary, located on Benjamin Parkway. The school's back door just about opens onto Garden Homes, which starts about a block north of General Greene.