Schools
Residents Strongly Oppose Moving Heards Ferry Elementary at Meeting
During a public meeting, Wednesday, Patrick Burke, Deputy Superintendent of Operations for Fulton County Schools said that by voting for the SPLOST referendum in 2011, Sandy Springs residents approved moving Heards Ferry.
Sandy Springs Planning Commission Chair Lee Duncan conveyed what parents and residents apparently felt during a public meeting, Wednesday, on moving Heards Ferry Elementary.
“I don’t think the people that voted in that SPLOST totally understood what they were voting for was to blow that campus up,” Duncan told Patch.
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The meeting, which drew more than 100 residents to Riverwood International Charter High School, was called by Fulton County School Board member Gail Dean.
Duncan had a heated exchange with Patrick Burke, Deputy Superintendent of Operations, after Burke said that by voting for the SPLOST referendum in November 2011, Sandy Springs residents approved moving Heards Ferry.
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During a February meeting to Sandy Springs City Council members, schools Superintendent Dr. Robert Avossa said the building should have come down years ago. Fulton Board of Education is considering a site at the southern end of Riverside drive that would move out homeowners.
“We have been completely stonewalled by the Board of Education,” Duncan told Burke.
Duncan said that Sandy Springs officials already deal with the intricate issues the school board would have to weigh in considering moving Heards Ferry. “And for you to walk in and just say, ‘This needs to come out and needs to go, without having any discussion, I find it reprehensible.”
City Councilman Chip Collins also complained that Sandy Springs officials have not been involved in the process.
Both Heards Ferry and overcrowded Riverwood sit on 35 acres. Generally a high school would be on 50 acres, Burke said.
“We’re studying what it would take to build on this site and keep things on this site,” Burke told Patch. “How many restraining walls will it take; what does the construction phase look like; are we going to have things like parking decks. We started that work about a month ago.”
However, Sandy Springs will not be involved until the school board makes a firm decision, he added. “We spend that money; if it’s on our property. That is our process. I’ve said that to [City Manager] John McDonough. I’ve said, ‘When I can talk to you, I will.’ We’re very close.”
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